Starting as a Talisman Master

Xian Guan Wan Shuiyan's sincere offering, "Cultivation Begins as a Talisman Master", is exclusively released here!

Brother Lu, you are unaware of this.

Han Jingxing put down his teacup and said slowly, "The methods of selecting disciples among the major sects of the immortal world are quite different. For example, the Qinglian Temple has always had strict rules and has only accepted female disciples throughout the ages. It has never opened its gates as widely as the Xuandu Sect and held a grand selection of disciples."

"When Qinglian Temple selects disciples, the elders of the sect travel through the Jingzhao Kingdom. When they encounter people with outstanding spiritual roots and deep affinity for immortality in mortal cities and immortal cultivation families, they immediately guide them back to the mountain and accept them into the sect."

Lu Chi nodded slightly: "I see. It seems you place great importance on 'fate'."

Even so, he had already ruled out Qinglian Temple from his list of places to visit.

He only accepted one female disciple, and then gave up on the idea.

"As for Taiqing Palace..." Han Jingxing stroked his chin, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat strange.

"Taiqing Palace did have a precedent of opening its gates wide and accepting many disciples in the past. However..."

"Just?" Lu Chi looked up at him.

Han Jingxing gave a wry smile and lowered his voice: "That was hundreds of years ago."

"At that time, the righteous and demonic paths were engaged in a great war, with bloodshed everywhere and the world losing its color. The Taiqing Palace suffered heavy losses at the front line, so the sect made an exception and opened its gates to recruit a large number of outer disciples and servants to replenish its manpower."

This is clearly just recruiting cannon fodder... Lu Chi remained silent for a moment, secretly cursing in his heart, but showing no sign on his face, only replying lightly: "In that case, such a predestined relationship with the immortal sect cannot be forced in the end."

"That's not necessarily true."

Han Jingxing pondered for a moment, then leaned closer and said in an even lower voice, "If you really want to enter such a top sect, there is actually another path. This path is extremely rare, but it is the most coveted."

Lu Chi put down his teacup, his expression calm.

"I would like to hear the details."

Han Jingxing uttered three words: "Ascension Order".

As he said this, a hint of longing appeared in his eyes.

"It is said that powerful sects like Taiqing Palace and Qinglian Temple, with their profound foundations, occasionally have Golden Core or even Nascent Soul elders traveling around. If a rogue cultivator or a fallen immortal cultivation family makes a great contribution to these masters or their sect by chance, there is a very small chance that they will be granted an Ascension Token."

Han Jingxing paused.

"This decree is extremely rare. Once you take this decree to the mountain gate, regardless of your social status or aptitude, as long as you are not a mortal without any spiritual roots, you can bypass numerous tests and be admitted exceptionally."

"If one is even more fortunate, one might even be able to become a disciple of an elder and be granted a Foundation Establishment Pill."

Upon hearing the words "ignoring the assessment" and "regardless of qualifications," Lu Chi's eyes flickered slightly.

This thing sounds like a golden opportunity to rise to the top in one step.

However, he also knew in his heart that if such a treasure were to be revealed even slightly, it would likely attract countless murderous intents.

"Such legendary things are ethereal and unreal. They are not something we can even dream of." Han Jingxing shook his head slightly, then looked at the sky. He knew that the Third Elder's visit to put pressure on Lu Chi today must have already caused resentment in Lu Chi's heart.

Not daring to bother him any further, he stood up tactfully, cupped his hands and said, "I have disturbed Brother Lu's cultivation today. I will take my leave now."

"Take care, Brother Han."

As Lu Chi sensed Han Jingxing gradually leaving, he looked at the untouched tea left by Han Changlin on the stone table, and his gaze gradually turned cold.

Han Changlin's actions today, ostensibly to recruit, were actually an attempt to take advantage of the external pressure from the Shen and Luo families to exploit the situation and completely trap this rogue cultivator, turning him into a laborer exclusively for drawing talismans for the Han family.

The words, though seemingly harsh, carried a condescending tone of condescension and a subtle threat.

"Wouldn't it be better for cultivators to be more amiable?"

Lu Chi sneered inwardly and casually splashed the remaining tea from his cup onto the blue brick.

