Chapter 118: The Sword Decree

Chapter 118: The Sword Token

“Are you a talisman master, layman?” The monk Wukong looked up for a long while, then suddenly turned to Jiang Yan and asked.

Jiang Yan was attempting to penetrate the realm gate with his divine sense. Hearing Wukong’s question, he casually replied, “A first-grade talisman master.” Although Jiang Yan had yet to formally pass the appraisal for a high-grade talisman master, his ability to form a divine sense defensive technique—the Divine Cocoon Art—demonstrated that his divine sense had firmly stepped into the first-grade talisman master realm.

“Amitabha, that’s excellent. We now have hope to rely on you to return to Lingqing Prefecture’s territory,” Wukong monk exhaled deeply, his previously anxious heart settling. Master Kongse’s divination remained as accurate as ever.

The fat-faced monk Wude was filled with joy, loudly exclaiming, “Then we are in your debt, layman. If we can return, I’ve stayed here long enough—so many have died here, it’s no good place.”

Monk Wusheng’s expression remained stern, unreadable as to whether he was pleased or not at the prospect of returning to Lingqing Prefecture, but his gaze never left Jiang Yan’s side.

Monk Wuming’s face was full of disbelief. Although Tang Wan’s foundational strength and Jiang Yan’s effortlessly thrown realm gate had startled him, he still looked down on Jiang Yan—not because of strength, but envy. Envy that such a young sect leader of a minor sect was stronger than he was.

Tang Wan had withdrawn the spiritual pressure she had released. Hearing Wukong and Wude’s praise of Jiang Yan, her heart brimmed with joy. Her large eyes nearly formed two crescent moons, warm and delightful.

“Then please, layman, use the positioning spiritual treasure to establish contact with Lingqing Prefecture as soon as possible. Once the connection is made, we can return,” Wukong monk said excitedly.

...

Jiang Yan sat cross-legged before the positioning spiritual treasure, staring blankly at the blank tablet above the realm gate.

Though the realm gate existed, Jiang Yan did not know how to use it. As several monks from Hua Sheng Temple had said, the realm gate itself was not yet linked to another realm gate. It required communication with the positioning spiritual treasure to return to Lingqing Prefecture. Jiang Yan, however, was unclear about how to connect to this positioning spiritual treasure.

“Senior Brother, you should rest a moment,” Tang Wan said, having quietly woven a blue-green mat made from fresh grass. The mat was exquisitely crafted, with clear concentric rings. Jiang Yan was surprised at how she had made such a delicate mat in so short a time.

Sitting cross-legged on the mat Tang Wan made, Jiang Yan pondered what exactly a positioning spiritual treasure was.

On Mount Hua, there was a third-grade mountain gate, a second-grade spirit beast garden, a second-grade sect main hall, first-grade training grounds, spirit fields, refining rooms for pills and weapons, talisman formation grounds, and training grounds. As for spiritual treasures, the spirit beast garden held a few, but these were merely spirit stones to promote the garden’s rank, unrelated to positioning.

Unwilling to accept this, Jiang Yan summoned a transparent information interface to inventory the spiritual treasures he actually possessed.

Sect Name: Mount Hua
Sect Base: Mount Hua
Sect Rank: Third-grade Sect
Number of Disciples: Eleven (Five first-generation, six second-generation)
Sect Buildings: Second-grade mountain gate, second-grade spirit beast garden, second-grade main hall, first-grade training grounds, first-grade spirit fields, first-grade pill refining room, first-grade weapon refining room, first-grade talisman formation grounds, first-grade training grounds
Sect Spirit Beasts: Moon Marten (grade unknown), Sky Crane (second-grade), Howling Heaven Dog (high first-grade), Howling Soul Dog (middle first-grade), Golden-eyed Eagle (middle first-grade), Spirit Worm (middle first-grade)

Sect Basic Techniques: Green Wood Technique (third-grade), Golden Flame Technique (middle second-grade), Water Transformation Technique (middle second-grade), Leaving Fire Technique (middle second-grade), Thick Earth Technique (middle second-grade)
Sect Basic Offensive Techniques: Green Wood Archery (second-grade), Black Water Sword Rain (second-grade), Leaving Fire Burning Sky (second-grade), Yellow Earth Axe Technique (second-grade), Golden Flow Sword Qi (second-grade)
Sect Daily Techniques: Fire Condensation Technique (second-grade), Pill Splitting Technique (second-grade), ** Technique (second-grade), Earth Qi Technique (second-grade)
Sect Military Manual: Commanding Troops Manual (first-grade)
Sect's Signature Treasure: Sword Token (second-grade)
Sect Defensive Array: Four Symbol Seven Kill ** Array, capable of blocking foundational stage cultivators

Seeing the transparent interface filled with special buildings and techniques, Jiang Yan was quite pleased.

In less than a year, Jiang Yan had developed a subordinate sect into a third-grade sect with foundational stage cultivators. Such an achievement was rare for any cultivator. Although Mount Hua’s disciples were few, the sect had all essential departments—alchemy, artifact forging, spirit fields, talisman formations—nothing was missing. Jiang Yan was confident Mount Hua would soon soar to great heights.

Sitting on the mat, Jiang Yan’s heart swelled with pride. To have imagined such prosperity seemed a long way off once.

“Senior Brother, are you alright?” Tang Wan squatted beside him, her delicate face full of concern as she looked at Jiang Yan’s dazed smile. “Have you been disturbed trying to enter the foundational stage?”

