Forging Immortality through the Dao Seed

"Honoured Immortals, it's already late in the day. Why don't you rest here in the county office tonight? Tomorrow, we can send our county officials to investigate for you. What do you say?"

Upon seeing Senior Brother Ding leading Zhang Jing and the others, and seemingly wanting to depart, the County Governor hurriedly entreated.

"It would be of great help."

Senior Brother Ding agreed rather decisively.

"No trouble at all. Please wait a moment. I will send someone to prepare food and drinks to welcome all of you."

"That won't be necessary. Please just arrange five rooms for us."

"Your wish is my command."

After saying this, the County Governor quickly called for the steward and instructed, "You must arrange for the cleaning of those five guest rooms immediately."

...

That evening.

In the room, Zhang Jing sat at a table, with a spirit pen in his hand, deeply focused on making talismans.

The Dao Pattern of the talismans was drawn meticulously, and the spiritual power was infused into it in a composed manner.

After a very short while.

There was a slight flicker of spiritual light on the table.

In front of Zhang Jing, an impeccably finished Star Attraction Talisman appeared, emitting intense spiritual vibrations, then he placed it together with the spirit pen, spirit ink, and spiritual paper into the Spiritual Ornament Space.

As his primary method of earning Tao Merits at present.

Even when on a mission, Zhang Jing didn't neglect his talisman making, although he didn't push his limits as he did when he was in the cave dwelling.

With a thought in his mind, the Jade Talisman began to slowly emerge.

[Spirit Star Talisman Script – Level 2 (159/300)]

Crafting Feature: Origin Infusion(Tier – Mid Level)

After over a month of continuous effort, Zhang Jing had successfully leveled up his Spirit Star Talisman Script skill to level 2, and under the Heart-eye state, the success rate of him making lower-level talismans had already reached 40%.

And —

Zhang Jing lightly stretched out his hand.

A small talisman instantly appeared in his palm, as if out of a dream.

This was the incomplete Origin Talisman of the Star Attraction.

He estimated that if he made about eighty more Star Attraction Talismans, the gathered fragments could fully restore the Origin Talisman.

Which is about... twenty days or so.

Not far off.

It's just that at that time he will have to start worrying about how to find a buyer.

Returning to reality.

Zhang Jing sat cross-legged on the bed, took out a Purple Spirit Pill and put it directly into his mouth.

He then quietly started circulating his Qi to stimulate the water element in his five internal organs, in an attempt to rapidly improve his Cultivation level.

...

The night grew deeper.

All was silent.

Unbeknownst to when, the entire Heishan County was shrouded in a dense white fog.

This white fog was incredibly dense, seeming to even trap sound within it.

Inside one of the rooms of the county office.

Three figures were closely huddled around a small table.

"Shen He has separated the five Dao Institute Cultivators following our instructions. Should we make our move now?" Said a man with a mole.

"Can't we not do it?" Said the burly man, sounding a bit worried. "No Dao Institute disciple is easy to deal with!"

"If we kill them, the Institute might directly send a late-stage Qi Refinement power player! Our Old Master Yin couldn't hold them off, and we would all perish together!"

"We have no choice!"

An old man among the three spoke up suddenly:

"You saw the attitude of the Disciples from the Dao Institute today. They will not stop until they have turned this place upside down. If Old Master Yin is exposed, how can we survive?"

"What about the mid-stage Qi Refinement guy?"

"From my observation today, his Cultivation should be at the fourth level of Qi Refinement, same as Old Master Yin. Luckily, Old Master Yin gave me a magic artifact recently which stored his full attack. If we ambush him from within the fog, we should be able to severely damage him."

"But before we do that, we need to draw out the initial-stage Qi Refinement guys and kill them one by one."

"Ahem, don't you think that if we killed the disciples from the Dao Institute and got a great merit, Old Master Yin might be so happy that he directly rewards us with some Spirit Essence Liquid? My Cultivation level hasn't broken through for a long time..."

...

Knock, knock--

Zhang Jing, who was in the midst of Cultivation, was awoken by the knock on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Esteemed immortal, I am a minor official from the county office. The County Governor has given me an urgent matter to report to you." The man outside the door whispered.

