Chapter 147: Talismans in the Blood

Zheng Fa was no bloodthirsty pervert.

At least, he considered himself not to be one.

The reason he was interested in this person's blood actually stemmed from a discovery—there were spiritual talismans within this person's blood!

When the disciples of Elder Pang's lineage captured him and brought him back, the man was barely breathing; if not for the slight warmth still remaining in his chest, he would likely have been buried long ago.

When Zheng Fa saw him, the man's limbs were cold and stiff, his nasal breathing so faint it was nearly inaudible, and black-red blood trickled from the corners of his lips.

Zheng Fa had once hesitated over whether to save this person.

Although, according to that Shopkeeper, this person sounded a bit foolish.

But this was a disciple of the Great Zizaimo Sect; regardless of whether his words were sincere or if he was deceiving that Shopkeeper.

Even if this person was foolish enough to lean toward the Jiushan Sect.

Given the Demon Ancestor's control over these descendants, Zheng Fa could not possibly feel entirely at ease.

Those senior brothers brought him back essentially to see if they could extract any confession—to speak of goodwill, even someone like Zheng Fa, who had received modern education, would not dare harbor such notions toward people of the Demonic Sect.

This person had been kept in a small hut far from the core of the Jiushan Sect, with numerous spiritual talismans pasted on his body and inside the room.

That was, until two days ago.

At that time, this person was still unconscious.

Zheng Fa was cultivating the "Cavern Void Spiritual Eye" according to Elder Pang's secret method when he inadvertently glanced at the blood on the other's lips—and then discovered a surprise.

Within this person's blood were some spiritual talismans that seemed present yet absent!

All cultivators possess spiritual energy within their bodies.

However, for Jiushan Sect cultivators like Zheng Fa, the spiritual energy inside their bodies is scattered and chaotic, only forming certain patterns when deliberately circulated.

But the spiritual energy in this person's blood seemed to be circulating spontaneously along the trajectories of spiritual talismans—

No.

These were not spiritual talismans.

Zheng Fa observed for several days before confirming that the talisman diagrams in this person's blood differed from those in the void.

If analyzed according to the Three-Child Talisman Law—

In both types of talisman diagrams, the portions consisting of the Five Elements Child Talismans were exactly the same.

However, the distinction between the other two categories of unknown child talismans was significant.

The main difference lay in quantity and type.

If these two still-unclear categories of child talismans were designated as Type A and Type B.

In the talisman diagrams within this person's blood, the variety of Type A child talismans was clearly much reduced.

Type B was even scarcer—only two kinds!

Moreover, every talisman diagram in his blood necessarily contained these two child talismans.

This discovery sparked immense interest in Zheng Fa regarding this person's blood.

He guessed this might have some relation to the essence of the Demonic Sect's cultivation techniques.

What left Zheng Fa somewhat helpless was that once this person's blood left the body, the spiritual talismans within it would dissipate within half an hour—forcing him to draw a small amount of blood every day.

To maintain the supply of blood, he even pasted several healing spiritual talismans on this person.

He did not know whether the effect of his spiritual talismans was too potent or this person's will to survive was too strong.

This person actually woke up!

When the young man woke up again, he saw Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Yuan staring directly at him.

"What is your name?"

Zheng Fa asked.

The young man remained motionless, seemingly unwilling to answer Zheng Fa's question; only after a long while did he speak: "Lin Lin Bu Fan."

"That surname is not bad, but the given name has a slight problem." Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment, then said: "If you remove the character 'Bu' (Not), I think you could achieve great things."

"?"

A trace of confusion appeared on Lin Lin Bu Fan's deathly still face.

"Since you are awake, you should also know that you have been captured by our Jiushan Sect." Zheng Fa, accompanied by Senior Sister Yuan, intended to obtain some information from this person: "What were your intentions, you and the other person, in coming to my Jiushan Sect?"

"That person, how is that person?" Lin Lin Bu Fan's expression suddenly became agitated.

"Dead."

Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Yuan exchanged a glance, knowing that Lin Lin Bu Fan had some connection with the deceased.

