First Meeting with Tang San, Artifact Refining Compendium

Soul power flowed through the talisman pen onto the talisman paper, but the Bamboo Bone Pen lacked the fluidity to retain that energy, causing a slight distortion during the final stroke.

"And so, it falls short at the last moment."

Li Han flipped quickly through the Basic Talisman Compendium, discovering that to solve this issue, he either needed to release more divine sense and soul power during the inscription process or upgrade the grade of his talisman pen.

The first option was impossible given Li Han's current cultivation level.

As for the second...

"The materials of the Bamboo Bone Pen are fine, but the craftsmanship is far too crude. I obtained the Basic Talisman Compendium, which details the production methods for various talismans, but it contains precious little information on talisman pens. Refining a magical-grade talisman pen is likely beyond my reach."

Li Han felt a touch of helplessness and had to temporarily abandon his talisman crafting. Otherwise, the cinnabar and talisman paper he had worked so hard to acquire would all go to waste.

Having put his talisman career on hold, Li Han finished his library duties and headed to the Martial Soul Hall alone to register, officially becoming a registered soul master and collecting his subsidy of one Gold Soul Coin. Although he had inherited the legacy of Mo Hen, he certainly wouldn't turn his nose up at the soul master subsidy. After all, there were far too many places where money was needed.

Once I break through to level twenty, I can consider going to the Soul Fighting Arena to earn money. My income is too low, making many things difficult to manage. Mo Hen's legacy won't last long.

As Li Han thought this, he returned to Nuoding Academy, only to find himself walking straight into a famous scene.

Tang San was taking on a master.

Yu Xiaogang had just finished a thorough analysis, leaving the newly arrived Tang San completely stunned, prompting him to kneel on the spot and offer his respects.

"Disciple Tang San, greets Master!"

"Good, good, good! I, Yu Xiaogang, finally have a disciple."

Yu Xiaogang laughed heartily, his heart filled with exhilaration. The stifled frustration he had harbored for years was finally vented in this moment. He knew his spring had arrived. With a genius possessing Twin Martial Souls, he would surely rise to fame in the soul master world and become a true Grandmaster. Teaching a genius to become a powerhouse—that was the way of Yu Xiaogang!

"San, you must remember: there are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters. Even though your martial soul is Blue Silver Grass, under my guidance, you will certainly become a powerful soul master."

Yu Xiaogang was brimming with confidence. A peerless prodigy with Twin Martial Souls had only appeared three times in a hundred years; how could he possibly fail to teach him? Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Just then, Yu Xiaogang spotted Li Han walking slowly from not far away.

"Isn't that the Lone Bamboo brat who refused to become my registered disciple?"

Yu Xiaogang had always felt disgruntled by Li Han's previous behavior. Over these days, he had been searching the academy for suitable talent, but he hadn't found anyone with higher aptitude than Li Han. Today, having taken a disciple with Twin Martial Souls, he suddenly felt vindicated. With his thoughts racing, he immediately decided to use this opportunity to knock the boy down a peg—partly to vent his lingering frustration, and partly to set up a negative example for Tang San.

"San, do you see that black-haired youth over there?"

Tang San looked over as instructed, seeing Li Han dressed in green robes, standing tall with a refined face and an air of composure.

"Master, what about him?"

"He is also a work-study student with no background. He was lucky enough to have an Innate Soul Power of level six, but his martial soul is merely a slightly mutated Lone Bamboo, barely better in quality than your Blue Silver Grass. The only thing worth mentioning is that he is somewhat diligent; it took him a year to raise his soul power to level ten. But because of that, he has become arrogant, thinking he can go far on the path of a soul master through effort alone. I once kindly suggested he hunt animal soul beasts and even offered to take him as a registered disciple, but he refused me. Someone so unwilling to humbly seek instruction is destined to never achieve greatness. You must never be as arrogant as he is, or my painstaking efforts will all go to waste."

Hearing this, Tang San looked curiously at Li Han, just as Li Han's gaze shifted toward them.

As their eyes met, the system's voice rang out once more.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for checking in on Feng Xi. Reward: Artifact Refining Compendium."

The Artifact Refining Compendium recorded countless secret techniques for crafting magical artifacts, allowing one to refine them independently.

Artifact refining? Since Feng Xi is such a generous benefactor, why didn't you reward me with the Wind-Thunder Wings?

Li Han grumbled inwardly, but upon closer inspection, the Artifact Refining Compendium was not bad at all.

If he could collect the right materials in the future, perhaps he could even refine a pair of Wind-Thunder Wings himself.

Previously, his Heavenly Thunder Bamboo leaves could only be used to feed Xiao Wu, but now with the Artifact Refining Compendium, he could try his hand at crafting magical artifacts.

However, materials for artifact refining were hard to come by, and the difficulty was extremely high; Li Han feared he wouldn't succeed anytime soon and would need time to hone his skills.

Alchemy, talismans, and artifact refining—I'm going to be quite busy from now on.

Li Han suddenly felt that time was in short supply.

Right, with this Artifact Refining Compendium, I can refine the Bamboo Bone Pen into a magical artifact.

This way, the quality of the Bamboo Bone Pen will be upgraded, and perhaps I'll be able to draw a Fireball Talisman!

He acted as soon as he thought of it.

Li Han immediately quickened his pace, heading toward the back mountain where he secretly practiced.

"Hmph! Look at this person. He didn't even greet me when he saw me, just turned and left. He has no respect for his elders!"

Yu Xiaogang was even more furious as he watched Li Han walk away quickly.

Tang San also frowned.

He valued respect for teachers above all else, and seeing Li Han act this way, his impression of him worsened.

Li Han was unaware that he had offended Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.

Even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.

Yu Xiaogang held the position of teacher at the academy in name only; in reality, he hadn't taught them a single lesson, so he really couldn't be considered a mentor.

Some people just didn't understand that age didn't automatically grant one superiority over all the young.

Back mountain.

Li Han took the Bamboo Bone Pen out of his storage bag.

"The Bamboo Bone Pen was made according to the talisman pen specifications recorded in the Complete Collection of Talismans, but that was only the simplest type of pen, not even qualifying as a low-grade magical artifact."

"Perhaps that is why my talisman drawing always failed."

"The Artifact Refining Compendium, however, records many magical artifact restrictions."

"As long as I carve these restrictions into the pen body, the quality of the Bamboo Bone Pen will improve."

"The more restrictions I carve, the higher the quality of the Bamboo Bone Pen will be."

"By then, I should be able to successfully draw talismans."

Thinking this, Li Han placed the Bamboo Bone Pen in front of him. His divine sense surged, enveloping the pen, and he then accessed the Artifact Refining Compendium in his mind, using his divine sense to carve the restrictions onto the pen body one by one.

After carving the first restriction, Li Han was already sweating.

As he carved the second restriction, his face gradually turned pale.

By the time he finished, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

"It's no use. With my current strength, I can carve at most two restrictions."

When Li Han tried to carve a third, his divine sense couldn't support it, and he decisively gave up.

Even so, three blood-red patterns had appeared on the Bamboo Bone Pen. It looked much more refined than before, with a faint glow flickering across it, though it quickly vanished.

Li Han gripped it firmly, a faint look of joy in his eyes.

"It is indeed vastly different from before."

"With this, the success rate of drawing talismans will surely increase significantly!"

Below three layers of restrictions was low-grade, four to six layers was mid-grade, seven to nine layers was high-grade, and breaking through ten layers meant it was top-grade.

Li Han had carved two restrictions in one go, successfully elevating the Bamboo Bone Pen to the highest quality of a low-grade magical artifact.