Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 54: Stinky Talisman

The area around the Endless Abyss was made of underground mudstone. No matter when they looked down, they could never see the bottom.

They had already lost track of time here, but they still had to stay alert for unknown dangers.

After Ye Su agreed, Cheng Huai’an began drawing a talisman array around the parachute cords.

With one hand, he raised his index finger like a brush—lifting, looping, and retracting—while using his thumb and pinky to draw downward, forming a talisman staff. He finished by brushing across with the three middle fingers to seal the charm.

At the same time, his other hand made a circle in the air, then drew several slanted strokes.

Cheng Huai’an clapped his hands together. A faint blue glowing charm appeared in the air, flying right into a golden circle ahead, embedding itself perfectly in the long shape formed by the slanted lines.

The pale blue glow followed the slanted lines, dyeing the entire golden circle the same blue hue.

Then Cheng Huai’an pushed his right hand forward, imprinting the square-inside-a-circle array onto the parachute cords, which vanished the moment it touched.

He didn’t use paper talismans—only spiritual energy—to create the array. This was something only a Nascent Soul stage talisman cultivator could do.

Ye Su still needed cinnabar and yellow charm paper, but she had already memorized the motion of Cheng Huai’an’s fingers.

"This is a Spiderweb Talisman," Cheng Huai’an said after finishing the arrays on all the cords. He turned to explain, "If a stone bat comes within a hundred meters, I’ll be able to detect it right away."

With the array complete and Xu Chengyu on watch, everyone suddenly had nothing to do.

Ye Su sat in the basket, head down, continuing to carve a few wooden pieces. Eventually, she pieced them together into a long table.

You Fushi sat beside her, casually reaching into her qiankun bag and pulling out a large food box, which he set on the table.

No one knew what was wrong with this little junior brother. Even though he had a new qiankun bag on his waist, he refused to use it unless absolutely necessary, always stuffing his things into Ye Su’s qiankun bag.

However, since Ye Su didn’t carry much herself, and this happened often, she had eventually set aside a dedicated space just for his things.

Across from them, Lian Lian fell speechless when she saw You Fushi take out the food box.

The pattern on the lid came from a famous restaurant in Guizong City that sold spiritual fruit wine and desserts. It was expensive—but that wasn’t even the main point. At a time like this, not only were they calmly sitting down, but someone even had the audacity to bring out wine and snacks.

You Fushi opened the lid, releasing the aroma of spirit fruit wine and pastries. He generously pushed the box toward Ye Su.

Ye Su looked at the food box. She hadn’t paid much attention to what he’d been putting into her qiankun bag, but she was certain he didn’t have a single spirit stone on him. Still, with others present, she said nothing for now.

When You Fushi opened the box, the pastries inside were still steaming.

Ye Su picked up the box and noticed a warming talisman stuck to the lid—keeping the contents at the same temperature as when they were packed.

She had only ever seen this kind of talisman once before, on the first wall she encountered in the Shadow Realm. It turned out to be surprisingly useful on a food container.

You Fushi lowered his eyes, picked up the wine pot, and was about to pour himself a drink when Ye Su snatched it away.

"You can eat the snacks, but no wine," she said firmly. The last time he got drunk was still fresh in her mind.

You Fushi stared helplessly as the mortal woman took away his fruit wine, his eyes landing on the cup in her hand. "But I already poured it."

"Mm." Ye Su suddenly tilted her head back and downed the entire cup.

You Fushi frowned. "So you did | Read more at: https://sugookie.blogspot.com/2025/05/chapter-54-stink-talisman.html want to drink it."

"I’m not interested in wine," Ye Su said as she set the cup down.

Across the table, Lian Lian had been holding back for a while, but finally couldn’t resist. She pointed at the food box. "Are those for sale? Name your price."

"They’re not for sale. They’re his," Ye Su answered bluntly.

So the group of people sat there, watching You Fushi eat his pastries.

Anyone else might have felt embarrassed, but not this one. He never cared what others thought. Sitting upright on a little folding stool, he kept a straight back with a hint of laziness and slowly enjoyed his pastries. Occasionally, he would slide a plate toward Ye Su, inviting her to share.

"Eat it yourself." Ye Su pushed it back.

Cheng Huai’an suddenly stood up, and the talisman arrays on several parachute cords lit up. "Something’s coming!"

Everyone stood up—except for You Fushi.

"What is that?" Ma Congqiu squinted as if he could vaguely see a shadow charging toward them.

Xu Chengyu extended his spiritual sense. "Stone bats."

In just a few moments, that shadow appeared in front of everyone. It looked like a massive chunk of rock floating in the air, but a closer look revealed it was actually a dense swarm of stone bats clumped together.

These stone bats flew straight toward them but were blocked by the protective barrier of the Flying Mirror Armor. However, since they came in swarms and waves, they looked exactly like a giant rock ball, slamming into the shield repeatedly, shaking the cliffside violently.

Ye Su looked up at the Flying Mirror Armor. It was Jia Ying’s personal defensive artifact, strong enough to withstand attacks from a Nascent Soul cultivator. But with so many stone bats constantly slamming into it—and some even opening their mouths to bite at the barrier, trying to tear it open—it wouldn’t last forever.

This couldn’t go on.

She carefully recalled the hundreds of talismans she had studied in the Shadow Realm and picked out a few that could reinforce the barrier. Then she pulled out her brush, cinnabar, and yellow talisman paper and began drawing.

Lian Lian immediately noticed the three items Ye Su had taken out. The setup looked far too familiar, but she didn’t think much of it. Ye Su’s identity as an artifact refiner from the Qianji Sect had long been imprinted in her mind.

