The Yin-Gathering Talisman Succeeded

In the Iceheart State, Chen Miao's hand was rock steady!

With a weasel-hair brush, Chen Miao traced the Yin-Gathering Talisman he had practiced hundreds of times onto the yellow talisman paper. The blood-colored Rune sank into the paper within moments, leaving a faint mark.

Chen Miao paid that no mind and kept moving his wrist.

Ten seconds later, his hand stopped.

Lifting his brush, Chen Miao looked at the half-finished Rune on the talisman paper and sighed.

His strokes had been so smooth that he had thought his first attempt at Talisman Drawing might enjoy a "beginner's bonus" and succeed in one go. Who would have thought the ink on his Talisman Brush would run out halfway through?

He had not anticipated that.

He had long since overcome this problem during practice, but he had forgotten that blood ink and ordinary ink had completely different consistencies!

"So I also need to control the pressure of my strokes. Otherwise, if I use too much ink at the start, there won't be enough left for the end."

After reviewing his first failure, Chen Miao set the ruined talisman paper aside with a pang of regret.

Unless the design was completed in one continuous stroke, it would have no effect, no matter how beautiful or precise it was.

That was one of the cautions about Talisman Drawing in Zhong Family Talismans.

Soon, a second sheet of talisman paper lay on the desk. Once Chen Miao settled back into the right state, he raised his brush again.

Fifteen seconds later, Chen Miao shook his head at the three-quarter-finished Rune and set the ruined sheet aside as well.

A third blank sheet took its place.

Time passed, second by second.

Half an hour went by in a flash. By then, fourteen ruined sheets of talisman paper lay beside Chen Miao's desk.

The Rune on the topmost sheet was almost complete.

"Whew!"

Chen Miao straightened up and gazed with satisfaction at the Yin-Gathering Talisman he had completed in one continuous stroke!

"I thought I'd get the hang of it after four or five attempts. Who knew that the closer I got to the end, the harder that last little bit would be to nail down?"

Putting down his Talisman Brush, Chen Miao picked up his first completed Yin-Gathering Talisman and smiled.

"It took some concentration, but I finally finished it."

He immediately took out the blood glucose lancet he had prepared earlier and pricked his middle finger.

Most of the talismans in Zhong Family Talismans required blood to activate them, and blood from the middle finger worked best.

Chen Miao did not know whether that held true for all talismans or only those in Zhong Family Talismans.

Holding the Yin-Gathering Talisman, he brought his middle finger toward it.

The tiny bead of blood was quickly absorbed as soon as it touched the talisman paper.

Watching this, Chen Miao held his breath.

But a full half minute passed without any change in the Yin-Gathering Talisman.

Zhong Family Talismans says the Yin-Gathering Talisman takes time to work. I'll wait a little longer.

With that thought, Chen Miao set the Yin-Gathering Talisman aside.

As his gaze swept over the inkstone, his expression froze.

"It's gone?"

He had been so focused that he had not noticed how much blood ink he was using.

Now he saw that only a thin layer remained, just enough for one more talisman.

Something occurred to Chen Miao. He opened the book to the exchange page.

[One qian of cinnabar] (One qian of yin virtue)

[One bowl of rooster blood] (One qian of yin virtue)

[One large sheet of yellow talisman paper] (One qian of yin virtue)

Chen Miao touched the exchange items, and their sizes and shapes appeared in his mind.

"This bowl of rooster blood weighs about two liang, enough for two batches. One large sheet of yellow talisman paper looks like it can be cut into fifteen standard sheets."

"So three qian of yin virtue only gets me enough to draw fifteen talismans, and five qian gets me thirty?"

"If I factor in failures, how many actual talismans can I get for five qian of yin virtue?"

He had not realized it until he did the math, and the result startled him.

"In that case, the success rate for Talisman Drawing with ordinary materials is really important. If it's high enough, I can save my yin virtue."

"If all else fails, exchanging for one material and mixing it with ordinary materials might work too."

Chen Miao weighed his options.

