123: Tracking Talisman

"A Heavenly Realm as the theme?" Hearing this topic, Wei Xun frowned slightly, carefully recalling all the poems he had learned.

But after thinking for a long time, he only remembered one line he had heard from somewhere: 'The Immortal strokes my head, and I bind my hair to receive eternal life.'

However, with just this one line of poetry, there was no way to gain the scholar's approval; he still needed to make up a few lines himself.

"How about it? Can you do it?" The scholar, seeing Wei Xun deep in thought, had already given up hope.

"Almost!" Wei Xun began to pace around the room: "I can do it in seven steps."

"Oh?" The scholar immediately became interested upon hearing this, so he fixed his gaze on Wei Xun's steps and quietly began counting them.

When he reached the seventh step, Wei Xun stopped.

"How is it? Do you have it?" the scholar asked with a smile.

"Vast and boundless are the Ten Continents, all living beings, I roam as I please."

"The Immortal favors me, stroking my head, binding my hair for me to receive eternal life."

After Wei Xun recited these two lines of poetry, the scholar clearly showed a look of pleasant surprise, seemingly very interested in this poem.

"The Immortal favors me, stroking my head, binding my hair for me to receive eternal life!"

The scholar repeated the last line of the poem twice in his mouth, then nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad! I will keep this poem!"

After saying this, the scholar immediately turned and returned to his desk, picked up his brush, and wrote the poem on a blank sheet of Xuan paper.

The scholar's calligraphy was very beautiful, each stroke flowing smoothly like clouds and water.

After the entire poem was written, the scholar picked up the white paper and waved it into the air; the Xuan paper with the poem on it then hung itself on the ceiling, suspended in mid-air like the other paintings and calligraphies.

The scholar then looked up at the new poem, a slight smile on his lips, looking very pleased.

"Well, since you approved of my poem!" Wei Xun reminded him from the side at this moment: "Then shouldn't I receive my reward?"

"Of course!" The scholar nodded, then flipped his palm, and a Cultivation Technique book appeared.

Three large characters were written on the book's cover.

'Danqing Talisman'

"Take this!" The scholar gave the Cultivation Technique to Wei Xun, then said: "The first ten Talismans you can learn by yourself; for the ones after that, come back and ask me after you Breakthrough to the Scattered Core Realm."

"Thank you, Senior!" After receiving the Cultivation Technique, Wei Xun's gaze turned towards the stairs leading to the seventh floor.

Now that he had come all the way to the sixth floor, it would be a great pity not to go up to the seventh floor.

So, while the scholar was admiring the poem he had just composed, Wei Xun went to the stairwell and then strode upwards.

As Wei Xun stepped onto the seventh floor, he immediately heard a pleasant zither melody.

Following the direction of the sound, Wei Xun found a white-robed man playing the zither in the center of the room.

The man's white robe was long, with many ink-stained marks, appearing black through white.

His hair was straight and shoulder-length, his face fair, and his fingers long; at this moment, he was deftly plucking the zither strings, playing a melody that refreshed the heart and mind.

Wei Xun did not dare to disturb him, only daring to listen quietly from the side.

But even as the duration of his Dream Soul Travel Technique was about to end, the zither player did not stop.

Wei Xun tried calling out a few times from the side, but the zither player just half-closed his eyes, unresponsive.

Having no choice, Wei Xun could only come down from upstairs and then leave the Myriad Treasure Gilded Pagoda.

After his Soul returned to his body, Wei Xun immediately opened the Cultivation Technique Secret Manual he had just obtained.

After a quick browse, Wei Xun discovered that this Cultivation Technique was very profound.

It was a technique that achieved different effects by drawing Talismans in the air with Spiritual Qi.

The entire book contained thirty-six different runes.

However, only the first ten appeared relatively clear.

After the tenth rune, looking at the others would make one feel dizzy and lightheaded, as if they were not meant for his current Realm.

Each rune had complex patterns and had to be drawn quickly in the air according to specific strokes.

If the speed was too slow, or the strokes were wrong, it would not produce any effect.

The first ten runes included the Blazing Flame Talisman for spitting fire, the Five Lightning Talisman for thunderbolts, the Frost Talisman for ice, the Swift Wind Talisman for speed, the Winged Transformation Talisman for aerial movement, the Tortoise Shell Talisman for defense, the Tracking Talisman for finding objects, the Immobilization Talisman for fixing one's position, the Healing Talisman for treating injuries, and the Miasma Talisman for releasing poison.

Just looking at the drawing method for each rune made Wei Xun's head ache.

Each Talisman had at least thirty strokes, and their combination was extremely complex.

Wei Xun tried several times to draw the simplest Blazing Flame Talisman by gathering Spiritual Qi at his fingertips in the air, but he couldn't complete it.

Either the strokes were wrong, or the speed was too slow, preventing the Spiritual Qi from forming the Talisman.

"This is too difficult!" Wei Xun felt that this thing was a bit too hard, not something that could be learned in a short time.

However, Wei Xun did not give up and finally focused on the Tracking Talisman.

Although this Talisman had more strokes than the Blazing Flame Talisman, its combination resembled the arrangement of several common Chinese characters.

Wei Xun spent the night attempting to draw this rune and finally managed to use this Danqing Talisman, albeit with difficulty.

However, the success rate was relatively low, and the probability of failure was higher.

As night deepened, and due to Wei Xun's continuous Cultivation of the Danqing Talisman, his Spiritual Qi was greatly depleted.

Wei Xun had no choice but to get a good night's sleep, and then the next morning, he continued to Cultivate the Tracking Talisman of the Danqing Talisman.

This Talisman had a very interesting function.

It was to think of something one wanted to find, then draw this rune.

Then one would receive guidance from this rune.

After waking up in the morning and practicing for another half a day, Wei Xun was finally ready to use the Tracking Talisman to find the Sulfur Flame Stone that Ming Mountain Daoist was missing for his Alchemy.

After preparing himself, Wei Xun silently recited the words "Sulfur Flame Stone" in his mind, then gathered Spiritual Qi at his fingertips and quickly drew in the air, finally forming a Talismanic Incantation composed of Spiritual Qi.

The moment the Talismanic Incantation formed, it transformed into a glowing blue butterfly, which began to fly rapidly in one direction towards the Forest.

Seeing this, Wei Xun immediately followed closely behind.

He chased after this glowing butterfly, rushing in one direction for a long time, covering a distance of at least thirty to forty li.

The butterfly then stopped in a patch of grass and hovered in place.

When Wei Xun arrived at this clearing, he looked around and found no traces of other monsters.

The surroundings were also just ordinary Mountain Forest, with nothing unusual.

If his Tracking Talisman hadn't made a mistake, the butterfly stopping here indicated that what he wanted was beneath this land.

His Master, Ming Mountain Daoist, had also said before that Sulfur Flame Stones were usually found in underground caves.

Thinking of this, Wei Xun immediately stood where the butterfly had stopped, then used the Earth Escape Technique to go straight down vertically.

Before Wei Xun ran out of Qi, he indeed found an underground cave directly beneath this clearing.