I Was Still Too Naive

White Moon Lake.

It lay in the higher reaches of the Heavenly Sound Sect, where the spiritual energy was richer than elsewhere.

Those who joined this branch would also cultivate faster than those in the other main branches.

Geniuses gathered here, and disciples were rarely accepted.

Heartbreak Cliff was different. It sat lower down, and its entry requirements were slightly lower. Though it had many disciples, few had made a name for themselves.

"Whew, finally here."

After buying his talisman-making supplies, Jiang Hao arrived here, filled with mixed feelings.

If he had not offended the Heavenly Joy Pavilion, he would have thought Heartbreak Cliff was quite a good place too.

Shaking his head, he found the attendant and explained why he had come.

"Tending the Pure Yang Flower?" The female cultivator on duty looked Jiang Hao over carefully and asked,

"Do you have any experience with this?"

"I'm Jiang Hao, an inner disciple of Heartbreak Cliff. I've been working in Heartbreak Cliff's Spirit Medicine Garden for several years," Jiang Hao answered truthfully.

"Then come with me." The female cultivator led the way.

"Just a warning: the Pure Yang Flower is about to bloom, which is why it needs tending. This isn't an easy job. If you don't do it properly, you'll be punished," the female cultivator, whose hair was tied in a simple bun, kindly reminded him.

"Thank you for the warning, senior sister. I understand," Jiang Hao said, glancing at her gratefully.

This senior sister had clear eyes. She was not particularly beautiful, but she was rather pleasant to look at.

At least she seemed far more natural than Senior Sister Yun Ruo.

She was neither aloof nor falsely friendly. She seemed somewhat innocent.

Sure enough, not everyone in a demonic sect looked like a fiend.

As for her true character, Jiang Hao could not tell. You could know a person's face without knowing their heart.

"My surname is Zhou, and my name is Zhou Chan. Since you've accepted this assignment, you'll need to come every day for the next few days. Just find me when you arrive, and I'll bring you in," Zhou Chan said as she led Jiang Hao into a courtyard.

With Senior Sister Zhou's introduction, Jiang Hao met the person in charge of the courtyard.

Elder Qian Xu was a beautiful middle-aged woman in a floor-length blue-green gown, cinched at the waist with a pale blue sash, with a gauzy outer robe draped over it.

Her face betrayed no emotion, making her look extremely cold. She was White Moon Lake's steward elder.

She looks as if I owe her money, Jiang Hao muttered inwardly.

He would never dare say such a thing aloud.

A short while later.

Jiang Hao saw a white medicinal plant that occupied a large patch of ground. What looked like white frost covered the area around it.

At the edge of the frost sat a crimson gourd, radiating scorching heat.

"The gourd contains lava. What you need to do is pour lava along the edge of the frost every hour after noon, six times a day," Elder Qian Xu told Jiang Hao, then continued,

"It's already late today. Come back tomorrow to start tending it."

"Yes." Jiang Hao acknowledged her respectfully and withdrew.

Back at his residence, he checked his panel.

[Name: Jiang Hao]

[Age: nineteen]

[Cultivation: foundation establishment early stage]

[Cultivation method: Heavenly Sound, Hundred Turns]

[Divine abilities: Nine-Turn Substitute Death (unique), Daily Appraisal]

[Vitality: 16/100 (available for cultivation)]

[Cultivation: 20/100 (available for cultivation)]

[Divine ability: 2/3 (unavailable)]

"It's not much, but it's increasing quickly."

"Perhaps it won't be long before I advance to the foundation establishment middle stage. Still, having those thousand spirit stones hanging over me is a real headache. I can only see whether talisman-making will earn me some spirit stones."

Talisman-making, pill-refining, and forging.

Talisman-making had the lowest barrier to entry, but it also earned the least, unless one could produce intermediate- or high-grade talismans.

Otherwise, even drawing talismans day and night might not be enough to earn a thousand spirit stones.

Pill-refining was still the fastest way to earn spirit stones.

But it had a high barrier to entry, required a large investment, and took a long time.

Inside his room.

Jiang Hao took out his newly purchased comprehensive guide to talisman-making and began reading.

It recorded twelve kinds of talismans.

The simplest was the Movement Talisman, which increased one's speed.

There were also the Purifying Heart Talisman and the Fire Talisman.

All three were talismans needed by those at the qi refining stage.

Foundation establishment cultivators could fly on swords, had steady minds, and could cast spells as easily as turning their hands.

Under normal circumstances, therefore, they had no need for talismans with such limited effects.

Still, these three talismans were also the most suitable for practice. As for their selling price...

He would thank heaven and earth if three of them together could fetch one spirit stone.

It would probably take six.

He could not make much money from these. He needed to go a step further.

After reading the instructions for making a Movement Talisman, Jiang Hao sat cross-legged to one side and calmed his mind. Only after a long while did he reach his best condition.

Then he picked up the talisman brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and began making a talisman.

Each stroke was even and firm, flowing like clouds and water as spiritual energy took shape on the talisman paper.

After a little while, he slowly laid down the final stroke.

A faint gleam flashed across the talisman before it returned to normal.

"It worked?"

"That easily?"

On reflection, as a foundation establishment cultivator making qi refining talismans, it would have been strange if he kept failing.

Jiang Hao spent the entire night practicing Movement Talismans, Purifying Heart Talismans, and Fire Talismans.

He only stopped once he had exhausted all his materials.

"Thirty-one in total. After deducting the two spirit stones spent on materials, I can earn three spirit stones.

Three a night makes ninety a month, and only two hundred and seventy in three months. If I add the daytime too, that would make five hundred and forty."

After calculating carefully, Jiang Hao realized there was still hope of scraping together a thousand spirit stones.

As long as the Heavenly Joy Pavilion did nothing during these three months, he should be able to hand over a thousand spirit stones before the deadline.

But...

When he went to sell them, he discovered that he had been far too naive.

These talismans did indeed sell for one spirit stone per six.

But there was a price and no market.

After keeping his stall open for a long while, he earned only one spirit stone. He could not even recover his costs.

With a sigh, Jiang Hao could only buy more materials and try practicing talismans needed by foundation establishment cultivators that night.

Afterward, he headed to White Moon Lake again. Starting today, he had to tend the Pure Yang Flower.