Starting as a Talisman Master

Chapter 265 Greatly Improved Strength, Abundant Gains! (5.2k)

That demon was inherently violent and had already developed some intelligence; how could it possibly submit to subjugation?

Upon hearing Lu Chi's words, its vertical pupils blazed with ferocity, and it let out a piercing screech as its massive body writhed wildly.

The crimson sea of ​​fire then boiled, backfiring along the chains, attempting to melt away all the shackles.

Lu Chi's expression was cold and stern as he unleashed a series of magical hand seals. The eight stone pillars trembled once more, and amidst the booming of the formation, dozens of dark gold chains split off in the void, weaving together to bind the demonic serpent layer by layer, forcibly pressing it back to the bottom of the abyss.

Though outwardly calm, Lu Chi's heart sank. This ancient formation was of extremely high grade; he had merely taken advantage of a trick to usurp a portion of its core.

At this moment, forcibly activating the grand formation to suppress the third-tier demon is causing his internal mana to drain away at an alarming rate, and the spirit stones within the puppet's nexus are dimming rapidly. Such forced control is unlikely to last.

Lu Chi made a decisive move, sitting cross-legged in mid-air, determined to refine it on the spot. To be on the safe side, he flipped his hand and took out the trump card left by his master from his storage bag, holding it in his palm.

The strange fire is unruly; to bring it under one's control, one must first eradicate its intelligence.

His mind trembled, and his divine sense poured out without reservation. At the same time, a wisp of pale white flame flickered and ignited in his palm.

Lu Chi formed a sword shape with his fingers and pointed it in mid-air.

That powerful divine sense transformed into an invisible blade, carrying the cold flames of the Azure Soul, and instantly crossed the void along the trajectory of the array chains, mercilessly piercing into the head of the demonic serpent.

The cold fire struck directly at the source of its consciousness, forcibly burning away the nascent, violent intelligence of this third-tier demon.

The Azure Soul Cold Fire is inherently the natural enemy of Yin Souls and Divine Consciousness. This time, it truly struck at the source, and the newly born intelligence of the demon snake was powerless to resist, making the refining process exceptionally smooth.

As time went by, the spiritual light on the eight foundation stone pillars gradually dimmed.

Lu Chi realized that the magical power he had poured into the formation was exhausted, and he was gradually losing control of the ancient formation. The dark gold chains binding him in mid-air were also gradually disintegrating.

However, the demon was powerless to struggle any longer. Its sea of ​​consciousness was burned away, and its enormous serpentine body could no longer be maintained. It disintegrated in the void and finally returned to a ball of dark red, blazing flame, silently hovering at the bottom of the abyss.

The flames ceased their violent outbursts, instead instinctively radiating a chillingly hot aura.

The robes worn by Lu Chi were originally meant to ward off cold and heat, but under this intense heat, fine beads of sweat still seeped from his forehead.

He wiped away the sweat, a slight smile playing on his lips. Things had come to this point; even losing the array's assistance completely wouldn't matter.

Once its sentience is extinguished, this strange fire ultimately becomes an unclaimed, dead object of opportunity. Even with its extremely high grade and powerful aura, it is only a matter of time before it can be completely refined and subdued.

Lu Chi waved his sleeves, and the Four Phases Overturning Water Sword Formation transformed into four streams of dark blue light, hovering steadily at the entrance of the abyss. The remaining intact puppets, guided by his divine sense, scattered into the surrounding shadows to keep watch.

After making the arrangements, he summoned the Styx Soul Refining Banner and calmly said, "Senior Li, please show yourself to protect me."

Black energy surged on the banner, and Li Qianyou's somewhat ethereal soul solidified. He recovered a little from the Yin energy within the banner, and upon hearing this, he curled his lip and said irritably, "Fellow Daoist, you're really torturing this old man by pushing him to his death like this."

Despite his complaints, Li Qianyou knew that the demon had been stripped of its intelligence and was no longer a threat, so he obediently stood guard to the side. He glanced at Lu Chi, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, and was secretly astonished.

