Chapter 109: A Second-Rank Mid-Level Talisman Master, After Fusion Reaching the Eighth Foundation Stage, Five Elements Spiritual Puppet

The golden-red sun shone into Shen Lian’s eyes as intricate runes intertwined, gradually shifting from their solidified state into the shape of a fiery bird.

“Puff, puff, puff!”

In the cave’s water pool, the three thousand fish, initially playing about, were instantly frightened by the subtle, scorching aura and dove deep beneath the water’s surface.

Their bloodlines trembled instinctively, sensing that with this golden light, the master could roast the azure water spirit fish without even using a furnace.

Within the blazing sun, the firebird displayed long fiery feathers, circling inside the ring of flames.

Shen Lian clearly perceived that the runes on the firebird seemed alive, stirring bit by bit.

In that moment, his comprehension of the art of runes suddenly opened wide.

…

[Runecrafter: Second Rank, Lower Grade (20,350/20,000) – Breakthrough Available]

[Breakthrough]

[Runecrafter: Second Rank, Middle Grade (350/30,000) – Breakthrough Not Available]

When Shen Lian regained his senses, ripples had formed within his divine consciousness, filled with even deeper and more profound runes than before.

He quietly stood before his desk, only returning to full awareness after several days.

Yet the inheritance of second-rank runecrafting experience and knowledge remained unbroken.

“Minor Five Elements Mutual Generation Rune, derived from the Great Five Elements Mutual Generation Rune, can assist cultivators with elemental roots in their practice and enhance five-element formations.”

“Calming Rune, can briefly stabilize a cultivator’s movements.”

“Minor Soul Suppression Rune, a simplified version of the Great Soul Suppression Rune, can reinforce a cultivator’s divine consciousness sea.”

…

“Puppet Rune, based on puppets, seals the puppet’s power within the rune, enabling…”

…

This inheritance took Shen Lian three entire months to fully digest, and his understanding of runes underwent a transformative rebirth.

Runes have a clear progression; most runes form a hierarchical sequence, much like cultivators progressing through Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core stages, allowing for gradual advancement.

For example, the Thunderfire Rune at second rank becomes the Celestial Thunderfire Rune, and at third rank the Celestial Divine Thunderfire Rune. Tracing its origins, it can be linked to the legendary fifth rank superior Purple Cloud Divine Thunder Rune of the immortal cultivation world.

Similarly, the second rank Ten-Thousand-Mile Divine Movement Rune evolves into the third rank Void Crossing Rune, which traces back to the fifth rank superior Close-to-Home Great Thousand Rune.

Lower rank runes are simplified versions of higher rank ones, not only in the number of runes but also in complexity and rune types.

Among the runes passed down this time, many kindled Shen Lian’s desire.

For instance, the Minor Five Elements Mutual Generation Rune could be drawn, but its power couldn’t be enhanced through the Celestial Fire Domain without risking elemental imbalance.

Only after his five-element roots reached perfection could it unleash true power.

The Minor Soul Suppression Rune and Puppet Rune particularly intrigued him.

The Minor Soul Suppression Rune resembled a one-time-use divine consciousness artifact, while the Puppet Rune’s applications were even broader.

Puppet masters in the cultivation world forge their own life puppets, much like Shen Lian’s five-element spirit puppet. Yet, a life puppet is deeply tied to the master’s mental stability and is difficult to recover once damaged—the higher the realm, the harder the restoration.

With the Puppet Rune, things would be different.

Runecrafters could use their puppets as templates, imprinting some abilities of the life puppet onto the Puppet Rune, granting it partial power of the life puppet.

As for combat strength, that depended on the life puppet’s might, the runecrafter’s skill, and the materials used.

Shen Lian found this rune especially practical.

Once used, the Puppet Rune would be destroyed, making it perfect for discreet tasks—effectively providing an additional layer of defense beyond the life puppet.

Reflecting on the old demon of Black Cliff controlling so many cultivators, Shen Lian increasingly admired the demon’s methods.

A simultaneous uprising across all directions of the Profound Sea Sect wasn’t simply mind control.

Upon closer thought, the demon’s tactics were inhuman.

How could Golden Core cultivators be so overwhelmingly powerful? It was utterly unreasonable.

Could it be something supernatural?

Or some special technique?

If he rose to the Nascent Soul stage and had the chance to return, and if the demon were still at Golden Core, perhaps he could repay kindness with kindness and learn from the demon’s methods.

Sitting cross-legged in the cave, Shen Lian took out his primary Celestial Jade Talisman.

