Business was tough

Ye Fan found an antique shop and spent two thousand yuan on a Talisman Brush, bought a hundred sheets of Talisman Paper at a hundred yuan apiece, then picked up stamp paste, Fortune Bags, Cinnabar Ink, and other supplies. The whole set cost him twenty thousand yuan.

After buying his talisman-making supplies, Ye Fan bought another batch of medicinal herbs much like yesterday's for a bath.

As Ye Fan absorbed the medicinal properties, he couldn't help feeling worried.

The spiritual energy in this world was far too thin, and this body's aptitude didn't seem particularly good either. Ye Fan reckoned that if he relied on meditation alone to cultivate, he would probably only reach the third or fourth level of Qi Refining by the time he was eighty. Spiritual medicines were indispensable, then, and since he couldn't do without them, earning money had to go on the agenda.

Ye Fan picked up his brush and drew on several sheets of Talisman Paper. He had made talismans in his previous life too, and no matter how difficult one was to draw, he could manage it.

But spiritual talismans needed spiritual power to work. Although there were no mistakes in the talismans Ye Fan drew, they were all useless.

After two days of effort, Ye Fan finally produced six working talismans. His cultivation was so low that every attempt drained all the spiritual energy from his body.

Looking at the talismans before him, Ye Fan felt that his future was boundlessly bright.

The space beneath the pedestrian overpass by the Red Star Building had always been occupied by all sorts of fortune-tellers. Today, however, a young man in casual clothes had joined them, with a whole stand of candied hawthorn skewers beside his stall.

"Young man, are you selling candied hawthorn? If you are, you need to walk around and call out to customers."

Ye Fan glanced at Master Yuan beside him, who claimed to be a successor of Yuan Tiangang, and shook his head. "I'm not selling candied hawthorn."

"Then what are you selling?"

"I sell talismans."

"So talismans are your main business, and you sell candied hawthorn on the side?"

Ye Fan shook his head. "No, the candied hawthorn isn't for sale. It's for me to eat."

Master Yuan looked at Ye Fan and shook his head helplessly. Such a handsome young fellow, yet he's a fool. What a shame. Who would buy supposedly high-end talismans from someone munching on candied hawthorn?

Ye Fan had been born in the Jade Cloud Sect. By the time he was born, his parents and older brother could already live without food.

Cultivators valued a tranquil mind and few desires. Those who indulged their appetites had always been looked down on.

Ever since he was old enough to understand things, Ye Fan had taken Grain-Suppression Pills along with his parents. In more than twenty years, who knew how many delicious foods he had missed? After coming to Earth, even a single skewer of candied hawthorn left him immensely satisfied.

Oblivious to Master Yuan's feelings, Ye Fan merely asked in frustration, "Why isn't anyone coming?"

Master Yuan sighed. "Business is tough these days! People are always campaigning against feudal superstition, and the competition's fierce too. Astrology, tarot cards, all that other nonsense. It's hard to make a living!"

Ye Fan: "..."

"These talismans are drawn quite nicely!" A young couple walked over.

The young woman was clearly an enthusiast of the mystical arts, with a string of Buddhist prayer beads around her wrist and a jade pendant to ward off evil hanging from her neck.

"How many kinds of talismans do you have?" she asked.

"Two. Peace Talismans and Illness-Expelling Talismans." Ye Fan thought, My cultivation is too low. Right now, I can only draw the simplest talismans. Once it's a little higher, I'll be able to make all kinds.

"How much is a Peace Talisman?"

"Thirty thousand," Ye Fan answered without hesitation.

Anger crossed the young man's face. "What a nutcase. Yuanyuan, let's not waste our time with him."

The young woman gave Ye Fan's stall a reluctant final look before leaving with him.

"Thirty thousand for one talisman, buddy?" Master Yuan asked, staring at Ye Fan in disbelief.

Ye Fan nodded. "Yes, thirty thousand each."

"You've certainly got the nerve to ask that much!" Master Yuan said, shaking his head.

Ye Fan was thoroughly unconcerned. "Thirty thousand is already very cheap."

Making these talismans nearly worked him to death. Every time he finished one, he felt as though all his strength had been sucked out of him. With all the effort he put into them, thirty thousand was more than fair. Who was he, after all? The little crown prince of the Jade Cloud Sect, an expert in all things cultivation! Was thirty thousand really expensive for a talisman made by someone of his exalted status? What a bunch of trash with no eye for quality.

Ye Fan spent the whole afternoon beneath the overpass and had four people ask about his prices.

Two were the couple from earlier, who called him a nutcase after asking.

One was an elderly man who earnestly lectured him after hearing the price. "Young man, you should be more honest. Swindling people isn't the right path." Having said his piece, the old man walked off with his hands clasped behind his back, lamenting the decline of public morals and how people were no longer as decent as they once were.

The fourth was a young man who told him that his selection of talismans was too small and monotonous. He had a reliable, inexpensive source of stock and could supply him.

At last, Ye Fan welcomed his fifth and sixth customers: a cute little boy and a cute little girl.

Ye Fan glanced at the boy and thought, Already chasing girls at his age. So young, and already getting up to no good.