Gu Linshu understood her intention, but couldn't help asking out of curiosity, “Then what... what is your real name?”
She had never told him or his parents her true identity.
Wen Li looked into the distance and saw that entering the city in the Kunlun Domain required registration, even for cultivators. She pulled him along toward the line.
“Wen Li—Wen as in warmth, Li as in dawn,” she transmitted via divine sense.
“...” Gu Linshu gave a subtle nod, silently repeating it in his mind. It sounded quite pleasant, yet somehow faintly familiar.
“Hey, who's that?!”
“That's the Saint Son of the Kunlun Domain, Xiang Yanguan! I didn't expect him to return from his experiential training. They say the Saint Son is ranked sixty-seventh on the Five Provinces Aptitude Ranking! At fourteen, it took him only ten years to successfully establish his foundation, whereas ordinary cultivators take at least seventy years.”
!
Right, the Aptitude Ranking!
Gu Linshu suddenly looked up, staring at Wen Li in utter shock. “Y-You're the top—top, top... mgh!”
“What are you spacing out for? We're queuing.”
Wen Li reached out, pinched his mouth shut, and pulled him into the crowd to avoid the long procession of the Kunlun Domain's Saint Son.
Gu Linshu transmitted to her via divine sense, “You're Wen Li, the number one on the Aptitude Ranking?!”
“Hey, you don't stutter when transmitting via divine sense.”
Wen Li's attention immediately landed on that. “You should have said so earlier! From now on, just use divine sense whenever you have long sentences to say. It's much easier on my ears.”
Although transmitting voice drained mental energy, it was also a great way to temper one's divine sense.
“Oh.”
Gu Linshu flushed with embarrassment. Seeing that she didn't deny it, his eyes turned back in shock toward the white spire carriage of the Kunlun Domain's Saint Son entering the city.
So that was the Saint Son of the Kunlun Domain.
The inner gates swung open as an entourage descending from the sky marched through. Eight white warhorses paved the way, while ten Golden Core winged tiger-lions pulled a sacred, pure-white spire carriage in the center. Dozens of male cultivators in white-and-gold robes flanked it on either side as guards.
White cranes unfurled their wings to guide the way around the four sides of the carriage, bringing a refreshing surge of spiritual energy wherever they passed.
The onlookers around them were not required to kneel or perform formal salutations; they simply had to remain quiet and refrain from causing a commotion.
Wen Li transmitted via divine sense to Gu Linshu, “Where are you on the Aptitude Ranking?”
Gu Linshu had somewhat forgotten, but after thinking carefully, he said, “Thirty-seventh. It took me five years.”
“Not bad.” Wen Li nodded. As expected of the direct Kunlun Domain bloodline—the real Saint Son took five years less than the fake one.
【System, isn't this Kunlun Saint Son the chosen male lead of Gu Linshu's main storyline? How is his talent worse than Gu Linshu, the villain? By the way, can I kill him?】
【Host, the villain has to be buffed up so that defeating him makes the male lead look even more extraordinary! It's all about suppressing before rising, achieving sudden fame! The Aptitude Ranking only measures innate talent. There's also the Xiangang Ranking, which records all the grand figures throughout the cultivation world who have broken through beyond the Mahayana realm—that's the true stage where the Chosen display their grandeur. A friendly reminder, dear host: you cannot kill the Chosen! If you kill a Chosen, the Heavenly Dao can simply replace them with another, but not only will you suffer backlash, the plot surrounding the villain will also change. They would no longer be villains, and your mission objectives might be altered!】
Wen Li pondered, 【Then what if... one Chosen kills another Chosen?】
The system froze. 【Uh... that scenario doesn't seem to have happened before. I'll go check.】
The two registered under fake names and cultivation levels, collected their entry tokens, and entered the city.
Gu Linshu transmitted, “Where are we going?”
Wen Li transmitted back, “The Eastern Province.”
“Oh.”
