Drawing Talismans

When night fell, Bi Changsheng disguised himself as Ximen Xue, wearing an all-black hooded cloak and a randomly chosen mask, and headed to a secluded tavern in Ningyun City.

The tavern was already closed for the night, but upon entering, Bi Changsheng saw several others dressed similarly, concealing themselves completely.

Reaching the back door of the tavern, Bi Changsheng, like the others, paid the hundred taels entrance fee to the martial artists guarding the door and entered.

During his chat with Fang Yaoyang, Bi Changsheng learned that this Cultivator ghost market only charged a hundred taels to enter. However, every transaction within required a ten percent commission to be paid to the Divine Fist Sect. Furthermore, all transactions relied on one's own judgment, with the Divine Fist Sect offering no guarantees. This was why it was called a ghost market.

Although it was called a Cultivation market, many martial artists participated, so it also sold resources for martial arts cultivation, albeit of a higher grade, at least for those in the Qi and Blood Realm or above.

From the outside, the tavern's back door seemed to lead directly into a small room. However, when Bi Changsheng passed through, it felt as if he had passed through a layer of mist, and he found himself in a small alley. Clearly, an array had been set up at the back door.

The alley was three meters wide and over a hundred meters long, lined with stalls on both sides, and many people were walking back and forth.

Looking at the passersby, Bi Changsheng noticed that some people did not conceal themselves like most others, openly displaying their appearance. People around them gave them a wide berth, clearly indicating that these individuals were of extraordinary status.

Unfortunately, Bi Changsheng, who didn't often venture out, didn't recognize any of them.

After entering the ghost market, Bi Changsheng began to move around. He first walked back and forth along the alley, taking a full circle of all the stalls, occasionally stopping to chat with the stall owners.

After a full circle, Bi Changsheng discovered that nearly seventy percent of the items on all the stalls were martial arts cultivation resources, with the remaining thirty percent being Cultivator cultivation resources. Considering that this was a ghost market specifically for Cultivators, it showed just how rare Cultivators were in Great Gan.

Among the stalls selling Cultivator resources, Bi Changsheng even saw Cultivation techniques for sale, each costing at least one hundred thousand taels.

With the Crimson Blood Pill as a cash cow, the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion could bring in more than seventy thousand taels a day for Bi Changsheng. In the half-month since the Crimson Blood Pill became a hit, Bi Changsheng's wealth had exploded to nearly two million taels.

However, because Bi Changsheng didn't know much about Cultivators, he didn't rashly buy any Cultivation techniques.

The materials for refining Spirit Liquid weren't rare, so Bi Changsheng saw them at several stalls. After some selection, Bi Changsheng stopped in front of one stall.

"What does the guest need? I have cultivation manuals, rare and precious treasures, everything..."

The stall owner, like Bi Changsheng, had concealed his appearance, making it difficult to see clearly. Seeing Bi Changsheng stop at his stall, he greeted him warmly.

"I want all of these Spirit Crystals and Spirit Grass."

Bi Changsheng didn't waste words, pointing to more than a dozen inconspicuous pebbles and several faintly glowing weeds on the stall and said to the stall owner.

Those pebbles were the Spirit Crystals Bi Changsheng mentioned, broken Spirit Stones, and the most important material for refining Spirit Liquid, providing spiritual power to the Spirit Liquid.

In fact, using complete Spirit Stones to refine Spirit Liquid would be more effective, but complete Spirit Stones were extremely precious in Great Gan, where spiritual energy was scarce. Even if Cultivators possessed them, they would keep them for their own cultivation. Bi Changsheng searched the entire ghost market and couldn't find a single one, so he had to settle for Spirit Crystals.

Those faintly glowing weeds were the Spirit Grass Bi Changsheng mentioned, essentially weeds that had accidentally been contaminated with spiritual energy.

"Alright, one thousand taels for one Spirit Crystal, five hundred taels for one Spirit Grass, totaling fifteen thousand taels."

Hearing that Bi Changsheng was so generous, the stall owner became even more enthusiastic, quickly packing the twelve Spirit Crystals and six Spirit Grass for Bi Changsheng.

"Since I'm buying so much, can you throw in these two books for me?"

After receiving the Spirit Crystals and Spirit Grass from the stall owner, Bi Changsheng pointed to two books on the stall again.

The stall owner looked in the direction Bi Changsheng was pointing, and saw that he was pointing to the books "Miscellaneous Talks on Cultivation" and "Art of Calculation."

Miscellaneous Talks on Cultivation was a relatively comprehensive book introducing common knowledge for cultivators, so it was widely circulated in Great Gan and wasn't worth much. In the stall owner's eyes, the Yi Calculation Scripture was a book of pretentious nonsense.

So the stall owner readily agreed, picking up the two books again and handing them to Bi Changsheng.

"No problem, I'll give you these two books as a bonus."

There were several stalls in this ghost market selling Spirit Crystals and Spirit Grass, and the prices were similar. These two books were the reason Bi Changsheng chose this stall.

He wanted Miscellaneous Talks on Cultivation to increase his knowledge, and he thought the Yi Calculation Classic was not simple, remembering how Bi Changsheng had casually flipped through it before, so he wanted to study it.

Anyway, they were free, so even if he misjudged, he wouldn't lose anything.

Having obtained everything he wanted, Bi Changsheng left the Cultivation ghost market directly. He traveled quickly and soon returned to the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion.

After returning to the pill pavilion, Bi Changsheng prepared to start refining Spirit Liquid, and he would slowly read and study the two books when he had time.

Bi Changsheng first took out the Spirit Crystals, Spirit Grass, and other materials he had prepared earlier from the Storage Ring, then added the materials to a small bowl according to the requirements, and finally crushed the Spirit Grass and Spirit Crystals and added them to the bowl to stir. A portion of Spirit Liquid was made.

Spirit Liquid was originally developed to allow ordinary people to draw Talismans, so the refining process was naturally very simple.

After refining the Spirit Liquid, he began to draw Talismans. The first Talisman Bi Changsheng chose to draw was the Divine Movement Talisman. After calming his mind, he dipped a brush in Spirit Liquid and began to paint on the prepared Talisman paper.

Because he had already basically mastered the drawing of the two types of Talismans, Bi Changsheng also successfully drew the Divine Movement Talisman this time. The difference was that the Talisman drawn with Spirit Liquid this time had a flash of spiritual light, forming a real Talisman with divine power.

After the Talisman was successfully drawn, Bi Changsheng saw that two-thirds of the Spirit Liquid was left in the bowl. Because the spiritual energy would gradually be lost if the Spirit Liquid was not preserved by special methods after it was successfully refined, Bi Changsheng planned to draw two more Divine Movement Talismans.

The following drawings were all successful without exception.

After all the refining was completed, Bi Changsheng came to the courtyard to try the effect of the Divine Movement Talisman. He took out a Divine Movement Talisman and patted it on himself. Bi Changsheng felt a strange power spread throughout his body, making his body lighter.

Bi Changsheng began to run around the courtyard, using his movement technique, and found that the Divine Movement Talisman increased his speed by about twenty percent.

Half an hour later, the power dissipated.

Inside an exquisite room on the second floor of Dan Cao Hall, a middle-aged man was sitting in a chair reading a book.

"Sir, I'm back."

Suddenly, a figure wrapped in black clothes appeared in front of him and saluted him.

"How is it? Have you found out the details of the Crimson Blood Pill Pavilion?"

The middle-aged man put down the book in his hand and spoke in a low voice to the black-clothed man who suddenly appeared.