Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, another three years have passed.

After three years of consuming large amounts of elixirs to build up his magical power, Lin Zui's cultivation level finally returned to the fourth level of Qi Refining.

However, the fourth level at this time is vastly different from the fourth level back then. Now his magical power is more than twice as strong as it was back then, and it is comparable to the magical power of an ordinary sixth level Qi Refining cultivator.

This is because every time he breaks through a realm, his dantian expands slightly, especially when he breaks through the fourth realm and enters the mid-stage of Qi Refining, the expansion is even more terrifying.

If this expansion continues at this rate, Lin Zui speculates that if he can reach the Foundation Establishment stage, his total mana might be five or six times that of other cultivators at the same level.

Of course, the ensuing problem is how to fill this bottomless pit of magical power.

Relying solely on pills won't suffice. Even if he did have the Heavenly Bottle, the drug resistance problem that Han Li had faced before would only be more severe for him.

If one approach doesn't work, he has no choice but to try multiple methods simultaneously.

Spiritual veins, elixirs, spirit-gathering arrays... and finding cultivators with celestial spiritual roots to temper their spiritual roots—anything that can improve his cultivation speed must be included in his future plans.

Unfortunately, although the last seventy-two pages of the Jade Book cover a wide range of topics, neither alchemy nor formations are like the Way of Talismans, which offers shortcuts like the "Divine Seal Technique." Therefore, at this stage, the only thing he can focus on is the spiritual veins.

As for the best spiritual veins in Yue Kingdom, they are naturally all controlled by the seven major sects. With his spiritual root aptitude and fourth-level magical power cultivation, it is impossible for him to directly join the seven major sects. However, if he can obtain the Ascension Token from the Golden Light Master, he can directly join the Yellow Maple Valley, saving a lot of trouble.

He had been preparing for this all this time.

Judging by the time, Han Li should have already won the battle against Elder Mo in the possession. In about a year, it should be the time for the Seven Mysteries Sect and the Wild Wolf Gang to have their final battle. Master Jin Guang should have already made contact with Jia Tianlong. As long as he infiltrates the Wild Wolf Gang and interrogates Jia Tianlong, it will not be difficult to find out Master Jin Guang's whereabouts.

Lin Zui touched the storage bag at his waist. Over the years, in addition to cultivating his magic power, he had never neglected the art of talisman making. Besides the large number of low-grade talismans he sold, he also made a large number of various mid-grade talismans, and even two kinds of high-grade talismans, which filled half of the storage bag. In addition, he also had thousands of spirit stones, so his wealth was quite substantial.

Unfortunately, with his divine sense, he can only create basic to advanced talismans at most. He still couldn't successfully condense the seal of that Shrinking Earth Talisman, which made him quite regretful. Otherwise, he would have more confidence when venturing out into the world.

However, he dared not wait any longer. Because of his reckless purchase of pills over the years, he had long been targeted by many people with ulterior motives. If he hadn't stayed in the market and hadn't gone out, someone would probably have already made a move against him.

He went outside and called over a waiter from Rugui Pavilion, handing him a wooden box to give to Liang Anping.

The wooden box contained dozens of mid-level talismans, probably worth several hundred spirit stones.

Over the years, Liang Anping has always been kind to him, so he owes him a favor. Giving him these things is a way of giving back to him.

After finishing this task, Lin Zui returned to his room and took out a talisman with intricate runes—a beginner-level high-grade invisibility talisman.

This is one of his only two high-level talismans; the other is a talisman for investigation and interrogation—the Mantra Talisman.

Lin Zui affixed the invisibility talisman to his body, instantly making him invisible. Even scanning with divine sense revealed nothing. After confirming that he would not reveal any trace, Lin Zui quietly left Fuyunfang and disappeared into the vast mountains and forests.

a few days later.

Jingzhou border.

Inside a dilapidated Taoist temple located near a desolate wilderness.

A short dwarf, adorned with jewels and looking completely out of place in his surroundings, was lovingly stroking several boxes of gold and silver jewelry.

"Hmph, Jia Tianlong of the Wild Wolf Gang is quite sensible. In that case, I'll reluctantly help him this once."

