The skies had just begun to heal from the storm of the Star-Forging Furnace when a shadow seeped from the southern horizon.
It came not in thunder or fire, but ink.
Black clouds rolled unnaturally, blotting out the sun. Symbols of ancient power drifted through the air like falling feathers, glowing faintly with demonic energy. Each talisman that landed on the earth sizzled, burning holes into the ground, carving sigils of binding, corruption, and forgotten wrath.
The talisman masters of the Pathweaver Sect gathered at once, their expressions grim.
For only one sect had ever wielded such power:
The Forbidden Ink Sect—banished a thousand years ago for inscribing the "Nine Hells Seals," talismans so powerful they could rewrite a cultivator's fate, soul, or bloodline.
They were thought extinct.
They had simply been waiting.
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The Nine Hells Talismans
A sealed scroll was delivered to the Pathweaver gates, bound by cursed thread and divine flame. Within it was a challenge and a warning:
> "The Nine Hells are open.
Let those who still believe in balance come to the Scroll of Judgment.
Talismans decide fate—not blade or pill.
If you refuse, your sect's name will be erased… letter by letter."
With it came a cursed talisman—an empty name seal. One that could erase a cultivator's identity from every record, inscription, and memory. A terrifying threat.
Sect Master Wei gathered the Talisman Pavilion, led by the youthful genius Liang Shu, a student who once turned raindrops into explosive paper sigils during a beast siege.
Liang Shu stepped forward.
"Let us answer with truth, not fear. Let them see what real talisman art looks like."
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The Realm of Sealed Ink
The scroll opened a portal to a hidden dimension—the Realm of Sealed Ink, a battlefield where thoughts became scripts, where every combatant fought not with body or weapon, but with brush, seal, and spirit.
Ten Forbidden Ink disciples waited there, each inscribed with moving tattoos and talisman tattoos wrapped around their bones. Their leader: Ink Sovereign Yama Suun, who had turned his heart into a living talisman that rewrote pain into power.
Liang Shu and the Pathweaver talisman team stepped forward.
Their tools were not demonic. They wielded:
The Cloud Ink Sutra, which made wind into sigils.
The Heaven's Binding Array Scroll, which froze enemy qi flows.
And the Heartstroke Flame Glyph, which could turn a simple word into an inferno.
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The Duel of Scripts
The battle was unlike any other.
Each round began with a word.
The word became a symbol.
The symbol became a formation.
And the formation became a storm.
Liang Shu wrote "Shield" in three strokes—each one formed a flying paper barrier that redirected Yama Suun's Blood-Script Spears.
A disciple wrote "Silence," sealing the enemy's voice, preventing them from chanting a forbidden spell.
One talisman team wrote "Break," and the floor beneath the enemy shattered into inkstone shards.
Yama Suun countered with "Erase", a cursed glyph that made three disciples forget how to summon their own talismans—mid-battle.
But the Pathweaver students had a secret.
In the library's depths, the Main Character had uncovered "The Mirror Scroll"—a forgotten technique that let one rewrite enemy talismans in real time.
In the final duel, Liang Shu faced Yama Suun directly. The Sovereign wrote a terrifying word:
"Oblivion."
A sigil that could wipe someone from reincarnation.
But Liang Shu smiled.
And wrote "Reflection."
The Oblivion Talisman turned, reversed, and struck its caster.
Yama Suun screamed as the forbidden ink on his body began to unravel, unable to bear the mirrored curse of his own sin.
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The Sealing
Liang Shu didn't destroy them. Instead, he wrote a single, ancient symbol:
"Return."
And with it, the entire Forbidden Ink Sect was sealed inside a scroll—bound not in hatred, but in a chance for redemption. A pocket realm of ink and memory, preserved for study and future reform.
The Realm of Sealed Ink collapsed.
And Pathweaver's talisman arts soared to new heights.
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End of Chapter
With ink and will, the Pathweaver Sect defeats the reborn Forbidden Ink Sect and claims mastery over the Nine Hells Talismans—turning ancient evil into a tool of future growth. The balance of arts deepens once again, and a new legacy is inscribed.
Next: Chapter Nineteen – The Five Divine Beasts and the Formation That Split Heaven
Shall we continue?