Clerk Chen paused, then raised the wine jug again and tipped his head back to take a large gulp. The sharp scent of liquor mingled with a faint sigh before dissipating into the dim air of the storeroom.
"Go. Come here less often from now on. You're an Imperial Guard now, so you should act like one. This storeroom was never a place you ought to remain."
Lu Chen's heart tightened, and he instantly understood the deeper meaning behind Clerk Chen's words.
It was guidance, but also a warning.
He now stood at the eye of the storm, with countless pairs of eyes watching his every move. If he became too deeply entangled with the storeroom—the symbol of the "lowest rung"—it would only invite needless suspicion and trouble.
"Junior... understands."
Lu Chen bowed deeply once more, engraving that weighty kindness and warning firmly in his heart.
He said no more. Cradling the red sandalwood box, he turned and left.
Imperial Guard Camp, private chamber.
Unlike the cold dampness of the Corpse Handling Room, this place was dry and clean. A brazier of sandalwood incense that calmed the heart and focused the mind was even burning inside.
Lu Chen locked the stone door and set up a simple warning restriction. Only then did he solemnly place the red sandalwood box on the table.
He did not hurry to sense the Wordless Heavenly Tome, the Divine Firmament Induction Chapter. Instead, he first took out the Golden Bristle Jade Brush and the piece of Earthfire Cinnabar, placing them in his palm and carefully rubbing them.
The jade brush was warm and smooth, growing warm in his hand as if it contained life.
The pale golden wolf hair at its tip was even filled with astonishing spirituality, seemingly capable of actively drawing in the essence of heaven and earth.
The Earthfire Cinnabar was even more peculiar. Though it was clearly solid, it seemed as if scorching magma was slowly flowing inside, giving off an utterly pure, masculine fire aura.
"What a treasure!"
Lu Chen praised it from the bottom of his heart. To do good work, one first needed the right tools. With this set of tools, his previously shallow comprehension of Talisman Crafting would finally have a true outlet.
He drew a deep breath, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and slowly sank his mind into the Wordless Heavenly Tome woven from silver threads—the Divine Firmament Induction Chapter.
At first, the pages were completely blank. When his spiritual sense probed inside, it was like a mud ox entering the sea, meeting with no response whatsoever.
Lu Chen was not discouraged. Recalling Clerk Chen's guidance, he no longer tried to look with his spiritual sense. Instead, he emptied his mind and slowly merged his spiritual essence with this wondrous tome, like a drop of water dissolving into the sea, without the slightest purpose.
Time slipped away unnoticed.
No one knew how long had passed. Just as Lu Chen was about to enter that wondrous state of meditation in which self and the world were forgotten, a tiny glimmer suddenly lit up in his mind without warning!
At first, the light was faint, like a guttering candle in the wind. But in the blink of an eye, it transformed into billions of endlessly surging lightning snakes!
Rumble!
A thunderous boom erupted from the depths of his soul!
Lu Chen's consciousness seemed to be seized by an invisible giant hand and yanked into a chaotic world formed from endless lightning and raging winds!
There, he saw ancient talismans condensed from pure lightning and astral winds, each one more colossal than a mountain!
They were born and extinguished within the chaos. Every flicker represented the evolution of one of heaven and earth's great principles.
There was the All-Heaven Divine Thunder Talisman, which drew down the divine thunder of the Nine Heavens; the Unfettered Wind Formless Talisman, which controlled the astral winds of the Nine Hells; and even the Wind Thunder Spell-Breaking Talisman, which fused the powers of wind and thunder into a spear of judgment!
This was the true Talisman Dao!
Compared with these talismans, which resembled divine miracles, the little bit of skin-deep knowledge he had comprehended from the fragment before was like a firefly competing with the bright moon—laughable to the extreme!
Lu Chen's mind endured an unprecedented impact and baptism within this world of wind and thunder. He greedily and desperately tried to memorize and comprehend those talisman imprints that flashed past in an instant.
