Drawing Inscriptions (Requesting Follows Monthly Tickets Recommendation Tickets)

That evening, after Zhou Ling finished dinner and cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, he returned to his room.

He took out the Inscription Brush and Spirit Paper Instructor Liu had given him.

The Inscription Brush was exquisitely crafted. Its shaft was made of Azure Spirit Jade, while its tip had been refined from Black Wolf Tail Hair.

It felt warm and smooth in his hand.

The Spirit Paper was made from ordinary Seven Star Spirit Grass Shavings and could be used for copying and drawing runes, magic arrays, inscriptions, and the like.

He neatly arranged the paper and brush on the wooden table.

Then Zhou Ling began carefully studying the Basic Fire Inscription within the inscription Jade Slip.

[You observed the brushwork trajectory of the Basic Fire Inscription. Basic Insight +1]

[Total observations: 428/1000]

The Basic Fire Inscription.

It was one of the simplest inscriptions, perhaps only slightly harder to comprehend than the Basic Breathing Technique.

Even though it was Zhou Ling's first encounter with it, after studying it for only the time it took to burn an incense stick, with the aid of [Basic Insight], he quickly mastered the method of drawing this inscription.

Three bends, four dots—the control of the pattern's turns was the difficult part.

Feeling that he had understood it well enough, Zhou Ling laid out the Spirit Paper and prepared to draw.

This kind of Spirit Paper was cheap practice paper for copying spirit patterns. It contained extremely little spiritual energy, and the spirit patterns drawn upon it possessed a certain degree of power.

During training, there was no need for a medium such as Spirit Ink.

Thus, the drawing process would also consume spiritual power.

Inscriptions and inscription marks of different attributes had different methods of drawing.

Some required Spirit Ink as a medium and had to be drawn onto Magic Artifacts.

Others could be directly inscribed using one's own spiritual energy.

However, they shared one common point: when inscribing inscriptions and inscription marks, fire-attributed spiritual power was needed to perfectly fuse them with a Magic Artifact.

This was also why the vast majority of Artifact Refiners were fire-attributed cultivators.

Though Spirit Paper was not expensive, each sheet still cost one Broken Spirit.

For Zhou Ling, that was a considerable expense.

Liu Yan had given him fifty sheets. Together with this brand-new Inscription Brush, they were probably worth three or four Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Zhou Ling was afraid of failing and wasting Spirit Stones, so he did not dare be the slightest bit careless.

Yet perhaps because he was somewhat nervous, the fingers holding the Inscription Brush were a little stiff.

Zhou Ling gently set down the Inscription Brush and took a deep breath. Only after calming himself did he pick it up again and begin to draw.

This time, relying on his earlier comprehension, Zhou Ling swiftly drew the Flame Inscription in one smooth stroke.

Because it was a basic inscription and was being drawn on Spirit Paper, it did not consume much spiritual power.

There had not been a single pause throughout the process.

But the next moment, with a soft puff.

A wisp of black smoke rose, and the Spirit Paper immediately turned dull and lusterless.

Zhou Ling was so startled that he nearly fell over.

Fortunately, it was only smoke. Once it dispersed, there was no further effect.

But wasting a Broken Spirit just like that made Zhou Ling's heart ache terribly.

Still, thinking that there could be no gain without sacrifice, he gradually came to terms with it.

Feeling that the spiritual power in his body was still sufficient to support further drawing, Zhou Ling took a deep breath.

However, he did not hurriedly begin again.

"Where did it go wrong?"

"My brushwork was completely according to the notes in the introductory explanation of inscriptions."

"And the flow of spiritual power was stable enough."

Zhou Ling stood before the wooden table and carefully examined the dull Spirit Paper on its surface. The Flame Inscription upon it was still clearly visible.

One could even faintly make out traces of spiritual power.

[You are analyzing a Fire Attribute Inscription. Basic Analysis +1, Fire Attribute Inscription proficiency +1]

[Total analyses: 28/100]

[You are drawing a Basic Fire Inscription. Born to Excel +1, Fire Attribute Inscription proficiency +1]

Very quickly, Zhou Ling discovered an error. At the first turn, it had not been smooth enough, causing the flow of spiritual energy to become sluggish.

Having understood where he had gone wrong, Zhou Ling once again carefully observed the Fire Attribute Inscription. At the same time, he held the Azure Jade Brush in his hand and simulated its strokes through the air.

