"Look carefully, senior brother. When holding the pen, your thumb should be against the pen shaft about one-third of the way down, your index and middle fingers should hook around it, and your ring finger should be underneath."
"I'm not telling you to grip it tightly, I'm telling you to support it." Lin Yu traced lines on the suspended yellow paper with the tip of his pen. "You were gripping the pen too tightly before, making your wrist stiff, which makes drawing talismans look clumsy."
Wen Cai to adjust his posture, his fingertips just touching the pen, when Lin Yu tapped the back of his hand. "Your palm should be relaxed. Are you trying to pierce it with that tension? Relax!"
It's obvious that Wen Cai's bad habit has become muscle memory, and he can't change it in a short time.
Lin Yu dipped his brush in cinnabar and placed the tip on the newly laid yellow talisman.
"First draw the word 'Edict'. This is the talisman head, which means you want to give an order. Your next talisman will be effective only if you draw this word well!"
Lin Yu's brushstrokes landed steadily on the yellow talisman, the horizontal strokes like sleeper railings, the vertical strokes like upright pine trees. As the vermilion spread on the paper, it even carried a faint shimmering light. "Every stroke must be connected! Each stroke must be completed in one go!"
"Why is the master's painting "Chi" and the junior brother's painting is "Chi"? Wencai took the master's model and compared it with Lin Yu's and found the difference.
"That's right, you know how to observe. The "imperial order" next to the word "force" is a command. Once the spell is drawn, it must be effective. The "imperial order" next to the text is a request. Whether the spell works or not depends on the mood of others."
Uncle Nine praised Wen Cai and then explained the difference between the two types of the character "chi".
"Our Maoshan Sect has a tradition, so we can use the 'imperial edict,' which is something that independent cultivators generally dare not use!"
Of course, Qiu Sheng was also unsealed, and he was now listening obediently to Uncle Nine's teachings.
"You two draw, let me see how much you've learned," Lin Yu said, handing the pens back to the two of them and gesturing for them to try.
Qiu Sheng was not intimidated at all. He calmly picked up the brush and began to draw. He had been drawing talismans since he first learned how, and had done it thousands of times, if not tens of thousands. Soon, a complete Immobilization Talisman was presented to the group.
"How about it? Not bad, right?" Qiu Sheng proudly picked up the talisman he had drawn and held it up to show everyone.
"Master, you should judge by Wen Cai, right?" Lin Yu rolled his eyes at the smug Qiu Sheng, unable to bear the sight.
Wen Cai clumsily began to write on the paper, glancing at Uncle Nine's template after each stroke.
"Senior, are you trying to draw a sketch like that?!"
Seeing Wen Cai's clumsy appearance, Lin Yu was speechless.
"Hey! Wen Cai, you're no good~ Look at my drawing!"
Qiu Sheng placed the talisman he drew next to Wen Cai's drawing and kept showing it off.
"Then look at what I drew! And look at what Master drew!" Lin Yu couldn't stand it anymore; even if he didn't confront you, you still insisted on coming closer.
Lin Yu placed both his own and his master's items next to him, making the contrast quite obvious.
Lin Yu and Uncle Nine's talismans were agile and powerful, winding like living creatures, with cinnabar evenly distributed on the paper.
Let's take a look at Qiu Sheng's Wen Cai.
One cannot be drawn in one stroke. Even if one is drawn, it will be ugly. This is just drawing; it hasn't yet brought his mind and spirit together and inspired his spiritual energy.
What's the point of drawing a talisman like that? And you still have the nerve to show it off?
"Smack!" Qiu Sheng was about to open his mouth to retort when he was hit on the head.
"You learn pretty fast! Come on, I'll teach you to draw another kind of talisman. If you don't learn it this morning, you'll be sorry!" Uncle Nine flicked Qiu Sheng on the head, then picked up a brush and started drawing a new talisman.
Suddenly, Uncle Nine's left foot slammed into the ground, and the yellow talisman spun three times. "Heaven is round, Earth is square, the laws are in nine chapters!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the brush suddenly pressed down, and the cinnabar drew the first red line on the talisman paper.
