"Do you really need to tell me that?" Dangjiang spat at him. Chi Buzi nearly cursed “stupid donkey” in return but held back, vanishing into the round pool. Dangjiang looked after him with a trace of envy, took a step forward, and suddenly felt something off.
"Damn it... that Chi dog hunts demonic creatures and earns three hundred immortal merits each time, and I— I don't even make a fraction of that! How come I don't get any cut at all? How can the ones below do all the work without taking at least sixty or seventy percent for themselves!"
————
Palace of Radiant Purity Supreme Yin.
Snow whirled in the air as Lu Jiangxian slowly manifested beside a table. A jade flask filled with a shimmering blue-white liquid, vast as the starry sea and radiating divine brilliance stood in the middle.
Chi Buzi has mostly taken the bait... this will let him cultivate to the peak of the Purple Mansion Realm. With two hundred years still ahead of him, he'll serve well enough as a hidden card.
Lu Jiangxian was not truly deceiving him. According to his own calculations, if the method of seeking the Golden Core aligned correctly, this Dao, though strange and arduous, was still a narrow road that led straight to Golden Core.
"This cultivation art of Morning Cold Rain isn't difficult either. Back then, Chi Buzi broke through by relying on talisman qi, proving that talisman qi is indeed inseparable from divine abilities. Furthermore, it can even sense and nurture them. As long as it's written up to the Foundation Establishment Realm, the process becomes far simpler."
Lu Jiangxian possessed plenty of gray talismans and still had seven white ones in reserve. Although the Sacrificial Ritual Method was not recorded, the efficacy of these two kinds of talisman qi should differ greatly.
"Chi Buzi is formidable; when the time comes, I'll grant him a gray talisman and let him slowly grind his way through. The white talisman I'll reserve for that Li Ximing fellow, so he can complete his Sovereign In Peril faster and won't be beaten into constant retreat."
He molded several human figures and tested them repeatedly. As long as the Purple Mansion Realm was achieved, the talisman qi could indeed resonate with the previous divine ability and aid in the gestation of the next.
"Li Ximing's Heaven-Venerating Gate is still incomplete. It will be quite some time before it becomes useful."
He gathered his thoughts and observed for a while, but everything outside regarding Chi Buzi appeared normal. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, a small, exquisite peacock with golden beak and claws appeared upon the ground, its feathers shimmering in seven colors.
This peacock's true body should have been as vast as a mountain, but he had compressed and sealed it into a tiny form within the mirror world. Lu Jiangxian glanced twice and roughly assessed it, Far inferior to Fuyu; both body and soul are flawed. Though its true spirit was forcibly drawn into the mirror, it possesses not a shred of divine ability. It can serve as mediocre material, but it's dreadfully dull to use.
Those called The Merciful Ones were filled only with scriptures; their spells meant nothing outside the Buddhist lands. All that remained were a few of the peacock's innate abilities and instincts; even if one were resurrected to record spells, it would still be a dull-witted mediocrity. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
He gently lifted his hand, and the peacock transformed into a wisp of multicolored light, soaring upward and converging in his palm into a thumbnail-sized seven-hued glazed sphere.
Lu Jiangxian had originally planned to extract a soul to pair with Fuyu's Lesser Yin divine ability to refine the talisman qi, but The Merciful One had no divine abilities, only cultivation. The Lesser Yin art still had some uses, so he simply decided to consume the entire peacock.
"Come!"
The entire Celestial Palace froze. Every heavenly soldier and general turned to stone where they stood. Golden incense power erupted in torrents beneath the vast palace, spanning the heavens and streaming toward the seven-colored glazed orb in his hand.
The golden lake that Dangjiang and the others had seen beneath the Twelve Jade Bridges was merely a corner of the water body. The incense offerings from millions of mortals had, year after year, formed a vast golden lake beneath the palace, and it was now diminishing at a terrifying pace.
Never before had Lu Jiangxian experienced such drain when condensing talisman qi; he had never even considered whether he had sufficient incense power. Now, the consumption for a single azure talisman soared from tens of thousands to millions. It was only because of five decades of ceaseless accumulation that the golden lake's surface slowly sank yet endured.
A faint azure radiance emerged before him as countless profound patterns spread through the air like a spider web. Immortal bells and string music echoed out from nowhere. The newly formed talisman qi wavered lightly, as though curiously examining its surroundings.
Lu Jiangxian casually caught it and pressed it into his palm. All the phenomena vanished; beneath his feet, the softly rippling golden lake was left only half its former depth.
"All is ready. Once the Li Family's sacrifice is complete, I can bestow the talisman seeds without delay."