House-Protecting, Evil-Banishing

Zhou Yi flipped through the booklet several times and committed it to memory.

What a breakthrough into the innate realm improved was not merely martial strength—or rather, martial strength was only the outward appearance. In truth, it was the transformation of essence, qi, and spirit into a higher form of life.

His memory was now not far from being able to remember everything at a glance.

"I had originally thought martial arts had reached a bottleneck, so I would seek out a few techniques to cultivate. Now that I have talisman arts, once I master them, I can count as half an immortal cultivator."

Cultivators regarded crafts such as talismans as arts for protecting the Dao. Immortal cultivation methods were the foundation of attaining the Dao; seeking techniques without the foundation was putting the cart before the horse.

Zhou Yi had already obtained the Longevity Dao Fruit, so he viewed matters differently from cultivators.

Every means in the world that could increase one's strength, whether cultivation methods, talismans, artifact refinement, or anything else, was an art for safeguarding the Longevity Dao Fruit.

"Talisman brush: made from white fox tail fur. A century-old white fox is best."

"Talisman paper: still tanned beast hide. The older the beast, the higher the success rate..."

Zhou Yi had no need to hunt personally. Shenjing was where the finest things in the Fengyang Kingdom gathered. Rare and precious goods such as century-old white fox fur would certainly be sent to Shenjing for sale.

If he did not have enough silver, he could buy on credit first!

The next day.

When Zhu Xiaowei heard that the petty thief in the Heavenly Prison had already been eliminated, he naturally noticed that Yu Jie had vanished. Putting the two together, he could not help but be horrified. The other party had entered the Heavenly Prison through his connections.

"Old Zhou, you are the pillar that holds up our Heavenly Prison!"

News of Zhou Yi tempering his body into his organs would reach the Brocade Guard before long. Someone would surely come to recruit him.

The Zhou family had served as prison guards for five generations. Their background could not have been cleaner, and they were far more trustworthy than martial experts recruited from the jianghu.

"Rest assured, Lord Zhu. I cannot bear to leave the Heavenly Prison either."

Zhou Yi would be lying if he said he was not tempted by the talisman inheritance that might be hidden in the Imperial Prison, but he had more than enough patience to wait for the right opportunity.

Time would always stand on Zhou Yi's side!

One month later.

The talisman brush and talisman paper were successfully made.

Following the booklet, Zhou Yi taught himself to draw talismans. Naturally, he could not succeed at first. True essence gathered at the brush tip, yet he simply could not make it meld into the talisman.

"Nothing in the world is difficult, as long as the hand grows familiar!"

In the blink of an eye, two years passed.

Zhou Yi's life followed the same three points and one line, calm and uneventful, though he heard plenty of major news from his colleagues.

At the beginning of the thirteenth year of Hongchang, not long after Zhou Yi broke through to the innate realm, the Fengyang Kingdom and Great Yong formally signed a peace agreement.

The Minister of Revenue submitted a memorial saying the treasury was empty and requested the northern border army be disbanded. Since the Emperor Hongchang ascended the throne, wars great and small had never ceased over thirteen years. It was a perfectly reasonable justification.

Rumor had it that Chief Minister Zhang Zhengyang, in the Hall of Heavenly Mandate and before the Emperor Hongchang and the entire civil and military court, respectfully asked Li Wu, "This matter is of great importance. The border army can only be disbanded with Duke Who Pacifies the Nation's approval!"

As for what happened afterward, all sorts of versions spread among the people. Some said Li Wu cursed the Chief Minister out in court, while others said Li Wu yielded. In the end, seventy percent of the million-strong northern border army was disbanded.

The court was in turmoil, and the jianghu was no less treacherous and unpredictable.

At some unknown time, a rumor emerged that the Cang Family, a wealthy clan in Jiangnan, possessed a demonic art that could devour others' inner qi.

The Cang Family had risen from an insignificant local clan. In barely over ten years, top-tier and first-rate experts had appeared one after another, as though every member of the family had become a martial genius blessed with extraordinary talent.

Moreover, the Cang family specialized in inner qi, which matched the rumors spreading through the jianghu.

In the fourteenth year of Hongchang, the Cang Family was besieged by more than a dozen sects led by the Buddhist and Daoist faiths. Over a thousand people died, and not even the old, weak, women, or children were spared.

Someone asked Master Fang Yuan of Huasheng Temple, "Did the Cang Family truly possess a demonic art that devoured others' inner qi?"

Master Fang Yuan wore a compassionate expression and recited a Buddhist invocation.

"Amitabha. Perhaps someone found it."

Once these words spread through the jianghu, Buddhism gained another stain on its name. The various sects and gangs mocked it for quite some time, but after a few months, no one mentioned it again.