Uncle Nine suddenly turned his wrist, changing the brush tip from straight to curved, and the cinnabar line coiled into three flame patterns on the paper.
Uncle Nine's chanting suddenly became more urgent, "Now I will use my brush to subdue all ghosts, and with my second brush, I will summon the ancestral sword! I beseech the gods and mobilize the heavenly soldiers!" The brush tip swung out diagonally, and the cinnabar line exploded into tiny red sparks on the paper.
Lin Yu stared blankly at Uncle Nine, completely surprised that his master had suddenly become so serious while drawing.
Fortunately, Uncle Nine didn't finish reciting the incantation, otherwise he might have actually summoned it.
As Uncle Nine picked up his pen, it signified the completion of a Five Thunder Talisman.
A talisman shimmering with purple light suddenly appeared before everyone.
(Talisman levels: Yellow, Blue, Purple, Silver, Gold)
"Drawing talismans isn't about tracing characters; it's about using your body as a bridge to draw the might of the Thunder Ministry in the heavens and the taboos of the underworld onto this piece of paper."
Uncle Nine tapped Qiu Sheng on the head, explaining that drawing talismans was to invoke the spirits, not a game. It required sincerity and reverence.
Upon seeing Qiu Sheng Lin Yu, they understood.
Perhaps because he was spoiled by Uncle Nine, he has always been disrespectful to ghosts and gods, and this time when he drew the talisman, he was also in a playful mood.
Uncle Nine must have had enough and had no choice but to take it seriously.
"Yes, I understand, Master."
As expected, after Uncle Nine's admonition, Qiu Sheng's playful nature subsided somewhat.
"I'll continue drawing the Immobilization Talisman."
Qiu Sheng glanced at the complicated Five Thunder Talisman and reluctantly continued drawing the previous ones.
After watching his fellow disciples draw talismans for a few minutes, Lin Yu returned to his room.
He was going to continue his "experiments".
Back in his room, Lin Yu pondered the "Heaven-Reaching Talisman" from the anime he had watched in his previous life.
This technique allows one to draw talismans in the air without using paper, cinnabar, or a brush.
But the underlying principle is that the talisman paper is the "container," and cinnabar is the "medium."
However, the "Heaven-Reaching Talisman" can skip all of this and draw directly in the void. Although he can do it now, it cannot be superimposed. He can draw talismans in the void anytime and anywhere.
"Traditional talismans are borrowed, Heaven-Reaching Talisman is used." A thought surfaced in Lin Yu's mind.
"Let's try." A flame condensed at Lin Yu's fingertip, which then transformed into a wisp of red Spiritual Power.
The image of his master drawing talismans flashed through his mind. When his master drew the Five Thunder Talisman, he had to recite "Heaven is round, Earth is square, the laws are in nine chapters" to invite the gods.
Since you want to use it directly, then don't invite the gods; skip the deities and directly mobilize the power of heaven and earth.
As Lin Yu's mind wandered more, Dao principles gradually gathered and surrounded him.
This is a short phrase he came to understand on his own. "The qi moves with me, and the thunder is drawn by me."
With a flick of his fingertips, a Five Thunder Talisman gradually appeared in the void.
A thunderous boom echoed in the sky outside.
Just as Lin Yu was gathering his strength, dark clouds suddenly filled the sky outside, accompanied by flashes of lightning and thunder.
Lin Yu could clearly feel the thunderous energy in the world drilling into the talisman through his fingertips. The Dao principles that originally surrounded him were now turning into tiny specks of light, embedding themselves into the patterns of the blue lines.
The next second, he pressed his fingertip down sharply. The entire Void Lightning Talisman suddenly became dazzlingly bright, and under Lin Yu's control, the talisman flew towards the paper ghost servant he had conjured.
The moment the lightning arc touched the ghost servant, it exploded with a thunderous roar, sending up a bolt of lightning half a person's height, instantly turning the ghost servant into ashes.
Lin Yu looked at the lightning strike mark on the spot and suddenly laughed; he had come up with something new again.
However, it seems he's stirred up quite a commotion again.
Lin Yu turned to look outside, at the dark clouds filling the sky.