Chapter 88: Protective Talisman, Blood Nourishing Pill

"Cultivate diligently after you return; do not set foot in the Mirage Sea again until the pills and Mirage Spirit are exhausted," Sun Shouren said with a solemn expression and a hint of gravity.

"This child understands," Chen Mo nodded with an honest look, though whether he actually took the words to heart was hard to say.

Having returned from Xiaqi Valley, he naturally had no time to linger in the Personal Soldier camp, so he packed up immediately, ready to head back to Zhu Niu Ji.

"I estimate the Imperial Court's encirclement and suppression of the Dutian Dao Sect will happen by the end of next month; prepare yourself and return early when the time comes.

Don't forget to bring your wife back too; Zhu Niu Ji is not far from Yangyang Prefecture, and if a real fight breaks out, things there will be unpredictable," Sun Shouren exhorted carefully.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and he could not be certain what would happen if a real fight broke out.

It might happen that a group of rebel troops or defeated soldiers passes through Zhu Niu Ji; defeated soldiers from the government side would be fine, as they would at most eat and drink a little.

But if they were rebel forces, they would likely burn, kill, and loot.

Admittedly, the probability of such a thing happening is very low, but a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall; it is better to avoid it if one can.

"Understood, this child will prepare as soon as I return."

Chen Mo could actually roughly guess the specific time for the Imperial Court's encirclement of the Dutian Dao Sect.

The reason is simple: it is almost the autumn harvest season now, and suppressing the bandits now would inevitably disturb the people's autumn harvest.

Once the autumn harvest season is missed, it will only lead to even greater problems.

Moreover, many Martial Officials are counting on their soldiers to harvest the wheat on their own land; most officials in the Imperial Court are well aware of this and will not insist on mobilizing troops at this time.

The encirclement of the Dutian Dao will have to wait at least until the end of next month, when the autumn harvest is over, for the Imperial Court to mobilize troops to suppress the rebels.

"Alright, hurry along, lest trouble arises in Zhu Niu Ji while you are away."

Sun Shouren did not continue to keep Chen Mo, waving his hand to signal him to leave.

Chen Mo bowed deeply, then turned and walked quietly out of the study.

Inside the military camp, the carriage was already prepared; besides the deer antlers and Living Meat that Chen Mo had not yet finished, there were three bottles of pills and a Blood Essence Stone inside the carriage.

In addition, there was a suit of armor forged from fine steel; upon learning that Chen Mo had a strength of over two thousand catties, Sun Shouren had immediately dug out a suit of armor he had used in his younger years.

This armor had not been used for many years, but it was still perfectly maintained; the total weight of the full suit was one hundred and eighty-seven catties, which definitely counted as Heavy Armor.

According to his foster father, Chen Mo could keep this set of armor for charging into battle formations.

And the light armor he had forged earlier could be kept for use while riding a horse.

There was no helping it; a peerless divine steed capable of carrying three or four hundred catties while charging at full speed was not easy to find, at least not in Xingyuan Prefecture right now.

If Chen Mo wanted to charge into a formation on horseback, he would have to switch to light armor.

However, with his current strength, unless he needed to conserve his energy, his speed charging on horseback was mostly not as fast as his full-speed running.

Chen Mo drove the carriage out of the military camp alone, following the path he had come by, slowly heading back to Zhu Niu Ji.

The horse pulling the carriage was an old horse, so there was no need to worry about it; it would avoid the potholes on the road by itself, and Chen Mo only needed to adjust the direction occasionally.

Turning back into the carriage, Chen Mo first took a bottle of pills from the parcel.

The pills were called Blood Nourishing Pills, with four in a bottle; compared to the Mirage Spirit, the Blood Qi and medicinal power contained in the Blood Nourishing Pills could be described as balanced and mild.

Of course, the quantity was also pitifully small; the Blood Qi power contained in these three bottles of pills was probably not even as much as a single piece of Living Meat.

But for other Martial Artists, these pills were the main resources used for cultivation.

Not everyone was like Chen Mo, who could eat any kind of Mirage Spirit and be perfectly fine.

Swallowing an entire bottle of pills, Chen Mo put the porcelain bottle back into the carriage.

He took a folded Talisman from his bosom; the material of the Talisman was very special, not like ordinary paper.

