Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

Having learned from his previous experience, Lin Zui was much more adept at casting spells this time, and the soul transfer was successfully completed in just over an hour.

Even so, Senior Brother Wang had been tortured to the point of near death. He was soaked in sweat and collapsed on the ground, seemingly barely breathing.

"How much longer are you going to lie there, Senior Brother Wang? Do you expect me to help you up?"

Lin Zui's voice drifted over, and Senior Brother Wang trembled violently. He struggled to his feet and knelt before Lin Zui.

"Master Lin... oh no, Master... what are your orders..."

"Hehe, Senior Brother is indeed a smart man. Since that's the case, I won't say any more. As long as you do your job well for me, I naturally won't urge the Seven Ghosts to deal with you."

Furthermore, in front of outsiders, we must remain as discreet as ever, and never reveal my secret, otherwise, you know the consequences.

Senior Brother Wang's face was pale, and he nodded repeatedly. Recalling the pain of being devoured by the Seven Ghosts, his expression was full of fear, and he dared not have the slightest thought of resistance.

Lin Zui took out a bunch of talismans from his storage bag and pushed them towards him. They were all mid-level or higher talismans, numbering over a hundred.

"You can sell these talismans for spirit stones, or directly exchange them for pills that can help with cultivation. I don't care if you sell them in batches or ask someone to help you, just don't attract attention."

"Yes, yes, Master, rest assured, I will be very careful."

Seeing that Lin Zui had casually produced so many talismans, Senior Brother Wang was greatly shocked and secretly regretted that he had been too rash and had started targeting the other party without understanding his background.

Now it seems that this person's identity is probably not simple, especially considering that sinister magical artifact from earlier. It was clearly not something a righteous person would refine. He might be some kind of ruthless demon in disguise, or even a spy sent by the demonic path.

It's laughable that I foolishly ran into it, and now I'm like a fish on a chopping board, at their mercy. I brought this upon myself, and I deserve to die.

Lin Zui was unaware of Senior Brother Wang's inner thoughts, and even if he did, he wouldn't care at all.

These talismans were all leftovers from before; aside from some commonly used and essential ones, almost all the rest that could be sold were here.

I originally wanted to sell more at the market, but I was afraid that selling too much at once would attract attention. Now that someone can do it for me, there's no need to risk it myself.

"Also, keep an eye out for news from all sides, especially about the Ascension Ceremony a month from now. Find out who's participating and who will be the winners. Try to get all the details back to me."

"Yes, I will investigate carefully."

Although it's uncertain whether the main storyline will change, it's still necessary to keep an eye on the Old Demon's movements.

After sorting out his thoughts and assigning some other tasks to Senior Brother Wang, Lin Zui waved him away.

He took out a pile of pills he had bought and began his cultivation for the day.

Time passed day by day, and two months went by in the blink of an eye.

On this day, in a remote corner of the Taiyue Mountains.

Lin Zui pinched a yellowish-brown talisman in his hand, infused it with magical power, and as the talisman glowed, Lin Zui's figure instantly disappeared from the spot. In just a few breaths, Lin Zui reappeared, having silently arrived at a hillside several miles away.

"This Shrinking Earth Talisman is truly mysterious. It's as if you've entered another space in an instant. No wonder they dare to say it can block divine sense locks and ignore certain restrictions. It's really quite miraculous and not just an exaggeration."

Lin Zui was overjoyed and held the talisman in his hand with great affection.

To be honest, he had had this Shrinking Earth Talisman for several years, and had tried many times to condense it into a seal. The reason was simple: his spiritual sense was insufficient.

Although the Divine Seal Technique can condense divine sense, condensing divine sense only allows cultivators to control it more freely and perform more subtle operations, increasing the success rate of condensing talismans. However, if the total amount of divine sense is insufficient, it will naturally not be able to condense.

Fortunately, he broke through to the fifth level of Qi Refining this time, and his divine sense was strengthened. After many attempts, he finally succeeded in condensing the talisman.

However, the success rate of making this talisman was far lower than that of the ordinary talismans before. It failed dozens of times before finally succeeding once.

Moreover, each time he made it, he would completely drain his spiritual consciousness, which was extremely painful.