"Dead..." Lin Lin Bu Fan's eyes dimmed, yet he showed no grief, presumably having long guessed this answer: "Then he..."

"Cremated and buried."

Zheng Fa stated frankly.

This matter had been strongly advocated by him—keeping that person's corpse made Zheng Fa feel uneasy.

"He was buried right beside the riverbank where he died."

"Cremated..." Lin Lin Bu Fan fell silent for a long moment before sighing: "That is for the best... at least his corpse was not exposed in the wild."

"What do you want to ask?" Lin Lin Bu Fan raised his eyes to look at Zheng Fa, seeming somewhat inclined to cooperate.

"Why were you watching me?"

"Not just you; given the chance, we would make moves against any genius of the Baixian Alliance." Lin Lin Bu Fan paused, then added: "Including that Zhang Wuyi."

"Zhang Shijie?"

Zheng Fa was greatly startled; this group had infiltrated the Jiushan Sect just as Zhang Shijie had left the sect.

It indeed did not seem like a whim, but rather a premeditated action.

"So your target is Zhang Shijie?"

He stood up abruptly, his voice tinged with anxiety.

"I don't know," Lin Lin Bu Fan said directly. "My status within the Holy... Mo Sect is not high; matters concerning Zhang Wuyi are beyond my knowledge."

"What I can say is that someone is definitely watching Zhang Wuyi." A trace of hatred suddenly surfaced in Lin Lin Bu Fan's voice. "Among them is the person who sent my uncle and me to the Jiushan Sect—the very person who wants to kill you!"

"... Uncle?"

"The Great Zizaimo Sect honors the surname Lin, claiming we are all one family. Yet over so many years, those bearing the surname Lin number far more than ten thousand..." Lin Lin Bu Fan gazed at the ceiling. "My parents died when I was young; it was my uncle who raised me."

After speaking these words, he seemed unwilling to reveal anything further.

No matter what else Zheng Fa and the other asked, he either remained silent or bluntly claimed ignorance.

"You are now a prisoner of our Jiushan Sect. Do you see the spiritual talisman on your body? If you mobilize spiritual energy or step out of this room, you will die." Seeing him refuse to speak, Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment, then rose. "If you recall anything else, tell me then."

Zheng Fa led Senior Sister Yuan out of the room in haste.

Lin Lin Bu Fan watched their retreating figures, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

"Junior Brother, can his words be trusted?"

"His motives are impure, but he certainly hasn't lied about everything," Zheng Fa said as they walked, voicing his own idea. "This man likely seeks revenge for his uncle and hopes to draw us into confronting the one who killed him."

"... That makes sense."

This man's behavior did not hide his intentions—yet on the other hand, the Jiushan Sect could not afford to take this matter lightly.

"Senior Sister, I must send a message to Zhang Shijie to inform her of what has transpired here," Zheng Fa said after a moment's thought. "I also need to consult with Master."

Senior Sister Yuan nodded, appearing to defer entirely to Zheng Fa's judgment.

"On another note, Senior Sister, please keep a close watch on this man for me." Zheng Fa glanced back at the room where Lin Lin Bu Fan lay. "We know too little about the Mo Sect; we are in the open while the enemy lurks in the shadows. Now that this man has been abandoned, he likely does harbor some ulterior motives—perhaps we can still gain something else from him."

"Leave it to me!"

Senior Sister Yuan nodded.

Zheng Fa pondered the talisman diagrams he had extracted from Lin Lin Bu Fan's blood, comparing them with the diagrams he had studied before.

The Three-Child Talisman Law was still imperfect.

Among the three categories of child talismans, the Five Elements child talismans were the clearest and easiest to characterize.

The other two categories remained extremely vague in terms of quantity, variety, and function.

Yet these spiritual talismans in Lin Lin Bu Fan's blood opened a small window for Zheng Fa's line of thought—especially since there were only two types of Class-B child talismans in this man's blood.

And they appeared consistently.

Comparing them again with the talisman diagrams Zheng Fa had previously studied...

... led to an even more significant discovery: of the two Class-B child talismans in this man's blood, one was common among those earlier diagrams.