This junior's methods and abilities are truly outrageous.

Putting everything else aside, just consider that fleeting, extremely cold divine light when the strange fire was completely suppressed just now—what exactly was that technique?

He was quite knowledgeable in his lifetime, and he felt that the icy aura was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't recall its origin for a moment.

However, he was certain that such a powerful divine ability, which could freeze even a third-tier strange fire instantly, was beyond the reach of ordinary Golden Core cultivators and must have come from the hands of some Nascent Soul stage old monster.

Li Qianyou stared at the young man with his eyes closed, meditating and concentrating his energy, and pondered to himself. This Lu Chi was shrewd and experienced, with one trump card after another. What kind of terrifying background did he have, and what grade of spiritual root aptitude did he possess? Could he be some kind of Heavenly Spiritual Root Immortal Seed?

Lu Chi cleared his mind of distractions and, after circulating his magical power through his meridians, turned his gaze to the dark red flame in the void.

He raised his right hand, and a faint but tenacious flame flickered to life in his palm as he released a small amount of magical power.

The flames were surrounded by a pale white color, while inside was a pure, primordial red light, which was the Xuan Fire he had nurtured using his alchemist talent.

This fire had previously successfully refined the Azure Soul Cold Fire, and was closely intertwined with his mind and spirit.

If an ordinary cultivator dares to forcibly draw two kinds of violent strange fire into their body, the conflict between their completely different fire natures will surely result in their magical power going berserk and them being reduced to ashes.

However, thanks to the profound and mysterious talent of the Xuanhuo, Lu Chi seemed to have mastered it without a teacher and naturally understood the key to fusion fire.

He did not roughly absorb the dark red flames into his body, but instead guided them with his fingers, causing the Xuan Fire to drift out and slowly envelop the unclaimed strange fire.

By devouring unclaimed flames to strengthen its own characteristics, the Mystic Flame began to peel away the origin of the dark red flames bit by bit. As soon as the blazing and violent fire nature was drawn out, it was slowly refined and assimilated under the nurturing of the Mystic Flame.

Even with the infusion of such domineering strange fire power, the nature of the Xuan Fire only underwent some minor changes, always being dominated by Lu Chi's own magical energy, with absolutely no risk of backlash or loss of control.

The bottom of the abyss was deathly silent, with only the faint sound of spiritual energy surging.

Lu Chi sat cross-legged, patiently refining the essence as if unraveling a cocoon.

As time passed, the dark red flames gradually shrank, while the Xuanhuo Origin in his palm grew stronger and stronger. His control over this violent fire also became more and more refined and skillful in this subtle way.

"By refining this fire, I will surely make further progress in refining elixirs and tempering magical artifacts in the future."

"This strange fire contains extremely abundant spiritual power, which is perfect for cultivating magical power and tempering the physical body. If there is any surplus fire energy, it can also be used to refine puppets and nurture spiritual artifacts."

Lu Chi calmed his mind and, drawing upon the immense energy continuously fed back by the Xuan Fire, began to cultivate diligently with his eyes closed. The extremely pure spiritual power was repeatedly tempered by the cultivation technique, transforming into strands of magical power that flowed into his meridians.

At the same time, he also diverted his attention to channel the remaining domineering power of this strange fire to temper his limbs and bones, taking the opportunity to hone his physical body.

Time stands still at the bottom of the abyss. After an unknown amount of time, Lu Chi slowly opened his eyes, a hint of understanding shining through his deep gaze.

His aura was calm and concentrated, having already surpassed the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage and steadily stopped at a mysterious boundary, which was the critical point between the Golden Core stage and the Foundation Establishment stage.

Lu Chi looked inward and saw that the liquid magic power in his originally spacious sea of ​​qi had become extremely viscous.

At the very center of the Qi Sea, all the magical power converged and swirled, condensing into a round bead, only the size of a longan, half-solid and half-illusory. Although this bead had not completely transformed into a solid golden core, it already faintly exuded the aura of power unique to golden core cultivators.

This is the realm of the false elixir.

