Early in the morning, Li Yuan sat at his desk.
Three sheets of talisman paper were spread across his desk. On the left were two freshly drawn Cleaning Talismans, and on the right, an Exorcism Talisman whose Spirit Pattern was just one stroke away from completion.
Li Yuan dipped his brush in cinnabar and made the final stroke. Spiritual Power flowed from his fingertip to the brush tip in a single, smooth motion. The end of the pattern tapered naturally, and the last dot landed steadily in the very center of the talisman paper.
An extrely faint Spiritual Light flashed across the talisman’s surface. The Exorcism Talisman was complete.
Li Yuan set down his brush and stacked the three Talismans, setting them aside. The pile of failed talismans next to him had grown a bit taller.
His success rate for Cleaning Talismans had stabilized at one success for every three attempts. The Exorcism Talismans were a little worse, but still much better than when he first started.
Warning Talismans were still the most material-intensive, requiring about five or six attempts for a single success.
However, the permanence progress for his [Talisman Making Insight] trait had increased considerably.
[Talisman Making Insight (White) | Permanence Progress: 31/50]
He was over halfway there.
Li Yuan tidied his desk, stacking the remaining talisman paper, tightening the cap on his Spirit Ink Bottle, and covering the cinnabar dish.
After straightening his clothes, he went out. As he reached the middle of North Alley and turned toward Old Sun’s stall, he saw from a distance that the stall was larger than usual today.
Several porcelain bottles were arranged neatly, and next to them sat a small sample bag of dicinal herbs tied with a red string.
Old Sun was squatting behind his stall, holding a bowl of hot soup and drinking it with a loud SLURP SLURP. When he looked up and saw Li Yuan approaching, he started drinking even faster.
Li Yuan caught a whiff of the aroma; the broth seed to be made from so kind of Demon Beast Flesh.
"Perfect timing. I’ve got so news for you."
Li Yuan squatted down in front of the stall.
Old Sun gulped down the last of his soup, wiped his mouth, and lowered his voice.
"I’ve got a lead on that opportunity you were looking for to learn talisman making."
"He’s a Loose Cultivator who ca from one of the outer market towns two weeks ago. Turns out I had so dealings with him in the past."
Old Sun pulled a cloth from his robes to wipe his hands, then jutted his chin toward East Street.
"The guy’s a legitimate Talisman Master, the real deal. I hear he’s willing to teach how to draw three or four types of Tier One Low Grade Talismans."
Li Yuan nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"But there’s a catch." Old Sun held up one finger.
"This guy doesn’t accept Spirit Stones. He wants to trade a skill for a skill."
"What do you an?"
"It ans if you want to learn how to make one type of Talisman from him, you have to trade him another skill that he doesn’t know."
Old Sun continued.
"For example, one of his conditions is that he wants to learn how to make talisman paper from demon beast hides. If you know that craft, you can trade it with him, and he’ll teach you how to make a Tier One Low Grade Talisman."
’Making talisman paper from demon beast hides... Old Zhang once said that the thod for making talisman paper from demon beast hides is different from the thod using herbs.’
"He doesn’t know that craft?"
Old Sun stuffed the cloth back into his robes and sighed. "Not everyone does. It wasn’t worth much in the past, so few people learned it. Most Talisman Masters use paper made from herbs—in fact, most herbs are better suited for making talisman paper, so they didn’t think they’d ever need it."
"But now, demon beast materials are cheap here while herbs have gotten expensive. Using demon beast hides for talisman paper can save a fortune, so the skill has beco a rare craft."
Old Sun picked up the bowl by his feet, fiddled with it, then set it back down.
"It’s not just making paper from hides. He listed several other conditions for trade, all for obscure skills—the kind that legitimate Talisman Masters wouldn’t deign to learn and that self-taught ones can’t get their hands on. If you have any other skill that might catch his eye, that could work too."
Old Sun listed out the various skills, and Li Yuan remained silent for a few breaths.
’My own talisman making abilities all co from Old Zhang’s booklet and equipnt infusion. I’ve only just started with the basic Talisman Making Skill. The Cleaning Talisman, Exorcism Talisman, and Warning Talisman—none of these three basic Talismans would ever impress a legitimate Talisman Master.’
’But Fang He seems to know this craft. I rember Fang He saying he knew how to prepare demon beast hides for talismans.’
’I didn’t pay much attention back then since I wasn’t involved in talisman making. I just treated what Fang He said as idle chatter.’
Li Yuan nodded. After a few more words, he left Old Sun’s stall.
Fang He had been out on patrol most of the ti lately, so there weren’t many chances to run into him. He’d have to wait for him to return to the market town to rest.
He took a stroll around the market town. Zhao Hu and Zheng Xiaoman were busy over on East Street. He occasionally caught a glimpse of Zhao Hu’s figure walking past the stalls, his steps noticeably steadier than a couple of days ago.
When Zhao Hu saw Li Yuan, he ca jogging over.
"Vice-Captain, Captain Wang wants to see you at the station."
Zhao Hu’s face was filled with curiosity; he clearly didn’t know what it was about.
"Got it."
Li Yuan straightened his clothes, hung his waist tablet at his side, and headed out toward the patrol team’s station.
He turned onto West Street. A single oil lamp was lit in the courtyard of the patrol team’s station.
Wang De was sitting behind a desk. On it, besides so docunts, was a folded piece of paper.
Unfolded, it revealed a simple portrait. A few sparse strokes outlined the general contours of a man’s face, with a few lines of small text written below.
Wang De pushed the portrait over.
"Recognize him?"
Li Yuan glanced at it.
The portrait showed a man in his thirties with an ordinary face, high cheekbones, a crooked nose, and thin lips. His most striking feature was that the top half of his left ear was missing.
