Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
After more than ten failures, Xu Changshou’s face darkened. Perhaps he had no talent for drawing talismans.
Whether he could learn within six months remained uncertain.
He set down the brush and turned to the Great Dao Talisman Scripture.
Besides its cultivation method, the scripture contained knowledge of drawing talismans and special ways to circulate energy while doing so.
Xu Changshou realized that Yang Bailao’s method was not orthodox. It seemed to have been developed by someone who did not understand the deeper principles of talismans.
To draw a talisman properly, the artist had to use a method suited to their cultivation technique.
Drawing on Yellow Hemp Paper with a spirit brush was only an introductory technique.
Though stronger than ordinary paper, Yellow Hemp Paper could only bear common first-grade talismans.
Some first-grade talismans with stronger or more volatile attributes could not be drawn on it at all.
The paper was the talisman’s medium. If the talisman was too powerful or unstable, the paper could not withstand it.
A Thunder Explosion Talisman, for instance, contained the violent power of lightning. Yellow Hemp Paper could not bear it.
Such talismans needed a better medium.
Spirit wood, spirit-beast hide, special stone, jade, and metal could all serve. Talismans did not have to be drawn on paper.
The sturdier the medium, the more spiritual energy it could hold and the stronger the resulting talisman.
Ancient talisman arts were not limited to any one medium. Anything could serve, even a magical artifact.
The decline of talisman arts had two major causes.
First, talismans came in many types. A talisman artist generally needed at least four Spirit Root attributes, and more attributes meant more kinds of talismans they could draw.
The problem was that cultivators with more Spirit Root attributes struggled to advance.
However gifted they were at drawing talismans, limited cultivation meant limited achievement.
Second, later cultivators took it for granted that talismans had to be drawn on Yellow Hemp Paper, restricting the art’s development.
The paper was not Xu Changshou’s only obstacle. His spirit brush could not withstand violent lightning energy either.
To draw a Thunder Explosion Talisman or any talisman above first grade, he would need a better brush.
Over the next few days, Xu Changshou studied the Great Dao Talisman Scripture carefully.
After ten days, he began to understand.
He took out his brush and Yellow Hemp Paper to try drawing again.
This time he got a third of the way through a Windwalk Talisman before the paper burst.
He had failed, but it was a marked improvement. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
He tried more than ten times, stopping only when his spiritual energy ran out.
As he recovered, he studied the scripture and considered why his attempts had failed.
He progressed quickly.
Twenty days later, he could draw two-thirds of a Windwalk Talisman before the paper burst.
He lacked the Spirit Stones to buy Qi Replenishing Pills, so he could exhaust his energy only once a day. Then he meditated to recover and continued studying.
One month later.
“Success.”
The finished Windwalk Talisman looked more alive than ordinary Yellow Hemp Paper, with a faint cyan sheen.
“Let’s test it.”
Xu Changshou stuck it to his thigh. Wind seemed to gather beneath his feet, and he felt lighter as he ran.
Even an ordinary mortal could use a Windwalk Talisman to travel a thousand li in a day.
He went back to drawing.
Next came a Fireball Talisman.
This time he finished it in one smooth attempt.
One more.
Xu Changshou picked up his brush and drew a Sword Qi Talisman.
When he finished, his vision darkened and he nearly fell. Weakness swept through his body.
Looking inward, he found that his spiritual energy was completely gone.
At the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, three first-grade talismans at once were his limit.
That was troubling.
Xu Changshou frowned.
As things stood, five talismans a day would be his limit.
He could barely meet the sect’s daily quota.
He could not bear to draw additional talismans.
In that case, the Bloodline Jade Talisman, the Great Dao Talisman Scripture, and hundreds of talisman designs would be of little use.
Once he met his quota, he would have no energy left to draw talismans for extra income.
He might end up like Yang Bailao, spending his life drawing talismans for the sect without hope of Foundation Establishment.
Xu Changshou felt despair.
It seemed his fate had hardly changed. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
“Never mind. I’ll restore my spiritual energy first.”
Putting the thought aside, Xu Changshou circulated his cultivation method.
His dantian had been drained dry.
Suddenly, His palm grew hot. The ancient “talisman” character glowed red and began drawing in the surrounding spiritual energy like a Spirit Gathering Array.
Xu Changshou could absorb the gathered energy through the mark on his palm and replenish what he had spent.
“What is this? It’s incredible!”
Two hours later, his spiritual energy had fully recovered. That was faster than taking a Qi Replenishing Pill.
What was this character, and how could it absorb energy from his surroundings?
Could he use that energy while drawing talismans?
Xu Changshou’s eyes lit up.
If the mark worked while he drew, he could draw on an outside source of energy.
If he could draw without using his own energy, the possibilities were endless.
He had to try.
Xu Changshou picked up his spirit brush.
As he drew, he deliberately sent spiritual energy toward the mark.
To his surprise, it drew in energy from his surroundings and supplied it to the talisman.
He still had to contribute some of his own energy; the mark alone could not provide enough to finish a talisman.
Even so, it greatly improved his efficiency.
After drawing three more talismans, he had used only a third of his energy.
He paused to replenish his dantian before drawing again.
That day he drew twenty talismans, four times the sect’s daily quota.
Even with the mark’s help, drawing twenty talismans was tiring.
The next day he drew ten and felt no fatigue at all.
On the third day he drew fifteen.
After testing his limits, Xu Changshou concluded that fifteen talismans a day suited him best: five for the sect and ten extra.
“Haha, this is wonderful!”
He no longer had to worry about meeting the sect’s quota.
The greatest obstacle to his cultivation seemed to have disappeared.