"Junior Brother Xu, did you see my movements clearly?"
Yang Bailao looked at Xu Changshou and asked.
"I did!" Xu Changshou nodded.
Yang Bailao took out another sheet of yellow hemp paper and continued drawing. "Junior Brother Xu, the talisman I'm drawing next is called a Windwalking Talisman. With one of these, you can travel a thousand li a day."
A Windwalking Talisman...
Xu Changshou frowned slightly. There seemed to be a Windwalking Talisman in the Bloodline Jade Talisman too, but that version could cover three thousand li a day. They were both Windwalking Talismans, so why was the difference so great?
Could his spirit talismans be different from those of Green Ink Peak?
"Junior Brother Xu, practice this talisman diligently. The work you're assigned in the future will most likely be drawing Windwalking Talismans."
Yang Bailao offered him this reminder.
Xu Changshou was puzzled. "Senior Brother Yang, how do you know my future assignment will be drawing Windwalking Talismans?"
Yang Bailao said, "Before you came, I was the only one among Green Ink Peak's dozen or so Servant Disciples whose spiritual root had a wind attribute. Windwalking Talismans have always been in short supply in our Green Immortal Sect, so Martial Uncle Li Dao Path will most likely put you in charge of drawing them."
"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother Yang. Oh, right!"
Xu Changshou changed the subject and asked, "Senior Brother Yang, how much do the Servant Disciples on Green Ink Peak get paid?"
Yang Bailao thought for a moment, then said bitterly, "We do get paid, but very little."
Xu Changshou asked, "Exactly how much?"
Yang Bailao said, "The amount roughly depends on your ability. The higher your cultivation and the more talismans you draw, the more you naturally get paid. If you draw fewer, you get paid less.
"Take me, for example. I have to hand over ten talismans a day. Excluding our days off on the first and fifteenth of each month, that comes to about 280 talismans a month. I get paid two spirit stones a month."
"Two spirit stones? That's quite a lot."
Xu Changshou's eyes lit up. When he first joined the sect, it had given him one spirit stone for free as a benefit. That had lasted him several years, and he still had two Qi Gathering Pills left.
With an income of two spirit stones a month, his cultivation speed would be like a tiger given wings.
Yang Bailao's face filled with a bitter smile. "Oh, Junior Brother Xu, you know only half the story. We Servant Disciples have suffered for far too long."
"Do you know what it costs me to draw those ten talismans? I have to drain my spiritual energy completely twice every day.
"Though the sect pays me two spirit stones, two-thirds of that has to go toward buying Qi-Replenishing Pills."
Xu Changshou frowned. "You have to buy Qi-Replenishing Pills too?"
Qi-Replenishing Pills restored spiritual energy and cost less than Qi Gathering Pills. He had heard of them before.
Under normal circumstances, no one would casually exhaust their spiritual energy. That usually happened only in special situations, such as magical combat or tasks that consumed spiritual energy.
Such pills could save a life at a critical moment. For example, when two cultivators of equal cultivation fought, whoever had Qi-Replenishing Pills had a better chance of winning.
"Draining your spiritual energy twice a day? Isn't that too cruel?"
Xu Changshou's heart quietly pounded with alarm.
After all, occasionally exhausting the spiritual energy in a cultivator's dantian benefited cultivation and could help them break through to the next realm.
But keeping the dantian chronically starved of spiritual energy was extremely detrimental to cultivation.
It was like bloodletting. Doing it occasionally could flush out toxins and improve health, but if it happened every day, even a man forged from iron could not endure it.
No wonder every disciple on Green Ink Peak looked so haggard. This was the root of the problem.
At that thought, Xu Changshou felt his future darken.
Joining Green Ink Peak was like falling into an enormous pit.
Yang Bailao said mockingly, "So what if it's cruel? To the sect, we Servant Disciples are nothing but oxen and horses. Junior Brother Xu, do you think anyone cares whether their beasts of burden are tired?"
"Uh..."
Xu Changshou had no answer.
Yang Bailao continued venting. "Junior Brother Xu, I'm fifty this year, and I've been in the sect for forty years. In those forty years, I've only advanced from the seventh level of Qi Refining to the tenth.
"If I hadn't come to Green Ink Peak to draw talismans, I would have reached the Qi Refining twelfth layer long ago. I wouldn't have missed the prime years for Foundation Establishment."
"What a shame."
Xu Changshou quietly lamented Yang Bailao's plight.
After all, any cultivator who reached the Qi Refining twelfth layer before turning fifty had a sliver of a chance at Foundation Establishment, provided they were fortunate enough to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Yang Bailao was already fifty, yet he was only at the tenth level of Qi Refining. He had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this lifetime.
"I wouldn't really call it a shame. For people like us, Foundation Establishment is nothing but a dream beneath the southern bough. I've let go of that obsession now. I'm just waiting until I'm a hundred to lay down my armor and return to secular life, saving up a little for my children and grandchildren so their path of immortal cultivation will be smoother."
Yang Bailao shook his head with a bitter smile.
Xu Changshou nodded slightly without speaking.
The sect's Servant Disciples were mostly just like Yang Bailao.
They entered the sect, devoted their lives to it, then sent their descendants into the sect to continue cultivating.
The cycle repeated endlessly, with countless small lineages contributing to the sect generation after generation.
Those Servant Disciples knew full well that their descendants would also be exploited if they joined the sect, yet they still fought tooth and nail to send them in.
Only by entering an immortal sect could they find a sliver of heavenly opportunity. Even a lifetime of toil as a Servant Disciple was better than being a mortal.
Alas!
Xu Changshou let out a long sigh. Feeling that the subject was too heavy, he changed the topic. "Senior Brother Yang, once I learn to draw talismans, how much work will I have to complete each day?"
Yang Bailao glanced at Xu Changshou and said, "You're at the seventh level of Qi Refining. You'll only need to hand over five first-grade spirit talismans a day."
Five...
Xu Changshou silently calculated. Yang Bailao handed over ten talismans a day and earned two spirit stones a month, so he would only earn one.
One spirit stone a month will be enough for me.
Xu Changshou was overjoyed, unaware that the main reason he had used so few spirit stones before was his low cultivation, which meant he consumed very few Qi Gathering Pills.
As his cultivation increased, the spirit stones he needed would multiply exponentially.
"All right, Junior Brother Xu, let's draw a Windwalking Talisman now. Watch closely."
Yang Bailao began drawing a Windwalking Talisman.
Soon, the Windwalking Talisman was complete. Yang Bailao's face grew a shade paler, and his spiritual energy dropped another notch.
Xu Changshou noticed that the Windwalking Talisman Yang Bailao drew was simpler than the one in the stone house and contained less spiritual energy.
Even the Fireball Talisman from earlier had been slightly different.
Xu Changshou could not help sinking into thought. Why is this? Could the talismans in the Bloodline Jade Talisman be fundamentally different from those of this world?
If so, I've struck it rich.
Both were Windwalking Talismans, yet those produced by Green Ink Peak could cover a thousand li a day, while his could cover three thousand.
If I sold them...
Xu Changshou had found a shortcut to turning them into money, and excitement quietly stirred in his heart.
After all, for a Qi Refining Cultivator, a Windwalking Talisman that could cover three thousand kilometers a day was an extraordinary lifesaving tool.
At that speed, practically nothing below a Foundation Establishment cultivator could catch up.
Such a talisman would definitely fetch a high price.
Before you continue