"Now that I've reached the False Core stage, I can start preparing for Core Formation." Lu Chi felt at ease.

He opened his right hand, and with a slight thought, a ball of spiritual flame rose from his palm.

The Xuanhuo of today is no longer the frail thing it once was. Its outer layer is swirling with a pale, cold, ghostly flame, while its inner core churns with a dark red, blazing fire. These two completely different flames intertwine perfectly under the harmony of the innate talent, creating an inexhaustible cycle of life.

Sensing the destructive aura contained within the dark red flames, Lu Chi pondered for a moment and gradually began to correlate this fire with the records in the ancient texts.

The "Chronicle of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Flames" records a total of 108 kinds of extraordinary spiritual flames that rival the creation of heaven and earth.

"This fire is dark red, born from the deepest abyss, and naturally possesses an extremely heavy fire elemental aura." Lu Chi's eyes flashed as he murmured to himself, "It should be the 'Abyss Crimson Fiend Fire,' ranked fiftieth on the Spirit Flame Ranking."

According to ancient records, the Crimson Fire of the Abyss is formed from the convergence and intermingling of fire poison from the earth's veins, evolving over millions of years.

This fire is extremely yang and intense, and the hidden fire evil within it is even more domineering and unparalleled, specifically designed to destroy cultivators' magical treasures and mortal bodies.

The fact that the demon could damage Li Qianyou's Styx Soul Refining Banner with just its rudimentary instincts demonstrates the terrifying power of the Abyss Crimson Fiend Fire.

Now that this fire has been completely refined and subdued, it will be a great help to him in both fighting enemies and forging weapons.

Lu Chi looked up and saw that in the deep pit where the Earth Abyss Crimson Fiend Fire had originally been located, there were still a few remaining small flames.

These fireballs were much weaker, lacking their previous ferocity. After a moment's thought, he decided not to continue refining them.

His cultivation has now reached the Pseudo-Core stage. If he wants to truly break through to the Core stage, simply absorbing the remnants of the strange fire will not be of much use. Only by consuming the Dust-Subduing Pill and other Core-Forming Spiritual Objects can he attempt to break through to the Golden Core stage.

Furthermore, with his low-grade spiritual root aptitude, breaking through to the Golden Core stage is by no means a matter of a day or two; even years of seclusion would only be the beginning.

With this in mind, Lu Chi waved his sleeve and summoned the four swords, Xuan Yuan, Ting Feng, Guan Yu, and Jing Shuang, which were hanging on the outside, back to his front.

He cast a spell with his fingertips, causing the remaining Crimson Fiend Fire in the deep pit to transform into strands of fire that wrapped around the four flying swords, using the residual power of the strange fire to repeatedly temper the sword bodies.

While quenching the sword, he took out a large pile of dark, gleaming Xuan Yin Iron from his storage bag.

Having lost a second-tier puppet in the previous battle with the demonic serpent, he now has a considerable amount of Xuan Yin Iron. He should be able to refine a few more second-tier puppets to replenish his combat strength by continuing to open the furnace.

Time once again flowed slowly at the bottom of the abyss.

Once the last trace of dark red fire energy within the pit had been completely dissipated, Lu Chi stopped his hand seals. He then focused his divine sense on the four flying swords suspended in front of him.

Of the original flying swords, only the Xuanyuan Sword was a mid-grade spiritual weapon, while the other three were low-grade.

Having just experienced a fierce battle with demons and been tempered by the Crimson Flame of the Abyss, the three swords—Listening to the Wind, Watching the Rain, and Startling Frost—have all overcome obstacles and advanced to mid-grade spiritual weapons.

The sword's blade shimmered with a deep blue light, its sharpness surpassing even its former glory. Lu Chi reached out and stroked the sword's spine, inwardly shaking his head.

He is about to enter the Golden Core stage. Although this handy weapon can be continuously nurtured and improved in battle with the help of the weapon refiner's [Spirit Nourishment] talent, the speed of advancement is ultimately a bit slow.

