Chapter 694: Communication Talisman
Upon returning to the villa, Yang Haoran, as always, plunged into his study, where he began to draw talismans.
The first type of talisman he drew was the Ground-Escaping Talisman, essential for fleeing danger.
While this talisman was quite challenging to draw, and his current abilities made crafting it somewhat strenuous, the Ground-Escaping Talisman was an excellent means of escape. He wanted to prepare a generous supply, ensuring that everyone close to him had at least one. Therefore, a little extra effort was entirely acceptable.
Besides the Ground-Escaping Talisman, he also attempted to draw another type of high-grade talisman, as it would prove immensely helpful in the current situation.
This talisman was called the Communication Talisman. It shared a similar ingenious design with the Concordance Talisman, also coming in pairs, but the Communication Talisman was significantly more advanced than its counterpart.
Once a Concordance Talisman was activated, its paired talisman would react, vibrating in response. The higher the grade of the Concordance Talisman, the stronger and longer-lasting the vibration would be upon activation. This type of talisman was a single-use consumable.
However, if the two parties hadn't communicated before using the Concordance Talisman, the recipient would have to guess the other party's intentions after the talisman was activated.
The Communication Talisman was different. It could directly transmit the sender's thoughts or words to the recipient, and either party could initiate this. It didn't even require Talisman Spirit Power; other forms of power could also activate the Communication Talisman to achieve its purpose.
Like the Concordance Talisman, the Communication Talisman also came in pairs and was a single-use consumable; a single use would deplete both talismans in the pair.
However, this only applied to Yellow Talisman-grade Communication Talismans. For Black Talismans or even higher grades, the situation was entirely different, with more advanced Communication Talismans allowing for a greater number of uses.
Compared to the Concordance Talisman, the Communication Talisman was vastly superior. Although the Communication Talisman was not a lost art within the Talisman Order, it was certainly not a common commodity easily found everywhere.
In terms of grade, the Communication Talisman was definitely inferior to a lost art like the Ground-Escaping Talisman. Yet, one could not deny the Communication Talisman's value and practicality based solely on that. In the past, the Communication Talisman might have seemed like a chicken rib, as its use was largely limited to secret communications, given how easily phones could be intercepted.
But the situation had changed. With mobile phones rendered useless, the value of the Communication Talisman immediately became apparent, and its utility now extended far beyond mere secret communication.
However, the Communication Talisman was not something one could simply buy with money like a mobile phone. In the past, with connections and pathways, one might have been able to purchase it with New Beginning Coins. But now, even with connections and pathways, it wasn't guaranteed. Firstly, New Beginning Coins had depreciated, and secondly, the value of Communication Talismans had risen significantly.
In this era of chaos, the importance of the Communication Talisman was self-evident, and Yang Haoran, naturally, understood this, which was why he devoted time to drawing it.
Although the Communication Talisman was also a relatively high-grade talisman, it was still somewhat less complex than the Ground-Escaping Talisman. Therefore, Yang Haoran found drawing it less headache-inducing than the Ground-Escaping Talisman, and his success rate was considerably higher, though still lower than that of some formidable Yellow Talisman Masters.
Two days later, Yang Haoran made another trip to the Ghost Cave, handing Tang Shi several pairs of Communication Talismans and instructing him on their use. He then collected the Spiritual Art Tang Shi had copied, and without lingering, he departed from the Ghost Cave.
After leaving the Ghost Cave, Yang Haoran didn't immediately return to his villa as was his custom. Instead, he made a trip to Ancheng, where he found Xu Meijing and gave her a few pairs of Communication Talismans and several Ground-Escaping Talismans.
Handing these two types of talismans to Xu Meijing brought Yang Haoran a sense of ease. Considering the situation in Lecheng, he did not tarry long in Ancheng and quickly hurried back to Lecheng.
