Practicing Talisman Crafting

Gu Jiu's injuries recovered quickly.

Besides the remarkable effect of Life Essence Powder on external injuries, Gu Jiu himself believed that swallowing a Grain-Repelling Pill and eating half a Spirit Carp had helped even more.

Though neither of them was meant for healing.

And the spiritual energy they contained was not something a mere Second-Class Martial Artist like him could fully digest.

But spiritual energy was spiritual energy, after all.

Even simply staying in an environment richer in spiritual energy allowed martial artists to cultivate faster, suffer fewer hidden injuries from cultivation, and live longer than other martial artists.

In short.

Spiritual energy was something beneficial in every way and suited to everything.

It had miraculous effects on all things!

Once Gu Jiu could get out of bed and walk around, Yue Shuo still refused his requests to work or run errands for him.

He was not black-hearted enough to go that far.

However, after asking Gu Jiu, he learned where the extra Spirit Stone had come from.

Because the Spirit Carp was not fresh enough, Shopkeeper Qin had only counted it as worth twenty-four Spirit Stones.

Of course, this claim that it was not fresh enough.

Did not mean much to Yue Shuo.

The fish meat had been very fresh.

"This probably refers to its spiritual energy content. Spirit fish freshly caught from a Spirit Lake can maintain their spiritual energy condition for three days while alive. After three days..."

Gu Jiu hesitated for a moment.

But he still explained some of the common knowledge he knew about Spirit Carp.

"Also, the way it is eaten affects the Spirit Carp's efficacy. Once heated, a Spirit Carp loses twenty to thirty percent of its spiritual energy content. Only raw fish slices..."

"Is that so? I'll remember it."

Yue Shuo did not feel any regret either. After all, his cultivation was already full.

Wasting a little spiritual energy did not affect him much.

He even comforted Gu Jiu a little.

"With my talent for planting, do I need to worry about not having Spirit Carp to eat in the future?"

He had heard there was another kind of spirit fish that worked even better than Spirit Carp, but as a mere Prospective Disciple, he was not qualified to purchase it.

Rarely, Yue Shuo found himself somewhat curious.

He told Gu Jiu to keep recovering from his injuries.

While he continued cultivating and waiting for someone.

His breakthrough probability had reached sixty percent, but Yue Shuo still intended to keep grinding away.

Since he could see the breakthrough probability data.

How could he stop before reaching one hundred percent?

It was not that he pursued perfection too much. Rather, Yue Shuo felt that since such data was displayed, it had to carry some kind of significance.

Moreover.

While polishing his cultivation and increasing his breakthrough probability.

He could also feel it.

His cultivation had become more solid.

The power of the spells he cast had also increased noticeably.

The solidity of one's cultivation was something the data did not display, something he could only sense for himself.

That afternoon, Huang Sunming came.

He brought over the things Yue Shuo had requested.

They filled two large bundles.

Huang Sunming glanced at Gu Jiu, his expression easing as he left.

Gu Jiu's swift recovery showed that Yue Shuo, this cultivation disciple, was truly kindhearted and generous. Gu Jiu had not merely been putting on a show for him.

Earlier, he had heard Gu Jiu say that his young master had given him a Grain-Repelling Pill.

He had not really believed it.

But seeing Gu Jiu's attitude, he had assumed that since Gu Jiu was so loyal, this Young Master Yue must indeed treat him quite well.

Now that he saw it.

This was far more than merely treating him quite well.

This Young Master Yue really ought to be a good person!

Yue Shuo had no idea someone had given him a "good person" card. After giving Gu Jiu a few instructions, he carried the two large bundles back to the small courtyard atop the hill.

There were too many things to move everything into the Spirit Field.

The two large bundles were filled with purchased goods.

One and a half bundles contained a full thousand sheets of Yellow Talisman Paper, stacked neatly into book-sized piles. Yue Shuo counted them again and again, stunned by the number.

Wasn't it one or two taels of gold per hundred sheets?

He had only given eight taels of gold to buy Yellow Talisman Paper, hadn't he?

Could it be... Huang Sunming had paid some of it out of pocket?

Of course, after thinking about it, he knew that was unlikely. At most, Huang Sunming had haggled down the price or found an acquaintance.

And gotten him a discounted price.

Yue Shuo inspected the quality.

There was no problem with the quality.

