The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 344 The Talisman of Life and Death (Part Two)
The Life and Death Talisman is a mysterious technique derived from the Tianshan Six Yang Palm of the Free and Unfettered Sect. It turns water into ice, which, once injected into the human body, melts rapidly and disappears without a trace.

Anyone who is affected will experience unbearable itching all over their body, making them feel like they are dying. Moreover, with each attack, the torment will double, plunging them into a hellish state from which they can never escape.

This is absolutely the most suitable secret technique for controlling others in all martial arts novels. It is even more bizarre than the Three Corpse Brain God Pill of the Sun Moon Cult. The Three Corpse Brain God Pill is, in essence, poison or Gu, but the Life and Death Talisman is an extremely sophisticated method of controlling internal energy.

The moment water freezes into ice, one's internal energy is integrated into the ice block. After entering the human body, it immediately hides, silent and undetectable. Even the person affected cannot find where this internal energy is hidden. Once it takes effect, even a great immortal would find it difficult to endure.

Most importantly, poison can be cured, but the Life and Death Talisman can only be removed by someone who is equally proficient in the Six Yang Palms of Tianshan; others basically have no way to break it.

Therefore, during the Tianlong era, the island lords and cave masters of the thirty-six islands and seventy-two caves, after being controlled by the Life and Death Talisman, were willing to be bullied at will by the Lingjiu Palace. Countless people would rather commit suicide than endure that inhuman torture before the Life and Death Talisman took effect.

The Life and Death Chain created by Wu Chengyu later seems to be a copy of others' ideas. It may seem equally unbearable, but in terms of sophistication, it is far inferior to the Life and Death Talisman.

His "Life and Death Chain" was discovered while deriving internal energy cultivation techniques. It involved finding meridians in the human body that were unsuitable for the flow of internal energy. He would forcefully inject internal energy into these meridians and then chain them together, allowing the internal energy to churn within them, thus causing unbearable pain.

It's not much different from taking a knife and stabbing someone in their most sensitive spot a few times; it's that simple and brutal.

Moreover, this method has limitations. First, it cannot exceed fifteen minutes; exceeding this time will result in death. Second, a person cannot withstand more than three consecutive life-or-death cycles.

Moreover, each use requires inputting internal energy, and once the internal energy is exhausted, the effect is lost. Wu Chengyu must stay by the other party's side to control life and death.

The Life and Death Talisman, on the other hand, is a permanent solution. Once the Life and Death Talisman is planted, its effect will persist unless the person affected dies. Moreover, the effect of the Life and Death Talisman can be controlled with medicine, making it both delayed and controllable. This is the best way to control others.

Wu Chengyu's Life and Death Chain is essentially a form of torture to extract confessions, and it is far inferior to the Life and Death Talisman.

However, Wu Chengyu is now facing the crisis of being controlled by the Life and Death Talisman, which is the most severe test he has ever faced since he achieved mastery of martial arts.

No matter which transmigrator travels to the world of martial arts, even if they all have cheat codes and are invincible, they probably wouldn't be willing to accept the risk of the Life and Death Talisman entering their body.

If Wu Chengyu does not accept the Life and Death Talisman, he will have no choice but to flee immediately, and his subsequent plans will be completely ruined. It will be extremely difficult for him to obtain the inheritance of the Xiaoyao Sect.

However, even if he accepted it, Wu Chengyu couldn't guarantee that he could neutralize the effects of the Life and Death Talisman.

After Princess Yuzhu and Wu Qianyu finished discussing how to deal with Wu Chengyu, Princess Yuzhu began to use Yin-Yang Regeneration to recover from her injuries. Wu Chengyu, meanwhile, secretly returned to his residence alone and fell into deep thought.

He carefully analyzed the martial arts he now possessed. In terms of the skill level, Wu Chengyu's Quanxing Divine Skill, which was later named the Innate Skill by him, was absolutely no less than any of the divine skills of the Xiaoyao Sect.

