101: Talismanic Healing Techniques

Tianxing City, Central District, Qingshi Alley.

Another spring had arrived, yet the sea breeze still carried a persistent, faint scent of blood.

Inside the secret room of the backyard of the Wannian Talisman Array Shop.

Zhou Wannian (Old Man Han) held a half-foot-long, greenish-black cylinder in his hand. The body of the cylinder was made from several layers of high-grade talisman paper, its surface outlined with complex Spirit Gathering Array patterns in spiritual ink.

"Go!"

He raised his hand and pointed at a black iron target in the distance.

Hum—!

The talismans on the cylinder's surface instantly lit up, emitting a low, vibrating hum. Immediately after, a violent thrust erupted within the cylinder.

Bang!

A dull explosion rang out.

A deep blue orb of light shot out from the mouth of the cylinder, leaving an afterimage in the air as it slammed fiercely into the target.

Boom!

That black iron target, sturdy enough to withstand a blow from the Foundation Establishment Stage, was actually blasted into a sunken crater, surrounded by scorch marks from lightning and distorted lines from the pressure of heavy water.

"It's finished."

Zhou Wannian blew away the white smoke from the cylinder's mouth, a flash of clarity from solving a puzzle shining in his eyes.

【Sumeru Thunder Cylinder】

This was the individual weapon of mass destruction he had developed by combining the principles of the spirit gathering cannon with Heavy Water Yin Thunder technology.

"Its power is comparable to a full-strength strike from the Foundation Establishment mid stage. Although its material is fragile and it will collapse on its own after three to five uses, making it unsuitable for long-term use, it excels in explosive power and requires no long charging time."

Zhou Wannian put it away with satisfaction.

"This thing can only be used as a trump card; it must never be sold. Otherwise, if the people from the Star Palace see it, I'll be taken in for questioning."

Just then.

Urgent knocking came from the front hall.

"Old Man Han! Old Man Han, save us!"

The voice carried a sob; it was Young Master Ling's Steward Liu Quan.

Zhou Wannian frowned slightly, put away the thunder cylinder, straightened his robes, and resumed his slow, mercenary appearance before opening the backyard's Restriction.

"Steward Liu, why the panic? Could it be that something went wrong with the Formation Plates on the front line?"

"It's not the Formation Plates! It's the Young Lord!"

Liu Quan was drenched in sweat, his face pale. "The Young Lord brought back an ancient treasure from the front line, and somehow triggered a Restriction. Now his Divine Soul is damaged, and he's unconscious! The alchemists in the manor are all helpless, saying it's... it's a curse!"

"A curse?"

Zhou Wannian's heart stirred.

In the cultivation world, so-called curses were often some kind of eerie 'Divine Soul Talisman' or 'Formation Backlash'.

"Since it's an illness the alchemists can't cure, then it's not an illness."

Zhou Wannian said indifferently, "If it's a problem with talismans or Formations, I can go take a look. However..."

He rubbed his fingers together.

"Rest assured, Old Man Han!" Liu Quan understood the rules and immediately handed over a heavy Storage Pouch. "This is two thousand Spirit Stones as a 'consultation fee'. Whether you succeed or not, this is for your hard work."

"Very well."

Zhou Wannian pocketed the Spirit Stones and looked back at Wangcai in the corner.

"Wangcai, let's go see the world."

This little thing's nose had been getting sharper lately. Bringing it along might help sniff out other 'scents'... Ling Family Villa, underground secret room.

The security here was tight, with guards every few steps. The air was filled with oppressive Spiritual Pressure and the thick scent of soul-calming incense.

Under Steward Liu's guidance, Zhou Wannian passed through three layers of Restrictions and finally saw the legendary Young City Lord.

Young Master Ling was currently lying on a cold jade bed, his face as white as paper, eyes tightly shut, his body still twitching slightly. Most terrifyingly, a mass of grayish-black mist was writhing at his brow, like a living thing, desperately boring into his Sea of Consciousness.

Several physicians in white robes were gathered around, each sweating profusely with anxiety, yet they were helpless.

"It's useless. This is the 'Soul-Devouring Curse'; no medicine can cure it!"

"Spiritual energy can't be sent in at all; it gets swallowed as soon as it touches that black mist! Unless a Nascent Soul Stage Old Ancestor takes action to forcibly extract it..."

Hearing these discussions, Zhou Wannian felt even more confident.

Soul-Devouring Curse?

It sounded mysterious, but in the eyes of a talisman master, everything in this world had a pattern.

He stepped forward. Instead of checking the pulse like a physician, he circulated the 'Eye-Brightening Technique' from the Cloud Seal Heavenly Scripture. Faint talismans flowed deep within his eyes as he looked toward that mass of black mist.

Hum.

His vision shifted.

What appeared to others as an unsolvable black mist of a curse was, in his field of vision, a chain of talismans—exquisitely structured, but violent and chaotic because it was incomplete.

These chains were like venomous snakes, biting tightly onto Young Master Ling's Divine Soul, constantly extracting Soul Power to repair themselves.