Upon returning to Lecheng, Yang Haoran immediately summoned Xiujuan, then brought out all the Spiritual Arts and secret spiritual arts, allowing Xiujuan to choose which one she preferred to cultivate.
After careful consideration, Yang Haoran decided it was best to first let Xiujuan choose one Spiritual Art to cultivate. Only after she had truly succeeded in cultivating it would it be time to consider other Spiritual Arts.
Xiujuan was absolutely obedient to Yang Haoran's commands. Without a single word of unnecessary chatter, she followed Yang Haoran's instructions and selected a Spiritual Art she liked from the many available.
As these Spiritual Arts and secret spiritual arts were not to be publicly known, and given that this was Yang Haoran's residence and not the Ghost Cave, he dared not openly display these techniques in his study, nor did he dare to directly hand all the Spiritual Arts and secret spiritual arts in his possession to Xiujuan, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble.
He intended to store these techniques in his independent space, including the Spiritual Art Xiujuan had chosen. Once Xiujuan had memorized it, he would likewise put it into his independent space, for only there did he feel they would be truly secure.
When Xiujuan successfully cultivated the chosen Spiritual Art, he would then take out all the other Spiritual Arts for her to choose from; there was no need to give her all of them at once.
Subsequently, Yang Haoran spent more time drawing Ground-Escaping Talismans and Communication Talismans, which he then gave to Xiujuan, Bai Xue, and others close to him for self-defense. Ye Zhiqiu, however, did not receive any, as he had left the villa after successfully refining the Skin and had not yet returned.
Days turned into weeks, and in the blink of an eye, half a year had passed since the dissolution of the Supreme Administrative Council.
By now, ordinary people in the New Beginning Realm had already come to accept the existence of demons, ghosts, and extraordinary individuals in this world, though this acceptance was forced upon them rather than actively embraced.
Demons and ghosts evoked feelings of both hatred and dread in ordinary people.
Extraordinary individuals, on the other hand, inspired reverence and adoration.
This was because the former committed all manner of evil, even taking lives, while the latter, being human like themselves, would protect their lives.
Of course, this was merely a naive perspective held by some ordinary people. While many demons and ghosts caused trouble in the world today, not all of them participated in such acts; there were still those who preferred to live in reclusion, untouched by worldly affairs.
By the same token, although extraordinary individuals possessing special powers were all human, they were not necessarily all good. While a large portion of them undoubtedly protected humanity and this world, there were also extraordinary individuals whose actions were far more cruel than those of any demon or ghost.
Over these six months, the entire New Beginning Realm was embroiled in daily warfare. Some cities were besieged and annexed, some were razed to the ground by their adversaries overnight, and some were even brutally massacred. The once prosperous and peaceful New Beginning Realm had long ceased to exist; now, war and slaughter were commonplace, and this was only the beginning. No one knew how many more years this conflict would endure.
Naturally, not all cities had erupted into war. Some, for various reasons, had temporarily escaped the conflict, and Lecheng was one of them.
In the past six months, demons and ghosts had indeed continued to visit Lecheng, with ghostly entities frequently emerging to harm people, and monsters occasionally appearing to snatch people for a meal. However, compared to other cities or nations that had experienced or were currently experiencing war, Lecheng was relatively fortunate. At the very least, no other forces had marched their armies into Lecheng, sparing it from the ravages of war. Otherwise, Lecheng would likely be riddled with scars by now.
If it had to face not only demons and ghosts but also invading armies, such a small city surely could not have withstood it. Fortunately, none of that came to pass.
Lecheng did not fall, and besides good fortune, another reason was its extreme poverty; there were no valuable resources worth fighting over, which meant no other forces bothered to covet Lecheng.
No one knew what the future held, but for now, Lecheng had not been targeted. Precisely because of this, compared to the war-torn cities and nations, Lecheng was relatively safe, though this safety was merely relative.
And during these past six months, although Yang Haoran saw no other changes in himself, his strength experienced a dramatic leap in improvement.
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