Cultivation was difficult. With low talent, it’s even more so.
Muyu’s talent in cultivation could be said to be average, but it’s commonly known that average people don’t achieve much in the cultivation world. You need to stand out and perform extraordinarily to reach greater heights.
Poor people need to practice more, and Muyu did indeed practice extremely diligently.
While his talisman craft slowly improved and his success rate had surpassed 5%, his cultivation’s progress was advancing quite slowly.
"I’m... two thirds done with the third stage of Qi Refining," he said as he analysed his dantian. The cultivation art he practiced wasn’t special, but it contained the refined method of Qi Bowls that had been completed and improved upon by countless cultivators from ancient times to the current age.
At each single stage, that is to say, the first, second and third stage, he would construct new Qi Bowls in his dantian. These bowls were made of spiritual power and were refined over and over again, forging them through special methods and finally allowing them to become one’s foundation without dissipating. When talking about spiritual power used in spells, that’s usually the gaseous power contained in the Qi Bowl, often also called Spiritual Energy. Because it dissipates and is gathered constantly, it’s quite loose and doesn’t hold much importance. Cultivators generally don’t worry so much about this spiritual power, even if it’s expended, it doesn’t matter much. Just a few minutes of recovery would do.
Muyu’s had to take the spiritual energy in the Qi Bowl, lead it across his whole body through different nodes, and finally absorb it back into his dantian. In this process, the spiritual energy will have fully taken on his aura and transformed into a near solid state, which is why it can be used.
Weeks passed in his arduous cultivation—spiritual power rose and fell, but the progress was slow.
"If only I could take pills..." he sighed, lamenting the fact that he had consumed too many, which caused a lot of pill poison to accumulate in his dantian...
"It’s so weird, why is it that talismans can be used easily without any negative effect, while pills are so useless, containing poison even though there’s no poison in plants? Poison is one thing, it mostly just means you built a resistance to pills, even if it’s in your body, it won’t harm you. But why are there also impurities that can’t be removed easily, clogging my meridians?"
He sighed again. The more he looked at it, the more it seemed as if pills were quite useless. This was a surprise to him, it was as if... as if it wasn’t a real craft on the level of talismans, but rather a side craft...?!
"No wait, I heard of this—"
He exclaimed, realising why this was the case!
"All arts lean towards an element, which is why there are Five Crafts and Two Productions—Five Crafts are Talisman—Wood, Refining—Fire, Formations—Earth, Weaveing—Wind, and... Alchemy—Water. This means... this means that there should be a kind of water alchemy, which should be the true path. Pills are made with fire, so they’re at most a side path."
He remembered this because in fact, besides the main lineage, the side lineages are weaker and have various weaknesses. Although masters of every lineage were strong, it was more common for the main lineage masters to master another side lineage, while side lineage masters had to focus entirely on the side lineage, rarely learning another lineage.
"Just like talismans—Wood Talismans are the main lineage, which is about inscribing inscriptions onto natural materials like paper, leather and other things, while the side lineages are weaker—I don’t know about the others, but apparently, Wind Talismans can directly be drawn in the air, which is also the strongest fighting method talisman masters have!"
Muyu realised, no wonder, pills should be like wind talismans—inherently weaker and flawed.
He wondered what the main lineage of alchemy, water alchemy, would look like. But... it should at least not have any poison or less impurities, right?
Then again, he thought, with so many lineages of talismans, would he even need to rely on alchemy?
"The strength of Wind Alchemy, besides being able to cast them on the spot, which isn’t really an advantage since preparation can solve the issue, is actually the fact that Wind Talismans only require comprehending the talisman and using a special technique to be cast—this means, unlike the material constraints of Wood talismans, theoretically, as long as you know the talisman, you can easily use Wind Talismans—of course using special materials should be able to strengthen them, but in principle, various rare and outdated talismans that would be lost in history can be retained as Wind Talismans... it seems Wind Talismans, besides having an advantage in battle, also have an advantage in resources. Though then again, since marketing them would be difficult, their earning potential can’t be as strong as that of Wood Talismans."
He kept analysing from his own position, trying to comprehend and understand the path of talismans better. Because he was a talisman master, he had learned more about it, but in fact, he didn’t know as much about other things either. The three other elements of Earth, Water and Fire weren’t known to him, likely because their lineages were more seclusive or because they had higher requirements.
The Main Lineage had the advantage of having countless uses, having no faults, and also being easier to enter. On the other hand, mastering a side lineage is harder, your means will be less—but you will be more unique. Uniqueness is a kind of talent in the cultivation world, which not only means any enemies will be unprepared, but it also means that you can directly enter a niche market and benefit from it.
A smile appeared on Muyu. The path to cultivation seemed promising. He didn’t know how long it would take until he could become a Talisman Master—but he had already entered the Dao!
Sometimes, when drawing talismans, he would gain an illusory perception. The inscriptions were easier to read, and even just cultivating was a lot easier than before, as if the mysterious power of heaven and earth was easier to absorb.
A sigh of relief escaped his lips, and he understood something. Talent... was important in the early stages, but the Creation Arts each had their own way of compensating for low cultivation talent!