"As expected, it's a talisman technique."

Zhou Wannian's heart settled.

As long as it wasn't an illness but a talisman, it was his professional field. He didn't need to 'heal' the person; he just needed to 'repair' the person—treating Young Master Ling like a malfunctioning Magical Artifact.

"Old Man Han, you see..." Young Master Ling seemed to sense someone approaching and opened his eyes with difficulty, his voice as weak as a thread.

"Young City Lord, do not move."

Zhou Wannian's expression was solemn. He didn't take out any pills; instead, he pulled a blank high-grade talisman paper and that turtle spirit brush from his sleeve.

"This is 'Talisman Balefulness Entering the Body', which cannot be solved by medicine. It must be countered with talismans and broken with Formations."

After saying this, he bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the talisman paper (one must put on a full performance to show effort), and his talisman brush moved rapidly.

His brush moved like flying dragons and dancing snakes, and spiritual light suddenly appeared.

This time, he wasn't drawing an offensive talisman, but one specifically used to 'Seal spiritual energy nodes'—the 【Spirit-Severing Soul-Locking Talisman】.

"Command!"

Zhou Wannian gave a low shout, and the talisman paper turned into a golden light, accurately sticking to Young Master Ling's brow.

Sizzle—

That previously arrogant grayish-black mist seemed to encounter its natural enemy and let out a shrill scream. The golden light transformed into countless tiny golden shackles, instantly cutting the connection points between the black mist and Young Master Ling's Divine Soul.

Losing its channel to absorb Soul Power, the black mist instantly shrank and was suppressed by the golden light at the edge of the Sea of Consciousness, no longer moving.

"Whew..."

Young Master Ling's breathing instantly stabilized, and his previously pained and distorted face relaxed, like a drowning person finally surfacing.

"Incredible! Truly incredible!"

The surrounding physicians were dumbfounded. The curse they had struggled with for so long was handled by this old man with a single piece of paper?

Young Master Ling let out a long breath, feeling as if he had regained his life. He looked at Zhou Wannian weakly, his eyes full of gratitude. "Old Man Han's methods are divine. I... owe you my life."

"The Young City Lord overstates it."

Zhou Wannian waved his hand with a humble look, while in reality, he was calculating the price.

"I have only temporarily sealed it with the power of a talisman array, cutting off its 'supply line'. To completely eradicate it, the source must be found."

His gaze naturally fell upon the broken bronze ancient mirror on the stone platform in the center of the secret room.

That mass of black mist was precisely what had leaked out from this ancient mirror.

The mirror's surface was cracked and mottled with green patina; it looked like junk picked up from a trash heap.

But in Zhou Wannian's eyes, how was this scrap metal?

This was clearly a living, physical teaching specimen of the Cloud Seal Heavenly Scripture!

The tiny talismans flowing deep within the mirror's surface actually shared the same origin as the technique he cultivated, and were even more profound and ancient than what he had mastered.

"Is this... a Legacy ancient treasure of the Yunzhuan Sect?!"

Zhou Wannian suppressed the urge to immediately snatch the mirror, took a deep breath, and put on the pensive expression of an old scholar encountering a difficult problem.

"Young City Lord, this item... has quite an extraordinary background."

He walked around the ancient mirror twice, his brow furrowed as if he had encountered a monumental challenge.

"The Restrictions on this are extremely ancient and carry the power of backlash. To repair it and dissolve the curse on the Young City Lord, one not only needs superb talisman array attainment but also..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping toward Steward Liu nearby.

"...also requires a large amount of special spiritual Materials to serve as a 'catalyst' to neutralize this baleful aura."

"For example, Ten-Thousand-Year Sunken Yin Wood, Void Gazer Stone powder, or certain rare metals with spirituality..."

These Materials were all without exception rare treasures.

"No problem!"

Young Master Ling spoke with grand generosity, waving his hand even while lying on the bed. "Whatever Old Man Han needs, feel free to pick from the storehouse! As long as you can repair this treasure and break my curse, you may enter and leave this villa's storehouse as you please!"

"Squeak, squeak!"

Hearing this, Wangcai, who had been hiding in Zhou Wannian's sleeve, suddenly moved.

Its sensitive little nose twitched frantically; it had clearly caught the scent of a 'feast' coming from the direction of the storehouse that no mouse could refuse.

Zhou Wannian pressed down on the restless little fellow, a barely perceptible curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Since the Young City Lord is so trusting..."

"Then I shall... reluctantly, for the sake of the Young City Lord's safety, take a trip into that storehouse."

He turned around and cupped his hands to Steward Liu, looking entirely professional.

"Steward Liu, lead the way?"

Steward Liu didn't dare to delay and hurriedly bowed to lead the way: "Old Man Han, this way please! The storehouse is over here!"

Zhou Wannian followed behind with his hands behind his back, walking with measured steps.

This was hardly going to repair a treasure.

This was clearly a mouse falling into a rice vat.

And it was the owner himself who had opened the lid and invited him in with gongs and drums.