Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

Xia Dong looked at the warm and smooth talisman ink on her fingertip, and without hesitation, took some water and gently dissolved it in the inkstone.

After the blood ink dissolved, the strange fragrance that struck the soul became even clearer. It not only had no fishy smell, but also exuded a strange spirituality.

He spread out a brand new blank spiritual paper, concentrated his mind, and picked up the talisman brush, dipping it in blood ink.

The brush begins to move, then wanders, outlines, and finally rests!

All in one go.

With the last bit of magic power poured in, the spirit paper erupted with a much stronger blue spiritual light than when it was drawn with the blood of demonic beasts.

The surrounding spiritual energy surged in wildly, even creating a small whirlwind around the table.

"Such a strong fluctuation of spiritual energy."

Xia Dong held the newly drawn "blood talisman" between her fingertips, walked out of the main room, and came to the courtyard.

With a thought, he activated his magic to unleash the specially made wind-controlling talisman.

call!

A powerful gust of wind instantly enveloped him.

He used the Crane Shadow Step and Wind Control Technique in mid-air, carefully experiencing the blessing brought by the talisman.

It wasn't until much later that the wind gradually subsided, and Xia Dong landed gracefully, a hint of shock flashing in her eyes.

"The wind is stronger, the burst speed is faster, and the duration is longer... All things considered, the effect of this talisman is a full 30% greater than that of a wind-controlling talisman drawn with the blood of ordinary demonic beasts!"

The significance of this is self-evident when cultivators are fighting and trying to escape.

And this was merely a talisman ink made from the blood of a martial artist at the peak of the Bone Forging Realm. This shows that his blood, forged through countless trials and tribulations and imbued with the essence of mercury, far surpasses the efficacy of the most common and cheapest low-level demonic beast blood in the market when it comes to making talismans.

Xia Dong couldn't help but feel a little horrified.

If a martial artist's blood can be made into high-quality talisman ink, then can't a martial artist's toughened, invulnerable skin, after special processing, be made into excellent spiritual paper? Can't a martial artist's resilient bones be made into top-grade talisman brushes and magical artifacts?

Xia Dong suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

Perhaps the other side of this world is a bottomless slaughterhouse.

But only a moment later, Xia Dong felt relieved.

"It's really not a big deal."

He recalled the society of his previous life. Although that world had no demons or monsters, no immortal cultivators who could fly or escape into the heavens, wasn't its ultimate essence still the same: "cannibalism"?

Those "oxen and horses" struggling at the bottom, exhausting their energy and turning their hair white, even after they die, their remaining value will be "refined" clean by ubiquitous algorithms and big data, becoming a set of cold data on a huge profit machine.

Two worlds, not much different.

Fear arises from not being able to see through things; once you see through them, you must strive to become stronger—that's all.

Xia Dong turned around and went back into the house. She carefully collected the remaining blood ink on the table and put it into her storage bag along with the "blood talisman" she had drawn on the spot.

This thing must never be sold.

Xia Dong cleared his mind of distractions and turned his gaze to the other side of the table.

There were piles of normal wind-controlling talismans that he had drawn using the blood of legitimate demonic beasts. He arranged these talismans neatly and carefully wrapped them in coarse cloth.

More than a hundred low-level talismans are quite a windfall.

"It's time to go see Sister Wan'er."

Xia Dong had a plan in mind.

He couldn't personally go to the market to sell off these talismans in large quantities right now, lest he arouse envy and suspicion. Qin Wan, being from the Qixia Immortal Sect and having the cover of being an inner disciple, would undoubtedly be the safest way to slowly exchange these talismans for spirit stones and other cultivation resources through her channels.

...

...

Qixia Immortal Sect, Lonely Moon Peak.

Amidst the churning clouds, Qin Wan sat alone in the quiet room, gazing at the secret jade talisman on the table that shimmered with a faint light. Her beautiful face was filled with deep weariness and worry.

Before his master, Master Guyue, went into seclusion, he unexpectedly entrusted her, the youngest disciple with the most recent entry and the lowest cultivation level, with the key to managing the "power" and daily resource allocation within the sect.

At first, Qin Wan was flattered, but she soon understood her master's intention.

Most of the older senior brothers and sisters under Master Guyue were stuck at the bottleneck of the late stage of Qi Refining, and had not made any progress for many years.

Given the current environment, their desire for Foundation Establishment Pills and high-level cultivation resources is almost insane.

If we entrust them with the authority, they might take the opportunity to line their own pockets while the master is in seclusion, or even turn against each other for those pitiful resources.

Qin Wan, however, was different. She had just broken through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, and even if she dared to "steal" resources, she wouldn't be able to digest much with her current cultivation level.

More importantly, the presence of those eager senior brothers and sisters watching closely created an extremely delicate balance of power.

Qin Wan felt like she was sitting on pins and needles, and dared not overstep the bounds in the slightest.

Using the small to control the large is a brilliant move to maintain balance.

However, Qin Wan never imagined that her current situation would be so difficult.

The Qin family has been targeted by the Wusheng Sect.

In recent years, severe droughts and epidemics have allowed the Wusheng Sect to expand rapidly and secretly in Linyuan Prefecture.

Although the Qin family was a large and powerful family in the mortal world, they were utterly insignificant in the face of a sect with such evil and demonic methods.

The Wusheng Sect has secretly set several traps for the Qin family, using the silk and medicinal herb business to firmly grasp the Qin family's lifeline.

The implication from the other party was clear—that Qin Wan should use her authority to sell cultivation materials from Master Guyue's secret vault to the Wusheng Sect.

Qin Wan isn't stupid.

If there wasn't an inside agent from the Wusheng Sect among her fellow disciples, how could the other side possibly know that she, an insignificant little disciple, actually possessed the key to her master's secret vault?

This is clearly a case where one of her good senior brothers and sisters is colluding with the Wusheng Sect, trying to use someone else to kill her and force her to submit.

After all, Qin Wan hadn't even mentioned this job to her family.

This is a huge problem.

Once she succumbs to the pressure and boards the Wusheng Sect's pirate ship, she will be doomed forever.

But what if I don't comply?

With her current meager cultivation level of only the fourth level of Qi Refining and her lack of connections, it would be virtually impossible for her to escape this relentless pressure.

Moreover, it was quite obvious that her senior brothers and sisters had already been ostracizing her, both openly and secretly, within the sect.

Qin Wan couldn't tell who the mole was who used the Wusheng Sect to plot against the Qin family.

Perhaps, all of them?

Faced with the allure of achieving immortality, the cruelty of the cultivation world far exceeds the imagination of ordinary people.

Some cultivators, in their quest for even the slightest chance to attain enlightenment, have even proclaimed, "Anyone who obstructs my path will be killed—Buddha, ancestor, or even parents."

For them, scheming against a mortal family and a junior sister in order to obtain resources for Foundation Establishment is a matter of no psychological burden whatsoever.