Splitting the Heave

After failing twice, Shang Xia managed to complete his first Gale Thunderbolt Talisman on the 27th day of his seclusion.

With the marvelous feeling of success filling his mind, he didn’t hesitate to start his fourth attempt immediately.

This time, the crafting process went just as smoothly as his previous attempt. On the 30th day of the first month he entered seclusion, the power of wind and lightning swirled harmoniously on the surface of his talisman paper. With Shang Xia’s brush completing the final rune, his second piece of Gale Thunderbolt Talisman was complete.

Crafting two Gale Thunderbolt Talismans in succession, Shang Xia felt a wave of exhaustion washing over him. At the same time, a sense of satisfaction filled his mind.

Making a quick calculation, Shang Xia realized that he had been in seclusion for an entire month. With 2 Gale Thunderbolt Talismans, he felt that he could squeeze out a break for 2 days. At the same time, he could hand those talismans over to Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui so that they could lay down their worries. With those talismans, the Formation Hall could also start to make preparations to modify the grand formation.

Opening the entrance to his secret chamber, Shang Xia was greeted by a soft breeze and the absence of anyone else.

“This is weird. Didn’t Teacher Gong say that I won’t have to deliver the talismans myself this time? He said that he would get someone to pick up the talismans when I’m done. Don’t tell me Teacher Gong forgot all about it after tiring himself out while crafting talismans…” Shang Xia shook his head and muttered to himself before looking at the case in his hand that contained the talismans. 

Bah, whatever, I’m too lazy to go over and pass them the talismans. I’ll just take a break in here and start when I’m ready again. I’ll hand over all the talismans after I’m done.

Shang Xia thought to himself and stretched his back before closing the entrance of his secret chamber again.

What Shang Xia didn’t know was that another scene was playing out outside Gong Hang’s secret chamber. Gong Hang, who had just emerged from his secret chamber with a weary expression on his face, was staring at the disciples who were sent to wait outside Shang Xia’s secret chamber.

“So… Are you telling me that Talisman Master Shang failed to craft the Gale Thunderbolt Talisman?” Gong Hang muttered powerlessly. Despite his soft voice, his words were like a thunderclap that rang in the ears of those disciples. Neither of them dared to raise their heads to look at him.

“Talisman Master Gong, we… We stood outside Talisman Master Shang’s secret chamber for 3 whole days and he didn’t emerge.” One of them explained.

The other quickly followed up, “We followed your instructions and went to wait for him on his 25th day of seclusion! Talisman Master Shang likes to emerge on the 25th day according to his past records and we were there to ensure he would see us the moment he emerged. We stood there for 2 more days in case he was facing some difficulties. Even if he is trying to craft a new type of talisman, he should be out by then! I’m afraid he's too embarrassed to…”

“Shut up!” Gong Hang sighed and massaged his glabella. “Hmph, do you think you’re qualified to judge rank three Talisman Masters? Leave!” 

Panic flashed across their faces and they gave a hasty bow before leaving.

“Talisman Master Gong doesn’t seem to be in a good mood…” One of the disciples sighed after leaving the Talisman Hall. He felt a great sense of relief now that he wasn’t standing in front of Gong Hang.

“Obviously! Talisman Master Gong is clearly stressed over the trouble caused by Talisman Master Shang! Heh, this time, our Talisman Hall is going to be ruthlessly stepped on by the Formation Hall.” The other disciple snapped.

“Then again, I left the Upper Division last year to join the Talisman Hall. Based on seniority, Shang Xia should be calling me his senior brother.” The first disciple who spoke earlier sneered as a strange light flashed through his eyes.

It didn’t take long for rumors of Shang Xia failing to craft a single Gale Thunderbolt Talisman in a month to spread through the Talisman Hall.

Naturally, the Formation Hall also heard about it.

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

Ma Mingzheng took the chance while Chu Jia was eating to bring up the matter.

With a soft grunt, she didn’t seem too affected by it. “Looks like he’s worthless despite his reputation. I thought that he had something to rely on after making his suggestions. At the very least, he should be able to make one complete talisman in a month. I even prepared myself for him to only complete 3 Gale Thunderbolt Talismans. Who would have thought that he wouldn’t dare to leave his secret chamber and act like a coward?” 

Ma Mingzheng nodded and continued, “So… You’re confident of modifying the formation regardless?” 

Chu Jia continued to pick at the delicacies laid out in front of her and she muttered, “I ran through the changes in my head…” 

Ma Mingzheng continued to nod with his expressionless face. Perhaps that was what a true genius was like. In order to make the modifications, ordinary Formation Masters might have to carry out large scale experiments and call for a huge amount of assistance. Only a genius would be able to run through the genius in their minds.

On the other side, Bai Luming added unceremoniously, “Since he isn’t able to craft a single Gale Thunderbolt Talisman in one month, he won’t be able to make 3 of them in the following month. Actually, we won’t need to make the modifications at all. The only problem is that we wasted 2 months worth of time. What a waste of time! If it was up to me, we need to ruthlessly mock him when he emerges. We can take the chance to stomp on the Talisman Hall so that no one tries to mess with our Formation Hall in the future.” 

The moment the words left his lips, he discovered that the atmosphere was a little off. He raised his head only to see Ma Mingzheng glowering at him. As for Chu Jia, she ignored him completely as she continued to fill her stomach.

