Getting started

Half a year slipped quietly by.

Chen Jianghe held his talisman brush, holding his breath and focusing his mind. His strokes seemed divinely guided as he drew across the talisman paper like a roaming dragon.

A gleam flashed.

A low-grade Water Arrow Talisman was complete.

Pfft~

At that very moment, the last of the Fairy First-Hand brush's bristles fell out, exposing its dark, cracked tip.

"Another finished talisman. Not bad."

Chen Jianghe withdrew his magical power into his qi sea, set the bald peachwood brush shaft aside, and picked up the Water Arrow Talisman he had just finished.

Its spiritual energy was evenly distributed, its strokes firm, and its quality excellent.

Over half a year, he had used twenty-seven sheets of talisman paper and successfully drawn four Water Arrow Talismans.

One was defective, releasing a water arrow only two inches long.

The other three Water Arrow Talismans were fairly normal. He had tested one, which released a three-foot water arrow comparable to a strike at the Qi Refining Third Layer.

Only after drawing low-grade spirit talismans did Chen Jianghe realize he had taken things too much for granted.

Basic spirit talismans were the simplest, and unranked spirit talismans were relatively easy as well, but the difficulty suddenly increased tenfold with low-grade spirit talismans.

Not only did Spirit Talisman Drawing take longer, but the strain on his mind also increased several times over.

The drain on his magical power was particularly severe. Despite his cultivation at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining, he could only sustain three attempts at drawing low-grade spirit talismans.

Perhaps it was because he had not mastered the techniques for drawing low-grade spirit talismans, but the expenditure was still far too great.

After each session of Spirit Talisman Drawing, he needed three to five days to recover his magical power.

Moreover, the longer drawing time, additional steps, and greater difficulty also led to increased material consumption.

The Low-Grade Peachwood Talisman Brush had reached the end of its life.

He had seventeen sheets of talisman paper left and a little less than half his spirit ink. At the rate he consumed them as a beginner, he estimated they would last another dozen or so attempts.

He had nineteen spirit talismans in total: ten Water-Cleansing Talismans, seven Water-Gathering Talismans, and two low-grade Water Arrow Talismans.

So if he wanted to continue drawing spirit talismans, he would need to visit the Cultivator Market to buy a talisman brush.

In nearly seven months, he had successfully drawn one kind of low-grade spirit talisman, barely crossing the threshold of the Talisman Dao.

Once he could draw five kinds of low-grade spirit talismans, he would be a First-Rank Low-Grade Talisman Master.

At first, he had successfully drawn Water-Cleansing Talismans and Water-Gathering Talismans in less than a month, with a success rate above ninety percent.

He had thought his talent for the Talisman Dao was exceptional.

After all, he had figured things out on his own, without any Talisman Dao inheritance. Someone who taught themselves enough to cross the threshold within three months would normally be considered a Talisman Dao genius.

Let alone someone who had taken less than a month.

But in reality, unranked spirit talismans and low-grade spirit talismans were entirely different things, with completely different levels of difficulty.

As things stood, he had taken nearly seven months to cross the threshold of the Talisman Dao. His talent was average.

Still, that was not bad.

At least he had crossed the threshold. As long as he put in the time and kept grinding away, he would become a Low-Grade Talisman Master sooner or later.

With another source of income, he could buy more resources for his and Xiao Hei's cultivation.

"I still have two spirit stones and sixty-eight grains of spirit sand. Together with two Water Arrow Talismans, that's enough to buy another genuinely 'fine-quality' secondhand talisman brush."

There were still over five months before he had to reward Xiao Hei with a Qi-Nourishing Pill, so he could certainly divert the spirit stones to Spirit Talisman Drawing first.

After all, this was an investment that offered returns.

Besides, with Xiao Hei feeding the Small Blue Fish, he had nothing else to do beyond his fixed three hours of seated cultivation each day.

Previously, he had studied spells. Now he could draw spirit talismans instead.

With his mind settled, he rose, left the cabin, and rowed toward Port No. 1 to buy a talisman brush and some talisman-making materials.

After reaching the port.

Chen Jianghe headed straight toward the Market Ward, only to find quite a few fisher-farmers gathered before the paifang, discussing something in hushed groups of three or five.

He slowed his steps and pricked up his ears.

