Talisman Emperor

Chapter 63 - Continuous Pleasant Surprises

Mu Kui's abode covered no more than 30 meters of space. Its inner environment was cool and dry with some tables and chairs made of halogen salts placed around casually, and the entire abode seemed extremely simple.

The moment he entered the abode, Chen Xi noticed a dense spirit energy fluctuation. He swept his soul out and quickly found the source of the fluctuation.

At the corner of the abode was a meditation cushion. Chen Xi stretched out his hand to lift the meditation cushion and saw a chunk of jade stone that emitted a misty bright light silently lying within the crack in the rock. It was around 30c long and thick like a baby's arm. The spirit energy emitted from it was thick and pure, and taking a slight breath would cause one's mind to feel refreshed.

"This is the top-grade spirit vein you spoke of? No wonder that tiger demon wanted to seize your abode, the spirit energy here is more than 10 times denser than the outside world. It's undoubtedly a superb place to cultivate." Chen Xi said in amazement. It was the first time he'd seen the appearance of a spirit vein, but compared to the spirit spring he'd seen in the sword immortal's abode, this chunk of spirit vein was rather inferior.

Mu Kui stood at the side and was uneasy in his heart. Killing one and seizing their treasures wasn't something he hadn't seen before, so he was naturally worried that greed would arise in Chen Xi's heart and he would wipe him out.

Thump!

The more he thought about it, the more afraid he felt, Mu Kui didn't dare hesitate any longer and instantly knelt on the ground before saying loudly, "This lowly one is willing to take Senior as my Master. I earnestly request Senior to keep my by your side, and Mu Kui will only serve Senior for his entire lifetime. If I violate this oath, then I'll surely encounter the punishment of the Heaven's Dao, and be unable to achieve rebirth, forever!"

Chen Xi knew that this fellow was afraid that Chen Xi would kill him and seize his treasures, so Chen Xi knew that if he were to refuse Mu Kui, it would surely cause Mu Kui to live in uncertainty forever, and perhaps some unexpected event may occur because of this.

Chen Xi pondered for a moment before nodding and saying, "Alright, I can accept your request, but let me state something first, I won't bring you along to leave this place."

"Senior, Mu Kui sincerely wants to follow Senior. This lowly one will absolutely not divert Senior's attention to take care of me, please fulfill my request, Senior." Mu Kui felt slightly safe in his heart, but when he thought of the second half of what Chen Xi said, he couldn't help but feel slightly reluctant and said to himself. Is Senior afraid I'd get him into trouble?

Chen Xi shook his head. "I won't change my decision, if you persist in this way, then…"

Before Chen Xi could even finish speaking, Mu Kui had said in a hurry, "Senior, calm your anger. We'll do it according to what Senior said."

Chen Xi nodded.

Mu Kui continued to chat with Chen Xi, he originally wanted to find out about Chen Xi's background, but when he saw Chen Xi seemed to have his mind occupied with other things, he instantly left in an extremely obedient manner.

This abode was silently seized by Chen Xi, but Mu Kui thought nothing of it, as he was already extremely grateful that Chen Xi didn't kill him after all.

…

Hu~

Chen Xi sat on the meditation cushion, and the pure and thick spirit energy that surged out from the top-grade spirit vein below him caused him to be unable to refrain from exhaling in comfort.

"This place isn't bad." Ji Yu held the infant Pixiu in his arms as he appeared out of thin air.

Chen Xi was already used to Ji Yu coming and going like a shadow and knew that Ji Yu would only come out and meet him when there was no one around.

Roar!

The eyes of the snow white and fluffy Pixiu that was only the size of a fist lit up, then it roared towards the place Chen Xi was sitting. Obviously, it had noticed the chunk of top-grade spirit vein.

Chen Xi couldn't help but stretch out his hand when he saw the little fellow had such a cute appearance and wanted to embrace it, but was flatly refused by Ji Yu. "You current strength is still unable to suppress Bai Kui, and would just let him run away."

"Bai Kui?" Chen Xi was stunned.

"Yes, he's called Bai Kui. He already possesses intelligence and was born with a spirit body. But as an auspicious beast that's well-renowned since ancient times, he's forever unable to take human form."

