Drawing his first spirit talisman

At midnight, the bright moon hung high amid a gathering of stars, casting a tranquil glow that scattered across the lake in flashes of cold silver.

A thin mist rose over the lake, swallowing the black-canopied boat. Aboard it, candlelight trembled gently in the breeze, casting long, swaying shadows.

Chen Jianghe took out his Peachwood Talisman Brush, spirit ink, and fine yellow paper-a complete set of tools and materials for spirit talisman drawing.

First, he cut a large sheet of fine yellow paper into four smaller pieces of talisman paper, each the size of a spirit talisman.

One sheet of fine yellow paper could be cut into four pieces of talisman paper. He had bought twenty sheets, giving him eighty pieces altogether.

Then he opened the spirit ink box and poured a little into the inkstone. A faint, aged fragrance wafted toward his nose.

This spirit ink was made from cinnabar and Small Blue Fish blood.

He picked up the Peachwood Talisman Brush and moistened it with water vapor, gathering its sparse bristles together to make them glide more smoothly.

Then he closed his eyes and settled his mind, recalling his painting experience from his previous life and the rudiments of talisman crafting he had learned.

The talisman Dao was a cultivation craft one could attempt even without an inheritance, mainly because its foundations were simple.

Anyone with magical power and the necessary tools and materials could try it.

It amounted to circulating magical power, using the talisman brush and spirit ink as a medium and talisman paper as a vessel, and drawing a spell upon it to create a spirit talisman.

He had no talisman Dao inheritance, so he could only begin by trying to draw minor water spells on talisman paper.

Suddenly, his eyes flashed like cold lightning, and he held his breath, focusing his mind.

He picked up the talisman brush, his movements flowing like drifting clouds and running water.

Water-aspected magical power gathered at the brush tip like gossamer threads as he drew on the talisman paper.

Bang!

The talisman paper shattered into scraps that scattered through the air.

"The flow of magical power was too heavy. It exceeded what the talisman paper could withstand. My wrist also shook when I put the brush down, so I couldn't turn the magical power into gossamer threads."

With his wrist held aloft, Chen Jianghe kept the talisman brush three inches above the paper. The magical power gathered at the Peachwood Talisman Brush's tip broke into wispy threads.

Whoosh~

"What I need to do now is become proficient at controlling these threads of magical power and steady my wrist so the flow doesn't keep breaking."

He felt that drawing spirit talismans was much like painting. Both required absolute control over the force of the brush and a stable center of balance in the wrist.

The slightest tremor could ruin a painting.

Drawing spirit talismans was the same. Even a slight tremor could break the magical power and destroy a talisman in an instant.

After settling himself for a moment, he let magical power seep from his Shaoshang acupoint in gossamer threads that wound around the talisman brush and moved along its tip.

He steadied his wrist, moving his arm as he willed.

The brush moved like a roaming dragon, forming a painting with its strokes.

With a few casual strokes, he completed a painting of the lake at night. His foundation in painting from before his transmigration remained.

Then he took out another piece of talisman paper and began trying to draw a spirit talisman. This time, he chose the simpler Water-Cleansing Talisman.

This was a basic spirit talisman.

It was even simpler than the unranked Water-Gathering Talisman.

This time, his mind was steady and free of distractions. The magical power gathered at the peachwood brush's tip moved across the talisman paper in regular patterns like gossamer threads.

Halfway through, his magical power faltered, the threads snapped, and the talisman paper crumbled into scraps.

"Does drawing spirit talismans really consume this much mental energy?"

Fine sweat seeped out along his hairline, and a trace of weariness actually appeared on his face. Drawing spirit talismans required him to condense magical power into threads, consuming a great deal of mental energy at every instant.

By comparison, the expenditure of magical power was almost negligible.

He felt it might be because he was exerting too much effort to control his magical power, resulting in such an enormous drain on his mind.

After all, he was only drawing basic spirit talismans.

For an ordinary low-grade talisman master, they would hardly be draining at all.

He set down the talisman brush and sat cross-legged in meditation to restore his energy and focus.

