Young Master! What a Great Opportunity!

A guess was only a guess. He naturally had to verify it himself.

Next, he drained his remaining Divine Sense in one go until only a tiny bit remained, then stopped.

[Skill: First-Tier High-Grade Talisman Crafting (5/1000)]

[Swift-Step Talisman (Foundational): 10/50 (Minor Mastery)]

Just as expected!

Crafting Foundational Talismans could no longer provide any proficiency for First-Tier High-Grade Talisman Crafting.

He sighed!

He needed to prepare First-Grade Blank Talisman Paper as soon as possible.

It was already very late. Yue Shuo went to sleep first to recover his Divine Sense. Three hours later, he woke up and continued refreshing his talisman proficiency.

Although he could not raise his Talisman Crafting rank,

he would first max out the new talisman!

Maxing it out required 380 proficiency points.

That meant 380 points of Divine Sense.

If he planned his time more tightly, he could finish it in two days, provided that it did not affect his ten daily cultivation sessions.

After all, repeatedly exhausting his Divine Sense and recovering it

also had a certain effect on the speed of its recovery.

With his current precise use of time, he could already ensure that his total daily Divine Sense recovery reached around 250 to 260.

Moreover, he could increase his daily Divine Sense recovery by an average of two or three points.

If special circumstances arose,

he could even raise it by a few extra points.

"I spent nearly an extra hour dismantling talismans today. Before tomorrow morning, I can only recover around ninety points of Divine Sense..."

Yue Shuo hardened his heart.

He spent all ninety points on Foundational Swift-Step Talismans.

[Swift-Step Talisman (Foundational): 50/100 (Major Mastery)]

After the Foundational Talisman reached Major Mastery, the chance of Fine Talismans appearing gradually increased.

After completing his final talisman crafting session before bed that night, Yue Shuo carefully put away five of the six successful Fine Swiftstep Talismans.

He took one out, thought it over and over, but still could not bear to use it.

He first took several Foundational Ordinary Swiftstep Talismans.

Leaving the Spirit Field, he had Azure Feather watch the situation inside and outside the Creek Valley. Once he learned that Gu Jiu had entered meditation,

he went to the other side of the Creek Valley, farther away from Gu Jiu.

The opposite side of the small courtyard's slope.

He slapped a Swift-Step Talisman onto his leg, drew on it with a thread of mana, and activated it!

Yue Shuo stepped forward, and his entire body shot ahead.

Luckily, his control over his body was exceptionally strong. That was a benefit brought by cultivating Tai Chi Fist.

His control over himself was extraordinarily high!

He quickly mastered the state of his body after accelerating.

His steps became one to two times faster. Once he started running, he seemed capable of getting faster and faster, though there was an upper limit.

The Swift-Step Talisman seemed to make one's body several degrees lighter and nimbler.

At the same time, it granted a certain degree of enhancement to the legs.

A faint energy flowing out of the talisman paper circulated through his legs, stimulating acupoints and producing other effects.

Yue Shuo drifted back and forth through the Creek Valley like a phantom.

Light as a feather, swift as the wind!

Aside from the energy in one Ordinary Talisman being quickly exhausted,

this Foundational Talisman, which could greatly improve one's efficiency at fleeing... no, strategically retreating, was truly excellent!

Ordinary people might not adapt to it very well, though.

Martial artists should be able to sustain it longer before the energy ran out.

"An ordinary Swift-Step Talisman, when pushed to its maximum efficiency to burst out triple speed, can keep its energy going for about thirty seconds at most..."

It could not even last a full minute.

Still, this was merely an ordinary Foundational Swift-Step Talisman. He still had six Fine ones!

Yet he only had six Fine Talismans.

He was somewhat reluctant to use them.

Yue Shuo quickly convinced himself:

"If I don't understand the effects of using talisman paper myself and rashly use one when danger comes, I might be even more likely to make mistakes in my haste!"

Taking advantage of the deep, quiet night, with Azure Feather keeping watch,

Yue Shuo still tested the effects of the Fine Swiftstep Talisman.

