Proficiency

A night passed in the blink of an eye.

As the first hint of dawn appeared in the sky,

Shen Mo was still inside, drawing talismans. He had worked through the entire night without rest.

"Twenty-three talismans, and not a single one succeeded."

He stretched and shook his head with a sigh.

He had not rested for even a moment last night, making twenty-three attempts in all, but every one had ended in failure.

If it had been anyone else, a whole night without making any progress would probably have been enough to make them give up.

But Shen Mo had not felt the slightest bit discouraged.

On the contrary, he was still in remarkably high spirits.

Although every talisman he drew had failed, he had still gained plenty of experience and proficiency!

After a night of hard work, his Talisman Dao experience had risen from 2/500 to 46/500.

As for his Lightness Talisman proficiency, it had climbed all the way to 71/100.

Though not a single talisman had succeeded, he could see his experience growing with his own eyes. It spurred him on to keep practicing.

"One more time!"

After rubbing his sore palm, Shen Mo bent over his desk again, picked up his brush, and began another round of drawing.

"Vmmm!"

This time, when the beast blood dripped onto the Light Body Talisman and it was infused with spirit, golden light blazed!

A message that filled Shen Mo with delight soon appeared.

[Congratulations, you successfully drew a talisman: Lightness Talisman.]

[Talisman Dao experience +10]

[Lightness Talisman proficiency +30]

[Your Lightness Talisman proficiency has improved, rising from (Unfamiliar) to (Proficient). Your success rate when drawing Lightness Talismans has increased.]

"It worked!" Shen Mo stared in surprise, then broke into delight.

After a whole night of toil, he had finally produced something worth showing for it!

At that moment, his sense of accomplishment was through the roof.

He wanted nothing more than to spend three more days and nights without sleep, devoting himself to Talisman Making.

But after looking up at the sky, he forced himself to suppress the impulse.

It was dawn, and he had to report for guard duty soon.

If he arrived late, his already pitiful monthly stipend would be docked even further!

"Time to go!"

He took out a bundle and packed in everything he needed to draw talismans: his brush, yellow paper, beast blood, Sandalwood Ink, and the rest. Then he slung it over his back and set off.

"Let's see how the Lightness Talisman works!"

As he stepped out of his quarters, Shen Mo had a thought and stuck the Lightness Talisman to his leg.

"Tap, tap, tap!"

With the talisman covering his thigh, Shen Mo felt as though he were floating, as if riding the wind. His steps were swift and light.

"As expected of a talisman! It really does have remarkable effects! Ha ha!"

Trying out the talisman for the first time left Shen Mo amazed and more than a little satisfied.

Ignoring the surprised looks of the many sect disciples crossing the square, he strode off at a brisk pace toward the mountain gate.

"You're here."

Cao Ren had already begun his shift guarding the mountain gate. When he saw Shen Mo's figure flitting along, his gaze settled on the Lightness Talisman stuck to Shen Mo's thigh. He asked in surprise, "Did you manage to draw a talisman last night?"

"Yeah. I worked at it all night and ruined more than twenty sheets before finally getting one right."

Shen Mo answered honestly.

"You worked at it all night?"

Cao Ren was not surprised that Shen Mo had managed to draw a Lightness Talisman in a single night. After all, it was no advanced talisman, and it was not difficult to get the hang of.

What caught his attention instead was Shen Mo staying up all night to draw talismans.

"You're awfully enthusiastic. It's a little strange," Cao Ren said after letting his imagination run wild for a moment. "Don't tell me you're planning to leave the sect and use these Lightness Talismans in the mortal world to pretend to be a miracle worker and swindle people?"

Although the Lightness Talisman was one of the lowest-grade talismans in the cultivation world,

it was enough to leave ordinary mortals thoroughly bewildered.

With a careful mind and a knack for scheming, someone could make a fortune in the mortal world with nothing but this one trick.

"What are you thinking?" Shen Mo laughed. "You know, the Talisman Dao is one of those things that's easy to ignore until you try it. Once you do, it's truly captivating—you can't put it down."

"I brought all my Talisman Making supplies. There's nothing much to do while we're guarding the mountain gate, so keep watch for me over the next few days. I'll stand guard while sneaking in some extra practice whenever I can."

It was a job this easy; it would be a waste not to slack off.

Shen Mo had already made up his mind to slack off for the long haul.

That day, while guarding the mountain gate,

Shen Mo stayed tucked away in the pavilion, focused on drawing talismans and increasing his proficiency.

He left almost everything else to Cao Ren.

Cao Ren did not mind. After all, there was not much work to do.

From sunrise, when the first rays of dawn appeared, until sunset, when the sun sank below the western hills,

Shen Mo found time to draw more than thirty Lightness Talismans.

As his proficiency rose and his Talisman Dao experience grew, he became more practiced and his efficiency increased greatly.

When their shift guarding the mountain gate was about to end and they were preparing to hand over duty,

Shen Mo clutched the three successful Lightness Talismans he had drawn, looking rather proud. "I drew thirty, and the success rate's gone up fast. It's already one in ten."

He looked over his Talisman Dao experience and Lightness Talisman proficiency. They had increased by 64 and 88 points, respectively.

"But I'm still only at the practice stage."

"If I do the math, a one-in-ten success rate means I'm losing money."

Shen Mo carefully worked through the numbers.

Lightness Talismans generally sold for one low-grade Spirit Stone per ten talismans at the market.

The talisman paper, Sandalwood Ink, and beast blood used to infuse them were worth roughly thirty percent of the selling price.

In other words, Shen Mo had not felt the pinch because the materials had been left to him by his parents, so he did not have to buy them himself.

But by a proper accounting of costs, he would need a success rate of around thirty percent to break even when drawing Lightness Talismans.

And that did not even include the time and effort the cultivator spent drawing them.

If he wanted to make money from drawing talismans and use it to support his cultivation, he would need a success rate of fifty percent before there was any profit in it.

"There's still a long way to go."

After working through the numbers, Shen Mo's initial excitement ebbed somewhat.

At the end of the day, he was still losing money.

But there was no rush.

He had plenty of time!

For now, he would focus on making Lightness Talismans, strive to improve his success rate, and practice until his Lightness Talisman proficiency reached the point of perfection!

And so, for an entire month,

Shen Mo devoted all his energy to making talismans, apart from his cultivation.

Day and night, he guarded the mountain gate and slacked off by drawing talismans during the day, then practiced tirelessly through the night.

After such a long period of practice, Shen Mo's skill in the Talisman Dao had improved by leaps and bounds.

If nothing unexpected had happened, he would have kept studying for a while longer and pushed his proficiency higher in one go.

But one day, a young woman with flowing long hair and a slender figure came to visit, interrupting his Talisman Making.

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