Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique

Chapter 146: Chapter 143: Bursting T

A fireball resembling an ’angry bird’ flew from a tricky angle, Ji An’s escape space was coerced by the Blazing Golden Wheel and hit amidst the booming explosion.

Like a bullfighter being rammed by a bull, his body lost balance, flew into the air, and crashed into the mountain rocks, with the flame-spewing spiritual artifact hovering around his neck.

The direct damage from the magic technique was absorbed by the Protective Spirit Light of the Earth Spirit Bead and the Pan Mountain Technique, he seemed disheveled but was actually unharmed.

Even though he blocked his eardrums with magical power, the sound waves from the explosions still made him dizzy and the high temperature roasting made him flushed like Lord Guan.

Ji An calmed the aftermath of the impact on his body, shouting:

“Senior brother, again.”

The continuous battles have allowed him to find the right rhythm, able to resist for a relatively long time while also launching effective counterattacks, rather than purely being beaten passively.

He now has a deep understanding of the attack power of spiritual artifacts, using the Blazing Golden Wheel as an example, a full-force attack likely penetrates the Protective Spirit Light provided by the Earth Spirit Bead.

However, if engaged in a life-and-death struggle, whether he or Liu Yu would emerge victorious is still unknown.

With his body stacked with all kinds of defenses, the opponent needs to deliver multiple effective damages in a short period to cause real harm to him.

Spiritual artifacts have a certain spirituality; if attacking the core of the artifact with magic, it would dodge like a human, allowing a ’position trick’ to buy more time.

Ji An believes if he gains the defensive spiritual artifact, apricot yellow Banner, he would have a big chance of defeating the opponent.

Liu Yu shook his head, laughing:

“Again? Not anymore! My magical power is almost depleted.”

Although spiritual artifacts can perform autonomous attacks, they still require his input of magical power to ’charge’. In previous battles, he would compress time as much as possible, not dragging it out this long.

Through this period of fighting, he found that Junior Brother could quickly adjust his combat state, whether attacking or defending, with much more order, clearly having talent in magical combat.

“Junior Brother, judging by your current performance, you should be able to handle Mid-stage Foundation Establishment demon beasts alone.

If you can practice a magic technique that slows down enemies, it would be even more perfect.”

Demon beasts relying on flesh and blood can no longer resist his Perfection Level Bursting Fireball.

As long as a direct hit is achieved, few demon beasts can withstand such powerful damage.

Liu Yu silently wondered, when they first met, the opponent showed the Small Cloud Rain Technique talent, having realized the Cultivation Technique Divine Intent from practicing the Evergreen Wood Skill for ten years, it surely means he also possesses high wood element skill talent.

Coupled with the Perfection Level Bursting Fireball, it signifies he has a strong understanding in water, wood, and fire elements.

Water Nurtures Wood, Wood and Fire Thrive, his talent is likely Little Three Talents.

“Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother, I thought so too, but time is too limited, can only take it slowly.”

Ji An said, in order to plant five thousand mu of Spirit Wood at Red Flame Peak, he consumes a lot of magical power and energy every day, hardly having time to practice magic techniques or to comprehend Magic Intent.

It will get better in a few years, by then, with the Planting Technique improved to the Great Perfection Level, the effects will increase while the magical power consumption will correspondingly decrease.

Furthermore, as his cultivation improves, the magical power inside his body will become more abundant, providing more time to practice other magic techniques, while the Spiritual Mechanism absorbed by the Stone Turtle can also be used to quickly enhance his understanding of magic techniques.

He paused, asking:

“Senior Brother, based on the timing of the last Three Sects competition, it should be held again in four years, why has there been no news yet?”

According to convention, the sect should be conducting the selection process now.

Liu Yu mused:

“I heard from the Vice Hall Master that the situation is special now, competition selection may be held in another form, but I haven’t heard any specific news.”

The Three Sects’ advancement in the Ten Thousand Mountains has halted at the Mingfeng Mountain line, currently brewing a major move.

Once the preliminary preparation is complete, a large number of cultivators will undoubtedly be mobilized to launch an attack.

Ji An nodded slightly, holding the selection later would be beneficial, the more delay, the more prepared he would be.

Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators who achieve enough victories in the Three Sects competition will be rewarded by the sect with large quantities of spiritual objects to assist cultivation methods, almost covering the entire Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation.

The generous rewards have heightened everyone’s enthusiasm to participate in the competition, with practically every cultivator with magical combat talent taking part.

…

Ji An put down the tools, patting the cut demon beast hide forcefully, and exhaled lightly.

The hide of Late-stage Foundation Establishment demon beasts is extremely tough, taking half a day just to cut.

It is said that some Late-stage Foundation Establishment demon beasts known for defense can withstand spiritual artifact attacks simply by the toughness of their exterior, unless repeatedly hitting the same spot, it is hard to inflict damage.

Xia Yuhuan entered the stone house, placing down a tray of Spirit Tea:

“Junior Martial Uncle, please have some tea, is there anything I can help with?”

She wore a dark belt, making her slender waist seem graspable, her eyes agile like an autumn pool.

Ji An picked up the Spirit Tea, took a sip, and smiled:

“Stir the talisman ink evenly, without any trace of sediment.”

