"Let me tell you about a few more common kinds of talismans.
"The Corpse Suppressing Talisman, as its name suggests, is used to suppress corpses that have gone wrong.
"The Soul Calming Talisman is for people with unstable souls, and it can also deal with some low-level ghosts.
"The Evil Dispelling Talisman is used when someone has been afflicted by evil.
"The Mind Calming Talisman is for people whose hearts cannot settle down, especially those who have been frightened. Of course, you can use it yourself too.
"There are also Blood Stopping Talismans, Miasma Breaking Talismans, Soul Summoning Talismans, and so on...
"They are all relatively common talismans, and also low-level ones.
"Higher-grade talismans include Fire Talismans, Water Talismans, Thunder Talismans, Sword Talismans, Explosion Talismans...
"These are all offensive talismans, generally used for demon extermination and combat."
My head was swimming from everything I had heard, so I asked Uncle-Master, "Are there even more powerful talismans?"
"Of course. Maoshan built its name on talismans—this isn't empty talk.
"In today's world, when it comes to talismans, if Maoshan claimed second place, no one would dare claim first."
After saying that, Uncle-Master asked me, "Have you heard of Southern Maoshan, Northern Ma?"
I said I had. I had read about it in books—Maoshan's talismans and the Ma family's Yin Dragon.
Uncle-Master said with a proud look on his face, "That's right. Which is why Maoshan's talismans...
"In this world, no person or sect can surpass them.
"Even higher-grade talismans include Formation Trapping Talismans, Golden Light Purple Thunder Talismans, and so on...
"Of course, ordinary Maoshan disciples do not possess such talismans and find them difficult even to encounter.
"Usually, only the Sect Master or gifted disciples are qualified to study them, such as my master and your grandfather."
I asked Uncle-Master, "Just how powerful are those talismans?"
Uncle-Master thought for a moment before saying, "For example, take a Formation Trapping Talisman. Once the talisman paper touches the ground...
"It can instantly form all kinds of grand formations. Before the talisman paper's energy is exhausted, whatever is inside has nowhere to escape."
"That's enough introduction. Next, watch me draw one."
Then I saw the brush in Uncle-Master's hand move like a dragon and snake. Its tip pressed down at times and leaped away at others.
Lines appeared one after another, eventually forming a symbol.
I took one look and felt it seemed simple. I did not know whether it was an illusion.
I kept feeling that I could do it too, but afraid Uncle-Master would scold me, I held myself back and said nothing.
Uncle-Master handed me the brush and said, "Let me tell you the mnemonic and essentials for drawing talismans. Your heart must be calm.
"Follow Maoshan's method of circulating Spiritual Energy—the method of breath circulation you learned yesterday.
"Pour the cultivation within your body into the brush, then complete it in one unbroken stroke.
"There can be no pause in the middle. If you stop halfway through, that sheet of talisman paper will be ruined.
"Because every line on the talisman paper contains spiritual power, and every line attracts the others.
"If you break off in the middle, the Spiritual Energy cannot connect together, so it becomes useless.
"Then there is how to determine whether a talisman paper works. Generally speaking, the talisman paper you draw yourself...
"Has a certain connection with you. Since it uses your spiritual power, you can sense each other.
"If someone else drew the talisman, pour your spiritual power into it.
"If you feel resistance when injecting spiritual power, that proves it is a complete and usable talisman."
"Also, if you make a talisman yourself, you can control it from a certain distance."
"For example..."
As he spoke, the talisman paper Uncle-Master had just drawn rose into the air on its own, circling endlessly around the two of us.
I stared in stunned amazement, and suddenly an idea came to me.
If I could control hundreds or thousands of talismans and ram them straight into an enemy's face...
Heh heh...
Then I told Uncle-Master what I was thinking. The moment the words left my mouth, I got smacked on the back of the head.
Uncle-Master laughed and scolded, "You're dreaming with your eyes open.
"Never mind whether you could control that many talismans. Even if you could...
"Your Spiritual Energy simply could not withstand such enormous consumption.
"One person can control at most two or three talismans, and that requires powerful cultivation and vast Spiritual Energy."
I asked, "Has no one ever been able to control that many talismans before?"
Uncle-Master paused before saying, "It isn't that there has never been anyone. I remember there was a cultivation art that could do what you described.
"It could control many talismans, but it has been lost for who knows how many years. Even my master did not know it."
Then Uncle-Master seemed to recall something and said to me, "Oh, right. The Jiang family's Object Manipulation Technique seems capable of it.
"But it is difficult to get so many talismans outside, and if the talismans were not made by yourself...
"Then relying solely on the technique to control them would greatly reduce their power."
I asked why it was so hard to get that many talismans outside. Uncle-Master said that Maoshan disciples were not numerous to begin with.
And in recent years, talent had withered away, so there were not many people capable of making talisman paper.
Those people in Underworld Practices who knew a few superficial tricks made talismans that were weak as well.
So truly lethal talismans were not common on the market.
Hearing that, I asked Uncle-Master, "As long as someone has spiritual power, they can draw talismans, right? Why can't others draw powerful talismans?
"Surely there are high-level cultivators outside?"
Uncle-Master explained, "This is Maoshan's unique cultivation art, the one we take pride in.
"When making talisman paper, it depends on the cultivation method and drawing method of the person drawing it.
"When drawing a talisman, how the Spiritual Energy in your body circulates, how you set down the brush at the beginning...
"How you finish it—all of it is closely tied to these steps. Not one step can be missing.
"Our Maoshan has its own method of circulating power and its own method of drawing talismans.
"That breath circulation method you learned yesterday is an indispensable part of Maoshan talismans.
"The reason outsiders cannot imitate Maoshan talismans is because Maoshan has a unique method of circulating power...
"And a unique drawing method. That is why, all these years, no one outside Maoshan has been able to draw Maoshan talismans.
"Even if someone obtained the drawing method for Maoshan talismans, without Maoshan's method of circulating power, the talisman they drew would be nothing but waste paper.
"If they secretly learned Maoshan's method of circulating power but did not know Maoshan's drawing method, they still could not make talismans.
"The two complement each other, and neither can be absent.
"Moreover, Maoshan is extremely strict about its method of circulating power and its talisman-drawing methods. You are an exception.
"That is why I am solemnly telling you that the cultivation art you have learned must not be passed on to outsiders.
"Unless they are Maoshan disciples, even if you die, you cannot pass it on to anyone else.
"That is the situation. I have taught you how to draw talismans too. Try it yourself."
After speaking, Uncle-Master handed me the brush, signaling for me to give it a try.
I had long been itching to try, so I immediately walked over to the table and recalled how Uncle-Master had set down and lifted his brush.
I mainly thought through how Uncle-Master had drawn it, running through it once in my mind first.
Then I held my breath and focused my mind. When I opened my eyes and began to draw, I seemed to enter a strange state.
The lines felt so natural to draw that I did not know whether it was just my imagination.
After I finished the final stroke, I looked at my work.
Then I compared it to Uncle-Master's. After looking, I realized there was practically no difference from the one he had drawn.
I raised my eyes to look at Uncle-Master and saw his mouth hanging wide open.
He was staring at me in shock. Confused, I asked him what was wrong.
Uncle-Master stammered, "Y-you... how... how did you do that?"
I said I did not know. I had just thought about the way he had drawn it, then drew it.