Chapter 81: The Protective Talisman Succeeds!

Chapter Eighty-One: The Amulet Is Complete!

Shi Bai picked up the red object, leaving Old Li and the vegetable seller dumbfounded.

The thing was reddish-brown, with neat edges and an unusual, beautiful shape. Even the vegetable seller, with little education, recognized it immediately—what else could it be but lingzhi?

Yet this lingzhi had been torn from one of his mushrooms, which he had just sold to Shi Bai for only nine mao! Though lingzhi was no longer a particularly rare medicinal ingredient in modern times, it was still far more valuable than ordinary mushrooms; even if the seller sold all his mushrooms, he couldn't afford a single piece like this!

Realizing this, the vegetable seller nearly went mad. He grabbed more mushrooms from his stall and began tearing them apart.

"The one I sold him had it inside, so the others must too!" The vegetable seller was desperate now, willing to give up selling all the mushrooms.

Shi Bai shook his head helplessly. "Even if you tear apart every mushroom in the world, you'll never find anything else. Don't waste your money."

The vegetable seller shot Shi Bai a glare so memorable that Shi Bai would never forget it, for it was truly classic.

The look seemed to say: You took my lingzhi, and now you’re making light of it? Get out of here!

Shi Bai sighed again—being a good person was always hard. He and Old Li returned home.

Once home, Shi Bai quickly took out three items: the ruby, the jade, and the thousand-year lingzhi.

According to the blueprint, to craft an amulet, he needed to burn these treasures with Samadhi True Fire. But where could he find such a fire?

Shi Bai pondered—perhaps he could activate a quest and obtain Samadhi True Fire that way.

Even if he got the fire, how would he burn these items? He couldn’t just torch them directly; he needed a pot or furnace.

He glanced at his kitchen wok. "This will have to do."

He swiftly uncovered the wok, tossed in five or six rubies, a large chunk of jade, and the lingzhi. Then he activated his task: "Self-created quest—let the gas stove produce Samadhi True Fire."

"Self-created quest successful. Task initiated."

Shi Bai licked his dry lips in anticipation and rubbed his hands together, then twisted the stove knob open.

With a boom, a golden flame erupted, instantly burning the iron wok to ashes.

Shi Bai leapt back. "No wonder even Sun Wukong couldn't withstand this fire—if it touched me, I'd be crippled or worse."

Strangely, though the wok was gone, the three treasures remained. Bathed in Samadhi True Fire, they glowed brilliantly, their inner energy awakened.

Shi Bai blinked in surprise—the process seemed correct. According to the blueprint, he needed to smelt them for one hour, which meant two hours.

He stayed to watch the smelting process.

The two hours passed—both slow and fast—as Shi Bai watched the treasures melt, solid turning to liquid, liquids mixing and reacting in fascinating ways, until they became a pool of rainbow-colored matter.

Under the Samadhi True Fire, impurities evaporated, and the mixture slowly formed into three round beads. The beads floated skyward, spinning in pursuit of one another, until their glow faded and they gently landed in Shi Bai’s palm.

Shi Bai gazed at the beads—he couldn’t tell what they were made of. They looked like glass, or jade, but felt wooden to the touch, translucent and lustrous, with mist swirling inside.

A fragrance reminiscent of ginseng and musk deer wafted from the beads, uplifting the spirit.

Shi Bai’s heart trembled—something so precious, he feared it would dissolve in his mouth or slip from his hand.

But they were finally made. He wanted to experiment.

Since it was an amulet, it should ward off harm. Shi Bai first set a protection task for himself, then picked up a kitchen knife and tried to slash his own arm.

"Let’s hope this works."

As the blade neared his arm, at a mere two millimeters away, a shield appeared, like a wall of light, blocking the knife. No matter how hard Shi Bai tried, he couldn’t cut through.

Shi Bai smiled with satisfaction. "Excellent!"

He instructed Old Li to buy two jewelry cords, stringing the beads into three bracelets. He gave one each to his parents. With that, the amulets were complete.

With these, ordinary attacks were useless—no blade, spear, club, axe, hook, or meteor could harm them.

With this assurance, Shi Bai finally let go of his worries, stretched out on the soft sofa, and began pondering who had tried to assassinate him.

Now, he was no longer an ordinary person—economically, he was a billionaire CEO; in terms of influence, he was mentor to local magnates like Ye Rulong and Li Jiankui. He was just a step away from being the undisputed first figure in the ancient city.

Given these circumstances, there were many who might want him dead: business rivals, enemies of the Ye family, or those he had offended at the martial tournament.

Thinking of this gave him a headache, so he called upon the system. "Self-created quest: Let me identify my current enemies."

"Self-created quest successful. Task initiated."

Normally, one would send subordinates to investigate such matters. If he failed, he’d do nothing. So Shi Bai took a sip of Lafite and turned on the TV.

But just as he did, the doorbell rang. His parents were out, so Shi Bai had to answer himself. Peering through the peephole, he immediately set a task: "Let Chief Qiao possess me!"

Outside was the very man who had tried to assassinate him that morning.

Though Shi Bai didn’t know why the man dared to knock so boldly, with Chief Qiao’s spirit possessing him and the amulet in hand, he felt no fear.

He stood quietly by the door and replied lightly, "Coming." Then he suddenly flung open the door and grabbed the intruder’s neck with a Dragon Claw.

"Who sent you?"

The criminal raised his hands in panic, face pale and shaking his head, signaling he was about to suffocate.

With Chief Qiao’s skills, it was indeed possible to kill him by force. Shi Bai tapped a few pressure points and dragged him inside.

Released, the man coughed fiercely but could breathe freely again.

Seeing his color return, Shi Bai demanded, "Speak—who are you? Why did you come here? Who sent you to kill me?"

The man caught his breath. "Please let me explain—I've come to surrender!"