Inside, thirty-six layers of runes interwove three-dimensionally, forming a spherical fireball radiating thunderlight.

Previously, the secondary talisman’s runes, while three-dimensional, were scattered and not fully unfolded.

This sudden promotion to second rank middle grade runecrafter was not due to mere attribute points but the experience gained from crafting this first talisman.

The experience of drawing this one talisman outweighed the combined effort of creating hundreds of smaller secondary talismans.

Within the talisman, the runes shifted continuously between the firebird and the symbols, emitting a blazing aura.

Its aura alone surpassed that of the secondary talisman by a significant margin, though to craft it had consumed all the second rank superior spiritual ink in one furnace.

Ordinary third-rank talismans would nourish more slowly.

Raising second rank superior spiritual ink to third rank, Shen Lian further deepened his understanding of the Celestial Fire Domain’s mysteries.

Having stored away the first talisman, he went to check on the nurtured secondary talisman at another abode, finding the thunderfire steadily feeding into it, allowing him to leave with peace of mind.

Back in the cave, he introspected on the white shell concealed within his body.

From its cracked opening, spiritual power flowed out continuously.

In a moment of thought, Shen Lian summoned the earth and water spirit puppets he had found in the mine, preparing to try accelerating the absorption of spiritual power.

This shell had resided within him for quite some time, during which it had released energy on its own.

Now, having learned how to craft Puppet Runes, Shen Lian felt he needed to enhance the power of his five-element spirit puppets first to maximize the Puppet Rune’s effectiveness.

The Myriad Spirit Immortal Puppet Technique thoroughly refines spirit puppets, allowing them to cast the same spells as their master, as well as other spells.

Unlike ordinary puppets, which passively inherit only the spells cultivated by their corpse owners and often cannot fully retain power due to forging limitations.

Once fully refined, spirit puppets could even serve as avatars.

After forging the five-element spirit puppets, Shen Lian had yet to teach them any spells or skills.

A flash of spiritual light from his storage ring spilled out jade slips and scrolls—his spoils from recent years.

He picked up the jade slips one by one, seeking suitable spells for the five-element spirit puppets.

The first would be the Five Elements Escape Technique.

The second, the Five Elements Prohibition.

“This Thousand Waters Sword Technique is excellent.”

…

After selecting one or two spells for each spirit puppet, Shen Lian’s mind settled.

He carefully directed five elements spiritual energy toward the shell. Under its purging effect, the shell trembled and accelerated its energy release.

One month later.

A surging force erupted from Shen Lian’s body, transforming into five-colored spiritual energies colliding.

The protective array lit up, confining these multicolored energies within the cave.

Then five streams of light shot out from his body, forming five figures embodying gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, each radiating the aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the fifth layer.

“Merge!”

Shen Lian glanced over them and performed a hand seal. The five spirit puppets froze momentarily before fusing into one.

The merged spirit puppet’s aura instantly rose to the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment, though its movements slowed slightly.

As the spirit puppet’s power increased, Shen Lian struggled to control it, needing to infuse more puppet runes.

After a brief meditation, he began channeling five elements spiritual energy into the puppet, embedding runes.

This busy process took a month, with the number of runes inside the spirit puppet surpassing thirty thousand.

Shen Lian tried controlling the puppet again, feeling that silky smooth sensation return.

However, he did not stop but continued infusing runes.

Only when the puppet contained 48,000 runes did he pause, reclaiming the puppet into his five organs and continuing to absorb the shell’s spiritual energy.

Another month passed.

The energy inside the shell began thinning like smoke.

Each individual five-element spirit puppet rose another level, reaching the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment, and when merged, their aura approached the early eighth layer of Foundation Establishment.

Shen Lian held the now-empty white shell, carefully examining it inside and out. There was nothing abnormal; it was likely a specially crafted artifact for storing spiritual energy.

Its hardness was remarkable; his attacks left no mark, and even counterfeit pill attacks barely scratched it, suggesting it was a third-rank spiritual artifact.

With the five-element spirit puppets now at their strongest, the next step was teaching them spells and using them as templates to craft Puppet Runes.

…

“Master, the young cultivators who came ashore have found a fortune.”

The big black ant scurried into the cave, somewhat vexed.

Despite its countless offspring spreading across the island, and though they hadn’t fully claimed it yet, outsiders had already seized opportunities.

“Oh? What kind of fortune?”

Shen Lian, busy with his work, asked casually. The two young sea-race cultivators were still collecting the toxic mist.