The prepared talisman ink will have a slight sedimentation phenomenon, needing long-term stirring before use, or else the distribution of spiritual power in the talisman paper will be uneven.

Such stirring lacks technical content, simply requiring patience, a suitable task to delegate.

Since the two girls settled at Red Flame Peak, he has always had someone by his side to attend to affairs, many trivial matters no longer need his hands-on involvement, it’s a pretty good feeling.

The two sisters had just turned twenty, and it was quite pleasing to have lively young girls serving around.

“Yes,” Xia Yuhuan placed the tray to the side and began mixing the talisman ink.

Ji An finished his spirit tea and, taking advantage of the moment, closed his eyes to rest his spirit, recalling the steps and techniques to create the Bursting Talisman and began the ’mental visualization’ of talisman making.

With his current talisman-making ability, he didn’t need to pre-copy the talisman script and could draw directly.

Low-level materials couldn’t withstand the spiritual power of the Bursting Talisman, and there wasn’t an alternative material for practice, so he had to directly use high-tier materials for drawing.

Every wasted material was a tremendous loss, yet these losses were unavoidable, so he could only be as well-prepared as possible.

While drawing the fifth Bursting Talisman in his mind, he heard soft whispers by his ear:

“Junior Martial Uncle, the talisman ink has been mixed to the optimal state.”

During her free time from raising spirit fish at Jade Water Lake, Xia Yuhuan would carry out some tasks like making talisman papers and mixing talisman ink to supplement her cultivation, and she had become adept with these tasks.

Ji An stood up to observe the state of the talisman ink and didn’t hold back his praise:

“Very good.”

He picked up the talisman brush, dipped it in the talisman ink, and began drawing the Flame Bursting Talisman on the talisman paper, improving his touch and feeling the rhythm of the magical power output when using high-tier talisman ink.

Initially, the previously very skilled Flame Bursting Talisman continually failed to be drawn, but starting from the fourth talisman, he had adjusted his pace, and his success rate returned to normal.

Once his touch regained accuracy, Ji An picked up the cut beast hide and extended his divine sense to carefully feel the texture of the hide.

In his eyes, an illusory Bursting Talisman appeared on the beast hide, with each talisman node fitting perfectly into place.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted the talisman brush, dipped it in talisman ink, and began to lay down strokes on the beast hide.

As magical power infused, specks of crystalline red light flickered from the talisman ink on the pen tip.

With a fluid motion, Ji An completed the talisman drawing.

“Success! That smoothly?!”

Ji An, somewhat surprised, picked up the Bursting Talisman, seeing the talisman’s red light radiating spiritual qi. He extended his divine sense to feel the smoothness at each node.

Suddenly, he felt the spiritual power within the talisman become chaotic.

Ji An’s face twitched, and he threw the talisman out of the house.

Only to see the talisman burst with bright spirit light, exploding into a fireball. The beast hide was burned in half, drifting in the wind and scattering in black ash.

Xia Yuhuan widened her eyes and covered her mouth with her hand, starting to calculate in her mind how many spirit stones were lost here.

The loss of such high-grade materials probably offset a month of her income.

Ji An gritted his teeth, self-deprecatingly saying, “I knew it wouldn’t be that smooth.”

The previously drawn talisman was an accident; a normally failed talisman just had a thin spiritual aura or incomplete talismans that couldn’t lock the spiritual qi, impossible to self-destruct.

He closed his eyes, carefully reflecting on the drawing details, contemplating where the problem lay.

A moment later, he calmed his spirit, picked up the talisman brush, and started drawing again.

Whether successful or failed, after drawing each talisman he would stop to review and summarize the experience.

A day passed in talisman making, and as a slanting sunbeam shone into the stone house, Ji An ended his talisman drawing.

He only felt a dizzy headache at this point, finding talisman making more consuming of focus than spellcasting.

A month quickly passed, and Ji An consumed all the beast hides, creating forty-five Tier One Top-Grade Bursting Talismans.

…

“Time flies, I must return to the Law Enforcement Hall to report.

Junior Brother, I’ve seen you continuously making Bursting Talismans, what quality can you achieve?”

Liu Yu said, still unsatiated, the spiritual qi concentration at Red Flame Peak’s summit reached Tier Two Middle Grade, even close to Tier Two Upper Grade; this environment was more suitable for refining magical power than his grotto mansion.

“All are Tier One Top-Grade level, should be able to match the full attack of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator practicing the Fire Element Technique.”

Ji An replied, his success rate in talisman making was about twenty-five percent, theoretically making a loss.

It was mainly due to frequent failures in the early stages, lowering the overall success rate. By the last few days of talisman making, his success rate had approached forty percent.

For a first attempt at making Bursting Talismans, he was quite satisfied with such a success rate.

“Selling them?”

Liu Yu asked; during combat, various accidents could occur, possibly leading to exhaustion, so cultivators always stockpile some talismans for emergencies.

“I can sell twenty-five pieces.”

“The price of Tier One Top-Grade Bursting Talismans fluctuates around fifty spirit stones; I’ll buy them at this price. Does it work for you, Junior Brother?”

“That works.”

After settling, Liu Yu cupped his hands and bid farewell:

“Junior Brother, until next time. The next time we meet, you should be able to enjoy fresh mulberries.”

“Senior Brother will definitely enjoy them to the fullest!”