I used folk talismans to ward off the evil spirit.

Chapter 79 Shallow Layers of the Abyss, A Great Calamity of Wind and Fire (Bonus Chapter for 500 Monthly Tickets)

From the day the ghostly realm of Qingjiang descended and Jiang Jun used the "Divine Rooster Catches Five Poisons Talisman" to avert the calamity, there were signs that the fifth page of the "Folklore Notebook" was unlocked.

It further reveals the secrets of advancing to the transcendent realm:

First, one must thoroughly refine a talisman to make it completely compatible with the Dao path.

Jiang Jun has already exceeded expectations in this regard, having refined all four protective artifacts.

Secondly, one must enter the shallow layers of the Abyss of Deception, triggering calamities and thus breaking free from the shackles of the mortal body.

What exactly is in the shallow layers of the Abyss of Deception?

What exactly is the Calamity of the Abyss?

If Jiang Jun were just an ordinary folk practitioner, he probably wouldn't have known unless he experienced it himself.

However, he was a "pioneer" and had formed many positive relationships with the Department of the Supernatural, demonstrating his own value and stance, so this information was not difficult to obtain.

"Although we have the intelligence, we still have to overcome this calamity of the Abyss on our own." With a slight thought, Jiang Jun went to the flower room and took two "Brahma Lotus Seeds" from Jiang Huang's hands.

"Huh?" Jiang Huang looked at him with concern.

Jiang Jun smiled and said, "I'm going on a long trip. You and Jiang Zhi will stay with Cai Liang for the next few days."

Turmeric nodded sensibly, "Ah-be." Ginger juice nodded in agreement. The two little ones did exactly the same thing.

Jiang Jun gathered a wisp of eerie energy, and eerie mist descended, guiding him to the Mirror Realm of Eerie Specters.

It was the same cat cafe on Changning Street. The two apprentices appeared one after the other.

Jiang Jun handed the two little ones to Cai Liang: "I am about to enter the Abyss of Deception to overcome this calamity. I entrust these two little ones, as well as your junior brother, to your care."

Cai Liang nodded solemnly: "Teacher, you can rest assured that I will handle things well. May you overcome all difficulties and have a long and prosperous path."

Zhao Jing hurriedly said, "Teacher, please be careful in everything! May you successfully overcome your tribulation and establish your own sect."

"Then I accept your kind words." Jiang Jun nodded slightly, raised his hand and sent out a stream of light that landed in the Department of Mysteries building.

Soon after, a streak of light flew back and was put into his sleeve.

"Everything is ready, I'm going." He no longer hesitated, and crimson light rose around him, triggering the laws of the real world.

The mirrored realm shattered like glass, revealing a deep void.

Jiang Jun stepped in and walked slowly forward. After an unknown amount of time, he arrived at a place without light.

An indescribable behemoth dwells here.

It seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, with a stone guardian above its head and golden rune chains binding its body, but it did not seem to be suppressing it; rather, it seemed to be blessing it.

Its breathing is very slow, and an ethereal aura emanates from its mouth and nose, creating all sorts of fantastical and bizarre scenes.

This was the second time Jiang Jun had seen it; the last time was when the Ghost Realm was reset.

I was terrified at first glance, but now that it's right in front of me, it's not so scary anymore.

The information provided by the Bureau of Mysteries did not specify what kind of being it was, only that entering the mouth of the giant beast would allow one to descend to the shallow layers of the Abyss of Ghosts.

Jiang Jun steadied himself, no longer hesitating, and transformed into a stream of light, plunging into the gaping maw of the giant beast.

After passing through a chaotic darkness, Jiang Jun felt as if he had been wandering for a long time when suddenly his feet found solid ground beneath him.

Saying "ground" is not accurate, because although he fell headfirst, his feet landed solidly on the "ceiling" the moment he hit the ground.

He looked down—no, looked up—and saw the same gray-white plane above him, with jagged stones hanging upside down like stalagmites.

Upside down, top to bottom, front to back, left to right—everything was completely out of control. He took a step forward, but his body retreated half a foot.

The constant back and forth made him slightly uncomfortable, so he stopped and looked around.

