Drawing Talismans

Shen Luo lit a lamp at one corner of the desk, then took the three small porcelain bottles and the yellow paper from his sleeve pouch and arranged them before him.

There were not many sheets of yellow paper, only a few dozen. They were talisman paper meant for writing talismans, cut to suitable sizes, though the paper itself was rather rough and felt coarse against the hand.

Next, Shen Luo inspected the three porcelain bottles, and his brow immediately furrowed.

The blood in the bottle of rooster blood had already congealed into lumps and could not even be poured out. The black dog blood had not completely solidified, but it had become quite viscous.

"This won't do. If I don't use it now, it'll all be ruined by tomorrow," Shen Luo said with a frown.

With that, he opened the drawer beneath the desk and took out a stiff-haired brush and a white jade inkstone.

The small brush was made of wolf hair, while the white jade inkstone had been carved from a whole block of white marble. Neither was particularly valuable; they were simply things he had carried with him when he came up the mountain.

He first poured the black dog blood into the inkstone, and a faintly fishy smell immediately spread through the air.

Shen Luo grasped the brush handle and stirred it in the black dog blood for a moment. The tip quickly soaked up the blood, turning dark red.

He pinched a sheet of yellow talisman paper and spread it before him. He raised his brush, but suddenly stopped.

"I'd better look again," Shen Luo muttered to himself.

He pulled out the two damaged ancient books, Records of Zhang Tianshi's Demon-Slaying Adventures and True Mirror of Secret Talisman Arts, opened them, and set them to one side.

The opening general principles of True Mirror of Secret Talisman Arts recorded: "A talisman is union, and it is faith. Use my spirit to unite with its spirit; use my qi to unite with its qi. Spirit has no form, yet takes form in the talisman."

This explained why talismans possessed unfathomable powers over gods and ghosts: one used a person's essence, qi, and spirit to communicate with the essence, qi, and spirit of heaven and earth, thereby attaching formless divine power to tangible talisman paper.

Therefore, when drawing talismans, one not only had to focus the mind, calm the heart, and cast aside stray thoughts, but also let the brush flow in one continuous stroke. Only then could that breath of essence and qi remain unbroken, allowing one to reach the state of spiritual union.

Knowing was easy; doing was hard. Shen Luo had always been half-convinced and half-doubtful about the Talisman Way described in those books. Asking him to devote himself to it wholeheartedly and banish every distracting thought was truly asking too much.

As he held the brush now, his thoughts remained tangled and chaotic.

In truth, his hand was not unfamiliar with drawing talismans. He had practiced on plain paper countless times before. But drawing a talisman properly on this yellow paper was still his first time.

"A talisman is the harmony of yin and yang. Only those of utmost sincerity may wield it..."

Shen Luo took a deep breath, rose from his chair, planted himself in a horse stance, and began writing on the yellow paper while reciting the words from the book.

Beginning with the words "By edict," the talismanic script flowed across the paper like running water. Before long, he finished a protective talisman marked "Hundred Evils Repulsion Talisman," which he considered one of the simpler talismans in the book.

Shen Luo looked at the blood-red strokes that had yet to dry, then compared them with the talisman illustration attached to Records of Zhang Tianshi's Demon-Slaying Adventures. His brows knit slightly.

The two were clearly quite similar, yet the moment he looked at them, he felt something was off.

"I copied the brushwork from the book closely enough, but why does mine... look like it's lost its breath? It doesn't have that natural, seamless feeling," Shen Luo murmured, narrowing his eyes.

After studying it for a while, he suddenly wondered whether he had paused several times while writing the talisman and failed to maintain the uninterrupted flow described in the book.

With that thought, he hurriedly held his breath and eagerly began writing again.

However, because holding his breath made him uncomfortable, he became even less focused. The talisman he drew was actually worse than the first.

Shen Luo was not discouraged. After resting briefly and steadying his breathing, he once again wielded his brush and drew talisman after talisman.

In his view, drawing talismans should still come down to practice making perfect. He had already practiced those other talismans of uncertain authenticity hundreds or thousands of times on plain paper. Now, he should only be a little short of the mark.

More than two hours later.

Shen Luo looked somewhat haggard, but a glimmer of excitement shone in his eyes.

He held a completed yellow talisman in one hand and the opened Records of Zhang Tianshi's Demon-Slaying Adventures in the other, his gaze constantly shifting between them.

"Not bad, not bad. This one finally looks somewhat convincing."

Though it still differed from the one in the book, that feeling of broken breath was clearly gone.

With this progress, he felt a surge of strength rise through his whole body. His earlier exhaustion was swept away, completely replaced by excitement.

However, there was not much black dog blood left in the inkstone. Shen Luo picked up the small porcelain bottle and poured out all the remaining black dog blood.

Just as he was about to continue writing, he suddenly stopped again.

"I wonder whether this protective talisman really works?" Shen Luo hesitated inwardly.

Although this protective talisman was simple, like the House-Guarding Talisman and the Peace Talisman, it was meant to invite good fortune and ward off misfortune. It had no obvious offensive effect. Whether worn on the body or placed in a house, even if it worked, it would be difficult to notice.

"I've got it. I'll try that one instead!"

Shen Luo suddenly slapped his forehead, recalling a story from Records of Zhang Tianshi's Demon-Slaying Adventures.

It told of how Zhang Tianshi encountered a rat demon plaguing a household. After many disaster-dispelling and house-guarding talismans failed to drive it away, he used an offensive talisman called the Minor Thunder Talisman and blew the giant rat demon to pieces.

He immediately flipped to that page of the ancient book and indeed found the illustration of the Minor Thunder Talisman attached after it.

Though the book contained many stories, only a small portion involved talismans. Most of those were Ghost-Expelling Talismans and House-Guarding Talismans. This was the only offensive talisman he could find.

"Heh, this is the one..." Shen Luo chuckled. After examining it carefully for a while, he raised his brush and began drawing again.

Unlike the protective talisman, the Minor Thunder Talisman did not begin with the words "By edict." Instead, it began with the character "Lei," written in an ancient style, making it far from easy to write.

Shen Luo had never practiced it before, and he ruined several sheets of talisman paper as soon as he began.

But though it pained him to waste them, he had no intention of stopping. Only after using more than ten sheets did he finally draw a Minor Thunder Talisman that was barely presentable.

"I can't guarantee that my qi is complete and my spirit full. Whether it works or not will have to depend on fate..." Shen Luo muttered excitedly as he looked at the talisman in his hand.

Now that he had finally found the feel for it, he continued drawing. Of the ten he completed, only one or two were decent.

Before long, there was once again very little black dog blood left in the inkstone.

After thinking it over, Shen Luo uncorked the bottle containing Cinnabar, poured out a little, and stirred it a few times. The two quickly blended together.

Mixing dog blood with Cinnabar was not an idea Shen Luo had invented on a whim; it was a method Zhang Tianshi had used in the book. Otherwise, he would not have wasted such materials so recklessly.

There was little talisman paper left. After he drew two more Minor Thunder Talismans, both the paper and the black dog blood were completely used up. At last, he had exhausted all his supplies.

Shen Luo let out a long breath. Feeling somewhat drained, he gripped the armrest of his chair and collapsed into it.