"Are you fine..." the Holy Maiden asked, her voice soft like snow drifting down in the dead of night.
She glanced at Jia Mei’s trembling state, concern flickering in her eyes, but they couldn’t stop now. Not when another group might be close behind, chasing the scent of delay, like a cat to a rat’s tail.
Zhao Fan had already predicted this outcome.
That Jia Mei would endure was expected, but the fact that the other two still held on was somewhat surprising.
Yi Xin Xue, however, was different.
Her body had been reforged with the finest treasures including the essence of Phoenix, and a celestial orb, her constitution moulded from the bones of legends and starlight.
How can she he affected by simple gravity?
She was not someone who could be measured with common sense.
"Keep walking. Don’t speak. You’ll only waste energy," Zhao Fan said coldly, his tone as sharp and unmoved as stone beneath moonlight.
The gravity here was increasing with every step, pressing down on them like an invisible mountain.
Each stride forward felt like pushing against the heavens, yet there wasn’t even a single drop of sweat on his dustless face.
Finally, after what felt like hours packed into mere minutes, they crossed the invisible boundary.
The pressure dispersed like mist under the sun, after crossing the line.
They had arrived at the Fifth Trial.
This space was dimly lit, surrounded by twisted trees and coiling vines. A forest of quiet dread. The air was rich with spiritual energy, but underneath it pulsed the rancid, dense aura of demonic essence.
From the shadows, a voice rang out, which was both piercing and disembodied.
"To pass this trial, you must create a talisman— The Demonic Subduing Talisman."
"The blood of a beast with at least grade-one demonic essence.l must be used as ink."
"The hair of a creature bearing at least the grade-two demonic essence should be used as a brush."
"A bone carved from a beast touched by demonic Qi must be used as a medium, You have five incense sticks of time. Fail, and death shall thus forth claim you all,"
The voice’s source revealed itself. It was a parrot, its feathers tinged with strange about runes, eyes glowing with ancient intelligence and chest, proud as mountains.
Zhao Fan closed his eyes, letting memory rise.
He had studied this talisman in a secluded temple buried under a frozen sea. He is someone with the supreme golden core who could walk on all 3000 paths of Dao.
Alchemy? Array? Runes? Weapon forging? Music DAO? Elemental Dao?
Vast intelligence, unparalleled might. Such a man is Young Master Zhao.
A talisman that could bind demons, suppress curses, or silence even the corrupted whispers of hell spawn, basically every being cultivating the demonic energy.
There aren’t much rare but they are powerful, and easy to forge without any issue.
But he wasn’t aiming for perfection.
"We don’t need to make a masterpiece. Just something passable enough to move on," Zhao Fan said, opening his eyes.
"Split up. Get the materials."
Yi Xin Xue stepped forward. "Young Master, let me search. I know little about talismans and would only slow down the process."
Zhao Fan shook his head. "We need every hand. Go gather. The drawing part is simple, the fight for materials is the hard part. I doubt they want us to make the best of best possible... It’s merely a trail where one is trapped on it’s own mind, we just need to move on."
"Young Master is truly insightful..."
Ling’er and the Saintess both nodded and joined the hunt.
Jia Mei, however, just stood there.
Shoulders stiff, face flushed, breathing hard. She looked around helplessly, unsure what use she could possibly offer.
She felt like dead weight.
Zhao Fan turned back briefly. "You there cultivate. That’s what you’re good for..."
"Yes, Holy Envoy," she replied softly and immediately sat down, closing her eyes, trying to center herself even though her heart was in turmoil.
In that moment, fate played its cruel joke again.
Another figure emerged into the trial, a man cloaked in bitterness, eyes smoldering like dying embers.
He was revived and saw the blush in her face.
He gritted his teeth, the moment he saw Zhao Fan being at the center, even killed hinself without any mercy. He hated it...
But what made his blood boil even more was Jia Mei—sitting in peace, blushing like a bird with hope.
Outrageous. That wench had once looked at him with admiration, even reverence, and now she sat there like some lovesick fool in front of that cold bastard?
He hadn’t had the chance to recite the Poem of Purity to her yet. And, hadn’t declared his intentions within the confines of his heart.
She was his! Or at least, she should have been.
And now she gave herself so easily?
Women like her were fickle, stupid, and blind to true worth.
All it took was a pretty face and a colder tongue to win their affections? Then let her rot at Zhao Fan’s feet like a dog waiting for scraps.
But Zhao Fan... Zhao Fan was the one who needed to fall.
One day, I’ll strip that arrogance from your face.
How would he not get angry, a youth that have yet to explore the sky above sky, blinded by mere love and enchanted by the beauty of women, not knowing he has fallen behind.
Yi Xin Xue returned first. Blood stained her robes, but her steps were steady.
She held a vial of fresh blood/red and thick/and a shard of bone still humming with demonic Qi.
She had slain a beast with grade-three essence, no easy task even for every cultivator.
As grade 3 beast is mid-stage of the foundation stage, a realm above Qi Saint.
Zhao Fan returned soon after, his hands holding long black hairs from a grade-two beast, still pulsating with corrupted energy.
The Holy Maiden and Saintess also returned with bones and hide, their eyes hardened from battle.
"Good," Zhao Fan said with a nod. "We begin..."
The ritual was simple but exacting.
He mixed the ink from the beast’s blood, grinding a talisman bone into smooth parchment with a sacred formation.