To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

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Wendao Peak, in the open space in front of Chenxing Pavilion.

Fang Linghe and Gu Fan sat facing each other, with a table between them and a pale yellow talisman on the table.

Zhou Furui sat not far away, sipping fragrant tea and watching this scene with a smile on his lips.

"It would be good to find something for our third junior brother to do, so he won't be like an iceberg all day long."

......

A gentle breeze stirred Fang Linghe's long hair, making it resemble a wisp of smoke.

"Junior brother, please take a look. How should we interpret these runes?"

Fang Linghe picked up the brush and with a slight flick of his wrist, he wrote complex runes on the talisman paper.

Gu Fan looked down and glanced at it before chuckling, "Senior brother underestimates me too much."

After saying that, Gu Fan immediately pointed to the runes and said, "Flowing, Shaping, Icy... these are all commonly used water-element runes, which I have already memorized."

Fang Linghe put down his pen without comment: "Then... junior brother, please use these runes as the core and draw five spirit talismans."

"This..." Gu Fan narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then took the talisman brush and quickly began to draw it with calm concentration.

"Water Bullet Talisman," "Water Snake Talisman," "Ice Cone Talisman," and "Cloud and Rain Talisman"—Gu Fan drew four talismans without pausing, and then his talisman brush suddenly stopped.

The talismans drawn previously were all recorded in "An Introduction to the Way of Talismans". They are very common and have been passed down for a long time. However, only these four talismans are based on the talismans provided by Fang Linghe.

"Since the challenge is to draw five spirit talismans, it means that these talismans can at least be combined to form one more spirit talisman."

Gu Fan's mind raced, and runes in his mind jumped and combined together, seemingly testing all possibilities.

Fang Linghe watched Gu Fan deep in thought without disturbing him, but when her gaze swept over the four spirit talismans that Gu Fan had already drawn, a look of amazement flashed across her eyes.

"His brushstrokes are steady and fluid, his magical power remains unwavering; he is truly a promising talent for studying the art of talismans."

Although Fang Linghe had already learned from Zhou Furui that this junior brother was extremely talented, he was still secretly shocked when he saw him today.

Just then, Gu Fan made a move.

Gu Fan frowned, picked up the brush and slowly moved it across the talisman paper, leaving a line of even ink marks. Compared to his previous rapid drawing, his movements were as slow as a tortoise crawling.

Only when the last rune was completed and the surrounding spiritual energy surged into the talisman paper, undoubtedly declaring the talisman a success, did Gu Fan relax his brows and let out a soft breath.

clap clap.

Fang Linghe clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Junior brother actually drew it! His comprehension is truly exceptional!"

Gu Fan shook his head and smiled wryly, "Senior brother, you flatter me. It was just a lucky accident."

The talisman before him was one he had never seen before in "An Introduction to the Way of Talismans"; he had pieced it together entirely based on his understanding of runes.

At this moment, he was very fortunate that he had not relied entirely on the Myriad Manifestations Eye, otherwise he would certainly not have been able to draw this talisman today.

Fang Linghe reached out and picked up the talisman, then casually tossed it aside.

The talisman ignited spontaneously without fire, instantly transforming into a cloud of ice mist about ten feet in diameter, floating in the air.

"Ice Mist Talisman, a low-grade first-tier talisman, has extremely weak destructive power and only has the effect of obscuring vision. It has long been eliminated because it is too useless and does not even qualify to be included in the 'Introduction to Talisman Dao'."

Fang Linghe pointed to the ice mist and explained, then turned his head and finally a smile appeared on his face, like spring snow melting: "Junior brother, there is no need to be modest. Being able to draw this talisman by yourself through the combination of runes shows that you are not just someone who can recite from the book."

"As the saying goes, there are no fixed rules for talismans, and this is a threshold that all cultivators who study the Dao of Talismans must cross."

Gu Fan nodded, understanding the deeper meaning behind Fang Linghe's actions.

When ordinary cultivators first learn the art of talismans, they follow the drawing methods left by their predecessors and never make any changes, for fear of affecting the success rate of talisman making.

Only cultivators who truly understand the function of runes can freely combine them, and even innovate and create new spiritual runes.

Fang Linghe took out a jade slip from his sleeve and placed it on the table.

