Talisman Emperor

Chen Xi knew his cultivation extremely well. Even though both his body refinement and qi refinement cultivations had already attained the advanced-stage of the Golden Core Realm, it was utterly impossible for him to advance a step further before the Allstar Meeting began.

The facts were indeed so.

When he entered Firecrow Town, his body refinement and qi refinement cultivations were only at the initial-stage of the Golden Core Realm, and up until now, only less than half a year had passed, yet both paths of his cultivation were able to successively advance two stages each in a short period of time. This sort of advancing at a tremendous pace was already sufficiently shocking, and it would absolutely shock everyone's jaws off if spread in the outside world.

All of this was attributed to the continuous battles he'd experienced during this period of time. Battle was the best master, and these numerous difficult life and death battles caused Chen Xi's strength to attain its current state. There was no luck in all of this, as this was an achievement that could only be attained from thoroughly tempering one's self.

But it wasn't such an easy thing to advance his cultivation from the advanced-stage of the Golden Core Realm to the perfection-stage of the Golden Core Realm, because when one's cultivation attained such a state, it didn't only rely on diligent cultivation, it also relied on accumulation, comprehension, and the tempering of one's mind.

Of course, with Chen Xi's current state, it was entirely not a problem to advance to the perfection-stage of the Golden Core Realm, but for the sake of more steadily advancing into the Rebirth Realm in the future, he chose resolutely to stay temporarily at his current stage of cultivation, and he intended to properly consolidate his strength once more.

It was common knowledge that once a cultivator advanced to the Violet Palace Realm, it was equivalent to establishing the Dao Foundation, and the more solid one's Dao Foundation was, the greater certainty one would have in advancing to the Golden Core Realm in the future.

On the other hand, once a cultivator advanced to the Golden Core Realm, it was equivalent to possessing the root of the heavens and the earth in one's body, and once one took root in the heavens and the earth, one wasn't a duckweed that swayed indeterminately on the path of the Dao.

At this time, the more solid one consolidated one's foundation to, the greater the accomplishments one would be able to attain in the future.

For example, the emaciated old man that fought Chen Xi earlier had only comprehended four Minor Daos, yet had already advanced to the Rebirth Realm, and the foundation he laid during the time he was at the Golden Core Realm was surely extremely weak, so it was naturally impossible for him to be a match for Chen Xi.

This was the difference of foundation and resources.

Practically all cultivators understood this principle, yet very few were able to bitterly endure without advancing while working hard to consolidate their foundation. The reason was extremely simple. On one hand, their natural talents were too mediocre, and on the other hand, their lifespans weren't enough. If they didn't think of a way to quickly advance in their cultivation, then they would have transformed into a pile of bones and perished long ago.

The was the helplessness of most cultivators. On one hand, they knew clearly in their hearts that if they wanted to go far in their paths of cultivation, then they had to lay their foundations properly; but on the other hand, because of the problem of their short lifespans, they had no choice but to find some shortcuts and disregard the solidness of their foundations before hastily advancing. In this way, their lifespans would be extended for another few hundred years.

There were extremely few cultivators that were capable of balancing both at the same time, and only the genius figures from renowned and large sects possessed such ability. They were young and possessed extraordinary natural talent, outstanding comprehension ability, the attentive guidance of their sects and seniors, and an enormous amount of resources to support them, so it was impossible for their foundation to not be solid.

Even though Chen Xi was from an impoverished family in a remote little city, he didn't lack natural talent and comprehension ability, and he had a great deal of resources that could be utilized for cultivating, so he naturally wouldn't make the mistake of advancing hastily and swiftly at the cost of his future achievements.

It was precisely because of this that Chen Xi had moved to other aspects in order to increase his strength. For example, what he intended to do now, he intended to bring out the strength he possessed by a step further via increasing the quality of the Talisman Armament.

Swish!

A large pile of rare and valuable materials were withdrawn from the Buddha's Pagoda by Chen Xi, there was the blood of a primordial variant beasts, Silvereye Vermillion Python, the claws of a Violetheart Crane, a 5,000 year old Jadeveined Fireheart Wood, Multicolored Essence Fluid from an Icy Baleful Pit, and another 20 plus types of various materials.

These materials were obtained by Chen Xi from the Gloom Forest, Evilstone, Icedemon Den, and the other dangerous places on his way here. All of them were priceless materials that could absolutely not be bought with just money if placed in the markets of the outside world.

It was even to the extent that the value of every single material was sufficient to be exchanged for a top-grade earth-rank Magic Treasure.

Yet now, Chen Xi had decided to melt these 20 plus materials and use them to improve the quality of the Talisman Armament. If other cultivators were to find out about this, they would surely pour a torrent of abuse at him.

The reason was extremely simple, as soon as the quality of the Talisman Armament was increased, its might would merely be equivalent to a heaven-rank Magic Treasure, whereas, the value of these materials was sufficient to purchase numerous heaven-rank Magic Treasures.

But Chen Xi didn't care. Other Magic Treasures practically had no space to grow. Moreover, he was unable to utilize a heaven-rank Magic Treasure with his current cultivation.

On the other hand, the Talisman Armament was different. Not only did it possess an infinite amount of space to grow, its quality wasn't restrained by the cultivation of a cultivator in the slightest. After its quality increased, it would be equivalent to a heaven-rank Magic Treasure, yet it could be utilized by him. Merely this was sufficient to allow it to crush all other Magic Treasures, and this was also the main reason why Chen Xi was willing to pay such a price.

Actually, there was an even faster and more convenient method to increase the quality of the Talisman Armament. It was to use the Azure Divine Wood, Sunforce Metal, Flaming Divine Crystal, Unity Darkwater, and Chaotic Lifesoil to refine the Talisman Armament, and its effect would be countless times greater than these materials.

