Unreasonable and Overbearing

With no customers around, Qin Yang simply hung up a sign and went to the backyard to test the newly opened Skill Book, "Introduction to Talismans."

Though he had opened quite a few Skill Books before, most had been scattered odds and ends—lockpicking, soup-stewing secrets, barbecue seasoning recipes, and the like...

As for cultivation-related things, the best one had been the Azure Cloud Art he was currently practicing. Among the four grades of scripture, classic, method, and art, this Azure Cloud Art was merely a low-grade art. Its strength lay in being upright and balanced, able to solidify one's foundation. Once he found a better cultivation method later, it would be easy to switch without any restrictions.

Now that he had finally opened a copy of "Introduction to Talismans," whether he used it himself or made talismans to earn money, his standing had instantly risen several levels.

After all, the talismans he had made before were all basic talismans, lacking the most crucial talisman core. Qin Yang had tried over the past year, but his success rate in making complete talismans was too low. He did not have enough capital to burn through on practice, so he had temporarily set it aside.

Now that he had opened this Skill Book, of course he had to make a batch first. Whether to sell them or equip himself, his combat strength would soar by a huge margin. Back in the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb, if he had had eighty or a hundred talismans on him, he would have smashed those Ghost Soldiers escorting the bridal procession to death long ago. Why would he have needed to bleed himself dry burning Spirit Incense...

He took out the basic talismans he had accumulated earlier. Most were the relatively popular Five Elements talismans, while the rest were travel talismans like Wind Travel Talismans...

A thick stack of talismans lay on the table. The basic talismans, two inches wide and five inches long, were covered in densely packed talismanic runes and lines. Only the most crucial spot in the center—the talisman core—was blank.

Whether something was formidable depended entirely on its guts. Though that saying was somewhat biased, a talisman's power did indeed depend largely on its talisman core. With the same basic talisman, the difference in the core could determine whether the finished talisman was low-grade, mid-grade, or even high-grade...

He dipped his brush in ink, gathered his sleeve, and set the tip down. As if by instinct, the instant he wrote, Qin Yang's gaze sharpened slightly. As True Essence circulated, a white glow an inch long emerged from the brush tip, brimming with spirituality. The moment it touched the talisman paper, the tip darted and shifted. After only a few strokes, it lifted.

At once, a simple-looking crimson rune lit up at the talisman's core. Red light then spread outward, sweeping across the entire talisman. The other runes and talismanic lines lit up in turn, linking together and enveloping the whole talisman in a layer of red radiance. A moment later, the light faded, and the talisman paper remained where it was.

Yet when he looked at it now, it clearly seemed to possess an additional layer of spiritual charm. When he picked it up, a faint warmth reached his hand.

After examining it briefly, surprise appeared on Qin Yang's face...

A mid-grade spell talisman...

Even for the lowest-grade Burning Talisman, its power was absolutely stronger than Qin Yang's full-force strike. More importantly, this inflicted continuous damage. Ordinary low-grade Magical Artifacts would struggle to withstand it...

This was just an introduction? Was this supposed to be a joke? An introduction already had this much power? Mid-grade spell talismans were considered the limit within the Qi Cultivation Stage. High-grade spell talismans exceeded the limits of the Qi Cultivation Stage, their power comparable to a strike from a cultivator who had forged a Dao Foundation...

It was even better than he had expected. Qin Yang immediately became fired up and began filling the basic talismans with talisman cores one by one.

Making basic talismans was exhausting, but filling in the talisman cores consumed shockingly little. At the same time, it was more than ten times harder than making basic talismans. No wonder talisman masters were so scarce...

Over three hours, Qin Yang started with Burning Talismans and Fireball Talismans, then moved on 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 talisman cores into every basic talisman already made in the shop.

More than a hundred basic talismans in total all became mid-grade spell talismans. One lucky talisman had even become a high-grade spell talisman.

A high-grade spell talisman—its power was comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator wielding a Magical Artifact and striking with full force...

Unfortunately, that high-grade spell talisman was a Small Cloud Rain Talisman, meant for watering spirit fields...

And that single talisman had nearly drained every last drop of True Essence from his body...

"Ah..." Qin Yang let out an unwilling sigh and casually put away the high-grade Small Cloud Rain Talisman. He had originally planned to study Ink Talismans some more, but he had no energy left now.

Having spent more than half his True Essence, he was just about to sit down and meditate to recover it when the general store's front door exploded with a bang, shattering into fragments.

Behind the flying debris, a large foot slowly came down and stepped into the general store.

Qin Yang looked up, his brows drawing together slightly. The newcomer wore a dark cyan long robe and appeared to be in his twenties, looking exceptionally capable. A cyan gemstone was embedded in the center of his belt, with dense talismanic lines displayed across it. It was a Storage Belt, far more advanced than the low-grade Storage Bag Qin Yang had...

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the character "Ten Thousand" embroidered on the man's cuff...

"You're the shop owner? You used to collect corpses?" The young man fanned a hand before his nose as though he had smelled something strange, his face full of disgust. "So you really are a Corpse Collector. Looking at you, you're practically no different from a corpse..."

After tossing out that sentence, the man turned and walked outside. Two Servants behind him then entered. One of them also swept Qin Yang a disgusted glance, his tone brimming with arrogance.

"Kid, you've struck it lucky. Looking as weak as a chicken, you probably have never seen such an important figure before. Scared stupid, are you? Listen up—this is Steward Qiu of Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce. He has work for you now. Three hundred spirit stones. Move it, and don't waste time. Steward Qiu's time is precious..."

The moment he finished speaking, the servant was already standing beside Qin Yang. It looked as though if Qin Yang dared say no, he would be forcibly dragged away...

"I'm talking to you. What are you still standing there for? Look at that pathetic bearing of yours. Did three hundred spirit stones scare you stupid?"

"Enough, say less. This guy's spiritual energy fluctuations are at most at the second level of the Qi Cultivation Stage. It's normal that he has never seen such a huge sum as three hundred spirit stones..." The other servant beside him snickered and casually chimed in...

The two Servants grabbed Qin Yang's shoulders from either side and led him outside. Qin Yang's eyes shifted slightly, but he said nothing, allowing them to pull him out of the shop.

Once outside, he saw seven more people waiting there, all people from West City who had done corpse-collecting work before.

Seeing this, Qin Yang smiled bitterly to himself. Just moments ago, he had been thinking that Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce and the two disciples from Boundless Dao Academy would surely be unable to trace matters back to him. Everyone who knew anything was dead, and the two clients had been buried in the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb. Living people surely could not enter that place now, and Imperial Concubine De had no idea how mad she had become. None of them would ever be able to investigate further...

Who would have thought that after calculating every possibility, he had failed to account for Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce not investigating at all? They had simply acted with utter disregard for reason, digging out every person in West City who had ever collected corpses...

If they truly were only being called in to collect a corpse, Qin Yang would not believe it even if beaten to death.

Still, fortunately, his True Essence had yet to recover. These people had mistaken him for a weakling...