A golden thread was tied around the Talisman so that it could be worn close to the body.

This was a Protective Talisman; once activated, it could instantly disperse the Mirage Sea around one's body, with an effect much stronger than a Copper Gong.

A Martial Artist trapped in the Mirage Sea could activate this Talisman to escape, but a Qi Refiner could not.

However, even so, the price of this Talisman was still incomparably expensive.

The most important thing was its speed; it could be activated with just a wisp of Inner Qi.

When carried close to the body, Chen Mo could guide his Inner Qi and activate this Talisman in an instant.

Unless the Mirage Spirit was too powerful and did not even give him the chance to activate the Protective Talisman.

Otherwise, relying on this Protective Talisman, Chen Mo could avoid most dangers in the Mirage Sea.

Chen Mo did not know the specific price of this Talisman; it was handed to him personally by his foster father when he was at Xiaqi Valley, with instructions to keep it close to his body.

It was so that he could be more secure in the Mirage Sea; having this Protective Talisman on his person was safer than just carrying a Copper Gong.

Of course, unlike the Copper Gong which could be used at will, this Protective Talisman could only be activated once, counting as a trump card for saving his life at a critical moment.

And when giving him this Protective Talisman, his foster father had repeatedly urged him that if he could avoid the Mirage Sea, he should not go.

If he really had to go, he should bring this Protective Talisman so that he could keep his life safe.

It had to be said that his foster father treated him quite well; even a biological son would probably receive the same treatment.

Chen Mo tucked the Talisman close to his body, looked at the road ahead, and confirmed that he would not need to change lanes for a while, then turned back and took a book from the parcel in the carriage.

This book was obtained from Ziyi Daoren; he had not had the time to look at it carefully these past few days, only flipping through a few pages, knowing that it was not a cultivation technique.

Instead, it was closer to the insights Ziyi Daoren had gained during his cultivation; he did not care about these insights now because he was not a Qi Refiner.

He wanted to see if he could learn something about the general situation of the Dutian Dao Sect from it.

Chen Mo opened the cultivation notes and browsed through them page by page.

The notes were written in a very cluttered manner, not much different from a ledger.

Chen Mo looked carefully for nearly two hours before finally finishing this cultivation notebook word by word.

At the same time, he used a charcoal pencil to record relatively important information on silk paper.

The notebook was not thick, and most of the information recorded was about cultivation, with only a small part involving the Dutian Dao Sect.

However, by catching a glimpse of the whole from a single spot, Chen Mo could still see a lot of information about the Dutian Dao Sect from it.

The leader of the Dutian Dao, or rather the strongest person in the sect, was honored as the Dao Lord.

Below the Dao Lord are the Ten Great Elders, using the Ten Heavenly Stems as their aliases.

Further down are the Twenty-Four Protectors, named after the Twenty-Four Solar Terms.

At the very bottom are ordinary Dao Sect cultivators and the Scholars cultivated through secret methods.

Ziyi Daoren is one of the Twenty-Four Protectors, with the alias Guyu.

According to the letter, his strength is at the fifth level of Qi Refining, which is among the forefront of the Protectors.

Regarding the strength of the Ten Great Elders, it only mentioned that one of them is at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

Based on this inference, even if that Dao Lord has not reached the Foundation Establishment realm, it is likely not far off.

These are the most important pieces of information; although there is some miscellaneous information, it is not very much.

Ziyi Daoren had once given Human Infant Fruit to some officials, but he did not record the specific names or identities of these people in his notes, only a vague, general range.

Besides these trivial bits of information, two techniques were also recorded, one of which is quite simple.

The Blood Burning Technique, which can be used to stimulate Qi and Blood to increase strength in a short period of time.

The drawback is that it causes a certain amount of damage to the physical body; those with insufficient physical foundations will inevitably fall into a serious illness after using it, requiring at least several months of recovery.

This technique can be used by both Martial Artists and Qi Refiners.

Moreover, it is very simple; one could say it is learned at a glance, as long as one condenses Qi and Blood to stimulate one's own acupoints.

Chen Mo did not rashly test its authenticity; after all, it is hard to say if the techniques recorded here are true or false, and there might be many hidden keys he has not seen, so practicing blindly could damage himself.

