Huang Bai Talisman Lineage, Founding a School

Inside the Heavenly Dao Temple, A-You moved in all his worldly belongings.

There was not much: an earth-yellow Daoist robe, a peachwood sword he had used for many years, and a brass compass nearly half a meter across.

The compass had an unusual design. Its outer rim was shaped like the Eight Trigrams, while its inner disk resembled a blooming lotus, with five pointed spikes rising from the center.

A-You steadied the compass and raised a hand to pat its surface.

"This is the Five Elements Compass."

"To use it, you need a person's vital essence and blood to activate it, and it requires two people working together. One guards the compass and drives the formation, while the other enters the barrier to kill ghosts. Once the compass starts turning, it can generate five barriers of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth."

As he spoke, his expression grew more serious.

"Remember this: once the formation compass is activated, the person guarding it cannot leave. The moment they let go, the barrier will disperse."

"If we ever truly need to use this thing, I'll guard the formation. You're still young. It wouldn't be worth ruining one of your hands for a formation."

After hearing him out, Huang Bai did not respond immediately. Instead, he turned to look at Qian Hao in the corner.

"What about replacing you with him?"

"The two of us can go in, and we'll be faster."

A-You froze.

"Ahao?"

Huang Bai beckoned to Qian Hao.

"Come over. Show A-You what you can do."

"Sure."

Qian Hao walked over. Under A-You's puzzled gaze, he pulled out a small knife without a word and slashed his own arm.

Sssst.

The blade cut through flesh, and blood immediately began to flow.

"Hey, what are you doing..." A-You instinctively moved to stop him.

Before he could finish, however, he saw that the wound had already stopped bleeding. The flesh beneath the skin squirmed, healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.

A-You's eyelid twitched.

"What kind of technique is that?"

Huang Bai's expression did not change. "Just some medicinal methods left behind by an elder."

He made it sound casual, then immediately steered the conversation back.

"So, can Ahao handle this job or not?"

A-You frowned and circled Qian Hao halfway. Though he did not ask any more questions, the strange feeling in his heart only grew stronger.

It was as if Huang Bai had calculated everything before anyone else.

From having him move in, to bringing up the Five Elements Compass, to pushing Ahao forward to take over the formation—he seemed to have thought through every contingency in advance.

"He can." A-You eventually nodded. "With that kind of recovery ability, even if his hand really gets injured, reconnecting it should be easy."

"Then that settles it."

From then on, A-You officially moved into the Heavenly Dao Temple.

In the temple's rear courtyard, A-You set up a new ritual altar.

The altar was rammed from five-colored earth. Divine statues were enshrined upon it, while tablets for the Earth God, City God, and Five Directional Gods were placed beside it.

Before the altar were three fruits, five grains, three cups of clear tea, and three cups of rice wine, arranged perfectly into the Three Powers positions of "Heaven, Earth, and Man."

A-You changed into his Daoist robe and stood quietly before the altar for a moment. Only then did he pick up a brush, dip it in cinnabar, and let it glide across yellow paper.

The brush danced like dragons and snakes, completed in a single breath.

Huang Bai stood beside him, watching silently.

Talismans might look like nothing more than sheets of paper, but they involved countless intricacies.

[Talisman Head] [Talisman Body] [Talisman Core] [Talisman Foot]—not a single layer could be misplaced.

As Huang Bai watched A-You draw talismans, his own understanding gradually took shape.

"Perhaps the registers received by Daoists are a kind of key—a key for borrowing techniques from gods and nature, as well as a method of storing spells on paper."

Huang Bai did not believe Daoists could use talismans to communicate with gods. Gods did not have time to answer them every day, either.

Before long, A-You had drawn more than ten Exorcism Talismans in one go. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Drawing so many talismans had clearly consumed a considerable amount of his spiritual power.

"Without receiving a register, is it really impossible to draw talismans?"

Huang Bai still refused to give up. He had drawn Mount Mao Talismans before, but they had not worked at all.

Yet talismans were simply too convenient. They were like pre-made meals: no need for extra preparation, just take one out and use it, saving an enormous amount of effort.

A-You immediately rolled his eyes.

"Of course it's impossible."

"If doodling a few strokes was enough to make them work, wouldn't print shop owners be the greatest Daoists in the world?"

Huang Bai laughed, but did not argue.

A-You set down his brush and continued explaining.

"Receiving a register isn't the main point. The main point is that your lineage has to recognize you. Only after the lineage acknowledges you can you borrow its methods."

"For example, I can draw talismans from my own lineage. But talismans from another school? Even if the design were right in front of me, copying it ten thousand times would be useless."

As he spoke, he raised a hand and tapped one of the talismans he had just drawn.

"Look at the talisman heads. Different schools invoke different gods and different principles. Some invoke the Three Mountains Nine Marquises, some invoke the Purple Tenuity Great Emperor, some invoke Marshal Tianpeng and the Six Dings and Six Jiǎs. Some do not write divine names at all, instead writing the sun and moon, heaven and earth, stars, seasons, and hours."

"Our lineage invokes the Black Baleful God at the talisman head."

"Without this lineage, I can neither draw these talismans nor borrow its methods."

Huang Bai fell into thought after hearing that.