Ji Yu said emotionally, "This is the Heaven Dao, it harms those who have too much and supplements those that don't. If a Pixiu is able to take human form and cultivate, then relying on its terrifying ability to accumulate Karmic Luck, then sooner or later, it would probably become a supreme existence."

"Harms those who have too much and supplements those that don't?" Chen Xi was extremely puzzled. The Heaven Dao was extremely profound and difficult to ascertain. How could he understand the meaning within the Heaven's Dao with his current scope of vision?

"What do you plan to do? Want to stay here forever?" Ji Yu changed the topic.

When the matter at hand was mentioned, Chen Xi's expression seemed much more serious as he nodded and said, "Yes, I heard from Mu Kui that seven demon kings with terrifying forces under their command occupy this deep area of the Southern Barbaric Mountain Range, and are like impenetrable walls that are defending the places that must be passed to head to the outside world. So I want to temporarily stay here and leave once my cultivation has broken through to the Violet Palace Realm."

When they chatter earlier, Mu Kui wanted to find out about Chen Xi's identity, but Chen Xi instead changed the topic with just a few words and made Mu Kui reveal various secrets. This also allowed Chen Xi to have a certain degree of understanding towards this area where groups of mountains flowed on continuously.

The Southern Barbaric Mountain Range had a domain of 5,000km, and the central area occupied 2,500km of it. Demon beasts moved about freely and wreaked havoc in this central area, and amongst these demon beasts, the seven great demon kings held the greatest reputation.

These seven great demon kings were respectively the Copper Mountain's Thunderhawk King, Aqua Cavern's Black Ape King, Moonlight Lake's Dark Wyrm King, Sunset Forest's Azure Python King, Moonhowl Ridge's Roc King, Coldstar Mountain's Nine-tailed Fox King, and the elusive Profound-vision Old Turtle King.

There were differences between the strength of these seven demon kings, on the lower spectrum was the Aqua Cavern's Black Ape King who was only at the Violet Palace Realm, and on the higher end of the spectrum was the Moonhowl Ridge's Roc King and the Coldstar Mountain's Nine-tailed Fox King who almost no demon knew how formidable their cultivations were.

Of course, the most mysterious was still the Profound-vision Old Turtle King. Allegedly, this Old Turtle King had already lived for over 10,000 years and possessed a trace of the bloodline of the ancient divine beast overlord, the Black Turtle, and his strength is unfathomable.

The reason that he was called mysterious is that practically no demon had seen him battle, moreover, his whereabouts changed like how the direction of the wind changed. Unless he was willing, otherwise, no one was able to meet him.

However, no matter if it was the stronger or weaker amongst the seven great demon kings, they were all formidable existences that Chen Xi was currently unable to go against. It was precisely because of this that he didn't dare rashly leave Moon's Embrace Mountain and go around the surroundings of this central area of the mountain range that was controlled by the seven great demon kings. If he were to venture through forcefully, he would only die miserably under the fangs of the seven demon kings.

Ji Yu nodded and said, "That's good as well. Although demon beasts wreak havoc in this deep area of the mountain range and traces of humans are rare, the spirit energy of heaven and earth is extremely dense. Moreover, various spirit herbs and natural treasures grow here, seeming to be a treasure ground of nature. Cultivating here is extremely good as well."

They continued talking for some time longer, and after he instructed Chen Xi to cultivate properly and not waste time, Ji Yu held the infant Pixiu in his arms as he disappeared.

Thump!

Ji Yu had only just left when Chen Xi withdrew the jade slips he acquired in the sword immortal's abode from his storage ring, then arranged them on the ground.

There were a total of 20 jade slips, and they were personally picked by Ji Yu in the Book Reserve Hall, so they were naturally existences that were extremely precious.

Amongst these, 13 were talisman crafting jade slips, and 7 were other jade slips.

The Dao of Talismans was vast and profound like a sea of mist, it required a long time to study and comprehend, and it was extremely difficult to achieve anything within a short amount of time.

Chen Xi shot his gaze at the other seven jade slips.

