Chapter 98: The Primal Spirit Jade Core Stone—A New Approach to Crafting Talismans

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The Fragment of the Great Yan Escape Technique!

Inside the private room, Shen Lian, who had been dozing off, suddenly perked up.

Back in Yunmeng Workshop City, he had also collected various Five Elements escape techniques. However, with fewer magical duels later on, he invested less in this area.

Moreover, the fire and metal escape techniques he gathered then were simplified versions, usable even at the Foundation Establishment stage, but somewhat lacking in power.

The Five Elements escape techniques were quite common throughout the cultivation world, with countless branches evolving over time.

Different versions varied in rank and potency.

Currently, the most renowned Five Elements escape technique in the cultivation world was the Great Yan Five Elements Escape, regarded as the most complete and profound technique—usable from Qi Refinement up to the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages.

At the auction house, after Lu Ying announced the fragment of the Great Yan Escape Technique, a hush fell over the venue.

Previously, when other spiritual items were auctioned, as long as they weren’t too obscure, bids would come in promptly.

But now, the Qi Refinement cultivators in the crowd glanced up toward the private room one by one. Fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones was an enormous sum that could cost cultivators at their level dearly.

The Foundation Establishment cultivators inside their rooms wore varied expressions.

The atmosphere grew cold.

It was understandable. The Great Yan Escape Technique was somewhat out of reach for most cultivators—neither affordable nor suitable at lower levels.

Simplified escape techniques were widespread; eight out of ten cultivators would learn some form of escape technique early on, gaining at least a rudimentary understanding.

But now, to spend fifty thousand spirit stones on an incomplete scroll to improve their escape skills was something to seriously ponder.

If the price were lower, they might consider it.

“Fifty-one thousand spirit stones.”

After a dozen breaths, a deep voice rang out from the private room.

Shen Lian glanced over and calmly replied, “Fifty-two thousand.”

Once Shen Lian spoke, Qi Chengzan from another room furrowed his brows, his expression subtly shifting.

“Fifty-three thousand spirit stones.”

“Fifty-four thousand.”

...

“Fifty-seven thousand.”

“Fifty-eight thousand.”

...

“Sixty thousand low-grade spirit stones.”

Finally, when Shen Lian raised his bid to sixty thousand low-grade spirit stones, the competing private rooms fell silent.

At the same time, he felt the blood bean insect on him tremble, and among the many glances cast his way, one was particularly intense.

Sixty thousand spirit stones! Sixty thousand spirit stones!

Of course, this little alchemist must have spirit stones.

Qi Chengzan lowered his head, regretting not having acted earlier, before reaching Aoshan Immortal City.

All those spirit stones were his.

Sixty thousand spirit stones for a broken escape technique—was he crazy?

The Qi family probably had only a little over forty thousand in liquid assets.

Qi Chengzan’s regret twisted his insides painfully.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I can still get half-price at the black market and save thirty thousand.”

...

“The next item is a Mountain and Water Glazed Wood. Small, yes, but it can serve as the main frame for a large spirit vessel.”

“Starting bid: ten thousand low-grade spirit stones, increments of five hundred spirit stones, or second-rank superior pills or talismans.”

...

Inside the private room, Shen Lian took out spirit stones and held the fragment of the Great Yan Escape Technique jade slip eagerly.

“It’s worth it!”

Just one glance made him feel he’d made the right purchase.

The escape techniques recorded weren’t limited to the Five Elements; they also introduced escape arts derived from them, such as Mist Escape, Cloud Escape, Wind Escape, and those based on mystical beasts like Beast Escape, Fish Escape, Insect Escape...

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They called it a fragment not because the content was incomplete, but because it was disorganized, with some descriptions and cultivation methods partially erased.

Shen Lian skimmed through and found the Five Elements escape arts fairly complete. The complexity of the related spells was enough to serve even those ascending to the Golden Core stage.

“Urine Escape…”

When he saw the water escape branch, he couldn’t help but click his tongue in amazement.

This technique was too familiar; nearly every Daoist could understand it intuitively.

...

“The next item is a raw piece of profound spiritual jade marrow, starting bid twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones.”

Hearing the announcement, Shen Lian hurriedly retracted his divine sense from the jade slip.

Previously, the profound spiritual jade marrow he had purchased in shops came in segmented pieces, each about one and a half inches wide and two and a half inches long.

Profound spiritual jade marrow was a byproduct mineral vein found alongside spirit stone and refined iron veins.

However, cutting jade marrow required a Foundation Establishment cultivator of at least the seventh layer to use divine sense as a blade—a process that was very mentally taxing.

Shen Lian’s gaze shifted to the profound spiritual jade marrow in Lu Ying’s hand; this was the first time he had seen such a large piece. Such a chunk could even be used for forging.

The raw stone tapered from top to bottom like a small mountain, about the size of three adult fists.

After examining it carefully, he understood why this stone was up for auction.

The entire stone was riddled with mineral spots. Even as forging material, impurities would have to be painstakingly removed.

Only the narrower top part was relatively smooth and rounded, but even there, mineral spots appeared. At most, two pieces of profound spiritual jade marrow could be cut from it.

Other parts had even more spots, making it impossible to cut out intact pieces.

Cutting jade marrow into two and a half inches long by one and a half inches wide was no random choice; it was based on years of experience.

Pieces of this size perfectly nourished the spiritual power of a sixth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator—not too much, not too little.

