Chapter 28 The Way of the Talisman Arrow
Chapter 28 The Way of the Talisman Arrow
It is not uncommon for Taoists to start a family and develop a clan like the Jiang family. The most famous one is the Zhang family of the Tianshi Mansion, where the position of Tianshi is hereditary.
Yunqi was treated as a distinguished guest here and was arranged to stay in a unique courtyard.
It is called Fenghe Cottage.
The cottage is next to a lotus forest.
The clouds can only be called Helin.
He dared to say that the largest lotus pond in the world was not as big as this one, and the lotus leaves in it were as big as paper umbrellas, green as jade, and the endless green of the lotus leaves reaching the sky was truly realized here.
The courtyard is on the edge of a lotus forest, where you can see lotus leaves swaying. If you feel that it blocks your view, just turn your head slightly and you will see a vast lake with frost all over the sky.
The most pleasing thing is that it is June now, the season when lotus flowers are in full bloom. The lotus flowers here are particularly bright red and as big as Buddha platforms, which is in line with the saying that the lotus flowers in the sun are especially red.
The servants who led Yunqi into the courtyard thanked Yunqi profusely, saying that their young master was a very good man, and that Yunqi was naturally a very good man too since he could save him.
He also said that the small building arranged by the owner was the most suitable for a short stay in the current season, and if it were rented out, it would cost a lot of money a day.
Yunqi also thanked him. He was indeed very satisfied with this courtyard. The scenery was beautiful and the spiritual energy was abundant. Besides, he had never lived on water before, so it felt new and novel.
After the servants left, Yunqi put the bag in the room and did not rest. Instead, he went to the wooden corridor outside the courtyard and sat cross-legged, smelling the elegant lotus fragrance and gazing at the vast lake. This was a different view from the previous one on the south bank.
He closed his eyes and let his mind wander. After about a cup of tea, he slowly opened his eyes.
At this time, he took out something from his arms, which was about half a foot long, as black as ink, like an arrow but shorter, with a head but no feathers. It was the talisman arrow he had just taken from the thin Taoist priest.
He had heard of talisman arrows before and had seen them in the mountains, but it was only today that he had encountered someone using them to commit a crime.
For people who practice cultivation, whether fighting with others or protecting themselves, talismans and magic weapons are very common external objects.
The cost and time of refining magic weapons are high, but once they are refined, they are extremely convenient to use.
The cost of drawing a talisman is low, the time consumption is short, and the power cannot be underestimated, but it is a disposable thing. The most criticized thing is that the talisman must be guided by telekinesis and triggered by spells.
However, for some insignificant cultivators, their mental power is shallow and it is difficult for them to detect far away. Some talismans that can only show their power at close range are difficult to take effect, such as the fire-based talisman that attaches to bones and corrodes the body, the metal-based talisman that adds swords and axes to the body, as well as poison talismans and immobilization talismans.
If your telekinesis is not strong enough, one thing you cannot fly far, and the other thing you fly slowly.
If the offensive talisman paper comes lightly towards you, it will just make you a laughing stock.
Another point is a little difficult to talk about, that is sneak attack. Unless you are close to the enemy, even if you have strong telekinesis, it is still a joke to use talismans to sneak attack. After all, who doesn't know what is going on when the spell is read?
Of course, having said that, these two disadvantages only apply to minor practitioners. If a great master of talismans were to fight with others, he would not need to consider these.
Like the Three Mountains of Talismans, Longhu Mountain, Gezhao Mountain and Maoshan, no matter which family or which master, once a thunder talisman is hit into the sky and an imperial decree is recited, thunder will fall from the sky like rain. There is no such thing as insufficient intention or disadvantageous sneak attack.
However, there are still many insignificant practitioners in the world, and all the great masters have practiced their way up step by step from small beginnings.
Therefore, some talented people took shortcuts and came up with a method of putting a shell on the outside. This shell was made using the technique of refining equipment and had restrictions such as hiding the spirit, riding the wind, hiding the trace, and covering the sound.
After refining, put the offensive talisman in it. In addition, you also have to put in a conch that can hide the magic essence.
At that time, a simple trigger restriction will be left on the outer shell. If it hits something, the conch will be triggered, and the conch will emit a pre-recorded spell, which will then activate the talisman.