But the other... had never appeared before!

He couldn't help but form an idea: this child talisman must be one of the essential secrets underlying the Mo Sect's cultivation techniques.

Thinking even deeper...

Could this child talisman itself correspond to the Mo Ancestor of the Great Zizaimo Sect?

At this thought, Zheng Fa recalled what Tang Lingwu had said about so-called interactive child talismans—could this talisman represent the invisible yet intimate connection between Mo Sect disciples and the Mo Ancestor?

Considered this way, the Second Law of the Tang School of Talismans actually seemed to hold some truth.

However, Zheng Fa dared not study this thing recklessly; he didn't even dare to draw this child talisman.

Who knew if a Mo Ancestor might suddenly emerge...

"Junior Brother!" Li Nuó came running over in haste, shouting at Zheng Fa, "I succeeded! I succeeded!"

"... Succeeded at what?"

Seeing Li Nuó's uncontrollable joy, Zheng Fa asked.

"I've created a talisman seal!" Li Nuó exclaimed loudly. "The talisman seal for the Spirit-Nourishing Talisman!"

"... Really?"

Zheng Fa felt a surge of surprise as well; he hadn't held much hope, given that Li Nuó's father had blown himself up just to produce a single talisman seal.

Now, after less than a month of research, they already had results?

"What was the cost?"

Zheng Fa asked.

"... No cost at all."

"?"

"Didn't you draw that person's blood earlier? I got some from you and tried using his blood."

"..."

"Truly remarkable!"

Zheng Fa looked toward the room where that man lay, sinking into deep thought. "So only his blood works?"

"Anyway, blood from our Jiushan Sect definitely doesn't work," Li Nuó stated firmly.

"You tested that too?" Zheng Fa's eyes widened involuntarily.

"When we couldn't afford spiritual beast blood, my father and I used our own."

Zheng Fa fell silent, a conjecture forming in his mind.

If there was any difference between the blood of these Mo Sect individuals and that of Jiushan Sect cultivators, it lay in the spiritual talismans within that blood.

"Junior Brother, demonic fiends of the Mo Sect deserve to be slain by all!" Li Nuó declared with excitement. "Their blood is worthless!"

"..."

That was it.

Compared to spirit beasts, using the blood of Mo Sect disciples to create talismans indeed offered far more benefits.

Spirit beasts required meticulous breeding and were exceedingly delicate—some sects in the Xuanwei Realm were even famous for breeding them.

Mo Sect disciples, however, were quite sensible; not only could they feed and sleep themselves, but they also cultivated proactively.

In the past, when immortal sects and the Mo Sect clashed, Mo Sect disciples were simply killed outright—fighting them carried high risk and low reward.

Now... well, one could only say this fostered an atmosphere conducive to slaying demons and eliminating evil!

Thinking this way, Zheng Fa understood Li Nuo's excitement.

There was just one problem...

"Master, if we harvest spirit plants that someone has nurtured for many years, will they seek revenge?"

Inside the sect master's thatched cottage, Zheng Fa asked his own master.

"... Who?" The sect master pondered for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "Did you harm your Uncle Pang's thousand-year purple bamboo? That wouldn't be right; he treasures that thing immensely. If the spirit bamboo isn't dead, return it to your martial uncle."

"... No, people from the Mo Sect."

"The Mo Sect? Why be polite with the Mo Sect? They are still trying to infiltrate our Jiushan Sect to cause chaos!" The sect master patted his chest and declared loudly: "Immortals and demons cannot coexist; there is no need to speak of righteousness. If anything happens, you still have me, your master—I have killed people from the Mo Sect before!"

"In that case..."

Feeling his master's protective favoritism, Zheng Fa's expression became very invigorated.

"Tell me, whose spirit plants are you planning to harvest?"

"No one in particular, just those belonging to the Demon Ancestor of the Great Zizaimo Sect."

The sect master fell silent for a while, then said: "How about I uproot your Uncle Pang's thousand-year purple bamboo and give it to you?"

"..."

"I always said disciples are debts! Each one is more troublemaking than the last!"