Three two-hour periods later.

His eyes suddenly opened, shining like cold stars. He picked up the talisman brush, circulated his magical power, and moved the brush like a roaming dragon.

A faint, spiritually resonant glow flowed across the talisman paper, turning it into a spirit talisman.

"It worked!"

Chen Jianghe was astonished. This result was both unexpected and expected. The reason he had dared attempt the talisman Dao was precisely because he had a strong foundation and excellent achievements in painting.

Still, he had truly never expected to succeed on his third attempt.

My talent for the talisman Dao should be pretty good.

With that thought, Chen Jianghe used the Water-Cleansing Talisman to see how effective his own spirit talisman was.

He fetched a bowl of fishy, salty lake water. After the Water-Cleansing Talisman purified it, the water became clear, and its pungent, fishy, salty smell vanished.

He carefully tasted a mouthful.

It was like fresh water, with a hint of sweetness.

His spirits immediately lifted. He picked up the talisman brush and continued drawing Water-Cleansing Talismans, clearly much more practiced than he had been with the first one.

Seven days passed in a flash.

Chen Jianghe finished his brushstroke, completing a talisman.

This was the tenth Water-Cleansing Talisman he had drawn. Both its effectiveness and his proficiency in drawing it had improved markedly.

His success rate had also reached ninety percent.

Previously, his Water-Cleansing Talismans could only purify a bowl of lake water. Now, one could purify an entire basin.

The mental energy he expended while drawing spirit talismans had decreased greatly.

At first, drawing just two Water-Cleansing Talismans had left him tired. Now, he was still full of energy after drawing three.

However, drawing basic spirit talismans was of little use to cultivators.

Of course, in the mortal martial world, it would have been enough for him to count as an accomplished master of the Dao.

Afterward, Chen Jianghe meditated to restore his mind. Once his vitality, energy, and spirit had returned to their peak, he continued drawing spirit talismans.

This time, he planned to increase the difficulty.

He would draw Water-Gathering Talismans.

Although they were also unranked spirit talismans, they were considerably harder to draw and much more valuable.

A Water-Cleansing Talisman was worth ten taels of silver.

A Water-Gathering Talisman, however, was worth ten grains of spirit sand.

At the harbor, one grain of spirit sand could be exchanged for a hundred taels of silver, but a hundred taels of silver certainly could not buy one grain of spirit sand.

The Water-Gathering Talisman's function was straightforward. Once used, it could gather water vapor and water-aspected spiritual energy from the air, forming a ball of fresh water the size of a face.

It was of little use to cultivators, but it was quite impressive in the mortal martial world, so its value was somewhat higher.

With greater value came greater difficulty.

Over two days, Chen Jianghe ruined six pieces of talisman paper before finally succeeding in drawing a Water-Gathering Talisman.

He tested its effect.

Although it fell short of a normal Water-Gathering Talisman's effect, the difference was not great.

His second one reached the normal standard.

For the next half month, he devoted himself to drawing Water-Gathering Talismans. He wanted to achieve a success rate above eighty percent.

Then he could begin attempting to draw low-grade spirit talismans.

"Thirty-six pieces of talisman paper, seventeen completed spirit talismans. My success rate with Water-Gathering Talismans has also reached ninety percent. It's time to try drawing low-grade spirit talismans."

Ten Water-Cleansing Talismans and seven Water-Gathering Talismans.

He now had forty-four pieces of talisman paper left. As for spirit ink... he had bought another box, which remained unopened.

He was a beginner, and self-taught at that, so he wasted a great deal of spirit ink.

Generally, one box of spirit ink could produce fifty low-grade spirit talismans. He had drawn only thirty-six unranked spirit talismans and had already used up most of it.

As for the Peachwood Talisman Brush, it had clearly been shedding far more bristles over the past month.

The aftereffects of the fairy's firsthand use of the talisman brush gradually became apparent. She must have used it roughly, loosening the ferrule that held the bristles tight. He could see that the peachwood tip wrapped in the bristles was blackened and cracked, clearly from rough handling.

(End of chapter)