Talisman Hall is bigger than Li Yuan imagined.
After walking along the stone road for about half a mile, the trees gradually became sparse, and a patchwork courtyard was revealed in front of it. The gray bricks and black tiles, the eaves and corners, the layout is consistent with the architectural style of Wang Family Headquarters, but the scale is much smaller.
Several stone roads passed between the courtyards, and the roads were clean. There was a faint smell of Spirit Ink in the air, mixed with the smell of Cinnabar and animal skins.
Occasionally, you can see a few monks in green and gray robes coming in and out of the courtyard, most of them holding Talisman Paper or Talisman Brush in their hands, walking slowly and looking focused.
Li Yuan was stopped by a monk on duty at the entrance of the courtyard.
"What are you here for?"
"Take the assessment."
The monk on duty looked at him twice and pointed to a small road to the east.
"The assessment is at East Courtyard. After entering, turn left and find the second stone house."
Li Yuan walked along the road.
East Courtyard It is quieter than the courtyard outside. The stone houses are lined up in a row, and the doors are closed. Only the door of the second room is half open, and dim light shines through.
Li Yuan walked to the door and knocked on the doorframe twice.
"Come in."
The room is not big, and a wide table takes up most of the space. There is a thick felt on the table, and there are more than a dozen stacks of Talisman Paper of different types, Spirit Ink of different types, and a Talisman Brush placed on the top.
There is a person sitting behind the desk.
He is in his fifties, with a thin face, high cheekbones, small but very bright eyes, and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes that look like they were carved with a knife. His fingers are long and have very faint traces of Cinnabar on his fingertips, just like all people who have been Talisman Making for many years.
Qi Refining Late Stage's breath is so heavy that it is almost undetectable if you don't sense it carefully.
The assessment talisman master glanced at Li Yuan without saying anything.
"Name."
"Li Yuan."
"Cultivation."
"Qi Refining Sixth Layer."
"Know several types of Talisman."
"Fireball Talisman, Cleaning Talisman, Warding Talisman, Warning Talisman, Meridian Expanding Talisman, Golden Armor Talisman, Energy Recovery Talisman, Rejuvenation Talisman, Vajra Talisman."
The examiner's gaze rested on Li Yuan for a moment longer.
He pulled out a few cards from the pile of Talisman Paper on the table and pushed them in front of Li Yuan.
"Draw one of each, using the pen and ink on the table."
Li Yuan walked to the table and picked up Talisman Brush.
The pen is not his own, and it feels different in the hand - the barrel of the pen is a little thinner than what he is used to, and the tip is a little harder. But the quality of Talisman Brush is not bad, and the spiritual power is transmitted smoothly.
Li Yuan dipped in ink, put pen to paper, and started drawing Fireball Talisman.
This is the Talisman that he is most familiar with. The strokes, patterning, overlaying and closing are all done in one go. Proficient Level Other techniques are there, the six lines of Spirit Pattern are not paused from the beginning to the end. When the heart of the symbol is closed, the spiritual power is restrained, and a layer of calm red luster floats on the surface of the symbol.
The examiner's eyes were always fixed on his hands.
After Fireball Talisman finished drawing, Li Yuan put the talisman aside and changed it to Talisman Paper to draw Rejuvenation Talisman.
The strength of the wood type Spirit Pattern is completely different from that of Fire Element. Li Yuan switches between the two strengths cleanly and without extra adjustment time. Healing Pattern spreads out, Nourishing Pattern closes up, and a faint green color appears in the center of the symbol.
But I was a little too hasty at the end and ended up failing to draw the symbol.
After all the Low-grade First-Order symbols are drawn, Li Yuan puts Talisman Brush back into the pen holder.
In the end, there were four pictures, Fireball Talisman, Golden Armor Talisman, Golden Armor Talisman, Energy Recovery Talisman.
The assessment talisman master reached out and took these talismans, including the useless talismans, and looked through them one by one.
After reading it, the assessment talisman master nodded.
"Passed."
The assessment talisman master leaned back in his chair, looked away from Talisman, and landed on Li Yuan's face.
"Can you Breath-Concealing Talisman?"
"No."
The assessment talisman master took out a roll of animal skin from the drawer under the table, placed it on the table, and pushed it towards Li Yuan.
"This is how to make Breath-Concealing Talisman."
Li Yuan glanced at him.
"Now look, now learn, now draw." The examiner's tone did not change, as if he was explaining something extremely ordinary.
He pushed a few more Talisman Papers on the table over.
He paused and his eyes became sharper.
"Just a reminder, don't try to fool me. Whether this is your first time contacting this kind of Talisman can be seen from the way you put down the pen."
Li Yuan didn't say much and stretched out his hand to unfold the animal skin.
The preparation method of Breath-Concealing Talisman is laid out on the table, and the arrangement diagram and key description of Spirit Pattern are clear at a glance.
Li Yuan read it from top to bottom.
The first impression is that it is different from the previous Talisman.
Fireball Talisman takes the earth type, Fire Element, Vajra Talisman takes the earth type, Metal Element, Rejuvenation Talisman takes the wood type, Cleaning Talisman and Warding Talisman also take the common spiritual path.
