To advance to the Nascent Soul stage, Xiao Fei decided to embark on a long journey to acquire spirit stones. The vast quantity required might draw the peril of death upon him.
For the sake of his own life, he sought out the two old ancestors to trade for poison pill recipes and the refining methods for the Thousand Mile Teleportation Talisman.
Either one of these treasures would be sufficient for him to find refuge and ensure his safety in the face of Nascent Soul cultivators.
While Ancestor Shangguan's poison could not be refined for now, the Thousand Mile Teleportation Talisman could be.
The two most precious raw materials for the Thousand Mile Teleportation Talisman were talisman paper and talisman ink.
Talisman paper could be made from the bark of spiritual mulberry trees over a thousand years old, or from several specific thousand-year-old spiritual herbs.
Furthermore, the older the materials, the better their quality, allowing them to contain more spiritual energy and thus enabling longer teleportation distances.
When Xiao Fei was in the Foundation Establishment stage, he had used a Thousand Mile Teleportation Talisman that could only teleport him a hundred kilometers.
This type of talisman, due to its materials only reaching a rudimentary level, suffered a severe reduction in its teleportation range.
To truly achieve teleportation over a thousand miles, it was necessary to use materials that were ten thousand years old.
Such ten-thousand-year-old rare spiritual items had only appeared a few times in the entire history of the Eastern Continent.
Each appearance had caused a bloody storm, and the corpses of cultivators who died in these events could have encircled the Eastern Continent several times over.
The talisman he had used last time, capable of instant teleportation over 800 li, was at least refined from 8,000-year-old spiritual materials, almost reaching the limit.
Xiao Fei reviewed the types of talisman paper materials. He did not have the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, but he did have a thousand-year-old spiritual mulberry tree.
A long time ago, he had planted a yellow mulberry tree in his space, and then chopped it down even longer ago.
The chopped yellow mulberry wood was used by him to refine a bow and arrow, but he was usually benevolent and disliked conflict, so he had never used it.
This yellow mulberry tree was over two thousand years old when it was chopped down. He couldn't use the bark at the time, so he had kept it, and now it was perfect for use.
The yellow mulberry tree he had planted in his space had propagated many smaller trees, which had now grown into towering giants.
In addition to the talisman paper materials, the creation of talisman ink required the vital blood of a Nascent Soul stage demonic beast.
The last time he had beaten a Nascent Soul stage sea snake to death, its blood had flowed everywhere. To avoid waste, he had collected it all.
Additionally, he still had the corpse of a Nascent Soul stage demon in his possession. He was unsure if the vital blood of demons was useful.
Xiao Fei busied himself for a few days, refining all the thousand-year-old yellow mulberry bark he had into talisman paper, over a hundred sheets in total.
Then came the preparation of talisman ink. He had most of the materials, and for the few he lacked, he contacted Fei Xin, who sent people over the next day.
Besides preparing a batch of talisman ink using the vital blood of the Nascent Soul sea snake, he also prepared another batch using the vital blood of the Nascent Soul demon. Since he had over 100 sheets of talisman paper, he could use twenty or so sheets to conduct experiments.
He had practiced talisman crafting before when he was trapped at the bottom of the canyon in Eagle Mountain Kingdom, and later, when he was bored in his space, he would occasionally make a few talismans.
While not as masterful as alchemy, he had a certain foundation in talisman crafting.
It was inevitable that there would be failures in his first attempt at crafting such high-level talismans. After losing some materials, his refining became increasingly smooth.
A month later, Xiao Fei sat in his cave dwelling, a stack of talismans in his hand. There were a total of 46 sheets, the sum total of his labor.
Among these 46 talismans, two had slightly different colors, appearing darker, with residual demonic energy.
These were the ones he had refined using twenty sheets of talisman paper and the demon's vital blood. He had not yet tested their specific efficacy.
Xiao Fei walked out of his cave dwelling and headed towards Huang Feifei's adjacent cave dwelling.
Huang Feifei's cave dwelling was decorated very simply and tidily, showing no trace of a female cultivator.
"Feifei! I'm planning to go on a long trip."
"Alright! I'll go pack my luggage right away!" Huang Feifei prepared to pack without any hesitation.
"Feifei, wait a moment!"
Xiao Fei intended to go alone and did not plan to bring Huang Feifei. Seeing her so eager now made Xiao Fei feel a bit reluctant to disappoint her.
"Young Master! Do you have any other instructions?" Huang Feifei asked with a hint of confusion.
"It's like this, I'm going out this time, and there are still many matters at home that I can't let go of.
We offended the Black Blade Sect last time. They wouldn't dare to cause trouble at the Lu Gate, but they might trouble the Treasure Pavilion.
The Treasure Pavilion has branches in various locations, and several merchant caravans are traveling outside, all of which could become targets for their retaliation.
Also, the training of the guard team requires your constant management and supervision.
Only by having you stay at home, to look after things in case of any unforeseen circumstances, can I feel at ease."
Xiao Fei spun a tale of deceit, speaking with conviction. The foolish girl Huang Feifei truly believed him, thinking that her staying at home was indeed very important.
"Don't worry, Young Master, I will definitely help you guard the house!"
Huang Feifei was a little disappointed that she couldn't accompany Xiao Fei on his adventures, but she still promised him with determination.
"When you are traveling alone, you must pay attention to your safety. If anyone dares to bully you, remember to send a message back, and I will exterminate their entire clan."
"I have a few Thousand Mile Teleportation Talismans here. Keep them on you for self-defense. If you encounter danger, don't fight head-on; escape if you can."
After leaving a few Thousand Mile Teleportation Talismans, Xiao Fei turned and rode away on his flying fish.
This time, he needed to trade a large quantity of special products from his space, involving many rare spiritual items and a huge amount of spirit stones. It was much more convenient for him to act alone.
As for safety, without the foolish girl Huang Feifei by his side, his combat effectiveness had indeed decreased significantly.
At worst, he could escape. A substitute puppet combined with Thousand Mile Teleportation Talismans and the flying fish formed an excellent escape combination.
Adhering to the principle of not eating grass near one's own den, after leaving the Lu Gate, Xiao Fei did not linger within the territory of the Wu Kingdom, crossing through two or three small countries consecutively.
One day, he appeared in Qiuyang City, the largest cultivator city in the Chishan Kingdom.
The Chishan Kingdom was close to the Great Chu Kingdom, and its cultivation world was much stronger than that of the Wu Kingdom. Among the cultivators coming and going in Qiuyang City, many high-level experts could be seen.
Xiao Fei, currently disguised as a hunched old man with white hair, leaned on a walking stick and walked unsteadily on the road, as if he would fall with a slight bump.
However, none of the cultivators passing by on the street, regardless of their cultivation level, dared to approach him too closely.
At least, the aura emanating from Xiao Fei indicated he was a Golden Core stage expert, which was not to be trifled with.
Moreover, some masters in the cultivation world, due to their excitement and peculiar tastes, liked to disguise themselves as decrepit old men or beggars, and then feign weakness to lure their prey.
Therefore, it was best to avoid any unfathomable decrepit old men or beggars encountered on the road if there was no pressing matter.
Xiao Fei was very satisfied with the effect of his disguise. After wandering shakily around the city for a while, he entered a rather large shop.