However, the Dao and principles contained within these talismans were simply too profound. With his current spiritual cultivation, merely looking at them for another moment made his soul ache as if the violent power were about to tear him into pieces.
No one knew how long had passed. When his soul's capacity to endure reached its limit, that invisible giant hand appeared once more and gently pushed his exhausted consciousness out of the world of wind and thunder.
"Huff..."
Lu Chen abruptly opened his eyes and gasped heavily. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, as if he had just endured a battle that had exhausted his mind and spirit.
Yet his eyes shone with an alarming brightness. Deep within them, flashes of electricity seemed to still be flickering, not yet fully dispersed.
He immediately closed his eyes. While that insight had yet to fade, he snatched up the Golden Bristle Jade Brush beside him, soaked it in Earthfire Cinnabar, and suspended his wrist above a blank talisman paper.
A talisman whose structure was relatively simple yet equally filled with masculine, explosive force slowly surfaced in his mind.
—[Sun Flame Talisman]!
It was precisely the half-understood talisman technique he had deduced at Ghost Face Slope with the aid of the fragment before.
But now, after undergoing the baptism of the Divine Firmament Induction Chapter, the form of this talisman in his eyes had changed beyond recognition!
It was no longer a collection of simple lines, but a perfect cycle formed from thirty-six spiritual energy nodes containing the fire aura of ultimate yang!
The brush fell, his mind focused, and his internal energy turned!
Lu Chen's brush tip glided across the talisman paper, smooth as flowing clouds and running water, completing the entire stroke in one breath!
There was not the slightest trace of stagnation, nor even a hint of hesitation.
The Golden Bristle Jade Brush seemed to have acquired a life of its own. It actively drew the Mystic Tortoise Internal Energy within his body and the fire-aspected essence of heaven and earth, perfectly pouring them into every cinnabar line beneath the brush!
Buzz—!
The instant the final stroke landed, the entire sheet of talisman paper suddenly trembled. Crimson light blazed across its surface, and a scorching wave of heat thundered outward, abruptly raising the temperature of the private chamber by several degrees!
A brand-new [Sun Flame Talisman] lay quietly on the table.
The talisman patterns upon it flowed with restrained spiritual light, filled with an explosive sense of power. Compared with the half-finished products he had drawn before, they were worlds apart!
[Congratulations, host. You have successfully drawn a Yellow Rank Low-Grade talisman—Sun Flame Talisman.] [ Talisman Crafting increased. Current realm: Beginner.]
It worked!
Looking at his masterpiece, Lu Chen felt an indescribable surge of joy and accomplishment in his heart.
This would be his strongest trump card aside from his saber technique!
Over the next half month, Lu Chen completely immersed himself in this painful yet blissful cultivation.
During the day, he led Zhao Da Niu and his four other subordinates in drilling formations and coordinated attacks at the Imperial Guard Camp's training grounds. From time to time, he also took some harmless white patrol missions, familiarizing himself with the Imperial Guard's operating procedures and establishing the authority of his Squad Leader position.
At night, he returned to his private chamber, sinking his entire mind into the world of wind and thunder within the Divine Firmament Induction Chapter. He arduously absorbed those profound truths of the Talisman Dao, then used his newly gained insights to practice drawing the Sun Flame Talisman without regard for the cost.
His Demon Devil Lifespan also rapidly dwindled at a speed visible to the naked eye amid this monotonous practice.
[Sun Flame Talisman drawing failed. Spiritual backlash suffered. Consumed 3 days of Demon Devil Lifespan for repair.] [Sun Flame Talisman drawing succeeded. Proficiency +1.] [...]
Half a month later, when he used up the last trace of Earthfire Cinnabar, he had successfully drawn ten high-quality Sun Flame Talismans. His Demon Devil Lifespan, meanwhile, had plummeted to a mere one hundred and sixty years.
But everything had been worth it.
His Talisman Crafting had firmly entered the Beginner realm, and his control over spiritual power was also far more refined and practiced than before.