Sealing Talisman

As soon as Lin Xiao approached, he felt the faint, malevolent energy lingering around him, gradually growing denser.

He immediately stopped in his tracks, not daring to take another step forward.

He guessed that the entity was likely hiding within this eerie mountain.

Standing by the small lake, he was already close enough to it.

Without hesitation, he took out the talisman in his hand, channeled his spiritual energy to trigger it, and instantly activated it!

A faint, almost imperceptible ripple spread out in all directions with Lin Xiao at the center.

Wherever this invisible wave passed, all living creatures trembled in fear!

Only Lin Xiao, standing at the epicenter with the talisman in hand, remained relatively unaffected.

However, even he could clearly feel the immense, heavy pressure of that oppressive aura.

So this is a Nascent Soul cultivator!

Lin Xiao could not help but gain a slight understanding of the sheer magnitude of a Nascent Soul cultivator's power.

He recalled the middle-aged man leading the Shangyang Sect recruitment team he had seen in Cuifeng Town not long ago.

The feeling that man gave him was far inferior to the pressure exerted by this Nascent Soul aura.

Comparing it to his own current cultivation level, Lin Xiao estimated that the man was at most at the late Foundation Establishment stage.

No wonder the way he controlled the spirit ship back then seemed so slow and unsteady.

Not long after the pressure of Liao Pantu's Nascent Soul aura was released, Lin Xiao clearly felt the surrounding malevolent energy receding like an ebbing tide.

Before long, the malevolent energy reverted to its initial faint state, only dissipating within a very small area.

The evil aura was tightly restrained and locked near this mountain peak, its edge barely touching the graveyard mountain of Xiushui Village.

It looked as if it had been scared out of its wits.

As the malevolent energy retreated, the effect of the Nascent Soul pressure talisman also gradually dissipated.

Although Lin Xiao really wanted to charge up there right now and hack the culprit who killed his mother into pieces, he knew that this entity was currently only yielding to the overwhelming might of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

If he, a mere early Foundation Establishment cultivator, went over there, not only would he fail to avenge his mother, but he would also just be offering himself up on a silver platter to the enemy.

Therefore, for the current Lin Xiao, raising his cultivation level as quickly as possible was the top priority.

He needed to gain the strength to fight it before the source of this malevolent energy fully recovered.

Lin Xiao was about to return to the village, but he still felt uneasy relying solely on the deterrence of the Nascent Soul pressure.

He looked back at the pitch-black mountain and thought, if only he could seal it.

Thus, he opened the Store.

In the recommendation column on the front page of the Store, the first item was impressively an Earth-grade Sealing Talisman.

The description on it read:

Earth-grade Sealing Talisman. An instant-cast, contact-based sealing talisman. It requires physical contact with the target to perform the seal. The duration of the seal decreases based on the target's cultivation level. The user will be notified of the seal's duration the moment it succeeds. Note: Once the target is sealed, if it suffers a powerful attack during the sealing period, the sealing talisman will become invalid.

Lin Xiao checked the price: seventy-five spirit stones.

Not bad. He still had over three hundred spirit stones left.

Seventy-five spirit stones were well within his affordable range, so Lin Xiao immediately bought it.

He felt it was best to hurry up and seal the source of the malevolent energy now, while it was still intimidated by the Nascent Soul pressure.

Otherwise, he probably wouldn't even be able to sleep peacefully at night.

It was just that this sealing talisman required physical contact to work... which was a bit dangerous.

But Lin Xiao decided to give it a try.

Of course, he wouldn't just charge in recklessly.

Lin Xiao first used a Concealment Spell to quietly sneak onto the pitch-black mountain. He figured that since he had a system function to block divine sense probing, combined with the Concealment Spell, and the entity had just been terrified by the aura pressure, it shouldn't notice him so easily even if its cultivation was much higher than his.

Moreover, the entity was still in a weakened state.

Lin Xiao sneaked to the top of the mountain. He crouched behind a rock wall and took out the Yin-Yang Life and Death Array from his private inventory.

After placing the Yin-Yang Life and Death Array there, he began to channel his spiritual energy into it.

Now at the early Foundation Establishment stage, unlocking the one hundred and eight nodes of this array disk no longer required him to spend two hours like he did during the Qi Condensation stage.

Lin Xiao unlocked the first node in merely two breaths of time.

At this rate, it would only take him the time it takes an incense stick to burn to fully activate the array disk now.

He had to admit, compared to the Qi Condensation stage, advancing to Foundation Establishment was truly a qualitative leap.

An incense stick's time later, Lin Xiao successfully activated the Yin-Yang Life and Death Array, and then he felt as if he could control this array at will!

The entire array spanned an area of about a hundred meters in radius!

In the center, a massive Yin-Yang symbol faintly formed.

And currently, only Lin Xiao could see this symbol.

Within it, there were nine gates of life and ninety-nine gates of death, layered and intertwined, all quietly awaiting Lin Xiao's command.

He could clearly sense that as long as he threw one hundred spirit stones into it, this Yin-Yang Life and Death Array would immediately activate. Then, following his manipulation, it would play with the life and death of any creature that fell into it like a toy in the palm of his hand.

With this, Lin Xiao felt a great boost in confidence. He planned to flee to this spot if the sealing failed.

If he could lure that entity into this array, he might even be able to kill it!

Therefore, Lin Xiao bought another set of Child-Mother Talismans and a Teleportation Talisman from the Store.

He placed the Mother Talisman on the array disk.

This way, if he couldn't run fast enough, he could still use the Teleportation Talisman to teleport over.

With all his backup plans ready, Lin Xiao finally sneaked quietly toward the source of the malevolent energy.

Lin Xiao carefully stepped into the crater-like depression.

Standing on a rock wall and looking down, he saw that this massive crater had almost hollowed out the entire mountain. From where he stood at the edge, the very bottom was actually over a hundred meters deep!

And at the very bottom of this crater lay a pool of ink-black liquid.

The surface of this liquid was incredibly still, without a single ripple, like a pitch-black mirror.

It was completely impossible to tell how deep it was.

He wasn't sure if this black liquid was the true form of the malevolent energy.

So, he used the most mundane method.

He tossed a fist-sized rock down.

The expected scene of the rock plunging into the black liquid with a splash did not occur. Instead, the rock hit the black liquid with a smack and stuck to the surface.

Failing to probe the depths of the liquid, Lin Xiao felt somewhat disappointed.

However, in the next instant!

He suddenly saw an ink-jade-like vertical pupil slowly open upon that pitch-black liquid!

The vertical pupil merely cast a faint glance at the fallen rock. Even though the gaze seemed devoid of emotion, it felt as if it was brimming with a chilling intent.

This vertical pupil casually swept a glance in Lin Xiao's direction. With just one look, Lin Xiao's entire body turned cold.

Goosebumps uncontrollably broke out all over him, yet his mind remained exceptionally calm.