"Lan Tianxiang is dead. I heard he tried to seize an Inferior Foundation Establishment Pill being auctioned at Qinghe Market, and a Foundation Establishment Ancestor there killed him on the spot." "That Lan Tianxiang of yours was a fake. Half a month ago, Lan Tianxiang broke into the Bai Household's Qiyun Cultivator Market and stole over a thousand spirit stones' worth of resources. Before leaving, he even conjured a hundred-foot water dragon and washed away the Qiyun Cultivator Market's Drum Tower."

"Fellow Daoist, yours isn't guaranteed to be true either, is it? If I remember correctly, Lan Tianxiang practices the Red Flame Flood Dragon Art, a fire cultivation method. How did he conjure a hundred-foot water dragon?"

"What do you know? What if Lan Tianxiang practices dual cultivation of water and fire?"

"Bullshit. Have you ever heard of anyone cultivating water and fire together?"

"Ahem, yours are all fake. The demonic cultivator who raided the Yun Household's Qingyun Mine three days ago was the real Lan Tianxiang. He stole several hundred spirit stones and wounded or killed several Yun Household disciples at the Mid Qi Refining Stage."

"Yours isn't guaranteed to be true either. The dharmic instruments don't match. Lan Tianxiang uses the Profound Heaven Dragon-Patterned Cord. That demonic cultivator of yours used a saber."

"..."

Listening to the discussions, Chen Jianghe walked through the paifang.

The news about Lan Tianxiang was growing increasingly absurd.

Previously, Lan Tianxiang had appeared in three places at once. Now there were Lan Tianxiangs everywhere.

He had even supposedly robbed Qinghe Market.

Was Lan Tianxiang that stupid?

Qinghe Market was the largest Market Ward within three thousand li, guarded by three Foundation Establishment Ancestors.

Uninterested in such news, he entered the Cultivator Market and went straight to the stall where he had bought talisman-making materials last time.

He wasted no words.

He simply asked whether there were any secondhand talisman brushes.

After a quarter of an hour of haggling, Chen Jianghe paid two spirit stones, two Water Arrow Talismans, seven Water-Gathering Talismans, and ten Water-Cleansing Talismans.

The two Water Arrow Talismans were bought at ninety percent of their market price, worth one spirit stone and eighty grains of spirit sand.

The Water-Gathering Talismans and Water-Cleansing Talismans together counted as fifteen grains of spirit sand.

A Water-Gathering Talisman sold for ten grains of spirit sand in the martial world, but he would have to find buyers himself. How could Chen Jianghe spare the time?

Cultivators had no use for such things, so he traded the whole lot for spirit sand.

Then he left with twenty sheets of fine yellow paper, a box of spirit ink, and a fine-quality, fairy-first-hand talisman brush.

Indeed, this middle-aged stallholder sold only first-hand talisman brushes previously used by fairies.

This secondhand talisman brush was in fairly good condition. Its bristles were not too badly worn, and it should last another two hundred uses or so. He had bought it for two spirit stones and fifty-five grains of spirit sand.

Afterward, he visited the Market, purchased some daily necessities, and left the port.

He had just returned to the Aquaculture Waters when he heard a White Egret calling.

"Gah~ gah~"

A White Egret landed on the bow, a Letter Tube tied to its slender leg.

"What's this?"

Chen Jianghe saw a small, bulging pouch hanging around the White Egret's neck. As he took the Letter Tube, the White Egret lowered its head, and the pouch slid into his hand.

He took the pouch and Letter Tube back into the cabin.

He opened the Letter Tube first. It was a letter from Yu Daniu.

First came Yu Daniu's greetings, followed by smug boasting.

His fifth child had been born.

Another boy.

He had not been named yet. That would wait until New Year's Eve.

Chen Jianghe finished reading Yu Daniu's letter with a smile. While marveling at Yu Daniu's overflowing luck, he also learned what was inside the pouch.

It turned out to contain a jade slip holding Basic Knowledge of the Cultivation World recorded by the Yun Household.

Chen Jianghe took out the jade slip. About the size of a thumb and made entirely of white jade, it was small and exquisite.

He only had to extend his divine sense into it to read the contents recorded within. It was extremely convenient.

But jade slips were expensive and used only by large cultivation lineages. Thus, Yu Daniu had told him in the letter to read it quickly, as it would have to be returned on New Year's Eve.

(End of chapter)