One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

Zhang Lingqiu surveyed the gentle slope, which was backed by a stone wall and was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and made a decision.

"Although this place is desolate, it has a stone wall behind it as a barrier and a relatively open view in front of it, making it a good defensive position in the short term."

"We'll stay here and wait for Senior Brother Qi Heng to bring the fourth team over."

Zhang Lingqiu looked at the pale-faced people leaning against the stone wall: "Take advantage of these two days. Those whose Dao Yuan is depleted should focus on breathing exercises to recover, and the injured should rest and recuperate. We will make further plans once the main force of the fourth team arrives!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

……

The next two days.

To everyone's surprise, the camp was unusually quiet.

No evil cultivators from the Yin Sect came up, and not even one of the corpses wandering in the miasma appeared.

The group privately speculated that perhaps because they had been fleeing all the way, their current campsite was actually some distance away from the main road leading to the "Abyss of Ten Thousand Bones," creating a blind spot.

Or perhaps it was because of the earth-shattering attack from Wen Daoqing, the golden-armored general, coupled with the god-like slaughter by Jiang Shou and Ye Cheng, which caused heavy losses to the Luoyin Sect, including elders, hall masters, and incense masters. The evil cultivators simply abandoned the all-encompassing search and instead withdrew all their forces back to the sect's headquarters, waiting for these "young rookies" to walk right into their trap.

In any case, the peace of the past two days was like a long-awaited rain after a drought for these geniuses who were on the verge of despair.

By the evening of the third day.

As dusk fell, several campfires were lit in the camp.

"Fellow Daoist Song, look at the core of this [Divine Firmament Thunder Cover] talisman."

Jiang Shouzheng sat cross-legged on a flat bluestone, holding a mixed-hair brush in his hand. On the stone surface in front of him were several sheets of the most ordinary yellow paper, and he was writing and drawing on the paper with his head down and his expression focused.

Jiang Shou pointed to an extremely complex turning point in the rune, raised his head, and looked up with a humble expression, as if seeking guidance:

"If I were to forcibly open the reverse circulation hub here using the Supreme... uh, my sect's true essence, would that be feasible?"

"Uh, um..."

The man sitting next to him, Song Daoming of the Shenxiao Sect, was leaning against the stone wall.

Although his face was still pale, compared to the time two days ago when he seemed on the verge of death, he had at least regained some of the vitality of a living person.

At this moment, Song Daoming's gaze was somewhat vacant as he stared blankly at the intricate lines Jiang Shou had drawn on the yellow paper, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

"It should...maybe...perhaps...feasible?" Song Daoming's tone was extremely uncertain, as if he was questioning the meaning of life.

In fact, this very morning, when the unfathomable Abbot Jiang approached him and very politely asked to "borrow and examine the [Divine Firmament Thunder Shield Talisman]", Song Daoming hesitated for only a moment before readily agreeing.

Firstly, the other party rushed seventy or eighty miles in the middle of the night, saving his and all his teammates' lives like a divine intervention. This kindness is greater than the heavens.

Secondly, in these perilous mountains, where survival is almost certain, it's uncertain whether anyone will even survive. If Abbot Jiang, who rose to fame on Mount Longhu for his mastery of talismans, could truly learn this defensive formation, it would undoubtedly provide the entire team with a tremendous life-saving trump card. To cling to such a technique at this point would be tantamount to playing with their lives.

However, Song Daoming was rather embarrassed when he took out the six thunder talismans.

The six talismans that formed the foundation of the array were nearly destroyed after the fierce battle of attrition. The edges of the talismans had been carbonized and curled by the high temperature, and the cinnabar and lightning patterns on them were dim and incomplete.

What's even more embarrassing is that Song Daoming himself actually... doesn't know how to draw this talisman at all!

This is a high-level array talisman, a closely guarded secret of the Shenxiao Sect. It was drawn by his master himself before he left the mountain, and given to him as his ultimate trump card for survival. He only knew how to use Dao Yuan to activate and maintain it; as for how to draw it... he was only a half-baked expert.

So, Jiang Shou actually just squatted there for a long time studying a few tattered and incomplete half-destroyed talismans, and then started to ponder and draw on the yellow paper on his own.

And then... it turned into the bizarre scene that Song Daoming is seeing now.

The strokes and transitions of the talisman Jiang Shou sketched on the paper, while not entirely different from the orthodox painting style of the Shenxiao School, were completely unrelated! It was practically like scribbling!

but!

Ironically, as Jiang Shou wrote each stroke, the underlying thunder magic aura gradually emanating from that cheap yellow paper was almost identical to the orthodox thunder magic of the Shenxiao Sect! The form was different, but the essence was remarkably similar!

"I observe that your six thunder talismans, and the underlying thunder patterns are rooted in the same source as all orthodox thunder magic. But the wonder lies in these key points..."

Jiang Shou was completely immersed in the enthusiastic analysis of the new knowledge, rambling on and on while continuing to use a mixed-hair brush to sketch several completely opposite arcs on the paper.

"Other people's lightning techniques bombard outwards, but yours reverses the flow, pushing the lightning patterns forward! This method of locking down the violent energy and allowing it to circulate orderly and continuously within is truly an ingenious design!"

"Fellow Daoist Song, look!"

Jiang Shou's eyes shone with an astonishing light as his pen flew across the yellow paper: "Swirling, pulling, and intertwining from the outside in! When activated, the raging lightning power within should be stretched into a resilient defensive electric grid..."

"Well!"

Jiang Shou hadn't finished speaking.

At the final point where the energy converged, the pen tip seemed to deviate slightly due to the conflict between the two opposing true energies.

"Oh no!!" Jiang Shou's expression changed.

"Crack!!"

A piercing crack of lightning was heard!

Suddenly, without warning, a violent and incomparable blue arc of lightning erupted from the surface of that ordinary yellow paper! That uncontrolled lightning power exploded directly on the paper!

"boom!"

With a flash of light, the yellow paper that had been drawn on for so long was instantly blasted into a pile of charred ashes, which scattered in the wind. Even the surface of the bluestone where Jiang Shou was sitting was struck by the arc of lightning, leaving a shallow scorch mark.

"Cough cough cough..."

Jiang Shou coughed, choked by the smoke, and shook his wrist, which was numb from the shock.

"Sigh, the balance point of this reverse lightning pattern is really too hard to find. If there is even the slightest conflict of true essence, this thing will self-destruct. No wonder there are so few people in the Divine Firmament Sect who know this skill..." Jiang Shou sighed helplessly and pulled out a new sheet of yellow paper from the side.

Leaning against the stone wall, Song Daoming looked at the clump of black ash on the ground and silently swallowed.

"..."

"This guy... just now, he almost actually deduced our sect's supreme array talisman using a few half-destroyed, flawed ones?!"

Just as Senior Brother Song was questioning the meaning of life, and Jiang Shou was preparing to pick up his pen and fight again.

"Shhh..."

From the direction of the distant gray and withered forest, a series of rapid footsteps, like branches being snapped, and the sound of clothes rustling through the air suddenly came.

The people in the camp immediately became alert.

But soon, the familiar fluctuations in energy brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

"The fourth team has arrived!"

Li Xunfeng, who had been on guard duty, suddenly brightened up.

"Let's go! Let's go pick them up!"

Ye Cheng laughed loudly, grabbed the sword box, and the two of them flew like lightning towards the edge of the forest to meet the fourth squad that had finally arrived to join them.