Once he felt it was more or less right, Zhou Ling laid out another sheet of Spirit Paper and began to set brush to paper, drawing the Flame Inscription.

But just as he finished, another puff of black smoke rose.

Another sheet of Spirit Paper had been ruined.

Zhou Ling's hand holding the brush could not help but tremble. Another Broken Spirit was gone.

His gaze hurriedly fell upon the inscription marks on the Spirit Paper.

[You are analyzing a Fire Attribute Inscription. Basic Analysis +1, Fire Attribute Inscription Proficiency +1]

[Total Analysis Attempts: 29/100]

[You are drawing a Basic Fire Inscription. Born to Excel +1, Fire Attribute Inscription Proficiency +1]

Zhou Ling discovered once more that the main reason for this failure was that his spiritual energy output had been too gentle.

The Flame Inscription belonged to the fire attribute; it demanded brushstrokes that were crisp and forceful, completed in one unbroken sweep.

After calming himself slightly, Zhou Ling gritted his teeth and continued with a third attempt.

But as the Inscription Brush moved, Zhou Ling gradually felt an overwhelming exhaustion wash over his entire body.

The spiritual energy in his meridians drained away at a rapid pace, while the energy within his Spiritual Acupoints was nearly exhausted.

The sudden depletion of spiritual energy sent fine, threadlike stabs of pain through his meridians.

Zhou Ling had no choice but to stop. He sat cross-legged and circulated the Spirit Flame Art.

[You are absorbing spiritual energy. Spiritual Energy Affinity +1, Spiritual Energy +3]

It took a full quarter of an hour before wisps of spiritual energy returned to his meridians, allowing Zhou Ling to recover a little.

"Looks like drawing two or three inscriptions is the limit of my current cultivation!"

Zhou Ling opened his eyes, let out a breath, and thought to himself.

"Though the situation is a bit lacking, at least with the boosts from [Basic Analysis] and [Born to Excel], this inscription gained four proficiency points today."

"If I practice for a few more days, I may not necessarily fail to draw it."

"One or two proficiency points at a time, gaining a little more insight each time—sooner or later, I'll be able to inscribe it."

As Zhou Ling pondered this, the tension in his body finally eased, and he felt a wave of relief.

"Ling'er, come out and have a late-night snack!"

Li Ru's voice came from outside.

Only then did Zhou Ling feel his stomach rumble. He really was a little hungry.

He promptly rose and left his room.

Worried that Zhou Ling would consume too much energy cultivating at night, Li Ru had specially prepared a late-night meal for him.

There was spiritual rice porridge, a vegetarian stir-fry of Fire Pattern Chicken Eggs, and a small dish of beast meat.

The food was delicious, and Zhou Ling ate with great relish. After finishing, he returned to his room and continued circulating the Spirit Flame Art to refine and absorb the spiritual energy he had taken in.

Watching Zhou Ling's departing figure, Li Ru said worriedly, "The child is working far too hard for the Dao Academy's prize money. He's lost quite a bit of weight these days."

"Ling'er was frail to begin with. If this goes on, I'm afraid he'll wear out that little body of his!"

Zhou Shan sighed. "It's all because I'm useless!"

"Husband, how can you blame yourself for that?" Li Ru handed him the few slices of beast meat Zhou Ling had left on the wooden table.

Zhou Shan reached out, picked up a slice of beast meat, and tossed it into his mouth. As he ate, he said, "Save it for Ling'er's breakfast tomorrow!"

"There's still some at home! What kind of life is it, drinking all day without even a bit of meat?" Li Ru shot him a glare.

Only then could Zhou Shan not resist taking another piece.

Seeing his wife's brows knit slightly, Zhou Shan added, "Today, I discussed going into the mountains with Old Chu. He happened to be buying a Fire Horn Sheep from Fellow Daoist Ye, so I asked him to save us a leg to nourish Ling'er."

"A First-Grade Mid-Rank Fire Horn Sheep—how many Spirit Stones does it cost?" Li Ru asked.

"No need. With the relationship between Old Chu and me, when we enter the mountains and find spiritual herbs, we can make it up to him then," Zhou Shan said.

"There are five Low-grade Spirit Stones inside. See whether that's enough. Old Chu doesn't have it easy either!" Li Ru took out a Spirit Stone Pouch and handed it to Zhou Shan.

Zhou Shan thought for a moment, then nodded. "That's true!"