Chapter Four: The Art of Talismans and Incantations
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Shi Qi stretched out his right hand, and above his palm, a sphere of water floated in the air. He possessed the extreme water affinity of the five elements; the other four elemental arts were impossible for him to study, so he could only delve into the ways of water. Yet the water element was exceptionally close to him, which allowed his mastery of water arts to grow rapidly.
Bai Qiu gazed at the floating water sphere in Shi Qi's hand and surmised that Shi Qi must indeed possess the extreme water constitution.
Bai Qiu said, "Brother Shi, shall we pause and spar for a while?"
"I was just thinking the same," replied Shi Qi.
The two found a wide and empty patch of land in the mountain wilderness and descended. Shi Qi was currently at the Scarlet Pill stage, equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage among humans, while Bai Qiu had reached the mid Golden Pill stage. The cultivation of demonfolk’s inner pill was slower than that of humans, but their growth potential was a bit higher. While a higher realm brought advantage in combat, it could not simply be judged by cultivation alone.
Facing each other, a gentle breeze stirred, causing Bai Qiu’s white robe to flutter, while Shi Qi’s coarse attire remained motionless.
“Forgive me!” Bai Qiu shouted, a talisman appearing in his hand as if from nowhere. He chanted softly and pointed to the sky, “Heavenly Thunder Talisman!”
Shi Qi looked up; the sky was clear and bright, utterly still.
Yet suddenly, a bolt of lightning sprang from the talisman in Bai Qiu’s hand, striking toward Shi Qi.
“Where’s the promised heavenly thunder?” Shi Qi stepped back, raising a hand to conjure a curtain of water that blocked the lightning.
Bai Qiu gave no answer. From within his white robe, a green treasured sword emerged; Bai Qiu caught it in his right hand, and with his left, produced two more talismans from behind.
“Swift!”
“Invisible!”
He slapped both talismans onto his body, and instantly Bai Qiu vanished from Shi Qi’s sight.
“Invisibility, is it?” Shi Qi pondered, channeling his true energy to his senses, attuning to everything around him.
Several breaths later, sensing movement, Shi Qi shifted, drew the Jade Cloud Umbrella from his back, and blocked to his right rear.
A metallic clang rang out—a sword and umbrella collided, sending ripples through the air. Bai Qiu’s form gradually appeared in sight.
“Impressive senses!” Bai Qiu praised, “Try this! Heavenly Thunder Talisman Array!”
Suddenly, a yellow light array appeared within a twenty-meter radius around Shi Qi, enclosing him at its center.
After exchanging blows, Bai Qiu instantly flashed out of the array’s range.
The light barrier grew clearer, arcs of lightning danced around, and upon closer inspection, yellow talisman papers covered the entire array.
“A formation? That fellow moves fast.”
Shi Qi planted his Jade Cloud Umbrella in the ground, then knelt, condensing his true energy into his palm, and slapped the earth!
“Enclosed Ground! Command of Confinement!”
A blue water sphere formed around Shi Qi, enveloping him. At the same time, the Heavenly Thunder Array activated, relentless bolts of lightning striking from all directions onto the water sphere.
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From outside, the sight was magnificent—yellow lightning from the light array thundered down onto the small blue water sphere at the center.
Inside, Shi Qi watched the trembling blue water sphere and murmured, “Still not enough?”
With that, he stood, swung his arm, and called out, “Return to Heaven!”
The blue sphere began to spin rapidly under the influence of true energy.
The lightning that struck the water sphere no longer dissipated; instead, propelled by the sphere’s rapid rotation, it rebounded outward.
One, two, several bolts of lightning bounced back onto the Heavenly Thunder Array, scattering the talisman papers.
“Break for me!”
The blue sphere suddenly exploded, a mass of blue light expanding and impacting the array.
“Boom!”
A cloud of white mist rose; the Heavenly Thunder Array vanished completely.
Bai Qiu looked ahead; within the mist, a silhouette flickered—then two silhouettes emerged.
“Hm? Two?”
Just as Bai Qiu sensed something was wrong, the two figures shot toward him with a swift whistle.
“Water clones?” Bai Qiu dared not hesitate. With a flick of his left hand behind him, he produced two more talismans from who knows where. He tossed them forward, held his sword horizontally, and with his left hand performed an incantation over the blade, then pressed forward—the sword and talismans fused, and two blazing fire cyclones burst forth, hurtling toward Shi Qi!
“Summon Wind and Fire!”
One fire cyclone struck Shi Qi, and in an instant, Shi Qi and the cyclone turned to white steam.
