Chapter 77

Sitting before the dantian chamber, Qian Chen’s expression was calm, while the golden and silver child servants clutched their small hands tightly, nervously holding the gourd and banana leaf fan, staring at the crimson copper dantian furnace before them. The furnace’s dantian qi swirled, flowing from its seven apertures and eight orifices, transforming into wisps of smoke and clouds that slowly rose from the small tower, forming a sea of mist.

After the flying sword slew the dragon-serpent, the dark clouds and torrential rain had gradually dispersed within the tower.

Outside, Cui Dan and the other waited as boundless clouds and mist rose slowly from the tower, drifting above the great marsh under a single thread of sunlight, and in an instant, the sky was entirely filled with white cloud-seas.

After the dragon-serpent’s defeat, the marsh’s dragon-snakes, previously driven away, now quietly reemerged, soaring above the marsh, exhaling mist and absorbing the dantian qi. The multicolored dragon-snakes entwined with one another within the dantian qi.

Above the hundred-li cloud-sea, hundreds of serpent-dragons rose on the mist, revealing only claws and fragments of scales, their heads and tails entangled.

Gradually, they rubbed against each other, shedding their old skins and sloughing off their mottled scales; countless colored serpent scales and dragon hides rained down from the sky.

A Jianghuke from Jiaobu Town, gathering herbs, picked up a fallen dragon scale, summoned his internal qi to squeeze it, attempting to tear it open—only to find the scale unyielding, utterly undamaged. Only then did he snap back to his senses, let out a startled cry, and rushed to the dock, launching a small boat toward the lake surface where the dragon-serpent scales had fallen most densely.

At this moment, others also realized the truth; instantly, thousands of fishermen, sailors, and Jianghuke from Jiaobu Town all rowed out onto the lake, scrambling to seize the falling dragon hides and serpent scales.

Cui Dan had no time to marvel at the external manifestation of the dragon-serpent rising from the land and the cloud-sea of shedding scales.

He quickly ordered his old servant: “Wu Bo, fetch my token. Patrol the lake. Anyone who causes trouble over the dragon scales shall be rebuked in my name… If anyone attempts violence to seize them—execute them on the spot!”

Wu Bo understood the gravity: if Jiaobu Town descended into chaos with heavy casualties, the good deed would turn to disaster, and his young master would face imperial inspection. He immediately bowed and departed.

After shedding their skins, the purified dragon-serpents exhaled the dragon saliva they had long stored from consuming spiritual herbs; countless glistening droplets fell like fine rain, forming a spiritual dew that nourished the countless spiritual herbs beneath.

Many rare herbs, hard to find elsewhere, seized this opportunity to thrive, transform their medicinal properties, or burst into bloom and bear fruit, scattering countless spiritual herb seeds.

In the days to come, within the cloud-sea’s enveloped region of the marsh, the output of spiritual herbs would be abundant, and their quality even higher.

After the external manifestation of the dantian qi had repaid Qian Chen’s karmic debt to the marsh and its dragon-serpents for gathering herbs, the cloud-sea slowly dissipated… Yet Qian Chen frowned slightly, for he had failed to gather celestial qi to nourish the Gangsha impurities, causing many medicinal properties to fail to combine with suitable qi, instead transforming entirely into dantian qi and triggering the external phenomenon.

Though this repaid the karmic debt, it left the furnace’s medicinal properties insufficient. The core Guanghan Ice Soul Pill’s essence remained unharmed, but the qi-formed pills within the furnace and the spirit-herb-formed pills within the cauldron suffered from inadequate medicinal essence.

This batch would waste at least forty percent.

Achieving sixty percent success in alchemy is already extremely high!

But Qian Chen, as a true heir of the Supreme Dao’s alchemical arts and possessing a touch of obsessive-compulsive tendencies, still felt uneasy. All Fan Gu Ming’s alchemists had such tendencies—why else would their pills be perfectly round and flawless? Without this pursuit of perfection, their alchemical achievements would remain limited.

