Ascending from the mortal realm to become an immortal begins with taking charge of a grotto-heaven.

Seven days later.

Zhang Li controlled the Black Shadow Boat and returned to the Qingxuan Sect.

Ignoring his fatigue from the journey, the first thing he did upon returning to the sect was to head straight to the incense hall to deliver the two tasks, thus completing the two tasks for the year on schedule.

"We can't be this rushed next year," Zhang Li thought to himself.

After handing over the task, he rushed to Lingxiu Peak's cave without stopping.

……

Silent all night.

The day after returning from outside the sect, Zhang Li once again immersed himself in deciphering the silver pages.

Regarding the interpretation of the silver pages, he was only missing the very last bit of information.

Zhang Li simply set aside several days to fully decipher the contents of the silver page, and he finally managed to make a preliminary understanding of it.

Just as he had expected, the silver pages contained a powerful sword technique.

Its name is: [Gengjin Sword Talisman]!

It is impossible to know which senior master created this technique, and the original version is no longer practiceable. The current version was deduced and improved by a Nascent Soul cultivator with the Daoist name Fuyao Zhenjun ten thousand years ago.

It must be said that True Lord Fuyao truly deserves to be called a great cultivator who has reached the Nascent Soul realm. His improved techniques have greatly reduced the difficulty of cultivation and significantly increased the upper limit of his abilities.

According to the original cultivation method, the sword talisman produced is the same as the current spirit talisman, and the spiritual materials required to make the sword talisman are also relatively rare.

Generally speaking, only those who have reached the Golden Core stage have the resources to refine sword talismans.

However, after being improved by True Lord Fuyao, cultivation only requires a metal spiritual object. The essence is smelted with spiritual fire, combined with the rules of talismanic cultivation, and mixed with the cultivator's blood essence to transform it into a special spiritual talisman, similar to a natal magic weapon, which can be stored in the dantian.

Afterwards, all that is needed is to nurture it with magic power every day. The time required to nurture the sword talisman varies depending on the cultivator's strength and realm, ranging from several months to several years.

When using it, one only needs to use their own magic power to activate the sword talisman in their dantian to instantly unleash a powerful Gengjin sword aura.

According to the spellbook, the first stage of the Gengjin Sword Talisman can completely harm Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Like the Azure Flame Technique that Zhang Li cultivated, this sword talisman is divided into four grades, corresponding to the four realms from Qi Refining to Nascent Soul, and can be cultivated sequentially from low to high.

According to True Lord Fuyao's plan, the potential of the Gengjin Sword Talisman was not limited to the fourth rank, but he had not been able to reach the higher realms in his entire life, so the rank of the Gengjin Sword Talisman stopped at the fourth rank.

"As expected of a technique deduced and improved by a Nascent Soul True Monarch, it can actually be used to fight enemies across major realms."

Having confirmed the true power of this technique, Zhang Li's excitement was indescribable.

Of course, nothing in this world is perfect.

Although this [Gengjin Sword Talisman] is powerful, it has a limited number of uses and can only be used once.

Although it doesn't need to be re-refined and drawn like ordinary talismans, it still takes time to nurture it again in order to restore its power.

Even so, Zhang Li was still very satisfied with the power of the [Gengjin Sword Talisman]. Moreover, as his cultivation level improved, the number of sword talismans that his body could hold could also increase.

Although he has now switched to cultivating the Golden Crow Burning Flame Scripture and has no shortage of magical artifacts, he still lacks a method that can defeat an enemy in one strike.

While items like the Thunder Bead are desirable, they are ultimately external objects.

The other techniques, while possessing great potential, are not something he can realize in the short term.

Now that he has the cultivation method for the [Gengjin Sword Talisman], his last weakness has been overcome.

However, just to be on the safe side, Zhang Li extracted some fragments from the original text and specifically consulted Han Dong.

After confirming that his interpretation was correct, he prepared to begin practicing this technique.

To cultivate this technique, you need to prepare a metal spiritual object.

According to the records in the spellbook, when cultivating the first stage of the sword talisman, it is recommended to use a metal-type spiritual material called Luminous Gold.

This item is generally used to forge top-grade magical artifacts, especially flying swords. If a small amount is incorporated during the forging process, it can add three-tenths of the flying sword's power, so the price is not cheap.

He spent nearly a thousand spirit stones to gather enough for his cultivation.

But considering the power of the spells, these expenses are worthwhile.

……

"Let's begin."

Zhang Li whispered something, placed the purchased Luminous Gold in front of him, and then began the first step according to the cultivation requirements of the [Gengjin Sword Talisman].

Refine the essence of metals with spiritual fire.

Fortunately, Zhang Li had cultivated the Azure Flame Technique; otherwise, he would have needed to hire a weapon refiner for the first step of cultivation, which would have been another expense.

However, this is a huge project; the tempering step alone will take about one or two months.

After clearing his mind of distractions, Zhang Li took out a piece of Luminous Gold and placed it in his palm. Then, he channeled his magic power and used azure flames to slowly temper the Luminous Gold.

As the Lumeng Gold continued to burn in the blue flames, the surface of the ore gradually softened, slowly revealing pure golden light. After half an hour, the first piece of ore was reduced to a lump of golden, glittering metallic essence the size of a pigeon egg.

Zhang Li guided the mass of metallic essence aside and sealed it away, then picked up the second piece of Luminous Gold to continue refining it.

One piece, two pieces, three pieces...

It took him two months to melt and purify all the lumen gold ore he had bought.

The jade pot beside it was filled with thick golden liquid. The golden light was restrained, and wisps of sharp and piercing golden spiritual energy constantly emanated outward. Just getting close to it caused a slight stinging sensation on the skin.

Zhang Li's gaze fell upon the jade pot, where the fruits of two months of painstaking refinement were displayed.

After a good day of rest, he immediately began the second step of activating the sword talisman.

This process cannot be interrupted once it begins; interruption means the end of all hope, and the hard-earned metal essence will be destroyed.

To be on the safe side, Zhang Li took out several mid-grade spirit stones to restore his own magical power.

After letting out a long sigh, following the method recorded in the [Gengjin Sword Talisman], he used his magic power as a talisman brush and the essence of metal as ink to slowly outline the first sword pattern.

Sharp golden energy spread along the patterns, and the liquid gold trembled slightly, emitting an almost inaudible hum.

Every single rune must be precise; the slightest deviation in its trajectory will cause the internal spiritual energy circulation to become unbalanced, and the entire mass of Geng metal essence will collapse.

Fortunately, Zhang Li had some skill in making talismans, and there were no mistakes in his strokes.

After five days and nights of working without sleep, Zhang Li finally finished his last stroke.

In an instant, the sword bone in mid-air trembled slightly, and a slender and condensed golden sword shadow appeared and disappeared inside the sword talisman.

Seeing this, Zhang Li dared not relax in the slightest and quickly used hand seals to stabilize the sword talisman's form.

A continuous stream of magical power surged from his palm, flowing into the sword talisman along the rune veins, causing the sword talisman in mid-air to continuously shrink and condense.

Once it had shrunk and condensed to half its original size, Zhang Li seized the opportunity and forced a drop of essence blood from his fingertip into the sword talisman.