Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 56: Three-Array Talisman

The Pegasus was violent by nature. Because Xu Chengyu had gotten in its way, it immediately changed targets. It beat its wings hard, stirring up a surge of spiritual energy, trying to swat Xu Chengyu away.

Xu Chengyu dodged to the side, turning his face slightly. In the next moment, the stream of spiritual energy from the beast’s wings slammed into a distant rock wall, blasting open a massive hole.

He raised his hand and wiped two fingers heavily across his cheek—one of the sharp quills flung off the Pegasus’s wing had grazed him and left a cut.

Twisting his right wrist, Xu Chengyu raised his sword and struck. The sword aura was piercing and fierce, aimed straight at one of the beast’s wings.

Man and beast clashed fiercely on top of the canopy. If Cheng Huaian hadn’t reinforced it with talismans, the hanging basket would have swayed even more violently.

"It looks like Brother Xu can handle that demon beast," Ye Su said, watching through the mirror mounted at the side.

"We need to think about how to get out of here," Cheng Huaian said.

Below them stretched a seemingly bottomless drop. Around them were grayish-yellow walls of stone and mud. They had been descending constantly, and when they looked upward, the surface seemed to be getting farther and farther away. In every other direction, nothing was visible—it was as if they had fallen into a long, narrow crevice in the earth.

"What’s that…" Lu Jiu suddenly pointed into the distance and said, "A whole group of Pegasuss!"

Everyone followed the direction of her finger—and were stunned. A swarm of Pegasuss was flying toward them from the other side.

One Pegasus was something Xu Chengyu could handle. But a whole pack? That could trample them all into meat paste.

"We’re really done for this time," Ma Congqiu said urgently.

Cheng Huaian scanned the area around the basket. "The barrier won’t hold for long."

They couldn’t go back up, and they weren’t descending fast enough. At this rate, the Pegasuss would collide with them head-on.

"We need to descend quickly," said Ye Su. Since going up wasn’t an option, they had to take the risk and fall to the bottom. Maybe they’d discover something unexpected there.

Lian Lian stood by the edge of the basket. Her striking face showed no expression. "Use the Qianjin Talisman."

The Qianjin Talisman increases gravity. If stuck on someone with a weak cultivation, it could even crush them to death. Drawing this kind of talisman required at least mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation.

"I’ll draw it," Cheng Huaian said as he walked to the center of the basket. He knelt on one knee and began to wave his hand, guiding the spiritual energy around him to draw the talisman on the basket’s floor.

Ye Su stood beside him, watching each stroke carefully. Her hand, hanging at her side, began to move slightly, unconsciously stirring the spiritual energy in silence.

No one else noticed—except for Lian Lian. She sensed the alternating flows of spiritual energy. Looking around, her gaze finally landed on Ye Su’s subtly moving fingers.

She frowned. How could someone manipulate energy without a spiritual artifact? Wasn’t she just in the early Core Formation stage? Ye Su couldn’t draw a full Qianjin Talisman, but a faint talisman shape was beginning to form.

Kneeling on one knee, Cheng Huaian reached the final stroke. He suddenly cut his index finger and sealed the talisman with blood.

That final stroke seemed to drain all his strength. His face turned pale instantly, and he had to brace himself with one hand on the ground to avoid collapsing.

At the same time, a white light flashed from below, and the entire basket began to plummet rapidly. Even the umbrella canopy couldn’t slow it down.

"Senior Brother! Get in!" Zhou Yun shouted toward the top.

Xu Chengyu didn’t try to hold on any longer. After injuring the Pegasus with one final sword strike, he jumped sideways into the basket.

Ye Su withdrew the barrier just in time. Moments later, the enraged Pegasus stomped down on the canopy, smashing a huge hole through it.

Luckily, the basket was falling so quickly that it rapidly moved out of the beast’s reach. Ye Su raised the barrier again and glanced up at the hole in the canopy, feeling a bit regretful.

They had planned to remove the talisman after the rapid descent and save it for later use if needed. But in the end, it got torn by the beast's stomp.

