Chapter 164: The Secret of the Talisman Treasure

"Elder Ding, please take a look at this item. Although I feel it seems to be a thousand-year spiritual herb, I'm not very sure, so I hope Elder Ding can identify its age." Manager Tian said in a humble tone, then handed the brocade box over.

"Thousand-year spiritual herb?" Elder Ding was a bit incredulous upon hearing this, but he still took the brocade box.

"Please take a careful look, Elder! Is it really a thousand-year Yellow Essence Mushroom?" Manager Tian suppressed the great excitement in his heart and said urgently.

The old man didn't respond, but narrowed his eyes, looking intently at the shape, color, and even the texture of the object in the box, and from time to time, he would put the box under his nose and sniff it a few times.

This herb was cultivated by Han Li himself, so whether it was a thousand-year spiritual herb, he naturally knew in his heart, so he remained calm and composed, sitting on the side, ignoring the old man's actions. What he was considering was just how to bargain with the Myriad Treasure Tower.

Manager Tian was the opposite of Han Li, watching every move of the old man without blinking. The demeanor of being unfazed by anything when he met Han Li had completely disappeared; at this moment, his face was full of complex emotions like anticipation, anxiety, and gains and losses.

Finally, Elder Ding gently placed the box on the table, closed his eyes and pondered for a while, then opened his eyes and said calmly in a very firm tone:

"Congratulations, Manager, this is indeed a Yellow Essence Mushroom of over a thousand years, and it's a top-grade thousand-year herb that has just been unearthed and whose medicinal properties have not been damaged at all. I can guarantee this!"

Upon hearing this, Manager Tian was overjoyed, then respectfully sent the old man down the stairs, and then picked up the box containing the spiritual herb with great joy, looking at it several times over.

"Manager Tian, shouldn't we talk about the transaction?" Han Li saw that the other party seemed to have forgotten that the owner of the spiritual herb was still sitting on the side, and couldn't help but remind him.

"Oh... ah!... I'm truly muddled, I hope Brother Li will forgive me!" Manager Tian was slightly stunned, then remembered that this spiritual herb didn't belong to the Myriad Treasure Tower, and his face blushed slightly.

"Hehe, that's nothing! However, how do you plan to trade? Seeing that Manager Tian likes this item so much, I assume you won't let me down, right?" Han Li said with a smile, slightly pushing the other party.

At this moment, Manager Tian's expression returned to normal, and he put the object in his hand back on the table before saying:

"Since Brother Li can take out a thousand-year spiritual herb, you must not be an ordinary cultivator. Then I don't need to use those business tricks to deceive you, and I'll give you a fair price!"

He said this, pondered for a moment, and continued in a very sincere tone: "This spiritual herb can be exchanged for any two of the treasure items I showed you, or exchanged for the item in the last brocade box alone. If you still don't like any of them, our tower can also buy the spiritual herb from you at a price that will definitely satisfy you. Brother Li, what do you think?"

Han Li felt the sincerity in the other party's words. After turning it over in his mind several times, he also felt that this price was reasonable and didn't exceed his bottom line, so he secretly had seven or eight points of intention to agree. However, before that, he still had to see what was in the last brocade box.

But before Han Li could speak, Manager Tian had already tactfully opened the lid of the last brocade box and pushed it in front of Han Li, smiling and saying: "The item in this box is the treasure of our tower. However, it depends on whether you know the goods or not!"

Han Li's curiosity was aroused, and he looked into the box, suddenly dumbfounded. There was actually a lone talisman in the brocade box, with a pattern of a golden long brick drawn on it, shining with golden light, vivid and lifelike.

After seeing this object clearly, Han Li's mind turned constantly, and he immediately associated it with his own talisman with a small gray sword drawn on it. Could it be the same thing?

"Talisman Treasure?" Han Li took a deep breath and asked uncertainly.

A look of astonishment flashed across Manager Tian's face, and then he said in surprise:

"I didn't expect Brother Li to recognize this item! Logically speaking, very few cultivators should know about this treasure. You are truly knowledgeable, I admire you!"

After hearing this, Han Li sneered a few times, then shook his head and sighed:

"Manager Tian thinks too highly of me. I've only heard of this Talisman Treasure, and I know very little about it. However, since Manager Tian can take out this item, you must know a thing or two about Talisman Treasures. I hope you can enlighten me!"

