Chapter 692: Chain-Soul Curse Talisman

"This talisman is quite good…"

He Ping put down the jade slip and said, "What special materials are needed to forge the Soul-Chasing Talisman?"

He looked at Qiao Huizhu.

Qiao Huizhu leaned against his left shoulder, lazily opening her eyes and shaking her head: "Special items? Sort of… just normal talisman paper and ink, but you must add some sixth-rank 【Soul Crystals】…"

"Soul Crystals?" He Ping nodded. "That stuff isn't easy to get!"

Soul Crystals are a rare and special material.

They form when spiritual sense solidifies into a crystalline structure.

Moreover, not just anyone can condense them.

Once spiritual sense turns to crystal, it means the complete collapse of the spiritual sea.

Thus, only those who have no hope of breakthrough will, in their final moments, condense their spiritual sense into Soul Crystals to pass on to successors.

That is the origin of Soul Crystals.

Under normal circumstances, killing an enemy yields no Soul Crystals.

This material can only be formed through voluntary self-condensation.

And legend says the process brings immense agony, so even among those with no hope, only a tiny few choose to condense their spiritual crystals at life's end.

The lowest rank of spiritual crystal is fifth-rank.

That means, after reaching Soul Transformation and transforming spiritual sense from formless to tangible, one can condense it.

Later realms like Void Refinement and Body Integration can naturally do so as well.

Sixth-rank Soul Crystals are what Void Refinement cultivators voluntarily condense before death.

This material can be used not only for talismans but also as an excellent spiritual sense tonic—it can be directly consumed to repair one's own spiritual sense, or used as a primary ingredient to forge elixirs that restore spiritual sense.

"Do you have any 【Soul Crystals】?" He Ping asked Qiao Huizhu.

Qiao Huizhu actually nodded: "Yes… you probably didn't notice, but I found two spiritual crystals in your old rings—one sixth-rank, one fifth-rank!"

He Ping grimaced.

He hadn't noticed.

Or perhaps he hadn't looked closely then.

"Good!" He Ping smiled. "Then go prepare—help me forge some of these talismans!"

"Remember, don't throw away any of the failed talismans that didn't explode!"

"I'll prepare some other materials for you!"

Qiao Huizhu went back to study.

To forge a talisman, one must first learn its patterns.

Qiao Huizhu had never drawn the Soul-Chasing Talisman before, so she needed to relearn its talisman runes.

He Ping began preparing materials.

He went through every ring on his person again, found no Soul Crystals, but uncovered many sixth-rank beast hides and bloods.

These could be given directly to Qiao Huizhu, but he'd better refine them first.

Refine them into talisman paper—wouldn't that spare his wife the effort?

After several days of refining, he obtained hundreds of sixth-rank talisman papers.

He Ping delivered these papers and some talisman ink to Qiao Huizhu.

Coincidentally, during these days, Qiao Huizhu mastered the drawing method for the 【Soul-Chasing Talisman】.

Qiao Huizhu began drawing talismans while He Ping attended to her.

The first few all exploded.

The next dozen didn't explode, but became failed talismans.

He Ping didn't waste these failed talismans—he collected them all.

After about twenty, Qiao Huizhu began producing finished talismans one by one.

Of course, their quality was low—only low-grade.

But for He Ping, the talismans' quality didn't matter.

"I'm done—I'm exhausted!" Qiao Huizhu rubbed her head. "My spiritual sense is drained, and the sixth-rank 【Soul Crystals】 are used up—I can't draw anymore!"

Continuous talisman drawing easily exhausts spiritual sense.

"Enough!" He Ping shook the four talismans in his hand. "These are enough…"

"Wife, rest well!"

"Drawing talismans isn't urgent—we'll do more later!"

…

After bidding farewell to Qiao Huizhu, He Ping returned to his Dao Hall.

The first thing he did was take one failed talisman and toss it into the Treasure Basin.

The next morning, the Soul-Chasing Talisman had been upgraded into two—both top-grade.

The jade talismans glowed with a faint yellow sheen.

He Ping picked one at random and felt a warm sensation emanating from it.

His spiritual sense surged into it—the information surfaced.

Name: Chain-Soul Curse Talisman

Rank: Sixth-rank, top-grade.

Function: Upon activation, it attaches to the target, binding their true body and incarnations with invisible chains, linking their souls together. Killing either the true body or an incarnation causes the other to perish simultaneously!

Sixth-rank talisman, effective only against Void Refinement cultivators.

He Ping rubbed his forehead hard, then looked again at the information.

He froze.

He remained frozen for several breaths.

Powerful!

Extremely powerful!

That meant, once activated and attached to an enemy, it wouldn't merely reveal their incarnations—it would forge chains directly linking their true body and incarnations' souls.

Kill the true body, the incarnation dies too.

Kill the incarnation, the true body dies too.

Unbelievable!

For example, someone whose true body is Void Refinement Level 11, but whose incarnation is only Level 1.

I can't defeat his true body—so I just stick this talisman on his incarnation, then kill the incarnation, and his true body dies too?

Holy shit…

Holy shit holy shit holy shit…

He Ping's heart surged—he gasped for breath.

Hahaha…

Next time I see that little bitch Bing Yi, I'll kill her with one strike.

This talisman is so overpowered—two won't be enough.

Keep strengthening!

Over the next few days, He Ping strengthened all his failed talismans and the four finished ones.

He obtained a total of forty-four top-grade Chain-Soul Curse Talismans.

Enough!

This talisman, though excellent, has one flaw—it only works on Void Refinement cultivators.

Once I face Body Integration cultivators, it becomes useless.

But it doesn't matter.

Right now, He Ping can't kill Body Integration cultivators anyway.

Put away these talismans!

He Ping took a deep breath: Time for real business.

Previously, he'd spent so much time refining his body for one purpose only: to absorb and assimilate Nine Heaven Mysterious Fire.

Now, his fire-affinity body refinement was complete.

His cultivation had hit a bottleneck—he could advance no further.

It was time to attempt fusing Nine Heaven Mysterious Fire.

He Ping's spiritual sense stirred—the purple-red rod appeared in his hand.

The next instant, he stepped into the magic treasure's space.

Ten thousand zhang of space, everywhere suffused in purple-red.

Amid this vast purple-red expanse, a tiny, seemingly feeble flame flickered.

Whoosh…

Seeing He Ping enter the magic treasure's space, the tiny flame instantly swelled to several zhang tall and appeared before him.

A furious face coalesced from within the flame.