Thus, sensing that forty percent of the pills would be ruined due to insufficient qi, Qian Chen’s fingers itched.

“Alchemy is inherently an act against heaven. Throughout history, pill tribulations arise when alchemists strive for perfection… When Ge Hong forged the elixir of immortality, had he not sought to grant immortality even to uncultivated mortals, why would he have incurred heavenly retribution, with his cauldron overturned and pills scattered? At this moment, to achieve perfect completion, only the Organization’s aid will suffice!”

Qian Chen waved his hand and drew a talisman before the furnace, using cinnabar to invoke the Nine Luminaries and their Star Lords… It was a secret talisman of the Louguan Sect, signifying his status as a true Daoist heir.

The Way of talismans: the fu embodies the spirit of heaven and earth; the lu is the name-seal of spirits and deities.

The fu is the true script forged by heaven’s great Dao, a manifestation of the Dao itself, hence possessing spiritual efficacy; the lu is the name-seal of spirits, like an email addressed to celestial deities, transmitting the request to the gods of heaven and earth.

Thus, a proper talisman must have a header—

The header indicates the sender’s origin. Qian Chen inscribed upon it the Supreme Dao’s secret lineage, establishing his identity; this elevated the response level several grades. The same painted divine talisman, when sent by a true Daoist heir with celestial connections, receives vastly different treatment than that of a lone cultivator merely petitioning deities.

The header Qian Chen drew was the highest-tier “Imperial Edict,” transmitted only by the most elite disciples of the three Daoist Patriarchs’ lineages.

Sects like the Zhengyi Sect—unless one is of the Zhang family’s direct bloodline—could never use such a high-authority secret talisman as the “Imperial Edict.”

When encountering the Six Ding and Six Jia, who were already within the Daoist fold, the doors opened wide, leaving lone cultivators with nothing but dust.

Next came the deity in charge—the divine address, like an email recipient. Qian Chen paused, then wrote the palace name of the Heavenly Market Constellation and the titles of all celestial officials, ministers, and the ten-directional immortals.

Here lies a small trick: when petitioning deities, appealing to the main deity rarely works, for the main deity governs heaven and earth’s great Dao—how busy could they be? They would not bother with a lowly cultivator unless it concerned cosmic affairs. To curry favor, a cultivator seeking favors should bribe the deity’s subordinates and clerks.

Then came the “fu belly”—the request written within the talisman: summoning deities, subduing ghosts, exorcising demons, healing illness, averting calamity, or even protecting homes and furnaces, prolonging life. The request must align with the deity’s great vow; for instance, petitioning the True Martial Great Emperor to subdue demons was ideal.

But if you asked him to heal illness or avert calamity, you’d be petitioning the wrong deity. Only a Daoist of Supreme Dao’s stature could hope for even a token gesture.

Finally, the “fu aperture”—the fu’s core, its soul.

When writing a talisman like Qian Chen, one must infuse one’s magic power into the fu’s core, embedding one’s wisdom of the Dao, or one’s integrity, courage, perseverance, benevolence, and other spiritual qualities within it.

Humans are the most spiritual of creatures; thus, humanity’s most beautiful and precious emotions are also a form of spiritual energy, called lingqing, the most precious qi to spirits and deities.

Qian Chen’s magic power naturally carried his understanding of the Dao, beneficial to spirits—but even those without deep cultivation, lacking magic power, could still invoke divine power through the fu’s core.

For instance, the righteous invoke Guan Sheng Di Jun with their sense of justice; the learned invoke Wenchang Di Jun with their literary brilliance and wisdom; the fiercely righteous invoke the True Martial Great Emperor—all can move the spirits. Even lacking noble emotions like integrity, courage, wisdom, benevolence, or perseverance, one could still appeal to the Nine Heavens or demonic entities of the outer realms through base desires or vile deeds!

