Starting as a Talisman Master

After the two reached an agreement, they did not delay any longer.

After traveling day and night for several days, the two finally arrived at a wild and desolate forest on the edge of Dongyue County.

Ancient trees stand tall here, their branches and leaves blocking out the sun, and thick vines coil and hang down like writhing dragons.

The forest is shrouded in miasma year-round, and the ground is covered with a thick layer of decaying leaves that are soft, slippery, and give off a faint, rotten smell.

Looking deeper in, the sounds of beasts roaring and insects chirping intermittently filled the air, clearly indicating a dangerous place rarely visited by people.

"We're here, it's just ahead."

Zhou Jinyan walked ahead, wielding his magic weapon to clear away the thorns blocking his path, while pointing ahead with his hand, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

The earth-walking spirit rat in his arms also poked its furry head out, squeaking and squeaking at the front, appearing particularly active.

Lu Chi followed behind, leading his horse, and looked up in the direction he pointed.

Suddenly, the forest ahead disappeared, revealing a steep cliff at the end.

The stone wall is covered with mottled moss and hanging vines, bearing the marks of wind and rain erosion. It looks no different from an ordinary mountain wall, and not even a trace of spiritual energy has leaked out.

Zhou Jinyan stopped three zhang in front of the cliff, her face still showing some lingering fear.

"This is it. If this little thing hadn't been digging in the ground last time, I would have run into it headfirst and almost coughed up blood from the recoil. The mark I left before I left is still there, so it seems no one has been here in the last few days."

Lu Chi nodded, tied the reins to an ancient tree nearby, and walked forward slowly by himself.

If it weren't for Zhou Jinyan leading the way, ordinary cultivators would likely just fly over this place on their swords and treat it as an ordinary cliff, unable to see anything unusual about it.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, and the [Breaking Illusion] technique quietly activated. His nascent divine sense also silently spread out, slowly probing towards the moss-covered cliff.

hum.

In Lu Chi's perception, the scene before him changed instantly.

Behind that seemingly desolate cliff, there are actually layers of incomplete array patterns.

Countless long-diminished spiritual energies intertwined within, barely connecting with the remaining power of the surrounding earth veins, forming an almost transparent invisible barrier in front of the stone wall, tightly locking the energy of the inner cave and preventing it from leaking out in the slightest.

The formation was already dilapidated, but it still retained some of its original essence.

"How is it? Can it be opened?"

Zhou Jinyan rubbed his hands together, stood behind and asked in a low voice, his face showing both nervousness and anticipation.

Lu Chi withdrew his divine sense, his expression remaining calm. He did not reveal all the truth he had discerned, but simply said, "You can try."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinyan's face lit up with joy, but she didn't ask any more questions. She simply took a few steps back naturally, then picked up the two horses with one hand and pressed the spirit rat in her arms back down with the other.

"You focus on your work, I'll go outside and keep watch for you. This place isn't far from the border of the county, it's a desolate wilderness, so if we encounter any monsters or run into other cultivators, we can give them a heads-up in advance."

After saying that, he decisively retreated to a slightly higher spot some distance away, with his back to the cliff, only paying attention to the surrounding movements, and didn't even look back once.

Upon seeing this, Lu Chi's eyes flickered slightly. He could tell that Zhou Jinyan's actions, ostensibly to keep watch, were actually a way of actively avoiding suspicion.

The other party may seem shrewd and worldly on the surface, but when it comes to retreating, they are never hesitant.

Lu Chi didn't say anything more. Only after confirming that Zhou Jinyan was indeed guarding in the distance and that there was no one else around did he turn his gaze back to the cliff in front of him.

Within the [Insightful Perspective], the flow of spiritual energy within that remnant array was clearly visible.

This is a second-tier formation. If it were still at its peak, with his current cultivation level, he might not be able to truly understand much of its intricacies.

However, with the erosion of time, the entire formation has long been riddled with holes, and many of the formation patterns have broken and become disordered. It has barely been maintained until now, relying on the last bit of remaining foundation to hold on.

Lu Chi's gaze slowly swept across the area, and he quickly identified three of the most critical weak points.

One is in the lower left, one is on the right, and one is at the top.

The spiritual energy at all three nodes was already teetering on the brink of collapse, and the connections between them were noticeably sluggish. If they were hit simultaneously, the entire remnant formation would crumble on its own, with no possibility of continuing to hold.

Lu Chi raised his hand and flipped it over, taking out three high-grade offensive talismans.

This dilapidated formation, long neglected and in disrepair, doesn't require top-grade talismans. High-grade talismans are sufficient.

He flicked his finger, and the three talismans instantly transformed into three thin streams of light, silently shooting out and precisely affixing themselves to the three nodes.

Immediately, Lu Chi changed his hand seals and let out a low shout.

hum!

The three superior-grade talismans were activated simultaneously.

The remaining array, which had been barely maintaining its balance, suddenly seemed to have its last few pillars pulled out, causing the entire barrier to shake violently.

A piercing cracking sound immediately followed, as if something invisible was being torn apart.

Immediately afterwards, several crisp "click" sounds rang out in succession.

That invisible barrier finally gave way and collapsed completely.

The camouflage that had been covering the cliff face gradually faded away, disappearing as quickly as ripples receding from water.

The next moment, a cold mountain wind, carrying the scent of stale earth and a faint exotic fragrance, suddenly rushed out from behind the stone wall.

As the light faded, a dark cave entrance was suddenly revealed in the center of the once perfectly sealed stone wall.

