Vessel of Worlds

In the days that followed, Andy went to the market daily to gather news, then buried himself in the text shops.

Two months and more later, the Orthodox Dao Alliance duly published the news of the Three Flames Heavenly Fire Liquid and the Nine Colds Mystic Nether Water.

By the announcement, the three great powers had chanced upon an ancient sealed space in the waters near the Immortal Island of Yingzhou. The space divided into two vast domains—the Blazing Flame Realm and the Mystic Cold Realm—one searing, one freezing, both enormous.

Two such extreme environments, sealed away for thousands upon thousands of years—it stood to reason that natural treasures of ice and fire attribute had formed within.

The first party of cultivators to enter had indeed discovered both the Three Flames Heavenly Fire Liquid and the Nine Colds Mystic Nether Water—widely scattered, and in no small quantity by all appearances.

To keep the treasures from being monopolized by any single power—and with the three great powers unable to agree on any scheme of division—they had simply thrown the space open: any Foundation Establishment cultivator could enter upon payment of five thousand spirit stones. The sealed space would open once every ten years, and they pledged that whatever treasures a cultivator found within would be his own. Success would rest on each person's fortune, and disputes over unfair division were thus avoided.

The Alliance further stated that the space held no great dangers—only a modest number of ice- and fire-attribute beasts of no great rank; nothing above rank five had been observed. More important still: entry required teleportation, but leaving was easy. In less than half an incense stick's time, one could activate a specially crafted formation disc, rousing the space's own restrictions to expel the user automatically—returning him to the waters near Yingzhou.

A cultivator who found treasure thus need not fear being hunted down inside the sealed space: a few moments' effort, and he could return safe to the Star Sea.

With rare treasures for bait and the dangers apparently modest, the news exploded through the ranks of Foundation Establishment cultivators. For late-stage cultivators like Andy above all, it was exactly what they had prayed for—virtually every one of them intended to enroll.

Even some Core Formation cultivators wished to take part—but on inquiry, the three powers made it plain: only Foundation Establishment cultivators could be teleported in. Those at Core Formation and above could not enter the space at all.

One year after the announcement, the Blazing Flame Realm and Mystic Cold Realm would see their first opening. Until then, no one could enter.

The Alliance's proclamation matched what Andy had gathered on his own almost point for point. So he weighed the question seriously: postpone the attempt at Core Formation, and go treasure-hunting in the sealed space first?

He had the Heart-Cleansing Pill; he had taken quantities of peak-grade Essence-Consolidating Pills; and Recluse Ximen had left several medicines of modest benefit besides. Yet all told, his odds at Core Formation ran only twenty or thirty percent above the common lot—far from certain.

If he could find the Three Flames Heavenly Fire Liquid and the Nine Colds Mystic Nether Water and add another sliver to those odds, he was hardly going to pass it by.

And if he found nothing, the loss was a little time and a negligible five thousand stones. With his peak late-stage cultivation and his arsenal of potent methods, self-preservation in a hunt restricted to Foundation Establishment cultivators should pose no problem. Even cornered and outnumbered, he could buy the few moments needed to trigger the disc and return to the Star Sea at will.

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The threat was not zero—but set against the possible gains, such risk hardly counted.

So after careful deliberation, Andy resolved to go and see both realms for himself.

Decision made, he set about preparing thoroughly for the expedition a year away.

To gain strength within a single year: nurturing the Ice-Wind Python was out of the question—far too slow. His own cultivation stood at its bottleneck; short of forming the core, not an inch of advance remained. That left only additions to his artifacts and spirit tools—or talismans.

Spirit tools he had in heaps, but dared not show. For attack and defense artifacts, the Red Cloud Thirteen Needles plus two or three good shields sufficed.

Only in talismans—once his greatest strength—did something seem lacking.

Since reaching Foundation Establishment, though he had studied a number of Foundation Establishment spells in the intervals of his beast hunts, he had rarely crafted Foundation Establishment talismans. His stock remained mostly mid- and high-tier Qi Condensation work—plentiful, but woefully inadequate to his current realm.

A large hoard of Foundation Establishment talismans, though—that would be different. Beyond the raw increase in strength, talismans, used a few at a time, were common goods that drew no attention at all: a perfectly ordinary weapon of open battle. His greatest power still lay in the Blazing Heaven Blade—but the moment that blade came out, no witness could be left alive, or the secret of his high-grade spirit stones would spread and bring high-ranked cultivators hunting.

Against many foes, without certainty of killing every one, the Blazing Heaven Blade could not conveniently appear. But with a stock of Foundation Establishment talismans, plus the Red Cloud Thirteen Needles and his other artifacts, self-preservation would be assured many times over.

So Andy resolved: this year would go to crafting a batch of Foundation Establishment talismans.

At peak late-stage cultivation, casting Foundation Establishment spells had long ceased to be any difficulty—he needed only to seal the spells into talisman form.

The material requirements, however, far exceeded those of Qi Condensation talismans. Brush, cinnabar, and paper each carried their own demands.

For the brush: bone and whisker from a suitable rank-five beast would easily yield a peak-grade talisman brush—more than sufficient.

Cinnabar was best refined from the blood of rank-three beasts or above—easily bought in the Penglai market for a negligible price.

The costliest item, as a rule, was the paper: Foundation Establishment talismans demanded hides of rank-three beasts or better, for ordinary paper could not contain the enormous spiritual power sealed within.

And Andy, slayer of beasts beyond counting, had hides in abundance.

Everything, then, stood ready—a great batch of Foundation Establishment talismans was entirely within reach.

So for the next year, Andy stayed in his dwelling, practicing the talisman art day and night without pause.

When weariness came, he rested briefly in meditation; when spiritual power ran low, he replenished it—extravagantly—with high-grade spirit stones. His crafting efficiency was staggering.

Foundation Establishment spells were mostly complex and laborious to cast, their casting times long—some demanded nearly half an hour of continuous work.

Which was precisely why Foundation Establishment cultivators never used spells in combat: that endless casting time would let an opponent kill them a hundred times over.

Talismans were another matter. A Foundation Establishment talisman could be triggered instantly—and a practiced hand could trigger several of the same kind at once. Therein lay the talisman's power.

Andy crafted through day and night without rest, producing a dozen-odd attempts daily.

In talisman-making his experience was rich beyond the ordinary—over ten thousand crafting attempts in his lifetime, a count even master talisman-makers could scarcely approach.

He had assumed that with such skill, Foundation Establishment talismans would yield without too much struggle. Failure after failure taught him otherwise.

Attempting the Yellow Heaven Thick Earth Talisman—famed as the strongest defensive talisman of the Foundation Establishment level—he failed more than fifty times in a row and came within a breath of giving up. Had the fifty-seventh attempt not finally succeeded, whether he could have kept his nerve at all was an open question.

Besides the Yellow Heaven Thick Earth Talisman, Andy also crafted the True Yang Fire Crow Talisman, a fire-attribute attack talisman.

Through hundreds upon hundreds of failures, he at last raised his success rate with Foundation Establishment talismans to roughly one in ten—and that while concentrating on only two varieties. Had he attempted a wider range, the rate would have sunk further still.

By year's end, Andy possessed nearly two hundred Foundation Establishment talismans—and with them, a level of strength beyond what ordinary minds could imagine.