Sheng Zhihao looked at the talisman diagram and said nothing for a long time.
Situ Jiaojiao looked at Sheng Zhihao’s changing expression, feeling anxious in her heart, but did not dare to say anything.
“You completed half of the diagram in the jade slip? How did you do it?”
Situ Jiaojiao took a deep breath. Sheng Zhihao never liked asking questions. Most of their exchanges were limited to paper.
The things that Sheng Zhihao was studying recently were too difficult, so Situ Jiaojiao simply didn’t bother with them and directly gave all the tasks to Ye Fan. What she was studying now were lectures from three months ago. “I suddenly had an epiphany and completed it somehow.”
“Enlightenment? It is indeed a natural talisman physique,” Sheng Zhihao said lightly. “Do you know the purpose of this talisman?”
“It’s probably an attack-type!” Situ Jiaojiao said.
Sheng Zhihao looked at Situ Jiaojiao and fell silent.
“Attack?”
Situ Jiaojiao vaguely felt something was wrong, but she still nodded.
“You can go now.”
Situ Jiaojiao couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.
After leaving Sheng Zhihao’s talisman room, Situ Jiaojiao immediately went to find Ye Fan.
While Ye Fan was drawing a talisman diagram, he grabbed some golden balls from a bowl and ate them. Situ Jiaojiao originally thought that Ye Fan was eating fried beans, but when she walked in, she discovered that Ye Fan was actually eating medicinal pills.
“You eat so many medicinal pills. Aren’t you afraid of dying?” Situ Jiaojiao said in confusion.
Situ Jiaojiao couldn’t help but be a little stunned when she recognized the pills Ye Fan was eating were Golden Cloud Pills. A single Golden Cloud Pill was enough for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to digest for several days. What was Fan Ye doing? Wasn’t he afraid of exploding to death?!
Ye Fan put away the medicinal pills and said, “It’s none of your business. I’ve hit a bottleneck recently and need to take more medicinal pills to make up for it.”
“What kind of cultivation level do you have?” Situ Jiaojiao couldn’t help but ask.
When the guards were recruited, they were recruiting for Foundation Establishment cultivators. There were several guards recruited. Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi were not conspicuous. Situ Jiaojiao didn’t pay attention at all. Situ Jiaojiao always felt that Ye Fan’s cultivation was in the early stage of Foundation Establishment. However, after seeing Ye Fan’s level of talismans, she felt something was wrong.
Ye Fan said with displeasure, “Cultivation level is a cultivator’s privacy, and you shouldn’t ask random questions.”
Situ Jiaojiao rolled her eyes and said, “Got it.”
Anyway, it was definitely not Golden Core. The cultivators captured by Sheng Zhihao were all Foundation Establishment cultivators.
According to Sheng Zhihao, Golden Core cultivators were more likely to rebel. Although with Sheng Zhihao’s ability, ordinary Golden Core cultivators were simply not his match, it was too exhausting to keep an eye on a Golden Core cultivator all the time.
…
“You completed the talisman diagram in the jade slip? Why didn’t you tell me? Senior seems to be suspicious,” Situ Jiaojiao said with displeasure.
Ye Fan frowned and said in confusion, “What are you talking about?”
Ye Fan flipped through the stack of talisman diagrams and said, “Did you take the wrong one? Your share is here.”
Situ Jiaojiao frowned, took the diagram in Ye Fan’s hand and looked at it. She couldn’t help grinding her teeth. That day, she ran to Fan Ye’s cave to look for Fan Ye, and heard a warm moan. Although Situ Jiaojiao was still a virgin, she still understood the meaning of that sound. Knowing that the two of them were busy, Situ Jiaojiao turned around and left.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Later, Situ Jiaojiao arrived at the materials room and happened to see a stack of talisman diagrams, so she took them away.
“P kjr kbcvfglcu kts P mbeivc’a olcv ws atlcur. Pa aegcr bea atja atfs kfgf ajxfc jkjs ys sbe. Qts vb sbe jikjsr ajxf atlcur gjcvbwis? P vgfk j afifqbgajalbc ajilrwjc, yea sbe mjc’a fnfc gfmbuclhf la!” Tf Mjc rjlv lc mbcoerlbc.