But Chen Xi didn't intend to do so. According to what Ji Yu had said, these five divine treasures were developed from the source of the five elements of nature, and they were capable of developing invaluable essence of the five elements. Moreover, if these five divine treasures were utilized when the Talisman Armament advanced into the ranks of an Immortal Artifact, it would be able to develop a large world within the Talisman Armament, and the Artifact Spirit born from this would be extremely formidable, causing it to be able to be ranked in the top ranks amongst Immortal Artifacts.

Merely increasing the quality of the Talisman Armament required it to be refined with these divine treasures, and it was obviously a reckless waste of god's given gifts that another person would probably not do.

Bang!

The Talisman Armament lay across the air as a crimson red furnace abruptly flew out from its surface. The furnace was coiled with flames that surged with talisman markings, and it carried a monstrous aura that seemed capable of melting everything in the world.

This furnace was called Voidblaze Furnace. Its entire body was formed from a few thousand fire element talisman markings, and it came from within the Crimsonfire Divine Talisman. It wasn't a real furnace, yet its effects were even better than a real furnace, it was used specially for the sake of melting materials to improve the Talisman Armament.

Chen Xi had once carefully studied the five Divine Talismans within the Talisman Armament, and he noticed that every single Divine Talisman was like an inexhaustible treasure vault and possessed numerous uses. For example, they could be utilized to craft a variety of treasured talismans, condense the Voidblaze Furnace before him, and so on and so forth. They could be said to possess infinite profound uses that covered a great deal of things.

The furnace soared into the sky while coiled with the glow of flames, and the talisman markings were like rays that were suffused with brilliance.

Chen Xi flicked his finger to draw the Whitespark Spirit Flame before him and pour it into the Voidblaze Furnace, causing the entire furnace to drone abruptly without end, and then numerous talisman markings emitted glows that shot into the sky and the entire furnace seemed to intend to flutter lightly in the air.

Chen Xi didn't dare dally, and he grabbed up the numerous materials on the ground before tossing them into the furnace in succession.

Hiss! Hiss!

At the instant the materials entered the furnace, they were wrapped up by boundless flames and slowly melted at a speed that was visible to the eye before transforming into drops of liquid essence that surged ceaselessly within the furnace.

After he finished doing all this, all Chen Xi's fingers flicked about swiftly like shadows as numerous profound seals flew out like layer upon layer of tidal waves.

Rumble!

A wave of rumbling that was like thunder resounded out from within the Voidblaze Furnace, and a piercingly cold and overbearing flame fluttered in the air as it emitted crackling sounds.

This was the process of fusing the materials, and the strength of the flames, duration of heating, and the excellence of the equipment refinement technique would affect the quality of the materials. Chen Xi's fingers didn't dally in the slightest as they changed and fluttered about with unparalleled speed, and thousands of seals surged into the furnace in unison.

Waves of fire surged and the sound of thunder rumbled as the drops of essence the various materials had melted into started to fuse with each other, and the sharp and ear piercing sounds emitted from this could absolutely not be said to be pleasing.

Chen Xi turned a deaf ear to all this, his eyes stared without blinking as he put his heart and soul into observing the changes within the furnace, and he didn't dare relax in the slightest.

He knew that even if the slightest mistake were to appear, then all of the materials would be completely destroyed, and in this way, he wouldn't know when he would be able to increase the quality of the Talisman Armament again.

This process continued for a few days.

On this day, a batch of cultivators with grim expressions arrive at the hall of Fort Desolate. They were the merchant group of the Thunder City's Treasure Heaven Pavilion, and they'd come to Fort Desolate this time for the sake of purchasing various materials.

At this moment, the cultivators that made a living nearby Fort Desolate had formed an extremely long line as they intended to sell off all the materials they'd obtained in these past few days.

The person in the lead of this merchant group from the Thunder City's Treasure Heaven Pavilion was a handsome and dignified middle aged man in embroidered clothes, and his name was Yan Cheng. His cultivation was at the advanced-stage of the Golden Core Realm, and his strength couldn't be considered to be high. But, he had another identity, he was Grand Appraiser. Coupled with him being sociable and skilled in the art of trade, he naturally became the leader of this group of 60 people.

At this moment, Yan Cheng was sitting upright at the side as he observed the progress of the trades. With his identity as a Grand Appraiser, he didn't have to personally attend to everything, and he would only personally come forward when they encountered a rare treasure.

At his side stood a young woman with an icy cold and peerlessly beautiful appearance, a tall and well-proportioned figure, and skin that was whiter than snow, and she was like a snow lotus that had bloomed at the peak of an icy mountain, chilly, lonely, proud, and inviolable. This was his daughter, Yan Yan, yet her cultivation was even higher than him, and she'd followed him from Thunder City due to being worried about his safety.

"There's no need for you to say any more, our merchant group doesn't bring outsiders along."

"I can pay a certain amount of fees. Moreover, you don't have to worry. We'll absolutely not cause trouble along the way, let alone disturb the order of this merchant group."

"I've already told you, no!"

Yan Cheng raised his head when he heard the sound of dispute, then he looked at his daughter before looking at the young woman by his daughter's side that possessed wine red hair that was coiled up, and he couldn't help but shake his head and stop them. "Nevermind. There's a distance of 500,000km from here to Thunder City, and it's dangerous all along the way. We'll just bring her along with us."

Yan Yan frowned. "Father, what if she…"

Yan Cheng waved his hand to interrupt her. "Just do as I said."

Yan Yan's frown grew tighter as she went silent for a long time before raising her hand to look straight at the young woman before her, and then she warned with an icy cold voice. "You better not have any other intentions, otherwise, I might kill you at any moment!"