Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 605 Encounter

Ji An returned to his attic, called over Golden Retriever and Big Yellow, and asked:
"The fortress was attacked, causing tremors in the internal area. The magical barriers in the attic were also affected. Did you feel it?"

He was somewhat frightened. If the fortress could no longer withstand the attacks of the true demons in an extreme situation, then evacuation would be the only option. He couldn't wait for someone to 'invite' him out of the attic.

If the situation becomes extremely critical and the teleportation array needs to be activated, but he is out of touch due to the lack of information in the small world, then he is doomed.

"Squeak," the golden retriever nodded. It had felt the vibration of the magic restriction, but only for a moment, and then nothing happened.

Big Yellow shook its enormous head and growled.

Ji An breathed a sigh of relief; it was good that the beasts could sense the situation.

He took out the gourd-shaped stone and instructed:

"You two go inside."

After the two beasts entered the small world, Ji An followed suit.

He summoned the Golden-feathered Eagle and the Azure Water Turtle and instructed them:

"From now on, when you carry out guardian missions, you will need to be regrouped."

Bluebell and Golden Retriever form one group, while Big Yellow and Golden Eagle form another.

"If the magic circle is attacked again in the future, notify me immediately via the small world."

Because magic arrays rely on the earth's veins, and both Big Yellow and Golden Fur have earth-element bloodlines, they were able to sense the vibrations of the magic restrictions in the attic.

The Golden-feathered Eagle is a wind-type demon beast, and the Azure Water Turtle is a water-type demon beast. He was unsure whether they could sense when the fortress formation was attacked, and he didn't want to conduct experiments to confirm it. Disassembling the Great Golden Fur was the simplest way.

"Squeak," the golden retriever said reluctantly, as it didn't like spending too much time with the blue water turtle.

Ji An revealed a wicked smile, "If you don't want to, then you can be in a group with the Golden-feathered Eagle."

"Squeak," the golden retriever immediately backed down, as that would be too much of a bloodline suppression, which it disliked even more.

Ji An smiled and said:
"Golden Retriever and Bluebell, you'll start your shifts today, also for three days at a time."

He drove the two beasts out of the gourd world, and then rode the clouds to the white land.

Reaching out, he peeled back a piece of bark from a Bodhi tree, revealing a talisman shimmering with silver light.

Because the materials were hard to find, he had many opportunities to practice after obtaining the method to draw the Gengjin Divine Thunder Talisman.

Later, he mixed cinnabar and peeled off two pieces of bark the size of normal talismans from the third-tier Vajra Bodhi tree.

After being processed using a secret method, the tree bark retains its vitality and can also bear the thunder talisman.

He made a batch of Gengjin Divine Thunder Talismans, but the success rate was only 50%, with only one reaching the superior grade and the rest being of the middle grade.

After nearly ten years of nurturing, most of the mid-grade talismans have been upgraded to the high-grade level, but the one that was originally high-grade has not broken through in quality.

Ji An wasn't in a hurry. Time was on his side, and his strength was like the rings of a tree—it would keep growing as long as he wasn't dead.

He took three talismans and placed them into the Void Stone, then touched the part of the spirit tree that had lost its bark.

These scars can heal in a year or two, but the newly grown bark will not be as smooth as it was initially, and it will lose its value for reuse.

Other parts can still be used, but if the spirit wood is used too much, it will affect the improvement of its grade.

Ji An planned to draw a maximum of six thunder talismans on each spirit tree, and those spirit trees intended for making puppets would not be peeled.

He flew away on a cloud and landed beside a Bodhi tree. Because he was about to face the tribulation of the true demon, he increased the number of Bodhi trees in order to nurture the precious talisman.

He used a large quantity of both the Mind-Stabilizing Talisman and the Mind-Purifying Talisman, aiming to break through his limitations and cultivate a top-grade third-tier Mind-Stabilizing Talisman and a third-tier Mind-Purifying Talisman.

Ji An took a Cleansing Spirit Talisman for future use. He would strictly control the number of third-tier Cleansing Spirit Talismans in the future, so that outsiders would not know that he could draw them in large quantities.

As for the Mind-Stabilizing Talisman, he could draw a high-grade third-tier talisman using talisman paper, which was sufficient for his needs.

Having prepared combat supplies, Ji An returned to the vicinity of the Gathering Yuan Tree and began practicing the Bing Fire Divine Thunder.

Thunder shook the void, and crimson light stained the small world with an orange-red hue.

Clumps of lightning-attracting grass joyfully stretched out their branches and leaves, greedily absorbing the lingering effects of thunder. The spiritual light on the leaves went from bright to dark, and then from dark to bright again, in an endless cycle.

Ten days later.

Ji An flew low into the sky on a cloud, while the Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner transformed into an earthen unicorn that circled around him.

Golden flowers flutter around the outermost edge of the body, forming the first line of defense. These golden flowers have an autonomous tracking function, providing early warnings and delaying incoming attacks.

The inner layer is a fine, granular shimmering light, which is the second line of defense. It deflects and further delays incoming attacks, while also reducing the attack's intensity.

A thin layer of light condensed on his body surface. This light was composed of the light of the Earth element. Although it looked thin, it provided more defense than the two outer layers combined.