After all, too many major events happened in both the jianghu and the court. Buddhism could not occupy the headlines for more than a few days.

For instance, Zhou Yi becoming a first-rate expert was considered major news in the Heavenly Prison and could still stir some ripples in Shenjing, but in the Fengyang Kingdom as a whole, it did not even count as a splash.

The Brocade Guard sent people to recruit him, first offering the rank of Xiaowei, then raising the terms to Little Banner.

Zhou Yi refused several times in succession, and the matter was dropped.

People's eyes always followed the newest people and events. Two years passed, and no one paid attention to a mere prison guard anymore. When he was occasionally mentioned over drinks, people would even spit out a contemptuous insult.

"Even if a man like that is an expert, he is still mud that cannot be plastered onto a wall!"

At the end of the thirteenth year of Hongchang, close to New Year's Eve.

An imperial decree spread across the realm. The Crown Prince position, which had stood vacant in the Fengyang Kingdom for many years, finally found its owner.

The eldest prince, Zhao Xian, had married the legitimate daughter of Imperial Tutor Zhang Zhengyang.

"No wonder he could rise to become Chief Minister. Still vigorous in old age indeed—not something an ordinary man can manage!"

Zhou Yi clicked his tongue a few times, then put the matter out of his mind.

The court and the jianghu were like drifting clouds and mist to him, nowhere near as interesting as talisman arts.

After two years of copying and drawing, wearing out several talisman brushes and ruining an unknown amount of talisman paper, drawing the four types of talismans had become nearly instinctive. The intricate strokes flowed through in one breath.

True essence gathered at the brush tip and merged into the talisman along with each stroke. The cinnabar on the talisman paper became crystalline and translucent.

Pop!

With a soft sound, the true essence in the cinnabar scattered, and the talisman paper crumbled into powder.

Zhou Yi had long grown accustomed to it. He carefully recalled why he had made the mistake, replaced the paper, and continued drawing.

Over two years, he had gone from knowing nothing to entering the gate, pondering and correcting mistakes one by one. Zhou Yi had a feeling that the day he completed a talisman was not far off.

"My talisman paper is almost gone. I have to go buy a few more on credit."

Zhou Yi had heard that the Fierce Tiger Gang in the south of the city had recently acquired a white tiger hide, and its gang leader had even held a tiger-appreciation banquet.

"Since we are fellow disciples of the Five Tigers Fist, I ought to borrow it for use!"

The leader of the Fierce Tiger Gang was Luo Hu's disciple. Back then, he had not joined the rebellion. Later, while the martial hall was being sealed by the Brocade Guard, he took the later portions of the fist manual and the nourishing medicine formula. He had now become a major figure in his own right.

"...Though the void is empty, the spiritual talisman forms itself!"

Zhou Yi's Spirit Soul was utterly clear and still. As the final stroke fell, a faint spiritual glow flickered over the talisman paper.

"Eh? It did not shatter!"

Surprise rose in Zhou Yi's heart. He picked up the House-Protecting Talisman and examined it carefully. It was exactly as described in the booklet, though he did not know whether it actually worked.

He infused it with true essence, and the talisman burst into flame without fire.

An invisible, intangible ripple swept across the entire courtyard.

At that moment.

It was the depths of winter, and the night was still and silent.

Suddenly, gusts of icy wind swept through the courtyard, carrying mournful wuwuwu sounds.

"Who is it?"

Zhou Yi's eyes flashed like lightning as he abruptly looked toward the jujube tree in the courtyard.

Where there had been nothing at all, clumps of black mist now floated in the air. They vaguely resembled human figures, with only two points of red light on each face.

He turned toward the grape arbor where he usually ate, drank tea, and drank wine. Some hid atop the trellis, some sat on the stone stools, and even two ghostly shadows lay sprawled over the dining table.

More than a dozen pairs of scarlet eyes stared venomously at Zhou Yi, as if they might pounce upon him and bite at any moment.

"Ghosts?"

Zhou Yi felt no fear whatsoever. Instead, he was brimming with interest as true essence gathered into a hand and seized one ghostly shadow.

The instant the ghostly shadow touched the true essence, it let out a shrill scream and dissolved into nothingness.

"That was far too fragile. It cannot be called a ghost—at most, it is something like a remnant soul."

True essence shielding his body, Zhou Yi walked toward the ghostly shadows.

Wuwuwu...

The venomous, ferocious-looking ghosts were frightened into retreating again and again. In the end, they packed themselves into the corner of the wall, layered upon one another like smoke and mist.

"You died at my hands while alive, and even after becoming ghosts, you still dare not resist. Boring! Boring!"

With that, Zhou Yi condensed his true essence into a sword edge. It darted back and forth through the ghosts several times, killing every last one of them once more.