A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 1-Chapter 200)

But it turned out that Han Li didn’t even have to ask. Shopkeeper Tian had already opened the last brocade box and pushed it in front of Han Li, as he said with a smile, “The item inside this box is this store’s most precious treasure. However, whether you like it not will depend on if Brother has good taste!”


Hearing this, Han Li’s curiosity increased. He looked inside the box, and immediately he was stunned. Inside the brocade box, there was a single, lone talisman inscribed with the image of a golden brick. The image shimmered with a golden light and looked realistic.

After taking a good look at the item, Han Li’s thoughts couldn’t stop spinning. He immediately thought of his talisman, the one with a small gray sword drawn on it. Could it be the same thing?

“Treasure talisman?” Han Li took a deep breath and asked in an uncertain tone.

The shopkeeper showed an expression of astonishment. He exclaimed in surprise,

“I did not expect that Brother Li would actually recognize this item! Usually, very few cultivators know about this treasure. Brother is truly knowledgeable, I am impressed!”

After Han Li listened to what he said, he laughed bitterly and shook his head. With a sigh, he replied, “You look too highly upon this man surnamed Li. I merely heard about the treasure talisman; I actually don’t know much about it. Since Shopkeeper Tian was able to take this item out, you must know a bit about this treasure talisman. I hope you will teach me about it!”

Han Li’s remarks were all spoken from the bottom of his heart. He wanted to take the opportunity gain a thorough understanding of the treasure talisman and avoid being confused about it further down the road.

Shopkeeper Tian was surprised as he looked at Han Li. He felt like this wasn’t something that needed to be kept as a secret, it’s just that not a lot of people knew about it. Even so, it wasn’t worth the effort to offend the big customer in front of him, so he agreed very easily and explained everything he knew about the “treasure talisman”.

The “treasure talisman” was an item with great background, a special item that could only be made by cultivators above Core Formation.

The high-level cultivators who refined magic treasures would insert some of the magic treasure’s power into special talisman paper so that other cultivators could temporarily use the power of the magic treasure from this special talisman. It had the characteristics of both a talisman and a magic treasure. Cultivators who were aware of their existence jokingly called them “fake magic treasures”, but even so, they still deeply coveted them.

This type of “fake magic treasure” was very special. Even though it must be made by cultivators above Core Formation, any cultivator could use it, regardless of skill level. Even Monk Golden Light, the cultivator whom Han Li had killed, could use it well despite having cultivated only three or four layers.

However, cultivators below Foundation Establishment couldn’t use condensation techniques, so they could only use ten to twenty percent of the treasure talisman’s power. Compared to top magic tools, this didn’t seem to be much higher.

After Foundation Establishment, however, cultivators would be able to use Mind Condensation Arts and make full use of the treasure talisman’s might. Even though its power didn’t resemble the earth-shattering, sea-roaring, mountain-shattering might of a true magic treasure, it was enough to disdain any other magic tool. Hence, cultivators after Foundation Establishment all wished to have a “treasure talisman”. This would give them an advantage in battles and let them disregard other cultivators.

Even though a “treasure talisman’s” powers were astonishing, it would keep on consuming the magic treasure’s power that was held within. If the powers were exhausted, then the treasure talisman would be completely useless. Therefore, the question of the treasure talisman’s usage was something that could not be taken lightly.

Furthermore, the creation of the “treasure talisman” was not a simple matter.

Because magic treasures were objects that could inherently be refined only by Core Formation cultivators, they were incredibly rare. They also needed to be refined day and night within a cultivator’s true essence to increase its power and could not lightly be shown to others. As a result, the same could be said as to which magic treasure the ‘‘treasure talisman” was created from.

Creating a “treasure talisman” was equivalent to harming the magic treasure since it siphoned off a portion of its power, and the owner of the magic treasure must refine the magic treasure for a long time to recover its might. Such actions were typically self-harming. Therefore, under normal circumstances, no cultivator who was above Core Formation would do such foolish actions.

But as the old saying went, the affairs of the world were in constant flux. The seemingly foolish action of refining a “treasure talisman” would be done continuously by most of the high-level cultivators when their times were almost up. It was for the sake of the younger generations and juniors, a small fortune in power and assistance.

As for the magic treasures left behind by predecessors, after a long amount of time of being refined and inherited by successors, the magic treasure would no longer be completely compatible with the new owner’s mind. In addition, half of the magic treasure’s original power would be lost, so it required the user to also achieve Core Formation or else the magic treasure would only be wasted and rendered unusable. Therefore, compared to keeping the magic treasures, refining “treasure talismans” for the younger generation was more suitable.

But there were a lot of limitations to refining a “treasure talisman”.

Firstly, each “treasure talisman” could seal the power of a magic treasure, but only one tenth of of the magic treasure’s power, and it could only reduce, not increase. Hence, even if multiple “treasure talismans” sealed the same magic treasure, their strengths were uneven and could vary.

Secondly, not only would refining treasure talismans reduce the power of the magic treasure, it would make the owner lose a lot of strength, so continuous refinement of “treasure talismans” was an impossible scenario. Every time a treasure talisman was refined, the magic treasure owner would have to recover for three to five years to regain his strength. And this was in the case that one would not waste true essence and would no longer intend to refine magic treasures ever again, or else the time would be even longer.

Hence, in the cultivating world, there often appeared scenario like these.

When high-level cultivators approach the end of their life, they would prepare to die while sitting proudly and without regrets. They would leave their most valuable items, usually a piece of magic treasure that had its power decreased greatly and several “treasure talisman” that sealed the same power. This must be said to be a helpless matter!





Chapter 165: Night Encounter


After hearing Shopkeeper Tian’s explanation, Han Li had a better understanding about the treasure talisman. He couldn’t help but look at the treasure talisman inside the brocade box once more.

“This store bought the Golden Light Brick treasure talisman from a small family for a substantial price. It’s a brand new treasure talisman, more than enough to exchange for Brother Li’s thousand year-old spiritual herb!” Shopkeeper Tian promptly said in a tone that suggested he was in an unfavorable position.

Han Li sneered to himself. He did not believe the act the other party was putting on. At most, they were just fulfilling each other’s needs. In Shopkeeper Tian’s eyes, Han Li’s spiritual herb was certainly higher in value than this piece of treasure talisman.