Li Ping worked through the night and only stopped when the sky began to lighten.
On the table before him lay a stack of more than ten Azure Thunder Talismans, each giving off faint spiritual pressure.
After a whole night of work, only his first attempt at drawing an Azure Thunder Talisman had failed. Every subsequent attempt had succeeded, without even requiring deliberate control on his part.
Everything had flowed naturally, as though guided by divine aid.
In theory, this was impossible. Never mind that Li Ping had only just become a First-Tier Upper-Grade Talisman Maker—even veterans who had studied talisman crafting for decades could not achieve a hundred-percent success rate.
Luck, condition, the talisman brush, the talisman ink... all of these affected the success rate of talisman crafting.
Yet he could succeed every single time?
After pondering for a moment, Li Ping immediately thought of the Inheritance Tree in his mind.
Only after examining it carefully did he understand. The Inheritance Tree could not merely absorb nourishment and grant him skills; it also made every attainment permanent, keeping him in peak condition at all times.
The branch representing his Talisman Maker profession on the Inheritance Tree displayed "First-Tier Upper-Grade Talisman Maker." This meant his skills would never regress, and he would have a hundred-percent success rate when drawing First-Tier Upper-Grade talismans or anything below that.
It actually made sense. After all, once a branch had grown on a tree, it could hardly shrink back again. That would defy the laws of nature.
Once cultivators reached foundation establishment, their bodies transcended mortal flesh, allowing them to live without food.
Sleep naturally became optional as well. Despite working all night, Li Ping was still full of energy.
Having discovered another marvelous use of the Inheritance Tree, he wanted to keep making talismans, but when he raised his hand, he realized he had run out of talisman paper.
Shaking his head, Li Ping left his little courtyard and headed toward the inner city. He planned to sell all these newly drawn Azure Thunder Talismans, buy more talisman hide, and continue crafting.
There was no helping it. He was desperately short of spirit stones.
The inner city, the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.
Li Ping entered the first-floor hall, letting a trace of his spiritual pressure spread. An attendant immediately approached and respectfully escorted him to a private room on the second floor, where spirit tea was served.
After a short wait, a female cultivator walked in with a smile. Her rich, slightly languid voice reached Li Ping's ears. "Sorry for the wait, fellow Daoist."
Li Ping looked up and took in the appearance of the foundation establishment woman who had entered.
She was a beautiful woman dressed in red magical robes and appeared to be in her early thirties. Her looks were only somewhat above average, and she lacked Fairy Meng's sweet charm, but her surging curves and slender waist outlined the allure of a mature woman.
Li Ping could not help stealing a few extra glances.
Noticing Li Ping's gaze, the beautiful woman chuckled inwardly. She walked over to the table in two steps and sat across from him, watching him with a smile without saying anything.
Li Ping's old face reddened despite himself. As mentioned before, he had preserved his primal yang to improve his chances of reaching foundation establishment. Now that he was faced with this beautiful woman in red, it was hardly strange that he could not resist looking a little longer.
According to the theory of a certain psychology master on Earth who surpassed Freud, this was sexual repression making him crave connection.
The beautiful woman introduced herself in a lilting voice. "My name is Miao Rou, and I have the honor of serving as this pavilion's shopkeeper. You look rather unfamiliar, fellow Daoist. Forgive me if I have failed to recognize you, but are you new to the immortal city? How should I address you?"
Li Ping nodded. "My surname is Li. But you guessed wrong, Shopkeeper Miao. I've lived in the immortal city for decades. I'm hardly a newcomer."
"So it is Fellow Daoist Li. What can our pavilion do for you?" The beautiful woman surnamed Miao smiled faintly, while searching her memory for a foundation establishment cultivator like Li Ping in the immortal city.
Li Ping wasted no words. He took the dozen or so First-Tier Upper-Grade Azure Thunder Talismans he had drawn the night before straight out of his Storage Bag, then smiled at the beautiful woman. "Shopkeeper Miao, I would like to sell these talismans to your pavilion."
"To think you're also a Talisman Maker." The beautiful woman sounded somewhat surprised, but after inspecting the Azure Thunder Talismans one by one, a barely perceptible trace of disappointment appeared in her eyes.
She could see clearly that these were all Azure Thunder Talismans, which were First-Tier Upper-Grade talismans.
A First-Tier Upper-Grade Azure Thunder Talisman had power equivalent to an all-out strike from a Late Qi Refining Stage cultivator, and each was worth only five or six spirit stones.
The disappointment in her eyes vanished in a flash, and a courteous smile returned to her face. "Thirteen First-Tier Upper-Grade Azure Thunder Talismans. To make it a round number, our Spirit Treasure Pavilion is willing to buy them for seventy spirit stones. Consider it a gesture of friendship."
Li Ping nodded. "Deal."
A short while later, Li Ping appeared outside the Spirit Treasure Pavilion. The only difference was that the thick stack of Azure Thunder Talismans in his Storage Bag had been reduced to two, while he now had seventy more spirit stones.
The talisman ink and talisman hide Li Ping had bought earlier had cost him less than twenty spirit stones. Once made into spirit talismans, they had brought him several times that amount in profit.
Earning so many spirit stones in a single night made Li Ping marvel at the enormous profits of talisman crafting.
Of course, other Talisman Makers could never earn such high profits from First-Tier Upper-Grade talismans alone.
They could not guarantee a hundred-percent success rate like Li Ping. With a lower success rate and costs factored in, making a profit of one or two times their investment would already be quite good.
Furthermore, Li Ping was a foundation establishment cultivator, so he could cast the Azure Thunder Technique more than a dozen times in one night. A Late Qi Refining Stage cultivator would probably expend most of their magical power with a single casting and have to meditate to recover.
Under those circumstances, drawing one Azure Thunder Talisman every few days on average was the norm.
Naturally, their rate of earning spirit stones could not compare with Li Ping's.
Precisely because spells of a cultivator's own tier consumed too much magical power, and because casting them was slow-nowhere near as nimble and swift as using magical artifacts-cultivators generally did not rely on spells as their standard means of fighting.
Unless they were dealing with mortals, they usually fought with magical artifacts or talismans instead.
Li Ping headed toward the outer city as he pondered. All he wanted now was to earn enough spirit stones quickly and buy a few second-tier magical artifacts. Otherwise, he felt far too insecure facing cultivators at his own stage.
He walked toward the outer city at an unhurried pace, but just as he reached the city gate, Li Ping was blocked.
"You're Li Ping!" A burly man with a full beard glared at him and demanded harshly.
The burly man wore blue-green Daoist robes. His powerful frame stretched them into something resembling tight-fitting clothes, and he looked as though he practiced some sort of body-refining art.
After briefly sensing the bearded man's aura, Li Ping was startled. This man was actually a foundation establishment middle stage cultivator.
Behind the burly man stood another cultivator at the foundation establishment early stage, who looked like a frail scholar and was likewise staring at him with hostile eyes.
Two foundation establishment cultivators had blocked his path, and both seemed decidedly ill-disposed toward him.
Li Ping was dumbfounded.