He slowly sat on the steps and stared at the talismans for a long time.

The structure of a talisman looked remarkably like a complete miniature ritual body.

The talisman head was the source, like a person's skull and divine intent.

The talisman body described its purpose, like the torso and bones.

The talisman core held the power and served as the pivot.

The talisman foot was like the limbs, responsible for truly sending out the command.

In the end, it was still borrowed power placed onto paper, not something created from nothing.

That was why Daoists who had not received registers could not borrow any techniques at all.

As Huang Bai thought, he suddenly looked up at A-You.

"Then what if I don't borrow someone else's methods?"

A-You was taken aback.

"What do you mean?"

"What would happen if I wrote my own name and borrowed my own methods?"

The moment those words left his mouth, A-You fell silent.

He stared at Huang Bai for several seconds before saying with a laugh of disbelief, "What do you think you are? A god? Or the founding patriarch of a school?"

"Even someone as recklessly bold as Zhong Jiu wouldn't dare play around like that. Yet you dare to think it. Don't let it drive you into qi deviation."

Huang Bai did not think he was fantasizing.

A-You's earlier words had instead reminded him of something.

"Gods..." Huang Bai's eyes gradually lit up as he looked at A-You. "What if I really create my own lineage? What are we betting?"

A-You could not be bothered to persuade him anymore and casually replied, "If you really succeed, I'll give you this family heirloom."

"If you fail, this temple belongs to me."

Huang Bai immediately answered.

"Fine. It's a deal."

Then he turned to Qian Hao.

"Ahao, you're the witness. Watch carefully. Don't let this guy go back on his word later."

Qian Hao raised a hand and pointed at his own eyes. With a mischievous grin, he said, "Don't worry. I'm watching."

A-You could not be bothered to keep arguing with the two lunatics. He waved a hand and turned away.

"Boring."

It was not that he coveted the temple. He simply did not believe he could lose.

No matter how talented Huang Bai was, he could not possibly be so arrogant. Create his own talisman lineage? Found a school? That was not something that could be achieved just by talking about it.

After returning to the side hall, A-You casually snatched the remote from Little Bai and leaned back in a chair to watch horse racing.

Over the next few days, Huang Bai seemed determined to prove him wrong and shut himself away without emerging.

At night, the fluorescent light was painfully bright.

Huang Bai's hair was a mess. A thick stack of drafts sat on the desk before him, while crumpled scraps of paper were scattered across the floor.

He had been sitting there for three days and three nights, barely sleeping at all.

Anyone else who saw him would probably think he had gone mad.

But Huang Bai knew very well that he was not truly indulging in wild fantasies.

After all, he had cultivated the Corpse-Liberation Immortal Method and had successfully undergone Corpse Liberation, leaving his body behind.

Strictly speaking, even if he was not a genuine immortal, he had at least stepped halfway through the door.

"A half-baked immortal is still an immortal."

Huang Bai muttered to himself, then laughed at his own words.

And he still possessed an Inner Elixir.

Talismans needed borrowed methods, so he could borrow his own. Talismans needed to store power, so he could use the Inner Elixir as the core of that power.

In that case, others needed registers, lineages, and patriarchs to draw talismans, but he might not need any of them.

"If I can truly establish this lineage, then I'll finally be free."

Given a choice, Huang Bai did not want others to hold him by the throat. Whether they were gods, ghosts, patriarchs, or immortal masters, he cultivated the Heavenly Dao.

He wanted to walk his own path.

Not borrowed prestige, but Physical Body Sanctification, Dual Cultivation of Nature and Life—a path that would let him stand straight and speak with confidence.

Over the following days, Huang Bai dismantled and analyzed the structure of Mount Mao Talisman Arts bit by bit, then fused it with the techniques he excelled at.

Solar Curse, Lunar Curse, Brightsight Curse, Wall-Piercing Curse, Divine Sword...

If once was not enough, then twice. If twice was not enough, then ten times.

Stack after stack of paper was ruined, while his drafts piled ever higher.

Finally, another day passed.

The night was dark and the wind fierce, the sparse starlight cold.

Huang Bai sat alone before the ritual altar, sinking his mind into the space between inner and outer as he slowly adjusted his breathing.

Only after heaven and earth had fallen silent, and his own soul had gradually become clear, did he lift his brush and pour power into its tip bit by bit.

At that moment, the outer world and his inner soul seemed to faintly resonate with each other.

A speck of divine light stirred within his spiritual platform.

Huang Bai finally set brush to paper.

"Huang Bai Immortal Lord, illuminate the ten directions. No prayer goes unanswered, no plea goes unfulfilled, within the Three Teachings and the Six Harmonies..."

The talisman head bore his own title.

The talisman body contained the principles of the Solar Curse.

The talisman core directly drew upon the power of his Inner Elixir.

Once the talisman foot was completed, the entire talisman connected from beginning to end.

Whoosh!

As the final stroke fell, the yellow paper suddenly lit up.

The light was not dazzling, but it was incredibly steady, as if something had truly been summoned down at that very moment.

The Sun Talisman was complete.

Huang Bai pinched the talisman between his fingers, feeling the familiar yet unfamiliar power within it, and finally could not stop himself from smiling.

"It really worked."

"A self-created talisman lineage. Founding a school."

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