The shallow part of the Abyss has no sky, only boundless eerie mist that presses in from all directions, making it hard to breathe, as if you've been put into a giant coffin.

The ground was grayish-black, covered with cracks from which a viscous black liquid seeped out, emitting a putrid stench.

In the distance, strange remains lay scattered about, some humanoid, some beast-like, and some utterly indescribable.

They were half-buried in the "soil," some still wriggling slightly, as if even in death they could not find peace.

The fog is shrouded in shadows, concealing countless strange creatures.

A group of "slit-mouthed ghosts" crawled through the ruins, their mouths split to their ears, revealing jagged, sharp teeth, and they cried like babies as they crawled.

Several "Shadow Phantoms" lay on the ground like pools of moving ink, moving silently and corroding even the stones in their wake.

Further away, a "hundred-eyed corpse" perched atop the ruins, its body covered in eyeballs, each one rotating and emitting a dim yellow light.

Some "soul threads" floated in the air, like broken spider webs, yet they could penetrate a person's seven orifices and devour their divine thoughts.

They all seemed to sense Jiang Jun's presence and, driven by their killing instincts, surrounded him.

A flash of clear light emanated from Jiang Jun, causing them to lose their target. After circling around aimlessly a few times, they continued their own activities.

Jiang Jun withdrew his gaze, raised his hand and waved, and "Ghostly Sorrow" shot out dozens of purple light needles, sweeping towards the nearest group of ripping-mouthed ghosts.

The light needle silently disappeared into the mist. Several elite-level monsters didn't even have time to scream before they turned into black smoke and vanished. He casually put the fallen monsters into his sleeve.

The true energy transformed into flames, which illuminated the surrounding monsters.

Once there were no more hidden dangers in sight, Jiang Jun found a relatively open flat area, sat down cross-legged, and began to adjust his state.

In his sea of ​​consciousness, the "Pure Lotus" swayed and shone, brushing away the dust on his mind. Gradually, the strange inverted state of the shallow abyss could no longer disturb him.

"You are ready to undergo the tribulation!"

Jiang Jun released his aura, triggering the calamity of the Abyss.

The aura of a Perfected Refinement Realm cultivator surged into the sky, triggering the laws of the Abyss.

In the sky, if that hazy dome can be called the sky, a grayish-white current of air surged forth.

The airflow was silent, carrying a bone-chilling cold. Before it even got close, Jiang Jun felt his divine sense begin to tremble violently, as if there were wind and frost swords trying to cut his divine sense into a thousand pieces.

The Calamity of the Dark Winds has arrived!

The grayish-white airflow surged in like a tide, squeezing, grinding, and tearing from all directions at the same time.

A cold wind rustled past, tearing Jiang Jun's divine sense into countless fragments, which were then glued together by the "Pure Lotus" and the "Five-Colored Stone," only to be torn apart again and glued together once more.

With each tear, his divine sense shrank and solidified a little more.

The intense pain caused the veins on Jiang Jun's forehead to throb slightly, but he remained unmoved, focusing his energy on gentleness and preserving a sliver of clarity in his mind.

Even more terrifying was the ancient language of eating carried on the eerie wind.

It wasn't any known language, yet Jiang Junqing could clearly "understand" it: it was the abyss whispering, mocking, and tempting.

A series of illusions appeared in my mind:

He saw his path to enlightenment fail, and he was abandoned by everyone; he saw turmeric and ginger juice being torn apart by monsters; he saw Cai Liang and Zhao Jing lying in pools of blood; he saw the real world completely slide into the abyss of evil, and the lights of thousands of homes going out one by one.

A chilling wind and illusions struck simultaneously, attacking from both inside and outside.

Jiang Jun focused his mind and activated the "Pure Lotus" visualization. The clear lotus flower slowly rotated in his sea of ​​consciousness, casting a clear light and dispelling all the delusions and illusions.

He recalled his experience purifying the "Demonic Blood Lotus." Wasn't the demonic pulsation of that blood lotus a miniature version of an "inner demon"?

If he hadn't gone through that ordeal, he probably wouldn't be so composed in the face of these insults today.

"Thanks to that Blood Demon," Jiang Jun remarked, "not only did he deliver my head from afar, but he also gave me a precious opportunity to refine my mind."