These words were all sincere words from Han Li. He truly wanted to take this opportunity to thoroughly understand the ins and outs of "Talisman Treasures," so he wouldn't be in the dark all the time.

Manager Tian looked at Han Li unexpectedly, feeling that this was not something that needed to be kept secret, but just that few people knew about it, and it wasn't worth offending such a big customer for this, so he agreed very readily and told everything about "Talisman Treasures" one by one.

"Talisman Treasure" truly had a great background; it was a unique item that could only be made by cultivators above the Core Formation stage.

It was a special talisman made by high-level cultivators who had refined magic treasures, sealing part of the magic treasure's power into specially made talisman paper, allowing other cultivators to temporarily use the magic treasure's power. It had the dual characteristics of both talismans and magic treasures, and was jokingly called "pseudo-magic treasure" by cultivators who knew of its existence, and was highly sought after by them.

This kind of "pseudo-magic treasure" was very special. Making it required cultivators above the Core Formation stage, but using it could be done by cultivators of any level. Even cultivators with four or five layers of cultivation like the Golden Light Master whom Han Li had killed could use it quite well.

It was just that cultivators before the Foundation Establishment stage didn't have the technique of condensation, so using a Talisman Treasure could only exert one-tenth or two-tenths of the Talisman Treasure's power, which didn't seem much higher than top-tier magic tools.

And cultivators after Foundation Establishment could use the mind-refining technique, which could exert the power of the "Talisman Treasure" without any remainder. Although this power couldn't be as earth-shattering as a real magic treasure, it was enough to despise all other magic tools. Therefore, every cultivator after the Foundation Establishment stage hoped to possess a "Talisman Treasure," which would give them a great advantage in fighting and allow them to look down on others.

Although the power of a "Talisman Treasure" was astonishing, using it would constantly consume the magic treasure power sealed within it. If the power was exhausted, the Talisman Treasure would be completely useless. Therefore, how to control the use of the magic treasure's power was also a problem that could not be ignored.

In addition, the production of "Talisman Treasure" was not a simple matter.

Because magic treasures were originally things that could only be refined by Core Formation stage cultivators, not only were they rare in number, but they always had to be tempered day and night in the cultivator's true essence to increase their power, so they were not easily shown to others, let alone used to make any "Talisman Treasure."

You know, making a "Talisman Treasure" was a self-damaging act equivalent to sharing part of the magic treasure's power. Every time a "Talisman Treasure" was made, the owner of the magic treasure had to re-temper it for a long time to refine the power back, which was a typical act of benefiting others at the expense of oneself. Therefore, under normal circumstances, no cultivator above the Core Formation stage would do such a stupid thing.

But as the saying goes, things in the world are impermanent. This seemingly stupid act of refining "Talisman Treasure" was something that most high-level cultivators would crazily do before their limit arrived. They did it just to leave a significant help for their descendants or juniors.

You know, magic treasures left by predecessors, after being tempered for a long time and then inherited by others, the new owner could not achieve complete unity of mind with the magic treasure, and the original magic treasure's power would be lost by more than half. This also required the person to reach the Core Formation stage. Otherwise, they could only stare at the magic treasure and couldn't use it at all. In this way, compared to leaving the magic treasure intact, refining "Talisman Treasure" was more suitable for their juniors.

However, there were many restrictions on refining "Talisman Treasure."

First, the magic treasure power that each "Talisman Treasure" could seal could be at most one-tenth of the magic treasure's power, and it could only be reduced, not increased. Therefore, even if the "Talisman Treasure" was sealed according to the same magic treasure, its power was uneven and different.

Secondly, refining "Talisman Treasure" would not only lower the magic treasure's power but also cause the magic treasure owner to lose a lot of vitality. Therefore, the situation of continuous refining of "Talisman Treasure" could not occur. Every time a Talisman Treasure was refined, the magic treasure owner had to rest for three to five years to recover their vitality, and this was only if they didn't waste true essence and didn't intend to re-temper the magic treasure; otherwise, the time would be even longer.

Therefore, such situations often appeared in the cultivation world.

Before the limit arrived, high-level cultivators, after preparations before sitting down, the most valuable things left behind after their death were often a magic treasure with greatly reduced power and several "Talisman Treasures" sealing the same power, which had to be said to be a very helpless thing!

Net ===== CHAPTER 165 =====