Chapter 69

(One update on the weekend, taking a break. Four additional chapters for the June monthly ticket competition are still owed, I'll bear this debt of writing for now and pay it off in a couple of days! Also, continue to promote the WeChat official account. The续写 of "Guannang Shangtu" released on the WeChat platform has become a bit ambiguous and was reported, making it impossible to add followers for a few days. It has been unblocked today, and everyone can continue to follow me by searching for "Gengsu" or "gengsu1979" on WeChat. The续写 of "Guannang Shangtu" will continue to be updated, and in addition, there will be more exciting content updates...)

The Nine-Flame Soaring Dragon Seal is not much larger than a palm, cast from red marrow copper. Nine fiery dragons are intricately and ferociously entwined around the seal. When encountering an enemy, it can summon nine-headed protective dragon flames that resonate with the cultivator's divine soul, making it a powerful Yellow-grade superior magical treasure that is both offensive and defensive. In terms of pure defensive power, it is five to six times stronger than the Green Essence Spirit Armor.

With the Nine-Flame Soaring Dragon Seal for protection, even if Chen Hai encounters a middle to late-stage Spirit Sea Realm cultivator, he can remain invincible until his true essence and magical power to maintain the dragon flames are exhausted.

Chen Hai, who had not yet opened his Spirit Sea Secret Palace and could not store true essence and magical power, could only slowly refine the magical treasure during the early dawn when the essence of his bones and the heavenly essence merged to form true essence, to erase the divine soul aura left by Jie Wenchuan and re-refine the magical treasure...

When he could no longer absorb the heavenly essence, Chen Hai saw that the sky outside the window was already turning light. He sensed that it would take another five or six sessions to completely erase the divine soul aura left by Jie Wenchuan in the Nine-Flame Soaring Dragon Seal.

Chen Hai was not in a hurry. He still needed to stay in Yulong City for the New Year and then travel with Zhou Jun to the Upper Seven Peaks to join the inner sect. Before leaving Yulong City, he should be able to re-refine the Nine-Flame Soaring Dragon Seal. For now, he put it in his pocket.

After giving the Green Shield Spirit Ring and the Green Essence Spirit Armor to Wu Meng and Ge Tong, Chen Hai still had the Golden Peak Spirit Ring and the Nine-Flame Soaring Dragon Seal, two powerful magical treasures that he could use at any time. For his current cultivation, this was more than enough.

If he carried more magical treasures, it would not significantly enhance his strength but would instead attract the covetous eyes of unscrupulous people.

Chen Hai, who no longer needed sleep to replenish his energy after cultivating true essence, had some time before dawn and did not want to disturb anyone in the Tinghou Mansion by practicing martial arts. He took out the Spirit Snake Seal from his pocket to play with it.

This Spirit Snake Seal was one of the treasures left in the snake den. It appeared to be intact on the outside, but there were no traces of any array formations inside, indicating that they were completely destroyed.

Repairing a magical treasure with completely destroyed array formations was almost as difficult as creating a new one. Chen Hai kept the Spirit Snake Seal as a memento.

Another important reason Chen Hai did not give the Spirit Snake Seal to his uncle Chen Lie was that the material, color, texture, and weight of the Spirit Snake Seal were similar to the snake bracelet, and even the snake design was extremely similar.

Chen Hai, who had been busy practicing martial arts in the Medicine Garden, had no time to study it. Now, he took out the Spirit Snake Seal to play with it.

He found it strange that the array formations inside the Spirit Snake Seal were completely destroyed, and he could not determine what material it was made of. It felt cold to the touch and was not particularly heavy, yet it remained intact during the intense battle between its former owner and the demon python. Perhaps it was not an ordinary magical treasure?

The Spirit Snake Seal, about the size of a pigeon's egg, seemed to be formed by a coiled, ferocious black-scaled spirit snake. It looked like a miniature sculpture rather than a magical treasure, with each scale intricately and finely carved, smaller than a pinhead.

