Splitting the Heave

Restraint talismans weren’t anything rare in the Azure Origin World.

Rank one and rank two restraint talismans were seen all the time and users would slap it onto their target directly. 

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A rank three restraint talisman could be activated from a distance away, but not too far. At the very least, one would have to ensure that their target wasn’t moving before using it on them. 

Due to the frequency of how cultivators would be moving all of the time, it was extremely difficult to use a restraint talisman on them. Unless they directly slapped it on their opponents, there was not much point in using them.

Rank three restraint talismans were usually used in sneak attacks to force their targets into situations where they could be slain in one move or something like that.

From what Shang Xia understood, the Tongyou Institution didn’t possess a recipe for rank three restraint talismans. As such, he never had the chance to craft one.

It couldn’t be denied that a restraint talisman was useful, but the weakness was painfully obvious. Moreover, talismans couldn’t work on stronger cultivators. Rank two restraint talismans couldn’t affect a Martial Intent Realm expert, and similarly, rank three restraint talismans couldn’t work on Martial Extermination Realm experts.

The talisman was greatly unlike those of other types. If Shang Xia tossed out 5 rank three Golden Spear Talismans at a Martial Extermination Realm expert, they would have to run no matter how much they didn’t feel like it. Similarly, a rank two Golden Sword Talisman might be able to affect a Martial Intent Realm cultivator when used properly. 

Whatever the case, it was a little strange for the institution not to possess a rank three restraint talisman inheritance when they had a rank four one.It was true that coming up with a rank three restraint talisman from rank one and two ones was extremely difficult, but the reverse wasn’t true. With a rank four restraint talisman, it was much easier to deduce a rank three restraint talisman. Of course, that was only true for a rank four Talisman Grandmaster like Shang Xia. The institution was probably waiting for an opportunity for Shang Xia to come up with it when he had nothing else to do after crafting his rank four talismans.

The production of the rank four Divine Restraint Talisman was no easy task as Shang Xia had deduced before. However, he knew that the power contained in the talisman was terrifying.

Other talismans might possess strong offensive or defensive abilities and allow one to turn the tides when the situation becomes desperate.

The Divine Restraint Talisman wasn’t like that. It would come in handy very often as it could restrain Martial Extermination Realm experts when it was used. Even though the time it could immobilize the target depended on their cultivation base, a fight between Martial Extermination Realm experts could be decided in the blink of an eye.

Despite thinking over the way to craft the Divine Restraint Talisman over and over again, Shang Xia still felt that the difficulty of crafting the talisman had already exceeded his expectations.

The reason the rank four Divine Restraint Talisman got its name wasn’t because it would only be able to physically restrain its target. The ‘divine’ in its name wasn’t for show! It had the ability to freeze the soul!

Not only would the crafting process require an inordinate amount of inner qi to craft, but it would also require close to 3 times the amount of divine perception.

The second criterion would be enough to force many rank four Talisman Grandmasters away. 

The crafting process also posed a huge problem. Not only would the creator of the talisman not be able to use extermination qi from outside sources, but they would only be able to use their own extermination qi in order to craft the talisman. Only when the divine perception and extermination qi came from the same person would the talisman be fully effective.

One had to know that Shang Xia could craft rank four talismans in a little under 4 days if he was successful. A huge part of the reason he could continue to do so was because he had been using extermination qi from other sources so that he wouldn’t have to exhaust his own extermination inner qi.

Now, Shang Xia had to change his approach and could only exhaust his divine perception and Four Constellation Qi produced by his extermination origins. Because of that, the time Shang Xia needed to craft the Divine Restraint Talisman would be greatly increased.

He wasted 4 pieces of rank four talisman papers before finally succeeding on the fifth try. Moreover, his success was mostly because of luck.

In order to craft the final rank four talisman recorded in the Tongyou Institution’s records, Shang Xia used close to 30 days.

When he was finally done, Shang Xia felt a huge weight lifted off his heart. However, the lethargy he felt didn’t disappear. He fell into a state of exhaustion he had never felt before.

Without having the chance to tidy up the area, Shang Xia sank into a chair nearby and fell asleep.

Just like that, 5 whole days and nights passed. 

By the time he woke, he was a lot less tired than before. He felt slightly more energized, but that wasn’t all. Circulating his Four Seasons Samsara Art, he found that his inner qi was flowing extremely smoothly through his body.

The time taken for him to complete one cycle had fallen even further. Upon further inspection, Shang Xia discovered that the degree of fusion between his divine perception and his inner qi became even stronger. 

