Chapter 80: The Talisman Sword Approaches Completion

After confirming he had escaped the tracking range of primordial martial artists, Jiang Ding activated his Minor Concealment Technique in full, hiding in a deserted alley corner.

Since learning the Minor Concealment Technique, he had used it nearly constantly—except when crossing streets or eating at home—and through gradual accumulation, he had now surpassed ninety percent of minor mastery, with full mastery within reach.

Once fully mastered, even without camouflage, he could conceal himself from Qi Refining cultivators’ spiritual sense, provided the opponent lacked detection artifacts and their anti-concealment spells were not even minor-mastery level.

Jiang Ding rummaged in his chest and pulled out a flesh-colored mask and a pair of mustaches.

Cosplay toy!

Found on Rongshu Net; after communicating with the seller, it was confirmed that ordinary people could not detect it unless scanned by a cultivator’s spiritual sense or specialized instruments.

Of course, don’t even think of doing anything wrong—the Array Spirit Computer monitors every public corner; not even this tiny toy could escape detection, let alone a cultivator deliberately trying to do something illicit.

Speaking of which, Rongshu Net had almost everything—if you typed it out, it would show you exactly what you wanted, though prices varied. It was astonishing.

“Within a month at most, the Talisman Sword will be complete. Next step: planting the Wood Sword…”

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As for the Supreme Pure Divine Iron, such a priceless treasure…

Jiang Ding stopped dwelling on such distant matters, swallowed a Ginseng Essence Qi-Transforming Elixir, and focused his mind on two tasks simultaneously: nurturing his fine meridians and refining the Talisman Sword.

“Cough, cough. Xu San, swordsman from Bianchi Prefecture, reclusive personality…”

Sunlight converged upon a short golden-red sword in the pond, releasing wisps of white mist.

For many days, the sun’s essence had continuously refined it, slowly burning away impurities and condensing essence—the blade itself seemed to have shrunk slightly.

The Bai Yuanye on the Talisman Sword gradually vanished; a golden line shot forth, flickered faintly, then split into a brilliant golden sword qi that slashed down, radiating extreme danger.

Jiang Ding lay on a reclining chair, nurturing and refining his meridians internally, while directing part of his spirit toward the Talisman Sword to activate its first-rank Sun Gathering Array and first-rank Special Metal Sharpening Array, drawing in solar essence and minute spiritual energy to refine the blade.

Instantly, the obviously silicone flesh-colored mask changed—stretching, shifting color, perfectly adhering to Jiang Ding’s skin, matching his natural complexion exactly, even the mustache appearing as if grown from his lips, impossible to pull off.

If replaced with a core of soul-nourishing wood capable of being forged into a treasure, who knew what astronomical price it would command—whether even spirit stones could buy it was another question.

Quality was guaranteed—it was produced by the Immortal Sect’s industrial system, after all.

Jiang Ding pondered.

Shh! The Talisman Sword did not strike, but flew back above the pond to gather solar essence and minute spiritual energy to refine its body.

Many passersby glanced at him instinctively, then looked away, hurrying on with their business.

Only his clothes, shoes, and the exposed edges of his inner garment were conspicuously luxurious, smooth as silk.

His blue robe swiftly changed color; as light and shadow flowed, it became a faded black hemp garment, his shoes and innerwear replaced with ordinary, store-bought styles.

School, training ground.

Seeing this, Jiang Ding nodded in satisfaction.

But it was far too slow, far too inefficient! After decades of refinement, he might at best exceed same-rank martial artists by fifty percent in spiritual foundation—by then, his teeth might even fall out.

“Good!”

Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators often possessed extraordinary vitality; merely piercing his body was useless—he had to completely incinerate it to kill. Puff! A soft sound echoed as Jiang Ding, lying on the ground, jerked slightly; the muzzle of his Type 03 anti-materiel sniper rifle spat flame. The bullet, even if scanned by a cultivator’s spiritual sense, was nearly undetectable.

He would stay here for a while to fully absorb all the elixirs.

Even Soul Transformation cultivators would try to seize such a thing. Immortal Sect Soul Transformation cultivators might even attempt to bypass the Central Array Spirit Computer’s surveillance, obtaining it “legally”—their manners would be better, but they could still accomplish it.

Only by obtaining a spiritual soul treasure and embedding it into the Talisman Sword! Century-old soul-nourishing wood, millennium-old soul-nourishing wood—all were priceless. Even a single leaf from a ninth-generation cutting, only a hundred years old, was sold for over four hundred, nearly five hundred spirit coins—millions of mortal currency.

Jiang Ding activated his will, seizing control of the camouflage suit’s built-in microcomputer and inputting a string of code copied from the internet.

In the center of the courtyard,

Around forty years old, ordinary face, strong internal qi, posture upright as a pine, a simple black-sheathed long sword at his waist—no different from the seasoned martial artists frequently seen on the streets.

…

Shh! After more than ten minutes, a faint stinging sensation in his mind prompted Jiang Ding to recall the Talisman Sword, coating it with Bai Yuanye—the sting vanished, replaced by a cool, tingling sensation.

!.

Such martial artists were common.

Moments later, a weathered middle-aged swordsman appeared in the same spot.

After wandering the city for half a day, Jiang Ding rented a three-court, three-gate private courtyard in a remote section of the southern civilian district near the city wall, paying a full year’s rent in advance.

Unfortunately, the Sword Scripture was only at the entry level—the Talisman Sword’s body could not yet achieve even basic optical invisibility.

“Continue cultivating. Once the Supreme Pure Divine Iron is used, it becomes tainted in the user’s image—others who seize it cannot use it…”

Don’t be fooled by its dimmed aura—it has merely retracted its power and could erupt at any moment with a strike capable of injuring even a Core-Complete martial artist, possibly even a Primordial one. The golden sword qi is merely for show; if it can defeat a Minor-Complete internal qi martial artist, that’s already good enough.

Converted crudely into outer-world cultivator spirit stone units, at least a hundred spirit stones vanished—just a single leaf from a hundred-year-old soul-nourishing tree.

Boom! Five kilometers away, a fixed target exploded violently, countless paper fragments fluttering into the air, instantly consumed into ash before they could drift far.

He could feel that continuously driving the Talisman Sword with solar essence to forge its body was subtly strengthening his spiritual core—even sketching arrays in math class now felt slightly easier.

Jiang Ding pressed the mask to his face, carefully affixed the two mustaches, and infused them with internal force.

Jiang Ding coughed lightly, stepped steadily out of the deserted alley, and released the concealment of his Minor Concealment Technique.

In contrast, the Talisman Sword’s body had lost some of its luster, appearing utterly unremarkable—as if severely wounded. “The Great Radiance Sword Scripture has finally been entered.”

Zhang Ding praised: “Significant improvement over before. Keep practicing—try to conceal the sound and muzzle flash too. Study the Golden Seal as well. Most importantly, raise your cultivation level. Then you can enter the military directly as a scout—your monthly salary and cultivation subsidies will increase substantially.”

His eyes were filled with astonishment.

He had always heard that some students in senior year suddenly unlocked their potential and skyrocketed in grades—he never believed it, thinking it was just teachers’ comforting words. But after so many years of teaching, he had finally witnessed it firsthand.

“I will, Teacher.”

(End of Chapter)