Crow Immortal: I Can Duplicate Infinite Resources

Chapter 248: Bestowing a Talisman Treasure

“What is this?” Old Daoist Li asked, turning the object over in his weathered hands. “A Talisman? It doesn’t quite feel like one.”

“It’s a Talisman Treasure,” Han Yu replied.

Old Daoist Li blinked. “What’s that? Does it work the same way?”

It wasn’t surprising that the old man was ignorant. In the Southern Region, anything remotely connected to a Golden Core cultivator was a closely guarded Sect secret. From his days lurking around Wanchun Valley until now, Old Daoist Li had never been formally inducted into an orthodox Sect. He had clawed his way up from the dirt, relying entirely on scraps of observation and brutal, hard-won experience. He naturally had no way of knowing about the Mystic One Sect’s elite armaments.

“It’s an advanced form of a Talisman,” Han Yu explained. “The Mystic One Sect crafts them using high-grade spirit beast pelts as a base, infusing them with spirit jade and sealing them with Golden Core-level techniques. This specific treasure will completely absorb a single attack from an early-stage Golden Core cultivator.”

He smiled. “After it blocks a strike, you can recharge it with Spiritual Qi. You get five uses out of it before the matrix burns out completely. Just make sure you keep count, Daoist.”

Old Daoist Li stared at the object in absolute shock. “It can block a Golden Core strike five times?! Little kid—where in the heavens did you get something this precious?”

“The Mystic One Sect gifted a batch to Wanchun Valley to smooth over some diplomatic friction. The Sect elders gave one to me,” Han Yu said. “Keep it, Daoist. Use it to save your life when things get ugly.”

Old Daoist Li gripped the Talisman Treasure tightly, looking from it to Han Yu. Then, his face hardened. He shoved the treasure back toward the young man. “No. Absolutely not.”

“I can’t take a life-saving trump card from a kid!”

“There’s no need to decline, Daoist. I have more,” Han Yu said earnestly.

He could already replicate Talisman Treasures, so he truly did have a stockpile of them.

Old Daoist Li studied Han Yu’s face. Slowly, a wry smile cracked his features. “If anyone else said that, I’d call them a liar. But you? I actually believe it. You’ve always been paranoid enough to keep an ace up your sleeve.”

The old man’s expression turned solemn. “But think about this, little kid. In a life-or-death fight, having two Talisman Treasures isn’t just ‘one more’ than having a single one. It changes the entire dynamic. If you have one, you block a Golden Core strike, but you still might not be fast enough to escape the follow-up. If you have two, you block the first strike, block the second, and suddenly, you’ve survived long enough to bluff the bastard into thinking you’re untouchable. They might not risk a third strike.”

He shook his head firmly. “The difference in survivability is staggering. Take it back. Protect your own neck first. The Central Heaven Domain monsters are playing a completely different game than the Southern Region thugs. You’re going to need this.”

Han Yu simply smiled and didn’t reach out, silently insisting the old man keep it.

Old Daoist Li hesitated, the Talisman Treasure still resting in his palm.

“Don’t worry about me, Daoist,” Han Yu urged gently. “I have my own preparations.”

With a heavy sigh, Old Daoist Li finally tucked the treasure into his robes. “Fine, little kid. But you practically forced this on me. If you run into trouble because you gave this away, don’t you dare haunt me.”

“I swear it. I won’t blame you,” Han Yu replied, falling into step beside the donkey as they resumed walking.

Old Daoist Li felt a pang of warmth in his chest. The kid really does have a good heart, he thought. But if he gets himself killed because he gave me his shield… how could I ever face Wan’er’s spirit? He mentally resolved that he couldn’t keep it. Han Yu was currently public enemy number one, hunted by multiple apex Sects. He needed every defensive measure possible. The old man decided he would find an excuse to slip the Talisman Treasure back into Han Yu’s possession before they parted ways.

They walked in comfortable silence for a while longer. As the dusty road crested a hill, the sprawling walls of a distant city came into view. The traffic on the road began to thicken.

Old Daoist Li stretched his back. “So, I’m heading to the Martial Arts Assembly outside Xinglong Prefecture. Should be a good show.”