It didn’t take long for him to discover what caused the change. It was the Divine Restraint Talisman he just crafted. During the crafting process, Shang Xia had been fully focused on ensuring his divine perception was properly fused with his inner qi in the talisman. 

When he woke up from his slumber, he managed to subconsciously fuse them together.

The fact gave Shang Xia a pleasant surprise and he felt that the benefits were comparable to when he used a stick of Dao Comprehension in the past.

After circulating one cycle of his inner qi, Shang Xia discovered that the time he needed had already shortened to 5 hours!

Getting to his feet, Shang Xia looked at the messy chamber before him. Even though it was a mess, a sense of achievement filled his heart.

It had been a little more than 3.5 months since he started crafting rank four talismans in the Tongyou Mysterious World. He used 24 pieces of rank four talisman paper in total and managed to complete 8 different pieces of rank four talismans.

His success rate of crafting talismans was about a third, but Shang Xia felt that he had improved significantly since he first started. He was confident that he could do better and he currently had 11 pieces of rank four talisman papers left. Deciding against crafting more rank four talismans immediately, Shang Xia chose to calm down and digest his gains.

He felt that he needed some time to properly absorb what he learned during his talisman crafting process. At the same time, he needed to adjust his mental state. 

He had been crafting talismans non-stop for the past few months and the Talisman Hall had also been sparing no expense in supplying him with resources. Taking a break would give them a chance to rest.

…

Just like that, Shang Xia took a break for half a month. Of course, it wasn’t that Shang Xia chose to do nothing during the entire time.

Other than recording his experience when crafting the different rank four talismans and some lessons he had learned, he continued to develop his Four Seasons Samsara Art.

Because of the increased degree of fusion between his divine perception and inner qi, he felt that he managed to grasp onto something special in the Four Constellation Realm.

He had recalled Shang Bo’s advice to him a long time ago that the degree of fusion was the key to comprehending his fourth martial intent in the Martial Extermination Realm.

The stronger the fusion, the easier it would be for him to comprehend his martial intent in the future! Moreover, Shang Xia also realized that Martial Extermination Realm experts would be able to circulate their inner qi for one full cycle in around 4 hours or so. The better the cultivation method, the shorter each cycle would take!

Well, there were naturally exceptions. The amount of inner qi one could circulate was also a serious factor when it came to cultivation.

Now that Shang Xia shortened the time it took for him to circulate his inner qi to 5 short hours, he was getting closer and closer to his goal of 4.

With the rest of the time he had when not crafting talismans or cultivating, Shang Xia continued to play with the pieces of rocks he broke off from the boulder that held the Abyssal Blade before. Unfortunately, the gains he had didn’t make up for the losses when trying to craft seals with those pieces of rocks. 

When time was finally up half a month later, Shang Xia found that his mental state had finally returned to its peak. He got ready to craft more talismans to use up the rest of his talisman papers.

This time, he wasn’t restricted by the type of talisman he needed to craft. Shang Xia felt that he could craft anything he liked now and his success rate would experience a sharp rise because of the experience he had. It was a shame he only had 11 pieces of rank four talisman papers and the increase in success rates wouldn’t be too obvious. 

Now that he was crafting any talismans he desired, he decided to go for the one he was the most familiar with, the Golden Sun Inferno Talisman. Succeeding on his first try would also greatly boost his confidence, and going with something he was good at was a good choice.

It didn’t come as a surprise that he completed the Golden Sun Inferno Talisman 3 days later. 

With the Golden Sun Inferno Talisman complete, Shang Xia chose to start a different rank four talisman recorded in the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture. The new talisman was called the Thousand Yang Sword Talisman and even though it wasn’t part of the talismans recorded in the institution, Shang Xia decided that it was a little bonus he was giving to the Talisman Hall. 

After all, he was using their resources to strengthen himself.

The way to craft his Thousand Yang Sword Talisman was slightly similar to the Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talisman, but it was a lot easier. Even though it was a new talisman, Shang Xia quickly succeeded on his second attempt.

Next, Shang Xia chose the third and last rank four talisman recorded in the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture, the Extermination Lightning Attracting Talisman. It was the most difficult rank four talisman recorded in the scripture, and it caused Shang Xia to waste 3 pieces of rank four talisman papers before finally succeeding.

When he was finally done, Shang Xia had a total of 11 rank four talismans! With the talismans laid out in front of him, Shang Xia felt extremely content with his achievements. 

What he didn’t understand was what the number of rank four talismans he knew how to craft represented!