Li Qingxian picked up a piece of yellow talisman paper, pressed his right index and middle fingers together into a sword hand, and channeled magical power into it, gently slicing across the paper like a paper knife until he cut it into strips two fingers wide and three inches long.
Li Qingxian took a deep breath, finished reciting the Paper-Cleansing Incantation, and swept his right hand from top to bottom over the talisman paper.
Swish, swish...
A full twelve sheets of talisman paper suddenly sprang up, separating, swaying back and forth like little people, and finally leaping into the air to stack themselves neatly back into a single pile.
Yu Ping watched with rapt attention.
Li Qingxian picked up the newly bought wolf-hair calligraphy brush, his brows slightly furrowed.
"Fetch a bowl of water," said Li Qingxian.
Yu Ping scurried off to fetch a bowl of water. Li Qingxian chanted the Brush-Cleansing Incantation, grasped the brush, lowered it into the water to swirl it three times left and right, and yanked it out.
The brush did not bear a single drop of water.
The originally crystal-clear bowl of water had turned pitch-black, resembling ink.
Yu Ping's eyes bulged wide.
Holding the brush, Li Qingxian thought of his own dog-scratch handwriting, shook his head, channeled magical power into the brush, and chanted the Brush-Wielding Art.
"I summon the brush as a scholar, the ink as a juren, the paper as a jinshi, and the inkstone as a hanlin. Let the talismans form heaven and earth, let the ink become clouds and rain, let the scholar wield his brush, and let colors shape all living creatures. Quick!"
Li Qingxian formed a sword hand, pointed it at the brush, and silently recited the Spirit-Awakening Talisman Incantation in his heart.
The brush sprang upright