But the erosion of the yin wind continued, and the pain in his mind intensified with each passing moment.

With a thought, two "Brahma Lotus Seeds" flew out, their crimson-gold radiance shining on his body, weaving into a thin light screen to resist the eerie wind that seemed to come from nowhere.

The cold wind lasted for fifteen minutes before gradually weakening.

As the last wisp of grayish-white air dissipated, Jiang Jun's divine sense had been torn apart and reassembled a thousand times.

Finally, the divine thought transformed into 108 regular tetrahedral crystals, which floated above the Pure Lotus. The crystal surfaces were as smooth as mirrors, reflecting the brilliance of the five-colored stones, and were exquisite and translucent.

Under the radiant light of divine inspiration, the yin wind slowly receded, its origin unknown and its destination unknown.

A glint of light flashed in Jiang Jun's eyes as he carefully sensed the changes in his sea of ​​consciousness.

His divine sense has become real, possessing both form and substance. Unless destroyed by external forces, it will not dissipate on its own even after being separated from the body for a long time, and can exist in the world for a long time.

Thus, the first calamity of the Abyss was over.

Almost at the same time the eerie wind dissipated, the calamity of the eerie fire descended.

A ghostly green flame suddenly ignited and landed on Jiang Jun, but it did not harm his body; instead, it directly entangled with his true energy.

The flames had no heat; instead, they sent chills down one's spine.

Like a maggot clinging to a bone, it anchored itself to Jiang Jun's true energy, igniting it, and soon it began to burn fiercely.

If one is a demon wielder, because the balance between yin energy and demonic energy is difficult to maintain, being burned by demonic fire can easily lead to demonic possession and self-immolation.

But Jiang Jun was different. His true energy was pure and unadulterated, and he followed an upright path, so he was not afraid of the mere Ghostly Flame Body.

However, the strange fire was too fierce, and his true energy was rapidly consumed in the burning. If it were truly burned to ashes, his cultivation would be completely destroyed.

Jiang Jun, however, remained calm and unhurried.

Within his mind, the four protective objects spun endlessly.

The power of the suppressing force was continuously replenished, transforming into pure true energy, which remained undiminished despite the burning of the strange fire.

After all, the only thing limiting the continued growth of Jiang Jun's true energy is the insurmountable barrier of the transcendent realm. If the shackles were truly broken, the power to suppress things would be inexhaustible.

Jiang Jun stopped playing defensively and summoned the "Divine Rooster Catches Five Poisons Talisman" from his mind.

The little rooster, with its head held high and chest puffed out, crowed three times at the eerie fire.

The three crowings of the roosters grew louder and louder, and the eerie fire seemed to have met its nemesis, its flames suddenly shrinking.

The little rooster opened its beak, and a suction force continuously swallowed the eerie green flames into its belly, refining them with true fire. Then, it used the flames to further refine Jiang Jun's true energy.

Finally, with a roar, the true energy in the sea of ​​consciousness condensed from a gaseous state into a liquid state, flowing slowly around the Pure Lotus, and was even lighter and more agile than when it was in a gaseous state.

"According to the novel's setting, this true energy should be considered to have condensed into true essence." Jiang Jun even had the leisure to joke.

The second calamity of the Abyss has naturally passed.

But just as the first two tribulations had passed, an even more terrifying aura descended.

This third tribulation is the tribulation of deception.

An invisible law pressed down from the void, continuously pouring into Jiang Jun's body and his sea of ​​consciousness, constantly assimilating his body, true essence, and divine thoughts, attempting to transform him into a monster.

For those who control monsters, this ordeal typically manifests as the monsters resurrecting and turning against their master. If they can suppress the monsters' sinister nature, they can safely weather the storm.

But for Jiang Jun, who had not yet integrated with or refined the strange creature, it was even more dangerous.

Since he had no strange objects on him, he became an anomaly in the eyes of the laws of the Abyss of Ghosts, and the assimilating power became even more ferocious.

Jiang Jun gritted his teeth, guarded his mind, and activated the "Pure Lotus" and "Five-Colored Stone" to forcefully resist the attack.

