Warding Talisman

By the time he brought the two newcomers back to their residence, the sky had already darkened.

Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman had been diligent learners. After a day, they had basically memorized the patrol procedures. Tomorrow, he could let them try covering half a street on their own.

Li Yuan slid the door bolt into place, sat down at the table, and took out talisman-making materials from his sleeve.

Yellow talisman paper, spirit ink specially for warding, cinnabar, and a Fine-Hair Brush were neatly laid out across the tabletop.

A Warding Talisman was more than one level more complicated than a Cleaning Talisman.

Li Yuan picked up the brush, dipped it in warding spirit ink, and set it down on the first sheet of talisman paper.

The opening stroke of a Warding Talisman resembled that of a Cleaning Talisman. Starting from the upper left corner, the talisman brush moved clockwise across the paper. Spiritual power poured from his fingertips into the brush handle, while cinnabar slowly spread over the talisman paper.

At a bend in one spirit pattern, Li Yuan gave his wrist a slight turn and adjusted the frequency of his spiritual power output.

He failed. He had adjusted the spiritual power too quickly, and one spirit pattern on the talisman paper was visibly a section too faint.

Li Yuan put down the brush and set the talisman paper aside.

The second sheet, the third sheet... the seventh sheet.

He failed seven sheets in a row, and that was with the Talisman Crafting Manual equipped and a wealth of experience in his mind.

The eighth sheet.

Li Yuan took a deep breath, picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote.

Spiritual power flowed across the talisman paper, slowly forming spirit patterns.

The talisman brush naturally tapered at the end of the pattern, and the final point landed steadily in the exact center of the paper.

The Warding Talisman was complete.

Li Yuan put down the brush and flexed his slightly aching wrist.

Eight sheets of talisman paper, one success.

The Panel displayed a notification:

[Detected equippable item: Warding Talisman (Complete)]

[Affix preview: Warding (Gray)—spiritual power carries a weak effect that harms souls and Yin Ghosts]

[Permanent condition preview: Kill one Yin Ghost at Low-grade First-Order or above (0/1)]

[Current Equipment Slot is full (3/3). Replace current equipment?]

A Gray Trait. Its effect was not particularly strong.

However, the condition for making it permanent only required killing a Low-grade First-Order Yin Ghost.

Yin Ghosts were a special kind of existence. After cultivators or mortals died, a very small number of souls remained undispersed and transformed in places thick with yin energy.

Li Yuan had seen related records in the original owner's memories. Rogue Cultivators occasionally encountered Yin Ghosts in certain damp, shadowy valleys of the Yuanheng Mountains, but they were rarely seen near Qinghe Market.

There was no rush. The condition was not harsh. If he encountered one, he could deal with it along the way.

[Tier 1 Talisman Crafting Art: Entry Level (30/100)]

[Warding Talisman: Not Initiated (13/100)]

[Talisman Crafting Insight (White) permanent progress: 2/50]

The overall experience for Talisman Crafting Art had risen considerably. In roughly two or three days, it should reach Entry Level.

Still, the experience for Talisman Crafting Art truly grew a notch slower than cultivation techniques. Equipment infusion merely saved him the time needed for comprehension; the skill in his hands still had to be trained out sheet by sheet.

Li Yuan put away the Warding Talisman and glanced at the remaining materials on the table.

There was still a stack of talisman paper left. Half the spirit ink had been used, while the cinnabar had barely been consumed—Warding Talismans mainly consumed spirit ink.

That was enough for today. He had expended quite a bit of spiritual power, and if he kept drawing, the rate of wasted talismans would only rise.

Li Yuan put away the talisman-making materials, sat cross-legged on the bed, and circulated the Spirit Guiding Art.

Spiritual energy surged into his meridians, pure and free of impurities.

Switching to the Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art, spiritual power circulated once through the secondary meridians before returning to his dantian, its quality rising by another degree.

Over the next two days, Li Yuan led Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman on patrols through the market during the day.

The two newcomers picked things up quickly. Zhao Hu was bold enough to step in when vendors quarreled, but he spoke too bluntly. Twice, he nearly provoked people into a rage, and only stopped after Li Yuan kicked him from the side.

Zheng Xiaoman spoke little, but his eyes were sharp. During patrols, he was always looking around, occasionally sidling up to Li Yuan to report something in a low voice. What he reported were all small details.

Each of them had their own flaws, but they were easier to lead than Li Yuan had expected.

On the third day, Li Yuan had the two patrol East Street and North Alley on their own, freeing up his own hands.

That afternoon, Li Yuan headed toward the southern stretch of East Street and turned in before Old Sun's stall.