"Fellow Daoist Cheng?" As soon as Xu Chengyu entered, he saw Cheng Huaian half-kneeling on the ground. Seeing how pale he looked, he couldn’t help but ask, "Are you alright?"

"Forcing a leap in level to draw a talisman drains the talisman master’s spiritual blood. He’ll recover after some time," Lian Lian said calmly as she helped Cheng Huaian up and fed him a healing pill.

Xu Chengyu was injured too. Several thick, short spikes were lodged in his shoulder. Zhou Yun went over to help pull them out and applied a medicinal salve to the wounds.

"We’re still going down," Ye Su said, looking at the mirror. "The Pegasus didn’t follow us."

"Could it be that there’s a different demon beast at each level?" Lu Jiu guessed.

"Maybe," Ye Su replied, glancing outside. With the Qianjin Talisman, their descent had become extremely fast—the stone and mud walls on both sides were now just a blur.

Cheng Huaian steadied the injuries within his spiritual core and looked at the others. "When I sealed the talisman just now, I seemed to sense an immensely powerful talisman force."

He was already a rare talent among talisman cultivators. By sealing the talisman with his spiritual blood, he not only completed the Qianjin Talisman, but also briefly harnessed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to infuse it with deeper talisman intent.

However, Cheng Huaian felt that what he drew upon at that moment wasn’t just the energy of heaven and earth—he also tapped into some unknown spiritual energy from deep below.

After hearing this, Lian Lian formed a theory. "There’s only one explanation for why this place seems endless."

"What is it?" Ma Congqiu asked.

"This is a path to a ‘Realm’—but because we haven’t figured out how to reach that Realm, we’re stuck falling endlessly," Lian Lian explained.

Ma Congqiu frowned and thought about it. "But… what kind of Realm path is filled with so many demon beasts?"

"A cultivator with great power can shift mountains and fill seas. What couldn’t they do?" Lian Lian countered.

She wasn’t wrong. Even without bringing up those ancient deities from before the Godfall era, the current world’s top cultivators already had sky-piercing abilities.

As Ye Su listened to their conversation, she subconsciously thought of the Dark Realm. That was also a kind of realm, but so far, she hadn’t sensed any real danger from it—it felt more like a place designed to assign tasks and teach lessons.

"If we can’t find a way into the Realm, wouldn’t that mean we’ll be stuck falling forever?" Ma Congqiu looked around. "But how are we supposed to find the way?"

Cheng Huaian stepped forward. "Since I sensed something when I drew that talisman beyond my level, I can try a few more times. If I can grasp the complete talisman intent, maybe we’ll be able to get out."

"You’ll get hurt," Xu Chengyu warned.

Cheng Huaian casually tossed a lock of hair back over his shoulder, knelt down again, and smiled. "Getting hurt is still better than being trapped here forever."

What he was drawing now was a searching talisman.

One… two… each one drained his mind and spirit immensely.

Cheng Huaian looked as though he had just been pulled out of icy water—completely soaked. Though he was shaking badly, the hand he used to draw talismans remained rock steady and moved with fluid precision.

"Dao gives birth to Dao, talisman connects with intent—seal!" His index finger was stained with blood. With the final stroke, he pressed the talisman firmly against the ground.

"Found it!" Cheng Huaian forced down a mouthful of blood and gritted his teeth as he shouted to Lian Lian nearby, "Senior Sister, draw it out!"

As the others looked on in confusion, Lian Lian quickly stepped forward, supporting Cheng Huaian with one hand while pulling out a jade and gold brush with the other. She began drawing a talisman in the air.

She was only in the late Core Formation stage, so she still needed a spiritual artifact to assist her. The brush acted as the medium, and the shaft was filled with golden sand.

Even so, it was extremely difficult. Her hand trembled uncontrollably, and by the time she finished drawing just one talisman, her face had gone as pale as Cheng Huaian’s.

The others in the basket could only watch. They were anxious, but there was nothing they could do to help.

Lian Lian barely managed to complete one talisman and had no strength left to continue. Her previously bright and beautiful face now looked ghostly pale. She suddenly turned to Ye Su.

