Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 34

Tian Ning didn’t respond for a moment.

After a long while, confirming everything was fine, she finally looked up. Her dark eyes were as cold as glass beads. She said softly, “After the eyes are dotted, the chi talisman will take shape, and the other side will definitely notice.”

“Talisman?” Su Qing asked. “I thought this was the symbol of some organization. I never expected it to be a talisman.”

She frowned, and instantly realized the danger. “So, once someone tries to replicate this symbol, it will indirectly cause the talisman to form, making the people of that organization realize someone is investigating them? What if I don’t use spiritual energy?”

Tian Ning replied, “This talisman is nested with a small spirit-gathering array. Even if you don’t use spiritual energy, if there’s spiritual energy around, it can still take shape.”

Su Qing was momentarily stunned, “Such simple runes, yet they can gather spiritual energy and transmit messages?”

Although she wasn’t a talisman cultivator, she had taken basic talisman courses and had a general understanding of talisman principles. Runes were generally composed of principles and laws.

Cultivators used spiritual energy to activate talismans, drawing upon heavenly laws and energy through the runes.

For example, the most common cleaning talisman. Its rune composition was relatively simple, mainly consisting of two basic laws: decomposition and purification.

Ordinary cultivators had a shallow understanding of talismans, and not enough spiritual energy.

At most, they would use a cleaning talisman to remove dust from clothes or clean a room.

But Su Qing had personally seen Talisman School disciples use cleaning talismans to clear fallen leaves from mountaintops and snow in winter.

Cleaning one’s designated area was an unavoidable chore for every Sword School student.

The fact proved that even if one cultivated immortality, the amount of school cleaning wouldn’t decrease.

While body cultivators toiled away in the snow and ice, rolling up their sleeves and working up a sweat, the other party accomplished it with a single talisman. It was indeed somewhat enviable.

Other sect disciples also wanted to buy a talisman, but Talisman School disciples would say, “Even if I give you this talisman, you can’t use it. You’ll have to pay spirit stones for me to do the work for you!”

The reason was that Talisman School disciples’ knowledge and experience in linking runes to the laws of heaven and earth were far more extensive than other sect students’.

Generally, the simpler the rune, the more singular the principle, and the more direct the effect of the talisman.

For example, a wind talisman corresponds to the wind element, while a fire talisman activates fire energy.

These are all single five-element talismans, not difficult; even rogue cultivators generally know them.

Of course, this kind of knowledge wasn’t widely circulated at first. It only gradually became popularized after basic textbooks like Talisman Common Sense appeared on the market.

Correspondingly, complex talismans intertwine multiple laws and principles.

Major laws encapsulate minor laws, and major principles encapsulate minor principles, with a complexity greater than nested equations.

Take a teleportation talisman, for example.

Such a talisman not only requires guiding spatial laws but also understanding the changes in stellar tides and the gathering and transformation of energy to achieve initial spatial leaps.

And depending on the teleportation range and accuracy, the complexity of various teleportation talismans also differs. Basically, there is no most complex, only more complex.

The most abnormal thing was that a large portion of the runes required the talisman creator to draw them in one go, without a single hitch. This led to Talisman School students being able to pull all-nighters and having strong arms.

They were also quite powerful with swords, surpassing Pill School and Beast School in the Yinlan City arm wrestling competition, achieving the third-to-last place.

As a side note, one of the common career paths for Talisman School students was in civil engineering.

They would work alongside Array School students, responsible for constructing precise and complex large-scale teleportation arrays, defensive arrays, and other municipal or private projects in major cities and palaces.

This was considered a very respectable path, with considerable income.

After all, most body cultivators, after graduating, went to the wilderness to become wild people, exploring and pushing the limits of their bodies under harsh natural conditions.

But then again, how was graduating and becoming a wanderer not a career path? The lives of body cultivators were truly a wilderness.

Getting off track, in short, to create such a precisely effective talisman with just a few simple strokes was by no means a simple feat. There must be some unknown skills involved.

Tang Yueling, being more knowledgeable, figured out the origin of the chi talisman. “Is ancient divine language used inside? It must be ancient divine language to possess such divine power.”

“Ancient divine language?”

This was another new term Su Qing hadn’t heard of.

‘Damn it, I’ve been in the Sword School for so many years, and I’m still half-illiterate.’

It was obvious that this knowledge must have been strictly monopolized by aristocratic families for thousands of years, leading to such a closed-off situation.

These family secrets and unique skills, Tang Yueling quickly revealed. In her eyes, these were not things worth hoarding. Although she wasn’t selfless enough to spread this knowledge throughout the world, explaining it to Su Qing was fine.

However, if it were in the Tang family, those qualified to know such things were either honored guests or dead bodies.

“Ancient divine language refers to the script used by the earliest humans. Most of it was unearthed and recorded from grottoes and cliff faces by later generations. Currently, there are reportedly one hundred and eight existing ancient divine characters, but from what I know, each family has their own private collection.”

“The Tang family cannot compare to the Four Great Clans, whose lineages are far older and whose legacies are longer. We were still a step behind everyone else. By the time it was our turn, all ancient divine characters in human-occupied ruins were already divided up and thoroughly destroyed.”

Tang Yueling raised an eyebrow and looked at Tian Ning. Tian Ning remained silent, which was an implicit agreement.