"This jade slip contains the second-tier talismanic arts, as well as some of my insights. I'm giving it to you as a gift upon meeting you, junior brother."

Upon seeing this, Gu Fan knew he had passed the test and was overjoyed. He quickly cupped his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

With the second-tier talisman inheritance, his confidence in winning the Three Sects Dharma Assembly increased even further.

Thinking of the Three Sects Dharma Assembly, Gu Fan couldn't help but ask, "Since you are proficient in the Dao of Talismans, have you ever participated in the Three Sects Dharma Assembly?"

Fang Linghe was slightly taken aback. He calculated the time with his fingers and then realized, "So the Three Sects Dharma Assembly is coming soon. A hundred years have passed so quickly."

"That's right, I did participate in three Dharma assemblies."

"Please tell me about the literary contest, senior brother." Gu Fan pretended to listen attentively.

"The competition method is actually very simple. Disciples from the three sects will draw talismans together, and then verify the power of the talismans to determine the winner."

"If that's the case, then Senior Brother must have shone brightly back then!" Gu Fan said with a smile.

Fang Linghe smiled modestly and said, "It was just a lucky break that I won first place, nothing more."

"However, with your current mastery of talismans, unless a disciple from the Spirit Transformation Sect performs exceptionally well, winning shouldn't be too difficult for you."

"Exceptional performance?" Gu Fan was somewhat puzzled.

Fang Linghe patiently explained upon hearing this:

"Junior brother, you may not know this, but the talismanic tradition of the Hualing Sect is completely different from that of our Lingxiao Sect."

"To comprehend the Dao of Talismans, we need to understand the true meaning of the runes and use them to mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

Gu Fan asked in surprise, "Isn't this how the talismanic arts of the Spirit Transformation Sect works?"

"That's true." Fang Linghe nodded and said, "The talismanic inheritance of the Spirit Transformation Sect is essentially about borrowing power."

"Borrowing resources? From whom?"

"The true spirits offered to them."

Through Fang Linghe's explanation, Gu Fan finally understood what leveraging others' strengths meant.

Just as the Lingxiao Sect's techniques emphasize comprehension, the Hualing Sect, as one of the three major sects of Wei, also has its own unique characteristics in its techniques.

After entering the sect, each disciple of the Spirit Transformation Sect will choose a true spirit to worship according to their spiritual root attribute. Then, they will cultivate the true spirit's Dharma form through visualization. This is the cultivation method of the Spirit Transformation Sect disciples.

The so-called "spiritual transformation" means taking the true spirit as a template and cultivating oneself to evolve into the true spirit, thereby mastering the true spirit's innate supernatural powers.

True spirits with established images and names are at least at the Nascent Soul stage. The method of Spirit Transformation seems to have a fixed end, but for the vast majority of cultivators, it is already unattainable.

The advantage of the Spirit Transformation Method lies in its extremely low requirements for spiritual root aptitude and its emphasis on compatibility with the true spirit. Therefore, the number of cultivators in the Spirit Transformation Sect is far higher than that of the Lingxiao Sect, reaching as many as six thousand.

Of course, the drawback of this method is also obvious—cultivators must never violate their true spiritual nature.

If the true spirit favors handsome people, then those who are ugly will never gain the true spirit's approval; if the true spirit is of noble character, then one must never do anything vulgar, otherwise one will be rejected by the true spirit, and one's cultivation will regress instead of progress.

Even a monk's temperament and preferences are influenced by the true spirit, and he must abide by various precepts on a daily basis.

As for the talismanic arts of the Spirit Transformation Sect, they borrow the power of true spirits.

Of course, whether the true spirit pays attention to the cultivator is another matter entirely. If the true spirit is in a bad mood, one can cry out to heaven and earth in vain.

If a cultivator is favored by the true spirit, not only will their cultivation speed increase by leaps and bounds, but the talismans they draw will also be extremely powerful.

This is what Fang Linghe meant by extraordinary performance.

Although the effects are extremely unstable, the disciples of the Hualing Sect have indeed won many times at the Three Sects Dharma Assembly by relying on "True Spirit Great Joy".

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother." Gu Fan bowed and expressed his gratitude.

It must be said that Fang Linghe's explanation broadened his horizons.