The color was pure, and the texture smooth and even. Naturally, it could not compare to First-Grade Blank Talisman Paper, but it was still among the best quality of its kind.

Several smaller packets were stuffed into the remaining space in the bundle.

They had previously been wrapped in Yellow Talisman Paper and placed at the very bottom.

When he took them out, he found meticulous labels pasted on them, all neat and orderly.

One packet contained high-grade cinnabar.

One large bottle contained rooster blood required for Talisman Ink, while another large bottle contained black dog blood.

Both had been specially treated so they would not coagulate.

Yue Shuo did not have much experience identifying such things, but neither of these items was expensive to begin with. Gu Jiu had previously asked around about their prices for him.

They were sold through established channels.

They were not rare materials.

The materials for Talisman Crafting had arrived.

Yue Shuo immediately took out the Four Treasures of the Study that Gu Jiu had bought for him earlier.

As well as the talisman brush Shopkeeper Qin had gifted him.

He arranged everything within easy reach and began.

The cinnabar had already been ground extremely fine, so it needed no further processing. He scooped some into a brand-new inkstone with a small spoon, added rooster blood, and carefully ground them together.

Then he dipped the talisman brush into it.

First, he practiced the feel of it on ordinary paper.

He found that repeatedly practicing the drawing of talismanic patterns over this period had indeed been useful.

What he wrote flowed through in one smooth stroke.

Of course, the talismanic patterns drawn on ordinary paper possessed not the slightest hint of anything extraordinary. Yue Shuo calmed his heart and took out the Foundational Talisman Paper.

By the time he had received the Foundational Talisman Paper, he had recovered four points of Divine Sense.

Four points should be enough to practice foundational talismanic patterns, right?

Yue Shuo considered that the other first-grade spells each consumed only one point of Divine Sense, and memorizing foundational talismanic patterns had also consumed only one point.

Thus, four points of Divine Sense were enough for an attempt.

"If only there were fresh Spirit Carp meat again. If it were slaughtered and stewed on the same day, each bite could restore one point of Divine Sense..."

Judging by the size of a Spirit Carp and the chopsticks he had used before.

He could probably take around twenty bites.

That meant twenty points of Divine Sense.

He had heard that eating it raw was even more effective, so it should restore at least thirty points, right?

The thought drifted casually through his mind.

Instead, Yue Shuo calmed down, no longer carrying the excitement he had felt while unpacking the bundles.

He now understood one of the key points of casting spells.

Calm the heart!

Gather the spirit!

Let heart, spirit, and breath become one!

It sounded rather mystical, but in truth, it simply meant focusing wholeheartedly and concentrating with single-minded devotion!

Foundational Talisman-Making Notes.

Also said something similar.

Talisman crafting was like casting spells. With experience in the latter, Yue Shuo quickly calmed his heart, gathered his spirit, and began to write.

The difference between crafting talismans and casting spells was that.

Spells relied on hand seals or spoken spirit incantations to stir the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, causing it to resonate in a certain way with one's own mana.

Forming a spell model.

Of course, chanting spirit incantations was not actually that useful.

It was merely a means of assisting and coordinating one's control over mana.

Hand seals were much the same.

If you could release your mana on your own, arrange it into the desired spell pattern, and draw upon the power of heaven and earth.

You could cast spells without hand seals or spirit incantations all the same.

Yue Shuo had studied talismanic patterns and spells.

He discovered that talismanic patterns were actually a kind of spell model, or rather, a combination of energy circuits.

The contents of his previous research flashed through his mind.

But they did not disturb Yue Shuo's calm.

The image of a talismanic pattern appeared within his mind. The spell-circuit pattern of the Foundational Water-Condensing Talisman took shape beneath his brush.

At the same time, he guided mana to the tip of the talisman brush.

Maintaining a steady output.

Sizzle!

The slightest fluctuation in his mana output caused the Yellow Talisman Paper on the table to ignite on its own.

Yue Shuo slowly exhaled.

Rather than feeling frustrated, he was delighted.

He had eliminated another possible mistake!

He looked inward.

His Divine Sense had not been consumed, while a few points of mana had been used up—not much, perhaps because he had failed.

Yue Shuo did not mind. After calming himself for several more seconds.

He began again!

Once, twice... after the ninth attempt, Yue Shuo finally completed a Foundational Talismanic Pattern. The talisman paper on the table seemed to gain a faint aura.

Yue Shuo immediately checked the panel.