141: Avatar Foundation Establishment! Substitute Gu Completed! Li Huayuan Summoned Him!

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-One: Incarnation Reaches Foundation Establishment! substitute gu Completed! Li Huayuan's Summons!

Lu Qiu picked up the Heavenly Talisman Scripture and found the section recording the usage method of the Six Ding Heavenly Armor Talisman, studying it carefully.

It recorded an obscure and complex ancient-sounding incantation, along with a set of incredibly profound hand Seals that required specific spiritual energy circulation.

However, at the end of the technique, there was a stern warning written in eye-catching red runes:

“Six Ding Heavenly Armor, borrowing power from heaven and earth. To activate this Talisman, one's Divine Sense must be as condensed as a Nascent Soul; the incantation must be chanted to stir the spiritual energy of the four directions. If one attempts to control it with insufficient Divine Sense, they will surely suffer a backlash from the Talisman's power—at best, the Divine Soul will be damaged; at worst, the Sea of Consciousness will collapse!”

At least a Nascent Soul Stage Divine Sense strength was required to safely employ it!

Lu Qiu's heart sank, and he immediately gave a bitter smile.

As expected, the threshold for using such a Heaven-Defying level Talisman was terrifyingly high.

With his current Divine Sense, which was comparable to the Early Core Formation Stage, forcibly activating it would likely lead to more ill than good.

It seemed that for a short time, this life-saving trump card could not be used and could only be kept as a hope for the future.

Subsequently, Lu Qiu took out two other items from the spatial bead that the Black Fiend had kept for himself and had not shared with Nangong Wan.

A deep green Jade Slip engraved with Pill Furnace patterns, and two jade boxes of different sizes, both strictly sealed.

The Jade Slip was titled "Qing Yang Pill Scripture."

Lu Qiu's Divine Sense probed into it, and he understood.

This was likely the complete version of the Alchemy Legacy from the same source as that qingyang elixir analysis!

The Pill Formulas recorded inside were more systematic and complete; many ancient Pill Formulas that only had names or incomplete records in the "Elixir Analysis" were detailed here with medicinal herb ratios, refinement temperatures, precautions, and even some notes from the Senior who created the pills.

The Pill Formulas covered a wide range. There were "Zixia Pills" and "red sun pills" suitable for Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators, which could not only improve mana but also stabilize the Dao Foundation and slightly increase the chance of Core Formation.

There were even several types of Medicinal Pills greatly beneficial to Core Formation Stage Cultivators, such as the "Crystal Condensing Pill" that could assist in smooth Core Formation and reduce Heart Demons; there were also records of main Materials and refinement ideas for the "Nascent Nurturing Pill" which could nourish the Nascent Soul and slowly increase Divine Soul strength.

Although the medicinal herbs required for some Pill Formulas might be extremely difficult to find in the current era, the value of the Pill Formulas themselves, especially those ancient Alchemy ideas and techniques, was a priceless treasure!

He opened those two jade boxes.

In the first jade box lay a spiritual plant that was icy blue all over, crystal clear, shaped like an orchid, but with seven long, narrow leaves.

Fine frost patterns naturally condensed on the leaves, emitting extreme cold and pure water and ice attribute Spiritual Qi. Just by opening the jade box, the temperature in the Quiet Room dropped sharply, and ice crystals condensed in the air!

The label inside the box had long since blurred, but Lu Qiu could judge that this was at least a "Profound Ice Seven-Leaf Orchid" with an age exceeding ten thousand years!

It was a peerless material for refining water-attribute Nascent Soul Stage pills or even certain special ice-attribute Magic Treasures!

The second jade box was slightly larger, containing a piece of strange wood about a foot long and as thick as a child's arm, fiery red all over, covered in natural dragon-scale patterns, with faint scorching flowing fire surrounding it—ten-thousand-year "Fire Dragon Wood"!

This wood contained extremely Yang and firm fire-attribute energy and boundless vitality. It was a core material for refining top-tier fire-attribute Magic Treasures, or even certain special Incarnations or Puppets, and could also serve as a medicinal primer for some high-level fire-attribute Medicinal Pills; its value was immeasurable!

“The core Legacy of the Heavenly Talisman Sect... the Six Ding Heavenly Armor Talisman... a complete ancient elixir classic... two ten-thousand-year spirit herbs...” Lu Qiu took several deep breaths before he could barely suppress the stormy waves in his heart.

Each of the real harvests from this trip to the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land, if taken out individually, would be enough to cause a bloodbath in the State of Yue or even the entire cultivation world of Yue!

They far exceeded those thousand-year spirit herbs and ordinary ancient treasures he had "split equally" with Nangong Wan before!

Once he slowly digested these opportunities and turned the Talisman Dao and Alchemy knowledge into his own, his strength would surely undergo an earth-shaking transformation!

...Time passed quietly in the tranquility and fulfillment of the Immortal Cave.

Three months had passed since the last trip to the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land.

Inside the Quiet Room, Lu Qiu was focusing all his attention on drawing a Talisman.

In his hand, he held a Talisman brush with a shiny black barrel and silver-white bristles as white as snow—it was precisely that "golden plume brush" he had unexpectedly obtained years ago at the Chunfeng Small Courtyard in the Yellow Maple Valley Market.

This brush had a condensed tip and excellent spiritual conductivity, making it a Sharp Weapon for drawing Intermediate and high-grade Talismans.

Speaking of which, he had owned this golden plume brush for several years, but he had always been busy with Cultivation, treasure hunting, and dealing with various crises, never truly settling down to study the Talisman Dao.

Now that he had obtained the Heavenly Talisman Scripture, which could be called the Peak of the Human Realm's Talisman Dao Inheritance, Lu Qiu naturally did not want to waste such a gift and was determined to invest time and energy into studying it well.

