Unreasonable

No customers came, so Qin Yang simply hung up a sign and went to the backyard to experiment with the newly acquired skill book, "Introduction to Talismans."

The skill books he'd gotten before, though not many, were scattered here and there—unfortunately, most were things like lock-picking techniques, soup-brewing secrets, and barbecue marinade recipes...

As for cultivation-related stuff, the best one was the Azure Cloud Art he was currently practicing. Among the four grades—Scripture, Canon, Method, and Art—this Azure Cloud Art was only a low-grade "Art," but its strength lay in being balanced and gentle, solidifying the foundation. If he got a better technique later, switching would be easy with no restrictions.

This time, finally pulling out an "Introduction to Talismans," whether for personal use or making money by crafting talismans, his status shot up instantly.

After all, before this, the talismans he made were all basic ones, missing the most crucial talisman core. Over the past year, Qin Yang had tried, but the success rate for completing a full talisman was too low, and he didn't have the capital to burn through practice, so he'd set it aside.

Now that he'd unlocked this skill book, he had to churn out a batch first—whether for sale or personal gear, at least his combat power would skyrocket. Back in the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb, if he'd had a hundred or so talismans on him, he'd have crushed those wedding-escorting Ghost Soldiers long ago, instead of burning Spirit Incense at such a steep cost...

He took out the basic talismans he'd stockpiled before, mostly the popular five-element ones, or Wind Travel Talismans for travel...

A thick stack of talismans sat on the table, two inches wide and five inches long, crammed with dense runes and various talisman paths in a small space, except the center—the most critical talisman core spot—was blank.

"Strength depends on the core"—though that saying was a bit one-sided, the core did account for most of a talisman's power. With the same basic talisman, the difference in the core could decide whether the finished product was low-grade, mid-grade, or even high-grade...

He picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, rolled up his sleeve, and set the tip down. It felt instinctive. The moment the brush touched, Qin Yang's eyes sharpened slightly. True Essence flowed, and a white light an inch long emerged from the brush tip, brimming with spiritual energy. It landed on the talisman paper, and in an instant, the tip danced and shifted, lifting after just a few strokes.

Immediately, at the talisman's core, a simple red rune lit up, then a red glow spread, sweeping across the entire talisman. The other runes and paths flared in turn, linking together, enveloping the whole talisman in a layer of red light. After a moment, the light faded, and the paper remained.

But now, looking at it, there was an obvious added layer of spirit and charm. When he picked it up, a faint warmth came through.

After a quick appraisal, an unexpected expression crossed Qin Yang's face...

A mid-grade magical talisman...

Even the lowest-grade Burning Talisman, its power was definitely stronger than Qin Yang's own full-force strike. More importantly, it was continuous damage—even a low-grade Magical Artifact would struggle to block it.

This was just an introduction? Kidding me? An introduction and it's this strong? A mid-grade magical talisman was the limit at the Qi Cultivation Stage. A high-grade one would exceed that limit, with power comparable to a strike from a cultivator who'd built their Dao Foundation...

Better than expected. Qin Yang got fired up and started filling in the cores for the basic talismans one by one.

Making basic talismans was laborious, but filling in the cores? The consumption was terrifyingly low, yet the difficulty was over ten times higher than making the basics. No wonder talisman masters were so rare...

Three hours passed. Qin Yang started with Burning Talismans and Fireball Talismans, then moved to Small Cloud Rain Talismans, Wind Travel Talismans, Small Earth Wall Talismans, Small Golden Spear Talismans, and Small Withered Wood Talismans. In one go, he filled the cores for all the basic talismans prepared in the shop.

Over a hundred basic talismans in total, all turned into mid-grade magical talismans, with one lucky one becoming a high-grade magical talisman.

A high-grade magical talisman—its power was comparable to a full strike from a Foundation Establishment cultivator wielding a Magical Artifact...

Too bad that high-grade one was a Small Cloud Rain Talisman, meant for watering spirit fields...

And there was only one of them. It nearly drained all his True Essence dry.

"Sigh..." He let out a reluctant long sigh, then casually put away that high-grade Small Cloud Rain Talisman. He'd planned to study ink talismans further, but now he had no energy left.

Mostly spent, he was about to sit down and meditate to recover True Essence when the shop door exploded into fragments with a bang.

Behind the scattered debris, a large foot slowly descended, stepping into the shop.

Qin Yang looked up and frowned slightly. The newcomer wore a dark cyan long robe, around twenty-something, looking very sharp. At the center of his belt was a green gem, and the belt itself was covered in dense talisman paths—this was a Storage Belt, far more advanced than the low-grade Storage Bag Qin Yang had...

Glancing sideways, he caught a "Ten Thousand" character embroidered on the man's sleeve...

"You the shopkeeper? Done corpse collecting before?" The young man fanned a hand in front of his nose, as if smelling something foul, his face full of disgust. "Just as I thought, a Corpse Collector. Looking at you, you're practically a corpse yourself..."

Tossing out that line, he turned and walked out, while two Servants following him stepped in. One of them, equally disgusted, swept a glance at Qin Yang, his tone dripping with arrogance.

"Kid, you're in luck. Looking at your weak-chicken act, you've probably never seen a big shot like this, right? Scared stiff? Listen up—this is our Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce's Steward Qiu. He's got a job for you. Three hundred one spirit. Let's go, don't waste time. Steward Qiu's time is precious..."

As the words fell, the Servant was already standing beside Qin Yang, looking like he'd drag him off if he said no.

"I'm talking to you, what are you staring for? Look at you, three hundred one spirit and you're stunned?"

"Alright, keep it down. This guy's spiritual energy fluctuation is at most Qi Cultivation Layer Two. It's normal he's never seen such a big sum..." The other Servant chimed in with a sneer.

The two Servants flanked him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him out. Qin Yang's eyes flickered, but he said nothing, letting them drag him out of the shop.

Once outside, he saw seven more people, all from the west side of the city who'd done corpse-collecting work.

Seeing this, Qin Yang gave a bitter inward laugh. He'd just been thinking that those two disciples from Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce and Boundless Dao Academy definitely couldn't trace it back to him. The witnesses were dead, the two clients were buried in the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb, which was now nearly impossible for the living to enter, and that Imperial Concubine De was probably going mad—no one could track him down...

Who would've thought, after all that scheming, he never counted on Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce not bothering to investigate at all. They just brute-forced it, digging up everyone in the west side who'd done corpse-collecting work...

If he believed this was purely about corpse collection, Qin Yang would sooner die than buy it.

Still, it was fine. His True Essence hadn't recovered, and these people took him for a weakling...