He couldn't be bothered with the infighting and scheming within the Han family. As long as Han Jingxing's lineage could maintain its position and continue trading talismans with him, he was happy to quietly make a fortune.

but.

Lu Chi narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression becoming even more serious.

The prerequisite for this comfortable situation is that the high and mighty Foundation Establishment ancestor of the Han family doesn't get involved.

He was able to handle the scheming and ambushes among Qi Refining cultivators with ease, relying on his profound knowledge of various arts and top-grade talismans, and even managed to kill Ge Jiuzhang as he had done.

However, if it really provokes a Foundation Establishment cultivator to take action, the dual lock of spiritual pressure and divine sense would create an insurmountable chasm between their cultivation levels.

Faced with overwhelming strength, even if he revealed all his trump cards, it would be extremely difficult for him to escape unscathed.

Lu Chi sat down again at the stone table, his knuckles lightly tapping the cool surface, his mind already seriously considering where he should go.

"Since the Han family also covets me, I can no longer use the identity of 'Lu Chi' as a talisman master for the time being."

Lu Chi is a man of action; once he has made a decision, he will never hesitate.

He immediately got up and strode towards the spirit field in a corner of the courtyard.

With a series of hand seals, he uprooted the Purple Thunder Bamboo and other precious spiritual plants, carefully placed them into a specially made jade box, and stored them in his storage bag.

Immediately afterwards, he deactivated the array in the courtyard and went to the quiet room underground.

He then made a series of hand seals and unleashed several basic "Earth Shattering Techniques" and "Stone Shattering Techniques," accurately striking the load-bearing stone pillars and walls of the underground weapon-refining chamber.

With a muffled rumble, the entire basement collapsed.

To prevent those skilled in tracking from detecting him, he rapidly circulated his internal magic power and cast a "Mud Transformation Technique," along with several low-level "Water Bullet Talismans," to completely pulverize the collapsed soil layer, turning it into rolling mud.

The murky water quickly flooded and leveled the collapsed ruins, along with the entrance passage connecting to the ground above.

Mud and sand were carried down, and water vapor filled the air.

Even if someone were to dig up the ground of this bluestone courtyard in the future, they would only find a lifeless mud pit, and would not be able to find any trace of his past as a weapon refiner or array set up.

After all this was done, the small blue stone courtyard was left with nothing but an empty shell, devoid of any value.

He put aside all his dealings with Yueyin Pavilion, his agreement with the Han family as a guest, and the various entanglements in the market. Right now, his own safety was the most important thing.

Lu Chi did not choose to leave the market gate in a swaggering manner. Now that the Shen and Luo families had many spies around, there might also be someone from the Han family secretly watching him.

He pointed his fingers like a sword, and the newly forged "Mysterious Abyss" flying sword suddenly flew out.

"go!"

With a low shout from Lu Chi, the flying sword transformed into a dark blue sword light, piercing fiercely into the thick layer of soil on one side that was unaffected by the mud and water.

Although the mid-grade flying sword was a weapon of slaughter, he used it as a tool for digging a path.

Driven by magic, the flying sword, like a drill, brutally shredded the hard rock and soil in front of it.

Following closely behind the sword's edge, Lu Chi erected a basic spiritual light shield around himself, blocking the mud and sand that were pressing in from all sides.

Every time he dug forward a distance of about ten feet, he would pause for a moment, diverting his attention to turn around and use his "object manipulation" technique to push all the mud and rocks he had dug out behind him, and then use his magic to forcefully squeeze, fill, and compact them.

They dug and backfilled along the way with great difficulty.

Although he moved slowly and lost his mana very quickly, he was like a mudfish hidden in the undercurrent, completely erasing any escape route behind him, leaving no loopholes for outsiders to follow.

A question that had been lingering in Lu Chi's mind for several days suddenly flashed through his mind.

This Qingque Mountain market is, after all, protected by a mountain-protecting array.

That old scoundrel Ge Jiuzhang brazenly set up an array in his courtyard to isolate energy and killing intent, and even caused such a huge fluctuation of spiritual energy. How could the protective array of Qingque Mountain not notice it?

The answer to this question came quickly as he ventured outwards and was about to reach the edge of Qingque Mountain.