Upon closer inspection, each tiny scale was engraved with intricate patterns similar to Daoist talismans, but they were so fine that Chen Hai could not see them clearly even with his current eyesight under the lamp.

Chen Hai sensed that these patterns were so complex and minute that even late-stage Spirit Sea Realm or early-stage Enlightenment Realm cultivators, who had cultivated their six senses to a certain level, might not be able to see them clearly.

Ge Tong would return to Huanglong Abyss in a couple of days, and Chen Hai and Zhou Jun would still stay in the Tinghou Mansion for the New Year. With nothing to do during the day, they went for a stroll in the city.

Although Yulong City was newly built and had only stood for half a year on the hills north of Yulong Mountain, it already had a variety of shops, offering all kinds of daily necessities and rare trinkets.

Chen Hai bought a dozen water jade stones as transparent as crystal in the city and returned to the Tinghou Mansion to patiently grind convex lenses.

Having no prior experience, he wasted several expensive water jade stones before successfully grinding two convex lenses. He then combined the two lenses in a tube to clearly see the patterns engraved on the snake scales...

Although Chen Hai had not formally practiced any spells and had not studied Daoist talismans in depth, he had obtained two valuable Vajra Secret Armor Talismans from the Daoist Academy for protection, and the snake bracelet given to him by Longdi Cangyu was also engraved with many profound Daoist talismans. He had a certain level of understanding of Daoist talismans.

The intricate patterns engraved on the snake scales, although unfamiliar to Chen Hai, were undoubtedly Daoist talismans.

Cultivators used Daoist talismans to communicate with the elemental forces of heaven and earth. Daoist talismans could be considered a special manifestation of the true meanings of various Daoist principles.

The Daoist sects in Yanzhou developed a complete system of spells and alchemy based on Daoist talismans.

Drawing Daoist talismans on talisman paper created Daoist talismans; engraving them on relatively sturdy objects for repeated use created talisman artifacts; and through special methods, integrating multiple or layered Daoist talismans into an object to form a fixed structure created magical treasures.

Due to the rarity and value of materials that could withstand the gathering of true essence and magical power, even if available, sect disciples rarely engraved single Daoist talismans to create the simplest talisman artifacts.

Therefore, talisman artifacts were extremely rare in Yanzhou, and the magical treasures commonly seen were usually Yellow-grade inferior or better.

Even if some wealthy individuals created talisman artifacts, they could at least be used repeatedly to cast spells, surpassing ordinary weapons and armor, and were thus classified as Yellow-grade inferior magical treasures. After all, there was no essential difference between talisman artifacts and magical treasures.

As for Daoist talismans, the situation was more complex.

Although Daoist talismans were one-time consumables, the materials and top-tier talisman masters required to create powerful Daoist talismans were extremely rare. A top-tier talisman master could seal multiple integrated Daoist talismans into a single talisman, allowing the casting of powerful spells.

The biggest difference between Daoist talismans and magical treasures was not in their power but in their continuous and repeated use.

Low-level disciples with low cultivation could not use high-level magical treasures, but using one-time consumable Daoist talismans had fewer restrictions.

Of course, Daoist talismans containing complex and powerful spells required high-quality materials and skilled talisman masters.

A powerful Daoist talisman, even if usable only once, was extremely valuable.

A Ten Thousand Blades Talisman, for example, required ten thousand points of sect merit to obtain, but even a junior disciple, if wealthy enough, could use powerful Daoist talismans like the Vajra Secret Armor Talisman and the Ten Thousand Blades Talisman.

Early-stage Spirit Sea Realm cultivators could only practice spells that involved various secret postures, hand seals, and the construction of structures similar to Daoist talismans using their bone and spirit meridians, or by vibrating their true essence with special incantations to form structures similar to Daoist talismans to cast spells. After reaching the Enlightenment Realm and opening the Ancestral Aperture and Spirit Sea, they could directly use their mental power to condense Daoist talismans or secret manifestations of Daoist principles in their Spirit Sea, communicating with the elemental forces of heaven and earth to cast spells with unimaginable power.

