A brush flowed across a rectangular white piece of paper. Black ink drew patterns made of lines, circles and dots onto the paper, closely connected and forming an image.
Lines fell from above, slowly becoming smaller and finally turning to drops. In the centre was an oval circle hit by those lines and dots.
At the bottom of the paper were various dots littered at random, all leading outside the talisman.
"Rain falling onto a person, cleansing their heart mind and soul. Cleansing Talisman—failed!" Fu Muyu said just as the talisman combusted.
Puff
"Ugh, why? The lines were too long and uneven... and yet also too symmetrical, not capturing the orderly unorderly fashion of rain!" he sighed, but his eyes were bright nonetheless as he felt something deep inside his dantian.
Looking inside, there was a tattered golden talisman, somewhat resembling yellowed paper—
’Fu Ancestral Talisman’ it read!
This was the Fu talisman he had cared for in his past life! The talisman passed down through countless years... he repeatedly drew the lines... well, it was an easy task he did while watching his shows, but it still counted as dedicated effort over a decade!
And—
[Cleansing Talisman Proficiency +0,01%]!
"Haaah, hahaha! Being in the third stage of Qi Refining at only 16, if I didn’t know it, I would think I was a genius! But I’m far from that, and my talent in everything is lacking—only this talisman can allow me to defy fate and achieve immortality!" he said, his heart beating rapidly.
When he first woke up, he was in the arms of his mother at only ten years old, having tested his spiritual roots and celebrating his entry into cultivation! His mother was extremely kind and loving, and when he recovered the memories of two lifetimes, he felt the unrequited love of a mother for the first time, melting his heart and gradually allowing him to integrate into this world and the clan.
Unfortunately, his talent was bad. Only his wood root was formed by 50%, barely contending for a ’mid-grade spiritual root’, but in fact, he knew his talent was far from it. Why? Because the other four roots were squarely at 30%, barely reaching the level of low-grade. Any less and he would be in deficit, which would curse his cultivation forever.
His mother, also a cultivator, and a genius at that, fed him with pills from a young age and finally allowed him to fill his dantian by 10%, reaching the third stage of Qi Refining. But now... the rest would be extremely difficult, and he hadn’t even chosen a cultivation art!
"Fortunately, fortunately—" he sighed, "when I had to choose a creation art to learn, I felt that talismans were compatible, and I chose them! Hahaha, finally the ancestral talisman awakened and gave me this ability!"
He celebrated internally as he thought of this.
To his surprise even, when he reincarnated, he was again in a Fu Clan. Or rather, in his previous life, he was the last remaining, barely considered a family, not to mention clan—but now, he actually had a clan!
As he thought of this, a panel appeared in front of him—
[Fu Clan Successor, Fu Muyu—
Cultivation: third stage of Qi Refining
Talismans: Cleansing Talisman (1% Proficiency)]
So simple, so empty, "It really looks beautiful!" he exclaimed, finally having achieved 1%!
"One hundred failures and I’ve achieved 1%. My success rate doesn’t depend on the proficiency, but the proficiency is like a minimum for success and also reflects my understanding of this talisman. Now I achieved 1% and I can confidently say that with a bit of luck, after at least another hundred attempts, I should be able to draw a talisman!" he wasn’t discouraged.
Not knowing whether there was a chance was worse than failing a hundred times!
He still knew in his previous life, when he played games on extremely hard mode and couldn’t kill a boss, thinking it was ’impossible’ with his current equipment. Turns out, it was possible, he was just doing it wrong. So what did he do? He spent days on end understanding the boss, dying hundreds of times in the process, until he finally did it!
Why wouldn’t he just go away and come back later? Maybe it was an issue of pride, maybe it was a desire to complete a challenge, but he didn’t want to leave!
And now... his spirit was rewarded!
Go and come back later when you’re stronger? That’s naive. In the cultivation world, you need resources to cultivate. To gain resources, you need to learn either a creation or a battle art. To learn either of them, you need resources. To learn them, you need sufficient cultivation. To gain cultivation, you need to learn them. To learn them, you need resources. To—
An endless cycle!
"They say that if you can draw a talisman in 10 attempts, you’re a top-grade genius! 100 attempts is a genius, and entry with 1.000 attempts reflects poor talent but resilient spirit, although one will be an average cultivator, one can still enter it!"
As for those who fail even in 1.000 attempts? They’ll never be able to succeed in the creation art, their talent way too low.
"If I can draw it once successfully in 200 attempts, my talent should still be at the level of a minor genius, and the clan might even support me!" he breathed a sigh of relief thinking of this.
The clan... was actually good to him. He lived rent-free on a peak with the concentration of a first-grade high-grade spiritual vein. Of course this was mostly because of his mother’s talent and status as a spiritual planter, but being allowed to remain here was still a privilege.
In addition, the clan registered him as a direct lineage cultivator, being the third of the Mu generation, giving him a monthly stipend of 3 spirit stones and the chance to take a loan for either a creation or battle art.
Compared to those rogue cultivators, wasn’t his life a thousand times better?!
Unfortunately, there was a limit to how long the clan can support you without any contribution...
And he wasn’t far from that limit.
"Yu’er, are you cultivating?"
A voice broke the silence in his room, pulling Muyu out of his reverie. He calmed down and stood up. Because he had just deactivated the seclusion formation outside, his mother called for him. She wouldn’t do so when it wasn’t important, so he stood up directly and opened the door.
An idea swirled in his mind: was it time now?