Although Jiang Li was handsome and multi-talented, proficient in talisman arts, martial arts, and divination, he was quite good at hiding his abilities. Even when accepting pursuit missions, he typically picked the easier targets. As a result, the number of people who knew his true strength could be counted on one hand.
Take divination, for example. Besides Jiang Li himself, no one knew the extent of his skill. Otherwise, Zhou Mingyun wouldn't have thought of ambushing Jiang Li, nor persisted after failing six times.
So, the question arises: what reason would anyone have to harbor killing intent towards a young man who, aside from being handsome, seemed unremarkable in other aspects, and act upon it so eagerly? It couldn't really be just for fifteen hundred merit points, could it?
Excluding the possibility that the person was simply deranged, the only remaining factor was his background.
'Political enemies of the Jiang family? Vendettas? Could it be... a fiancée?'
A disgraced noble scion, scorned by his fiancée who intends to use murder to break the engagement?
If only it were something like that—classic protagonist treatment. Unfortunately, Jiang Li didn't have a fiancée.
'Based on the current situation, the probability of it being enemies is higher.'
Jiang Li pondered inwardly while maintaining an outwardly composed demeanor as he walked to the disciple dormitories near the Wuqu Terrace and entered his room.
The closed door blocked the prying eyes from afar. Simultaneously, a faint luster appeared on the beams, floor, doors, and windows as various talisman seals lit up and then faded away.
'No one has entered my room, which means... they simply want my life.'
Seeing this, Jiang Li reached a rather unpleasant conclusion.
Not entering his room indicated the enemy wasn't interested in material possessions. Otherwise, they would have definitely searched Jiang Li's room.
He, or they, only wanted Jiang Li's life.
This left no room for reconciliation.
[Upon realizing this, Jiang Li's eyes glinted coldly, killing intent flickering. "You are courting death!"]
The Causality Collection timely displayed this sentence. Seeing it, Jiang Li's killing intent faltered, and a sudden sense of awkwardness washed over him.
This darn book was great in every way, except for this function of recording thoughts, which sometimes made him cringe.
Thinking something yourself is one thing; seeing your own thoughts written down is quite another. Especially certain phrases—they sound fine in your head, but written out, they resemble reading a chuunibyou diary, prime material for future embarrassment.
This brief interruption actually caused the killing intent in Jiang Li's heart to gradually subside, and he shook his head with a self-deprecating smile.
He walked over to the nearby desk, sat down, and took out the items that could increase his strength one by one.
The Six Ding Six Jia Protection Talisman Art scroll, the Louguan Sword Art scroll, the snake-fang dagger containing the 'Long Snake' Dao Fruit, and a jade talisman.
The jade talisman, like the snake-fang dagger, was a vessel for storing a Dao Fruit.
According to the Outer Sect Elders, Dao Fruits are vestiges left behind in the world by powerful individuals, projections of their power that automatically attach themselves to objects compatible with the Dao Fruit.
These objects imbued with Dao Fruits are collectively known as Dao Artifacts.
Dao Artifacts containing Dao Fruits of the top five ranks even possess special abilities, providing significant aid to their owner even without being accommodated. However, Dao Artifacts of the bottom four ranks are somewhat lackluster, generally only making the vessel itself difficult to destroy.
The reason for this difference is that the lower four ranks of Dao Fruits aren't remnants of truly powerful beings but are artificially created products.
As far as Jiang Li knew, the 'Daoist' Dao Fruit was created by replicating some abilities of the Rank 5 Dao Fruit 'Celestial Master' and then processing and refining them.
Other Dao Fruits belonging to the Human, Immortal, Buddhist, and God categories were mostly created similarly—mass-produced artificially.
As for the lower-rank Dao Fruits of the Devil, Demon, Ghost, and Monster categories, they were typically refined from the essence obtained by killing demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters.
It was precisely because of this that various sects possessed large quantities of low-rank Dao Fruits for their disciples to accommodate, preventing cultivators from becoming an extremely small minority.
Meanwhile, actual demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters were almost extinct. Nowadays, ninety-nine percent of the various strange tales about monsters circulating are caused by individuals who have accommodated Demon-category Dao Fruits.