"They're just a bunch of ordinary people anyway, it shouldn't take much effort."

The dwarf muttered to himself, this person was none other than the famous Treasure-Giving Boy from the original work—Master Jin Guang.

After several days of travel, Lin Zui concealed his presence and avoided being seen, finally arriving at the Wild Wolf Gang. Using a Truth Talisman, he easily extracted the whereabouts of the Golden Light Master from the gang leader, Jia Tianlong.

However, in order to avoid causing unnecessary trouble, he only knocked Jia Tianlong unconscious afterwards, without taking his life.

They then arrived at the Golden Light Temple and quickly found the Golden Light Master. However, to ensure that nothing went wrong, they cautiously searched the vicinity for several days before finally deciding to take action after confirming that there were no other cultivators present.

However, seeing this person so obsessed with a pile of gold and silver treasures that are of little use to cultivators, I couldn't help but be speechless.

With such a lack of ambition, no wonder he's only fit to be someone else's background prop.

"I never imagined that you, a dignified cultivator, would be so greedy for these worldly riches. In that case, take these gold and silver with you on your journey!"

Lin Zui made a sarcastic remark.

The Golden Light Master's movements stopped abruptly, and he clearly felt his body stiffen. But in just a moment, he flipped his hand, and a talisman was activated, completely enveloping him in a golden light shield.

Just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, several thick, scorching pillars of fire shot straight towards the light barrier from mid-air.

"Exploding... Exploding Flame Talisman!? Dao... Fellow Daoist, spare my life—"

Under the incredulous gaze of the Golden Light Master, three thick pillars of fire, transformed from mid-level initial-grade Explosive Flame Talismans, landed directly on the golden protective shield.

The protective shield only held for a moment before shattering inch by inch. Before Jin Guang Shangren could make any further moves, he was reduced to ashes in a burst of flames.

With a wave of his hand, Lin Zui grabbed a triangular, jet-black token and a talisman with a small golden sword drawn on it. These were the Ascension Token and the small sword talisman from Huangfeng Valley.

Lin Zui smiled with satisfaction, looking at the pile of ashes left behind by Jin Guang Shangren. In the original story, this person was also burned to death by Han Laomo. It seems that this was his fate.

Having obtained the item, Lin Zui didn't plan to linger any longer. The commotion from that attack was quite significant, and if it dragged on, it would inevitably attract attention. It was best to leave as soon as possible.

Lin Zui had only taken two steps when his body suddenly stiffened. His divine sense, honed countless times by the Divine Seal Technique, keenly sensed a powerful divine sense sweeping across his area and instantly locking onto him.

Immediately afterwards, the roof of the Golden Light Temple was blasted open by a tremendous force, and two figures rode a spirit boat magical artifact that hovered in the air, watching Lin Zui with great interest.

"Brother Yan, the atmosphere in your Yue Kingdom's cultivation world isn't very good either. You're only at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining, and you're already killing and robbing treasures?"

The leader of the men in black smiled at the young man in blue beside him and said something. The young man in blue seemed to have a great deal of respect for the men in black and dared not be negligent upon hearing this.

"You flatter me, Your Excellency. That's just how the cultivation world is. Take those seven sects, for example. They claim to be righteous and prestigious, but haven't they done their fair share of underhanded and cunning schemes?"

"Hahaha, well said. Now that we've run into this person, there's no reason for us to let him go, is there?"

"Haha, of course, this person just had bad luck to run into the esteemed envoy."

Lin Zui broke out in a cold sweat listening to their conversation, which seemed to ignore everyone else. He cursed his bad luck in his heart while frantically trying to think of a way to escape.

He had already discovered that both of them were at least at the tenth level of Qi Refining, and killing him, a mere fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator, would be an easy task.

His only trump card was a huge number of talismans, but these weren't something that could be used to defeat enemies just by throwing them out randomly; they were useless if they couldn't hit anyone.

Unless the enemy can be restrained first, but by any measure, these two are unlikely to give me that opportunity.

After much deliberation, Lin Zui gritted his teeth in secret.

"That's the only thing we can rely on."