“Junior Brother Xu, did you follow what I did?” Yang Bailao asked.
“I did.” Xu Changshou nodded.
Yang Bailao took another sheet of Yellow Hemp Paper. “Next is the Windwalk Talisman. It lets you travel a thousand li in a day.”
A Windwalk Talisman…
Xu Changshou frowned slightly. The Windwalk Talisman in his Bloodline Jade Talisman could take someone three thousand li in a day. Why was there such a difference?
Could the talismans he had inherited be different from those of Green Ink Peak?
“Practice this one carefully, Junior Brother Xu. Chances are that drawing Windwalk Talismans will be your assignment,” Yang Bailao said.
“How do you know that, Senior Brother Yang?” Xu Changshou asked.
“Before you arrived, I was the only Miscellaneous Disciple on Green Ink Peak with a wind-attribute Spirit Root. The sect is always short of Windwalk Talismans, so Martial Uncle Li will probably put you to work drawing them.”
“I see. Thank you for the warning. Senior Brother Yang, what kind of pay do Miscellaneous Disciples receive here?”
Yang Bailao smiled bitterly. “We do get paid, but very little.”
“How much, exactly?”
“It depends on ability. The higher your cultivation and the more talismans you draw, the more you earn. I have to hand in ten talismans a day. With the first and fifteenth of each month off, that comes to about 280 a month. For that, I receive two Spirit Stones.”
“Two Spirit Stones? That’s quite a lot!”
Xu Changshou’s eyes lit up. The one Spirit Stone he had received when joining the sect had lasted him years, and he still had two Qi Gathering Pills left.
If he could earn two Spirit Stones every month, his cultivation would advance much faster.
Yang Bailao gave a rueful smile. “Junior Brother Xu, you only know half of it. We Miscellaneous Disciples have had a hard time here.”
“To draw ten talismans, I have to use up all my spiritual energy twice a day. The sect pays me two Spirit Stones, but two-thirds of that goes on Qi Replenishing Pills.”
Xu Changshou frowned. “You have to buy Qi Replenishing Pills?”
Xu Changshou had heard of Qi Replenishing Pills. They restored spiritual energy and cost less than Qi Gathering Pills.
Most cultivators did not routinely exhaust their spiritual energy. They did so in battle or while performing especially demanding work.
“You use up all your spiritual energy twice a day? That’s brutal.”
Xu Changshou was shocked.
Occasionally exhausting the energy in one’s dantian could help cultivation and even a breakthrough.
But remaining depleted over a long period harmed cultivation.
It was like bloodletting: done occasionally, it might help the body, but no one could withstand it every day.
No wonder the disciples of Green Ink Peak looked so worn out. This was the reason.
Xu Changshou felt his prospects dim.
Joining Green Ink Peak had been a trap.
Yang Bailao said bitterly, “Brutal or not, the sect treats us Miscellaneous Disciples like beasts of burden. Do you think anyone cares whether a beast is tired?”
“Uh…”
Xu Changshou had no answer.
Yang Bailao went on, “I’m fifty this year. I’ve been in the sect for forty years, yet I’ve only advanced from the seventh to the tenth layer of Qi Condensation. If I hadn’t come to Green Ink Peak to draw talismans, I would have reached the twelfth layer long ago. I wouldn’t have missed the best years for Foundation Establishment.”
“What a shame.”
Xu Changshou felt sorry for him.
A cultivator who reached the twelfth layer before fifty still had a slim chance of reaching Foundation Establishment, provided they obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Yang Bailao was already fifty and still at the tenth layer. Foundation Establishment was now beyond his reach.
“I don’t see it as a shame anymore. Foundation Establishment is a distant dream for people like us. I’ve let it go. I’ll wait until I turn a hundred and leave the sect, then put aside what I can for my children and grandchildren.”
Yang Bailao shook his head with a bitter smile.
Xu Changshou gave a slight nod, remaining silent.
Most of the sect’s Miscellaneous Disciples lived much the same way.
They spent their lives serving the sect, then helped the next generation enter it.
Generation after generation, countless small families continued to serve the sect.
They knew their descendants would be exploited too, yet still fought to get them in.
Xu Changshou sighed. The subject was too heavy, so he changed it. “Senior Brother Yang, once I’ve learned to draw talismans, how many must I hand in each day?”
“At the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, you’ll need to hand in five first-grade talismans a day,” Yang Bailao said.
Five talismans…
Xu Changshou calculated that if Yang Bailao earned two Spirit Stones for ten talismans a day, he should earn one for five.
One Spirit Stone a month. That would be enough for him.
He was delighted, unaware that he had used so few Spirit Stones before only because his low cultivation required few Qi Gathering Pills.
As his cultivation rose, his need for Spirit Stones would grow rapidly.
“All right, Junior Brother Xu. Watch carefully as I draw the Windwalk Talisman.”
Yang Bailao began to draw.
He soon finished the talisman. His face grew paler, and his spiritual energy fell again.
Xu Changshou noticed that Yang Bailao’s Windwalk Talisman was simpler than the one in the stone room and held less spiritual energy.
The Fireball Talisman he had drawn earlier was slightly different too.
Xu Changshou wondered why. Were the talismans in his Bloodline Jade Talisman fundamentally different from those in the outside world?
If so, he could make a fortune.
Green Ink Peak’s Windwalk Talisman allowed travel of a thousand li a day; his version allowed three thousand.
If he sold them…
An idea for earning Spirit Stones came to him, and he felt a quiet thrill.
For a Qi Condensation cultivator, a talisman that could take them three thousand li a day would be a valuable means of escape.
At that speed, almost no one below Foundation Establishment could catch them.
It would surely fetch a high price.