“Our Tongyou Institution isn’t the Rose Party and it most definitely is not part of the Evil Remnants. Formation Master Bai, you’re a member of our Tongyou Institution now! We can compete among ourselves, but if we do what you just said, we’ll be building a grudge with the Talisman Hall. As a rank three Formation Master, what you say will affect many people in the institution. In the future, you better keep yourself in check.”

Ma Mingzheng was extremely serious when he addressed Bai Luming and the latter could only stutter an agreement. At the same time, he glanced at Chu Jia before him and he felt beads of perspiration dripping down his forehead.

At the end of the day, he was a rank three Formation Master the institution accepted back in the Coral Forest. He wasn’t the one in control of his life at the moment. As long as Chu Jia willed it, his life would be forfeit!

…

Even though Shang Xia completed 2 pieces of Gale Thunderbolt Talisman, his instincts and past experience told him that no matter how confident he was, he might fail in his future attempts when some unexpected situations occurred.

He might have recovered his divine sense to the point where he could immediately start on his 5th attempt but he still chose to take 2 more days to adjust his mental state. He also took the chance to consolidate the experience of his past successes.

On the 3rd day of the 2nd month, Shang Xia started again.

This time, everything went smoothly at the start. However, an unexpected change happened the next day. When Shang Xia’s brush touched the talisman paper, a sudden burst of energy emerged. The talisman paper he was working on turned into dust as the power of wind and lightning clashed.

Fortunately, Shang Xia managed to discover the problem immediately. He wasn’t the one who made a mistake this time! The problem lay in the talisman paper he was using. The paper wasn’t consistent throughout, and there were small blemishes on certain spots.

Those blemishes didn’t affect the quality of the talisman paper which caused Shang Xia to overlook them earlier. Even if he noticed them before he started, he might have thought that he could just avoid them while drawing his runes. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Due to his unique way of talisman crafting, every single stroke had to run through his mind. He wouldn’t be able to avoid those defects the moment he started the crafting process! He drew out the entire talisman in his mind before his brush even moved, and every time he drew a stroke, he would maintain a delicate balance between his inner qi and divine sense. As such, his failure was decided before his brush touched the paper for the first time.

Shang Xia wasn’t delusional. Since he failed because of the talisman paper, he wouldn’t be making the same mistake. Before his next attempt, he carefully inspected the paper to ensure he would be able to avoid any effects or blemishes when drawing his runes.

This lesson was a valuable one. Shang Xia knew that this experience would follow him throughout his life. When he was crafting talismans in the future, he would definitely stop to inspect his talisman paper before starting the process. 

With so many precautions taken, Shang Xia’s next attempt was exceedingly smooth. On the 7th day of the 2nd month, he completed his third Gale Thunderbolt Talisman.

According to the agreement he made with Chu Jia, the Formation Hall had to start the modification process now that he managed to produce 3 Gale Thunderbolt Talismans. 

With 6 attempts under his belt, Shang Xia’s understanding of the Gale Thunderbolt Talisman became a lot deeper and he became a lot more adept at crafting them.

Examining himself, Shang Xia discovered that his divine sense consumption wasn’t as bad as he had thought. He decided to go all the way and push himself to his limit to see how many talismans he could complete before the 2nd month was up.

With his mind clear and hands ready, Shang Xia started again and completed his 4th Gale Thunderbolt Talisman on the 10th day of the 2nd month of his seclusion.

A sense of excitement filled his mind and riding on the high, he brought out another piece of talisman paper. Unfortunately, he felt a wave of lethargy assaulting his mind halfway through the process.

His fatigue was a contributing factor, but it wasn’t the reason behind his failure. Due to a miscalculation, the power of wind and lightning escaped from the rune he was drawing causing him to scrap the talisman paper.

Now that he failed, Shang Xia wasn’t stubborn enough to immediately start again. He took a day to restore himself to his peak condition while using the Thousand Mechanism Spirit Recovery Powder provided by the institution. 

With the lesson he learned previously, Shang Xia started another attempt on the 13th day of the 2nd month. Keeping everything he learned in mind, he only used 2.5 days to finish the Gale Thunderbolt Talisman he was working on. He didn’t run into a single obstacle along the way, and it was his smoothest attempt so far!

With almost half a month left till the deadline Chu Jia had given him, he was only lacking 2 pieces of Gale Thunderbolt Talismans from her original demand of 7. 

Understanding that his task was basically complete as 7 pieces of Gale Thunderbolt Talisman was something Chu Jia had asked for in order to mess with him, Shang Xia felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. Taking a nice 3 day break to recover his divine sense and inner qi. 

When he was ready again, he powered on for the last 12 days and managed to craft 3 Gale Thunderbolt Talismans. He might have failed twice, but it was a respectable success rate.

At the end of the 2nd month, Shang Xia dragged his weary body out of his secret chamber. Seeing Gong Hang standing outside, he didn’t think too much about it and tossed 8 pieces of Gale Thunderbolt Talisman over.

“The Formation Hall asked for 7 pieces to start their modification process. Go ask if they can do anything with 8 talismans.” Shang Xia sighed before returning to his secret chamber. Now that his job was done, all he wanted to do was to take a good nap.

Silence filled the Talisman Hall and the space outside his secret chamber as he made his way back inside to sleep. The Talisman Masters who were waiting for him felt their jaws dropping to the ground in fright and they failed to utter a single word.