The cave entrance is about ten feet high, with two heavy blue stone doors half-open and half-closed, covered with dust and mottled marks left by time, indicating that they have been sealed for countless years.

Although Zhou Jinyan did not turn around to look, he heard the cracking sounds coming from this side and saw that a cave entrance had actually appeared out of thin air in front of the cliff. He was stunned at first, then his face was full of joy, and he led his horse back quickly.

……

……

With a dull, dry rumble, the two heavy bluestone doors slowly opened inward.

Lu Chi did not rush in. He simply stood outside the cave, flicked a moonstone that emitted a soft white light into the cave with his finger, then raised his hand to cover his mouth and nose, and waited quietly for a moment.

Seeing that he didn't move, Zhou Jinyan immediately suppressed her excitement, hugged the treasure-hunting spirit rat in her arms, and stood obediently behind him, only peeking inside.

Under the cold, white light cast by the moonstone, the scene inside the cave gradually became clear.

This is not some grand and magnificent immortal's residence, but just a secluded cultivation cave carved into the belly of a mountain.

The outer room was furnished in a very minimalist style, with only a bronze alchemy furnace that had lost all its spiritual power in the corner.

Further inside was a white jade bed, smooth and lustrous. On the bed, a skeleton sat cross-legged. Despite the passage of countless years, it had not completely decayed, with only a layer of grayish-white dust covering its surface.

Zhou Jinyan's breath hitched slightly as he looked at the remains, and he said in a low voice, "These remains have not decayed over time, so they were probably Foundation Establishment cultivators in life."

As he spoke, he followed Lu Chi and carefully entered the cave.

The earth-walking spirit rat in his arms seemed to smell something, and it darted out in a flash, heading straight for the inner room. Finally, it stopped in front of an ancient token on the waist of the skeleton, and gently pawed at it with its little paws.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Jinyan first solemnly bowed three times to the skeleton on the stone bed before gently taking down the token.

After the dust was brushed away, two ancient seal characters appeared on the front of the token.

Taiqing.

Zhou Jinyan was taken aback at first, then her face showed surprise: "Taiqing Palace?"

Taiqing Palace is one of the three major sects of Jingzhao Kingdom.

It is truly shocking that a disciple of such a sect would die alone in such a remote and desolate mountain.

"Look over there."

Lu Chi remained calm, his gaze already fixed on the stone wall beside the jade bed.

The stone wall was as smooth as a mirror, but someone had carved several lines of characters on it with sword energy, penetrating three inches into the stone with sharp strokes. Even after the passage of time, it still exuded a sense of desolation and resentment.

"I am Yun Chen, an inner disciple of the Taiqing Palace in Jingzhao Kingdom. After decades of arduous cultivation, I finally achieved Foundation Establishment. I intended to seek the Great Dao again, but unexpectedly, I was caught in the battle between the righteous and demonic forces. During the battle in Duanhun Valley, I was poisoned by a bone-corroding and blood-dissolving poison. Although I managed to escape to this place and opened a cave to heal my wounds, the poison had ultimately seeped into my bone marrow, and medicine could not cure it. I knew that my life was not long."

"Having cultivated the Tao to this day, I have struggled in countless ways, yet in the end, I cannot escape death. If someone is destined to see this final piece, I hope they will send my remains and identity token back to the Taiqing Palace, so that I may return to my roots."

"Beneath the jade bed lies a portion of Xuanbing Spirit Liquid that I obtained years ago. I originally intended to keep it for future cultivation, but now that the Great Dao has been severed, I will give it to a destined person as a token of my gratitude for collecting my bones. Yun Chen's final words."

After reading this final letter, the cave fell silent for a moment.

Looking at the skeletons on the stone bed, Zhou Jinyan's joy faded considerably.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator from a major sect, after a lifetime of arduous cultivation, ultimately died alone in this nameless cave. This illustrates just how perilous the path to immortality is.

Lu Chi's gaze fell on the last few words of his final letter.

He looked down at the jade bed, following the direction of the writing.

There was a shallow natural stone depression there, with a very simple spirit-gathering array still outside.

In the center of the hollow, there was only a shallow layer of dark blue liquid, about the size of a bowl. The surface of the liquid was as still as a cold mirror, yet it exuded an astonishingly chilling aura, and even the surrounding stone surfaces were covered with a thin layer of frost.

"Mystic Ice Elixir"

Lu Chi's eyes flickered slightly.

This thing isn't exactly a rare treasure that can defy fate, but it is an extremely hard-to-find, cold and spiritual object.

Most importantly, the ancient cultivation technique "Taiyuan Xuanshui Jing" that he obtained by repairing the second-tier broken talisman clearly states in its foundation-building chapter that if one wants to use this technique to build a foundation, one must find spiritual water of heaven and earth with yin and cold attributes to cleanse the physical body and refine the impure essence within.

He was originally planning that once he settled down at Qixia Sect, he would have to spend countless years and spirit stones to collect such spiritual water.

Unexpectedly, this trip with Zhou Jinyan to the mountains to avoid the storm turned into a serendipitous opportunity.

Although the amount of this Xuanbing Spirit Liquid is not large, it is enough if it is only used as a catalyst for Foundation Establishment.

Lu Chi withdrew his gaze, turned to look at Zhou Jinyan, and remained silent.

On the path of cultivation, it is not difficult to venture into dangerous places together; what is difficult is to maintain one's true nature when treasures are in front of one another.

No matter how much friendship or loyalty exists, things may seem secure on a daily basis, but when it comes to dividing the spoils, a single thought or a trace of greed can often turn fellow travelers into bitter enemies, even to the point of life and death.