At dawn, Li Yuan sat at the table.
Three sheets of talisman paper lay spread across its surface. On the left were two freshly drawn Cleaning Talismans, while the Spirit Pattern on the Warding Talisman to the right lacked only its final stroke.
Li Yuan dipped his brush in cinnabar and set it down to finish. Spirit power flowed from his fingertips to the brush tip in one smooth breath, the end of the pattern naturally narrowing before the final dot landed steadily in the exact center of the talisman paper.
A faint gleam of spiritual light flashed across the talisman's surface, and the Warding Talisman took shape.
Li Yuan set down his brush, stacked the three Talismans together, and placed them aside. The pile of failed talismans beside them had grown a little taller again.
The success rate for Cleaning Talismans had stabilized at one success out of every three sheets. Warding Talismans were somewhat worse, but still far better than at the beginning.
Warning Talismans remained the most material-consuming, requiring roughly five or six sheets for each successful one.
However, the permanent progress of the Talisman Crafting Insight trait had risen considerably.
[Talisman Crafting Insight (White) Permanent Progress: 31/50]
It had passed the halfway mark.
Li Yuan tidied the table, stacking the remaining talisman paper, tightly stoppering the Spirit Ink Bottle, and covering the dish of cinnabar.
After straightening his clothes, he left. When he reached the middle of North Alley and turned toward Old Sun's stall, he saw from afar that Old Sun's display was larger than usual today.
Several porcelain bottles were arranged neatly, and beside them sat an extra small pouch of herbal samples tied with a red string.
Old Sun squatted behind his stall with a bowl of hot soup in hand,