"Zheng—"

The Xuan Yuan Sword, which was clearing the way ahead, suddenly emitted a slight hum, as if it had touched some kind of invisible barrier, and its speed decreased sharply.

Lu Chi's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stopped in his tracks.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and the array master's [Insight] talent activated spontaneously, a glint of inspiration flashing in his eyes.

In the dark earth ahead, a massive array of light curtains stretched out, the very foundation of the protective array that enveloped the entire Qingque Mountain market.

However, in Lu Chi's eyes, which could see through illusions, the light barrier of this great formation was riddled with holes and looked utterly wretched.

The array patterns were dim and lifeless, and many key earth vein nodes had long since dried up and broken. The hubs that should have been inlaid with spirit stones were now pitifully thin in spiritual energy, maintaining only the most basic and weakest protective barrier. It was like a broken sieve that had been neglected for many years and leaked air everywhere!

"I see……"

Looking at the seemingly useless protective array, Lu Chi suddenly realized something and couldn't help but curl a mocking sneer into his lips.

Originally, when the protective array of Qingque Mountain was first set up, the Shen, Luo, and Han families were relatively harmonious and of one mind, so the array was naturally at its full power, monitoring both inside and outside.

But over a century has passed, and the three families have branched out and developed intertwined interests, inevitably leading to deep-seated resentment.

If this mountain-protecting formation were to operate at full power, the daily consumption of spirit stones would be enormous. The three families were bickering and scheming against each other, and none of them wanted to spend this extra money to maintain the formation.

Since they couldn't reach an agreement, they simply shut down all the monitoring and early warning functions of the array, leaving only the most basic functions such as isolating fog and gathering spiritual energy.

In addition, Qingque Mountain has always been a secluded place, without any major external enemies launching large-scale attacks.

Furthermore, each of the three families has spent a lot of money to set up its own independent protective array in the heart of its mountain gate, so the public array on the outskirts of the market has been neglected and maintained by fewer and fewer people.

In any case, those thieves and robbers who make a living around this market are all extremely shrewd and perceptive.

At most, they would rob lone, low-level cultivators on the outskirts of the market; they would never dare to be so foolish as to provoke the core disciples of the three families.

Over time, this seemingly majestic protective array of Qingque Mountain has long become a self-deceiving, useless decoration.

This is the real reason why Ge Jiuzhang was able to quietly set up an array in the heart of the market, while the Han family remained completely unaware, as if they were deaf and blind.

……

……

Relying on the sharpness of the "Xuanyuan" sword, Lu Chi silently pierced through the seemingly useless array of light, breaking through the ground diagonally upwards.

With a slight rustling of earth, his figure finally appeared in a secluded forest several miles outside the Qingque Mountain market.

Taking a breath of the cold air outside, which carried a hint of the smell of grass and trees, Lu Chi did not pause for a moment.

With a backhand wave, his magical power surged forth, instantly collapsing the cave behind him. The surrounding mud and rocks poured in, flattening and erasing all traces of his escape.

With a thought, the incantation within his body instantly changed, and the "Hidden Shadow Transformation Record" quietly began to operate.

With a series of faint cracking sounds from his bones, his once handsome face became blurred.

He grew a few inches taller, with a few wisps of gray goatee growing on his chin, and fine lines appearing at the corners of his eyes and on his forehead, left by years of exposure to the fire.

In just a few breaths, he transformed into a middle-aged cultivator with a gaunt face, exuding a sense of vicissitude and composure.

At the same time, he no longer concealed the fluctuations of his Qi Refining Level 6 mana.

Previously, he had thrown out talismans in the market under his original identity. The reason why he attracted the scheming and covetousness of the Han, Luo, and Shen families was not entirely due to the value of the talismans themselves, but rather to his alarmingly rapid "progression".

A young, unaffiliated cultivator with no background made rapid progress in the art of talismanic arts in a very short period of time, creating talismans that even powerful families envied.

No matter what those old foxes think, they will conclude that he must be hiding some kind of earth-shattering opportunity or ancient inheritance.

In the world of cultivation, such a sudden increase in foundation and strength that is extremely disproportionate to the actual strength is most likely to attract the greed and covetousness of others.

But now his appearance and demeanor are completely different.