Blood Talisman Scripture!

Back in his room, Bai Yu opened the Yin-Yang Blood Talisman Scripture.

It recorded three methods for refining blood talismans.

The Divine Strength Talisman, the Gathering Affliction Talisman, and the Sharp Metal Armor Piercing Talisman.

Bai Yu already possessed the Gathering Affliction Talisman, so he set that aside for now.

As the name implied, the Divine Strength Talisman could make one's blood and qi surge for a short time after use, greatly increasing one's strength.

The Sharp Metal Armor Piercing Talisman, meanwhile, could be affixed to a weapon, allowing it to pierce armor or a martial artist's defenses.

Ordinary martial artists simply could not withstand weapons enhanced with an Armor Piercing Talisman.

If an Armor Piercing Talisman were added to a crossbow bolt, it would be utterly unstoppable.

After all, not everyone was like Bai Yu, having trained their horizontal martial arts to the point of complete mastery.

Bai Yu secretly rejoiced. He had gained several more cards to keep up his sleeve.

Over the following days, he began drawing blood talismans.

A small wooden table, a sheet of yellow talisman paper, and Black Dog serving as a paperweight.

Bai Yu held a brush in his hand, his strokes dancing like dragons and serpents.

The brush remained steady without the slightest tremor, moving smoothly all the way.

But when he reached the crucial stroke in the very center, the entire yellow talisman exploded with a bang.

"Failed again."

This was already his ninth failure.

Bai Yu closed his eyes and recalled the process of drawing the talisman, savoring every detail bit by bit.

If you did not know the secret to drawing talismans, you would only make ghosts and gods laugh.

The most important part of a blood talisman was the few crucial strokes, known as the talisman aperture. They were equivalent to the talisman's core.

If a talisman were compared to a bomb, then the aperture was the explosive powder within.

Precisely because the talisman aperture was so crucial, every time one formed it, there would be an invisible resistance, like forcibly pressing together the identical poles of two magnets.

The slightest tremor of the hand would cause the talisman aperture to fail.

Bai Yu abruptly opened his eyes, brilliance blazing within them.

He spread out another sheet of yellow paper and began drawing a talisman again.

Everything went as smoothly as before. When it came time to form the talisman aperture, qi surged through both his arms, and his focus reached an unprecedented level.

Sure enough, the moment his brush fell, it encountered an immensely powerful repulsive force.

But Bai Yu held steady and continued drawing at an unhurried pace.

At last, the talisman aperture formed, and the entire talisman gave off a faint bloody glow.

Once Bai Yu finished drawing the talisman's tail, that layer of bloody light slowly faded away.

"Hah, the Divine Strength Talisman succeeded!"

Bai Yu activated the Divine Strength Talisman and stuck it to his chest.

At once, his heart began pounding with a thump, thump.

The muscles throughout his body swelled, while blood surged through his meridians.

"Hah!"

Bai Yu stamped his foot, leaving a deep footprint in the ground.

With a casual palm strike, a tree as thick as a thigh was blasted into two halves!

With the Divine Strength Talisman, the strength of his entire body instantly increased by one-tenth!

Do not underestimate that one-tenth of strength. Once martial artists reached the third rank, every additional bit of strength was exceedingly difficult to gain.

Even at their limit, they only possessed one or two thousand jin of force.

Any further, and their bones would be unable to bear it. With a burst of strength, they would break their own bones.

Many professional athletes from his previous life were prone to fractures precisely because their muscles were too powerful.

Therefore, for the Divine Strength Talisman to increase strength by one-tenth was already incredibly formidable.

Bai Yu was extremely satisfied and removed the Divine Strength Talisman.

At once, a wave of emptiness filled his body, as though he had rewarded himself more than a dozen times in a row.

Overdrawing one's strength always came at a price.

Bai Yu calmed his mind and began drawing other blood talismans.

The Armor Piercing Talisman, the Gathering Affliction Talisman, the Corpse Control Talisman, and the Kindling Fire Talisman.

An Armor Piercing Talisman affixed to a crossbow bolt could shoot through a stone slab three cun thick.