Old Sun was not tending his medicine cauldron today. Instead, he squatted behind the stall sorting medicinal herbs. Several varieties of dried herbs lay before him as he separated them handful by handful.

Li Yuan crouched down in front of the stall.

Old Sun glanced up at him and set down the herbs in his hands.

"Back? I heard you haven't gone out again since returning from the mountains."

"We're staying in the market for now." Li Yuan took two medicinal herbs from his sleeve and placed them on the stall cloth.

One was Green Jade Grass, the other Red Root Vine. He had picked them casually while on patrol, so there was not much.

"Just these?" Old Sun picked up the Green Jade Grass and turned it over, then examined the Red Root Vine.

"It wasn't very convenient to gather herbs in the mountains. This time, we were mainly searching and fighting, so there wasn't much time to watch for medicinal herbs."

Old Sun gave a grunt and put the two herbs into the medicine chest behind him without fussing over the quantity.

"No matter. Having some is enough."

Old Sun rummaged through the medicine chest, pulled out two small Porcelain Bottles, and pushed them across the stall cloth toward Li Yuan.

"Fiend Essence Pills. Fresh ones."

Li Yuan picked up a porcelain bottle and pulled out the stopper. Medicinal fragrance spilled from its mouth.

It smelled different from the Fiend Essence Pills he had taken before.

The previous Fiend Essence Pills had possessed a rich medicinal fragrance carrying a pungent, scorching bite.

These two pills still had a strong medicinal fragrance, but the pungency had faded considerably, replaced by a trace of bitter coolness.

"I changed the formula." Old Sun gestured at the Porcelain Bottles with his chin.

"The problem with Fiend Qi still hasn't been fully resolved, but I found a way to suppress the backlash a little. I added Soul-Calming Flower. It doesn't affect the cultivation-boosting effect, but after taking it, the impact on the internal organs can be reduced by twenty to thirty percent."

"I originally wanted to refine pills that would assist breakthroughs, but there were too many problems."

Old Sun rubbed the medicinal powder remaining on his fingertips and added another sentence.

"Try them. Just tell me how they feel after you've taken them."

Li Yuan stoppered the porcelain bottle and tucked it into his sleeve.

"How have your pills been selling lately?"

"Fiend Essence Pills?" Old Sun snorted. "Still no one buys them. I only refine them for fun now, since they don't cost much in materials anyway. The Turbidity Cleansing Pills and Yuan Condensing Powder, on the other hand, have been selling quite well lately. Traveling Merchants come to me whenever they need to restock."

"Do Traveling Merchants affect your business much?"

"Me? Not much." Old Sun picked up a handful of dried grass leaves and fiddled with them in his hand.

"Traveling Merchants sell finished Medicinal Pills, buying them from other markets and reselling them. I refine my own, so I can keep costs down, and the quality isn't bad either."

Old Sun put down the grass leaves and tipped his chin toward East Street.

"The ones heavily affected are those Rogue Cultivators selling medicinal herbs and the people selling sundries. Traveling Merchants bring in huge quantities of cheap herbs. The local Rogue Cultivators' goods simply can't compete. Those selling ore fragments have it even worse."

Old Sun picked up a rough clay bowl beside the medicine chest, poured half a bowl of water into it, and gulped down a mouthful.

"I haven't been affected much. I still set up my stall in the market as usual. When medicinal herbs rise in price, my pills rise too. My business is slow and steady, like a thin stream flowing long."

Old Sun set down the bowl and glanced at Li Yuan again.

"You Patrol Squad people have it tough, though. You have to run around both inside and outside the market."

Li Yuan did not respond. He stood up.

"About the pills, I'll let you know after I've taken them."

"No hurry." Old Sun waved him off and bent down to continue sorting herbs.

Li Yuan turned and headed back along North Alley, weighing the porcelain bottle containing the two Fiend Essence Pills in his sleeve.

The formula had been improved, and the backlash reduced by twenty to thirty percent, but he would only know exactly how effective it was after taking them.

After returning to the residence, Li Yuan slid the door bolt into place.

He took out one of the new Fiend Essence Pills and put it into his mouth.

The pill melted the moment it entered his stomach. Scorching medicinal power exploded from his gut and rushed through his meridians.

Compared to before, the burning sensation had indeed weakened. The force of the medicinal power was about the same, but the Fiend Qi mixed within it was clearly gentler. As it swept through his internal organs, it no longer felt like Ice Spikes scraping through him. It was more like being splashed with cold water—chilled for a moment, then gone.

The entire digestion process was much faster than with the old formula. Coupled with his increased cultivation, he absorbed it all in less than half an hour.

Li Yuan continued by taking the second Fiend Essence Pill, noting down his impressions so he could tell Old Sun tomorrow.