Splitting the Heave

From the time he placed his brush down on the paper to the time his first rank three Formation Talisman was complete, barely three days had passed.

If he managed to keep it up, he would be able to finish 10 rank three Formation Talismans in a month! Of course, that wasn’t how things worked.

…

A rank three Talisman Master would have to separate a part of their divine sense and seal it into the talisman they were making in order for it to be classified as a rank three talisman. 

An exceptional rank three Talisman Master would only be able to create 6 talismans in a month before their foundations were injured.

However, Shang Xia seemed to have surpassed that benchmark. After creating his first talisman, he discovered that he would be able to craft 7 more of them at the rate he was going without injuring his foundations.

After experiencing so many wars waged against the Tongyou Institution, Shang Xia’s divine sense grew stronger than the ordinary cultivator. Moreover, he had the Man and Heaven Synergy Chapter for a little extra boost. 

With his current abilities, Shang Xia was able to split off eight portions of his divine sense easily.

No matter what, strong divine sense was the hallmark of any outstanding Talisman Master. 

Both Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui felt that Shang Xia had already exceeded his limits by attempting to craft six rank three talismans in one short month. After all, he would have to split his divine sense regardless of whether his talismans were a success or not.

They would never expect for Shang Xia to be a rank three Talisman Master who defied all logic. Not only did he possess extraordinarily strong divine sense, but he had also come up with his own unique way of crafting talismans!

It started from several strokes of inspiration he had in the past, and after entering his unique state of crafting talismans, Shang Xia could reach an unprecedented state of focus. That also resulted in him being more successful in his craft!

Unfortunately, he hadn’t reached the level where he could control when he was able to fully enter his unique state of mind. The only thing Shang Xia could count on was the ability to recall the wondrous state of mind when crafting talismans as he tried his best to enter it again. With repeated practice and tests, Shang Xia somehow managed to capture its essence. Even though he wasn’t able to fully immerse himself, he was able to recreate nearly 60 percent of it. 

60 percent was more than enough for Shang Xia to be confident enough to craft the rank three Formation Talismans!

Since he had studied the creation of rank three Formation Talismans again and again in the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture, the creation of his first rank three Formation Talisman went rather smoothly.

Due to the reduced difficulty of crafting rank three Formation Talismans and Shang Xia’s impressive skills, he used two and a half short days to seal a portion of his divine sense into the talisman. 

Since that was done, the talisman could basically be deemed a successful product.

After some slight touch-ups, Shang Xia realized he succeeded on his first try!

…

With the completion of his first talisman, Shang Xia felt his ego inflating slightly despite his usual mindset.

It seemed as though a rank three Formation Talisman was truly much easier to create than other rank three talismans…

Taking a break for one whole day to adjust his condition, Shang Xia quickly started on his second talisman.

The reason why Shang Xia’s way of talisman crafting was unique was because he had a special cadence. He needed to be aware of where his brush was on the paper at all times and how long it would take for him to complete each stroke. Even lifting his pen was a special process that contributed to his overall success. While he was keeping track of all that, he would also have to separate a part of his divine sense to seal it into the talisman. The process was a lot more complicated than it seemed and not only did he have to concentrate on different things, he couldn’t make a single mistake. Otherwise, all his efforts would come to naught.

His first successful run told him that his method was feasible, and the second time he tried it allowed him to notice exactly how complicated it was.

He might have gotten a little overconfident due to his first success, or it might also be because he hadn’t truly grasped the key to crafting the Formation Talismans. Because of a small mistake, he hesitated slightly when completing his stroke and the talisman paper he was working on went up in flames.

After failing on his second attempt, 6 days passed.

Taking a 3 day break, Shang Xia concluded everything he had learned in his previous attempts. Adjusting his mental state, he ensured it was at its peak before starting his third attempt on the tenth day.

This time, he didn’t face many obstacles. In two and a half short days, he completed his second rank three Formation Talisman.

Feeling pretty good about himself, Shang Xia felt that his current state of mind was ready to start again. However, he decided against it as he forced himself to take a short break for 2 days.

No matter what, he already completed 2 rank three Formation Talismans. He only needed to finish one more and with 3 more chances, he was pretty confident in himself.

On his fourth attempt, Shang Xia made a careless mistake halfway through and caused the destruction of another rank three talisman paper. 

Normally, failure when crafting rank three talismans was commonplace. Not even Shang Xia could ensure that he would succeed every time. However, things were different that time as it was because of the ink he ground personally.