“Kfifqbgajalbc ajilrwjc? Prc’a la jc fzqibrlbc ajilrwjc?” Vlae Aljbpljb jrxfv klat tfg fsfr klvf.
Ye Fan blinked, looked at Situ Jiaojiao, and said, “Are you for real? You can’t even tell the difference between a teleportation talisman and an explosion talisman.”
Situ Jiaojiao gritted her teeth and said, “Of course I can differentiate. I just didn’t look carefully.” Now she was in big trouble.
“The old man must think that you are not doing your job properly. That old monster likes to study explosive flame talismans and heavenly thunder talismans! These things can kill things in a large area when they are activated. However, the diagram I drew is for a teleportation talisman, which is not in line with the dead old man’s taste.” Ye Fan shook his head and said.
Situ Jiaojiao gritted her teeth and thought to herself: If he just thought that she was not doing her job properly, that was fine. She was afraid the secret had already been exposed. With Sheng Zhihao’s level of talisman drawing, perhaps the secret had already been revealed. Since Sheng Zhihao didn’t get to the bottom of things today, he probably didn’t want her life. After all, there was no benefit in killing her!
“Teleportation talisman? Why are you studying teleportation talismans?” Situ Jiaojiao asked in confusion.
“Of course teleportation talismans are used to escape. You are really stupid! You don’t even know the effect of a teleportation talisman,” Ye Fan said speechlessly.
“Why do you need to run away? When you encounter an opponent, shouldn’t you go up and fight?” Situ Jiaojiao said righteously.
“When you encounter an opponent like the old monster, will you go up and fight? Preserving lush mountains means you never have to worry about having no firewood. It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge after ten years*. If this teleportation talisman can be successfully completed, the teleportation distance will be ten times that of an ordinary spiritual-level teleportation talisman. If activated continuously, it would be easy for me to escape the pursuit of a Golden Core cultivator with my Foundation Establishment cultivation,” Ye Fan said.
Situ Jiaojiao looked at Ye Fan and said with displeasure, “You are too spineless, only trying to run away.”
Ye Fan said with displeasure, “What do you know? When it’s time to run away, you have to run away. What if you don’t run away? Are you just going to wait for death?”
He couldn’t be blamed for this! If it were only Foundation Establishment cultivators that were interested in him, he could still fight, but the people who were interested in him outside were all Golden Core! Nascent Soul! Of course, there were also Foundation Establishment cultivators, but… Relatively speaking, Foundation Establishment cultivators could be ignored.
“If it were me, I would report my ancestor’s name,” Situ Jiaojiao said a little proudly.
“Your ancestor’s name is not always useful! Isn’t it useless in this ghost place? It may not be useful outside either. If you report your ancestor’s name in the wilderness, people that hear it will know you are a fat sheep and rush to kill you.” Ye Fan shook his head and said.
Situ Jiaojiao: “…”
…
While Situ Jiaojiao and Ye Fan were talking, Sheng Zhihao opened the door and walked in.
Situ Jiaojiao was startled, and Ye Fan, who was sitting on the chair, suddenly stood up.
Ye Fan carefully glanced at Sheng Zhihao’s face and his heartstrings tensed. His teleportation talisman hadn’t been completely researched yet, and he couldn’t run away even if he wanted to. Who knew how long Sheng Zhihao had been listening outside?
Ye Fan thought with some displeasure: Sheng Zhihao, a cultivator at the peak of Golden Core, actually liked to eavesdrop.
“You two come with me,” Sheng Zhihao said with a stern face.
Ye Fan did not move and glanced at Bai Yunxi. Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan worriedly. Sheng Zhihao impatiently took the two of them away.
“Did you draw this?” Sheng Zhihao took out a talisman diagram and asked Ye Fan.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes.”
“How did you come up with this? The rune in this teleportation talisman should already involve the holy realm. Where did you learn it?” Sheng Zhihao said.
