Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments-Chapter 48 - 47: Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman

Chapter 48: Chapter 47: Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman

The Magic that Elder Chen gave Xiao Chen was called the Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman.

Unlike a typical Fire Avoidance Technique, this Magic couldn’t directly help a Cultivator resist the invasion of Fire Qi.

Instead, a Cultivator first had to follow the described Heart Method to cultivate a Treasure Talisman formed from Magical Power and store it within their Heart Acupoint.

If Fire Qi entered the body, this Treasure Talisman could automatically absorb it, condensing and storing it as a wisp of Profound Fire to protect the heart meridian from harm.

If the Treasure Talisman was full, or if one needed to face an enemy, they could form a hand seal to unleash it, spraying out all the stored Profound Fire.

If used well, it could both protect oneself and serve as an additional means of attack.

Of course, this Magic was a Yellow-level Technique after all, so it had two major flaws.

First, once the Treasure Talisman was released, it could not be retrieved. One would have to expend Magical Power to condense a new one.

Therefore, it could only be used as a trump card and was not suitable as a conventional Attack Technique.

Second, the amount of Fire Qi the Treasure Talisman could store was very limited.

At the entry-level, it could only store ten wisps of Profound Fire. At Minor Success, one hundred wisps, and at Great Success, it could store one thousand wisps at most.

Elder Chen had urged Xiao Chen to hurry and cultivate the Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman to the Minor Achievement Realm.

Otherwise, the surging Fire Qi within the Flame Pool Secret Realm would be completely overwhelming.

Under normal circumstances, just reaching the entry-level for a Yellow-level Technique would take ten to fifteen days. Reaching the Minor Achievement Realm was nearly impossible without at least half a year or a full year of practice.

And to achieve Great Success in a Cultivation Method required decades of arduous cultivation to attain true mastery through diligent practice and full integration.

Elder Chen had initially thought three months was far too short; there simply wasn’t enough time.

But considering the superior comprehension and multiple epiphanies Xiao Chen had shown before, he decided to let him give it a try.

This was also why Elder Chen was so pleased when he saw Xiao Chen decisively choose the Yellow-level Cultivation Technique.

However, after only about a day of practice, by the morning of the third day, Xiao Chen, with the blessing of his Augment, successfully condensed a Treasure Talisman and reached the entry-level.

He then went to the familiar riverbank, put on his Defense Magic Robe, and summoned a Fire Crow, commanding it to fly a short distance away and spew flames.

Then, he slowly approached the flames, absorbing the Fire Qi at the very edge to test the Treasure Talisman’s storage capacity.

The result was as expected. After a full day of absorbing fire, more than fifty wisps of Profound Fire had condensed in the Treasure Talisman, yet it only took up about half of its space.

’Sigh, what a pity. If only I had ten Treasure Talismans, each with ten times the capacity. That would be amazing.’

Xiao Chen feigned a sigh, but the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman, go!"

With a soft cry, the Treasure Talisman in his Heart Acupoint flew out of his body, instantly swelling to several dozen times its original size before rapidly spewing Profound Fire forward.

In an instant, the temperature in front of him shot up dramatically, even causing the stones below to crack and pop from the heat.

The power of this attack was already very close to that of the Poison Crow Black Fire, and ten times stronger than the Fireball Technique.

Although its range was noticeably smaller, with the flames concentrated in front, its temperature was slightly superior.

And keep in mind, that Treasure Talisman had only stored half its capacity of Profound Fire.

If it could be filled with a hundred wisps, its power would surely far exceed the Poison Crow Black Fire, making it a true trump card.

Moreover, this was just the entry-level. If he cultivated it to Minor Success, its power would increase tenfold.

’If I one day reach Great Success, I imagine it could rival an attack from a Foundation Establishment cultivator.’

At this thought, Xiao Chen’s spirits soared. He sat down on the spot and began to condense a new Treasure Talisman.

Perhaps because he had already condensed one before, the new Treasure Talisman took only a single hour to form and settle steadily in his Heart Acupoint.

’For the next few days, I need to hurry and use up the Spirit Grass on hand, then put a pause on Alchemy.’

’In the time before the Secret Realm opens in the third month, I’ll focus on cultivating the Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman and strive to reach the Minor Achievement Realm.’

As Xiao Chen mentally calculated his cultivation schedule, he had a sudden realization. ’Hey, how am I becoming more and more like a Fire Cultivator?’

