Green Smoke Rising From Your Ancestor's Grave

Earlier, Zhen Qingchun had intentionally left some information unsaid, and so Du Shaofu wasn’t taught the proper basics! All Zhen Qingchun did was tell Du Shaofu the profound esoteric to condensing a Spirit Talisman Cauldron and left it at that.

From the beginning, Zhen Qingchun doesn’t believe this brat could successfully condense a Spirit Talisman Cauldron, and at that time, won’t this brat come to beg him; and he (ZQC) will teach this brat a lesson in respecting elders!

Imagining this scene, Zhen Qingchun’s wretched face bloomed like a chrysanthemum; then turned into a wasp of smoke and spiraled back into the little tower.

Deep in the mountain behind Du Clan’s compound, Du Shaofu was immersed in trying to comprehend; his hands continued to form seals similar to what Zhen Qingchun did before. Runes appeared and swirled in front of him with strong energy fluctuation sweeping the area, but a barrier seemed to hinder his progress. The runes shattered and dissipated when it reached when Du Shaofu lagged behind.

But he didn’t give up; his hands went through the seal many times over, and as he progresses the runes multiplied. Without knowing time slowly passed and with every try, the runes before him lasted longer than the last try.

If Zhen Qingchun seen this, no one knew how he would’ve felt as the scenario once again fell out of his expectation.

The Demon Scale Tiger lazily stretched its four limbs on a piece of flat rock, closed its eyes and took a nap. Occasionally its big eyes opened a tiny slit to check on Du Shaofu before going back its nap.

Time passed and night came. From morning till now Du Shaofu hasn’t moved away from the spot he was; seals continuously changed in his hands, fully forgetting the time being totally engrossed.

Evening, when the sunsets glowed like a fireball that was about to be swallowed by the horizon, and ribbons of reddish orange glow brushed mountain the peaks leaving a tint of rust.

“Boom!”

When night blanketed the sky, suddenly deep within the mountain a terrifying breath rushed out. Runes lined according to certain rules and condensed into a cauldron that radiated scorching temperature. Runes flickered and hopped, giving off a powerful oppressive aura.

A hot cauldron materialized out of thin air, but it has a dimmer outline than Zhen Qingchun’s Spirit Talisman Cauldron, even the runes aren’t as bright. However, the five colors of white, green, black, red, and yellow were glaring as the bright sun. Other than the five colors on the cauldron’s body, on its lid was a glimmer of golden runic patterns.

At this point, xuanqi from his Shenque and meridians were pulled into the cauldron, and xuanqi rushed out from his body like a strange beast was greedily devouring everything.

“Spirit Talisman Cauldron! You, you actually condensed it out, how is this possible!”

Zhen Qingchun’s illusionary spirit body appeared beside Du Shaofu, and on that wretched and immature looking face, Zhen Qingchun’s eyeballs nearly dropped to the ground. His jaw remained hanging for a long time. This brat used only one day’s time to condense a Spirit Talisman Cauldron.

“White, green, black, red, and yellow, the five-colored element. Impossible! My eyes must be seeing illusion!”

Zhen Qingchun blinked and blinked a few more trying to deny the unbelievable scene before him. If those old monsters found out about this, all of them would scramble out here to take the brat as a disciple.

“Chi~!”

The Spirit Talisman Cauldron floating in front of Du Shaofu dissipated and his face was a little pale as his feet staggered back some steps. In such a short time, all his xuanqi exhausted making it difficult to maintain the cauldron; to Du Shaofu the experience was tiring than a great battle.

“Kid, you really haven’t condensed a Spirit Talisman Cauldron before this?”

Zhen Qingchun's stare was fixed on Du Shaofu’s body. Otherwise, how could it explain what happened just now.

“No. was my cauldron a failure?”

Disappointment can be seen in Du Shaofu’s bright eyes; condensing a Spirit Talisman Cauldron was quite difficult, harder than he had first imagined.

