Eighty-four: Ninefold Stacked Talisman Seals

Pan Wu’s success rate in crafting these two types of talisman seals had always been low during his lifetime. Xiao Yao, having merely inherited Pan Wu’s memories, found his own initial attempts even less successful. To increase his chances, Xiao Yao temporarily abandoned the method of carving into jade with a chisel, opting instead for paper talismans, which were much simpler to make.

To create a paper talisman, one only needed yellow parchment, cinnabar, and a talisman brush. Drawing the seal onto the yellow paper was a swift and comparatively easy process. The effectiveness of a talisman depended on the resonance between its form and the rules governing the world’s natural order, producing a kind of miraculous special effect. Thus, a talisman only required a medium to carry it—be it paper, wood, stone, or jade.

Ordinary materials neither enhanced nor diminished the power of a seal; only rare and special substances, such as superior jade or millennium peachwood, could provide unique augmentation. Since Xiao Yao was just beginning his practice with Wealth Gathering and Feng Shui talismans, using precious materials would have been wasteful—he could not even successfully complete a single seal at first. Practicing with paper was the most suitable choice.

Because Pan Wu had rarely made Wealth Gathering and Feng Shui talismans in his lifetime and his success rate was low, Xiao Yao had very little practical experience to draw upon. He practiced throughout most of the night and managed, by sheer luck, to craft one Wealth Gathering talisman and one Feng Shui talisman—both on paper.

Despite the low success rate, Xiao Yao did not fear the backlash from failed resonance; his efficiency was already countless times greater than Pan Wu’s. Even after he had successfully made these two seals, he was unsatisfied, given their enormous potential effect, and prepared to push for greater difficulty.

Talisman crafting was not a skill commonly mastered by Qi Refiners, but rather a secret handed down among ancient witches. After Pan Wu’s first reincarnation, he became mortal enemies with a great witch over a dispute for resources. After killing the witch, he found among the witch’s possessions a legacy crystal ball, passed down through generations. Within this crystal ball were all the secret arts of the witch lineage, including a complete transmission of talisman crafting.

The talisman tradition was vast and profound, no less than the highest transmissions of Qi Refiners. Pan Wu’s aptitude in this area was not particularly high; he had only grasped its rudiments. Talismans were divided into nine levels, and Pan Wu had only managed to craft some of the first-level seals during his lifetime.

After Xiao Yao gained the foundation of the Sacred Soul, his talent for crafting talismans soared, yet he was in no hurry to learn second-level seals. The art was inherently deep and extremely tedious; without a solid foundation, it would be like a castle in the air, liable to collapse at any moment. Aspiring to craft advanced talismans would be mere wishful thinking.

Before moving on to second-level talismans, Xiao Yao resolved to thoroughly master the first-level ones. Only with a deep foundation could he advance further. The Wealth Gathering and Feng Shui talismans he had just made were merely entry-level among the first-tier seals; his next step was to practice stacking talisman seals.

The pinnacle of first-level talisman crafting was the ninefold stacking of the same seal pattern!

Stacking talismans was exceedingly difficult. Even with Pan Wu’s experience and talent, he could only make the most basic first-level seals; he could not even manage a twofold stacking.

After two nights of practice, Xiao Yao began attempting stacked talismans. The difficulty lay in one crucial point: after completing the drawing of a seal, one had to maintain the resonance among the seal, spiritual power, and the corresponding universal rules without interruption.

To accomplish this was extremely challenging. After the seal was drawn, the resonance frequency reached a peak. If it exceeded the limit of spiritual power’s ability to withstand backlash, the connection would be severed. Only by enduring this backlash without letting the resonance break could one continue with the second seal.

Through experimentation, Xiao Yao was delighted to discover that such backlash was negligible given the strength of his soul. Not only was it insignificant, but after enduring the backlash, his soul’s strength even increased slightly—a surprising benefit.

To craft talismans while simultaneously strengthening his soul was a rare double blessing.

The more seal patterns stacked, the greater the backlash endured by the soul in maintaining resonance. Whether it was the robustness of Xiao Yao’s Sacred Soul foundation or simply the limited backlash induced by first-level seals, he found, to his delight, that even the backlash from the ninefold stacking of a first-level seal was trivial to his soul; he could withstand it effortlessly.

Because he needed no rest to recover from the backlash, his progress in talisman crafting was extraordinarily swift.

Within just one week, he successfully crafted a ninefold stacked Wealth Gathering talisman and a ninefold stacked Feng Shui talisman. Though both were paper talismans and prone to damage, their effects were as potent as those of ordinary jade talismans.

Having completed these two ninefold stacked first-level seals, Xiao Yao eagerly brought them to the company, determined to test their effects.

Since they were paper talismans, careful placement was essential to prevent damage. Upon arriving at the office, he looked around, then decided to temporarily move the Hetian jade mountain from its wooden stand. He placed the two paper talismans on the stand and pressed them down with the jade mountain, ensuring their safety.

Within that week, the business department was renting out four or five thousand square meters of office space daily; only twenty thousand square meters remained unleased. Xiao Yao was confident these two ninefold stacked talismans would have a dramatic impact. He waited patiently all morning, and sure enough, by midday, news arrived.

After lunch, Chen Xingwen walked into his office, brimming with excitement. Upon seeing Xiao Yao, he exclaimed, “Boss, I’ve got great news! Just now, I received a call from General Manager Yang of Guotai Insurance—they plan to lease six floors from us as their new office location.”

“Doesn’t Guotai have its own office building? Why are they suddenly renting space from us?” Xiao Yao was surprised.

“Guotai’s office building is about to be demolished. They’ve abruptly decided not to invest heavily in constructing or purchasing a new building, but to rent instead. Our Taigu Tower is in a prime location, and the remaining office space suits their needs perfectly. So they’ve decided to sign with us. However, General Manager Yang hopes we can offer them some preferential rent. What do you think we should do?” This unexpected development left Chen Xingwen visibly thrilled.