He could only say that it was fortunate he had tested it first.

Yue Shuo climbed out of the little creek, patted the mud and weeds from his body, and spat out half a strand of waterweed.

"Who is it!?"

Gu Jiu's voice came from afar and rapidly drew near.

Yue Shuo directly lay back into the creek water. Feeling the mud on his face being washed away, he said in a deep voice:

"It's me!"

Hearing the young master's voice coming from the creek, Gu Jiu's footsteps paused slightly.

"Young Master? Why are you..."

"Yes! Can't I bathe in this creek?"

Hearing the young master say that he was bathing,

Gu Jiu thought for a moment, stopped where he was, and respectfully replied, "Does Young Master require this servant to prepare bathing supplies for you?"

Gu Jiu had originally wanted to say that the creek water was rather cold, and that it was only early spring.

But the young master was, after all, a cultivation disciple.

Half an immortal.

Cold water should not affect him. That was something only mortals needed to consider.

"No need. Go sleep! Heal your injuries properly!"

Gu Jiu's lips moved. He wanted to say that he was not injured.

He raised his head toward the topmost branches of the large tree where the azure little bird had made its nest, which seemed to have stirred slightly, and suddenly felt as if he truly had been injured.

"Withdraw!"

The young master's voice was very calm.

Yet Gu Jiu detected a trace of displeasure from his young master and hurriedly withdrew.

Gu Jiu left.

Yue Shuo hurriedly took a Water Condensation Talisman and a Dust-Cleaning Talisman from the small space in his letter tube. Rising to his feet, he drew the water from his clothes and hair.

Then he used the Dust-Cleaning Talisman.

He felt a clear breeze circle around him several times.

The dirt on his body vanished completely.

Only after finishing did he return to the Spirit Field and prepare to sleep to restore his Divine Sense.

Before falling asleep, he vaguely thought,

"This Fine Swiftstep Talisman is too fast. I absolutely can't use it in cramped places..."

Unfortunately, Foundational talisman paper was ultimately made from Yellow Talisman Paper.

After being soaked in water,

it quickly lost its effectiveness.

Yue Shuo had not managed to test exactly how long it could sustain its maximum burst speed.

"At least thirty seconds, surely?"

Yue Shuo felt that the Swift-Step Talisman was quite useful. At the very least, even ordinary Swift-Step Talismans could save him half the time when traveling normally.

It was equivalent to learning a lightness technique.

As for why he did not learn a lightness technique himself?

Naturally, it was because he had yet to find a lightness-type cultivation technique that the panel could record.

Movement techniques from ordinary martial arts were not easy to cultivate either and required a great deal of time.

Yue Shuo did not have that time right now.

He slept dreamlessly.

When he woke the next day,

he silently wrote down the date, January 30th, in his timekeeping booklet.

Tomorrow would be February 1st.

He needed to visit the External Affairs Pavilion.

As usual, he cultivated his technique, five cycles at a time. Only after finishing did he go to the Spirit Field to check on the Gathering Spirit Grass and water it with some well water.

Whenever Gu Jiu had no outside task each day,

he would leave Little Brook Valley once in the morning and once in the afternoon to learn about various everyday matters nearby.

However, usually while Yue Shuo was cultivating,

Gu Jiu would have already made a round trip.

But today,

Gu Jiu had not returned on time again.

Yue Shuo had Azure Feather take a look and see whether something had happened on the road again.

Azure Feather flew out of the Creek Valley as Yue Shuo pondered.

"Looks like I should give him an ordinary Swift-Step Talisman, so Gu Jiu can escape at a critical moment..."

After all, he did not want a useful and familiar martial servant

to come to any harm.

Just then, Azure Feather flew back, chirping twice to report that all was well.

Not long after, Gu Jiu returned.

He was clearly very excited.

"Young Master! What a great opportunity!!"

"Did you know all along? Was last night's bath for the sake of today's auspicious day?!"

Yue Shuo: ???

What auspicious day? He was only twelve!