The explanatory text lit up line by line: Can directly raise a minor realm after use, effective below the Body Integration stage.
Shen Qingci read it over three times.
If she used these three cards on herself, she would jump three minor realms. However, using them on her clan members would yield far greater benefits.
She hardly hesitated.
Two for her aunt, and one for Shadow One.
Her aunt had been stuck at the late stage of Soul Transformation for many years, only lacking “two” final pushes. With two cards, she would be propelled from late Soul Transformation to early Void Refining.
With this level of cultivation to negotiate with the Great Yan Dynasty, their ancestor wouldn't even dare to breathe too loudly.
The Shen family's foundation in Qinghe County had not yet been publicly revealed, but the moment it was, everyone had to clearly see their weight.
Shadow One was stuck at peak Nascent Soul, just half a step away from Soul Transformation.
Feeding him one card would bring him to early Soul Transformation. Once the leader of the secret guards reached the Soul Transformation stage, the power of the Shadow Kill Array would instantly triple.
Moreover, she and her senior sister were about to head to Blood Thorn Ridge soon. Having a Soul Transformation stage secret guard protecting them in the dark gave her a complete sense of security.
As for herself...
There was no need for a weakling to rush. Too many eyes in the sect were watching her; going from the sixth level of Qi Refining to the ninth level in just a few months was already eye-catching enough.
If she jumped any higher, it would be hard to explain to her master.
It wouldn't be too late to think about it once she reached the Golden Core stage.
Shen Qingci retrieved the three Cultivation Upgrade Cards from the system space. The deep purple cards hovered in her palm, cold to the touch. She drew the first one and sank her divine sense into it. A prompt popped up in her sea of consciousness: “Please select target.”
“Shadow One.”
“Confirm target: Shadow One. Current realm: Peak Nascent Soul. Post-use realm: Early Soul Transformation. Confirm?”
“Confirm.”
The card shattered, turning into a stream of light that flew through the window and sank into a shadow somewhere in the courtyard. A brief, restrained response from Shadow One echoed in her sea of consciousness: “This subordinate thanks Master for the bounty.”
Shen Qingci picked up the remaining two cards, sinking her divine sense into both simultaneously.
“Target: Shen Tinglan. Use both simultaneously.”
“Confirm target: Shen Tinglan. Current realm: Late Soul Transformation. Post-use realm: Early Void Refining. Confirm?”
“Confirm.”
The two cards shattered. A deep purple light flashed and vanished inside the room, so fast it felt like an illusion.
The process was complete, clean and swift.
She closed her eyes and continued to watch the remaining draws on the roulette wheel.
At the same time, in a study seven courtyards away, Shen Tinglan was pointing at a geomantic map, explaining the layout of the city-protecting array's nodes to Shen Nanxing.
“The north gate has the lowest terrain, where water spiritual energy gathers, making it the most suitable location for the Kan position array node. I plan to bury three array spikes here to channel the water spiritual energy, coordinating with the operation of the city-protecting array.”
Shen Nanxing tilted his head, about to offer a few opinions, when he suddenly noticed his boss's voice cut off.
He looked up.
A spiritual pressure suddenly broke through a threshold Shen Nanxing had never even touched. The temperature-regulating array runes on the four walls of the study flared up brilliantly before everything returned to tranquility.
Throughout the entire process, no heavenly tribulation descended, no astronomical anomalies occurred, no inner demons backlashed, and not even a trace of the aftermath of a spiritual energy riot could be found.
Quietly, in the span of a single breath, late Soul Transformation had become early Void Refining.
“Oh my god,” Shen Nanxing blurted out. “Am I actually witnessing a sudden enlightenment that jumps multiple realms like in the ancient times?”
Shen Tinglan looked down and clenched her fist, feeling the changes in spiritual energy brought by her new realm.
Though she showed little emotion on her face, her mind was spinning.
There was no such thing as sudden enlightenment out of nowhere, let alone breaking through a realm while bypassing the heavenly tribulation entirely.