After all, what proper cultivator goes around making stools and tables?

Ye Su lowered her head and quickly began drawing the talismans. She was extremely familiar with these; she had drawn them countless times in the Shadow Realm.

Inside the hanging basket, Cheng Huai’an and Lian Lian were the most knowledgeable about talismans. They stood nearby, watching Ye Su draw one talisman after another. Their expressions shifted several times, before finally settling into numb astonishment.

"Aren’t you a refiner from the Qianji Sect?" Lian Lian couldn’t help but ask.

"I am," Ye Su replied sincerely, just as she finished one talisman. "I just do a bit of talisman cultivation on the side."

Lian Lian: "…" On the side? Like it's that easy to become a talisman cultivator?

"The person who bid on those talisman books in the private room earlier—that was you," Cheng Huai’an finally remembered. He had always assumed it was You Fushi, since the Qianji Sect was mainly known for refining.

"That was me." Ye Su pulled out another sheet of yellow paper. "I taught myself talismans. They’re not very good."

Cheng Huai’an and Lian Lian fell silent again. Judging by the fact that she had only bought beginner talisman books, she was clearly a novice. And yet her drawing was smooth and practiced—every single talisman was perfectly formed, not a single one wasted.

If a disciple in the Wuxing Sect had that level of talent, they would already be an inner sect core disciple.

Ye Su stuck the finished talismans to the four corners of the barrier. She still had a small stack of unused ones in her hand.

"I’m going out to deal with them," said Xu Chengyu, who was standing closest to the stone bats and couldn’t hold back anymore.

"Wait a moment, Brother Xu." Ye Su walked over, staring at the stone bats for a long time before asking, "Do you know their weakness?"

"Stone bats group together to form something like a rock mass. Even if you scatter them, they just regroup again and again," Xu Chengyu explained. "The elders believe their bodies are extremely tough."

Still, Xu Chengyu believed in his sword—it could definitely cut them down.

"In that case, let’s try the talismans first." Ye Su loaded the stack of talismans into a charm shooter, quickly loosened a small section of the barrier, and when the ‘stone mass’ withdrew slightly, she pulled the trigger. All the talismans shot out at the stone bats. A few tried to fly in, but Ye Su threw talismans to block them and sealed the barrier corner shut before they could enter.

Whether it was their imagination or not, Cheng Huai’an and Lian Lian—closest to the 'stone mass'—noticed something strange: the stone bats' mouths were slowly closing, and their attack force was gradually weakening.

Before anyone could fully react, You Fushi, who had been eating pastries, suddenly set down his chopsticks, packed up the food box, got up, and placed it into Ye Su’s qiankun bag.

Soon after, the talisman effects began to spread further, even seeping into the inside of the barrier.

"Ugh!" Ma Congqiu let out a loud gag without any regard for appearances. His eyes watered as he said, "What’s that smell? Are the stone bats that stinky?"

No one had ever mentioned stone bats smelling this awful!

Even Xu Chengyu and Lü Jiu instinctively raised a hand to cover their noses. It showed just how awful the smell was once it spread—let alone for the stone bats outside that were struck by Ye Su’s talismans.

Some stone bats were even knocked out from the stench and wobbled away from the main group, falling out of the stone swarm.

"It’s not the stone bats that stink," Ye Su said calmly. "It’s the stinky talismans."

"What kind of talisman is that?" Cheng Huai’an asked. As a direct disciple of the Wuxing Sect, he had never seen such a talisman before.

Ye Su gave a faint smile. "A stink talisman."

Lian Lian frowned. "Those beginner talisman books you bought didn’t include any stink talismans."

Cheng Huai’an couldn’t help but turn his head to glance at her when he heard that.

"I learned it a long time ago," Ye Su said casually.

Lian Lian stared at her and said, "There are 17,661 talisman sects officially registered in the cultivation world. About 10,000 of those are already defunct or on the verge of collapse. Among the ones still active and of reasonable size, fewer than a hundred are truly operational. And I’ve never heard of any sect that teaches stink talismans."

Ye Su raised her eyebrows. She finally understood why the people from Sword Sect always said Lian Lian had talent but refused to apply herself. And why Zhou Yun always sounded so frustrated whenever he brought her up.

To know this much about the talisman sects, it really was hard to believe Lian Lian hadn’t trained in talisman arts—and instead just relied on pills every month.

Ye Su also caught that glance from Cheng Huai’an earlier. It was clear even he didn’t know whether beginner talisman books included stink talismans.

"It’s just something I picked up in a secret realm," Ye Su said without any sign of panic. "There are many paths to the great Dao, and talismans come in countless forms. Fellow Daoist, can you really claim to know every single kind of talisman?"

Lian Lian stayed silent. She truly couldn’t make that claim—especially since she hadn’t seriously practiced talisman arts in quite a while.

By now, the stone bats were dizzy and disoriented from the smell. The talismans that had hit the swarm had formed a net, trapping them inside and releasing an indescribably foul stench. All the bats had tightly shut their mouths, no longer daring to try biting through the barrier.

Even so, they weren’t willing to give up the attack. Some lost their strength and dropped out of the swarm, while others stuck together and kept ramming the barrier shield.

"This is like taking out a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of our own," Ma Congqiu said while pinching his nose. "The stone bats can still take it, but I can’t anymore."

"Just hold on a bit longer," Ye Su said as she looked at the stone swarm outside. After all, when she fired the charm shooter just now—it wasn’t only stink talismans she used...