But the laws of the Abyss were too strong, so strong that he simply couldn't resist them.

Grayish-white lines began to appear on his skin, as if scales were about to grow; his nails grew long and black, emitting a putrid stench; a bloodthirsty urge surged within him, making him want to tear everything in front of him apart.

"Crimson Dawn!"

A crimson glow emanated from the paper, like the rising sun, transforming into a magnificent blazing sun.

Wherever the crimson light passed, the pollution of the Abyss was dispelled, and the gray-white lines on Jiang Jun's skin stopped spreading.

This radiant and magnificent light, carrying a grand spirit of "daring to change the world," pulled Jiang Jun back from the brink of becoming monstrous.

But it was only for a moment.

The laws of the Abyss were too vast and endless, like the weight of the entire abyss pressing down upon us.

The crimson dawn was compressed, turning from the rising sun into the blazing sun, then from the blazing sun into the setting sun, until finally only a single spark remained, flickering and about to be extinguished.

"Spring and Autumn Annals!" Jiang Jun took out the bamboo slips again and activated them with all his might.

The blue light waves spread out, forming a "virtual world" around Jiang Jun.

That void realm was not large, but it was exceptionally stable, like an independent world that kept the laws of the Abyss at bay.

The blue light waves were like water, clear and pure, carrying the righteous and peaceful spirit of "respecting ghosts and gods but keeping them at a distance," unhurried and unperturbed, yet indestructible.

The simultaneous activation of the two divine artifacts triggered the laws of the real world, causing them to collide violently with the laws of the Abyss.

"Red Dawn" and "Spring and Autumn Annals" complement each other, one a crimson glow and the other a blue cloud, protecting Jiang Jun in the middle.

With the laws of the Abyss of Deception temporarily blocked, Jiang Jun seized the opportunity to desperately stabilize himself. The "Pure Lotus" in his sea of ​​consciousness spun rapidly, and the four protective artifacts glowed together, pulling him back from the brink of becoming monstrous time and time again.

However, the laws of the Abyss are endless, while the power of the two divine artifacts is constantly being depleted.

The light of the "Red Dawn" grew dimmer and dimmer, turning from a spark into a candlelight.

The writing on the paper also became blurry and illegible.

The blue light emanating from the "Spring and Autumn Annals" also contracted rapidly, and the area of ​​the illusory realm became smaller and smaller, like a soap bubble that could burst at any moment.

Fine cracks even appeared on the bamboo slips, which emitted a humming sound as if they were about to collapse under the weight.

Seeing that the two magical objects were about to collapse, Jiang Jun had no choice but to put them away and continue to fight with the power of the suppressing objects.

The laws of the Abyss descended like a landslide and a tsunami.

Grayish-white lines reappeared on Jiang Jun's skin. His nails grew longer and blacker again, and the bloodlust in his mind grew stronger and stronger.

The calamity of transformation is not over yet; in fact, it has only just entered its most dangerous phase.

Just then, the "Folklore Notebook" flew out of his arms and hovered in front of Jiang Jun.

The notebook opened by itself, turning page by page.

On the first page, the colorful illustration of "Gui Bu Xu" emitted a clear light.

On the second page, the colorful painting of "The Strange Sorrow" is permeated with a faint purple aura.

On the third page, the colorful painting of "The Divine Rooster Catches the Five Poisons Talisman" rises with crimson flames.

On the fourth page, the colorful painting of the "Swallowing the Ghost Gourd" spews out golden rays.

The four colors of light converged and enveloped Jiang Jun.

The power of the four protective objects gradually broke down the barriers and spontaneously merged together, becoming one and inseparable.

A magnificent outline is faintly visible in the halo: it resembles the prototype of a talisman, or a dusty palace, radiating a soft glow.

The light was not dazzling, but deep as the sea and heavy as a mountain. It neither rejected nor resisted the laws of the Abyss; it simply existed quietly, yet possessed an unshakeable aura.

The laws of the Abyss churned and roared, yet could not advance even an inch further.

For an ordinary demon tamer, this would mean passing through three tribulations and instantly becoming an extraordinary being.

However, for Jiang Jun, this calamity of the abyss had only just begun.