Talent

Ji Yuan nodded in agreement. By the time he got home, the sky had already darkened.

Just as he took out his key to open the courtyard gate, the gate to the Lin Family's courtyard next door suddenly opened, and Wu Qin poked half her body out.

"Ji... Brother Ji," Wu Qin called softly.

"What is it?"

"Lin Hu, Lin Hu went to Zengtou City with Deng Yunliang tonight. He said he won't be coming back tonight..."

Wu Qin's voice grew softer and softer. When she finished, she even lowered her head deeply.

Ji Yuan was stunned as well, pausing for a moment even as he opened the gate. But he quickly came back to himself.

"Maybe they have something to do."

Ji Yuan smiled and pushed open his own courtyard gate.

"N-no. Lin Hu hid it from me. I'm worried they've gone off to do something bad."

"Then try talking him out of it more."

With that, Ji Yuan went inside and shut the door. He could hear the unspoken meaning in Wu Qin's words, but he did not want to meddle, nor could he afford to.

What bad things were there to do in Zengtou City?

There were heaps upon heaps of them.

Besides, everyone had the right to choose their own path forward. Ji Yuan would not point fingers at someone else's choices.

Wu Qin stared silently at the locked courtyard gate next door for a long while. In the end, she could only sigh and quietly close her own door.

After returning home, Ji Yuan first inspected the house. Only after confirming that none of the buildings had changed did he take out Introduction to the Way of Talismans.

Although he had already gone a whole night without sleep, Ji Yuan did not feel much of anything.

With cultivation and Body Tempering, missing two nights of sleep was nothing.

After reading for half the night, he finally gained some understanding of talisman drawing in the cultivation world.

Drawing talismans was divided into three steps. First, one drew the talisman head and set the Spirit Pivot.

Next came the talisman corners, which locked in the spirit patterns.

The final step, and also the most crucial one, was Spirit Awakening.

It looked simple... and in truth, it did not seem all that difficult. Ji Yuan immediately took his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from his Storage Bag, then turned to the page on the Calming Talisman.

He read it over and over several times, then copied it onto ordinary writing paper. Only after repeatedly confirming that there were no mistakes did he pick up the Green Bamboo Brush.

The paper was Green Hemp Paper, and the ink was Vermilion-Black Ink.

After laying everything out, Ji Yuan poured a trace of spiritual energy into the Green Bamboo Brush. In an instant, a faint green glow appeared along its shaft.

He steadied his mind and followed the illustration in the book... lowering his brush.

His hand was steady. Then he began tracing the pattern, spiritual energy flowing unceasingly through the brush as dragons and serpents danced beneath its tip.

Ji Yuan could not help feeling delighted. Looks like I have some talent for making talismans after all.

But the moment his heart stirred, the brushstroke in his hand broke. The entire sheet of Green Hemp Paper burst into flames without fire.

Watching the talisman paper turn into drifting ash,

Ji Yuan immediately calmed down. What was burning was not paper—it was money!

Only after quite some time, once Ji Yuan had calmed himself, did he raise his brush again.

With the experience from before, his heart was as still as water this time.

Holding the Green Bamboo Brush, he completed it in one smooth stroke.

Looking at the half-finished Calming Talisman laid out on the table, Ji Yuan finally revealed a faint smile.

It seemed that he really did possess a bit of talent in the way of talisman drawing.

There was only one last step left... Spirit Awakening.

Spirit Awakening meant pouring spiritual energy into the talisman paper and activating the spiritual power left behind earlier, bringing the entire sheet to life. Only then could the talisman be considered complete.

After waiting for his state of mind to settle, Ji Yuan raised his brush once more, lightly tapped it down, and poured in spiritual energy.

The talisman... burned.

"Fuck!"

Ji Yuan stared at the dazzling flash of fire on the table and could not stop himself from cursing.

There was no helping it. He could only try again.

Fortunately, this was only the second sheet of talisman paper, so Ji Yuan did not feel too much heartache.

But then came the third sheet, the fourth, the fifth... By the time ten sheets had burned in succession, Ji Yuan's heart was bleeding.

Something was wrong. There had to be a problem somewhere.

Ji Yuan set down his talisman brush and silently considered what had just happened. The talisman-drawing step itself was definitely not the problem.

The issue lay only with Spirit Awakening.

When in doubt, consult the book.

Ji Yuan opened Introduction to the Way of Talismans again and began checking the contents word by word... There was no fucking mistake there either.

Before long, dawn had arrived. Ji Yuan tried drawing several more talismans, but every result was the same.

Looking at the small pile of ashes on the table, Ji Yuan finally admitted defeat.

No wonder the cultivation world valued lineages and inheritance in everything. Without a master, he could not even get through the door of talisman drawing... Ji Yuan rubbed his brow.

