Vessel of Worlds

The thirty-odd streaks of red light each transformed midair into fire serpents roughly three chi long, then swiftly coiled and merged, twining together into a fire python as thick as a water bucket and over a zhang long, vivid and lifelike. Its fist-sized crimson eyes rolled ceaselessly, and a tongue of flame more than two chi long flickered in and out of its jaws.

A fire python formed from over thirty Fire Serpent Talismans—this was the absolute limit of how many talismans Andy could control at once.

Facing a white-robed youth whose strength clearly exceeded that of any ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator, Andy held nothing back. He opened with his most devastating attack.

The silver sword erupted skyward with terrifying spiritual pressure, its passage through the air sounding like a dragon's cry from the highest heavens.

Sword and python bore down on the white-robed youth together.

"A peak-grade artifact!" The young man's composure finally cracked, his face twisting with exaggerated shock. Abandoning his languid manner, he snatched out a palm-sized piece of yellow beast hide inscribed with strange symbols, chanted several rapid incantations, and slapped it onto his body.

A deep yellow barrier—its light so dense and solid it looked almost physical—erupted from the hide and enclosed him completely.

"A Yellow Heaven Thick Earth Talisman—a Foundation Establishment-grade defensive talisman!" Andy cried out involuntarily.

As a cultivator who prided himself on his talisman-making skills, Andy had never seen a Foundation Establishment-grade talisman in person—they were absurdly expensive—but he had read about them extensively in various texts. He recognized the beast hide's true nature at a glance.

The silver sword and fire python struck almost simultaneously. With a tremendous boom, the fire python exploded against the yellow barrier in a burst of red light and dissolved into nothing. The silver sword was stopped dead, unable to penetrate a single fraction.

But the yellow barrier had clearly not escaped unscathed. Its glow had dimmed by more than half. If it had to keep resisting the silver sword's pressure, it would not hold for long.

Andy did not press the attack with the silver sword. Instead, he recalled it and flipped his right hand, producing a thick stack of red talismans.

The peak-grade artifact was simply too powerful for his current cultivation level. That single all-out strike just now had nearly consumed half his spiritual power. Against an opponent this formidable, he couldn't afford to exhaust himself at the very start of the fight.

Talismans were a different matter—they drew almost nothing from his own spiritual power. Even if it meant emptying every last talisman from his storage pouch, he would kill this unfathomable white-robed youth right here.

The white-robed youth had been gaping in astonishment since Andy's opening salvo. Seeing his opponent now produce dozens more talismans, he was nearly speechless.

What kind of person was this? Was this really a twelfth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator? Even an early Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't be this wealthy. This wasn't throwing talismans—this was hurling two or three mid-grade spirit stones at someone's head with every volley! Had this man, like himself, been showered with treasures by a Core Formation elder? Or was he the personal disciple of some Core Formation monster? That didn't make sense either—if someone had that kind of backing, why would they be here hunting for treasure to trade for Foundation Establishment Pills?

A dozen thoughts raced through the white-robed youth's mind, and his interest in the twelfth-layer cultivator before him only deepened. This man's assets were probably far richer than he had imagined. If that was the case, then his decision to hunt and kill other cultivators in the valley rather than carry out his sect's dangerous mission had been an extremely wise one. The thought brought a flicker of satisfaction.

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He ignored the second fire python Andy was already forming and pulled out another yellowed talisman paper from his robes. It bore several symbols and the vivid image of a small yellow knife, so lifelike it seemed ready to leap off the page.

Reluctance flickered across his face as he tossed the yellow talisman paper before him. His hands began cycling through rapid gestures, pouring streams of spiritual power into the paper at a frantic pace.

The seemingly unremarkable talisman paper absorbed the torrent of energy and began to blaze with light. The image of the yellow knife was visibly twitching, as though it might burst free at any moment.

"A talisman treasure!" Andy recognized the yellow knife and the unassuming paper for what they were. His heart sank further.

A talisman treasure was an extraordinarily rare type of talisman that only Core Formation cultivators could create. It was forged through a combination of talisman-making and dharma treasure refinement techniques, occupying a middle ground between talisman and dharma treasure and sharing characteristics of both.

A Core Formation cultivator who possessed a dharma treasure could use talisman-crafting methods and certain complex procedures to seal a portion of the treasure's power into a talisman, imbuing it with a fraction of the dharma treasure's might. Each time a talisman treasure was created—whether successfully or not—the Core Formation cultivator's own dharma treasure suffered significant damage, often requiring decades of refinement with Core Fire to restore. This made talisman treasures more valuable even than peak-grade artifacts.

Any cultivator who possessed a talisman treasure, even one at the Qi Condensation stage, could activate it just like an ordinary talisman and unleash a portion of the dharma treasure's sealed power.

Though a talisman treasure could generally unleash less than a tenth of the original dharma treasure's might, for Foundation Establishment cultivators and below, that was already a terrifying force. Many Core Formation cultivators, as their lifespans neared their end, would willingly damage their own dharma treasures to create a few talisman treasures for their descendants—ultimate trump cards for preserving their lives.

Unlike ordinary talismans, activating a talisman treasure required the user to pour an enormous amount of spiritual power into it before the sealed power could be released. Ordinary talismans consumed only their own internal energy.

Like ordinary talismans, however, talisman treasures were consumables. Each use depleted a portion of the sealed power within, and once that power was fully exhausted, the talisman treasure would ignite and crumble to ash.

No wonder the white-robed youth had looked so reluctant when he brought it out. But the fact that he chose to use it anyway showed that he was determined to have Andy's possessions at any cost. And given Andy's mid-grade spirit tool ice shield and the menacing silver sword, no ordinary attack would get through.

While the white-robed youth poured his spiritual power into the talisman treasure, Andy's second fire python—formed from another stack of Fire Serpent Talismans—slammed into the yellow barrier. After a burst of red light and a thunderous detonation, the second fire python was utterly annihilated, but the yellow barrier shuddered violently, looking as though it might collapse at any moment.

"Ah, it's almost a shame to kill you. You're the first cultivator who's ever forced me to use a talisman treasure. I just never imagined it would be someone at the twelfth layer of Qi Condensation." The white-robed youth spoke softly, and it was impossible to tell whether the words were meant for Andy or for himself.

His face was deathly pale by now, his spiritual power badly depleted. But under the protection of the Yellow Heaven Thick Earth Talisman, he had completed the preparations and activated the talisman treasure's sealed power.

An exquisite, semi-translucent yellow knife—barely three cun long—floated silently before the white-robed youth. One glance was enough to know it was no ordinary object. Threads of dazzling yellow light drifted endlessly across its blade, producing a sound like the clear cry of a phoenix. Wave after wave of horrifying spiritual pressure radiated outward from the little knife.

Andy's nerves stretched taut as a bowstring. He held the crystalline ice shield and silver sword before him, eyes locked unblinking on the yellow knife that made him feel as though he stood at the very edge of death. He even stopped breathing.

At that moment, the white-robed youth lightly tapped a finger toward the yellow knife. It drifted toward Andy—neither fast nor slow.

Andy, who had been waiting for exactly this, sent the silver sword flying to meet it.

Both weapons blazed with energy from the enormous amounts of spiritual power poured into them. The silver sword radiated a layer of silver light several cun thick, wrapping the blade in a luminous sheath. The talisman treasure knife was likewise cloaked in a layer of yellow radiance.

Two weapons of unimaginable power—each far beyond what any ordinary Qi Condensation disciple could conceive of—drew steadily closer.

What would happen when they met? Whether the peak-grade silver sword could withstand the talisman treasure's yellow knife, even Andy did not know.