Splitting the Heave

In the Tongyou Mysterious World…

Shang Xia’s secret chamber was filled with multiple layers of restrictions, stopping anyone from coming close to it.

Those restrictions were powerful and they had the ability to shield strange fluctuations from emerging from the chamber. Even so, they couldn’t fully prevent the energy fluctuations from exiting Shang Xia’s secret chamber.

After the successful creation of every rank four talisman, a strange phenomenon would appear. Especially when they were in the Tongyou Mysterious World with such dense heaven and earth qi.

Back when Shang Xia crafted his first rank four talisman in the Changfeng City in Hai Min’s courtyard, he caused a massive disturbance because he failed to place down enough restrictions. If not for Bu Jingshuang’s quick reactions to activate the city protection formation, half the street in the city would have been incinerated by the ball of fire Shang Xia created.

Because of the secret chamber he was in, the restrictions greatly reduced the disturbance to the Tongyou Mysterious World every time he succeeded. 

Even so, heaven and earth qi would still gather around his secret chamber to cause some slight commotion when he succeeded. Sometimes, a huge gust of wind would be swept up or the temperature around the secret chamber would rise sharply. There were also times when the region would be filled with a thin layer of mist and sounds of metal scraping would fill the air. Rumblings of lightning could also be heard from time to time.

As the youngest Martial Extermination Realm expert in the Tongyou Institution and the only Talisman Grandmaster, Shang Xia’s every action would be closely scrutinized. It was especially so when he had chosen to enter seclusion to craft talismans.

The Tongyou Mysterious World could act as a layer of protection from prying eyes, but there were still several experts training in there. They couldn’t possibly train forever as they had to take breaks from time to time.

Every time they took a break in the Tongyou Mysterious World, they would gather together and Shang Xia would naturally be a part of their discussions. They spoke about Shang Xia’s talisman crafting the most and they were even discussing how many he would be able to craft.

Too bad for them, the results would only be shown after Shang Xia emerged from seclusion.

Since the results weren’t immediately available, there were several geniuses among the cultivators in the Tongyou Mysterious World who came up with betting on how long Shang Xia would take to craft a rank four talisman.

Arranging the time they cultivated, someone would keep an eye on Shang Xia’s secret chamber to look for any strange signs of successful talisman creation. They even added those experts from the Talisman Hall into their plans. They went to ask if Shang Xia had been asking for more talisman papers in the meantime.

Because of the irregular breaks he had been taking, along with his cultivation, Shang Xia caused those watching him to misjudge the situation. When he resumed his talisman crafting journey, the phenomena that happened outside his secret chamber became a great source of entertainment for those outside.

Several instructors, custodians, and seniors of the institution had been taking part in the bets. As time went by, their initial excitement when he managed to craft a talisman turned into admiration. Then, admiration turned into shock as he succeeded frequently. Eventually, the shock wore off and they became numb to his success.

One day, Wu Tianfang even appeared to proclaim to the rest, “This… Everyone, it looks like we have witnessed a miracle happening in front of us.” 

…

When Shang Xia took his breaks throughout the time he crafted talismans, he had long since noticed those people observing him. He didn’t care too much about it though, and he took it as though they were merely curious about him.

After all, they were in the Tongyou Mysterious World. Anyone who had the qualifications to enter the mysterious world was definitely a member of the institution. No one would try harming him in the Tongyou Mysterious World and he couldn’t care less about them.

Because he didn’t care about them, their bets had already spread through the outside world. The members of the Talisman Hall started it when they came over to deliver resources, and the news quickly made its rounds around the institution. 

Initially, not too many people paid attention. They merely took Shang Xia’s success as some sort of passing comment but with more and more stories of how Shang Xia had been succeeding, cultivators started to pay more attention.

There were some cultivators who left the Tongyou Mysterious World from time to time and with their input, news of Shang Xia’s success became even more widespread. 

Quickly, a huge craze started over how often Shang Xia had been crafting rank four talismans in the outside world.

Shang Xia didn’t know what was happening, and after completing an Extermination Lightning Attraction Talisman, Shang Xia received another delivery of resources from the Talisman Hall.

“Brother Ren, why are you personally sending the resources this time?” Shang Xia asked when he noticed who had come. He was surprised to see that they had sent Ren Huan, a good friend he had in the Talisman Hall, to deliver the resources.

As a rank four talisman paper craftsman, along with Shang Xia’s trust, Ren Huan’s position in the Talisman Hall wasn’t low! He could stand shoulder to shoulder with the rank three Talisman Masters, Fan Yuanhui and Gong Hang!

Ren Huan stared at Shang Xia with a strange gaze before breaking out into a bout of laughter, “It’s nothing much. I was just curious about your progress! You went into seclusion for almost half a year now and I asked Lou Zizhang for the role of the delivery boy so I could come in here to take a look!” 

