Dao of the World Walker (Xianxia) Book 2

Yang was already at the desk when the morning light had fully settled into the cave, the talisman supplies laid out, a fresh sheet of talisman paper in front of him.

He had woken at dawn, gone out to perform the Soil Enrichment Technique on the plot beside the path, come back inside to practice the Heavenly Diversion technique until the headache peaked, then gone to the food hall for breakfast and returned.

And was now working on the Poison Barrier Talisman.

According to the manual he had read in the library, it was one of the more technically demanding defensive talismans to inscribe correctly. Unlike a physical barrier talisman that simply resisted force, or a qi barrier that stopped qi-based attacks, a poison barrier had to perform two simultaneous tasks. It had to actively identify a threat and neutralise it, covering every possible entry point at once, the air, the skin, and the qi channels. Reading the description Yang had thought immediately of the more complex cards he had inscribed in the Cardwright World, the ones where multiple functions had to operate in parallel. He had extensively studied different methods of poison while developing the shield card. The underlying logic here was not entirely unfamiliar to him.

The manual’s description had been clear. The talisman created a thin qi membrane that coated the practitioner’s skin and lined the inner surfaces of all orifices. The membrane did not block air or food. The cultivator breathed and ate normally. What it did was test everything that crossed it. The inscription encoded a set of qi signatures associated with toxic and corrupted substances, and when the membrane detected a match it neutralised the substance before it reached the bloodstream or the qi channels.

The neutralisation mechanism varied by grade. Lower-grade versions broke down the toxic qi signature and rendered the substance spiritually inert. It might still taste bitter or cause minor discomfort, but it could not harm. Higher-grade versions actively expelled the substance outward before it fully crossed the barrier, pushing it back the way it came. A more demanding inscription when it came to skill and qi requirements but with a considerably better result.

Standard versions covered the most common threat categories. Ingested poisons, airborne toxins including gases and spores, and contact poisons that worked through the skin. Most also provided partial protection against qi-based poison techniques, attacks where a cultivator transmitted toxic qi directly through a strike.

What they did not cover, at beginner and intermediate grade, was blood poison delivered by a weapon that physically broke the skin. The barrier coated the surface. A blade that pierced it bypassed the membrane entirely and delivered the poison past the talisman’s detection layer. This was the most common way experienced opponents defeated poison barrier talismans in combat, and why a cultivator relying on one should treat any wound immediately regardless.

Yang still considered it extremely useful. Because the barrier was always active at a low level rather than firing in a single instant like an offensive talisman, it depleted gradually rather than all at once. A well-made intermediate-grade version lasted between four and twelve hours under normal conditions. Active exposure burned through it faster. A cultivator walking through a poisoned forest expended the reserves far more rapidly than one wearing it as a precaution in a clean environment. High concentrations of powerful poison could overwhelm the barrier entirely, not gradually but suddenly, leaving the practitioner unprotected at the worst possible moment. Experienced cultivators entering heavily poisoned environments layered two or three in intervals rather than relying on one.

The most technically demanding part of the inscription was the encoded qi signatures. The talisman had to recognise a wide enough range of toxic profiles to be genuinely useful, which meant the inscription could not simply list known poisons individually. That would be defeated by any unusual substance not on the list. The inscription instead had to encode the underlying structural characteristics of how toxic substances were composed, so that the membrane could identify new types of poison by their fundamental properties rather than by matching them to a known list.

This was why senior alchemists, experienced herbalists, and poison cultivators themselves made the best poison barrier talismans even when their raw inscription skill was no better than a middling talisman maker’s. They had encountered more substances, studied more toxin profiles, and understood the structural logic of poison deeply enough to encode a more comprehensive detection system. The talisman would still fail against a truly innovative poison that abandoned every conventional aspect of its construction, but those were rare enough to be theoretical concerns rather than practical ones.

Yang picked up the brush and began.

He worked through the first sixteen strokes cleanly, the inscription taking shape on the paper, the qi flowing through the brush at the pace the technique required. At the seventeenth stroke he felt a slight deviation in the flow, a fractional unevenness that would compound further along the inscription if he continued. He set the brush down and put the paper aside.

He began again.