To master the Quanxing Divine Skill, one must open the five hidden meridians of the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. After being enlightened by the old Quanxing Taoist priest Zhenxiang, he no longer focused on studying the Taoist scriptures. Instead, he was blessed with good fortune and opened the hidden meridians of the liver and spleen in succession.

After three years in the Hidden Dragon Cave, although he was busy farming and training an army, he still managed to open up the fourth hidden meridian in his lungs.

Currently, only the hidden meridian of the kidneys remains unopened. Of the five elements in the body—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—only water is missing. Once the kidney meridian is opened, the Innate Skill will be considered complete. Wu Chengyu wonders if he can reach the power of the Free and Unfettered Sect's Free and Unfettered Wind Control.

However, once his innate skill is mastered, it will definitely surpass the Northern Darkness Divine Skill or the Six Yang Palms of Tianshan.

It doesn't suffer from a disadvantage in terms of skill level, but there are differences between the Innate Skill and the Free and Unfettered Sect's skills. The Innate Skill takes the path of first having all five elements, and its internal energy attribute belongs to Yin and Yang chaos. Only after all five elements are complete can Yin and Yang be divided, achieving the separation of Yin and Yang and the mutual transformation of Yin and Yang.

Therefore, due to the limitations of his cultivation progress, Wu Chengyu is not yet proficient in the Yin-Yang attributes of internal energy.

The Tianshan Six Yang Palm is currently a blind spot for Wu Chengyu. Although it is called Six Yang, it can condense water into ice, which means that it has reached the point where the extreme of Yang gives rise to Yin. Among all palm techniques in the world, the Tianshan Six Yang Palm is the most respected for its mastery of Yin and Yang attributes.

Therefore, Wu Chengyu did not know whether his internal energy could withstand the torment of the Life and Death Talisman after he had been subjected to it.

However, he also has his own advantages, namely the internal vision function brought about by his extraordinary five senses. What ordinary people call internal vision is the distribution of meridians in the body gradually known through the circulation of internal energy after the internal skill has reached a very high level of cultivation. It is just an experience and feeling.

Wu Chengyu's internal vision allows him to observe the distribution of any meridian in the body and the different directions of internal energy. It is not a sensation, but a real and clear vision, with every detail visible and unobstructed.

The reason why the Life and Death Talisman is difficult to break after it enters the body is primarily because once the internal energy is hidden, no one can detect it when it is not activated. However, Wu Chengyu has absolute confidence that as long as there is a foreign object in the meridians, he will definitely be able to detect it.

Whether it can be deciphered after discovery is another matter. After much deliberation, Wu Chengyu asked the bamboo slip in his mind.

"If the Life and Death Talisman enters the body, do you have a way to break it?"

"Incomplete information, unable to answer. We suggest the host first experience the Life and Death Talisman." Sure enough, asking was pointless. Now, apart from deducing cultivation techniques or researching medicines and recipes, Wu Chengyu has not communicated with the bamboo slip for a long time. The bamboo slip has become increasingly silent, but Wu Chengyu's greatest reliance is still the bamboo slip.

He silently concluded that the cultivation method was not a disadvantage, and the Life and Death Talisman could not be hidden from internal observation after entering the body. As for how to break it after entering the body, the bamboo slip could definitely provide suggestions.

Therefore, even if he was given the Life and Death Talisman, Wu Chengyu did not think it was a fatal disaster. The difference was whether he really had the courage to do so. As a transmigrator, it would be foolish to hand over one's initiative to the other party.

Wu Chengyu was caught in a dilemma. For the next two days, Wu Qianyu needed to heal her injuries, and Princess Yuzhu did not appear. The Yangwu Guild Hall was quiet.

It is said that the outside world is in an uproar. Ronghua Club suffered such a great loss, and its strongest master was assassinated. For a time, it was at an absolute disadvantage. The more this happened, the more arrogant Ronghua Club became, and it has caused trouble for Yangwu Club many times.

Yangwu Guild Hall, on the other hand, remained steadfast and restrained, leaving Ronghua Guild Hall unable to gain any advantage.