She knew very well how many years she had been stuck at late Soul Transformation. Yet, her little niece had barely left before she suddenly jumped two realms.
Shen Tinglan's lips curved slightly.
“She really is her aunt's little lucky star,” she thought. “It looks like I'll have to part with some real treasures in the future.”
Preparing a meeting gift for her niece's Dao companion contract was one thing, but her niece personally pushing her cultivation to the Void Refining stage was quite another.
The weight of this gift was no longer something that could be paid off with a mere Earth-grade array disc.
She began to seriously calculate which of her prized, pseudo-Heaven-grade array discs would be the most suitable to give Chi Yuan as a betrothal gift.
Shen Nanxing was still immersed in the shock of “the boss going straight from late Soul Transformation to early Void Refining” and couldn't snap out of it. His mouth opened and closed, closed and opened, before he finally squeezed out, “Not even a single trace of a tribulation lightning bolt?”
“When the Family Head broke through to Void Refining back then, he was struck by lightning for a whole three months!!!”
“Heh, the Family Head is the Family Head, and I am myself. What, are you disappointed that I didn't get struck by lightning?”
“No, no, I wouldn't dare!”
Shen Nanxing shook his head like a rattle.
What a joke. He was just shocked, not tired of living. Previously, when his boss was at the late stage of Soul Transformation, beating him was as easy as beating a son. Now that she was at the early stage of Void Refining, beating him would be even easier. He silently corrected his posture, straightening his back, resting both hands flat on his knees, pulling his shoulders back, and tucking his chin in.
Shen Tinglan cast several glances at him.
Shen Nanxing was sitting even more obediently than when he used to attend classes in the clan school.
“What are you doing?”
“Listening to the Ancestor continue explaining the layout of the city-protecting array's nodes,” Shen Nanxing said with a solemn face, his tone incredibly respectful. “The north gate has the lowest terrain, where water spiritual energy gathers, making it the most suitable for the Kan position array node. We plan to bury three array spikes to channel the water spiritual energy. This subordinate has absolutely no objections.”
He had even brought out the term “this subordinate.”
Shen Tinglan was too lazy to deal with his ridiculous attitude. She pushed the geomantic map toward him and tapped her finger on the other end of the north-south axis.
“The south gate will have the Li position array node, paired with a fire-attribute array disc, forming a state of mutual benefit between water and fire with the north gate's Kan position.”
“The east and west sides will be supported by the Zhen and Dui positions. Once all four nodes are activated, the city-protecting array of the entire capital will be able to withstand a full-force blow from a mid-stage Void Refining cultivator.”
Shen Nanxing nodded furiously. “Yes, yes, yes. The south gate with the Li position, mutual benefit between water and fire. The Ancestor is wise.”
In his mind, he thought: Previously, I could still rely on my thick skin to take a few hits. Now, if the boss throws an array at me, my physical body wouldn't even have the right to try and take it.
From today on, whatever Ancestor Tinglan said went. He wouldn't say a single word of disagreement.
Actually, he didn't dare to disagree before either.
Now, he was just even more terrified.
Looking at his obedient, almost sycophantic expression, Shen Tinglan suddenly felt that her little niece's move was indeed brilliant, killing two birds with one stone.
She continued explaining the layout of the array nodes, as if her feat of jumping two realms just now was merely a brief nap.
...
The roulette wheel was still spinning.
The 197th draw landed.
A pale gold light slowly rose from the bottom of the wheel, completely different from the sharp golden light when she had drawn Shen Nanxing and Shen Tinglan.
This light was gentler, warm, and carried a touch of scholarly air.
【Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Gold Card - High-rank Talisman Master】
Name: Shen Shuyan (alias Su Yan)
Age: An impolite question
Cultivation: Mid-stage Soul Transformation
Identity: A member of a branch of the Shen family. Obsessed with the Dao of talismans since childhood. Three hundred years ago, she went to the Western Region alone to find a lost talisman ink formula. Since then, she has traveled as a rogue cultivator, earning the title “Fairy Yanyue” in the Western Region's talisman world.
Rate on N.U.
