Eager to become Xu Changshou’s senior brother, Jiang Xiaochuan went straight into seclusion.
Simultaneously, Lin Xian’er, Han Zong, Zhang Feixian, Shi Wantong, and Qian Yuanbao—all of whom had obtained Barrier Breaking Pills—also prepared to enter seclusion.
Xu Changshou, however, was in no rush to go into seclusion. Senior Sister Liu had been clear: when one reached a bottleneck, simply remaining in seclusion was no solution. Cultivation required a balance of effort and rest.
For the next few days, Xu Changshou rode the public flying boats to explore, stocking up on plenty of food as he went.
He was preparing to go into seclusion himself.
This time, he intended to refine every single Qi Gathering Pill he possessed. He was determined to break through to the seventh layer of Qi Condensation in one fell swoop.
If he failed, and Jiang Xiaochuan’s group broke through first, he really would go from being their senior brother to their junior brother.
Three days later.
Xu Changshou officially went into seclusion, hanging a sign on his door: “In Seclusion. Do Not Disturb.”
Two days later, Jiang Xiaochuan emerged. Having reached the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, he hurried to Xu Changshou’s room, but saw the sign on his door and left disappointed.
“Xu Changshou actually went into seclusion. Damn it. I’ll just have to wait for him to emerge. Regardless of what happens, that title of Senior Brother belongs to me!”
A few days later.
Lin Xian’er, Han Zong, Zhang Feixian, Qian Yuanbao, and Shi Wantong came out of seclusion, one after another.
“Congratulations! Congratulations to Junior Sister Lin on making another breakthrough!”
“Congratulations, Senior Brother Han!”
“A shared joy for us all!”
“Speaking of which… where is Junior Brother Xu?”
“Junior Brother Xu!”
The mere mention of Xu Changshou’s name ignited the group’s collective interest.
Having all successfully reached the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, they were certain Xu Changshou couldn’t have matched their speed. Thus, they had the same idea as Jiang Xiaochuan.
They all wanted to hear Xu Changshou call them his senior brother or senior sister.
Lin Xian’er turned toward the stairs. “I’ll go find Junior Brother Xu.”
“Don’t bother,” Jiang Xiaochuan said. “Junior Brother Xu has gone into seclusion.”
“Seclusion?”
“You don’t suppose he’s hiding from us, do you?”
The group hurried to Li Linhao’s quarters, and, to their surprise, found that Li Linhao had also reached the seventh layer.
“What about Su Mo?”
Refusing to let the matter drop, they went to look for Su Mo.
Unfortunately for them, Su Mo had also gone into seclusion.
A month later, Su Mo finally emerged, having successfully reached the seventh layer. Their hopes were dashed.
Now everyone pinned their hopes on Xu Changshou. They all hoped he would not break through.
During that month, Xu Changshou had refined three Qi Gathering Pills and was working on the fourth.
As his cultivation improved, he refined the pills much faster. He could now refine one pill every ten days.
Time flowed like water.
Another twenty days passed.
Boom…
Xu Changshou’s body trembled. He felt an acupoint open, and the spiritual energy within him surged.
At his Guanyuan acupoint, the golden cyclone of Qi had expanded to the size of a duck egg.
“The seventh layer of Qi Condensation! I finally broke through!”
Xu Changshou opened his eyes. Channeling Spiritual Qi to his palm, he struck at a nearby stool from a distance.
A powerful blast of energy erupted from his hand, shattering the hard locust-wood stool.
“So this is Qi emission. How powerful this spiritual energy is.”
Xu Changshou realized the fundamental difference between the sixth and seventh layers.
In a duel, even a hundred sixth-layer cultivators would not be a match for one at the seventh layer. The ability to project Spiritual Qi outward gave him formidable offensive power.
And that was without using any spells.
“Right, the Bloodline Jade Talisman.”
Xu Changshou took out the Bloodline Jade Talisman. With a movement of his finger, he sent threads of Spiritual Qi directly into the Bloodline Jade Talisman.
The Bloodline Jade Talisman trembled slightly and gave off rays of red light.
The jade talisman slowly faded until it disappeared into his palm. A red mark remained there, bearing the same ancient character that had been carved onto the Bloodline Jade Talisman’s surface.
Xu Changshou couldn’t read the ancient script, but after studying it over the years, he thought it was the character for “Talisman.”
But how was he supposed to actually open the Bloodline Jade Talisman?
Frowning, Xu Changshou instinctively pressed his palm against his forehead.
A stone door stood ahead of him.
Xu Changshou went over and gave it a gentle push. The door opened.
Beyond the threshold lay a square chamber, ten meters on each side. Another stone door stood opposite the entrance.
Carved on the second door were thousands of characters. The walls also bore hundreds of talismans:
Sharp Gold Talisman, Wood Entanglement Talisman, Water Binding Talisman, Fireball Talisman, Thick Earth Talisman, Windwalk Talisman, Five Elements Talisman, Thunder Explosion Talisman, Wind Thunder Talisman, Metal Thunder Talisman, Wood Thunder Talisman, Water Thunder Talisman, Fire Thunder Talisman, Earth Thunder Talisman, Yin Thunder Talisman, Yang Thunder Talisman, Dual Thunder Talisman, Triple Thunder Talisman, Quadruple Thunder Talisman, Quintuple Thunder Talisman, Lightning Attraction Talisman, Spirit Gathering Talisman, Invisibility Talisman, Earth Escape Talisman, Wall-Piercing Talisman, Flight Talisman, Soul-Snaring Talisman, Demon-Suppressing Talisman, Evil Subduing Talisman, Corpse-Breaking Talisman, Illusion-Breaking Talisman, Sound Transmission Talisman…
Beneath each talisman was dense small writing describing its effects and how to draw it.
Xu Changshou studied them carefully.
Fireball Talisman: Releases a fireball that can burn anything, with ten times the power of the Fireball Art.
Thunder Explosion Talisman: Contains a bolt of lightning with astonishing destructive power.
Invisibility Talisman: Makes the user invisible to cultivators of the same level.
Windwalk Talisman: Contains wind spiritual energy and provides endless momentum, allowing travel of three thousand li in a day.
Soul-Snaring Talisman: Targets the soul and is effective against spirit bodies and Nascent Souls.
Corpse-Breaking Talisman: Counters practitioners of corpse refinement.
After examining a few of the talismans, Xu Changshou was amazed at how much more complex they were than he had imagined.
He had thought there were only two or three kinds of talismans: Windwalk Talismans for escape, Fireball Talismans for attack, and Earth Shield Talismans for defense.
He had never conceived that true talismans came in so many varieties.
Ye Shanhu had said talismans were weaker than magical artifacts. But some talismans here seemed more powerful than magical artifacts.
Take the Thunder Explosion Talisman. Even the lowest-grade, first-rank Thunder Explosion Talisman could reduce a twelfth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator to ashes.
That was assuming the cultivator used neither a magical artifact nor any defensive measure.
When cultivators fought, personal strength alone was not enough.
They relied on spells, divine abilities, pills, and magical artifacts.
Thunder talismans made up a large share of offensive talismans. The Thunder Explosion Talisman was only the simplest, most basic thunder-attribute talisman.
More powerful than it were two-attribute talismans: Wind Thunder, Metal Thunder, Wood Thunder, Water Thunder, Fire Thunder, Earth Thunder, Yin Thunder, and Yang Thunder.
Each held two attributes, making it more powerful when activated.
More powerful still were the Triple Thunder, Quadruple Thunder, and Quintuple Thunder Talismans.
In short, the more attributes a talisman combined, the greater its offensive power.