Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 69 Dao Tian Talisman Wall.

The rain is coming.

Su Qing felt somewhat heavy-hearted.

These days, although he has been so engrossed in crafting puppets that he has neglected to eat and sleep, he has occasionally gone out to buy materials and has heard a bit about the current situation at the front-line camp.

As the monsters occupied the low mountain defense line, they seemed to be digesting the fruits of their victory and did not immediately attack the forward camp.

That makes sense; humans fear monsters, and monsters fear humans.

If it weren't for the unexpected events in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range that left them with no way to survive, they wouldn't have come down the mountain to fight the human cultivators head-on.

With a low mountain containing a branch of spiritual veins to sustain their cultivation, the demon beasts don't need to fight to the death with the human cultivators for the time being.

However, this situation obviously won't last long.

As more and more monsters descend from the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, the resources currently available are no longer sufficient to support the ever-increasing number of monsters.

The monsters will surely turn their gaze forward again!

"The calm before the storm, I wonder how long it will last."

Su Qing muttered to himself, "Guarding the front-line camp is something the Yunshan Sect disciples need to worry about; I shouldn't concern myself with it."

As a so-called outer disciple with only a nominal position and no basic benefits, Su Qing consciously walked into the stall area.

He cupped his hands in greeting to a middle-aged stall owner with a square face and broad features, wearing a thin jacket, and asked with a smile:
"Greetings, fellow Daoist. I wish to set up a stall here. May I ask who is in charge of this place, what the rent is, and what the rules are?"

In Baiyun Market, or the market of Tianxia, ​​it is customary that wherever a trading place of a certain scale is established, there will inevitably be powerful figures who collect rent and taxes. The frontier camp is no exception.

The middle-aged stall owner sells ancient and mysterious items. If he were to boast about his wares, he would claim that every item on his stall has a remarkable origin, perhaps a secret treasure from a powerful cave dwelling or a relic from an ancient deity.

In reality, out of a hundred items, perhaps only one has any value. Naturally, few of the experienced cultivators in the front-line camps would fall for this kind of half-deceptive business.

Therefore, his business was extremely slow. When Su Qing inquired, he replied indifferently:

"This area is currently under the control of the Rat King Team. The rent is ten spirit crystals per day. As for rules, apart from not being able to force a sale, there aren't many rules!"

"The Rat King Team? Niu Ya escaped back?"

Su Qing asked in confusion, "With the collapse of the low mountain defense line, the original four hunting teams were the first to suffer heavy losses. Niu Ya has not returned to the front camp for a long time, and everyone thought he was dead."

"Whether Niu Ya is dead or not is none of our business. Anyway, most of their team has returned, and they are all skilled warriors."

The Yunshan Sect wants them to risk their lives, so they're in charge of this area. We'll just focus on extracting spirit crystals!

Business was bad, and the middle-aged stall owner, who might not even be able to cover the rent, had no patience to chat with Su Qing any longer. He tightened his thin coat and said no more.

Seeing his reaction, Su Qing belatedly realized that it was already early winter.

But even though winter has arrived and the weather is getting colder, a cultivator shouldn't be unable to withstand this bit of cold.

He removed the cold-proof effect of the dust-repelling robe he was wearing and faced the cold directly.

I felt as if my exposed skin was being scraped by a knife, and I even activated the effects of my robes again.

This chilling atmosphere is definitely not caused by normal seasonal changes. No wonder I've seen many rogue cultivators wearing thin coats along the way.

It's still more respectable to wear the robes, Su Qing thought to herself, having spirit crystals is so comfortable.

He clasped his hands in farewell to the middle-aged stall owner and headed to find the person in charge of the stall area, but unexpectedly, his gaze swept across the stall owner's stall and he noticed a peculiar object. This object appeared to be a broken fragment from a stone wall, about the size of a palm, light gray in color, with a headless and tailless black pattern on it, like part of some kind of rune.

"Fellow Daoist, are you interested in this Dao Heaven Talisman Wall?"

The middle-aged stall owner, who made a living this way, was incredibly shrewd. When Su Qing looked at the broken wall, he put on a smiling face and leaned closer to ask.

"It's just a broken piece of wall, yet you dare to call it the Heavenly Talisman Wall?" Su Qing sneered.

The so-called Dao Tian Fu Bi is said to be a mural that connects heaven and earth, recording countless Dao patterns.

If one can comprehend all the Dao patterns on this talisman wall, one will master all the arts of cultivation, and a ladder to heaven will be erected, allowing one to ascend to the clouds with a single step. Hence, it is called Dao Tian (Dao Heaven).

If it really fell off this talisman wall, even if it's just a fragment, it would attract Golden Core cultivators to fight over it. How could it be casually placed on a stall by a rogue cultivator?

The middle-aged stall owner also knew that exaggerating too much wouldn't fool anyone, so he added:

"This wall is not the real wall, but it is the work of Lin Shanlu, a Nascent Soul cultivator and fourth-level talisman master from Penglai Kingdom, who copied the real wall."

Even if we cannot fathom its true meaning, to have the privilege of collecting it would be a wonderful thing!

Lin Shanlu is a well-known figure among all cultivators in the Western Sea cultivation world. It is said that he once obtained a Dao Heaven Talisman Wall True Wall and comprehended Dao patterns from it, from which he became unstoppable.

Despite being a talisman master, he was able to exert his power over the Western Sea. A single talisman could calm the seas for millions of miles, making his Penglai Immortal Kingdom one of the three great immortal kingdoms of the Western Sea.

If this is indeed a copy of the original wall by this person, then this broken wall is priceless.

After all, although it cannot compare to a genuine Dao pattern fragment, this imitation work embodies the Nascent Soul cultivator's understanding of this Dao pattern.

For these low-level cultivators, it is actually easier to comprehend, and it may even be more practical than the True Wall.

But a true copy is not something a mere Qi Refining cultivator could produce so easily.

In Su Qing's opinion, this broken wall was probably created by a disciple of the Penglai Sect who had seen the real works of their elders. Some of them were short of money, so they copied the works themselves and passed them off as genuine, which is how they were passed down.

By the time it reached this rogue cultivator, the broken wall had been copied countless times, and was now vastly different from the original.

"Three spirit crystals. I'll take this broken stone. The material is not bad. It's suitable for melting down and refining puppets."

Su Qing casually pinched the broken wall, seemingly unconcerned.

The middle-aged stall owner's expression turned cold.

"Fellow Daoist, are you joking? Such a treasure is an insult to three spirit crystals. This treasure, which gathers the mysteries of ancient Dao patterns and the insights of a Nascent Soul Daoist, is it not worth ten spirit crystals?"

"Five!" Su Qing turned to leave.

"Alright, six then. The extra one can be a tribute to Master Lin!"

Six spirit crystals were exchanged for a poorly made imitation of a broken wall, but Su Qing didn't care about the small amount of money.

As he expected, before he had gone far, the middle-aged stall owner pulled out another piece of the same broken wall.

"A slight difference in Dao patterns can lead to a huge error. This fake wall is merely a shell, lacking any Dao essence. It's impossible for others to comprehend Dao patterns from this fake wall. I wonder if I can even develop proficiency with it!"

Su Qing wanted to give it a try. If he failed, he would only lose six spirit crystals. If he succeeded, he would have the possibility of mastering the Dao patterns!

This matter is not urgent; the priority right now is to set up the stall and sell off the remaining stock.

(End of this chapter)