Thus, Daoist talismans were the foundation of cultivation for Yanzhou sect cultivators.

Chen Hai did not expect that the thousands of tiny scales on the Spirit Snake Seal were all engraved with Daoist talismans.

This was not just a Spirit Snake Seal but a Daoist talisman secret record or a Daoist book in the shape of a seal.

Chen Lie was busy with military affairs, Ge Tong returned to the Medicine Garden for the second time, and Zhou Jun was accustomed to deep cultivation in seclusion. Chen Hai spent his days refining the Nine-Flame Soaring Dragon Seal and studying the Daoist talismans on the Spirit Snake Seal.

Chen Hai's understanding of Daoist talismans was still shallow, and he could not conduct in-depth research. He simply categorized and analyzed the Daoist talismans on the Spirit Snake Seal based on statistical principles.

He found that the Spirit Snake Seal had over eleven thousand scales, each engraved with extremely tiny Daoist talismans. Among the over eleven thousand Daoist talismans, there were four hundred and sixty-seven different types...

The Spirit Snake Seal was clearly a secret text written using four hundred and sixty-seven different Daoist talismans.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it the Spirit Snake Daoist Scripture or the Snake Scale Book.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Chen Hai was shocked.

Chen Hai had not yet joined the inner sect and had no access to the supreme treasure of the Taowei Sect, the Alchemical Cauldron Scripture. However, discussing his future cultivation on the Upper Seven Peaks with Chen Lie, he knew that the true Alchemical Cauldron Scripture was a Daoist book written using only seventy-nine Daoist talismans.

The current cultivation system of the Taowei Sect was based on the insights of dozens of generations of ancestors who studied the Alchemical Cauldron Scripture.

The Alchemical Cauldron Scripture, written using only seventy-nine Daoist talismans, was already the supreme treasure of the Taowei Sect. How precious must the Snake Scale Book be?

Why would such a precious Snake Scale Scripture be left in the mud pond of the snake den on Yulong Mountain?

What was the connection between the Snake Scale Scripture and the snake bracelet?

Chen Hai suspected that this was not a simple coincidence and even wondered if Yulong Mountain had some connection to the Blood Cloud Wasteland?

Engraving Daoist talismans required the manipulation of elemental forces or true essence, and ordinary iron, wood, or paper could not directly bear the immense power contained in spells. The fact that a complete Daoist talisman could be engraved on a scale smaller than a pinhead meant that the material used to cast the snake scales, or the Snake Scale Book, was of the highest quality.

Chen Hai's true body had not yet opened the Spirit Sea Secret Palace, and even drawing the simplest Daoist talisman required continuous use of true essence, making it difficult for him to study Daoist talismans. However, his puppet clone, which had already opened the Ancestral Aperture and Spirit Sea, had no such restrictions.

Condensing Daoist talismans or the secret manifestations of various Daoist principles in the Spirit Sea using mental power is called visualization.

When Chen Hai truly tried to condense Daoist talismans in the puppet clone's Spirit Sea, he found that his divine soul was weaker than he imagined. Among the four hundred types of Daoist talismans, he could only condense three or four of the simplest ones using mental power.

Each time he used mental power to condense a Daoist talisman in the Spirit Sea, not only did the true essence in the Spirit Sea Secret Palace resonate, but the surrounding space also emitted a whistling sound, indicating that the elemental forces of heaven and earth were being sensed and manipulated by the Daoist talisman...

However, Chen Hai's mental power was too weak to control the elemental forces outside his body and directly cast powerful spells.

After several days of practice, Chen Hai gradually mastered the technique.

He started with the simplest Fire Daoist Talisman, driving the true essence in the puppet clone's body to circulate to his fingertips, drawing the Daoist talisman in the air. As long as he did not stop, a virtual talisman filled with true essence and magical power would quickly form in the air, eventually transforming into a flame blade about three feet long, slicing through the air...