"You draw it."

"Draw what?" Ye Su stared at the brush being handed to her and froze in surprise.

Lian Lian stared at her. "I know you memorized the talisman I just drew. Draw that one."

And so, Ye Su was pushed into it like a duck driven onto a perch—she had no choice but to pick up the jade-and-gold brush.

"Draw," Lian Lian said as she took a step back.

At this crucial moment, Ye Su didn’t ask any questions. She followed the method Lian Lian had just used—guiding energy into the brush, connecting with the path of talismans through the heavens and earth, turning the intangible into form. As she moved the brush through the air, golden symbols slowly appeared.

It was the first time she truly felt the energy of talismanic power through her own brush. All her previous brushes were just ordinary artifacts, completely unlike this jade-inlaid one she held now.

"Now draw this one," Lian Lian said, pulling a talisman book from her qiankun bag, flipping to a page, and holding it out to Ye Su.

Ye Su was speechless… wasn’t this a bit too hasty?

"Who learns to draw talismans on the spot?" Even Zhou Yun couldn’t stay quiet. "What if she messes—"

Before she could finish, she saw that Ye Su had already started drawing.

She could actually draw it… That was insane.

The three sword cultivator disciples from the Sword Sect had plenty of experience working with talisman cultivators, but they had never seen anyone draw talismans like Ye Su.

Weren’t talisman masters always saying you had to spend ages learning just one before you could really understand it?

Lian Lian saw Ye Su finish and flipped through a few more pages in the talisman book before stopping. "And this one—the Three-Array Talisman. Draw the whole thing."

Ye Su glanced at it. Talisman arrays were different from individual talismans. The formation was a circle with inward-pointing corners, connecting three points. Each point held a smaller talisman inside.

She stared at it for less than fifteen minutes, then looked away, closed her eyes to steady herself, and finally opened them again and began to draw.

The Three-Array Talisman was something only late Core Formation cultivators could draw. Even mid-stage ones needed to burn spiritual blood to attempt it.

Yet Ye Su had only just broken through to the Core Formation stage, and within such a short time, she had memorized the array—and was already drawing it.

But Lian Lian didn’t have time to think about that now. Her eyes were fixed on Ye Su’s hand, watching each stroke carefully, worried there might be a mistake.

A single misstroke could ruin the talisman—or worse, cause injury to the talisman master.

Thankfully, Ye Su’s hand was incredibly steady. Not a single mistake.

After all, she had been trained in the Dark Realm. Hundreds of talismans with different strokes and wildly varying styles—she had practiced each one repeatedly.

On the surface, it seemed she had only just started learning talismans, but in the Dark Realm, the hours she had spent drawing them couldn’t even be counted.

With enough practice, your hand just remembers.

For Ye Su, learning a new talisman was simply part of her daily routine.

Still, the Three-Array Talisman was meant for late Core Formation talisman cultivators. By the time Ye Su reached the last symbol, the jade-inlaid brush in her hand was moving with great difficulty.

She thought about using spiritual blood like Cheng Huaian had, but she had no idea how to activate it.

At that exact moment, her sea of consciousness suddenly began to boil over, sending her spiritual core into chaos.

Ye Su kept trying to calm her breath, hoping to stabilize her spiritual core and quiet her consciousness.

"What’s happening?" Lian Lian noticed her slowing down, a flash of worry in her eyes. Then she softly chanted beside Ye Su, "Heaven’s path forms true shape, talisman follows the heart, purify the spirit, transform!"

Ye Su instinctively repeated the chant after her. Her chaotic mind began to settle, and her hand started to move again, finally reaching the part of the array that sealed the talismans.

Seeing this, Lian Lian said, "Draw the blood, raise your level, form the talisman with your path—complete!"

Ye Su followed her instructions again. A drop of spiritual blood emerged from her fingertip, sealing the array.

In that instant, the entire hanging basket was flooded with dazzling light. It was so bright that no one could keep their eyes open, and the whole structure shook violently.

Ye Su was about to reach out to grab something for support—when a cool hand gently took hold of hers.