First Attempt at Talisman Drawing

Under the moonlight, a young man sat cross-legged, his eyes tightly shut.

His breathing was long and steady. One inhale and one exhale took half an hour to complete a cycle.

Gradually, a scorching warm current flowed into his limbs and bones as his magic power circulated through a full cycle.

The trickling stream of magic power traveled along the meridians within his body, rising through the Governing Vessel, breaking through the three passes of the Tail Gate, Spine Clamp, and Jade Pillow. It passed through the lower, middle, and upper dantians, crossed the Magpie Bridges above and below, then returned to the lower dantian, completing one full cycle.

After one cycle, Chen Yan felt as though his entire body had been soaking in a pleasantly warm hot spring. He felt comfortable, content, and utterly at ease.

After three cycles, he could clearly feel that the magic power in his dantian had grown a trace stronger.

Mm, a trace.

It had gone from the thickness of one strand of hair to two.

Though the improvement was exceedingly slight, such visible growth left Chen Yan especially satisfied.

He did not continue cultivating. Daoist cultivation emphasized moderation; going too far was as bad as not going far enough.

However, Chen Yan's "cultivation" was not over yet.

After finishing the Shang Qing Xuan Jing Qi Induction Art, he still had the Five Grains Qi Nourishment Record waiting for him to eat.

Ah, no, waiting for him to cultivate.

Feeling refreshed, he went to the kitchen and cooked the finest five grains into five huge buckets of rice. Once all the grains had entered his stomach, a warm current rose up, transforming into a thread of pure magic power that flowed into his dantian. Chen Yan wore a blissful, satisfied smile.

He cultivated for one day and got the equivalent of two days from others. How could he not be happy?

For the time being, he was not short on money either.

After the Blood Wolf Gang was wiped out, Zhao Gang had sent someone to deliver nearly three hundred taels' worth of silver notes. This was Bloody-Eyed Wolf Pang Heng's reserve, enough for Chen Yan to use for a month.

By the time he finished cultivating, the sky had gradually brightened. The sun revealed a playful corner of itself, and shafts of sunlight pierced the clouds, dyeing Shanxi Town in gold.

Though he had not slept all night, cultivating the Shang Qing Xuan Jing Qi Induction Art was sleep to Chen Yan—its effects were even better than actual sleep.

After three cycles, all the exhaustion in his body had vanished. The results were excellent.

He was in no hurry to go to the county office and ask Old Daoist Liu for his Daoist robe. The All-Encompassing Great Tonic Soup would arrive in seven days anyway, so he could collect them together then.

During these seven days, Chen Yan planned to properly study the Daoist scriptures Old Daoist Liu had given him, shore up his shortcomings in cultivating Daoist arts, and broaden his knowledge of the Martial Dynasty's cultivation world.

Leaving aside anything else, Chen Yan knew nothing at all about Wu Yan's Yin Fire Talisman Sword. Yet all of this was recorded in the secret accounts of the Martial Dynasty's cultivation world that Old Daoist Liu had provided.

And of course, there was also the talismanic Daoist art he had been given long ago—the Tai Wei Eight Sceneries Record.

Chen Yan had long coveted Old Daoist Liu's Daoist talismans, which could be called exquisitely supernatural.

Since the Tai Wei Eight Sceneries Record had not been imparted by the Heavenly Book of Merit and had no method of direct empowerment, Chen Yan had not even entered the door yet. If he wanted to learn this talismanic art, he could only rely on himself.

Talismans were one of the most important components of Daoist arts.

They were divided into "innate talismans" and "acquired talismans."

Innate talismans emphasized channeling power and completing the stroke in one go—the so-called "a spark of spiritual light is itself a talisman." Acquired talismans, on the other hand, were far more cumbersome. They required setting up an incense altar, offering incense, inviting the gods, purifying one's body beforehand, then purifying one's hands, mouth, and so on.

The Tai Wei Eight Sceneries Record passed down by Old Daoist Liu belonged to the former category: innate talismans. There was no need for a cumbersome incense altar or to invite the gods. A talisman brush, a sheet of yellow paper, and a box of cinnabar were enough.

He set a table in the middle of the small courtyard. Under Facai's curious gaze, Chen Yan spread out a sheet of yellow paper, held the talisman brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and began his first attempt at drawing a talisman.

The talisman he drew was precisely the Dragon Soaring Jade Divine Talisman that Old Daoist Liu often used before, meant to trace the tracks of Evil Spirits and Ghosts.

Daoist talismans generally consisted of five elements: the talisman head, the presiding deity or Buddha, the talisman belly, the talisman core, and the talisman foot.