On the third day, Princess Yuzhu suddenly summoned Wu Chengyu. When they arrived at the council hall, Wu Qianyu was also sitting to the side. Although she had a cold face when she saw Wu Chengyu, her complexion was no longer pale, and her injuries had obviously improved a lot.

However, Wu Qianyu's gaze towards Wu Chengyu was filled with malice and smug satisfaction at the success of her scheme. Wu Chengyu immediately understood that the time had finally come for Princess Yuzhu and the others to make their move against him.

"Brother Nie, please sit down. I haven't been able to thank you for saving my junior brother's life these past few days because I was busy helping him heal. It's really my fault."

The reason I invited Brother Nie here today is to ask what reward you would like. If I have it, I'll give it to you.

Never believe someone in a superior position who says they can give you anything they have; it often means that the other party is already planning to harm you.

Wu Chengyu now finds these words incredibly ironic; how is this any different from later bosses making empty promises to their employees?

The difference is that later bosses only thought about exploiting Wu Chengyu, while Princess Yuzhu wanted Wu Chengyu's personal freedom and life.

"I am already satisfied to serve the princess and repay her kindness. I dare not ask for any reward."

"How can this be? If we don't reward those who have made contributions, how can I, the princess, be the master of this Yangwu Guild Hall?"

"Alright then, gold and silver are too vulgar. I've already spoken to the accountant; if Brother Nie needs money in the future, he can simply withdraw it from the accountant. As long as the accountant has it, you can take whatever you want."

What a convenient excuse! As long as the accountant has the money, once Wu Chengyu really asks the accountant for money without any hesitation, and it exceeds a certain limit, the accountant will naturally run out of money. Many of these statements sound nice, but they are actually full of traps.

"As for the real reward, I heard from Chen He that Brother Nie came to my Xia Kingdom also to make achievements and establish a career. A man with ambition is always worthy of admiration."

Here's what we'll do: once the tournament is over, I'll report to my superiors and have Brother Nie's name added to my Imperial Guard roster. After he gets a rank, I'll change his name to that of my Xia Kingdom, and gradually he'll be no different from any other Xia Kingdom citizen. Success and fame will be within my grasp then and there.

What do you think, Brother Nie? Do you have any further requests?

Wu Chengyu quickly cupped his hands, pretending to be extremely grateful, and replied, "Thank you for your kindness, Princess. I am naturally very satisfied and will definitely go through fire and water for you in the future."

Just then, Wu Qianyu suddenly interjected, "Senior Sister, everyone says you're generous, but I think you're nothing special. For a martial artist like Brother Nie, gold, silver, and high-ranking positions are just commonplace. Which of us martial artists doesn't want to possess invincible skills?"

In my opinion, it would be better to introduce Brother Nie to our master. Our master is a master of profound skill and possesses a treasure trove of martial arts knowledge. He could easily bestow upon Brother Nie a martial art, or answer his questions and resolve his doubts. Brother Nie's martial arts skills would surely improve by leaps and bounds from then on. I think this is the reward that Brother Nie desires most.

Brother Nie, do you agree?

Before Wu Chengyu could answer, Princess Yuzhu suddenly stood up and said.

“Junior brother is so thoughtful. I just felt that those things were not enough to reward Brother Nie’s merits. Since that’s the case, let’s take Brother Nie to see our master now.”

My mentor has always enjoyed mentoring younger generations, so he must be delighted to see a rising star like Brother Nie.

"Brother Nie, let's go. Our master is in the Xia Kingdom's royal palace. It's still early; if we go any later, we won't be able to get in."

As soon as they finished speaking, the two of them gave Wu Chengyu no chance to consider or refuse, and immediately pulled Wu Chengyu away from Yangwu Guild Hall.

Wu Chengyu knew that he had reached the moment to make a decision. He had no time to hesitate any longer. But at this very moment, he also felt that the Life and Death Talisman was nothing. When the time came, he would really lose face as a transmigrator if he hesitated any longer.

(End of this chapter)