The county lord came to report urgently in the middle of the night?

To him?

Hearing these words, a cold smirk appeared on Zhang Jing's face.

Couldn't they hold back so quickly?

He got down from bed, then walked straight to the door, the blue robe on his body flickering with spiritual light.

Creak——

The door was slowly opened.

Zhang Jing's eyes narrowed as he discovered a bailiff standing outside, his skin glowing with the rosiness characteristic of healthy people, his eyes shining brightly.

There was no abnormality in his aura either.

Wait, when did such a thick fog rise outside?

"What's the matter?" he asked calmly.

"Sir Immortal," the bailiff saw Zhang Jing and his face showed extreme fear, he whispered, "Our county lord said there are devils in Heishan County, and they are in the county office. Be careful!"

"Where is the devil?"

Zhang Jing looked at him, scrutinizing.

But suddenly, he noticed the reflection in his eyes getting bigger and more distorted.

"The devil is... right in front of you, Sir Immortal!"

The bailiff's voice instantly became gloomy.

Sudden.

A tearing sound was heard.

Within his sight, the bailiff's skin instantly faded, becoming like dry paper. A pair of pale hands emerged from his eyes, tearing the skin apart.

An aggrieved face crawled out from the crack.

The moment the face came into view, it immediately pounced towards Zhang Jing, who was close by.

But unexpectedly...

Faced with such a horrifying scene, Zhang Jing found peace dwelling within him.

Perhaps it's because… this thing poses no threat to him.

He thought.

The Spirit River of Five Methods quietly emerged.

A spell-fish, shimmering with icy blue light, leapt out of the water, transforming into a protective spirit light around Zhang Jing.

[Icy Light Curse · Level Five (113/360)]

Skill Characteristics: Heavy Light (low level), Resilience (low level)

Thump——

The pale face collided directly with Zhang Jing's protective spirit light, as if it had hit a bronze wall and iron barrier, the entire face deformed but the protective spirit light did not fluctuate even slightly.

"Its aura is probably at the Qi Refining first level, but its hiding ability is quite strong. If it hadn't torn its skin voluntarily, I wouldn't have noticed."

Zhang Jing's eyebrows slightly furrowed.

The first devil he encountered in person gave him quite the shock.

Looking at the distorted ugly face, he shook his head, raised his right hand, his index finger passed through the Spirit River of Five Methods, gently pointing forward.

A sharp edge suddenly appeared at the tip of his finger, bringing with it a terrifying deathly aura, shooting towards the face.

[Ice Condensing into Edge Art · Level Five (87/360)]

Skill Characteristics: Sharpness (low level), Evil Repelling (low level)

Next, a cracking sound like a bubble bursting was heard.

The pale figure trying to escape was directly cut in half, turning into ash.

"Anyone else?"

Following the direction the pale devil was trying to escape, Zhang Jing instantly discovered that there were three silhouettes vaguely visible behind the white fog.

It's them!

He instantly recalled the three early Qi Refining Loose Cultivators he saw in the county office today.

"You must be extremely careful, never be careless!"

The voice of Senior Brother Ding rang once more in his ears.

Zhang Jing's Spiritual Sense swept through his Spiritual Ornament Space, where dozens of talisman were neatly arranged.

Inside the Spirit River of Five Methods, three spell-fish, resembling dark sea dragons, emitted a ferocious aura. Seven icy blue spell-fish were eager to try.

How strong the defense of seven Icy Light Curses, each with the [Heavy Light] and [Resilience] traits, combined together would be, even Zhang Jing at this moment was not clear.

But the one thing he knew was...

The Ice Condensing into Edge Art with the [Sharpness] and [Evil Repelling] traits, empowered by the aura of the dark sea dragon, already at the power of Qi Refining fourth level, even a triple attack couldn't shake seven layers of Icy Light Curses.

He was well prepared! He wasn't careless! He should be able to take on those three Loose Cultivators one-on-one!

Zhang Jing took a deep breath.

A streak of water surged under his feet, his figure blasted out, chasing after those three Loose Cultivators at great speed.