For a Talisman Maker to successfully refine a Talisman of a certain Spell, they must first be able to skillfully perform that Spell themselves, or at least have a deep understanding of the Spell's spiritual energy structure and execution trajectory.

Otherwise, they would never be able to "Seal" a Spell they didn't understand onto the Talisman paper out of thin air.

A Talisman is essentially an efficient means of performing and sealing a Spell in advance.

Therefore, over the past three months, in addition to cultivating the Crimson Sky Burning Heaven Technique and the Great Evolution Art, Lu Qiu also specifically took time to practice several types of Five Elements Intermediate Spells, such as the Fire Snake Technique, Quicksand Technique, Golden Needle Art, Water Tornado, and Vine Entanglement, practicing them repeatedly until he mastered the subtle changes in their spiritual energy, laying a Foundation for Talisman making.

At this moment, he was attempting to draw a "Fire Snake Talisman."

The brush tip was dipped in special spiritual ink prepared by mixing the blood of a second-level fire-attribute Yao Beast with several fire-attribute spiritual Materials, and it landed on the pre-processed "Fire-Patterned Talisman Paper."

With his Divine Sense highly concentrated, he guided a strand of pure Crimson Heaven Mana from his body along the tip of the golden plume brush, slowly injecting it into the Talisman paper while his wrist moved steadily, outlining the complex rune structure corresponding to the "Fire Snake Technique"... Just then, his mind stirred slightly as he sensed a steady wave of spiritual energy coming from the mountain cave next door specifically used for secluded meditation.

Lu Qiu put down the Talisman brush, stood up, and walked out of the Quiet Room to the adjacent cave.

Inside the cave, the Black Fiend, who had been sitting cross-legged and shrouded in a faint blood mist, had now finished his work and stood up.

His originally hollow eyes now held a hint of solidity and a faint blood-red glow, and the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted from his body had unexpectedly broken through from the previous eleventh layer of Qi Refining to the Early Foundation Establishment Stage!

After returning from the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land, Lu Qiu had the Black Fiend begin secluded meditation to charge for Foundation Establishment and provided him with two foundation establishment pills.

Now it seemed he had succeeded.

Lu Qiu felt the Black Fiend's aura and nodded.

The Incarnation reaching Foundation Establishment meant that its strength had taken a qualitative leap, and the Foundation for future cultivation of the Blood Refining Divine Light and condensing the "fiend core" was more solid.

He took out several blood pearls recently condensed through the blood devouring pearl using Yao Beast Essence Blood and handed them to the Black Fiend.

The Black Fiend silently took the blood pearls, sat down cross-legged again, and began to absorb them.

With the assistance of this pure blood Qi, his speed in cultivating the Blood Refining Divine Light would surely increase again... Returning to the main Immortal Cave, Lu Qiu took out the black jade tray that was nurturing the substitute gu.

The three Soul-entrusting Insect eggs in the tray were long gone, replaced by a strange Gu insect the size of a grain of rice, dark red all over, shaped like a miniature beetle, with three distorted silver patterns on its back.

After months of feeding it Essence Blood, the Gu insect was now full of vitality and had established a close, life-and-death connection with Lu Qiu.

Lu Qiu bit his fingertip, squeezed out a fresh drop of Essence Blood, and dripped it into the special liquid bead where the Gu insect was.

The Essence Blood was quickly absorbed.

The dark red Gu insect's body swelled slightly, and the silver patterns on its back suddenly lit up!

“Buzz—”

With a slight hum, the Gu insect turned into a streak of dark red blood light, moving incredibly fast, and instantly entered Lu Qiu's chest, disappearing.

Lu Qiu only felt a slight heat in his chest, and then a strange sensation emerged.

He could clearly "feel" that the substitute gu was now lurking in a certain blood vessel near his heart, falling into a deep slumber.

Once he encountered a fatal attack, this Gu would automatically activate and bear the damage for him!

Although the newly formed substitute gu could only withstand a full-strength strike from someone one major Realm higher than himself and could only be used once, it was undoubtedly an extremely precious life-saving trump card!

Especially in a situation where a Core Formation Cultivator like Nangong Wan might turn hostile... Time flowed like water, and another month passed.

On this day, Lu Qiu was in the workshop with Xin Ruyin, discussing a subtle adjustment to an energy circuit of the ancient teleportation array.

Xin Ruyin's understanding of Formations was growing deeper by the day, and she often came up with insights that even Lu Qiu found refreshing; the two had a pleasant exchange.

Suddenly, the protective Restriction outside the Immortal Cave felt a slight ripple.

A pale yellow Sound Transmission Talisman passed through the Restriction, flew into the workshop, and hovered in front of Lu Qiu.

Lu Qiu reached out to take it, and upon probing it with his Divine Sense, a familiar but somewhat serious voice came from within:

“Lu Qiu, come to Green Wave Cave immediately.”

It was Revered Master Li Huayuan!

Lu Qiu was slightly stunned.

Li Huayuan usually kept this Disciple of his in a "free-range" state, rarely calling him proactively unless there was important business or a Sect gathering.

Moreover, the tone of this transmission seemed a bit different from usual, less casual and more solemn.

Xin Ruyin also stopped her deductions and looked at Lu Qiu with concern.

“It's Revered Master calling; I'll be right back.” Lu Qiu gave Xin Ruyin a reassuring smile and patted her hand.

He did not delay any longer, tidied his robes, left the Immortal Cave, and steered his flying boat toward the direction of Green Wave Cave on Huayuan Peak.

However, he couldn't help but feel a bit of doubt and contemplation in his heart.

At this time, why would Li Huayuan suddenly look for him?

Could it be a change in the Sect?

Or... was it related to some of his recent movements?