The second attempt carried him further, almost two thirds through the inscription, before the qi distribution began to thin unevenly at one edge. He held it a moment to see if he could correct it in place and concluded he could not without compromising the whole structure. He set that paper aside as well.

He began the third attempt, this time he moved more slowly through the middle section, redistributing his qi output consciously at the points where the inscription had thinned before, and brought the inscription to completion.

The finished talisman gave a faint glow as the final stroke settled.

He looked at it critically. It was a poison barrier talisman. It would function. But the qi distribution was uneven in two places that he could see clearly, and while the talisman was complete, it lacked the quality he had achieved with his other talismans. It was his third attempt and his first completion. He needed considerably more practice before this would reach the standard of quality he held his work to.

He set it aside and took a fresh sheet of talisman paper.

Around noon he noticed the light and put the brush down. He had completed two more attempts, the fourth abandoned partway and the fifth bringing him to a finished talisman that was marginally better than the third.

He cleaned the brush, capped the ink, and made his way to the food hall.

Senior Brother Yu Bin was waiting outside the entrance.

”Junior Brother Yang.” He gave a slight bow. ”I was not sure if you would remember.”

”I am here, Senior Brother.” Yang returned the bow. ”Shall we go in?”

They went through together, each filling a tray. The spread for the midday meal was generous. Yang took a bowl of soup, bread, some kind of roasted poultry, and noodles, and added a small dessert at the end of the line, a smooth white confection in a texture somewhat like chocolate, scattered with dried fruits. Senior Brother Yu Bin, reaching the end of the line ahead of him, picked up a small jar and poured out two cups before Yang could comment.

”Plum wine,” Senior Brother Yu Bin said, handing one over.

Yang looked at it with mild surprise. He had not seen wine served in the food hall before.

”It is rare,” Senior Brother Yu Bin said, reading his expression. ”One of the elders who specialises in spirit wine must have made a large batch. When that happens a few barrels get shared with the hall.” He shrugged. ”It does not happen often though.”

They found two seats at a table and settled in.

”I want to thank you again,” Senior Brother Yu Bin said, ”for agreeing to help me. I know it is an imposition on your time.”

”It is no imposition,” Yang said. ”Though I should say again, Senior Brother, that I am not certain how useful I will be. The difference in our cultivation realms is considerable.”

Senior Brother Yu Bin shook his head. ”Junior Brother, cultivation realm has nothing to do with talisman skill. I can produce more powerful talismans than you, strictly because of my advanced cultivation, but your actual craft surpasses mine.” He picked up his cup. ”And if I needed any further proof, I heard what Elder Bai Jing Ting said about your talisman skills. She is very reticent, her speaking so highly about your skill is a wonder in itself..”

Yang looked up. ”You know of Elder Bai?”

”She is rather well known in the sect,” Senior Brother Yu Bin said. ”She has exceptionally high standards and is not known to give out compliments easily. When I heard her tell you that your talismans were as well made as they could be at your realm, and that your future in the craft would be bright, I thought I had misheard.” He smiled. ”So whatever guidance you can offer me, Junior Brother, I assure you it is worth my time.”

”I will do my best then,” Yang said.

They ate and talked, the wine moving easily between the cups, the conversation finding its rhythm. Senior Brother Yu Bin had been at the sect for twenty two years, he said, and had spent most of that time on cultivation and sword arts. The talisman interest was recent, started after seeing someone use a talisman that had sword intent. He had found the craft considerably harder than expected.

”Most things worth doing are,” Yang said.

Senior Brother Yu Bin laughed at that agreeing with him.

When they were done they stacked their trays and made their way out. Senior Brother Yu Bin led him across the outer sect peak, the path carrying them away from the area Yang knew well and into area he had not walked before.

As they came around the last turn Yang stopped.

The cave entrance ahead of them was surrounded by a garden that extended outward from the rock face in a dense, organised spread of plants that climbed and trailed and grew in careful layers. Looks like Senior Brother Yu Bin had been tending to this garden for a long time and doing it well.

”Come in, Junior Brother,” Senior Brother Yu Bin said, touching the formation at the entrance to deactivate it.

Yang stepped through the formation and into the garden.

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