Situ Jiaojiao’s eyes widened uncontrollably. She never expected that the talisman diagram drawn by Ye Fan actually involved the holy realm.
Situ Jiaojiao secretly thought: Sheng Zhihao and Tianyi Sect were mortal enemies. Fan Ye’s talent for talismans was so outstanding. He must have come in contact with a complete talisman inheritance. It was impossible for a person, no matter how brilliant they were, to learn things out of thin air. If Fan Ye had a relationship with Tianyi Sect, no matter how talented he was, he would definitely be killed by Sheng Zhihao.
“I’ve seen it before,” Ye Fan said.
“Where?” Sheng Zhihao asked coldly.
“Teleportation formation!”
“Teleportation formation?” Sheng Zhihao said in confusion. “A teleportation formation from where?”
“From the Southern Continent. I thought I would be lucky enough to be teleported to a secret realm, but instead I was teleported to the Eastern Continent where birds don’t lay eggs and the concentration of spiritual energy is inferior by several levels.” Ye Fan blinked and shook his head.
Sheng Zhihao was shocked. “A teleportation formation from the Southern Continent?”
Situ Jiaojiao’s eyes widened and she asked in surprise, “Are there God Transformation cultivators in the Southern Continent?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes! Although there are not many, there are still a few.”
“It turns out that there is a place with a higher level of cultivation!” Situ Jiaojiao said.
“Of course, the level of cultivation in the Southern Continent is not the best in this cultivation world. It is said that the spiritual energy in the Central Continent is the strongest. However, to go to the Central Continent, you must cross the Endless Sea. There are countless sea beasts lurking in the Endless Sea, and often storms and waves at sea. Even Nascent Soul cultivators have a 90% chance of dying in the Endless Sea,” Ye Fan said.
“Then you can return to the Southern Continent through this teleportation formation?” Situ Jiaojiao asked.
“If I could, I would have left a long time ago. The teleportation formation I used is a one-way teleportation formation and there is no way to go back,” Ye Fan said.
Sheng Zhihao looked at Ye Fan and said, “Did you learn your talisman skills in the Southern Continent?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes.”
Situ Jiaojiao couldn’t help but feel a little surprised. No wonder Fan Ye knew so much. Did he come from a continent with a higher level of cultivation? This guy was full of lies and was not credible at all. And his partner actually said that Fan Ye’s talisman skills were learned from a mysterious-level talisman master. Which mysterious-level talisman master could teach such a disciple?
“Do you remember the pattern of the teleportation formation that teleported you here?” Sheng Zhihao asked.
“No, the level of that formation is too high. I only remember the patterns of some of the sub-formations,” Ye Fan said.
…
Bai Yunxi waited outside the cave residence for a long time before Ye Fan came out.
“Is everything okay?” Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and asked.
Ye Fan nodded his head and said, “Everything’s fine!” The natives of the Eastern Continent were very curious about the Southern Continent and pestered him with questions, almost making his saliva dry up.
“The old monster wants to accept me as his disciple,” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said, “You agreed?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “En. Even in the Southern Continent, the level of the old monster is considered top-notch. Having such a master is not a bad thing.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “As long as you think it’s good!”
…
“Princess, the matter with Fan Ye has been exposed? This guy doesn’t seem like a good guy. Maybe he did it on purpose,” Wang Chenxiao said indignantly.
Situ Jiaojiao glanced at Wang Chenxiao and said, “Everything is over. Things are fine now.”
“Senior isn’t angry?” Wang Chenxiao asked.
Situ Jiaojiao shook her head and said, “No! But now there is a senior brother.” Situ Jiaojiao secretly thought: She obviously entered the sect* earlier than Fan Ye, so she should be the senior sister, but the old man valued that guy Fan Ye more and told her to call him senior brother.
“Senior Sheng accepted Fan Ye as his disciple?” Wang Chenxiao couldn’t help but ask.
Situ Jiaojiao nodded and said, “Yes!”
When Fan Ye and Sheng Zhihao were chatting, she could only watch the excitement on the side. The two guys were chatting enthusiastically. Fan Ye could pick up formation patterns, runes, and even inscriptions for refining weapons easily.