Squinting at the raw jade marrow, a sudden idea flashed through Shen Lian’s mind.

If talisman paper didn’t work, could he use jade marrow instead?

Unlike the flat talisman runes inscribed on paper, the runes carved into jade marrow existed in three dimensions.

Using a whole piece of jade marrow to forge a Heavenly Yan jade talisman, then polishing and cutting the leftover scraps into smaller jade pieces of varying sizes…

The different sizes would hold different amounts of runes, allowing control over the talisman’s power.

If this method succeeded, it could fill the gap in attack power between the seventh and ninth layers of Foundation Establishment.

It might even be used to nourish the Heavenly Yan jade talisman itself—it wasn’t good to always use his own body for nourishment.

With this thought, Shen Lian felt it was worth trying.

If successful, he could collect jade marrow raw stones with a lot of impurities for use.

While Shen Lian hesitated, the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the other private rooms also examined the jade marrow.

Seeing its condition, most lost much interest.

Only one forger in a private room remained interested. Aside from forging earth-elemental artifacts, profound spiritual jade marrow could enhance the quality of other artifacts when added appropriately.

“Twenty-one thousand spirit stones.”

The forger placed a bid.

Normally, such a large raw jade marrow stone would be worth far more, but the impurities reduced its value.

“Twenty-two thousand low-grade spirit stones.”

Shen Lian also bid.

Hearing Shen Lian’s bid, Qi Chengzan twitched again.

First a fragment, now a flawed stone—did this alchemist have no other use for spirit stones?

He truly didn’t understand why an alchemist would buy escape techniques and forging materials.

Neglecting his proper duties!

...

Feeling the blood bean insect tremble again, Shen Lian found it amusing. He hadn’t detected any divine sense fluctuations or bloodstains spreading.

It seemed to be a reaction between the tracking blood bean insect and the locating blood bean insect.

Apparently, his spending of spirit stones was causing Qi Chengzan some displeasure.

“Twenty-five thousand spirit stones.”

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Then Shen Lian continued to raise his bid.

The auction hall fell silent. The bidding for the raw jade marrow paused as the forger pondered the cost.

He then said, “Twenty-seven thousand spirit stones.”

“Twenty-nine thousand spirit stones.”

Shen Lian matched the bid.

If this raw jade marrow had been flawless, the combined value of the cut pieces and leftover scraps would be around fifty to sixty thousand.

But it had impurities.

After a dozen breaths, the forger ceased bidding, and Shen Lian successfully won the jade marrow.

...

After the jade marrow, Lu Ying presented some first-rank superior spiritual items, until he held up a talisman reflecting a towering blue wave.

“Second-rank superior Giant Whale Canglang Talisman, made from the belly skin of the ninth-layer Foundation Establishment demonic beast, Ancient Cang Whale. Starting bid: three thousand low-grade spirit stones.”

The previously quiet private rooms stirred once more.

Shen Lian studied the talisman. The scraps of talisman paper he bought from seventh-layer Foundation Establishment beasts cost a thousand low-grade spirit stones each.

The previously purchased superior spirit ink, priced at 3,600 per vial, was also prepared using the blood of seventh-layer beasts, with five uses each. That meant over seven hundred spirit stones per use.

In other words, a second-rank superior talisman with seventh-layer Foundation Establishment power cost nearly two thousand spirit stones at minimum.

So a starting price of three thousand for a ninth-layer Foundation Establishment power talisman was not high at all—it was actually a bit low.

But this was an auction; price was no obstacle.

“Three thousand five hundred.”

“Four thousand.”

“Four thousand two hundred.”

“Four thousand five hundred.”

...

“Five thousand!”

Shen Lian heard Qi Chengzan’s bid, along with that of the seventh-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator who previously contested the Imperial Extreme Bu’e Pill.

“Six thousand!”

“Seven thousand!”

Qi Chengzan’s eyes were wide; this time he did not back down, continuously raising his price.

Even when the price exceeded expectations, he showed no intention to yield.

In the end, the talisman belonged to Qi Chengzan.

Throughout the auction, more than three hundred spiritual items were sold, most being first-rank, with over fifty second-rank items.

After the auction ended, Shen Lian didn’t rush away. Instead, he went to the Xuanhai Hall to purchase several bottles of second-rank medium-grade spirit ink and other talisman crafting materials before leaving.

Feeling the remaining spirit stones in his storage pouch, Shen Lian sighed slightly. But considering he was still at the Foundation Establishment stage with Golden Core-level expenses, he accepted it.

Standing in the plaza, he glanced around before walking leisurely along the wide stone path toward the city gate.

Upon reaching the gate, he suddenly paused, bowed his head in thought as if he had forgotten something, then turned back into the city.

Watching Shen Lian disappear into the crowd, Qi Chengzan, standing outside the city gate, looked disheveled.

???

!!!

Returning all the way to his rented cave, Shen Lian now wanted to test his idea.

To see if fragments of profound spiritual jade marrow could be used to craft jade talismans to fill the attack power gap from seventh to ninth layer Foundation Establishment.

As for Qi Chengzan…

Raising a big black beast, a three-thousand-level one, and having to entertain it often—let alone raising a personal pet.

Once Shen Lian perfected his simplified Heavenly Yan jade talisman, he planned to give that fellow a full barbecue feast.

Not now, though. The ordinary Tiangang-Disha talisman formation’s power was insufficient; Qi Chengzan wasn’t worthy of enjoying the Heavenly Yan jade talisman’s strength yet.