The incantation was exceptionally short, just like many of the preparations beforehand—it was all to shorten the ti as much as possible, to deal with the worst-case scenario.
"Success depends on preparation; without it, failure is certain."
Yu Ci wasn’t the kind of person who planned everything to perfection, or he wouldn’t have ended up in such a dangerous situation. But he wasn’t lazy either. He had known well in advance that a great battle was coming tonight. He also had a clear grasp of the enemy's origins and strength—there was no way he’d co unprepared.
Below the cliff, the fear of hundreds of people, born from their negative emotions, surged up like crashing waves. It signaled that "Tu Du" had already caught up.
Yu Ci glanced at the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror hanging in mid-air. A halo of light radiated from its smooth surface. The seven drops of blood within that glow were growing faint, now resembling glowing red gems. They mirrored the light emitted from the Scripture Mastery Path Treasure Seal on his shoulder. In fact, their auras were truly linked.
Also connected to these two was the Pure Yang Talisman Sword.
From beneath the cliff, shadows rolled upward. The Yin Spirit projection of "Tu Du" looked like it wore a cloak made of shadows, forming a curtain that expanded outward. Fiery light burst from the eyes of the Yin Spirit projection. He didn’t even look at Yu Ci—his gaze was locked onto the sacred mirror suspended in the air.
Yu Ci noticed his fixation, but in a critical mont like this, that tiny perception was like a wisp of cloud—gone with the wind.
Exhaling the turbid breath that had built up in his chest, he pointed the Pure Yang Talisman Sword forward. In that instant, the previously unanchored, loosely linked talisman sword, seal, mirror—and most importantly, the jade talisman in his hand which served as the core—all shifted dramatically, their spiritual focus falling squarely upon Tu Du’s Yin Spirit projection.
This shift in spiritual focus was like a boulder being tossed down a mountain. The enormous force nearly tore Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit right out of his body.
At this point, Yu Ci had no other choice. He gave it his all.
His Yin Spirit activated every ounce of his soul power. Enveloped by the innate Qi known as “Primordial Unity,” his body’s energy boiled and surged, even the strength from the tips of his hair being drawn out to bolster the Yin Spirit. At the sa ti, the jade talisman in his hand shattered with a "crack". The spiritual light mixed with fresh blood, triggering an instant reaction—it combusted violently, like lighting a fuse on a firecracker, unleashing imnse power that rumbled like thunder.
The shadow cloak that had just ford around Tu Du trembled from the impact. However, this imnse power didn’t strike him directly. Instead, the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror tilted slightly—just enough to face Tu Du. The blood-like glow on its surface flashed intensely, making the entire mirror tremble.
Yu Ci was controlling a power far beyond his own limits.
Back at the Heart Prohibition Temple, during Master Xie Liang’s lesson, Kuang Yanqi had once brought up that talisman techniques weren’t very useful in close-quarters or surprise encounters.
That wasn’t wrong. But on the flip side, when you knew your opponent and had ti to prepare, talismans could be imnsely effective.
That was because talismans could store imnse power—even power beyond the user’s limits—until the perfect mont to release it all at once, catching the enemy off guard and allowing the weak to defeat the strong. The five thunder talisman pearls that Xie Liang spent decades crafting were the most typical and extre example of this.
Yu Ci didn’t have Xie Liang’s cultivation level, but that “Sinister Yin Demon Binding Talisman” he used earlier, infused with nine waves of Qi, had already been an impressive feat.
But more importantly, if the person using the talisman was bold enough and took things a step further…
Tu Du didn’t care what Yu Ci had planned. His superior cultivation ant he didn’t need to go move-for-move. He just attacked directly and took control of the situation.
The shadow cloak rippled like a black tidal wave.
At the sa ti, Tu Du gave the net of shadows a powerful shake. Just that one movent caused untold numbers of trapped cultivators and civilians to suffer heavy injuries—many even died outright. Their soul energy was ripped away, shredded, and used to patch up his crumbling Yin Spirit projection.
He hadn’t lied when he spoke to Kuang Yanqi earlier. Tu Du’s Yin Spirit had been severely damaged in the Sky Rift Valley, and his body was rapidly aging. On top of that, he had forcefully implanted a demonic seed. His body and spirit were on the brink of collapse. The only reason he could still act so powerfully was because of his top-tier combat instincts and experience—he had pushed his Yin Spirit to its absolute limits. In the end, he had to rely on the "Void Heart Demon Spider Shadow Curse" to draw external energy just to stay afloat.
‘A quick win! As long as I seize the sacred mirror and use my life-bound technique to refine it, then return north with it under control… it’ll all be worth it…'
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the massive curtain of shadows had already enveloped Yu Ci and his array of artifacts. It began to fold inward. The shadows stank of blood—that was the “Blood Dissolution Curse” cast into it. Any living body trapped inside would be reduced to a pool of blood within monts, their vital essence sucked dry to nourish the Yin Spirit.
Yu Ci acted as if he hadn’t seen the incoming shadows. Even with his vision completely blocked and his skin burning from the heat and pain, he ignored it all. His entire mind was focused on driving the talisman technique. His heightened spiritual sense told him clearly—so long as he remained steady and made no mistakes, he would make it in ti!
