Soul Power flowed through the talisman pen and remained on the talisman paper, but the Bamboo Bone Pen couldn't channel Soul Power smoothly enough. As a result, the final step became slightly distorted.
And so, all his efforts came to naught."
Li Han quickly leafed through the Compendium of Talismans and found two ways to solve the problem: release more Divine Sense and Soul Power while drawing, or improve the grade of the talisman pen.
The first option was beyond Li Han's current abilities.
The second...
"The Bamboo Bone Pen's materials are fine, but the craftsmanship is far too crude.
What I got was the Basic Talisman Compendium. It contains the methods for making all kinds of talismans, but barely mentions talisman pens.
I'm afraid I can't refine a talisman pen to the level of a Dharma Artifact."
Li Han felt somewhat helpless and had no choice but to put talisman-making aside for now.
Otherwise, he would end up wasting all the cinnabar and talisman paper he had worked so hard to obtain.
After setting aside his talisman-making plans, Li Han finished his work at the library and went alone to Spirit Hall to register. He officially became a registered Soul Master and received a subsidy of one Gold Soul Coin.
Though he had inherited Mo Hen's estate, he didn't mind getting the Soul Master subsidy as well.
After all, there were far too many things to spend money on.
"Once I break through to level twenty, I can consider earning money at the Soul Fighting Arena.
My income is too low. It makes a lot of things difficult.
Mo Hen's estate won't last forever, either."
Thinking this, Li Han returned to Nuoding Academy, only to stumble upon a famous scene.
Tang San was taking a master.
After a lengthy analysis from Yu Xiaogang, Tang San, who had just arrived at Nuoding Academy, was so astonished that he dropped to his knees and bowed on the spot.
"Your disciple, Tang San, pays his respects to Master!"
"Good, good, good! I, Yu Xiaogang, finally have a disciple!"
Yu Xiaogang burst into laughter, his heart brimming with satisfaction.
The pent-up frustration that had weighed on him for years poured out of him in that moment.
He knew his spring had arrived.
With such a Twin Martial Souls prodigy, he would surely make a name for himself in the Soul Master World and become a true Grandmaster.
To teach a genius to become a powerhouse—that was Yu Xiaogang's way as a master!
"Xiao San, remember this. There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters.
"Your Martial Soul may be Blue Silver Grass, but under my guidance, you'll surely become a powerful Soul Master."
Yu Xiaogang brimmed with confidence.
Only three peerless geniuses with Twin Martial Souls had appeared in a century. How could he possibly fail to teach one?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Just then, Yu Xiaogang saw Li Han walking slowly toward them from a short distance away.
"Isn't that the Lone Bamboo kid who refused to become my nominal disciple?"
Yu Xiaogang had never gotten over Li Han's earlier refusal.
He had spent the past few days searching the academy for promising students, but hadn't found anyone more talented than Li Han.
Now that he had taken in a disciple with Twin Martial Souls, he finally felt vindicated.
His thoughts whirling, he decided to use this chance to put Li Han in his place. It would ease his pent-up frustration and give Tang San a negative example to learn from.
"Xiao San, do you see that black-haired boy over there?"
Tang San looked in the direction his master indicated. Li Han wore a blue-green robe, stood tall and straight, and had a refined face. He carried himself with an air of composure.
"Teacher, what about him?"
"He's a Work-Study Student, with no particular background.
"But he's had good luck. His Innate Soul Power is level six, but his Martial Soul is only a slightly mutated Lone Bamboo, hardly any better in quality than your Blue Silver Grass.
"The only thing worth praising is that he's fairly hardworking.
"In one year, he raised his Soul Power to level ten.
"But that made him arrogant. He thinks hard work alone will take him far on the path of a Soul Master.
"I kindly advised him to hunt an animal Soul Beast, and even offered to take him as a nominal disciple, but he refused both.
"Someone who won't humbly seek guidance is destined to achieve little.
"You must never become as conceited as he is.
"Otherwise, all my painstaking efforts as your master will have been for nothing."
After hearing this, Tang San looked at Li Han with curiosity. At that very moment, Li Han's gaze also turned toward him.
As their eyes met, the system's voice rang out once more.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for checking in with Feng Xi. Reward: Artifact Refining Compendium."
The Artifact Refining Compendium recorded countless secret methods for refining Dharma Artifacts, and enabled its user to refine them.
"Artifact refining? Since Feng Xi's such a generous benefactor, why didn't he give me the Wind-Thunder Wings?"
Li Han grumbled inwardly, but after examining the Artifact Refining Compendium, he found it was still quite useful.
If he could gather suitable materials in the future, perhaps he could even refine a pair of Wind-Thunder Wings himself.
Previously, he could only feed the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Leaf to Xiao Wu. Now, with the Artifact Refining Compendium, he could also try refining a Dharma Artifact.
The trouble was that artifact-refining materials were hard to find, and the process itself was extremely difficult. Li Han likely wouldn't succeed anytime soon; he would need time to build up his skills.
"Alchemy, talismans, and artifact refining—there's going to be so much to keep me busy."
Li Han suddenly felt as though he didn't have enough time.
"Right. With this Artifact Refining Compendium, I can refine the Bamboo Bone Pen into a Dharma Artifact.
"That will raise the Bamboo Bone Pen's quality by another level. Maybe then I'll be able to draw a Fireball Talisman!"
He put the thought into action at once.
Li Han quickened his pace and headed for the back mountain, where he usually trained in secret.
"Hmph! Look at him. He sees me and doesn't even bother to greet me. He just turns around and walks away. He has no respect for his elders!"
Seeing Li Han hurry away, Yu Xiaogang grew even angrier.
Tang San frowned as well.
He valued respect for teachers above all else. Seeing Li Han behave this way lowered his opinion of him.
Li Han had no idea he had offended Yu Xiaogang and Tang San.
But even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.
Yu Xiaogang held a teaching position at the academy in name, but had never taught them a single class. He hardly counted as a teacher.
Some people just didn't understand that growing older didn't automatically entitle them to outrank every young person.
Back mountain.
Li Han took the Bamboo Bone Pen out of his Storage Bag.
"The Bamboo Bone Pen was made according to the instructions for talisman pens in the Compendium of Talismans, but those describe only the simplest kind. It doesn't even qualify as a low-grade Dharma Artifact.
"Maybe that's why I kept failing to draw talismans.
"The Artifact Refining Compendium records quite a few artifact restrictions.
"As long as I carve these restrictions into the pen, its quality will improve.
"The more I carve, the higher its quality will become.
"Then I should be able to draw talismans successfully."
With that thought, Li Han placed the Bamboo Bone Pen in front of him. His Divine Sense surged and enveloped it. Then, drawing on the Artifact Refining Compendium in his mind, he used his Divine Sense to carve the restrictions into the pen one by one.
After carving the first restriction, Li Han was already sweating.
As he carved the second, his face gradually paled.
By the time he finished, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
"No. With my current strength, I can carve at most two restrictions."
When Li Han tried to carve a third restriction, his Divine Sense couldn't sustain the effort, so he finally gave up.
Even so, three blood-red lines now marked the Bamboo Bone Pen. It looked much more refined than before, and a faint glow shimmered across it—but quickly vanished.
Li Han grasped it in his hand, a faint look of delight in his eyes.
"It's definitely changed a lot.
"This should greatly improve my chances of successfully drawing talismans!"
Up to three restrictions made a low-grade artifact; four to six made a middle-grade one, and seven to nine made a high-grade one. Ten or more made a top-grade one.
With two restrictions carved in one go, Li Han had raised the Bamboo Bone Pen's quality to the very top tier of low-grade Dharma Artifacts.
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