“Ah…” Jiang Yan was startled from his pride, wiping drool from his mouth awkwardly. “I’m fine, Wan’er. I was just thinking if I could communicate with the spiritual treasures on Mount Hua to return directly.”

Tang Wan furrowed her beautiful brows, puzzled. “But Senior Brother, although Mount Hua has many buildings, there seems to be no spiritual treasure you can communicate with. The spirit beast garden, pill refining room, spirit fields, training grounds—none are spiritual treasures. Unless… unless the darkened sword token on the stone tablet outside the training grounds is a spiritual treasure.”

Jiang Yan’s heart jolted. He recalled the Sword Token in the transparent interface had already risen to second-grade. According to the sect leader system’s information, the Sword Token could still ascend further. Being able to ascend naturally meant it was a spiritual treasure. More importantly, Jiang Yan had once left his own blood on the Sword Token. Blood could allow the original owner to communicate with myriad worlds effortlessly.

According to Monk Wukong, that Sword Token should serve as the positioning spiritual treasure to communicate with Lingqing Prefecture.

Without hesitation, Jiang Yan summoned the transparent interface and examined the Sword Token’s details.

Item Name: Sword Token
Grade: Second-grade
Functions: Positioning, suppression, spiritual energy accumulation

The Sword Token was indeed a positioning spiritual treasure. A great weight lifted from Jiang Yan’s heart. Since the Sword Token was a spiritual treasure, connecting to Tianyue Realm would be much easier.

With that thought, Jiang Yan immediately began to link the realm gate to the Sword Token. Once the connection was established, he could return directly to Mount Hua through the realm gate.

“Hum…” A faint blue light flickered on Jiang Yan’s forehead. The character for ‘wood’ at his forehead’s center shimmered briefly as his divine sense poured forth. He prepared to penetrate the realm gate, communicating with the distant Sword Token in Lingqing Prefecture, to establish contact and open the passage between Mount Hua and Yunlan Demon Realm.

“Sizzle…” Jiang Yan’s divine sense spun rapidly around his body. Having broken through the foundational stage, his divine sense had grown significantly. What was once a hair-thin thread had thickened, its tip sharp as an arrowhead, slicing through the air with a sizzling sound.

Jiang Yan’s divine sense circled the realm gate for a long time, finally locating its core. With a movement, his arrow-like divine sense darted into the blank tablet above the realm gate.

The realm gate’s construction was complicated—railings, white jade tablet, marble pillars—all formed of talisman formations, each exquisitely crafted. Jiang Yan had to be extremely careful not to damage any formation.

“Buzz buzz…” As Jiang Yan’s divine sense penetrated the tablet, it immediately emitted a milky white glow, lighting up the increasingly dark sky over the Spirit Herb Valley.

“Layman Jiang has begun communicating with the positioning spiritual treasure of Lingqing Prefecture,” Wude, bare-chested and excited, said as he watched the milky realm gate.

“Brother, silence!” Wukong stopped Wude’s loud voice, fearing it would disturb Jiang Yan. All monks from Hua Sheng Temple stared tensely at the milky white realm gate, including the arrogant Wuming.

The tablet above the realm gate was its core. Behind the tablet lay a mysterious starry sky. A talisman master could penetrate this starry sky through the tablet and use the previously established special marks to find another world among millions of realms. Establishing a passage between two worlds and communicating between the realms was the completion of the realm gate connection.

Each realm gate bore a unique mark. To form a connection between two realm gates, the talisman master had to enter the blank tablet at the moment the realm gate was created and leave a mark only discoverable by divine sense. This mark could emit a peculiar light to help the talisman master locate the realm gate’s position in the mysterious starry sky. Later, when establishing a connection, the talisman master could find this realm gate via the mark and form a passage linking the two worlds.

When there was only one realm gate, communicating between worlds required a positioning spiritual treasure that the talisman master’s divine sense could detect. The divine sense would enter the mysterious starry sky through the realm gate’s tablet, then locate the other world via the positioning spiritual treasure. Linking the realm gate and positioning spiritual treasure thus formed the connection between the two worlds.

However, this method was inconvenient. If the spiritual treasure was not of sufficient grade to support cultivators, the connection was one-way—only allowing passage from the realm gate to the other world, but not back from the spiritual treasure’s world to the realm gate’s side.

...

“Hoo…” Jiang Yan felt his divine sense grow heavy. Just upon entering the blank tablet, his divine sense struggled like a fish swimming from water into a swamp, barely able to move an inch.

Though Jiang Yan had advanced to the foundational stage and his divine sense was strong, the recent busy days hunting demons had limited his spirit refinement. Although his divine sense had increased with his spiritual power, its strength was still insufficient against a realm gate crafted by a true talisman master. Jiang Yan’s divine sense felt powerless.

He exerted all his divine sense power to push forward inside the tablet...

The tablet connected to the mysterious starry sky. Though Jiang Yan’s divine sense was hindered, once inside the starry sky, movement would be easier, and locating the other realm gate or positioning spiritual treasure bearing his marks would be effortless.

“Pop…”

Jiang Yan heard a faint snap beside his ear. His divine sense broke through a barrier into a new space. Suddenly feeling weightless as if losing gravity, he floated lightly midair...

Above the realm gate, the white tablet’s gentle blue glow suddenly brightened, emitting a pure beam shooting straight into the horizon...

“Layman’s divine sense has entered the mysterious starry sky!” Wukong monk exclaimed, rising abruptly with delight.