Now that the Pure Yang Talisman Sword had finished marking the target, it was no longer needed. He tossed it aside, brought both hands together over the seal’s handle, and raised it high above his head like a mountain, then brought it down.
A seal symbolized the authority of the divine and represented an unshakable will. Once stamped, it summoned the spirits and commanded the ghosts—its decree could not be altered.
At the top of the cliff, it was as if a massive bell had been struck. A humming shockwave burst forth from the void and swept across the entire summit.
Under the roaring sound, the “weathering marks” left on the cliff face were completely stripped of their disguise.
Tangible spiritual light surged out through them like channels, flowing wildly and sharing the part of the power that Yu Ci could no longer endure. On the surface of the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror, the bloodstains had sohow been washed clean, leaving only several dazzling, gem-like lights still embedded there like radiant star diamonds.
The brilliance of these star diamonds broke through the encroaching shadows and reflected directly into the eyes of the “Tu Du” Yin Spirit. The intense light made it impossible for him to open his eyes.
Tu Du had been waiting for Yu Ci’s body to be annihilated. But when that light hit him, he was montarily stunned.
A Yin Spirit had no physical form. Its five senses—sight, hearing, sll, taste, and touch—relied on a “synesthetic” technique to reverse the flow of perception into tangible sensations. So for sothing to feel blinding to a Yin Spirit, it didn’t need to be physically intense—it simply had to strongly stimulate and threaten its spiritual senses!
He abruptly looked up.
In the vast, endless night sky, a few stars twinkled—seemingly ordinary. But in Tu Du’s perception, beyond the dark canopy of the heavens, the force of the stars was clearly moving—weak, but unmistakable!
The power’s origin was in the heavens, but its point of action was in the mirror!
This was the extra step Yu Ci had taken: instead of rely storing power through talismans in advance, he borrowed power to leverage even greater strength!
“Hidden Star Grand Refinent Technique!”
This talisman belonged to the Thunder Cloud Sealing Script system. It resonated with the imnse power of the stars in the void, locking onto the soul, and used stellar projections to shift and transform life and death—a deadly and domineering technique.
Ever since Yu Ci first encountered Tu Du in Sky Rift Valley, he seed to constantly be dealing with non-physical entities—Yin Spirits, demon souls, and the like. Through these experiences, he had paid special attention to talismans related to soul purification and exorcism. So, when refining his Scripture Mastery Path Treasure Seal’s Talisman Seal and gaining the ability to stack talismans, he naturally prioritized those that best complented the seal’s power—chief among them, the Hidden Star Grand Refinent Technique.
In the Celestial Qi Gathering Secret Talisman Manual, the term “Star Pivot” appeared, hinting that talismans related to celestial stars were all extraordinary. This talisman in particular usually required at least the cultivation level of a Yin Spirit separating from the body to barely use. But Yu Ci cleverly used stored talismanic power as a lever to resonate with the power of the stars. Even though he only projected starlight through the bronze mirror, he successfully activated the technique!
At so point, the dazzling star diamonds on the mirror’s surface shifted positions without a sound. Then the mirror flashed, and a beam of light shot out, piercing through the shadows and landing directly on the target.
“You brat!”
Tu Du let out a short cry. His Yin Spirit violently distorted like a reflection in water struck by a stone, threatening to shatter. And within his warped form, seven points of light floated and sank, glowing like star diamonds.
The mirror had projected the stars, then reflected them again onto Tu Du’s Yin Spirit. Though the celestial power had been weakened by nearly 80% through the two transfers, it still had soul-splitting power.
One burst after another of stellar power erupted, slicing through the spirit like blades, striking directly at the core of the soul’s origin. From Yu Ci’s side, he could even hear the sizzling sounds of Tu Du’s Yin Spirit being sliced and evaporated by the star power.
In just an instant, Tu Du’s Yin Spirit shrank by two full sizes.
The engulfing shadow rapidly faded, then turned into a mist, dispersing into nothing. Yu Ci’s vision cleared, and he once again saw Tu Du’s twisted face. With a grin, the star-like brilliance in the mirror and within the Yin Spirit’s shadow realigned again.
But at that mont, the shadow web ford by the “Void Heart Demon Spider Shadow Curse” stirred once more.
Yu Ci’s hands holding the seal trembled slightly. He could feel that the star power affecting Tu Du’s Yin Spirit was being diverted by the shifting web, channeled and transmitted to the many cultivators and civilians at the far ends of the net.
“This… actually works?”
Yu Ci’s heart tightened.
Tu Du’s hoarse laughter echoed in his ears: “I underestimated you earlier. But under the Void Heart Demon Spider Shadow Curse, my Yin Spirit and those people’s souls are interconnected through the net. Not only can I gather nutrients from them, I can also share the damage… So tell , boy—can your grand refinent technique kill all those hundreds of people down below?”
He was clearly trying to shake Yu Ci’s resolve. It was true that Tu Du had yet to break free of the celestial power’s grip, and his Yin Spirit was still weakening—but his words, ant to unsettle Yu Ci, were rooted in cold, hard truth.
Yu Ci remained silent.
Suddenly, the Pure Yang Talisman Sword that had landed earlier sprang up!
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