Fan Ye originally said that he could understand the contents in the recording stones. Princess Jiaojiao thought that Fan Ye was just posturing. However, when Fan Ye and Sheng Zhihao started chatting, Situ Jiaojiao realized that the gap between her and the two of them was not small. Situ Jiaojiao secretly suspected that Fan Ye was an old monster who had taken over a young body.
Situ Jiaojiao originally thought that the old monster was taciturn, but when Fan Ye started chatting with the old monster, Situ Jiaojiao realized that it wasn’t that the old monster didn’t like to talk, but that he couldn’t communicate with her.
…
Wang Chenxiao walked into the materials room. Bai Yunxi glanced at the person at the door and said, “Fellow Daoist Wang, are you looking for the princess? She is not here.”
Wang Chenxiao shook his head and said, “I’m not here to find the princess. I’m here to see you, Fellow Daoist Xi.”
Bai Yunxi glanced at Wang Chenxiao and said, “Why are you looking for me?”
Wang Chenxiao looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “Fellow Daoist Xi, don’t you think that your Daoist companion and the princess are getting too close?”
Bai Yunxi shook his head and said, “They are senior brother and junior sister (martial siblings) now. It is inevitable that they will have more contact with each other. It’s no big deal.”
Bai Yunxi frowned secretly. He was very sure that Ye Fan had no intentions toward the princess, but the princess might not be the same. Talented cultivators always had a different kind of attraction. Looking at Situ Jiaojiao’s attitude, she seemed to worship Ye Fan a bit. A feeling like worship could easily turn into admiration.
Bai Yunxi remembered that Ye Fan had said that many people in Blue Cloud Sect liked him. Maybe it was true. After all, Xu Mingyang had told him to watch Ye Fan carefully and that Ye Fan was loved by everyone in Blue Cloud Sect. Of course, he didn’t know if Xu Mingyang’s words were exaggerated.
“They are martial siblings now, so they will inevitably have more contact with each other. It’s no big deal,” Bai Yunxi said calmly.
Wang Chenxiao frowned and said, “Fellow Daoist Xi isn’t worried?”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Bai Yunxi said.
Wang Chenxiao looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “Fellow Daoist Xi, you are very confident!”
Bai Yunxi said calmly, “It’s not self confidence. For some things, just let nature take its course.”
Wang Chenxiao left a little depressed, and Ao Xiaobao jumped out and said, “This guy really knows how to sow discord. Even if that fool Ye Fan wants to fall in love with someone else, he won’t choose an idiot princess. Two idiots get together, if they’re not careful, they’ll die of stupidity. Young Master Bai, don’t worry, if Ye Fan really falls in love with someone else, you can definitely find someone better.”
Bai Yunxi grabbed Ao Xiaobao and said, “You hide for me. This is the territory of a Golden Core cultivator.”
Although the old guy went out, who knew when he would come back!
***
T/N: Just a heads up that there won’t be a Thursday update this week either. Next update will be Saturday.
I’m really glad to see Ye Fan was willing to accept Sheng Zhihao as his master. Although he is a genius, even geniuses need guidance. They don’t stand at the top from the get go – being a genius just means you learn faster than others. I find it a little unrealistic in other cultivation novels when the MCs (especially if they’re transmigrators from modern times with no prior cultivation experience) somehow seem to easily surpass all others, and reject some kind offers of others to take them under their wing. It’s not shameful to have a master…
*Preserving lush mountains means you never have to worry about having no firewood. It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge after ten years – two idioms that collectively mean as long as you still have your life, there will always be a chance in the future to take revenge.
*The Divine Talisman Sect has been destroyed, but Sheng Zhihao was a member of the sect, so when he accepts disciples, they are also technically part of the sect. The direct translation is “enter the door” (入门 ru men). 门 (men), literally gate or door, is one of the words that mean sect (there are also others and they’re all translated as sect. I’m too lazy to go through all of them, but I think The Legendary Master’s Wife gave an explanation of all of them if anyone is interested in learning Chinese).