Grunting softly, Shang Xia wondered out loud, “Lou Zizhang didn’t make things difficult for you, right?” 

Shang Xia knew that Ren Huan’s authority out there wasn’t actually too impressive. Even if he was a rank four talisman paper craftsman, he wouldn’t be qualified to send resources into the Tongyou Mysterious World. 

Sniggering to himself, Ren Huan replied, “Relax. Everyone knows that Brother Shang is my backer now. Moreover, they only allowed me to enter to deliver some items. I have to leave as soon as my task is complete. I won’t get to cultivate in the Tongyou Mysterious World. No one would take the risk to offend you by denying me entry for such a simple reason.” 

Because a bulk of his attention was still placed on those pieces of rocks that he failed to turn into seals, Shang Xia didn’t hear the meaning behind Ren Huan’s words. 

Unwilling to trouble Shang Xia, Ren Huan quickly changed the topic. He chuckled, “Guess what good stuff I brought you this time?” 

Shang Xia’s attention turned to the fatty and he guessed, “Did you manage to make several more pieces of rank four talisman paper?” 

Shang Xia realized that the lack of resources was what was stopping him from making progress and rank four talisman paper was exactly what he needed. 

Ren Huan shook his head in response. Without letting Shang Xia wait for a long time, he added, “I brought rank four talisman ink!” 

“What?!” Shang Xia was pleasantly surprised. Leaping out of his chair, he stared at the fatty.

Nodding his head happily, Ren Huan continued, “You didn’t hear wrong. I brought rank four ink with me!” 

“How is this possible?” Shang Xia asked, “Don’t tell me someone in the Talisman Hall became a rank four ink craftsman?” 

“Rank four Grandmaster Alchemist, Ge Muchen, personally made this.” Ren Huan explained.

“Huh?” Shang Xia stared at Ren Huan in fright. “Senior… How did senior… No, Senior Ge is an alchemist! How does he know how to craft rank four talisman ink?” 

Ren Huan shook his head and muttered, “Maybe rank four talisman ink is similar to making medicine… I don’t know? All I know is that Master Ge Muchen appeared in our Talisman Hall’s ink room all of a sudden and used the assistance of several rank three ink craftsmen to make this bottle of Abyssal Ink!” 

Ren Huan carefully handed over a small jade bottle to Shang Xia as he spoke.

“Please thank Master Ge Muchen for helping me. No. After I leave the Tongyou Mysterious World, I’ll personally go over and thank him!” Shang Xia said as he received the bottle of rank four ink. He stared at the bottle that was glistening reddish-black in color. 

Shaking his head suddenly, Ren Huan continued, “Master Ge said that all you need to do is to focus on talisman crafting. He said that there was no need to pay him a visit to thank him. He won’t be receiving visitors anyway.” 

Shang Xia stared at the fatty in shock and Ren Huan quickly added, “It’s true! That’s what he said!” 

Shaking his head helplessly, Shang Xia could only keep the bottle before glancing at Ren Huan. He saw that the fatty seemed to be hesitating about something and he quickly broke out into a smile, “Brother Ren, you don’t have to hide anything from me. Just speak your mind.” 

“Brother Shang, this… Our Talisman Hall basically used up all our resources.” Ren Huan sighed.

Widening his eyes in shock, Shang Xia broke out into laughter the next moment. “Did Lou Zizhang send you to tell me this?” 

Ren Huan shook his hands helplessly in response. “I know, I know. However, it’s true that we’re out of resources. Originally, we prepared 14 pieces of rank four talisman papers for you and no one thought that the other experts of the institution would be able to gather so many more when they heard that you were planning to enter seclusion. In the end, you managed to gather 35 pieces of rank four talisman papers! In the months that passed, Master Lou and Master Fan had been arguing all the time just to gather more resources for you!” 

…

After he finally sent Ren Huan away, Shang Xia decided to end his period of rest.

Now that he managed to obtain rank four talisman ink, he couldn’t wait to start crafting even more talismans.

Rank four Abyssal Ink was naturally used to craft rank four Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans and Shang Xia could feel a sense of urgency deep in his heart. He could tell that something was about to go down and those talismans might be of great use in the near future!

In his state of excitement, Shang Xia managed to succeed on the first attempt.

After crafting his Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman, Shang Xia could tell that the talisman ink really made a difference. Compared to the Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman that he made with rank three ink, his new talisman boasted stronger effects and could last a little longer!

Quickly continuing, Shang Xia managed to craft another Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman in 2 attempts.

Finally switching to a Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman, Shang Xia managed to complete one after wasting a piece of rank four talisman paper.

With two-thirds of his rank four Abyssal Ink left, Shang Xia felt that he could still attempt 10 pieces of rank four talismans before he ran out. 

Explore the extended edition on pawread dot com.

By that time, Shang Xia had already completed 14 rank four talismans, far surpassing a success rate of 33 percent if he factored in all the talisman papers he used.