Talisman Talent, Terrifying Beyond Measure!

"Of course. What else would you like to exchange, sir?"

Bound by the inner demon oath, Han Yunzhi placed a little more trust in Fang Yu. She did not ask where the spiritual pill in her hand had come from, instead getting straight to the point.

"Other than a talisman brush, magical artifacts, talismans, and spirit stones will all do."

Hearing this, Fang Yu did not stand on ceremony and stated his conditions directly.

He naturally held some goodwill toward Han Yunzhi, who played the role of the girl next door, but he was by no means without vigilance. The moment the brother and sister made any move, they would suffer his thunderous strike.

At such a short distance, he was completely confident that before the siblings could react or use any magical artifacts or talismans, he could cleanly and decisively kill them both inside this stone house.

"Could you allow my brother and me to discuss it? This Golden Bamboo Brush can serve as a deposit first. Its bristles were made from the neck fur of a second-grade demon beast, the Golden-Eyed Ape. The brush shaft was forged from a mixture of gold essence and black iron, then refined for three days and three nights with civil and martial flames by a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator before the brush was completed." Han Yunzhi spoke softly, though her gaze lingered on the Golden Bamboo Brush, her expression full of reluctance.

"This brush was handed down by our clan and was once used by a master talisman maker. Unfortunately, neither my brother nor I have much talent for talisman crafting, so we have wasted this treasure. My brother is participating in this Ascension Conference, and his cultivation technique has reached a bottleneck. He must rely on medicinal power to break through. If you had not produced such a spiritual pill, sir, we truly would not have been willing to trade it."

One had to know that of the independent cultivators preparing to participate in the Ascension Conference's arena matches each time, eight or nine out of ten were stuck at bottlenecks and could no longer advance.

After all, those who believed they still had potential to dig deeper and rise another level generally would not immediately enter the Ascension Conference arena matches. Instead, they would hide away and continue cultivating bitterly, hoping to advance another step.

That way, when they participated in the next conference, they would have a greater chance of clearing the trials. This also resulted in pills capable of improving one's spiritual power becoming priceless and unavailable before every Ascension Conference.

Of course, the prerequisite was that one had not exceeded the stipulated age. Otherwise, even if one truly had potential, there would be no point in continuing to dig for it. Once the age limit was missed, there would never be another chance.

"Then I must thank you, miss. I hope you will not disappoint me."

Taking the Golden Bamboo Brush, Fang Yu lightly stroked its smooth shaft with his fingers and examined the two engraved characters, "Golden Bamboo," at its base. Then he smiled.

"Of course. I will not disappoint you, sir."

Han Yunzhi forced a smile onto her cheeks and nodded lightly.

A quarter of an hour later, Han Yunzhi and her brother—or rather, Han Yunzhi alone—walked out of the stone house with a complicated expression on her lovely face.

Although this time they had exchanged for an extraordinarily precious spiritual pill of unknown origin from Fang Yu, the price they had paid was also enormous.

They had lost one top-grade magical artifact, two high-grade magical artifacts, more than ten beginner mid-grade talismans, and a full three hundred spirit stones, along with all the talisman paper and cinnabar sand on their persons. It could truly be called a massive hemorrhage.

Yet Han Yunzhi had a feeling that if her elder brother took that spiritual pill they had traded for, he would very likely break through to the peak of the thirteenth layer of Qi Refining.

Though she had never seen a Foundation Establishment Pill, the records left behind by the Han Clan described it, and neither its appearance nor its aura matched.

Otherwise, she truly would have thought it was a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Although she could be certain that Fang Yu still had more on him, whether because of the inner demon oath or for other reasons, she would not tell anyone.

As long as her elder brother could break through to the peak of the thirteenth layer of Qi Refining, then combined with their remaining magical artifacts, securing a place in Spirit Beast Mountain's top ten in the Ascension Conference arena matches would absolutely not be difficult.

Once he obtained another Foundation Establishment Pill, she had an instinctive feeling that her elder brother would surely succeed in Foundation Establishment and become a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator. At that point, the siblings would finally possess a measure of strength to protect themselves.

Although her elder brother was somewhat "simple-minded," both his spiritual root aptitude and cultivation realm surpassed hers. Most importantly, he had always obeyed her every word, so there was no need to worry too much.

As for the exchanged magical artifacts, talismans, and spirit stones, compared to a top-ten position in the Ascension Conference and a Foundation Establishment Pill, they were utterly insignificant.

Having thought it through, Han Yunzhi's mood immediately improved considerably. She no longer set up her stall, instead pulling her elder brother toward the resting pavilion palace to refine the spiritual pill they had just acquired as quickly as possible, lest delays bring unforeseen changes.

Naturally, Fang Yu had no way of knowing Han Yunzhi's thoughts. He was currently inside the stone house, attempting to use the Golden Bamboo Brush to draw talismans and see how much a good talisman brush could increase his success rate.

With no table available, Fang Yu simply arranged the talisman paper and cinnabar sand separately on the ground. Then, gripping the Golden Bamboo Brush, he began making Spirit-Calming Talismans.

Following the talisman-making method described by the Spirit-Calming Technique, he slowly infused the spiritual power in his body through his brush-holding right hand into the brush shaft. He then dipped the tip into a little cinnabar sand and began drawing the talismanic incantation onto a sheet of talisman paper.

More than an hour passed before Fang Yu, his face slightly pale, picked up the freshly completed talismans from the ground and straightened up. After stretching and loosening his muscles and bones, his face was filled with an excited smile.

With the Golden Bamboo Brush's aid, his success rate in drawing talismans rose in a straight line. Limited by the spells he knew, he could currently draw only Spirit-Calming Talismans and Lightning-Light Talismans, but his success rate had reached thirty to forty percent. That was a success rate only talisman masters could possess.

Yet he had studied talismans for less than two days. If other cultivators in the cultivation world learned of it, words like monstrous genius or terrifying would not suffice. It could only be called defying heaven.

Even Fang Yu himself found such a high success rate unbelievable, as though he were dreaming. But the facts before his eyes told him it was real.

In merely two days, he had reached a level comparable to a talisman master. Though he could only make two simple beginner low-grade talismans, this undoubtedly proved Fang Yu's talent in talismans.

It was likely not solely because his physical body had reached the sixth level, the Aura Realm. Talent was also an extremely important factor.

In this regard, not only in the Mortal World—even looking across the entire The Great Primordial World—it was something that left people helpless and consumed with envy.

Talent was simply something impossible to describe with words. Sometimes, one had no choice but to accept it.

For example, Fang Yu was now extremely satisfied with, and astonished by, his own talent in talismans.

"Looks like I need to cultivate and learn several more spells. I wonder what my talent for spells is like. What a nuisance. If I want to draw talismans, I first have to learn the corresponding spells."

Even as Fang Yu rejoiced, he found the rules of the Mortal World somewhat speechless.

Still, he understood. After all, if one did not learn a spell, how could one possibly understand it? Much less draw it into a talisman, which was equivalent to sealing the spell within talisman paper. Naturally, one had to learn it first.