Hearing Du Shaofu’s reply, Zhen Qingchun rolled his eyes. From his observation, and the innocent look on this kid’s face, he believed Du Shaofu was telling the truth.

“No, you had successfully condensed out a Spirit Talisman Cauldron. It has metal, wood, water, fire and earth, all the five elements which means your Spirit Talisman Cauldron is one of the best.”

Zhen Qingchun was speechless; this kid can only be described with one word – freak. Clearly, a human yet cultivates the Golden-winged Garuda’s technique, in just one day he could condense a Spirit Talisman Cauldron and it was a five-colored one at that. Other than freak what else can be used to describe Du Shaofu.

“It was a success? I thought it was a failure. I used one whole day before I can do it, is my talent really that terrible. How long did you take on your first try? You definitely used a shorter time than me.” obvious disappointment was written all over Du Shaofu’s pale face.

“You…!”

Zhen Qingchun whirled into depression, how was he supposed to answer such a question, how can he tell this freak kid that he took one month’s time even with careful guidance before he successfully condensed his Spirit Talisman Cauldron out. Zhen Qingchun truly wanted to smash a block of tofu onto the innocent face in front of him. This kid was basically born to make him look bad!

“Ai, I already know my talent isn’t good enough to become a Spirit Talisman Master, but at least I can condense a cauldron out.”

Noticing Zhen Qingchun silence, Du Shaofu was even more certain of his poor talent. His feeble voice said, “Right, just now you say my Spirit Talisman Cauldron has five elements, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, is one of the best cauldron, was does that mean?”

At this moment, Zhen Qingchun felt like giving Du Shaofu a flurry of kicks for making him feel so depressed.

Unfortunately, Zhen Qingchun knew for the time being he lack the power to abuse Du Shaofu as he like, when he had healed fully he must abuse this kid till he had fully vented. Taking a deep breath to suppress his annoyance Zhen Qingchun explained, “Talisman runes have different branches of development which made it more complicated than a warrior. Strictly speaking, they are Alchemist, Refiner and Array Masters; like their title implied, an Alchemist Master researched things related to herbs and pills whereby a Refiner Master refines weapon and other tools.”

“What about an Array Master?” Du Shaofu was surprised; he didn’t know that a Spirit Talisman Master branched out so wide.

Zhen Qingchun’s eyebrow rose, “Array Talisman Master is the rarest of the three, and it is recognized as the most terrifying existence.”

“Rune arrays,” A light lit up in Du Shaofu’s eyes; he had heard that each Array Masters was terrifying existence and with just one array laid out they could single-handedly rival an empire.

Du Shaofu inhaled deeply to calm himself down, then asked another question, “Does that mean an Alchemist or Refiner Master wouldn’t have any accomplishments in arrays?

“Of course not, it’s hard to find even one Array Master within ten thousand Spirit Talisman Masters, and an Array Master is the pinnacle amongst Spirit Talisman Masters; each one supersedes the rest, a godlike existence.”

Saying this, Zhen Qingchun’s expression was bursting with pride, looking at Du Shaofu he said, “And I am an Array Master, a godlike existence. You must have burned a lot of joss sticks to be able to meet me; green smoke must be rising from your ancestor tomb for this fateful meeting.”

Du Shaofu rolled his eyes at Zhen Qingchun, “Your words are so mighty, then there is no need for my xuanqi.

Du Shaofu scored another win against Zhen Qinchun, the arrogance earlier shattered into smithereens and curled away by the wind, “A human’s body is full of mystery, in every person, there are five elements energy in them. The difference lies in how strong or weak these energies are, for a Spirit Talisman Master, those with fire and wood are suitable for medicinal attainments. Metal and water on a Spirit Talisman Cauldron meant the person is more suitable for refining.

Notes:

Titles were changed to Alchemist, Refiner for convenience.

Green smoke rising from Ancestor’s Grave is a phrase (?) referring to someone very fortunate.