Another half hour passed, bringing the time to two in the morning.

The Yin-Gathering Talisman still lay quietly on the desk. There was no sign of any substantial increase in the room's yin energy concentration.

Helpless, Chen Miao could only start making another batch of blood ink.

"It's my first attempt. Failure is normal."

Once the blood ink was ready, Chen Miao laid out fresh talisman paper and began another round of Talisman Drawing.

Half an hour later, he had completed thirteen of the fifteen talismans in single, continuous strokes. Now that he had mastered the knack, his success rate was much higher.

The thirteen Yin-Gathering Talismans sat neatly on the desk, filling Chen Miao with a little pride.

"Thirteen. Even with only a ten percent success rate, at least one should work, right?"

Chen Miao kept his expectations low.

But another half hour passed, and the room's yin energy concentration seemed unchanged.

Silently, Chen Miao added the thirteen sheets to the pile of waste paper.

"Why?"

Frowning, Chen Miao reviewed the contents of Zhong Family Talismans again, his eyes unfocused.

"Every Rune was completed in one continuous stroke, so that isn't the problem."

"Is it the materials? No, the compilers of Zhong Family Talismans couldn't have exchanged for top-grade materials like I can. They most likely used ordinary materials too, perhaps even worse ones than mine."

"Then the only thing left is the environment?"

"Is the yin energy concentration too low? I don't know how high the concentration in a yin ground actually is, or how far this room falls short."

"But I've already walked through the entire Funeral Home. Another lap won't gather much more yin energy. Do I really have to go outside and walk along the Twin Ridge River?"

"..."

"No, that's not right. I think I've been looking at this the wrong way!"

"Why does Zhong Family Talismans say to do Talisman Drawing somewhere rich in yin energy? What's the underlying reason? It's so the blood ink can absorb enough yin energy while I draw, causing some special reaction between the design and the materials!"

"The yin energy concentration in an ordinary environment is low, so naturally, not enough can seep into the blood ink during Talisman Drawing. That means this step requires somewhere rich in yin energy, like a yin ground."

"To fulfill that requirement, I deliberately recreated an environment rich in yin energy. But I don't need to do that at all!"

"The compilers sought out yin grounds because that was their only option. But I can use Yin Gathering!"

With that thought, Chen Miao activated Yin Gathering right there in his office!

In an instant, chilly energy converged on his right hand from every direction, and the temperature in the room rose.

Feeling the icy chill in his right hand, Chen Miao did not hesitate.

He ground the ink and lowered his brush!

One continuous stroke!

Time slipped past. In less than half a minute, a Yin-Gathering Talisman lay on the desk.

Without stopping, Chen Miao drew three in one go!

Just as he was drawing the fourth, his expression suddenly changed. He hurriedly dispersed the mass of yin energy in his hand and rubbed his hands together to warm his right hand.

Only once warmth gradually returned to his hand did Chen Miao breathe a sigh of relief.

Toward the end of that round of Talisman Drawing, his hand had suddenly stiffened for a moment. At the same time, a chilly energy had burrowed into the flesh of his hand and seeped into his bones.

"Was that yin energy?"

Chen Miao felt a lingering fear. He had read in Zhong Family Talismans that prolonged exposure to an environment rich in yin energy could adversely affect the body. He had never expected this to happen the very first time he gathered yin energy in his hand.

If he had ignored it and kept drawing, something might have gone wrong with his hand.

"Is my constitution too weak, or was the yin energy I gathered too concentrated?"

Once the chill in his hand gradually faded, Chen Miao turned his gaze to the second of the three talismans on the desk.

While drawing the second one, he had felt the mass of chilly energy in his hand suddenly shrink. If not for that, the chilling sensation might have struck before he even reached the fourth.

Naturally, that unusual change gave Chen Miao a little more hope.

Taking out the lancet, Chen Miao pricked his middle finger again, adding another puncture to the many already there.

After the blood dripped onto the talisman, it took only five minutes for the room's temperature to begin dropping.

The Yin-Gathering Talisman had succeeded!