Talisman Crafting

Outside the study, red lanterns hung all along the eaves of the corridor. Today was Li Shiming's first New Year since arriving in this world; he had been here for more than three months.

If he had not seen Steward Zhang leading people to hang up red lanterns, he would not even have known the New Year had arrived.

The New Year made him think of another world, of the family and friends in that world. None of it could be returned to. In this world, after merging with the Original Body's emotions, the only person who could affect him was his father, Li Wenyuan.

At this moment, his father, Li Wenyuan, was not by his side either. The intense loneliness made him want to find something to distract his thoughts, so he Took Out a Talisman Brush from the Server Room Space.

This Talisman Brush was called the "Snow Spirit Brush," and it was quite a bit better than the Talisman Brush he had purchased.

This was the Talisman Brush the Hao Family Cultivator had used personally; naturally, it was better than the Talisman Brushes the Hao Family had sold.

On the Desk lay a sheet of Cyan-Yellow Talisman Paper, as well as a small dish of Talisman Ink.

He had mixed this Talisman Ink himself. Talisman Ink mixed with his consciousness inside the Server Room Space naturally needed no further explanation in terms of quality; it had absolutely reached the very limit of what the Talisman Ink Material could achieve.

This Talisman Ink was specially made for the Low-Grade Body Lightening Talisman. He had bought some in the Market, and had also discovered a large amount of Talisman Ink Material in the Hao Family Cultivator's Storage Bag, enough for him to use for a very long time.

The principle behind making Talismans was to use Talisman Paper to solidify an already formed Spell Rune.

There were many possible mishaps in this process: tiny, imperceptible pits on the Talisman Paper; uneven mixing in the Talisman Ink; subtle abnormal fluctuations in the cultivator's own Spiritual Power; the flow speed of Spiritual Power as it conducted through the Talisman Brush; the process of Spiritual Power blending with the Talisman Ink, and so on.

It could be said that making Talismans was a process filled with all kinds of potential accidents. According to the Hao Family Cultivator's notes, succeeding with ten sheets out of a hundred Talisman Papers was enough to be called a Novice Talisman Master.

From this, one could see just how difficult Talismans were to make. Without a great deal of practice and resource consumption, it was impossible to train a qualified Talisman Master.

In addition, training a Talisman Master also required time. One had to know that regardless of whether the Talisman was successfully made, it still counted as casting a spell, and would consume the cultivator's Spiritual Power.

With Li Shiming's full reserves of Spiritual Power, he could only cast the Body Lightening Art ten times. Even with a one-hundred-percent success rate, he could only make ten Low-Grade Body Lightening Talismans, after which he would need to recover his Spiritual Power.

Aside from Spiritual Power needing to recover, making Talismans also consumed a great deal of mental energy, and that was even harder to restore than Spiritual Power.

In Fact, no cultivator dared to consume too much of their Spiritual Power and mental energy in one go. Doing so would make the cultivator lose the ability to protect themselves.

After this period of hard practice, using the IBMz15 to optimize the spellcasting process again and again, he had stabilized the time needed to cast the Body Lightening Art at one second.

With the IBMz15's analysis and calculations, casting the Body Lightening Art in one second was his current limit.

If he wanted to increase his spellcasting speed further, he would need stronger, more controllable Spiritual Power.

Li Shiming activated the five-senses connection with the IBMz15. He steadied his mind and slowly guided his Spiritual Power into the Snow Spirit Brush.

A gentle glow radiated from the Snow Spirit Brush. His Spiritual Power passed through the Rune Array on the Snow Spirit Brush and blended with the Talisman Ink at the tip.

At the same time, he used the intent of a Convertible Sports Car to write the Body Lightening Rune on the Talisman Paper. He had only drawn a single stroke when the light on the Talisman Paper began flickering between bright and dim.

Then the Talisman Paper exploded under his hand with a boom, and the scattering Spiritual Power blew the items on the Desk all over the place.

Fortunately, he was drawing a nonlethal Talisman like the Low-Grade Body Lightening Talisman. Even if it failed, it would not have any destructive power.