Even though Tian Ning had already decided to leave the Qi family, she had grown up in the Qi family since childhood, exposed to secrets that others could hardly imagine.

Although she insisted on giving up the glittering inheritance that was within her grasp, she was still a child who grew up with treasures.

Tang Yueling knew this, which was why she always wanted to compete with her.

She continued, “Only twelve ancient divine characters are publicly known. Among these twelve characters are the most basic five-element elemental runes for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Ninety percent of basic talismans are created by rearranging and combining these twelve ancient divine characters.”

Su Qing understood, “So, the chi talisman must have used unrevealed ancient divine characters to possess such power?”

‘The language used by the earliest humans? That’s cavemen, oracle bone script?’

‘If she had studied archaeology before transmigrating, wouldn’t she be able to dominate the cultivation world now?’

She shook off these random thoughts and couldn’t help but sigh, “If all ancient divine characters were made public, wouldn’t it usher in an era of immortal spell explosions?”

The wisdom of the masses was infinite. A mere twelve publicly known ancient divine characters were used in all sorts of ways, accounting for ninety percent of basic talismans.

If all one hundred and eight were made public, who knew how many miracles could be born?

Tian Ning stopped and said seriously, “You can’t say such things.”

Tang Yueling said faintly, “It will lead to death.”

As for the reason, everyone present understood it tacitly. They all, by unspoken agreement, moved past the topic.

The air was silent for a moment. Su Qing sighed, “It seems this organization is indeed unfathomable. No wonder it could possess Taihe Zhenren.”

With a killing tool like ancient divine language, this organization still lived so timidly, even requiring extra attention when mentioned.

It must be extremely hidden, extremely important, and known only to a handful of people in the world.

Generally, such organizations usually don’t do anything good.

Su Qing suddenly felt fortunate that she recalled this symbol in front of Tian Ning. Otherwise, she would probably have already been exposed to the other party.

Even Taihe Zhenren, a late Spirit Transformation stage cultivator, could be possessed.

Dealing with her, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, would be like slicing melons and dicing vegetables.

She was unaware that her single sentence was like a giant stone thrown into the water!

Tang Yueling was shocked, “Taihe Zhenren was possessed?!”

Tian Ning’s pupils dilated for a moment, but quickly returned to calm.

Su Qing saw her expression and knew that this was within Tian Ning’s expectations; she knew the nature of this organization.

“Is a late Spirit Transformation stage spirit really that weak? To actually be possessed by someone else.” Her eyes were dazed for a moment, then she suddenly lifted her eyelashes. “It might not have been a recent possession. Perhaps it was possessed when its cultivation was low. In that case, they are targeting either Taihe Zhenren’s good root bone, or the Song family! What is their origin?”

Taihe Zhenren’s cultivation was profound, and he was a prominent figure in the Song family, even a close confidant of the Song family head. Who knew such a person could be possessed without anyone realizing it? How could this not be chilling and terrifying?

It was like a righteous sect leader being possessed by a demonic cult member and concealing it from everyone for thousands of years…

Tian Ning had been silent all the way. At this moment, she somewhat unnaturally turned her head, her tone deliberately cold and stiff, “Apologies, I don’t know much, and I’m not very clear.”

Su Qing: “…How can someone lie so obviously?”

‘Cute.’

Tian Ning not speaking certainly had her reasons.

But this child was very honest. Since she didn’t deny or react to what Tang Yueling said earlier, it meant it was largely true.

Su Qing already understood the danger of the organization behind the chi talisman.

It had to be said, the other party clearly only targeted those with good root bones, potential, talent, or those in high positions for possession. Tang Yueling’s reaction was so strong precisely because she was on the opponent’s menu.

Small figures like Su Qing, on the other hand, were the least worrisome, as long as she didn’t blindly charge into the opponent’s sight.

“Is that so?” Tang Yueling was so intelligent; how could she not see Tian Ning’s abnormality? She raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a long time, until the other party’s already expressionless face grew even colder. She finally snorted coldly, averted her gaze, and reluctantly let her off.

She was too lazy to force her, but she was still somewhat displeased.

Although just looking at that face, it was hard to stay annoyed for long.

The undercurrents surged between roommates due to different stances.

One evaded, one competed. This dilemma, this feeling of constantly needing to balance things—it was truly nostalgic.

Su Qing suddenly felt that familiar daily life had returned.

Her heart eased, and she almost couldn’t help but reveal a teasing smile.

But smiling was absolutely out of the question, otherwise, Yueling would definitely become furious out of embarrassment.

She belatedly remembered that chi referred to a type of fierce bird, seemingly an ancient word for crow.

And the bird she had just seen flying across the sky was indeed a crow. Perhaps this hinted at some kind of fate.

And one of the crow’s habits was stealing.

Stealing?

Wasn’t soul possession a form of stealing? It just stole not objects, but other people’s lives.

Tang Yueling was picking flaws discontentedly.

Tian Ning, being slow with words, simply said nothing, only walked faster, as if a ghost was chasing her from behind.

The young lady angrily said, “What’s wrong? Am I going to eat you or something?”

Su Qing caught up with Tian Ning’s quickening pace, leaving that disgusting coldness far behind.