Dehua looked at her father and knew he was saddened. But this was... not something she could handle. She could only walk up to him and sit next to him like she did when she was young, leaning her head against his leg and relying on him, a moment of fatherly and daughterly affection, seemingly like when they were young, like two mortals and not cultivators on the path to immortality.
"Dehua is still the most considerate," Peilan finally sighed, then nodded, "I know what you mean, I’m not angry with Deqin—I’m even happy he can have such desires, I only hope he knows the boundaries. If he crosses them, then as his father, I will have to be the one to punish him."
He sighed a final time, but didn’t take it to heart.
Huiyue remaining might have been slightly bad for his personal situation, but he didn’t think his son would have gotten it even if she went away. But, from a clan perspective, not only was this extremely good—it would also make more sense.
Their elder in the sect was old. Although he didn’t knew her exact age, she was between 400 and 500 years old—because she was the head of the planting hall, she was actually the one to pass down the innate plant cultivation method, and she herself also cultivated it.
Third stage plants would have a lifespan of at least 1.000 years, so this meant she would have at least 100 years longer to live—but he didn’t know exactly how many more years.
But this was undoubtedly a time where even if Huiyue went to the sect, she would likely not receive any support and might even experience suppression. Staying in the clan was better than trying to gain something in the sect.
Various matters flew through his mind, and he made several plans for different situations. As long as Huiyue could establish her foundation, the clan would have the minimum power required to do a few of these plans. If she failed... then they’d have to place their hopes on her daughter, but even though he knew his daughter was a good spiritual planter, she was weak in battle.
He himself also started as a planter, and it took him decades to built up his battle methods, but he still hasn’t reached the point of being a true cultivator—he was only a short distance away... but a single true cultivator wasn’t enough.
As he thought of this, another idea emerged, "Our store in the Seven Beast Mountains Market, it only sells plants, right?"
Dehua was surprised by the question but answered quickly, "Most of the things we sell are plants and sometimes we sell other things commissioned by those rogue cultivators."
Peilan nodded then made a casual remark, "Muyu is her son, right? I heard he is trying to learn how ot draw talismans. If he can become a low-grade talisman master and reach the middle stage of Qi Refining, then send him to the market as an elder."
Dehua turned to her father in even more surprise—an elder of the store! That was someone who benefitted from the resources of the store and was usually supposed to protect it. The store only had two elders, and now a third one would come up? Benefits would be split up, but this Muyu... Huiyue’s son was too weak...
Never mind. She shouldn’t think too deeply. And... the elders that protect the store are all old elders who like taking care of the young, so there shoul be no issue.
...
The night was eventful and many things were set to start, but in the small courtyard of three, Muyu had already entered seclusion.
He left a note outside—before successfully drawing the talisman, he wouldn’t come out again!
In seclusion, he didn’t directly start drawing but first took stock.
"I have enough materials for over another thousand tries, even though paper and ink are cheap, this number... is really a lot." he sighed, it was his mother who wanted to give him a long chance, but he wouldn’t need it.
"Besides these, I have twenty bottles of Fasting Pills—each bottle has ten pills, and one pill can satiate you for three days. Twenty bottles means I have enough for... twenty months?
Mother is really generous, but it might not even come to that. I don’t have enough talisman materials for this!"
Based on his current situation—he could cultivate for 3 hours a day without damaging his meridians, had to sleep for 6 hours, and learn and exercise spells and techniques for at least 3 hours. That would leave him with... 12 hours to draw talismans.
"One talisman depletes 30% of my spiritual power, and currently it takes me roughly an hour to draw them with high precision and attention. After depleting my dantian, without using pills or spirit stones, I need around 3 hours to recover it fully. This means... I can draw 6 talismans daily."
He continued to calculate and roughly guessed that at a speed of drawing 180 monthly, he should be able to already draw one talisman in only a month!
But this was only the ’entry’, meaning he had the talent to cultivate. But to be able to say that he could refine this talisman, he’d need at least a 10% success rate, while to earn, he’d need at least 30%.
Cultivators of each stage need to be able to draw three talismans to formally receive the title of creation master—"To reach the 10% rate... that’s gonna take a long time. And, after doing that, I still need at least two more talismans. Which one should I do?"
He put it aside for now and delved into talisman drawing first.
Paper was placed on the table—fine paper refined from talisman grass.
He grinded ink in the inkstone—low-grade tree sap ink mixed from tree sap and other materials.
Raising his brush, a low-grade first stage spiritual weapon, he slowly lowered it onto the talisman and began drawing.
Rain drops fell and landed on a person. Rain cleansed the person, and all the impurities landed in earth, nourishing it in return.
[+0,01% Proficiency for the ’Cleansing Talisman’]
[+0,01% Proficiency for the ’Cleansing Talisman’]
Notifications popped up in the darkness of the night as he continued to fail drawing talismans.