However, looking at the profound power of this talisman, Lin Zui felt that all the pain was worth it. With this trump card, at least when facing a Foundation Establishment cultivator, escaping should not be a problem.

"Next time, I'll use some better quality talisman paper and cinnabar. Hopefully, this will increase the success rate. One of these good things is never enough. I need to prepare more."

Lin Zui thought to himself that this Shrinking Earth Talisman was enough for escaping. As for attacking, although he could make mid-to-high-level talismans, they were all ordinary and there were no real killer weapons.

The only trump card is that small sword talisman, but its power is almost gone, and it will probably be ruined after one or two more uses.

In fact, he had tried to replicate the small sword talisman using the Divine Seal Technique, but the most important part of this thing was the extracted magic weapon power. Although Lin Zui was able to condense the talisman, what he made was just an empty shell with little power.

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the future."

Lin Zui sighed. Things like the Shrinking Earth Talisman are rare and hard to come by. If you can't find one, you can only blame yourself for not having the luck.

Lin Zui put the talisman back into his storage bag, took out his flying artifact, and turned to fly towards Yellow Maple Valley.

After flying for a while, he suddenly sensed something and quickly controlled the magical artifact to stop, looking into the distance.

In the misty clouds, a giant, dark yellow airship gradually revealed its clear outline, flying slowly and steadily towards the shore. Even before it got close, an immense pressure swept over you.

"Is this... the giant flying ship inside the gate?"

Lin Zui dared not be negligent and quickly moved far away, bowing respectfully.

Although he had never seen one, he had at least heard Senior Brother Wang mention it. He believed that a flying boat of this caliber could be used for a mission, and that there was usually a Core Formation stage cultivator on board.

Lin Zui thought for a moment and realized that apart from the Ascension Ceremony, there shouldn't be any other major events happening recently.

Could it be that the conference ended and those people came back?

Lin Zui's mind raced. Seeing that the giant ship had already gone far away, he quickly activated the magical artifact beneath his feet and chased after it.

Back near the gate of Yellow Maple Valley, more and more people were flying around on their magical artifacts, clearly having been alerted by the giant ship and come to see what was going on.

Lin Zui followed behind the crowd and soon flew to the square in front of the main hall. The people on the giant flying ship had already disembarked and disappeared. However, there were quite a few people watching the excitement in the square. Just as Lin Zui was about to ask someone, someone next to him asked the question on his behalf.

"Senior Brother Li, have the group from the Ascension Conference returned?"

"That's right, the senior uncles have already taken them to the council hall to pay their respects to the sect leader."

"I wonder how good this year's recruits are? Everyone got a Foundation Establishment Pill, it's really enviable."

"It's alright. I took a look and it seems that most of them are around the tenth or eleventh level of Qi Refining. Judging from their clothes, a few of them seem to be from families of cultivators."

"A family of cultivators? They're probably just some mediocre guys fed with pills. Even if they take a Foundation Establishment Pill, what are the chances they'll actually achieve Foundation Establishment? What a waste."

"Junior Brother Song, you are mistaken. Foundation Establishment is not such an easy thing. Even without these mediocre fellows from cultivation families, how many people can truly step into the Foundation Establishment stage?"

"Well, I understand all this, but I just feel a bit indignant. This Ascension Ceremony was originally meant to appease the independent cultivators and give them a chance to establish their foundation, but now these cultivation families are constantly taking advantage of loopholes to occupy the spots..."

"I know that you are a rogue cultivator and it's normal for you to disapprove of the practices of these cultivation families. But how can we, two mere Qi Refining cultivators, decide these things? Let's not worry unnecessarily."

"...Indeed, it seems my junior brother is being too attached to appearances."

As they were talking, the doors of the council hall opened, and a Foundation Establishment cultivator led out ten young men and women with different expressions. They were the ten winners of this year's Ascension Conference.

The crowd immediately erupted in noise, with various comments and opinions rising and falling.

Lin Zui mingled in the crowd without saying a word, his gaze fixed on a dark-skinned young man with an ordinary appearance on the platform.

Even though they were quite far apart and he couldn't see clearly, even though the last time he saw him, he was just a ten-year-old boy, he still recognized the person on the platform at a glance.

Han Li!

He still came!