Li Yuan shook his head.
"Don’t know him."
Wang De took the portrait back and leaned against the back of his chair.
"His na is Qian Si. He entered the market town half a month ago, registered as a Loose Cultivator and herb gatherer. Qi Refining Fifth Level."
"This Qi Refining Fifth Level is his true strength. He outwardly presents himself as being around the Qi Refining Third Level, which makes it easier for him to gather intelligence."
Wang De’s tone was flat, as if he were reading a report.
"The scent of dicinal solution you slled in that side alley west of North Alley a few days ago? The source was the house he’s renting."
Li Yuan didn’t reply, waiting for Wang De to continue.
Wang De tapped the desk twice with his knuckles.
"We’ve been watching him for a few days and found that he’s been in contact with people from outside the market town."
"He might be eting with accomplices," Li Yuan said.
"Most likely."
Wang De’s gaze lifted from the docunts and settled on Li Yuan.
"There’s a mission. I want you to trail this Qian Si. If you do it well, there’s a significant contribution reward."
Li Yuan frowned slightly.
’Tailing a Qi Refining Fifth Level Loose Cultivator outside the market town... Not only is it dangerous, but I don’t even know how to trail soone.’
Seeing Li Yuan frown, Wang De explained.
"It’s mainly because you have that Concealing Breath Jade Pendant. Besides, you won’t be alone."
"Two clansn from the Wang family will be working with you. Or more accurately, you’ll be working with them."
’Wang family clansn. Not the peripheral mbers who sign contracts, but people from the main branch of the Wang family.’
"Both are at Mid-stage Qi Refining—one is at the Fourth Level, the other at the Sixth Level. They’re not old." Wang De glanced at Li Yuan.
"To be honest... tasks like this that aren’t too dangerous are usually handled by the family’s own people," Wang De said. "The family assigns them as missions to train their younger generation."
"When the family cultivates its disciples, they have them gain experience through real missions. These jobs, which aren’t particularly dangerous but require careful attention, are basically practice for their own young ones."
"Normally, they’d have soone from the guard team go with them, but the guards are short-staffed. And since you happen to have the Concealing Breath Jade Pendant, you’ve been assigned to help out. You can discuss the specific tactics and thods with the two of them."
Wang De pushed a docunt over. On it were two nas and a brief introduction.
Wang Qi, Qi Refining Fourth Level. Wang Yuan, Qi Refining Sixth Level.
"When do we move?"
"It’s uncertain. Qian Si doesn’t leave the market town on a fixed schedule. Sotis he’s gone for two days, other tis four or five. But his last trip out was three days ago, so based on his previous frequency, he might make a move in the next day or two."
Wang De folded the portrait, took out a Talisman, and handed them both to Li Yuan.
"Wang Qi and Wang Yuan will co find you at the patrol station tomorrow morning to et up."
"This is a Concealing Breath Talisman, a Tier One Top Grade Talisman. It can suppress and conceal your aura for several hours. It’s to help with the surveillance."
Li Yuan tucked the portrait into his sleeve and looked at the Talisman. The patterns on the paper were extrely complex, and the entire Talisman exuded an unremarkable aura.
"Which house does Qian Si live in on the side alley west of North Alley?"
"The fourth house from the alley entrance. The wooden door has a crack in it."
Wang De picked up his tea bowl, took a sip of cold tea, and waved his hand, dismissing Li Yuan.
Li Yuan backed out of the main room and closed the door behind him.
Dusk had completely fallen. The lanterns in the market town were lit one by one, casting a dim, yellow light on the bluestone pavent.
Instead of heading straight back to his residence, Li Yuan first turned toward Old Sun’s stall.
Old Sun had already packed up his stall, but he was still squatting at the base of a wall with a small dicine box in front of him, organizing herbs inside it.
Seeing Li Yuan approach, Old Sun glanced up.
"Hidden Glow Grass, Calming Flower, and Cyan Leaf Moss. The ones you helped prepare before."
Old Sun grunted in acknowledgnt. He pulled the three herbs from his dicine box and skillfully began grinding them in a small stone mortar.
Li Yuan took out a Spirit Stone, but Old Sun waved his hand, refusing it.
"It’s just a few things, not worth much. Helping pick that Cyan Jade Grass more than covered it."
Li Yuan poured the thick paste into a small porcelain bottle and sealed it. He said his thanks and turned to walk back to his residence.
’I’ll prepare the dicinal solution tomorrow morning,’ Li Yuan decided. ’This stuff loses its potency quickly.’
After returning to his residence, Li Yuan bolted the door, sat cross-legged on his bed, and began to circulate the Spirit-Introducing Skill.
With the aid of the gathering Spiritual Qi, he absorbed all the Spiritual Qi within a radius of fifty or sixty feet, which was then filtered into pure Spiritual Power.
Once a cycle of the Spirit-Introducing Skill was complete, Li Yuan shifted his focus and began cultivating the Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill.
His [All Rivers to the Sea] trait activated the mont he switched between the two Cultivation Techniques. His Spiritual Power flowed seamlessly, naturally sliding into the new circulatory path without any hesitation.
Even the Spiritual Power in his tiniest ridians was drawn along, with a hundred veins circulating in unison before ultimately returning to his Dantian.
Traits like [Circulation Acceleration], [Spiritual Power Condensation], and [Valley Qi Condensing Spirit] were constantly in effect.
After breaking through to the Qi Refining Fifth Level, boosted by his various traits, Li Yuan’s Cultivation speed was even faster than it had been at the Qi Refining Fourth Level. Moreover, his Spiritual Power circulated with extre smoothness, with no bottlenecks to speak of.
Reviews
All reviews (0)