Qi refinement cultivation technique, Ice Crane Technique, records the technique to cultivate the nine levels in the Violet Palace Realm. The True Essence that's produced from cultivating this technique is like a surging tide filled with icicles. Not only does it stretch continuously and unbroken, it also possessed a sharp edge effect, and was extremely marvelous.

"My Chen Clan's Violet Sky Arts 18 levels merely records the cultivation technique for the nine levels of the Postnatal Realm and Congenital Realm, yet it doesn't contain the technique for the Violet Palace Realm. This Ice Crane Technique just happens to solve my imminent need." Chen Xi hastily read over the Ice Crane Technique, and he looked at the absolutely ingenious qi refinement technique that exceeded his imagination, a wisp of gratefulness abruptly surged out from Chen Xi's heart and he said to himself, I presume Senior Ji Yu had taken this into consideration, so he picked this Ice Crane Technique for me. I must cultivate properly to live up to his expectations!

The second jade slip — Windflow Divination Sword.

The sword technique was swift like lightning with a myriad of transformations, like the wind that whistled through the heavens and earth. When the sword was swung out, it was like a storm howling with rage and swept away all obstacles in its way. Whereas when it was used to defend, even wind couldn't pass through it… At the same time, when the sword technique was cultivated to the limit, the swung sword was swift like a gale, soft like a breeze, violent like a storm, fierce like a squall, and sharp like a hurricane… It possessed a myriad of transformations, causing its opponents to be unable to defend against it.

According to the characteristics of the wind, the Windflow Divination Sword was divided into six moves, the Galeflash Shadow, Breezy Rain, Dark Storm, Tide Squall, Wavesplit Hurricane, and Space Shattering Typhoon.

"Formidable! This Windflow Divination Sword's first four moves are all at the level of the unity-stage, and most unbelievable are that the Wavesplit Hurricane and Space Shattering Typhoon actually already possesses the essence of the profound meaning of the Dao!"

Chen Xi was full of excitement as he read it, and his eyes were unusually brilliant.

As everyone knew, the stages of techniques were divided to the basic-stage, advanced-stage, and unity stage, whereas above it was Dao Insight!

Once this stage was achieved, regardless of if it was sword technique, saber technique, spear technique, footwork, fist technique; or even flower arrangement, painting, music, and other techniques, they would all contain the cultivator's comprehension of the Grand Dao. When these techniques were utilized, the might of the techniques were more than 100 times stronger than the unity-stage. Although the two stages were divided by a single step, its difference was as great as the distance between the heavens and the earth!

For example in sword techniques, when Dao Insight was comprehended, one would be able to condense Sword Insight, and the might of the sword technique would have a qualitative difference from an ordinary sword technique.

"Dao Insight! This Windflow Divination Sword is probably an extremely precious existence within the Book Reserve Hall. Senior Ji Yu is so good to me…" Chen Xi took a deep breath and forcefully restrained the excitement in his heart before continuing to look at the next jade slip.

Movement technique — Divine Windwing Flight, using the wind as wings to arrogantly howl in the nine heavens!

This Divine Windwing Flight was boundlessly profound as well. After experiencing the pleasant surprise from before, Chen Xi had already become numbed. But when he saw this profound movement technique that was able to allow cultivators to mount the clouds and ride the mist to roam freely in the sky, he still couldn't stop himself from getting excited and he only calmed down after quite a long while.

Godly Illusion, God Shaker, God Killer. These three jade slips recorded soul attack techniques, moreover, according to Chen Xi's inference, these three jade slips were obviously three parts of a whole, going up level by level from the lowest Godly Illusion to the highest God Killer.

Similarly, these three soul attack techniques were techniques that Chen Xi required urgently. According to his knowledge, visualization techniques to cultivate the soul were extremely rare, and even though these soul attack techniques weren't as precious as visualization techniques, they were still extremely precious existences that ordinary powers were utterly unable to possess.

When Chen Xi's gaze descended on the last jade slip, he couldn't help but be stunned. Traceless Aura Technique?

Could it be that it's a True Essence utilization technique?

Chen Xi picked it up and skimmed through it hastily, and Chen Xi's heart that was almost numbed after being ravaged by wave after wave of pleasant surprise had once again failed him and started thumping.