Chapter 42

Disciples still streamed endlessly past the Library Pavilion. Su Jiu felt as though she had not been here in a long time. At some point, the person handling registration out front had been replaced by a young disciple. Judging by his robes, he was an Inner Gate Disciple.

Su Jiu handed her waist token to the disciple and asked, "Where is Senior Sun, who used to be here?"

The Inner Gate Disciple glanced at the name on her waist token, looking rather surprised. "Oh? You're the incredibly talented little Qi Refining girl the Fourth Elder mentioned?"

"The Fourth Elder?"

The Inner Gate Disciple smiled. "Yes, the man who asked you to help watch over the Library Pavilion. He's our Azure Tide Sect's Fourth Elder."

"He was injured fighting demonic cultivators and came to the Outer Gate to recover. That was why he oversaw the Library Pavilion for a while. Now that he's recovered, he's gone off to wander the world."

"Oh, right. He left this tassel for you." The Inner Gate Disciple took out a tassel and handed it to Su Jiu.

Su Jiu accepted the tassel, her breath catching. This item had already reached the treasure artifact grade. It could increase her flying sword's attack power.

"May I ask when the Fourth Elder will return?"

The Inner Gate Disciple shook his head. "I'm only a peripheral figure in the Inner Gate. How would I know so much? But people at their cultivation level usually don't return for decades."

So that was why. No wonder she had never met any Fourth Elder in her previous life.

At the same time, Su Jiu felt a little regretful that she could not thank him in person.

In her previous life, aside from knowing a little about formations, she had been utterly ignorant of alchemy, artifact refining, and talismans.

When she first arrived at the Azure Tide Sect in this life, she had only skimmed a few books out of boredom while watching over the Library Pavilion. She had never expected to return in search of information with the aim of becoming a Talisman Master.

Books on talismans were a fairly popular category, and Su Jiu easily found the section where they were kept.

There were more than a dozen books on talisman-drawing methods alone.

Su Jiu took out the one with the most comprehensive explanations, sat down on the spot, and became absorbed in reading. Before she knew it, her time was up.

When her time ran out, the jade token emitted a faint green glow. Su Jiu left the Library Pavilion, took a deep breath, and exhaled a stale breath, ready to return and keep drawing.

Failure was inevitable, but the more she failed, the clearer the Stagnation Point became to her.

Su Jiu tried different methods to gradually slow the flow of spiritual energy into the talisman paper.

At last, half a month later, Su Jiu completed her first Ice Spike Talisman.

For her, once one thing clicked, everything fell into place. At first, she still failed occasionally, but after fully mastering the method, she never failed again.

Meanwhile, she had also exhausted her talisman paper and cinnabar.

Rather pleased, Su Jiu took her thirty-odd Ice Spike Talismans to find Xiang Li.

When Su Jiu arrived at the General Store, Xiang Li happened to be restocking.

Sensing Su Jiu's arrival, he said without even turning his head, "Well, little girl? Now you know how hard drawing talismans is, don't you?"

Xiang Li counted the talismans in his hands as he said casually, "Actually, you don't need to be discouraged. Even geniuses without any Stagnation Points need several months to get started, and they can spend a long time with an extremely low success rate. Without a year or two of experience drawing talismans, barely one in ten turns out successfully. That's why talisman materials are so cheap, but finished talismans are so expensive. You only have one Stagnation Point. You'll succeed sooner or later, so there's no need to rush."

"Besides, you're still young. Even if you aren't naturally gifted, you can get there in ten or twenty years."

A little displeased, Su Jiu pursed her lips and thrust the stack of Ice Spike Talismans in her hand right in front of Xiang Li.

Xiang Li was counting talismans when a small, fair hand suddenly reached over, making him instantly forget where he had left off. Just as he was about to scold the little girl, he noticed that the soft, pale hand was shaking a stack of yellow paper.

Only then did Xiang Li realize that it was a stack of finished talismans. Excited, he snatched them up, grinning until his eyes all but disappeared. "Look at that, look at that! What did I tell you?"

"I told you that drawing talismans suited you best, didn't I? The very first time I saw you, I knew you were definitely a naturally gifted Talisman Master. See? Your Uncle Xiang's eye for talent never fails."

Su Jiu pursed her lips. Thanks to her good upbringing, she refrained from rolling her eyes right in his face.

Xiang Li examined the patterns on the talismans closely and marveled quietly. "Not bad. They're all superior grade. Your spiritual energy output was even, and the talisman paper locked in every bit of ice spiritual energy you put into it."

Xiang Li rubbed Su Jiu's little head. "From now on, bring your talismans here to sell on consignment. Twenty-five spirit stones apiece, and I'll only charge you a ten-percent commission."

Su Jiu looked at the few Thunderbolt Talismans before her and asked, "How much did you charge before?"

"Twenty percent."

Su Jiu silently grumbled, What a gouger.

Perhaps because of her spirit root's purity, Su Jiu felt that her qi sea in this life was much larger than in her previous one, in proportion to her current divine sense. As a result, the spiritual energy stored within her body far exceeded that of an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator.

Moreover, her spiritual energy was already very pure, so diluting it allowed her to save quite a bit more.

If an ordinary cultivator at the sixth Qi Refining layer could draw twenty talismans a day, she might be able to draw forty, or even more. After all, she had not yet tested this body's current limits.

Su Jiu calculated that she had five days before the mountain patrol, enough time to draw two hundred talismans. After deducting the ten-percent commission, she would still receive four thousand five hundred spirit stones. Her eyes brightened. At last, she had a way to get her magical artifact.

Relying solely on the sect's meager mission points, she might not be able to exchange for a magical artifact even in ten years. Now, she only needed to draw talismans for half a month to buy a decent superior-grade magical artifact.

"How many can you sell each month?"

Xiang Li thought for a moment. "That's still hard to say. Take that boy with the thunder spirit root. He only gives me a dozen or so every half month, and they're practically gone as soon as I put them up for sale. I always have the Binding Talismans I draw myself in stock, though, and sell about a dozen a day. Besides, first-tier talismans barely consume any spiritual energy for me. I can draw them as soon as I pick up my brush."

Su Jiu finally understood how this shop could remain open despite being full of junk. It was probably clinging to life on the strength of these talismans.

Also, Xiang Li's cultivation must already have been quite high. Otherwise, he would not have claimed that drawing first-tier talismans consumed hardly any spiritual energy.

Su Jiu nodded. With a clearer idea of the situation, she decided to provide him with three hundred talismans every half month. That would probably be enough for him to sell.

"In five days, I'm going on a mountain patrol with my companions. I'll give you a batch of talismans on the last day. After that, I won't be able to come again for half a month."

A hint of puzzlement appeared on Xiang Li's face. "A mountain patrol?"

"Demonic cultivators appeared in the mountains near the Azure Tide Sect a while ago, and two of the sect's Qi Refining disciples met a brutal end at their hands. The higher-ups ordered a wide-ranging search to see whether any fish slipped through the net."

Su Jiu noticed that when she mentioned "demonic cultivators," unmistakable hatred appeared on Xiang Li's face. Then, as though something had come to mind, a flicker of pain crossed his eyes.

Su Jiu's eyes dimmed slightly. Xiang Li probably had quite a few stories of his own.

Thank you, Little Scatterbrain, for the tip! ＼(￣︶￣)／