Gu Linshu nodded instinctively. The Eastern Province... Did the Kunlun Domain have such a place? Wait.
“Where?!” This time, the kid was startled right into blurting out aloud.
...
After entering the Kunlun Domain, Wen Li first took Gu Linshu to an inn to rest.
“Draw a talisman for me to see.”
Reclining in a rocking chair, she tossed a peach into the air. Hold On transformed into a kitchen knife, slicing back and forth with speed that left afterimages. When the peach fell back into her hand, its fuzzy skin had been completely peeled away.
Gu Linshu's eyes gleamed as he watched. He also wanted a sword that resonated so harmoniously with him.
“A-Alright!”
The white-clad youth pulled a writing brush tucked beneath his headband and spread a blank yellow talisman paper on the table. When the brush touched the talisman paper, cinnabar flowed automatically from its inner space, leaving behind faint golden ink traces infused with his spiritual energy.
The youth bowed his head in deep concentration, his expression refined and noble, his brushstrokes flowing like dragons and serpents in one continuous motion.
In less than ten seconds:
“It's finished.”
Gu Linshu picked up the talisman and handed it to Wen Li with both hands.
Wen Li took it with a casual glance, but her gaze suddenly froze. Her eyes locked onto every character and drawn pattern. With a flick of her finger, a wisp of spiritual energy shot into the talisman.
Boom!
In the next instant, an enlarged talisman pattern ten times its original size manifested in the air behind it.
At a single glance at the exquisite rotating inscriptions, a vigorous attack surged forth, turning into eight golden-glowing giant palms that charged straight at Wen Li!
Wen Li tossed away the peach and waved her hand.
Bang!
A blast of formidable spiritual energy formed a two-meter-long blade, directly swatting the eight giant palms away.
Wen Li narrowed her eyes and looked at Gu Linshu, who stood by looking utterly dazed. “Who taught you your talisman fundamentals?”
“I... I've loved reading since I was young. I s-saw a book with talisman illustrations and started c-copying it when I was four. When I grew a bit older, my father gave me a bit of g-guidance,” Gu Linshu answered truthfully.
He had grasped the Dao at age four just when learning how to hold a brush. Only now did Wen Li understand the meaning behind the script's words, "Gu Linshu possesses extraordinarily high talisman talent." If not for this child being destined to form an affinity with the Dao of the Sword later in life, Wen Li would have genuinely suspected he had been possessed by some old monster sword cultivator.
“Though you are obsessed with the Dao of the Sword, you must also cultivate talismans diligently. This is your innate gift, and you should put it to good use. If the two can be combined...” Wen Li nodded, giving him a reason he couldn't possibly refuse: “Others will remember you as a sword cultivator who excels at crafting talismans. No other sword cultivator has that ability.”
That would be so much cooler!
Hearing this, the adolescent boy's eyes brightened, and he nodded firmly. “Mm!”
Wen Li could tell that the writing brush in his hand was a high-grade magical artifact. With a flick of her finger, the red sandalwood and gold-jade brush flew into her hand. She flipped over the talisman Gu Linshu had just drawn and began to draw on the back.
Gu Linshu looked down and immediately discerned what she was doing.
She was drawing the exact same talisman he had just made.
No, not only was her talisman identical to his down to the finest detail, but she had also added several inscriptions he couldn't comprehend—all in under five seconds.
With a swift lift of her hand, the final stroke was complete. Wen Li pushed the brush back into Gu Linshu's hand and gave a casual flick. The paperless talisman on the table, composed purely of golden spiritual energy, instantly flew up and hovered vertically in midair.
It too expanded tenfold, but this time, the light radiating from the talisman illuminated the room with blinding intensity.
Boom!
In the next moment, what flew out from the transparent talisman was not eight palms, but only one. Yet this single palm alone was larger than all eight of Gu Linshu's palms combined!
The massive palm hurtled toward Gu Linshu, so clear that he could even see the intricate palm lines etched across its surface.
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