Did he have to find himself a master of the Talisman Way too?

Talismans... Suddenly, a name appeared in Ji Yuan's mind.

Lu Wan!

She was the talisman genius of Zengtou City and had even taken the renowned Master Wu, Wu Wenbin, as her teacher. Asking her about such a small matter should not be a problem.

He simply did not know whether this involved matters of lineage... Well, he would know once he asked.

If it did not work out, he could consider taking a master afterward.

Just as Ji Yuan finished feeding the Green-Yellow Chicken and the Spirit Pig, then collected the Spirit Egg and prepared to leave, he heard Deng Yunliang and Lin Hu laughing outside the door.

The two had spent the entire night in Zengtou City and returned now that dawn had broken.

Judging from their appearance, they had enjoyed themselves quite a bit?

But what exactly they had enjoyed was anyone's guess.

Ji Yuan deliberately waited in the courtyard for a while. Only after the sound of doors closing came from both neighboring courtyards did he quietly shut his own gate and leave.

He first went to Lu Wan's home, where he met Uncle Lu from years ago, Lu Song.

Perhaps because of years of living in comfort and because he had not gone into the water in a long time, the somewhat dark and thin Lu Song from Ji Yuan's memories had become a rather prosperous-looking middle-aged man.

Seeing Ji Yuan arrive, Lu Song was naturally somewhat surprised.

"Looking for Wan'er? She went to Master Wu's place. She won't be back until tonight."

The two households had interacted back in the day, and Ji Yuan and Lu Wan had always had a good relationship. Thus, Lu Song did not hide anything and told him truthfully.

Ji Yuan understood. He then caught up with Lu Song for a while before politely declining the invitation to stay for lunch and taking his leave.

Lu Song stood at the door, his hands tucked into his sleeves as he watched Ji Yuan depart.

After a moment, a woman's voice sounded from inside the house. "Ji Qingyun's son? He is rather handsome, but alas, looks aren't worth money."

The speaker was naturally Lu Wan's mother, Li Qiuling, Lu Song's wife.

Unlike Lu Song, who still maintained some trace of their old relationship, she could not be bothered to show herself. Even though she had seen Ji Yuan earlier, she had not been willing to come out.

Lu Song, dressed in fine brocade robes, merely shook his head.

"With both parents gone, yet breaking through to the Middle Qi Refining Stage at such an age... he may be worth something after all."

Lu Song had already been at the Fifth Layer of Qi Refinement in his early years, and after all these years, he had even touched the threshold of the sixth layer.

Moreover, he was a careful man. With age came cunning. Even though Ji Yuan had concealed his aura well, Lu Song had still noticed a trace of something unusual.

Someone at the Middle Qi Refining Stage at that age either possessed exceptional ability or had someone behind him looking after him.

Either way, it showed that Ji Yuan was not simple.

"What? He's already at the Middle Qi Refining Stage?"

Li Qiuling asked in great surprise.

The Middle Qi Refining Stage itself was nothing unusual, but reaching it before the age of twenty was rather rare in Zengtou City.

Coupled with Ji Yuan's rare good looks, calling him one of Zengtou City's outstanding young talents would not be an exaggeration.

Ji Yuan naturally knew nothing of this. After asking around, he finally stopped before a grand manor in Zengtou City.

Anyone who could afford to live in such a residence in Zengtou City was either rich or noble.

Wu Wenbin, as a Talisman Master capable of drawing First-Rank Upper-Grade Talismans... naturally counted as both rich and noble, not to mention the group of disciples beneath him who could draw talismans and paid him substantial tribute every month.

It was said that, with his skill in Talismans, he could have joined the Water Dragon Sect, yet he had chosen not to.

Everyone had their own way of living. If he went to the Water Dragon Sect, he could only be a common soldier, a pawn at the front of the horse, ordered about at others' beck and call.

How could that compare to lording it over others here in Zengtou City?

Ji Yuan knocked on the gate of the Wu Residence. There was no gatekeeper; the one who came to open the door was one of Wu Wenbin's disciples.

"Who are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for Lu Wan." Ji Yuan cupped his hands slightly.

"Looking for Junior Sister Lu?"

The white-robed man who had opened the door immediately gave Ji Yuan several more looks, and even his gaze became less friendly.

Ji Yuan had no desire to put on some drama of fighting over a female cultivator. Besides, he had no such feelings toward Lu Wan, so he added another sentence.

"That's right. She's my sister."

Sure enough, as soon as he said that, the white-robed man's eyes immediately became far more enthusiastic.

"So that's how it is... Fellow Daoist, please come in. Junior Sister Lu has recently been attempting to draw Middle-Grade Talismans. She is truly gifted."

"Master is already planning to have her participate in next year's Water Dragon Sect selection."