Talisman Making

In iThe Peaceful Yin Talisman Scripture</i>, the word "yin" meant "hidden" or "innate," while "talisman" meant "to correspond" or "to conform."

The central tenet of this inherited art of talisman-making could be summed up in one sentence: "Observe the way of Heaven, and act in accordance with it."

The jade slip contained only the introductory chapter of iThe Peaceful Yin Talisman Scripture</i>, the most fundamental part of the Profound Yin Sect's entire system of talisman arts.

Even so, its contents were abstruse and difficult to understand, involving minute depictions of the paths taken by the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth. There was no way Xia Dong could master them all at once.

Xia Dong wasn't impatient. He went over the contents of the jade slip in his mind, then carefully stowed it and the Spirit Stones in the dusty Storage Pouch. He released his spiritual sense and examined the area closely. Only after confirming that the hidden mechanism door leading to the outer serpent cave had been restored perfectly did he turn and walk toward another passage at the far end of the secret chamber.

The passage had been ingeniously designed. Rather than leading straight to the surface, it sloped downward, eventually disappearing into an icy underground river. Xia Dong took a deep breath, circulated his inner breath, and plunged into the water. Holding his breath, he swam along the extremely well-hidden underwater passage for a while before spotting a glimmer of light.

With a splash, Xia Dong burst out of the water.

He looked around and found himself in a secluded pool. Above it, a small waterfall plunged down with a thunderous roar, perfectly masking any sounds from the surrounding area.

Steep cliffs surrounded the pool, and ancient trees towered overhead. Vines hung like natural curtains, while sunlight struggled to filter through the gaps above. The place was a hidden world of its own.

Xia Dong studied the terrain around him, overjoyed. If I have time in the future, I can fix this place up and make it my secret cultivation cave beyond the city. As for the Great Serpent guarding the entrance, once my strength improves and I have a way to keep it in check, perhaps I can tame it and have it guard my home.

Once he had made up his mind, Xia Dong changed out of his soaked clothes and used the Wind-Riding Technique to leap lightly out of the Hidden Valley. He set off for Pingyang County without a sound.

After returning to Changchun Medical Hall, Xia Dong shut his doors to visitors and devoted himself entirely to studying iThe Peaceful Yin Talisman Scripture</i>.

During that time, he secretly disguised himself and made a trip to the Marketplace, where he bought a batch of the most basic blank spirit paper, along with the talisman brush and ink needed to make talismans.

The talisman brush was easy enough to maintain. As long as he looked after it, he could use it indefinitely.

Talisman ink, however, was a genuine consumable. To draw spirit talismans imbued with mana, the ink had to be made with fresh monster blood.

As a beginner, Xia Dong couldn't afford blood from high-tier monsters, so he bought the cheapest kind.

In fact, if one had a high success rate, making talismans was an easy way to earn back one's investment.

But like alchemy, the hardest hurdle in talisman-making was its appallingly low success rate. Ordinary low-tier talisman masters could make only one successful talisman out of every ten.

Fortunately, Xia Dong had the One Proof Eternal Proof talent, so he believed that once he successfully drew a talisman, the rest would be easy.

His cultivation was still limited, so he planned to start by learning the most practical Wind-Riding Talisman and Breath-Concealing Talisman. He intended to sell the Wind-Riding Talismans.

He planned to keep the Breath-Concealing Talismans for himself, while the Wind-Riding Talisman had many uses and would be easy to sell.

This was especially true for low-tier Rogue Cultivators who had no sect backing and little money. Proper flying artifacts were not only expensive, but also consumed a great deal of mana over long journeys—more than ordinary Qi Refining Realm cultivators could afford.

That was why low-tier cultivators traveling abroad often preferred the affordable and practical God-Speed Talisman.

Compared to the God-Speed Talisman, which could only carry its user along the ground, the Wind-Riding Talisman consumed just as little mana while also allowing a little flight.

When pursued by enemies, its ability to carry the user over dangerous terrain like cliffs and poisonous marshes made the Wind-Riding Talisman far more valuable for survival than the God-Speed Talisman.

The core of the Profound Yin Sect's talisman art was to use one's own Mysterious Yin Mana to condense a "talisman seed" inside the body.

Once the talisman seed had formed, a cultivator could break free of the restrictions of paper talismans and simply direct mana through the air to form talismans and attack enemies.

However, these paperless talismans couldn't preserve mana for long without spirit paper as a medium. They activated as soon as they were drawn.

Condensing a talisman seed had its own requirements. It required not only sufficiently pure Mysterious Yin Mana, but also spiritual sense equivalent to that of someone at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer or above.

Since Xia Dong had cultivated the Mysterious Yin Spirit Refining Art, he had long met the spiritual-sense requirement. But his efficiency at converting spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth was only ten percent, and the mana stored in his dantian was still far too meager to support the formation of a talisman seed.

Xia Dong wasn't in a hurry. He put aside the idea of condensing a talisman seed and devoted himself entirely to drawing the Wind-Riding Talisman.

When Xia Dong finally picked up his brush and began to break down the spiritual patterns of the Wind-Riding Talisman, he discovered something.

The inner logic of the Wind-Riding Technique he had deduced from the Bronze Ancient Bell was far more profound and ingenious than the Wind-Riding Talisman described in iThe Peaceful Yin Talisman Scripture</i>. It even carried the simple, unadorned elegance of the Great Way.

If using wind-based power was like solving an arithmetic problem, the Wind-Riding Technique deduced by the Bronze Ancient Bell was like an extremely concise, ultimate formula that went straight to the source, consuming little while delivering great power. The method for drawing the Wind-Riding Talisman in iThe Peaceful Yin Talisman Scripture</i>, by contrast, was like a clumsy solution cobbled together from countless tedious, elementary formulas.

With the foundation of the Bronze Ancient Bell's Wind-Riding Technique, the patterns and key points of the cumbersome Wind-Riding Talisman became crystal clear to Xia Dong as he broke them down.

Soon, Xia Dong began making talismans. Mysterious Yin Mana circulated slowly within him, flowing down his arm and into the rather rough talisman brush.

He raised the brush, dipped it in ink, and set it to paper!

The monster-blood ink meandered across the yellowed spirit paper. Xia Dong fixed his spiritual sense on the tip of the brush, controlling his mana with precision.

The first talisman failed when his wrist trembled slightly and his mana dispersed halfway through. The spirit paper instantly crumbled into ash.

The second exploded when he channeled too much mana into it at the final stroke, and the runes couldn't bear the strain.

The third... the eighth...

After more than ten consecutive failures, fine beads of sweat had formed on Xia Dong's forehead, and the precious ink had visibly dwindled.

But his strokes grew steadier and steadier.

At last, on his fifteenth attempt—

Xia Dong's wrist seemed to fall into a rhythm as natural as breathing. His brush swept like a dragon, completing the talisman in one fluid motion!

As he finished the final stroke, he sharply lifted the tip of his brush.

Humm.

The intricate, web-like vermilion runes on the spirit paper suddenly glowed with a faint but pure blue-green light.

The loose wind-attribute spiritual energy around him seemed to be drawn by some unseen pact. It rushed toward the talisman, then locked itself inside the thin sheet of paper.

The light faded. The talisman was complete!

Looking at the Wind-Riding Talisman on his desk, its surface rippling with faint spiritual energy, Xia Dong finally smiled with relief.