Returning to the topic, Jiang Li had two Dao Artifacts in hand. The snake-fang dagger was hard and sharp, suitable for self-defense. The jade talisman, now devoid of its Dao Fruit, was no longer technically a Dao Artifact, but it served as an excellent vessel for talismans.
Compared to the dagger, the jade talisman was actually more useful to him now.
It could be used to create the Six Ding Six Jia Protection Talisman.
Jiang Li placed the jade talisman on top of the talisman art scroll.
He then looked at the Louguan Sword Art. Simultaneously, the Causality Collection displayed the information for that half-step invincible divine art as well.
Louguan means "building a hut of grass to observe the stars and Qi," the name of a major sect before the Age of Dharma Decline. The Louguan Sword Art was indeed a technique from the Louguan Sect, a martial art focused on anticipating the enemy's moves and striking first even when reacting second.
This sword art required the practitioner to have a certain degree of proficiency in calculation and divination arts, making it perfectly suited for Jiang Li. Its power was also considerable, ranking among the top within Rank 9.
As for the Flower Plucking Hand, its effectiveness... those who know, know.
After brief consideration, Jiang Li directly picked up the talisman art scroll and opened it.
Survival comes first; learning the talisman was the priority.
Before the Age of Dharma Decline, talisman arts were considered wondrous methods for communicating with heaven and earth and commanding ghosts and spirits. They were broadly categorized into those connecting with heaven and earth and those communicating with ghosts and spirits.
However, after the decline, when spiritual energy transformed into foul, turbid Qi, and deities likely became Dao Fruits themselves, the old talisman system became entirely obsolete.
In the post-Dharma Decline talisman system, there is only one object of communication—oneself.
Using talismans as a medium and Qi as the source, one can manifest wondrous abilities like wind, fire, thunder, and lightning. One can also manifest various divine forms, replicating the effects of various deity-invoking talismans.
Talismans essentially function as the user's external meridians. Their complexity is no less than that of mind techniques of the same rank. Both the strokes and the force applied require great precision, and the drawing must be completed in one breath.
The Six Ding Six Jia Protection Talisman, by rank, is Rank 7. This meant the difficulty for Jiang Li to draw this talisman was equivalent to, or even greater than, executing a Rank 7 mind technique across ranks.
Generally speaking, anyone capable of creating this talisman at Rank 9 would either be a peerless genius or possess a cheat like 'Deep Blue' for adding points.
Elder Wan's belief that Jiang Li could draw this talisman was actually overestimating him.
Jiang Li wasn't a peerless genius. Even with the comprehension boost from his Dao Fruit, it wasn't quite enough yet, as his foundation in the Three Teachings wasn't deep enough. He also didn't have a system modifier. But...
"I can grind."
Jiang Li took a deep breath and pulled out a thick stack of yellow paper from under the desk.
The Causality Collection's ability to solidify cause and effect ensured Jiang Li's efforts wouldn't be wasted. Having just accommodated a Dao Fruit, his potential had surged, making it the perfect time for intense grinding.
If once isn't enough, try ten times. If ten times isn't enough, try a hundred. As long as the grind doesn't kill him, he'll grind himself to death.
Jiang Li's achievements today were entirely due to his own efforts, entirely due to sufficient grinding.
"It's decided. Before I successfully grind out ten... no, fifty Six Ding Six Jia Protection Talismans, I absolutely will not leave my room!"
"Wait, I still need to eat, drink, and relieve myself. Damn it! Why do cultivators nowadays still have to worry about basic necessities? Then... I absolutely will not leave the sect grounds!"
The sect did offer Bigu Pills (fasting pills) exchangeable with merit points, but unfortunately, they were too expensive. In this era, the most precious things were Dao Fruits, followed by pills.
With Jiang Li's current assets, Bigu Pills were a distant dream. He'd have to stick to eating, drinking, and relieving himself the old-fashioned way.
In summary, the plan was to focus on steady development for a while: grind out the protection talismans, master the martial arts. If he could grind his way straight to Rank 8 along the way, that would naturally be even better.