Cultivation: I Have a Golden Talisman

Inside the Celestial Palace, a purplish-red gourd inscribed with Golden Seals floated in the air, continuously spewing flares of fire.

With every passing stick of incense, a Fire Crow would fly out from the flames and merge into the Fire Crow Array, increasing the array’s power.

Beneath the Fire Crow Gourd, more than ten Cultivators in the Fire Patterned Magic Robes of the Flame God Palace sat cross-legged on jade mats, channeling their Magical Power in unison to sustain the gourd.

The one in the lead was Elder Qingqiu. He was dressed in brocade robes with wide sleeves, a formal Liang-style cap, and high-soled shoes. He had a dignified and majestic aura, but the scorching energy emanating from him was astonishing. He was, in fact, a cultivator at the Late-stage Life Talisman Cultivation.

A moment ago, he was the one who launched a surprise attack on Fang Cheng with a strand of Heavenly Fire Demon-slaying Sword Qi, but Cai Li had intercepted and blocked it.

This man was an Earth Elder of the Flame God Palace, known by the title Earth Punishment. He was responsible for handling all matters concerning the True Flame Spirit Pool.

Behind him stood two other Profound Elders. One of them, stout with large ears, resembled a wealthy patriarch from the mortal world. This was none other than Qi Xuanyi, who had recently returned from the Abyssal Marsh.

He had just witnessed Mu Xuanyu’s capture with his own eyes, and his expression was now grave as he seemed to be lost in thought.

Behind the two Profound Elders were seven Yellow Elders, all with Early-stage Life Talisman Cultivation. Each of the seven wore a different expression.

They had all managed to come here by pulling strings within the sect to snatch this "cushy job," thinking that acquiring even a single wisp of True Fire would be a massive gain.

The Yinluo Sect’s counterattack was something they had anticipated. What they hadn’t expected was for Elder Mu Xuanyu to be defeated so bizarrely.

Fortunately, Elder Earth Punishment was present. His Fire Crow Gourd was already a Second-Order Top-grade Magical Artifact of immense power. It had recently refined a great deal of True Fire and was even showing faint signs of transformation.

The Fire Crow Array, with this treasure as its core, could hold back even a Life Soul Cultivator. Besides, the Yinluo Sect had only a single Life Soul Cultivator—why would he emerge from seclusion so easily for a matter like this?

Moreover, Elder Earth Punishment was no ordinary Late-stage Life Talisman Cultivator. His strength ranked among the top three of the Flame God Palace’s dozen or so Earth Elders.

Thus, these Yellow Elders weren’t worried about the Yinluo Sect’s attack. Instead, they were all scheming how to curry favor with Elder Earth Punishment afterward, hoping to be the first to get their hands on the True Fire from deep underground.

...

「Outside the Celestial Palace.」

The Yinluo Flying Ship hung silently in the sky. Cai Li’s figure appeared on its deck.

She looked down at the Fire Crow Array below and, after a moment of silence, took the array diagram for the Seven Kills Array from her storage bag.

"Everyone, follow me and break this array!"

With that, she tossed the array diagram into the sky.

The array diagram slowly unfurled, spreading out until, in an instant, it covered a hundred-li radius of the sky. Countless points of starlight twinkled within it, vying with the blazing sun for brilliance.

Among them, seven "stars" were especially dazzling.

The group entered the array in unison.

Fang Cheng and the other six each chose an array core and entered it. Meanwhile, Cai Li and her two companions vanished, concealing themselves deep within the endless starlight.

It was that familiar feeling again.

The moment Fang Cheng entered the dense "starlight" of the array core, he channeled his Magical Power and immediately connected to a Spiritual Mechanism.

He felt his Magical Power instantly surge, increasing more than tenfold!

Viewed from the outside, the seven stars in the sky suddenly flared, becoming like seven miniature suns that erupted with a blinding radiance.

At the same time, an astonishing killing intent surged toward the heavens, blanketing a hundred-li radius of the desert sky.

Triggered by this surge of power, the flames of the Fire Crow Array below blazed intensely, and a deafening chorus of caws erupted from it.

Starlight swirled within the Seven Kills Array.

Endless starlight coalesced into a keen, hundred-zhang-long blade of light, which then slashed down at the Fire Crow Array.

Fang Cheng poured out his Magical Power, becoming one with the Grand Array, one with the world-shaking sword strike.

The blade of light descended.

In an instant, countless Fire Crows were obliterated, their flames surging outward like a tide before scattering.

But the Fire Crow Array stood firm. The remaining Fire Crows danced along mystical trajectories, forming a defensive barrier of Restriction Spiritual Light dozens of layers thick.

After shattering more than ten of these layers, the Star Sword Light was annihilated by the vast, scorching flames.

At the center of the Seven Kills Array, Cai Li’s expression was placid. With a slight shift of the hand seals for her Sword Technique, blades of light erupted within the Grand Array.

The blades of light multiplied—from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand. In an instant, the sky for a hundred li around was blanketed in cold, shimmering sword phantoms.

One after another, the blades of starlight hacked down upon the Fire Crow Array, setting off a series of deafening, earth-shattering explosions that rumbled without end.

The Fire Crow Array trembled and swayed, its flames flickering between bright and dim, yet it still projected an aura of indestructibility, as imposing as a volcanic mountain.

Whenever Fire Crows within the array were destroyed by the blades of light, new ones were immediately summoned to take their place, constantly maintaining the Grand Array’s stability.

Fang Cheng frowned slightly.

’Cai Li’s accomplishments in the Sword Dao are incredible,’ he thought. ’Given my current mastery of Sword Techniques, I’m not even sure I could beat Senior Sister in a pure contest of swordsmanship if our Magical Cultivation levels were the same.’

’But as things stand... the Flame God Palace is determined to defend its array. Judging by the consumption of Magical Power, our Yinluo Sect is the one burning through it faster.’

’The blades of light from the Seven Kills Array are astonishingly powerful; each strike is at the apex of what a Life Talisman Cultivator can achieve. Yet even so, they’ve only managed to shatter three-quarters of the Fire Crow Array’s restrictive light.’

’More than ten layers of spiritual light remain, still blocking their path with incredible resilience.’

In the blink of an eye, the Seven Kills Array launched another thousand strikes.

Fang Cheng could clearly sense the other array cores beginning to falter; the power of the sword strikes was not what it had been at the start.

Just then, Cai Li unhurriedly drew a miniature Flying Sword from her sleeve. It was only the length of her palm.

She raised the Flying Sword with both hands and said respectfully, "I implore you, Master, to break this array."