“So during this time, you must not let your cultivation stop improving. Every bit of progress could save your life.”
“Regarding that third method.”
“We must kill this Blade Ghost, but don’t be hasty. Give me at most half a year to awaken again, and then we can discuss how to eliminate it.”
Upon reading this, Xu Taiping silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the solutions mentioned in Fairy Lingyue’s letter either required a large amount of merit points, a higher level of cultivation, or waiting for half a year, there were still ways to resolve the issue.
However, the last part of the letter made his heart tighten again—
“Even so, there’s no way to fix another flaw of the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman.”
“That is, every full moon, the seal of the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman will loosen, and the Blade Ghost is very likely to drag you into the blade realm again.”
Amidst his anxiety, Xu Taiping pulled out the next piece of the letter—
“For this, there really isn’t a good solution, you’ll have to withstand it on your own.”
“Remember one thing, although the Blade Ghost can pull you into the blade realm, it dares not kill you there, because the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman has bound you together; your pain is its pain, your death is its death.”
“Moreover, once dawn breaks, the seal will stabilize again.”
“So, what you need to do is to endure until dawn in the Blade Ghost’s realm on every full moon night, no matter how painful it is, you will always be able to get through!”
“Taiping, the next half year might be tough for you. If there were any other way, I would never have used the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman.”
“But please believe in me, just hold on for another half year, at most, and I will make that Blade Ghost regret being born into this world.”
Seeing the last line of the letter, Xu Taiping’s lips slightly curled up.
“Fairy Lingyue, no need to apologize. If it weren’t for you, I would have probably become a puppet of that Blade Ghost. Just take your time to recover within the Earth Fruit.”
As he folded the letter, he shook his head and said.
Now that he knew the countermeasures, the panic on his face completely faded.
The countermeasures given by Fairy Lingyue were essentially two points: one was to buy herbs to make medicinal soups and refine elixirs, and the other was to persist in cultivating to improve his cultivation level.
To achieve the first point, he needed to earn more merit points.
For the second point, he needed to spend more time on cultivation.
Both of these were things he was already planning to do, so there were no difficulties to speak of.
As for the loosening of the seal and being dragged into the blade realm and tortured by the Blade Ghost.
He could only say that he would meet the challenge head-on.
“The fifteenth of this month has passed, which means I have almost a month to prepare for the loosening of the seal.”
After folding the letter, he looked out at the crescent moon and muttered.
“The merit points I have left, along with the merit points earned from selling herbs in the medicinal garden, should be enough to buy the ingredients for the Eight Treasures Powder and Qi Preserving Pill. But before that, I need to get a magical treasure level pill furnace; I can’t just take the elixir recipe and ask someone else to refine it, can I?”
Thinking this, he took out a bronze mirror to see if there were any high-reward tasks recently in the Merit Hall, hoping to earn as many merit points as possible within this month.
As he browsed, his gaze was suddenly caught by a task marked as “Earth-level Reward.”
The task attracted him for two reasons: one was the reward of 130,000 merit points, and the other was that it specifically stated the need for a master-level martial artist.
“My qualifications just meet the requirements, and 130,000 merit points are just enough to buy a magical treasure level pill furnace.”
Xu Taiping felt that this reward task was quite suitable for him, so he clicked to read the details—
“On the ninth day of the sixth month, the barrier of the Dongting Blessed Land will open, revealing many ancient immortal mansion ruins for a limited time, a grand event that occurs once every sixty years in the Nine Mansions cultivation world. Several spiritual herbs in the Jade Dew Garden within the Yunmeng Marsh are urgently needed for our peak’s elixir refinement, hence the invitation to fellow cultivators to retrieve them.”
“However, the restrictions in Yunmeng Marsh are greater for higher-level cultivators, and the marsh is filled with creatures like the Evil Dragon, so our peak wishes to invite a master-level martial artist to accompany us.”
Reading this, Xu Taiping frowned slightly, thinking:
“Is this reward issued by the Sixth Peak?”
With that thought, his gaze fell to the bottom of the details.
Sure enough, the task was issued by the head of the Sixth Peak.
“The Sixth Peak has a good relationship with the Seventh Peak. If there’s nothing better, this one seems good enough. I’ve read about Yunmeng Marsh in many books before; it’s also a good opportunity to broaden my horizons.”
He made up his mind.
“Sss…”
Just then, a chill struck his heart again.
In just the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the potency of the half-jar of Dragon Gall Wine he had consumed was completely absorbed by the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman.
“Before taking on this task, I should first stabilize the blood energy in my body. I’ll go purchase the herbs tomorrow.”
Shivering from the cold, Xu Taiping took down the gourd containing the Dragon Gall Stone and poured a mouthful directly into his mouth.
The undiluted Dragon Gall Wine immediately dispelled the chill in his body.
However, what followed was the overwhelming potency of the Dragon Gall Wine, causing Xu Taiping’s head to spin.
But soon, Xu Taiping realized that most of the potency of the Dragon Gall Wine was devoured by the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman, leaving him with very little.
“No wonder Fairy Lingyue left me the Eight Treasures Powder and Qi Preserving Pill. With the consumption rate of the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman, no matter how much Dragon Gall Wine I drink, it will be used up. How can I rely on the Dragon Gall Wine for cultivation?”
After realizing this, Xu Taiping’s sense of urgency grew even more.
As someone with Mortal Bones, without the aid of Dragon Gall Wine, the speed of his cultivation improvement would inevitably stall. If his cultivation stalled, the backlash from the Triad Ghost-Sealing Talisman would become even more intense.
It was a vicious cycle.