If he were drawing a Low-Grade Fireball Talisman, he would need to be on constant guard against the Talisman exploding during the drawing process. That kind of explosion was extremely dangerous, and the slightest carelessness would injure him.

Li Shiming stopped and connected his consciousness to the IBMz15, beginning to replay the video of what had just happened.

His replay was received through his five senses. It was as if he had returned to the drawing process just now, with every sensation fed back to his five senses through the IBMz15.

He found the reason the Talisman Paper had exploded during the drawing process: in one stroke drawn by the Snow Spirit Brush, the amount of Talisman Ink had increased ever so slightly.

The solution was also very simple. A thread of the Spiritual Power in the Snow Spirit Brush had to be separated out to control the Talisman Ink, making sure the Talisman Ink remained on the Talisman Paper exactly as required.

The second attempt failed, the third attempt failed, and it continued until the fifth attempt failed. The plan he had set For Himself was to practice only five times each day.

He still needed his Spiritual Power to cast the Spring Breeze Transforming Rain Art. This task could not be interrupted on any day.

The remaining Spiritual Power was to guard against unexpected events. No matter how much Spiritual Power a Talisman saved, it still required Spiritual Power to activate.

Although Li Shiming had only practiced five times, his gains were not small at all.

He had Researched "Rune Inception" and the Hao Family Cultivator's notes, which had already recorded a large number of possible errors during the drawing process.

But recorded knowledge ultimately had to be tested through practice. One failure after another gave him precious experience.

He was fundamentally different from other cultivators. When other cultivators failed at drawing Talismans, they only knew that they had failed at a certain point, but not the specific cause.

He, however, used the IBMz15's video to experience the process of each mistake again and again. This meant the same mistake would never happen a second time.

Li Shiming Took Out a homemade Pocket Watch and checked the time. It was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

His consciousness entered the Server Room Space and made a bowl of Spiritual Rice Meal.

He filled his stomach with the Spiritual Rice Meal right there in the study. If outsiders saw that, during the New Year, he was eating a bowl of rice without even any dishes, they would probably think he was very frugal.

But if this bowl of Spiritual Rice Meal were exchanged for gold, it could probably be traded for a volume of gold equal to the Spiritual Rice Meal itself, and that was only if a cultivator was willing to make the exchange.

Si Qin did not come to call him for a meal. Not long ago, Li Shiming had explained some things to her, and together with the several visits from the Royal Family's worshiped expert, Gu Jia, she had accepted the fact that the Young Master had begun cultivating.

It was precisely because of this that Li Shiming had quiet time without being disturbed. He did not have to worry that, while cultivating or at important moments such as making Talismans, he would be affected by a sudden interruption.

A small bird flew in through the window and landed on the Desk in front of Li Shiming.

The small bird's lively eyes looked at Li Shiming as if confirming something. Then its body turned into a sheet of Talisman Paper.

Li Shiming recognized this small bird. It was a Hundred Li Transmission Talisman, a means of contact between cultivators.

Corresponding to the Hundred Li Transmission Talisman were the Thousand Li Transmission Talisman and the Ten Thousand Li Transmission Talisman. The farther the distance, the higher the quality, and the more expensive the price.

Using a Hundred Li Transmission Talisman required knowing the other cultivator's exact location and aura. It was a point-to-point transmission. If the receiving cultivator was not there, then the Hundred Li Transmission Talisman would remain until its Spiritual Power was exhausted to a certain level, at which point it would self-destruct.

Under normal circumstances, a Hundred Li Transmission Talisman could exist for two days, which was enough for ordinary communication.

"Little Friend Li, cultivator gathering on the third floor of Heaven Water Pavilion. I'll take you to meet some fellow Daoists!"

It was signed Gu Jia. This was an invitation from Gu Jia. Gu Jia had mentioned it before; Li Shiming just Did Not Expect that the cultivator gathering would be held on New Year's Day.

Thank you to "Dancing Cloud Sleeves Beneath the Moon" for the 5-yuan tip!!