Ultimately, it was because he rarely engaged in combat that his progress with spiritual weapons was slowed down.

Three brand-new Tier 2 beast puppets stood beside the deep pit.

Lacking the disguise of demonic beast fur, these three puppets were entirely dark and dull, with all their joints exposed, making them easily recognizable as puppets.

With a slight thought, Lu Chi put them all into his storage bag.

He took the opportunity to examine the contents of the bag and found that all the spiritual herbs needed to refine the Dust-Reducing Pill were ready.

The rarest main ingredient, the Purple-Veined Star Leaf Grass, was given to him by Yun Zhi in the Cangming Secret Realm years ago.

As for the other auxiliary medicines, he also found spiritual seeds at Baicaofeng and cultivated them to maturity by himself.

With the pill formula obtained from Fire Spirit Peak, everything is ready; all that's needed is to find a safe place to start the furnace.

Lu Chi released a small amount of magical power, putting away the Four Phases Overturned Water Sword Formation. Then, he made a hand seal and summoned the Styx Soul Refining Banner to his front.

Lu Chi probed the banner with his divine sense and examined it carefully, which reassured him somewhat. This item was once a high-grade magic treasure, and the materials used were extraordinary.

Having withstood a strike from a third-tier strange fire, the banner itself suffered no substantial damage; however, many of the ghostly souls it contained were evaporated.

Amidst the surging black energy, Li Qianyou slowly emerged. After being nourished by the Yin energy, his soul had become more solid and was no longer as weak as before.

"Thank you for protecting me earlier, senior. How are you feeling now?" Lu Chi bowed and expressed his gratitude.

Li Qianyou waved his hand and said, "It's alright. It's just that the soul within this banner is being consumed in great quantities. You can refine more souls to replenish it in the future. If the quality of the souls is high, the power of this soul banner might even be enhanced."

Lu Chi nodded slightly and made a mental note of it. This Styx Soul Refining Banner was the only magic weapon he possessed, and it would be a great help when he reached the Golden Core stage in the future, so he should take good care of it.

After carefully putting away the soul banner, Lu Chi did not leave the bottom of the abyss directly. He turned his gaze to the other side of the darkness and walked towards the nameless skeleton he had seen when he first fell into this place.

The battle just now was extremely intense, with the energy from the bottom of the abyss raging. This skeleton was affected by the impact; several of its originally intact ribs were broken, and the already decaying skeleton was scattered all over the ground, covered with a thick layer of lime.

Lu Chi looked down at the scattered bones and secretly deduced the reason for the man's death.

Li Qianyou's illusory figure drifted out, glanced at the broken bones on the ground, and slowly said, "The demonic serpent born from that strange fire has no flesh and blood body, making it extremely difficult for ordinary divine sense to detect, and its escape speed is incredibly fast. In my opinion, this person should have only been a Golden Core cultivator in his previous life."

"He used some unknown means to forcibly cross the sea of ​​fire serpents outside and arrive here. After traversing such a perilous place, his magical power and divine sense must have been greatly depleted. Exhausted and unprepared, he was ambushed by the demonic serpent and thus fell victim to its trap, being killed instantly."

Lu Chi nodded slightly, agreeing with this speculation, a slight ripple stirring in his heart.

A Golden Core cultivator, whether in the righteous path or the demonic sect, is already a high-level combatant, more than capable of founding their own sect.

Such a person, so utterly and silently perished here.

"The path of cultivation is truly fraught with danger at every turn. I must be even more cautious in my future actions," Lu Chi secretly warned himself.

With a wave of his sleeve, his magical power surged, carving out a deep pit beneath the rock wall beside him, and carefully burying the nameless remains.

Then, Lu Chi took the storage bag from the ground into his hand.

Probing inside with divine sense, he found it quite empty, with almost no trace of spirit stones or pills. It seemed that when this senior entered this place, he had already exhausted his resources to heal his wounds or resist the sea of ​​fire outside.

With a thought, Lu Chi took out a small, dark yellow shield with a dim spiritual light.