In order to facilitate throwing, the shell is made into the shape of an arrow, which becomes a talisman arrow.
What's more, not only do they put a talisman inside the arrow shaft, but they also use the five elements to match, Kan and Li to intersect, wind and thunder to combine, one ring after another, to play a variety of tricks - anyway, they are far away, even if they play until their spirit is annihilated and the void shakes, they can't hurt themselves. In view of this, the way to use talisman arrows has developed from throwing to drawing bows and crossbows, and the range is getting longer and longer. It can be said that everything is used to the extreme. Some people say that the talisman arrow has reached its limit, that is, a self-destructive flying sword that does not need to be guided by telekinesis.
The thin Taoist before pretended to flee, and during the conversation he attracted the young hero's attention. He held the talisman arrow in his hand. I don't know if the thin Taoist didn't have it or if he wanted to avoid being discovered, he didn't use the crossbow, but prepared to throw it out to attack the young hero, but was then broken by the cloud.
Yunqi intends to study the talisman arrow carefully.
First of all, Yunqi thought that there was nothing wrong with his talent. Magic, talismans, and spells have always been connected, but one is based on magic power, one is based on patterns, and one is based on syllables. In essence, they are all about summoning and controlling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
He is very good at these.
Alchemy and refining are also common avenues, but both are too wasteful and time-consuming. It would take years to refine a furnace of good elixirs or a piece of precious weapon. Yun Qi felt that he did not have so much time at the moment as there were too many things he needed to learn.
When he first started practicing, he thought it would be better to practice more and ponder more on the great way that directly points to the origin of the Five Elements and Yin and Yang, at least that was the case in the first two realms. He heard that it would be difficult to break the mirror in the third and fourth realms but one would have more than enough lifespan to do so. It would not be too late to ponder the ways of elixirs and instruments then, and one would be able to draw inferences from one instance to another.
If you don't live that long, there's no need to think too much about it.
This is the view of clouds.
Looking at the present situation, talismans are simple to draw, save materials and time, and can better perceive the essence of the law, communicate with spiritual energy, and correct spells. As for the lack of power, it is most appropriate to win by quantity and stimulate with talisman arrows.
The refining of the arrow shells for the talisman arrows is not difficult, and this step does not even require a cauldron.
All you have to do is hammer the gold and iron into skin, roll it into a quiver, grind it into an arrowhead, and then forge it into one piece with flame.
If you really don't mind the trouble, you can make a mold, hollow it out into the shape of an arrow shell, and directly pour gold and molten iron on it. After it is formed, you can hollow out the arrow shaft. This will also work.
Of course, no matter how simple it is, you can't just use some scrap metal from the mortal world to make this arrow shaft. It has to be spiritual, at least so that the restrictions placed on it can take effect, right?
The slightly troublesome thing is this - the restriction on the arrow shaft.
Although talismans, prohibitions and formations are of the same origin, the difference lies in where they are put to paper: talismans are on paper, prohibitions are on instruments and formations are between heaven and earth.
When writing on the tool, one does not use a brush but a knife. The force and the Dharma intent injected into it are also different. Moreover, the arrow shaft is hollow, so it is even more difficult to write on a layer of iron sheet with a knife.
As for the prohibitions themselves, there are only a few types, and their true meanings are no different from those of talismans.
The really tricky part is the conch shell that can record the mantra and retain the Dharma essence contained in the mantra. It is different from the one that Yunqi gave to Lu Chi.
The conch shell cannot be too big, if it is too big it will be used for siege crossbows.
There is a kind of conch called "small curled ear snail" that is very suitable.
This thing is hard to find, indeed. It only grows in the deepest parts of water veins with rich moisture, so deep that you can't see the sunlight and it's pitch black.
In such a deep place, fishing alone is very troublesome. After catching it, the meat must be removed and the shell must be kept, and then it must be refined using secret methods.
But how rare is it? As far as Yunqi knows, three of the five Great Lakes are the source of its production, and Poyang Lake happens to be one of them.
It is said that there is more than one company doing this business on the lake, and there are dirty dealings between them. I don't know if the Jiang family is involved.
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(End of this chapter)