Hundred Treasures Pavilion

After returning to Cloud Abode from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, Su Yun once again entered a state of secluded cultivation to draw talismans.

The talisman paper, spiritual ink, and talisman brush were all laid out on the table.

He calmed his mind, held his breath, and focused his spirit. Dipping the tip of the brush into the ink, he began his work once more.

At first, his spirit was full and his spiritual power was abundant.

His strokes were steady, precise, and ruthless, completed in one go.

One, ten, fifty...

He drew faster and faster, becoming more and more proficient.

However, the trade of drawing talismans was the most mentally taxing.

The output of spiritual power, the high concentration of mental energy, and the control of the brush tip could not be off by even a fraction.

After drawing seventy or eighty talismans in a row, Su Yun clearly felt his mental energy beginning to weaken and grow heavy.

The space between his brows throbbed faintly, and his temples pulsed rhythmically.

Most of the spiritual power in his body had been consumed, and his meridians felt a sense of hollow tension.

The tip of his brush began to drift slightly, and the strokes of the talisman runes became sluggish.

To continue would only result in wasted talisman paper, which was not worth the loss.

Su Yun decisively stopped his brush.

As expected, drawing talismans is more mentally draining than alchemy.

He rubbed his temples and muttered to himself.

Alchemy could be done in batches, relying on the furnace fire and the reaction of medicinal materials, requiring mental focus only at specific stages.

Drawing talismans, however, required total concentration for every single piece, consuming both spiritual power and mental energy simultaneously.

No longer forcing himself, he stood up and walked to the open space in the cultivation room.

He flipped his storage bag.

Clatter.

Hundreds upon hundreds of low-grade spirit stones poured out.

They spread out neatly, covering half the room.

The white light was luminous, and the spiritual energy was overwhelming.

In the past, he had been short on funds and had to be frugal with spirit stones during cultivation.

Now that he held a fortune, there was naturally no need to be stingy.

Su Yun sat cross-legged in the center of the pile of spirit stones, his eyes tightly closed.

He circulated the Golden Spirit Art.

Hum—

Golden spiritual light rose from his body, and a massive suction force suddenly erupted.

The pure spiritual energy within the surrounding spirit stones seemed to be under a powerful pull.

It transformed into a visible torrent of white spiritual energy, rushing madly into Su Yun's body.

The speed of spiritual energy conversion was terrifying to the extreme.

His spiritual power flowed through his meridians like a rushing river, filling them to the brim.

His dantian quickly swelled and filled up.

The sense of emptiness in his body rapidly faded away.

In just two hours, Su Yun opened his eyes abruptly, a flash of golden light vanishing from his gaze.

The spiritual power in his body was once again full and abundant, his energy and spirit completely restored; he was back to full health.

He stood up, stretched his limbs, and felt refreshed.

Under the nourishment of the spiritual energy, his mental power had simultaneously been tempered and increased.

"Continue drawing."

Su Yun returned to the desk and picked up his brush again.

And so it went.

Draw talismans, exhaust spiritual power, meditate with spirit stones to recover, then draw again.

The process repeated, cycling over and over.

Su Yun was thoroughly immersed in the rhythm of his seclusion.

Without realizing it, half a month slipped by in the blink of an eye.

For the past half month, he had not stepped a single inch outside of Cloud Abode.

Day and night were inverted, yet he knew no fatigue.

Immense gains arrived right on schedule.

Cultivation: Broken through to the eighth level of Qi Refining, only a single step away from the ninth.

Cultivation Method: Golden Spirit Art cultivated to the fifth level. He would only be able to continue to the sixth level after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

Spells: Breath Concealment Art, Golden Blade Technique, and Dark Iron Bone Tempering Art had all been cultivated to the perfection realm.

His foundation was thoroughly solidified.

The most exaggerated part, however, was the output of talismans.

A full two thousand first-tier talismans lay quietly inside his storage bag.

Blazing Fire, Wind Walk, Diamond Body Protection Talisman, Explosion, Water Arrow, Spirit Concentration Talisman, and Poison Repelling Talisman—all seven categories were present and complete.

More than half of them were first-tier peak-grade talismans.

Under the blessing of the Thousandfold Amplification, the power of every single talisman approached that of a second-tier mid-grade talisman.

Su Yun opened his storage bag and looked at the mountain of colorful talismans piled inside.

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, his gaze brightened, and the corners of his mouth curled upward uncontrollably.

