No one knew what Shi Yu meant by her words. Some looked on with eager expectation, while others dismissed it completely.
In everyone's understanding, injecting spiritual energy into a spirit talisman served only one purpose: interacting with the source runes on the talisman to activate it.
Hidden beneath her long sleeves, Lu Yujiao's knuckles turned white from clenching her hands so tightly.
She thought to herself, He must be bluffing. I've studied the Talisman Dao for nearly two years and have never heard of injecting spiritual energy into a spirit talisman doing anything else.
Despite comforting herself this way, an inexplicable wave of unease grew stronger in Lu Yujiao's heart, wrapping her in a sinister sense of foreboding.
Beside them, Chen Er's injuries had gradually improved after swallowing the Vitality-Restoring Pill. He stood up silently, looking at Shi Yu with worry.
In his mind, Shi Yu had come from the Mortal Realm just like him, so how could she possibly know such profound Talisman Dao? She was likely just putting on a calm front to help him out of this bind—though judging by Shi Yu's composed expression, that didn't seem to be the case at all.
On the other side, Jiang Hong and Li Xu, the two handyman disciples, were still cowering on their knees. Yet even in such a pathetic state, they still found the nerve to cast disdainful glances at Shi Yu.
They hadn't forgotten that at the Immortal Destiny Gathering, Shi Yu had only tested for a Low-grade One-fraction Spiritual Meridian, failing to even meet the threshold for a handyman disciple of the Yuxu Sect.
Before Shi Yu, the two of them maintained a subtle sense of superiority—one they could hardly find anywhere else.
To them, Shi Yu standing here was nothing more than an attempt to grandstand and play to the crowd.
“Could it be...” Jiang Qihe, on the other hand, seemed to realize something. His pupils contracted sharply. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped himself, fixing his eyes on the Yuxu Sect outer elder's next move.
Regardless of what thoughts or motives everyone harbored, at this moment, every pair of eyes was fixed on the outer elder.
Under the gaze of the crowd, the outer elder held the spirit talisman in hand and raised a spiritual energy barrier to protect himself from collateral harm. Then, pointing through the air, he injected four streams of spiritual energy into the four corners of the spirit talisman.
Rustle— The spirit talisman fluttered without any wind.
Everyone held their breath and craned their necks to watch. Yet after the spiritual energy entered, the expected scene of the talisman activating and bursting into flames did not happen.
Instead, the source runes drawn on the talisman's surface flashed with brilliant light, spilling forth several wisps of golden radiance.
The golden light condensed without scattering, slowly gathering to form the character “Yu.”
It was just a single character, elegant and graceful, floating like a cloud, yet faintly gleaming with sharp, cutting intensity.
Staring at this unexpected sight, the crowd stood mouth agape, unable to process it for a moment. Only a single thought filled their minds: You can even do that?
Never had they heard of such clever ingenuity hidden within a mere Tier-1 spirit talisman.
Crafting a spirit talisman was already complex and difficult. To maintain such power while leaving behind written characters on it was truly...
But did this character “Yu” carry some special meaning?
Yu... which Yu?
Naturally, the “Yu” of Shi Yu.
Chen Er gasped out loud, “Young Master, that's your name!”
He stared blankly at the character “Yu” floating in midair, glowing with golden light so dazzlingly eye-catching. Without a doubt, once this character appeared, no further words were needed. It was more than enough to prove his innocence.
Hearing Chen Er's words, the crowd's expressions shifted dramatically as they all turned to stare at Shi Yu.
Jiang Qihe spoke up at just the right moment. “This young gentleman's name is Shi Yu.”
Realization dawned upon everyone. So the character formed by the condensed golden light was... her signature?
Shi Yu pulled another Blaze Talisman from her sleeve and injected four streams of spiritual energy into its four corners simultaneously. Sure enough, the character “Yu” appeared on this talisman as well.
Seeing this, Jiang Qihe, who stood beside her, let out a deep sigh, reprimanding himself for misjudging the situation so completely.
The appearance of the two “Yu” characters proved beyond doubt that there was no hidden talisman master behind Shi Yu. She had drawn these talismans all by herself, and his preconceived assumptions had been utterly wrong.
Exhaling a long breath, Jiang Qihe let out a bitter laugh.
The technique of embedding one's mark into a spirit talisman was exceedingly complex.
On a spirit talisman, multiple source runes were intricately interconnected. Adding an extra mark to a stable, interconnected structure without destroying the original rune arrangement was extraordinarily difficult; one small slip would ruin an otherwise perfectly good talisman.
He had heard the elders of his clan mention this technique before. Only high-tier talisman masters or those with profound inheritances could accomplish such a feat.
Because of its complexity, even high-tier talisman masters would usually only bother leaving a mark on high-tier spirit talismans.
For Shi Yu to casually leave her mark on a Tier-1 spirit talisman meant she was either terribly bored, or... leaving a mark was not complex for her at all, just an effortless second nature that required no extra thought.
If it were the former, so be it. But if it were the latter, then Shi Yu's attainment in the Talisman Dao was likely far higher than he had imagined.
...
Leaving a mark on her creations was a small habit Shi Yu had kept for a long time.
Back in the game Xian Yuan, more than once people had impersonated her name to sell spirit talismans and artifacts in the auction house.
Annoyed by the hassle, Shi Yu simply designed anti-counterfeiting marks for all the spirit talismans and artifacts crafted by her hands.
Identifying this mark was easy—one only needed to inject spiritual energy in a specific manner, just as she had done earlier.
Forging it, however, was extremely difficult. Integrating one's own mark into the original structure without damaging the source runes required a level of mastery that meant any talisman master capable of doing so would disdain to engage in counterfeiting in the first place.
After transmigrating to the Origin Realm, Shi Yu retained this habit. Although these were only Tier-1 spirit talismans, creating these anti-counterfeiting marks was something she had done tens of thousands of times. It had long since become second nature, so she added them as well.
Who knew it would actually come in handy?
Now, no one doubted who had created these spirit talismans that possessed significantly greater power than ordinary ones.
With the signature displayed right before them, what else was there to say?
For a moment, the expressions of everyone present were a sight to behold.
Looking back at Lu Yujiao, how could she have had the gall to shamelessly claim this talisman was her work?
Standing closest to the spirit talisman, the outer elder—who had been the first to see its transformation—frowned slightly. Seeing no sign of the talisman activating, he dispersed his spiritual energy shield. He cast a glance at Lu Yujiao, then looked toward Chen Er, seemingly pondering how to handle the situation.
Among the Yuxu Sect disciples, expressions were even more varied.
Jiang Hong and Li Xu had long since buried their heads low, not daring to utter a word.
That arrogant and domineering Senior Brother Zhan Xuan also turned pale and green by turns.
Disciples who were at odds with Lu Yujiao felt both amused and vindicated, while simultaneously feeling embarrassed to belong to the same sect as her. On the other hand, the disciples who had long admired Lu Yujiao, constantly calling her "Senior Sister" this and "Senior Sister" that, turned pale and red, their feelings tangled as they stammered, unable to say a word.
Among the rogue cultivators watching, those bold enough—relying on their modest cultivation—could no longer hold back their laughter.
Standing at the center of everyone's gazes, Lu Yujiao felt her entire body burning. Dizziness washed over her eyes, making her almost unable to stand.
She was the daughter and personal disciple of Lingle Peak's peak master, a favored daughter of heaven in the Yuxu Sect, possessing exceptional cultivation talent along with a natural gift for the Talisman Dao. She had always been held high above others.
When had she ever suffered such humiliation?
In an instant, Lu Yujiao was consumed by overwhelming humiliation and hatred.
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