Monopolizing Manufacturing

"Protective True Qi... no wonder Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivators like Zhou Hao and Zheng Yi never paid any mind to my Sword Qi.

Is this the difference in levels of power?"

Qi Yun clicked his tongue softly as he carefully felt this layer of protective True Qi, seemingly thin yet incredibly tough.

After undergoing the mingling of heaven and earth, the transformed and strengthened True Qi could be projected outside the body, forming a protective Qi barrier like this.

The True Qi of those below the Qi Refining Third Layer was weak in nature. Even with spells drawing on the power of heaven and earth to bolster it, overcoming the difference in the quality of True Qi was still difficult.

It was like bamboo: no matter how sharp you whittled it, it could not pierce raw iron in a single thrust.

The difference in True Qi quality between the Qi Refining Third Layer and Fourth Layer was not quite that great.

But breaking through protective True Qi would still require expending a great deal of True Qi.

As one side dwindled and the other gained, the gap emerged.

"But..." With a slight shift of Qi Yun's thoughts, the Qi barrier over his body quietly receded. "Though this protective True Qi moves at will without needing a spell, its function is far too crude and limited.

Compared with a proper protective spell, it falls far short.

At most... it can bully people whose cultivation is below mine. Better than nothing."

Withdrawing his True Qi, Qi Yun closed his eyes and focused, carefully savoring the power flowing through his meridians, more condensed and substantial than before, while planning his future cultivation path.

Although I've already broken through to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, I still can't neglect cultivating my True Qi mental method. I need to work even harder!

This is the foundational method. My Dao Path is built upon it.

Otherwise, even with a thousand wondrous methods in hand, they'd be water without a source, duckweed without roots.

Next come spells.

I have to practice [Skull Incantation] again. The version 4.0 [Death Substitution] effect alone is worth my time and effort.

It's just that after [Death Substitution] triggered, this spell was completely erased. I can't remember anything except its name.

I'll have to cultivate it again from scratch.

Only this time, without Zheng Yi's instruction and guidance, it'll probably take more effort.

Next is [Clear Breeze Technique]. This counts as my foundational technique.

With this technique in hand, I have the right to choose.

Whether I fight or retreat, I have room to maneuver.

But judging by the battle at [Drifting Remains Mountain], [Clear Breeze Technique]'s illusory-body and concealment effects are already very weak against cultivators with profound cultivation. They have too many ways to identify and lock onto me.

For the coming stretch, my main focus will be cultivating True Qi, raising my cultivation realm, scouring for spiritual objects, and updating [Clear Breeze Technique].

As the outline of his plan gradually became clear in his mind, Qi Yun tipped back his head and drained the remaining tea before him.

He rose and began making arrangements for it all.

Two days later.

In the center of the small courtyard, Qi Yun once again picked up that familiar talisman brush and took a deep breath. The faintly astringent scent of spiritual ink filled the air.

"Back to my old trade after all."

Of cultivation's four great essentials-wealth, methods, companions, and land-wealth came first!

With pockets cleaner than his face, Qi Yun needed enough Sacred Yuan to support the series of plans he had envisioned.

His brush touched the talisman paper, his mind free of distractions.

Once he began drawing, another two months passed in a blur of day and night.

[Spell update complete. This update is a minor version update. Spell effects have been adjusted as follows.]

[Talisman Art: improves talisman-drawing accuracy.]

Over those two months, Qi Yun drew talismans while refining some of the poorest-quality ones, successfully raising his [Talisman Art] to version 3.0 as well.

Yet of all his spell upgrades, this one had the least content.

"Improves accuracy? That's... it?"

When that brief notification appeared in his consciousness, Qi Yun had just set down his talisman brush and was rubbing his sore wrist.

Looking at the update notes on the panel, so plain and unadorned as to border on rudimentary, he could not help scratching his eyebrow, a trace of astonishment and... unfamiliarity appearing on his face.

Picking up the talisman brush from the table and dipping it in spiritual ink, Qi Yun smoothed out a sheet of talisman paper, ready to test the effects of this spell update.

But the instant the brush tip touched the talisman paper, the look in Qi Yun's eyes changed.

The very next instant!

Countless flashes of inspiration surged through his mind like a gushing spring. The talisman-pattern structures and True Qi circulation nodes that had once been obscure and difficult to understand, requiring repeated contemplation, now became incomparably clear, simple, and straightforward.

His brush moved without the slightest obstruction or hesitation.

The brush danced like dragons and snakes, flowing like clouds and water!

Every line landed precisely where it belonged, every turn of the brush carrying a wholly natural rhythm.

The entire process was unbelievably smooth, as though he were not drawing the talisman at all, but the talisman itself were borrowing his hand to manifest in the world!

Hum-

The instant the talisman was completed, brilliant light burst forth!

The Dao resonance between heaven and earth descended as though cheering with joy. No longer barely clinging to it as before, it actively merged into the talisman, filling the entire sheet with limpid spiritual radiance and giving it a perfectly harmonious presence.

"Better than any I've ever drawn before.

Every stroke is utterly precise.

A work of art. It's simply a work of art."

Carefully examining the freshly made talisman in his hand, Qi Yun shook his head with a laugh, hardly able to believe that he had drawn it himself.

That feeling just now... it was like enlightenment pouring into my head, opening my mind in an instant.

Sure enough, no spell update's effects would ever be useless.

With version 3.0 of [Talisman Art], Qi Yun's talisman output soared in a straight line. His success rate was also extremely high: out of ten talismans, at most two or three were slightly inferior in quality, yet even those were better than before.

It was at this very time.

The talisman market in [Wuji Treasure Market] suddenly suffered an onslaught from a mysterious talisman master, with large quantities of [Evil-Dispelling Talismans] and [Baleful Intent-Breaking Talismans] flooding the market at below-market prices.

Although they cost more than the [Youth Edition Talismans] that had once enjoyed a period of popularity, their sheer volume all but forcibly seized as much as five percent of the existing low-grade talisman market.

The impact of this mysterious flood of talismans caused quite a stir among the outer prefecture's talisman masters, who all speculated about just who this "disruptor" that had appeared out of nowhere could be.

Some talisman masters whose interests had suffered even gnashed their teeth in secret and began investigating, swearing to root out this "scoundrel" who broke the trade's rules and snatched food from their mouths.

Meanwhile, the culprit, Qi Yun, already placed on quite a few people's "blacklists," was calmly and carefully putting away all his talisman-drawing tools.

"I can't draw any more. This batch of talismans I've sold is too large. It'll definitely affect the profits of the established talisman masters.

Cutting off someone's source of wealth is like murdering their parents.

What I've earned now is already enough to cover my cultivation expenses for the coming stretch.

I'll keep a low profile for a while."

Taking a light sip of the spiritual tea on the table, now clearly more than a notch better in quality, Qi Yun nodded slightly.

"Once I sweep through the outer prefecture and claim first place in all three categories,

I'll show you... what a real manufacturing monopoly looks like."

With his purse bulging and his confidence brimming, Qi Yun simply cut loose, purchasing large quantities of spiritual objects of heaven and earth and pills for cultivation.

He was determined to claim first place in the year-end assessment!