"Scroll of Talismanic Spirits..."
Ji Xuanqing gently tapped the text. To become a talisman master, one needed a powerful Spiritual Sense to condense a natal talisman sea, possessing a special ability different from Spiritual Sense—that was mental power. It was an evolution of Spiritual Sense, capable of condensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to form peculiar runes, unleashing all sorts of strange and formidable powers.
"So this is what a talisman master is."
A sharp gleam flashed in Ji Xuanqing's eyes. She put the scroll away, took the Blood Spirit Fruit and the blood-red book, and decided to sell the latter; she had no intention of cultivating such crooked arts.
A day later, a purplish-gold sword qi shot up from the ground, and a figure crawled out of the earth pit.
Covered in dirt and grime, Ji Xuanqing felt completely dizzy. After digging for ages, she had finally gotten out. Fortunately, the hole wasn't deep, or else she would have been buried alive down there.
Stopping to wash up along the way, she returned to Yueheng Mountain. Everyone stared at Ji Xuanqing with incredulous eyes. Didn't the reports say Manager Ji had perished together with the demonic beast? countless tea servants muttered in whispers.
Song Zhongji and Liu Pojun, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, also wore looks of utter astonishment before immediately breaking into beaming smiles. "To think Manager Ji could turn misfortune into a blessing! Congratulations, congratulations! We truly wanted to rescue Manager Ji, but were utterly powerless. Seeing Manager Ji safe and sound sets our minds at ease," Song Zhongji said, changing his expression as he smiled.
Liu Pojun chimed in as well.
"Thank you all for your concern. Escaping was merely a stroke of luck," Ji Xuanqing replied softly and modestly.
"I still have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave," Ji Xuanqing said, heading toward her quarters.
Song Zhongji stroked his chin in thought. "I wonder how on earth she got out, and she doesn't even have a single injury on her. How strange, how very strange."
Liu Pojun, on the other hand, stared fixedly at Ji Xuanqing's retreating back with a burning gaze. With a mere ripple of her spiritual thought, Ji Xuanqing locked a mental thread onto Liu Pojun. Liu Pojun felt as if he had been pricked all over by needles, and he instantly didn't dare to keep staring at her back with lovesick eyes.
Back in her room, Ji Xuanqing took out the *Scroll of Talismanic Spirits*. According to its contents, the first condition for cultivating a talisman sea was to use Blue Spirit Grass, a rare spiritual plant, to open up the sea of consciousness.
The second method was to possess a naturally powerful mind and open the sea of consciousness through one's own power.
The third method relied on a Grade 4 Divine Soul Pill to open the sea of consciousness with the aid of the elixir.
"Ugh..."
If she wanted to become a talisman master, it seemed she would have to go look for this Blue Spirit Grass. While rare, Blue Spirit Grass shouldn't be as difficult to find as the latter two conditions.
In a short while, Ji Xuanqing would have to return to Suyang City in the Su Prefecture. The largest city in this region was also the stronghold of the Blazing Sun Gang. By now, her martial arts realm had reached its limit, and to advance further, she needed to obtain a Transformation Realm cultivation technique. Even in this large city, a Transformation Realm cultivation technique was considered a clan-protecting treasure. The best way to get it was to earn enough contribution points to exchange for the technique, which could be considered fair.
At night, while bathing, Ji Xuanqing seemed to sense something. She raised her head to look at the roof. Was someone staging a night raid?
On the roof, a sturdy man dressed in black gently pried open a crack in the tiles, took out a foot-long wooden tube, and blew white vapor inward, a lewd and wicked look in his eyes.
With her perceptive abilities as an immortal cultivator, Ji Xuanqing had noticed him long ago, and she had even spotted the white vapor. Hooking her fair, jade-like fingers, Ji Xuanqing picked up her clothes and put them on. It was done in an instant, giving off the alluring visual effect of a beauty fresh from the bath.
Ji Xuanqing tore off a piece of her garment to cover her nose and mouth, yellow fist intent manifesting around her fists—this was precisely the profound essence of the Xie Family Orthodox Fist: "Mountain Splitting."
She walked over to the window, leaped up, and vaulted onto the roof beam.
"So it's you, little piece of trash," Ji Xuanqing muttered, using Shadowless Step to instantly teleport behind him. Without a trace of mercy, she slammed a fist directly into his back. A gust of wind blew past; the man in black sensed something amiss, but before he could even turn his head to check, Ji Xuanqing sent him flying off the roof and crashing down into the room below with a single punch.
"Ah—!"