In the past, Shang Quan was the one who created the talisman ink he used. All he needed to do was to dab a little to start his crafting process. That also meant that Shang Xia had never ground his own talisman ink.

Because there was no one to help him in the secret chamber, Shang Xia ground his own ink from the pine-soot ink stone before adding some diluted spring water.

To read the uncut version, go to pawread dot com.

No issues popped up in his past three attempts and Shang Xia didn’t expect himself to make a mistake. Unfortunately, he made the ink a little too concentrated this time. Because of how thick the ink was, some of the runes he drew became a little too thick. Heaven and earth qi that flowed through it exceeded the limit of what the talisman paper could withstand and ended his fourth attempt.

It seemed as though he had to be extremely careful when it came down to crafting any rank three talismans!

Sighing softly, Shang Xia took a short break before he started again.

It was already the eighteenth day of their agreement and Shang Xia was already using his fifth piece of talisman paper.

There was finally no mishap as he completed his third successful talisman on the twentieth day of their agreement.

With ten days left, Shang Xia was in no rush to leave the secret chamber. Instead, he stayed in there for a few more days on purpose.

Due to his divine sense being much stronger than experts at the same level, he was able to craft talismans at a much faster rate too. However, Shang Xia didn’t wish to reveal his secret so easily and decided to head out after some time.

He might have intentionally delayed his departure from the secret chamber, but those outside would be taken aback nonetheless when he emerged.

As for the last piece of rank three talisman paper, Shang Xia kept it in his Embroidered Cloud Case as a reward for his successful work. 

Since he only needed to hand three completed talismans over, he wasn’t going to make more of them just for the sake of acting cool. No one could blame him for trying to conserve resources. After all, obtaining rank three talisman paper was something Shang Xia had a huge problem with. He had no choice but to think for himself when it came down to using resources.

As for the pine-soot ink stone that Gong Hang left behind, Shang Xia only left whatever was left of it there as he couldn’t bring himself to be such a cheapskate and take it for himself. 

When he released the restrictions on the secret chamber and made his preparations to emerge, someone quickly made a report to Zhang Haogu, Gong Hang, and Fan Yuanhui.

The three of them rushed over a t top speed and several other members of the Talisman Hal who knew about the bet had already gathered around.

“Didn’t they say it would take a month? Why is he out on the twenty-fifth day?” Zhang Haogu felt a little uneasy as truth be told, he wasn’t too confident in Shang Xia.

After all, no matter how talented Shang Xia was, there was no denying that he had only stepped onto the path of a Talisman Master for a short period of time! How could he compare himself to Gong Hang or Fan Yuanhui who had been doing it for tens of years?

Gong Hang chuckled, “Perhaps Young Master Shang managed to finish his task early.” 

“Hmph, do you think it’s possible?” Fan Yuanhui glanced at him coldly in response.

“No matter what, it will be a blessing for our Talisman Hall if he manages to finish his task.” Gong Hang muttered.

Fan Yuanhui sneered, “There’s another possibility and he might have destroyed all of his talisman paper… Why didn’t you think of that?” 

“This…” Gong Hang swept his gaze across his surroundings and didn’t really know how to respond.

All of a sudden, a clear voice rang through the air from inside the chamber. “Teacher Fan, are you really so pessimistic about my abilities?” 

The youngster emerged from the secret chamber after he spoke and not a trace of emotion could be seen on his face.

The moment Shang Xia emerged, Gong Hang’s gaze never left his face. 

Other than the fact that his face was a little pale from not being in the sun for so many days, Gong Hang couldn’t detect a trace of fatigue from the overexertion of divine sense Talisman Masters would suffer from after crafting so many talismans.

A trace of disappointment flashed through Gong Hang’s eyes as the final bit of hope he had in Shang Xia died. After all, he felt that there was no way a Martial Intent Realm cultivator could remain unaffected after six attempts to craft a rank three talisman. 

Unless… Unless he was cheating!

Gong Hang sighed softly, “Young Master Shang, can I ask how many talismans you managed to complete? Let me make this clear. All the talisman paper provided by our Talisman Hall has its own unique marker.”

Raising his eyebrows in shock, the corners of Shang Xia’s mouth curled upwards to form a sneer as he muttered, “Teacher Gong, do you suspect that I swapped it out for completed talismans even after failing? I’m sorry to disappoint you!” 

Waving his sleeves, three pieces of rank three Formation Talismans appeared before their eyes. “Please, feel free to check for any traces of cheating.”