It was all money.

It was all cold, hard spirit stones.

With two thousand pseudo-second-tier talismans, once he sold them all, he would become wealthy overnight.

"Seclusion is over; it is time to sell the goods."

One day later.

Azure Cloud Market.

The crowd remained boisterous, with hawking cries rising one after another.

Su Yun disguised himself once again.

This time, he transformed into an old man with gray hair and beard, a gaunt face, and plain-colored Daoist robes.

He carried an air of refined, otherworldly grace.

He headed straight for the very center of the market.

Standing there was the largest and most well-established talisman firm in the entire Azure Cloud Market—Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

The three-story building of Hundred Treasures Pavilion was exceptionally grand.

People came and went at the entrance in an endless stream, as the shop specialized in buying and selling all kinds of talismans, magical artifacts, and high-tier materials.

Su Yun walked slowly through the front door.

A clerk in green robes at the entrance immediately stepped forward to receive him, his attitude respectful.

"Senior, welcome to Hundred Treasures Pavilion. May I ask what you would like to buy?"

Su Yun suppressed his voice to sound old and hoarse, his tone indifferent.

"I am not buying anything."

"I am selling talismans."

"I have a batch of talismans in my possession that I wish to sell to you."

Upon hearing the words "selling talismans," the clerk's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly bowed and scraped.

"We buy! We buy! Please come inside, Senior. Wait a moment, I will notify the boss immediately!"

With that, the clerk ran quickly toward the second floor.

A moment later.

A middle-aged man wearing brocade robes, with a shrewd face and eyes that held the sharpness of a merchant, walked quickly down the stairs.

He was the boss of Hundred Treasures Pavilion, Zhang Jian.

He looked Su Yun up and down, and seeing that the other party possessed an extraordinary temperament, he did not dare to be negligent and bowed slightly.

"Greetings, fellow Daoist."

"I heard from the clerk that you have talismans to sell? Judging by your bearing, you must be a talisman master?"

Su Yun nodded slightly, his expression blank.

"You could say that."

"These are talismans I refined myself; take a look."

With a casual flick of his hand, he took out a Blazing Fire Talisman and handed it over.

Zhang Jian hurriedly took it with both hands.

The touch was warm and smooth, the talisman paper thick, and the ink strokes even.

He first observed it with his naked eye.

The crimson runes were neat, full, and of excellent quality.

It was a standard top-grade Blazing Fire Talisman of the first rank.

But when he injected a sliver of spiritual power from his fingertips to carefully sense the fluctuations of spiritual energy within, his brows furrowed instantly, his face filled with confusion.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

This was clearly a first-rank top-grade talisman, and the runes were indeed the patterns of a first-rank Blazing Fire Talisman.

Yet, the condensation and volatility of the internal spiritual power far exceeded that of a normal first-rank talisman.

There was a faint sense of... the weightiness of a second-rank talisman.

Zhang Jian looked perplexed and could not help but ask.

"Fellow Daoist, forgive my poor eyesight."

"This talisman is indeed of top-grade first-rank quality."

But the foundation of its spiritual power was truly strange.

"Is there some trick to it? Why does it feel so completely different from an ordinary top-grade Blazing Fire Talisman when I sense it?"

Su Yun's tone was calm as he spoke indifferently.

"My method of drawing talismans is different from others."

"This is a first-rank Blazing Fire Talisman that I have improved."

"Its power can rival that of a second-rank talisman."

Zhang Jian's mind went blank for a moment.

He jerked his head up, eyes wide, staring fixedly at Su Yun.

A first-rank talisman, unleashing second-rank power?

What kind of joke was this!

He had been in the talisman business for decades and had seen countless talisman masters.

No matter how high their talent or how top-tier their techniques, the most a master could do was make a top-grade first-rank talisman infinitely approach the threshold of the second rank.

It was absolutely impossible to directly exert second-rank power!

Was this old man before him a fraud? Or was there something wrong with his brain?

Zhang Jian suppressed the disdain in his heart and offered a stiff, insincere smile.

"Fellow Daoist, you certainly know how to joke. First rank is first rank, second rank is second rank; they are worlds apart. How could it be so easily improved?"

Su Yun could not be bothered with nonsense and blocked him with a single sentence.

"If you don't believe me, a single test will tell."

Zhang Jian hesitated for a moment, then finally gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Fine! Then please follow me, Fellow Daoist!"