Beneath the magical artifact's radiance lay the radiance of the Panshan Technique, and below that was the Hunjin Xuanjia Incantation.

So many layers of defense give him a lot more room for error, and even if he encounters an extremely powerful sudden attack, it will buy him time.

This allowed him to react in time and unleash the Solidifying Metal Technique, a third-tier spell at the Great Perfection level. He was eager to see how effective it would be.

The Flaming Banner transformed into a fire phoenix, swirling in the sky, its body wreathed in flames. Its sharp gaze fixed ahead, igniting all the approaching demonic mist and emitting a foul stench.

The fog was very thick at the time, severely affecting visibility.

He himself was in better shape because his eyes had gained the supernatural ability to penetrate the fog, giving him a field of vision of nearly a hundred feet.

Wu Xuan Zhenren was in a rather miserable state, with his field of vision less than thirty feet.

Don't underestimate this difference of several dozen feet; this is the fundamental reason why other Golden Core cultivators can only engage in head-on battles or be ambushed when leading teams.

Master Wuxuan, who was about five or six zhang away from Ji An, looked around a few times and said:

"We've searched such a large area these past few days, but we still haven't found the true demon that ambushed us. I wonder how many more days this will last."

He was conflicted; he wanted to end the tedious search, but he was also worried that the true demon, as Mo Yun Zhenren had said, was lurking in the shadows, waiting to launch a fatal attack.

Ji An sighed softly, "It won't last more than a few days. If a method doesn't work for a long time, it will only cause trouble for us and will be rejected by everyone."

These past few days, I've been busy with missions, so the tasks of alchemy and talisman making have been neglected, and the resource reserves in the fortress will gradually decrease.

Prolonged exposure to the demonic mist made him more irritable. Even though he had diligently purified himself back in the fortress, he felt that he couldn't stay in the wild for long before negative emotions began to arise.

This did not happen during the first few days of the mission.

Not only him, but the others were the same.

Master Wuxuan also sighed, secretly thinking that he would have to be extra careful when leading patrols alone in the future.

At this moment, Ji An suddenly felt a sense of being spied on. This feeling was very mysterious, an inexplicable feeling as if some creature was following him.

A sense of absurdity rose in his mind, but he still turned around to look, and then he felt his pores suddenly tighten and his body instinctively tense up.

He saw a humanoid creature over two zhang tall with blood-red skin. It had two thick, red, curved horns on its head, from which black smoke rose.

The creature was flapping its black, bat-like wings as it approached them, only seventy or eighty feet away.

"True demon!"

Ji An roared and immediately entered battle mode, his appearance exactly as described by Master Moyun.

He was extremely nervous at this moment because the enemy was capable of slaughtering a group of cultivators, but a sense of excitement also welled up from the deepest part of his heart.

After years of diligently practicing magic, a powerful enemy finally appeared to serve as his touchstone.

Master Wuxuan was startled and turned around to look, only to see a vast expanse of demonic mist rolling in the breeze.

The true demon, who was acting stealthily, was stunned; it couldn't understand how it had been exposed.

A ferocious smile appeared on its face. It stuck out its tongue and licked its lips, its eyes filled with malice.

At such close range, it doesn't matter if we're exposed.

Its black wings flapped suddenly, and it flew dozens of feet in an instant.

After working together for several days, Master Wuxuan realized that his teammates' field of vision far exceeded his own, so he immediately activated his defensive magic weapon with all his might.

The light shone brightly, and his body was protected by the earth elemental light, with the light directly in front of him being particularly thick.

The gleaming silver-white Breaking Cone hovered in front of him, ready to be activated at any moment.

Having prepared for battle, he took out a signal talisman to activate it, and saw a huge red figure rushing out, gripping a bone blade that shimmered with red light.

As expected, it was a true demon. The thought had just formed in his mind when he saw the true demon raise its hand and throw the bone blade, which landed right where he was standing.

The bone blade magnified in his eyes. He saw that the protective aura of the magic weapon was as thin as paper and was instantly pierced through. The tip of the blade pierced through his chest and continued to penetrate his body with undiminished force.

Wu Xuan Zhenren's body was carried backward, and at this moment he vaguely heard a sonic boom that seemed to tear through the sky.

His body quickly withered away, not a drop of blood flowed, and his soul was pulled by a powerful attraction and sank into the bone blade.

The demonic weapon, saturated with blood and souls, emitted an ominous red light, and the patterns on its bone blades became increasingly glaring.

The change happened too fast. Despite having prepared for the battle, Ji An never expected the enemy's attack to be so brutal, killing his teammates in just one exchange.

Master Moyun was right; such a powerful demon did indeed intentionally let him go back, otherwise he would have had no chance of survival.

The demon wore an excited yet cruel smile, flapped its wings again, and flew towards Ji An with a fist the size of a basketball.

It aims to smash its target's head with a single punch and then enjoy the delicious entrails.

It had been tracking this group for several days, and it could sense that the target's scent was the sweetest, a scent that made its mouth water.

It had carefully observed these enemies, a total of five divided into three groups, only one of whom posed a threat to it, but that was all.

If it's a life-or-death struggle, the enemy will surely die.

　I have something to do tomorrow and need to catch the 4 AM train, so the update will be released tomorrow morning.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)