The man in black let out a painful, agonizing screech. Having suffered severe trauma to his back, he even heard the sound of his own bones snapping. He screamed endlessly, coughing up mouthfuls of blood that dyed his black veil a bright, vivid crimson. He was already too weak to get back on his feet.
Ji Xuanqing was quite surprised that she hadn't killed him with a single punch. Toward someone who peeked at others bathing and even tried to drug them with sleeping vapor, she would certainly show no mercy.
Ji Xuanqing jumped down from the roof and pulled off his veil. From this build, Ji Xuanqing could roughly guess who it was.
Sure enough, when the veil was removed, who could it be but Liu Pojun? Having been struck down by Ji Xuanqing's single punch, Liu Pojun was coughing up blood incessantly, his face as pale as paper.
Ji Xuanqing's quarters were situated quite far from the others, so no one had heard the commotion.
"Manager Liu, what brings you up here?" Ji Xuanqing asked, looking down at the wretched-looking Liu Pojun.
A flash of resentful malice crossed Liu Pojun's eyes. He cast a pleading look toward Ji Xuanqing and mumbled incoherently.
Ji Xuanqing only looked at him coldly. This old bastard actually dared to make a move directly against her; it seemed he had some backing to rely on.
"Since you dared to make a move against me, you should be prepared to pay the price." Having beaten him this miserably, the grudge was already forged, which meant she couldn't let him off and allow a tiger back into the mountains, lest he come looking for trouble again later.
A strand of spiritual fire leaped from Ji Xuanqing's fingertips—a skill she had learned from her cultivation manual. The golden spiritual fire darted forward. Controlling the flame so that it wouldn't scorch anything else, Ji Xuanqing watched as Liu Pojun vanished into nothingness within the room in a mere instant, even the bloodstains burned away to absolute nothingness. Glancing at the large hole in the roof, Ji Xuanqing figured she would just have to find someone to fix it later. Afterward, she went to a nearby patch of woods to cultivate the Purple Gold Bright Jade Formula; as for the surroundings, Ji Xuanqing didn't care about such trifles at all.
For the next few days, no one noticed Liu Pojun was missing. After all, quite a few managers had vanished during this period, and everyone had grown used to it.
Word came from the Blazing Sun Gang in Suyang City that Ji Xuanqing could return to headquarters to accept missions. Surviving these past six months was apparently considered passing the test.
After bidding her farewells, Ji Xuanqing returned to where it all began. The identity token for an inner hall disciple was handed over to Ji Xuanqing, alongside an evaluation of her strength.
"Hey, Sister Ji, are you here to take on missions too?" a joyful voice rang out from beside her.
Ji Xuanqing turned her head and saw that the speaker seemed to be... what was his name again, the person she had run into before?
Noticing the puzzled look on Ji Xuanqing's face, Huang Tingyuan said, "You don't remember me? We met when you first arrived. Considering we're acquaintances at the very least, you don't even want to remember my name?" Huang Tingyuan feigned a hurt expression.
"Don't take offense, Brother Huang. Since we haven't seen each other for a while, it's only natural," Ji Xuanqing said softly.
"I'm different, though. Sister Ji, your beauty is deeply engraved in my mind," Huang Tingyuan said with a grin.
Too lazy to banter with him, Ji Xuanqing turned around to check if there was any news regarding the Blue Spirit Grass.
Seeing that Ji Xuanqing was about to leave, Huang Tingyuan hurriedly gave chase, walking beside her and talking about teaming up to complete Blazing Sun Gang missions.
"There isn't a thing around here that I don't know about. Do you want to go together, Sister Ji?"
Hearing this, Ji Xuanqing quickly asked, "Do you know of something called Blue Spirit Grass?"
"Although I don't know what Sister Ji wants with that stuff, I do know one place that definitely has it: the Lin Mansion. Their young master caught a strange illness that countless famous doctors have failed to cure. If anyone cures him, they can choose whatever spiritual herbs and elixirs they want. Their family are the biggest medicinal herb merchants in this region. If the herb Sister Ji wants isn't even at the Lin Mansion, there's no need to mention anywhere else. That's all I know. If Sister Ji needs that stuff, you can go try your luck at the Lin Mansion," Huang Tingyuan said.
"Thanks for letting me know," Ji Xuanqing replied, cupping her fists.
"Small matter," Huang Tingyuan waved a hand. "But is Sister Ji heading over right now?"
"Mn, time is of the essence," Ji Xuanqing nodded. "Time is money."
"Mn... What a great quote: time is money," Huang Tingyuan muttered to himself.
"Sister Ji, wait for me, I'm coming too. Many hands make light work!" Huang Tingyuan hurriedly chased after Ji Xuanqing.