The shield was covered with crisscrossing, charred cracks, and half of it was missing from the edge, making it look dilapidated.

Li Qianyou stared intently, her brows furrowing slightly. She pondered, "Judging from the traces of the convergence of energy, this small shield should be the natal magic weapon that this person refined before his death. Judging from its shape and remaining essence, it was indeed a remarkable defensive magic weapon in its heyday."

Lu Chi used his divine sense to examine it carefully. He saw that the internal magic array of the object in his hand was completely destroyed, and the core hub was completely silent, having lost all its spirituality.

Damaged to this extent, it can no longer be called a magic weapon; at best, it can only be considered a damaged quasi-magic weapon.

Lu Chi pondered to himself, "The material of this item is indeed extraordinary. If I have the opportunity to hunt high-level demonic beasts in the future, I can refine their essence into it to serve as a weapon spirit. After nurturing it for some time, it may be able to regain its vitality and become a low-grade magic weapon."

After thinking it over, he put the small shield away and then took out an item from his storage bag.

This object resembles a token, is dark blue in color, is neither gold nor jade, and feels warm to the touch.

The front of the token is carved with a one-legged ferocious bird poised for flight, while the back is engraved with several ancient cloud patterns. This should be a token representing the identity and origin of that Golden Core senior.

Lu Chi stared at the ferocious bird pattern for a while, but couldn't find a corresponding sect or force in his mind. He turned to look at Li Qianyou, who examined it carefully for a moment, then slowly shook her head, admitting that she had never seen such a symbol before.

Seeing this, Lu Chi shook his head slightly and put the tokens into his pocket.

His gaze shifted, sweeping over the remaining stone pillars and array patterns around the bottom of the abyss.

Recalling the process of suppressing the strange fire, Lu Chi thought to himself that the origins of the Bone Burning Cave and the Abyss Crimson Fiend Fire must be extraordinary.

Judging from the skill in creating this formation and the depth of its ability to imprison the strange fire, the person who set up this place back then must have possessed unfathomable cultivation.

However, the events of ancient times are too far removed from the present day, and no concrete clues have been left here, so it is impossible to speculate.

Lu Chi composed himself and lingered there for a while longer. He memorized all the relatively clear array formations and patterns around him, imprinting them in his mind for future deduction and comprehension.

Having done all this, he no longer hesitated, strode out, and left the bottom of the abyss.

Upon re-entering the blazing sea of ​​fire serpents, Lu Chi released a small amount of magical power, and a ball of dark red and pale white Xuan Fire surged from his palm, transforming into a barrier to protect his body.

After absorbing the Crimson Fiend Fire of the Abyss, the Xuanhuo's power increased dramatically, allowing it to deal with this perilous place with extreme ease. Wherever it passed, the raging fire serpents were all intimidated by the even more powerful Xuanhuo aura and retreated to the sides.

As Lu Chi walked, he explored the dense fire energy around him, and he vaguely understood the cause of this sea of ​​fire.

The earth's fiery toxins have accumulated here for many years. If this continues for a long time, it is highly likely that a new cluster of Crimson Fiend Flames will be born here.

He sped along the path he had come from and soon emerged from the Burning Bone Cave. After exiting the cave, he subtly probed with his divine sense and located the puppet that had been hiding outside the cave on guard. He immediately cast a spell to recall it.

Just as he was about to leave, a communication jade talisman in his bosom suddenly stirred. Lu Chi's expression hardened slightly. He made a hand seal with one hand, first carefully putting away the Styx Soul Refining Banner beside him, before taking out the jade talisman.

The message coming from the jade talisman was the voice of the Grandmaster.

"The righteous alliance suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the demonic sect. I have found an opening and have taken advantage of the chaos to infiltrate the Netherworld. You must set off immediately and wait at the Burial Abyss."

, 7

His words abruptly ended, and the jade talisman's spiritual light dimmed. Lu Chi stood there, holding the jade talisman, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

The righteous path suffered a crushing defeat? The Xuandu Sect had clearly launched a massive counterattack, so how could they have been defeated so suddenly?