It was a gang member who reeked of medicinal herbs. The scent was more bitter than usual herbs, even carrying a hint of pungency.
Wen Xuan transmitted that this person was likely skilled in refining poison pills.
Cultivators who were constantly in contact with spirit herbs or even toxins might have bodies that had adapted to the effects of such plants, meaning the upgraded purple mist might not necessarily work on him.
To be safe, Gu Ningyun gave Wen Xuan a Body-Fixing Talisman. If the man didn't pass out, they would use the talisman to control him first.
The Body-Fixing Talisman was another talisman Gu Ningyun had learned over the past year.
A yellow-rank top-grade Body-Fixing Talisman could freeze a Qi Refining level twelve cultivator for two quarters of an hour.
Drawing a Body-Fixing Talisman was even more difficult than a Stealth Talisman.
When drawing one, one needed to simultaneously channel the five elements as well as the three spirit energies of wind, thunder, and ice.
The principle behind the Body-Fixing Talisman was to use the spirit energy within the talisman to draw out and influence the spirit energy within the target’s body.
When the spirit energy in the target's body reached the same frequency as the energy in the Body-Fixing Talisman, the talisman's power would freeze the person from their dantian and meridians down to their very bones.
Because different cultivators had different spirit roots and internal spirit energies, the Body-Fixing Talisman needed to incorporate every type of spirit energy found in the cultivation world to ensure it worked on everyone.
Because of Zhou Fei's presence, Gu Ningyun naturally brought out a yellow-rank low-grade Body-Fixing Talisman, which she considered a practice piece.
As they approached the gang member with the herbal scent, the thick smell of medicine hit them.
Gu Ningyun became even more vigilant.
Under the effects of the Stealth Talisman, she held her guqin directly in her arms.
Sure enough, after she sent the upgraded purple mist toward the man’s nose, his eyes suddenly widened, and he opened his mouth to shout.
Before he could make a sound, Wen Xuan slapped the Body-Fixing Talisman onto him.
The moment the Body-Fixing Talisman took effect, the gang member froze in place like a stiff corpse.
Gu Ningyun had already begun playing 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》, a pure primordial spirit attack.
After the battle with the skeleton, Gu Ningyun’s application of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 had become increasingly proficient.
As the strings vibrated soundlessly, the divine sense the gang member was using to try and transmit a message was silently sliced away, dissipating into the world as strands of primordial spirit energy.
Seeing the gang member's pupils contract despite the control of the Body-Fixing Talisman, the instructions for the spirit energy and divine sense flow of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 surfaced in her mind once more.
Gu Ningyun’s heart stirred. Following the technique’s instructions, she tried to adjust the fluctuation patterns of her spirit energy and divine sense.
An invisible wave struck the gang member’s brow.
His sea of consciousness, which had been fluctuating violently as he frantically tried to push out his divine sense, shuddered and instantly became as calm as a mirror.
Gu Ningyun sensed his state through the melody and transmitted to Wen Xuan, "He’s out."
"Hiss, 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》? This melody can be used like that?" Wen Xuan sucked in a breath of cold air.
Gu Ningyun put away the guqin and the Body-Fixing Talisman.
In front of Zhou Fei, she should avoid taking out her own talismans whenever possible.
"According to the records of the melody, as long as one thoroughly researches the coordination between spirit energy and divine sense for this piece and has sufficient cultivation, one can control whether it causes dizziness or direct damage at will."
Wen Xuan nodded thoughtfully while adjusting the man's posture, propping him against the eaves without making a sound.
"If it causes dizziness and unconsciousness, isn't that similar to the effect of 《Lingtai》?"
"Not exactly."
Gu Ningyun used her divine sense to search for the next target. "《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 focuses on primordial spirit and physical attacks; its offensive capabilities are quite comprehensive. But 《Lingtai》... I feel like it's not quite aimed at the primordial spirit. It feels more like hypnosis."
"What is hypnosis?"
Gu Ningyun briefly described the concept of hypnosis from the psychology of Blue Star in her previous life. "I'm not entirely sure either, but it's something like that."
In fact, besides the musical score and the explanations for spirit energy and divine sense application at the beginning, 《Lingtai》 had another section at the end.
When Gu Ningyun was translating the ancient script for that section, she had a very strange feeling.
She recognized every character and had translated them into common script without a single error. Furthermore, after finishing the translation, she could feel the records of those characters in her memory.
But when she studied 《Lingtai》 and tried to recall that part, those characters seemed to be under some kind of seal; she couldn't look at them or dig deeper.
This feeling was somewhat like when she practiced the two cultivation techniques, the Record of Primordial Stars and the Xiaoyao Wind Records—if her cultivation wasn't high enough, she couldn't view the subsequent content.
For example, Qi Refining level one required opening the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin, while Qi Refining level two required opening the Large Intestine Meridian of Hand-Yangming on top of that.
To prevent cultivators from getting the order wrong and causing spirit energy to flow backward and run wild in the meridians, the Xiaoyao Wind Records would only show the explanation for the level one technique after qi induction. Only after she broke through to level one would the content for level two appear.
She wondered if 《Lingtai》 was in a similar situation.
After briefly finishing the discussion about 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》, Gu Ningyun placed the upgraded purple mist under the nose of the poison pill refiner and let him take two breaths. She created the illusion that he had fainted from inhaling the mist to hide the effects of the Body-Fixing Talisman and 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》.
This man had been knocked out at the primordial spirit level by 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》, while the upgraded purple mist acted on the physical level; it wouldn't interfere with his unconscious state.
Only after handling this did the two of them move to the next gang member.
By the time they had cleared three-fifths of the area, their companions from the other three directions had finished and returned to Gu Ningyun’s side.
At the city gate, where they needed to be most careful, Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan moved with even greater caution, and their speed slowed significantly.
However, with the assistance of Jiang Yao and the others, they still quickly knocked everyone unconscious and sent a message to Zhou Fei using a Spirit-Attuning Jade Token alt account.
To facilitate communication, they had added Zhou Fei as a friend and started a group chat while discussing the plan at the manor.
The Spirit-Attuning Jade Token Zhou Fei had brought out looked identical to their "alt accounts."
Gu Ningyun recalled the introduction from the worker at the Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce—only members of the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect had identity jade tokens that also functioned as Spirit-Attuning Jade Tokens.
In fact, the Xiaoyao identity jade tokens were an upgraded version of the Spirit-Attuning Jade Tokens. Besides the World Forum, chat, and friend functions, they also integrated all the functions of the floating peaks, the External Sect, various facilities, and the sect identity jade tokens.
Compared to their Xiaoyao identity jade tokens, the Spirit-Attuning Jade Tokens circulating on the market were essentially simplified leftovers of their identity tokens.
She had once wondered if other sects would ask Xiaoyao to manufacture their identity tokens since the functions were so complete.
However, she dismissed the thought as soon as it arose.
An identity jade token was proof of a disciple's identity, and the various buildings and areas within a sect were internal matters. If Xiaoyao could manufacture identity tokens for other sects, they would even know which core buildings those sects had. Those sects would have no security or privacy left in front of Xiaoyao.
The thought flashed by, and Zhou Fei's reply arrived: "Everything normal at Spirit Snake Gang base."
This meant they could now meet up with Zhou Fei and proceed to the next step of the plan.
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