Even if one lacked noble lingqing and refused to descend into demonic acts, one could still emulate Master Zhen and cast a wide net: write flattering words, offer one’s mixed magic power—perhaps some responsive spirit would accept!

If all else failed, one could still make vows and oaths: the Method of Vows, inscribed at the talisman’s foot, promising to accumulate a certain amount of merit or external virtue, or to spread the deity’s name a certain number of times, could borrow divine power. Even without petitioning deities, one could petition ghosts: sacrifice a bit of yang qi and blood, or offer blood offerings and karmic merit, to summon ghosts to serve.

Last time, Qian Chen had not consulted the ghosts before ordering the City God to deliver evil spirits—this was collusion with celestial beings, possible only with immense face. Even then, he had to give the ghosts crushed dan-jade powder to secure their obedience.

Finally, the “fu foot” was the concluding note, typically specifying compensation for insufficient spiritual power within the talisman: the petitioner must accumulate external virtue, merit, spread the deity’s name, or perform a certain number of prayers. Qian Chen’s magic power was sufficient, but as he inscribed the foot, he indulged a sudden whim and added “Five Hundred Merit Points!”

Having sent the Nine Luminaries’ divine talisman to the celestial realm, Qian Chen waited quietly. With the Supreme Dao’s face, this small matter was more than enough.

At this moment, Cui Dan outside assumed the external manifestation of the completed pill had ended and prepared to welcome Qian Chen out of seclusion—when suddenly, the sky blazed bright. Above Jiaobu Town in broad daylight, millions of stars appeared, pouring down the essence of sun and moon, countless star essences flowing into the small tower, and into the dantian furnace before Qian Chen’s stunned gaze.

Instantly, the missing qi in the pills was fully replenished—and more. The pill’s potency was forcibly raised from ten percent to twelve percent.

Qian Chen’s back straightened involuntarily.

This qi was trivial—less than a hair’s breadth compared to the daily flood of sun and moon essence falling upon the earth—but the face shown… was too great! The Star Lords had shown him too much deference. Qian Chen felt a touch of fear…

“Is… my identity exposed?”

In the Heavenly Market Constellation, a celestial attendant happily counted merit points, while another worried: “Zongren… isn’t this too conspicuous? Though this Daoist disciple offered generous rewards, what if the Great Emperor takes offense?”

“What’s to fear? He’s a true heir of Louguan Dao, with the face of Wenshi Daozun. Even if the Emperor knows, he won’t say a word. We merely released a bit of star essence—this stuff pools into oceans within the Celestial Stars, flows through the Milky Way… what’s it worth? Five hundred merit points are small change, but they accumulate. We must encourage mortal cultivators to contribute more. Such a considerate, astute soul! The offerings are perfectly to my taste…”

The attendant beside him sighed enviously: “If you keep saving like this, in tens of thousands of years, you’ll finally get that divine treasure you’ve longed for? Too bad I didn’t get this one…” He casually took another divine talisman, glanced at its offerings and requests, and sneered: “Again, magic power? Why won’t you learn? Still craving Emperor’s Dew? Why don’t you just dream about it?”

With a wave, he sent a stream of lunar light down to the mortal realm.

On the Qingkong Sea, a rogue Yuan Shen True Person stared longingly at the sky, thinking: “I offered so much magic power, and it’s a full moon—surely heaven will grant me one stream of Emperor’s Dew!” He glanced at his half-fish, poorly transformed relatives and muttered angrily: “If even one of you had become worthy, I wouldn’t have to sacrifice my face like this!”

At that moment, a thick stream of lunar light flowed from the Moon Star. The surrounding fish spirits cheered, drawing in the lunar essence with their demonic qi.

But the Yuan Shen True Person sighed: “Alas… not Emperor’s Dew again. I’ll have to wait until the next Geng Shen night, when the Moon Star stands in perfect position.”