Besides the Blood Burning Technique, there is also an evil technique called the Livestock Transformation Art, which can allow a person to transform into livestock.

Once the technique is performed, the effect lasts for one month. The person transformed into livestock will possess all the abilities of that livestock.

If an ordinary commoner is transformed into an ox, they will have the strength of a thousand catties just like an ox.

As for the drawback, the person on whom the technique is performed will lose ten years of their lifespan.

For example, if a person could originally live to be eighty, and they were transformed into livestock for a month at the age of twenty, they would only be able to live to seventy.

Even so, it can be seen from Ziyi Daoren's notes that many commoners in Yangyang Prefecture are willing to have the technique performed on them.

The reason is simple: many low-level commoners do not have oxen at home, and they might not be able to borrow one even if they tried.

Spring plowing often only lasts for a few days; once the season is missed, the entire year's harvest is gone.

For this reason, even if it means losing ten years of life, they are willing to turn into plow oxen.

After all, if the spring plowing is delayed, they will starve to death this year.

Moreover, this kind of thing can be done by several households together; there is no need to use only one family's labor for the livestock transformation.

Chen Mo cannot learn this technique no matter what right now; only Qi Refiners who have mastered Heaven and Earth Power can learn it.

However, according to the records in these notes, the highest realm of the Livestock Transformation Art is to transform a human into a dragon.

Of course, it is hard to say whether this statement is true or false; perhaps it is possible, or perhaps it is just a hypothesis.

Chen Mo organized the collected information and immediately turned the carriage around to head back to the military camp.

He needs to take this intelligence to his foster father, and he can also take this opportunity to ask the old man if this Blood Burning Technique is safe and whether it can be used in a critical moment.

The Personal Soldiers responsible for guarding the camp along the way were slightly puzzled to see him return so soon.

Even Sun Shouren was somewhat confused when he saw him return.

It was not until he saw Ziyi Daoren's cultivation biography and the intelligence information he had previously summarized and organized that he began to take it seriously and started reading it carefully.

Chen Mo had already extracted the more important information, so after a moment, Sun Shouren had a general idea.

"The information you found is all correct, but I did not expect that the Dutian Dao Sect has a Dao Lord." Sun Shouren's expression was slightly grave.

He previously only knew that the Dutian Dao had ten elders with quite extraordinary strength, with the First Elder at their head, but he had never expected that there was a Dao Lord above them.

That the Dao Lord could suppress these ten elders shows that their strength is evident.

It is just unclear whether the Imperial Court knows about this, but regardless, he must report this matter when he returns.

Furthermore, he must make full preparations when he proceeds to suppress the Dutian Dao next.

"As for this Blood Burning Technique, I have looked at it roughly; there are no hidden dangers, and it is not much different from most other techniques that stimulate Qi and Blood."

He looked at the Blood Burning Technique again before reaching a conclusion.

"However, such techniques that burst forth with strength in a short time all have huge drawbacks. With your talent, it is best not to use it."

Sun Shouren knows that Chen Mo's talent is quite exceptional, and using such techniques will inevitably damage the physical foundation.

Using it once, at best, one's cultivation will not advance for several years, and at worst, there will be no hope of further progress in this lifetime.

Therefore, even though he has similar techniques in his own hands, he has never intended to pass them on to Chen Mo.

"This child understands." Chen Mo naturally could also see the drawbacks of this Blood Burning Technique.

Even if he possesses the Transformation Pearl and can heal hidden injuries in the human body, it would inevitably require a large amount of Qi and Blood to fully recover after using this technique.

Therefore, he can only treat it as his most critical trump card and must never use it unless in a crisis.

"I will report these things you found, and I will reward you after we finish suppressing the Dutian Dao." Sun Shouren put all these things away and then revealed a faint smile.

Regardless of whether the Imperial Court knows of the existence of that Dao Lord, the information Chen Mo summarized also includes the interactions between members of the Dutian Dao Sect and certain officials; even if this information is quite vague, it is still very valuable.

In reason and sentiment, he should be credited for this.

"Thank you, Foster Father." Chen Mo bowed, stepped out of the military camp, boarded the carriage again, and headed toward Zhu Niu Ji.

(End of chapter)