The talisman heads of the Eight Sceneries Talismans all began with "three dots." This represented the Three Pure Ones talisman head, symbolizing the generation of life and something arising from nothing. It also carried the meaning of the Three Powers, corresponding to man's essence, qi, and spirit; Heaven's sun, moon, and stars; and Earth's water, fire, and wind.

The moment he set brush to paper, Chen Yan sensed a mysterious spiritual radiance stirring. The magic power in his dantian involuntarily flowed through his meridians into the talisman brush, then entered the yellow paper.

The presiding deity or Buddha was generally the patriarch of a given sect. Since Chen Yan did not know who Old Daoist Liu's patriarch was, he could only continue using the Three Pure Ones as the talisman body.

The first three steps went smoothly. He reached the most important part of drawing a talisman—the talisman core.

The talisman core was the soul of a talisman command, the master of the talisman. Whether a talisman could fully display its efficacy depended to a great extent on whether a talisman core stood guard within it.

The talisman core of the Dragon Soaring Jade Divine Talisman was undoubtedly True Person Chonglong Yudaowei, one of the Eight Sceneries.

The method of drawing Chonglong Jade surfaced in his mind. Chen Yan held his breath and calmed his mind as the talisman brush in his hand descended steadily.

Unfortunately, since it was his first time drawing a talisman, he used too much force. The talisman core came out too large, and all his efforts came to nothing.

Chen Yan remained composed and did not grow impatient. He spread out a second sheet of yellow paper and began again from the start.

And so, Chen Yan immersed himself in talisman drawing for the entire day.

The process was exceedingly tedious, and all sorts of problems cropped up. Sometimes he failed to control his magic power output, exhausting it before a talisman was even finished. Other times, he used too little force, leaving the talisman core without spirit and producing a fake talisman that was neither fish nor fowl... the list went on and on.

From the moment the sun rose until the sunset, then until night descended and a bright moon climbed into the sky, Chen Yan finally succeeded in drawing a Dragon Soaring Jade Divine Talisman.

"I finally succeeded!"

His eyes were bloodshot and filled with fatigue, yet they could not conceal his delight. Chen Yan gazed at the spirit talisman in his hand, overjoyed.

The talisman radiated clear spiritual light, with divine radiance appearing and vanishing faintly. Crimson cinnabar outlined mysterious patterns that exuded an obscure Daoist charm. It was exactly like the Dragon Soaring Jade Divine Talisman Old Daoist Liu had used before.

Ignoring the fact that barely any magic power remained in his dantian, Chen Yan impatiently pinched the spirit talisman between his fingers. His gaze sharpened as he chanted:

"Disciple Chen Yan beseeches True Person Chonglong Yudaowei to aid me. Swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!"

As the chant fell, the freshly drawn Dragon Soaring Jade Divine Talisman ignited without wind, transforming into a wisp of clear breeze that entered Chen Yan's nose.

The next moment.

Chen Yan's nose visibly swelled by an entire size, exactly like Old Daoist Liu's before, prompting Facai in the tree to laugh without end.

Chen Yan rolled his eyes at Facai, then focused his attention on his nose, curiously sensing this brand-new feeling.

In an instant, countless scents flooded into Chen Yan's nostrils.

The fresh fragrance of earth, the aroma of food from cooking smoke, the meaty scent of steamed buns from roadside stalls... and so on.

With the Dragon Soaring Jade Divine Talisman's enhancement, these ordinarily subtle smells had been amplified more than a hundredfold. Chen Yan could even clearly smell the roast chicken from Drunken Fragrance Tower ten li away.

"Hmm? A faint bloody smell mixed into the scent of rouge?"

"Uh, has someone come upon her monthly blood? Sinful, sinful..."

He hurriedly dispelled the talisman art. Joy still remained in Chen Yan's eyes as he looked at his personal panel. Without question, after a full day of painstaking talisman drawing, the Tai Wei Eight Sceneries Record had finally reached the introductory level.

The facts proved that Chen Yan did have some talent for talisman drawing. Perhaps because his soul was naturally stronger from crossing over, drawing talismans consumed far less of his energy than it did for others, allowing him to spend more time practicing.

Thus, for the next seven days, Chen Yan practiced his saber in the morning, drew talismans in the afternoon, read the Daoist Canon at night, and cultivated late into the night. Every day was packed to the brim.

After seven days of drawing talismans, Chen Yan successfully produced nine spirit talismans: three Dragon Soaring Jade Divine Talismans, three Spirit Bell God Manifestation Talismans, and three Benefit Calendar Spirit Transformation Talismans. They corresponded to the nose, eyes, and ears respectively.

On the evening of the eighth day, Chen Yan finished cultivating early and did not draw any more talismans. At daybreak, he headed straight for the county office.

The All-Encompassing Great Tonic Soup had arrived!