Chương 148: Chapter 147: Back Again

Shixiong - Older male fellow disciple of the same master. Shidi - Younger male fellow disciple of the same master. Shijie - Older female fellow disciple of the same master. Shimei - Younger female fellow disciple of the same master. A week later, Yang found himself descending onto the True Talisman Peak on the back of Senior Brother Wu Nai's flying sword for his second talisman event.

As he stepped off the sword, he turned to Senior Brother Wu Nai and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother," passing him two bundles of talismans.

"Last time I left with my friends and did not have a chance to give you these talismans for that trip."

"Thank you, Junior Brother Yang." Senior Brother Wu Nai said as he took both bundles with a wide smile.

"It was no problem. Just send me a message if you want a ride back to your cave residence, or even if you leave with your friends again. I will be ready either way." He lifted off on his flying sword and was gone. Yang turned back towards the peak and made his way up towards the inscription hall. It took him little time to reach the area, as it was his second time, and he didn't need to watch and follow along with his fellow sect disciples making their way there.

Today, he was here as an audience member and not a participant. He passed the turning that led towards the arena, higher on the peak, and let out a quiet sigh, already looking forward to the defense and offensive talisman events. Once he was done with those, he would have the rest of the competition to himself to enjoy without the added burden of preparing for his own events. He was already planning on attending all the talisman events that came after his own, especially the golden core division ones.

Soon, the inscription Hall came into view. Yang entered the hall and found it nearly full. He looked around and finally found an empty seat in a good location, made his way there, and settled in, nodding to the female inner sect disciple to his right. The seat on his left side was left empty. He faced forward and waited. After a few minutes, he became aware that the disciple to his right was sneaking glances at him. He waited patiently, assuming it was ordinary curiosity.

But after the tenth or eleventh sideways look, accompanied by quiet whispering to the disciple beside her, he turned to face her and met her gaze directly. She let out a slightly sheepish smile at being caught.

"My apologies, Junior Brother. I am Yue Yue, a disciple of the True Talisman Peak. I recognised you from the Skill Judgement event last week." She gestured to the disciple next to her.

"This is my Shimei (Younger female fellow disciple, of the same master), Rin Fei. We wanted to introduce ourselves." Senior Sister Rin Fei gave him a shy smile. Yang nodded at both of them.

"Chen Yang, Outer Sect Peak," he said with a small, courteous tilt of his head.

"We wanted to say how much we admired your inscription in the Skill judging event," Senior Sister Yue Yue said.

"The balance and precision of your inscriptions were remarkable, especially considering your realm and age." Senior Sister Rin Fei, beside her, nodded in agreement. Yang was momentarily confused. Had the True Talisman Peak elders shared the participants' talismans? Maybe as a learning exercise? Even then, he still asked, "How did you see my talismans, Senior Sister? Did the elders of your peak show them to you?" Both Senior Sisters looked at him with surprise.

"Ah, Junior Brother, is this your first time attending a talisman event as an audience member?" Senior Sister Yue Yue asked. Yang easily admitted it was, and she soon cleared up his confusion.

"There is a display formation between the audience area and the participants' area," she explained.

"Whatever inscription the participants are given appears on it, projected like writing on a transparent wall. Additional information is also often shown alongside, so the audience can follow along even without deep knowledge of talisman craft. And when the winners are announced, their completed talismans are shown to the whole audience."

"Your inscriptions were shown clearly," Senior Sister Rin Fei said quietly from beside her, looking roughly at Yang's ear rather than at his face.

"The inscription quality was very impressive." Yang was quiet for a moment. He had not known about the display formation. Although it did make sense. Without it, the audience would have nothing to watch but a room full of talisman maniacs scribbling furiously with their heads down, which was not exactly an interesting spectacle.

Although according to Senior Brother Zhen Hao, who had expressed disappointment at the relative shortage of explosions during Yang's events, some audience members had found the occasional detonation sufficient entertainment on its own. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I did not know that, Senior Sister," Yang said, directing his attention mostly towards Senior Sister Yue Yue so as not to make Senior Sister Rin Fei uncomfortable, who seemed painfully shy. A brief, uncomfortable silence followed. Yang was aware that Senior Sister Yue Yue seemed to want to continue the conversation, and he himself was not averse to it, but he was equally aware that he had no idea how to help the conversation along.

Without any of his usual senior brothers and sisters present to provide the social lubricant these interactions required, the conversation died painfully. Two people with similar social limitations attempting small talk produced results as smooth as sandpaper to skin. Fortunately, an elder arrived at the front of the hall before the silence and awkwardness could become even more unbearable, and Yang let out a quiet breath of relief.