“That one was a fake!” Bai Qiu remarked. “So this one must be real!”
Indeed, as the other fire cyclone was dodged by the true Shi Qi, Shi Qi appeared before Bai Qiu, his palm striking straight for Bai Qiu’s face!
Bai Qiu remained calm; the “Swift” talisman on his body shone brightly as he toppled backward—not falling to the ground, but pivoting on his feet, his body twisting in midair in an astonishing move to Shi Qi’s rear, then thrusting his sword at Shi Qi’s back.
The movement was seamless—Shi Qi had no time to react and was stabbed in the back!
Before Bai Qiu could rejoice, Shi Qi dissolved into water mist with a soft pop.
“That was another fake?!” Bai Qiu exclaimed, then shouted, “This is bad!”
Sure enough, Bai Qiu turned, only to see a palm wind rushing toward him, aimed at his chest. Bai Qiu barely managed to turn his head, unable to do anything else.
“Enclosed Ground! Command of Confinement!”
Shi Qi slapped Bai Qiu’s chest with his palm, sending him flying. Another water sphere formed, but this time it tightly imprisoned Bai Qiu’s body.
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Shi Qi exhaled lightly, muttering, “Let’s use that technique.”
He extended his right index finger and thumb in an eight-shaped gesture, stretched out his right arm, pointed his finger at Bai Qiu, and gripped his right hand with his left to steady himself. His entire true energy surged, gathering at the fingertip, forming a small blue water sphere.
Water-based Taoist arts are gentle rather than forceful, yielding rather than firm, truly the weakest in offensive power among the five elements. Accordingly, water arts rarely possess strong attack spells.
But Shi Qi had discovered a simple and brutal method: compressing his true energy into a single drop of water, then propelling it at high speed with true energy. The more compressed energy, the greater the power within the drop; its might was enormous. Shi Qi called this technique “Water Spirit Pellet.” Its drawback was his limited true energy, and such crude compression wasted much of it, making it impossible to use his energy efficiently. At his current Scarlet Pill stage, he could barely fire two shots at most.
But Shi Qi had no other choice. Bai Qiu, worthy of his wealthy heritage, possessed endless techniques and boundless variations in talisman arts. If the duel dragged on, Shi Qi would lose his advantage. He had to finish it quickly!
Meanwhile, inside the water sphere, Bai Qiu used a secret technique to sense Shi Qi’s rapidly circulating energy. Bai Qiu guessed Shi Qi was about to unleash his ultimate move. He dared not delay, pulling a sword case from his spatial pouch and placing it on the ground. The case was over three feet long (about a meter), half a foot wide, entirely black and made of unknown material, its surface covered with talisman carvings.
“Art of the Talisman Gate!”
Bai Qiu shouted, forming an incantation with his hands.
The sword case opened automatically—not with swords, but with a flurry of white talismans, not the usual yellow paper ones.
The white talismans multiplied, breaking apart the water sphere and swirling around Bai Qiu. In moments, they assembled into a giant white tiger!
Bai Qiu stood within the tiger’s body, arms spread wide, true energy flowing and billowing his white robe and jet-black hair.
Then Bai Qiu moved—the giant white tiger charged at Shi Qi like a bolt of thunder, whipping up a wild gale!
Meanwhile, Shi Qi’s true energy finished gathering, the blue light at his fingertip spinning rapidly.
“Art of the Talisman Gate! Power of the White Tiger!”
“Water Spirit Pellet…”
A streak of blue light shot into the white tiger’s mouth; with a thunderous boom, the Water Spirit Pellet exploded, unleashing massive energy inside the tiger, enveloping it in a cloud of white mist!
Within the mist, the white tiger slowed, its form shrinking, but the Art of the Talisman Gate remained undissipated. The Bai family’s talisman arts had a long history; Bai Qiu’s cultivation might lack, but relying on his ancestral sword case and the power it summoned, a single Water Spirit Pellet from Shi Qi was not enough to disperse it! Bai Qiu controlled the tiger, shook its head, and charged from the mist again toward Shi Qi!
After firing the Water Spirit Pellet, Shi Qi was left weak, his hand still outstretched, facing the charging white tiger, seemingly unable to retaliate.
In a flash, the white tiger arrived before Shi Qi, roaring and slashing a paw at his chest!
“…Rapid Fire!!!”
“What?!”
Shi Qi’s fingertip blazed, another Water Spirit Pellet shot toward Bai Qiu, while at the same time the white tiger’s massive paw struck squarely at Shi Qi’s chest…