Han Yu chuckled. “You’re too late for that, Daoist. The assembly is canceled. I killed Tang Yidao.”

Old Daoist Li blinked in surprise. “Why’d you kill him? Not that I’m mourning the bastard—anyone who throws a ‘Martial Arts Assembly’ is usually a scheming rat anyway. I just don’t get why you bothered. Don’t tell me you wanted to be the Grandmaster of the mortal martial world?”

“Tang Yidao was practicing a corrupted Blood Refining art,” Han Yu explained. “He was working with the young emperor, Jiang Jing, to lure the martial artists into a slaughterhouse to harvest their Blood Essence.”

Understanding dawned on Old Daoist Li’s face. “Ah. That makes sense. No wonder they were using the promise of ‘Ascension Tokens’ as bait. It was a Demonic Cultivator’s trap. I thought it was strange that mortal martial artists suddenly grew the spine to meddle with immortal affairs.”

The old man frowned. “Wait. You killed Tang Yidao. What about the young emperor? If you killed him too, the Nanli Kingdom is going to rip itself apart in a civil war.”

Before Han Yu could answer, the thundering sound of hooves echoed down the road.

A courier on horseback galloped past them, tearing toward the city gates. “A NEW EMPEROR HAS ASCENDED!” the rider bellowed, his face flushed with excitement. “A GENERAL AMNESTY IS DECLARED! ONE YEAR EXEMPTION FROM CORVÉE LABOR!”

The tired commoners trudging near the gates instantly erupted into joyous, disbelieving cheers.

The rider didn’t slow down, charging through the gates and screaming the edict into the city streets.

Old Daoist Li stared after the horseman, then slowly turned his head to look at Han Yu. “You actually killed the emperor?”

Han Yu nodded.

“But… how is there a new one so fast?” Old Daoist Li asked, baffled. “The Jiang clan was wiped out except for that one kid.”

“We broke Wanchun Valley’s ancestral rules,” Han Yu said plainly. “We put one of our own disciples on the throne.”

Old Daoist Li’s jaw dropped. “Does that even work? A cultivator ruling a mortal kingdom? That’s unprecedented in the Southern Region.”

“The Southern Region is a burning house right now,” Han Yu countered pragmatically. “Nobody cares about the old rules anymore. Who knows what the long-term consequences will be? For now, it stabilizes the kingdom and keeps the mortals from slaughtering each other in a power vacuum. That’s good enough.”

Old Daoist Li rubbed his chin, nodding slowly. “When you put it that way… yeah. Better to break a rule than watch the world burn. So, little kid, where to next?”

“I’m going to tour the various markets across the Southern Region,” Han Yu replied. “I need to see if I can scrounge up some high-level cultivation resources.”

Old Daoist Li grimaced. “Markets. That’s going to be a problem for me. If I show my face in a major market and bump into one of that Wandering Merchant’s puppets, I’m dead meat. He has dozens of them, and I haven’t seen them all. He’d spot me before I ever saw him coming.”

“I said I was going to the markets, Daoist, not you,” Han Yu laughed. “My disguises are flawless, and the Wandering Merchant doesn’t know me well enough to see through them.”

“True. You should be safe enough,” Old Daoist Li agreed. “I was hoping we could travel together for a bit, but if you’re hitting the markets, I can’t risk it. That hypocritical snake is hunting me right now, but mark my words—the second I hit the Golden Core stage, I’m turning him into a blood mist!”

The old man paused, a thought striking him. “Wait, little kid. You’re traveling alone. Are you short on cultivation Pills?”

“I have the standard Pills,” Han Yu clarified. “But that’s not what I’m looking for. I need natural spiritual treasures or high-tier elixirs that can forcefully and rapidly advance my cultivation base. I have too many powerful enemies breathing down my neck. I need to get stronger, fast.”

Hearing this, Old Daoist Li chewed his lip thoughtfully. “Items like that are practically myths. They’re incredibly rare, and the ones that do exist usually have severe diminishing returns…”

He trailed off, his eyes narrowing as he recalled a distant memory. “However… if you’re truly desperate, I did overhear an interesting rumor while I was trading with that Wandering Merchant.”