Breath-Concealing Talisman does not take any attributes.
This is not GG, it is the Amway of the treasure book "Cultivation of Immortality: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes":.
Its Spirit Pattern is called Concealment Pattern. The core is not to output some kind of spiritual power effect, but to build a layer of spiritual power barrier on Talisman Paper to wrap the user's spiritual energy fluctuations and breath inside to prevent them from leaking out.
The idea is completely different.
Li Yuan reviewed the key points of the preparation method again.
"Concealment Pattern needs to gather the spiritual power from the outside to the inside. The direction of the pen tip is opposite to that of the regular Spirit Pattern. The starting pen is heavy and the pen closing is light. The spiritual power is distributed thick on the outside and thin on the inside."
The starting stroke is heavy and the finishing stroke is light.
Just the opposite of all his habits of drawing symbols.
Fireball Talisman means the starting stroke is light and the writing stroke is heavy, and the spiritual power becomes more concentrated towards the back. Vajra Talisman means the whole stroke is even. Rejuvenation Talisman means the whole stroke is light.
Li Yuan picked up Talisman Brush, dipped it in Spirit Ink, and rolled out the first Talisman Paper.
The first pass Concealment Pattern.
Start writing and press down with spiritual power.
Too heavy.
It's not a matter of strength, it's a matter of direction. In the past, all Spirit Pattern were "spread outward", and the spiritual power flowed out from the pen tip and spread out on the paper. Breath-Concealing Talisman required the spiritual power to "retract in", seeping from the surface of the paper to the inside of the paper.
After the first stroke of Li Yuan, the spiritual power habitually went out and spread out a small area on the paper.
The shape of Concealment Pattern simply fell apart.
Wasted.
Li Yuan lifted up the waste talisman and put it aside, then laid out the second one.
This time, he deliberately suppressed the direction of the spiritual power. When he started writing, he turned his wrist inward for half a minute, and lowered the angle of the pen tip toward the paper, trying to let the spiritual power go toward the inner layer of the paper.
The spiritual power did seep in a little bit, but not enough. It only penetrated the surface and then stopped. Most of the spiritual power was still piled on the paper.
The first half of Concealment Pattern was barely formed, but in the second half - the spiritual power gradually decreased when the pen was closed - Li Yuan's wrist failed to control the rhythm of reduction, and the spiritual power was broken in the middle, and there was an obvious gap in the lines.
Wasted again.
The assessment talisman master sat across from him, folding his hands on the table and keeping looking.
His eyes did not fall on Talisman Paper, but on Li Yuan's wrist.
The third picture... the fourth picture... the fifth picture...
It was not until the seventh picture that Li Yuan was successfully produced.
A very light gray layer floats on the surface of Breath-Concealing Talisman. It is not glossy, but a trace of background color that comes out from the paper after the spiritual power is restrained to the extreme. It is dark and retracted, and is different from all Talisman that are released outwards.
[Equipable item detected: Breath-Concealing Talisman]
Although it is very rough, at least it is a qualified finished product.
The assessment talisman master looked at the talisman and his eyes paused on the talisman for a few seconds.
He reached out and picked it up, turned it to the back, and pressed his fingers lightly on the paper.
Then let it go.
"Passed."
Two words, simple and neat.
He put the Breath-Concealing Talisman on the corner of the table and stacked it with the previous talisman.
"The entry procedure for the Talisman Hall will take a day or two. You should settle in first. There is a temporary residence behind East Courtyard. Go to the guard to register."
Li Yuan nodded and rolled up the Breath-Concealing Talisman recipe on the table.
"Take the crafting method with you." the talisman assessment master added. "It will be yours from now on."
Li Yuan put the animal skin into his sleeves, cupped his hands, turned around and walked out of the stone house.
After exiting the door of East Courtyard, I met a person head-on.
Talisman Master Yu.
He was holding a cloth bag in his hand, as if he had just bought it from somewhere, and was walking in another direction along the path. He paused when he saw Li Yuan coming out of the stone house where the assessment was conducted.
"Have you finished the exam?"
"Hmm."
Talisman Master Yu looked him over.
"Passed?"
"Passed."
Talisman Master Yu was stunned for a breath.
He opened his mouth, closed it again, moved the corners of his mouth, and finally just shook his head.
"I really let you in."
There was surprise in his tone, but it didn't sound like he didn't believe it, but more like an unexpected emotion.
He patted the cloth bag in his hand, said nothing more, nodded to Li Yuan, and left carrying the things.
Li Yuan looked at his retreating back, turned around and walked towards the temporary residence behind East Courtyard.
The residence is a small stone house, which is more spacious than Mine's low house. The table is also larger and can accommodate a complete set of Talisman Making tools.
Li Yuan Put the things away and sit down at the table.
Take out the Breath-Concealing Talisman method animal hide from your sleeve, unfold it again and spread it on the table.
During the assessment, I only drew seven pictures, which became one.
The success rate is too low.
Li Yuan picked up Talisman Brush, dipped it in Spirit Ink, and spread out a new Talisman Paper.
Put pen to paper.