"Welcome to True Talisman Peak," the elder said, with roughly the same warmth as one reading tax laws. The elder was different from the one who had hosted the Skill Judgement event. This was a middle-aged man with a refined appearance, who composed and delivered his speech in a voice completely devoid of any emotion. Yang could not detect a single fluctuation of either tone or feeling on his face across the entire speech. The elder may as well have been dead for all the life he showed.

Yang found himself musing briefly if the elder was a robot and whether an extremely lifelike puppet was possible in this world. He got about halfway to imagining whether there would be a separate peak for puppetry in the sect or if it would be a part of the tool refining peak before the elder's droning voice pulled him back.

"Today, we are gathered to watch Beginner-stage Foundation Establishment talisman crafters complete unknown inscriptions. In this event, the participants are given ten incomplete talisman inscriptions and must complete each one within the allotted time. They may attempt each inscription as many times as they wish within that window. The number of attempts will have no effect on their scores.

Judgement is based solely on, first the completeness and effectiveness of the talisman and second on the speed of the completion." He then jerked his hand once towards the waiting room doors as they swung open and the participants filed out calmly, taking the nearest available seats. Once the participants were settled in their seats, the first bell rang, and slips of paper flew to the participants' desks. Yang finally saw the display formation in action.

The empty space between the participants' area and the audience area shimmered faintly. Yang focused his attention on it, and a large inscription appeared in the air, rendered on what looked like a transparent wall. He accidentally, in his surprise, let his focus slip for a moment, and it vanished. He concentrated again, and the inscription appeared again. Apparently, the formation required active concentration to show the text.

It was a good feature allowing the audience the ability to choose what they want to see. An audience member with no knowledge of the craft would hardly want to see a wall of text they couldn't decipher. He concentrated on the actual inscription, looking closely at the missing and existing parts. Large sections of the inscriptions were missing, the existing lines ending abruptly or leaving large gaps after a particular part's completion. Yang immediately understood how this event was testing the participants.

Around him, the disciples in the audience were taking out paper and brushes to copy the inscription down, and he realized with a flash of regret that he had come entirely unprepared. He had brought nothing, as he wasn't even aware that he would be able to see the inscription that the participants would be working on. He felt a small nudge at his elbow.

He looked over and found Senior Sister Yue Yue offering him a few loose sheets of paper and a writing brush, having already set an inkwell between them over the shared armrest where it hung suspended in the air between their seats. Yang looked at it for a moment and then thanked her and accepted. He began copying the inscription from the formation wall. He had the inscription put down on his page before the halfway bell rang. He looked at what he had inscribed and thought through it.

It looked like some kind of qi absorbing shield, based on the visible inscription. The overall design was familiar, so he was fairly confident about the function of the talisman. Then the halfway chime rang, and the projection changed. This time, the complete inscription appeared on the wall along with a small paragraph showing what the talisman was for. Yang looked at it and let out a chuckle as he realized what he had missed. There was a heat dispersal component woven into the secondary row of inscription.

He had just seen the overall visible inscription and made the obvious assumption, which the elders were obviously expecting most disciples to make. But the inscription that added the heat dispersal function, tucked hidden along the larger inscription design, changed the entire function. Turning it from a general shield talisman that would absorb the attacking qi and convert it into the shield's own energy into a talisman specially meant for extreme heat environments.

This was a talisman to survive in extreme temperatures and was hardly useful as a shield talisman unless your opponent was stupid enough to solely be throwing fire based attacks on you. The hidden heat dispersal inscription was the actual diagnostic key here. Yang had a wide smile on his face as he realized he would not have found it on his own, at least not so quickly. He was certain of that. Attending this event was definitely worth it. There was opportunity to learn everywhere in the sect.

One just has to bother to look for it. He had worked through many types of qi absorption talismans in the past month and had never seen this particular style of structure. Either it was too advanced and he hadn't reached the point to come across it yet, or it was a custom build of an elder. Either way, he learned something new today. Seeing the whole inscription now, knowing what to look for, it was obvious. But, not noticing it, it could pass for any number of qi absorbing type shield talismans.

He smiled and wrote a note beside his inscription copy on the paper. He sat with that for a moment as the final chime rang, the envelopes rose and flew to the elder, and the next incomplete inscription appeared on the wall. Yang looked up at the display wall as the next incomplete inscription shimmered into view, and reached for his brush.