The other three blood talismans were more support-oriented, and Bai Yu drew several of each to keep in reserve.

After his earlier training, his success rate was roughly one in five, and it was still slowly rising.

Fortunately, he had previously obtained five hundred taels in banknotes, enough to prepare plenty of Essence Nourishing Powder and ensure an ample supply of blood and qi.

Otherwise, if it were anyone else, they would not dare practice with such extravagance.

A new entry appeared on Bai Yu's skill panel:

Blood Talisman Art: Familiarity Breeds Skill, 360/1000

Over the past half month, aside from cultivating burial rites, Bai Yu had been drawing talismans.

He had finally raised his Blood Talisman Art to the level of Familiarity Breeds Skill.

In addition, he continuously practiced with the crossbow, reaching the level of Familiarity Breeds Skill.

Archery: Familiarity Breeds Skill, 23/1000.

His martial cultivation was also advancing slowly. He had now just opened the Foot Lesser Yin Kidney Meridian, comparable to taking a hundred bottles of kidney tonic and gaining an unyielding diamond drill.

"All ten meridians have been opened. Only the final two remain, but opening those last two is harder than opening all the previous ones combined."

"Relying solely on blood and qi to force through the meridians is simply too difficult."

Bai Yu stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.

In the end, he thought of a solution.

He would switch to an internal martial art and cultivate internal force to open his meridians!

The Four Elephants Five Elements Fist was an external martial art. It could temper the body and increase blood and qi.

However, when it came to converting that into internal force, it was exceedingly slow.

Even now, Bai Yu had only converted 50 points of internal force.

If he had an internal cultivation manual, he could cultivate a large amount of internal force and open the final two meridians.

Thinking of this, Bai Yu could not help but feel restless with anticipation.

"I'll ask Uncle Jiu whether he has a way to get hold of an internal cultivation manual."

He went to the front hall, where Zhu Tong was carrying in several bowls of noodles.

"Little Bai, you're up early. Come have some noodles."

"What rotten luck. Plain noodles cost five copper coins a bowl now."

Bai Yu raised a brow and asked curiously:

"Weren't they always two copper coins a bowl before? Why did they suddenly rise so much?"

Zhu Tong placed a bowl of noodles before Bai Yu and began chattering away:

"Let me tell you, the latest news is that the river bandits on the White Dragon River robbed the grain ships heading into the city."

"Those bastards from the Liu Family and the Zhao Family took the chance to jack up grain prices. Grain prices in Jiang City have already doubled."

"If this keeps up, we'll have to eat only two meals a day like those mud-legged peasants."

Bai Yu was not worried. He had previously looted five hundred taels' worth of spoils, so he had plenty of confidence.

But with grain prices doubling, life would become difficult for everyone else.

Zhu Tong snorted coldly.

"Those bastards from the Liu Family and Zhao Family are no different from the Black Wolf Gang. One robs openly, while the other robs in secret."

"But fortunately, the prefectural governor has already sent government troops to suppress the bandits."

Still cursing under his breath, Zhu Tong went inside to deliver noodles to the others.

Bai Yu shook his head. The common people truly endured endless hardship.

After finishing his noodles, he went to find Uncle Jiu.

Uncle Jiu was eating breakfast in the courtyard.

"Little Yu, you're here. Widow Sun's shop just sent over some roast chicken. Come have some."

Bai Yu did not stand on ceremony. He tore off a chicken leg and bit down, filling his mouth with fragrant oil.

"Uncle Jiu, business has been good lately. You're eating chicken every meal."

"By the way, there's something I'd like to ask you."

Uncle Jiu did not mind in the least and tore off half the chicken and duck for Bai Yu.

"Go ahead. Did you run into some difficulty with the Zhu You Yin Fu Jing?"

Bai Yu smiled.

"Not that. I've more or less finished learning that half-volume of the Yin Talisman Scripture."

"I ran into a problem with martial cultivation. My external martial art has not progressed much, and I want to find an internal cultivation manual."

"Uncle Jiu, do you have any connections that could get me an internal cultivation manual?"