Both the Luotian Profound Fire Crow and the Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman were Fire Attribute Magic.

’It’s a shame I don’t have a Fire Spirit Root. That would be great.’

Cultivators with different Spiritual Roots could gain up to a ten percent power boost when using Magic of the corresponding Five Elements Attribute, depending on the strength of their Spiritual Root.

Additionally, when learning new Magic, it was easier to reach the entry-level. While not necessarily achieving twice the results with half the effort, it was at least much more intuitive.

Xiao Chen sighed, then reminded himself, ’When I have time, I should look for some Wood Attribute Magic to play to my strengths.’

Cultivation Techniques wouldn’t just fall into his lap, but he could actively seek them out.

’The eighth is in two days. I’ll take a trip to the Black Market and see if there’s any suitable Magic there.’

However, on the eighth, he rushed over at 7:00 AM and spent over an hour circling the small hill southwest of Niu Village twice.

But Xiao Chen only found some felled tree stumps and didn’t see a single soul.

’Huh? Could it be because of the New Year?’

Xiao Chen was unsure. ’Forget it. I’ll come back and check again on the twenty-third.’

But before he could leave, another person in a black robe found the place and looked him over curiously.

Then, in a hoarse voice, the person asked, "Are you from Quanzhou, by any chance?"

Xiao Chen waved his hand. "You have the wrong person. I was just tired from traveling and stopped here to rest my feet. Farewell!"

The black-robed person hesitated for a moment before leaving in another direction.

As he passed by Niu Village, Xiao Chen successively encountered several burly figures with black cloths covering their faces, leaving only their eyes exposed, all rushing southwest.

From the looks of it, they were most likely also people going to investigate the Black Market.

This was not good news. A reasonable deduction was that a considerable number of Black Market Tokens had changed hands.

’When the twenty-third comes, it won’t be all locals showing up, will it?’

Thinking of this possibility, Xiao Chen offered a silent prayer for the fellow Daoists from Quanzhou: ’I hope they’re okay.’

Although he had gone out on the eighth, he still made use of the afternoon to refine a furnace of Qi Nourishing Pills. The Pill Formation yielded nine pills, a stable performance.

At other times, he refined two furnaces a day without interruption.

Under such a rushed schedule, by the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the last furnace of Qi Nourishing Pills was successfully refined.

Perhaps because practice makes perfect, this time his Pill Formation Success Rate reached ninety-five percent.

Including the extra Elixirs from the [Buy One Get One Free] bonus, Xiao Chen obtained a total of thirty-eight bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills.

’Very good. Everything went smoothly. I have two and a half months left, so that should be enough time.’

After tidying up the Pill Furnace, Xiao Chen headed straight for the riverbank at the foot of the mountain.

He planned to get some fresh air and also to practice his Luotian Profound Fire Crow.

BOOM!

The pitch-black flames once again evaporated a large amount of water vapor. Not only had his skill not grown rusty, but it had even improved slightly since the last time.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Having been cooped up for half a month with grueling Alchemy, Xiao Chen got carried away, unleashing the Poison Crow Black Fire repeatedly until he had exhausted half of his Magical Power in one go.

After venting his frustrations, he let out a long, stuffy breath. "Haaah, that feels better."

He might have felt better, but the fish in the river were out of luck. A dozen or so fish had been hibernating peacefully among the waterweeds, only to be suddenly blasted out of the water.

This time, however, Xiao Chen had brought a bamboo basket with him.

’This one only has its tail burned. I can salvage it.’

’This one’s charred on the inside. Probably no saving it.’

He managed to salvage two large fish in time, and he didn’t let a few others that were only lightly burned go to waste either.

He used his Flying Sword to slice off the charred parts, perfect for taking back to mince into a paste to make fish balls, pretending they were sweet dumplings for the festival. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

’This Evergreen Sword is pretty good for cutting fish. Not only is it sharp enough, but it doesn’t get stained with blood or stick to the meat.’

Xiao Chen was very satisfied with this.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Just as he was busy cooking for the festival, a knock suddenly came from the outer door.

"Xiao, Happy Lantern Festival! Do you want to go see the lantern show together?"

He knew it was Su Wanqing just by the sound of her voice.

Xiao Chen was a little curious. ’Why is she here again?’