“It seems to be a broken artifact, probably second rank, but only fragments remain.”

“Go, go, go, go play elsewhere.”

After hearing this, Shen Lian let the big black ant amuse itself.

Broken second-rank artifacts, even after melting down, might only fetch three to five hundred spirit stones; he was too busy to bother.

…

On the island, the sea-race cultivator master and apprentice who found the broken artifact searched the area for over half a month, nearly falling into the mine’s depths, before finally settling down.

After collecting the toxic mist, they left Sea Origin Island.

The island returned to calm, but the big black ant became more determined, spending every day in the ant nest, urging its descendants to occupy every corner of the island.

The three thousand could find ore.

Outsiders could find broken artifacts.

Yet it, the proud Black Horn Demon Ant King with dozens of wives and countless offspring, had gained nothing.

This was abnormal.

Could it be that the Black Ant King was simply unlucky?

…

Three months later.

Outside Sea Origin Island, a spirit boat sped through the waters.

Onboard were eight sea-race cultivators, along with one severely injured man lying inside, his aura weak and unconscious.

This man was none other than the young sea-race cultivator who had landed on Sea Origin Island earlier.

“Boy, if you can find another artifact, I promise to spare your life. Otherwise, you’ll go meet your dead master.”

The leading sea-race cultivator was burly, his dense scales gleaming black, wielding power at the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

The others ranged between the sixth and fifth layers of Qi Refining.

“I’m out, truly out. I’m not lying; I just happened to find it.” Mo Xu struggled to open his eyes, begging for mercy.

Lu Yunlin rubbed the marks on the broken artifact and crouched close, gently touching the scales on Mo Xu’s forehead.

Through half-open eyes, Mo Xu looked at the figures on the boat, filled with terror.

He and his master had planned to sell the broken artifact at Black Armor Workshop Market but were soon confronted by these men, who interrogated them about the artifact’s origin.

And had immediately killed his master.

“I know, I know you’re not lying. You just need to lead me to where you found this broken artifact. Maybe I’ll let you go.”

Looking at the marks on the artifact, a fiery gleam appeared beneath Lu Yunlin’s scaly eyelids.

After multiple confirmations, he identified the mark as belonging to Black Shark, a Foundation Establishment elder of the Black Shark Tribe, and that it was picked up on Sea Origin Island.

It was said that back then the Black Shark Tribe and the human Profound Corpse Sect fought over Sea Origin Island. In the latter stages of the war, several Foundation Establishment cultivators went missing, suspected to have perished within the island’s mineral veins.

The Black Shark Tribe had even issued a reward: any cultivator who found the remains of the tribe’s elders, regardless of strength, could join the tribe for cultivation.

At that time, this caused quite a stir in the nearby seas, spawning many legends.

Some said the missing Foundation Establishment cultivator was the tribe leader’s grandson.

Some said the missing cultivator was a direct descendant carrying something vital to the tribe’s safety.

Others claimed the missing cultivator possessed a high-grade spiritual artifact, the Vast Sea Pearl.

There were even rumors that the tribe feared the Profound Corpse Sect would find the remains, forge corpse puppets, and use them against the Black Shark Tribe.

In any case, many cultivators had searched the island over decades. Some success was achieved, including the discovery of one cultivator’s remains.

But over time, as the island’s poison intensified, few cultivators besides some fanciful wanderers ventured to Sea Origin Island’s vicinity anymore.

Now, no one came at all.

Lu Yunlin sat up again, surveying the distant outline of Sea Origin Island.

Foundation Establishment cultivator relics were a tremendous opportunity for scattered cultivators like them.

Holding this broken artifact, even if fruitless, was merely a waste of time.

If they could find a Foundation Establishment relic, they could ascend in one step, and Black Armor Workshop Market would become the largest market in this sea region.

…

At Sea Origin Island, Safe Abode Five.

Shen Lian’s aura surged; his dantian was once again fully charged.

Had he not spent these days crafting runes and toying with spiritual talismans, sustained by the spiritual power of secondhand shells, he would have already reached the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment.

His Five Qi Returning to Origin technique circulated, mobilizing spiritual energy throughout his body, coloring him with five radiant hues.

He repeatedly circulated the spiritual energy, solidifying the residual untransformed spiritual essence within, ensuring a solid foundation for future breakthroughs.

Once only the five elements’ spiritual energy remained, a tide of force surged toward the dantian.

(Chapters 99 and 100 have been revised without affecting the storyline. To view them, please return to the directory and download again.)

(The End of This Chapter)