Chapter 13: The Talisman of Heaven’s Jealousy

The master took a sip of tea and continued, “Spiritual awareness is the power of the mind, the power of sensing, the power of communicating with the universe, and it also contains a certain amount of mental power. The first thing to do in the art of summoning spirits, the art of the three mausoleum, is to communicate. People with strong spiritual awareness can easily find them and communicate with them. People with strong spiritual awareness also have strong mental power, which can withstand the mental pressure brought by these techniques, making them less likely to collapse. Do you now understand why I said you are suitable for practicing these two techniques?

Of course I understand. What the master hasn’t finished saying is that people with strong spiritual awareness also have strong physical limits. Because yin and yang are always complementary, when one side is strong, the limit of the other side is also magnified.

The three-level technique of the upper, middle and lower body is about the upper body. A strong body also means a greater tolerance.

Master saw that I understood, so he gently blew on the hot tea in his hands and slowly took a sip before saying, “I originally planned to teach you these things one by one after you turned 25, but unfortunately time was not on my side. It was also because of the situation that I had to teach you these things.”

I didn’t quite understand what my master meant. What did he mean by “time is not on my side” and “the situation is forcing me to teach you these things”? I was about to ask, but my master waved his hand to stop me. Instead, he said, “The powerful effects of spiritual awareness are not limited to this. Your skills may not be good enough to draw talismans or set up formations, and your hand gestures and steps are limited in power. But there is one key thing that you have an advantage in, and that is sealing talismans! Let’s complete this silver talisman together, master and disciple.”

When I heard this, I shouted directly, “Master, this is impossible!”

“Nothing is impossible. The talisman to be bound is the talisman of Guan Yu, and it is not too difficult. The difficulty is that this is a silver talisman, and the power required to bind it is very strong. My power may be able to support the completion of this talisman, but I am no longer able to bind the talisman. I can only rely on you. You know the talisman incantation and the hand movements. What do you think is difficult?” The master’s expression was surprisingly relaxed.

“What’s the difficulty? Master, need I say more? You once said that the more powerful the talisman, the more difficult it is to bind the talisman, because the power is too strong and the talisman is difficult to integrate. I…” I hastily argued.

“It seems that I have protected you too well. You instinctively rely on me for everything. I just said that the situation is forcing me to do something. I didn’t explain it all, but the mission in Sichuan is about to begin, so I have to teach you some things. Although your skills are still shallow, you have the capital to protect your life in times of crisis. This little talisman has you stumped?” Master asked in a stern voice.

I lowered my head and dared not say anything more. I thought to myself, “Why are you so anxious to send me on a mission as soon as I graduate from university? You haven’t even explained what you mean by ‘time is not on my side’. This master really knows how to make excuses.

However, since it was Master Li, I also wanted to take some responsibility. After thinking for a while, I agreed to my master’s request.

A few days later, on a propitious day suitable for drawing talismans, my master, dressed in his Taoist robes, had set up the altar early in the morning and stood before it with his eyes closed.

In the past, Master Li rarely considered the day or time when he drew the talisman. He almost always drew them at any time. But today he was extremely serious, wanting to borrow the time and specially setting up the altar, burning incense, and forming a favorable location. With me helping out next to him, it implied people and location.

It can be seen that this silver talisman is very difficult to draw.

The master and apprentice waited in silence for ten minutes, and then the master suddenly opened his eyes. He then lit three incense sticks and inserted them into the incense burner. The next moment, the master made a hand gesture, which was very simple: he bowed to the Three Pristine Ones.

After paying homage to the Three Pristine Ones, the master concentrated his spirit and picked up the brush that was placed on the altar.

“Chengyi, mix the cinnabar.” As soon as the master’s words fell, I hurriedly put them into practice.

This so-called cinnabar is special. The cinnabar used to draw the silver talisman is mixed with water that has no roots, meaning that it is rainwater that has been precipitated. Rainwater does not touch the earth, meaning that it no longer enters the cycle and there is no cause and effect.

The silver talisman is too rebellious, so it is best to use water without karma.

The cinnabar must be mixed before the brush is picked up, that is, when its aura has not yet been released, so the master asked me to mix the cinnabar when he picked up the brush.

In addition, my master told me that he had considered drawing the silver talisman after inviting the gods to possess him, so that with the help of the gods’ power, drawing the talisman would be easier.

The problem is that the silver talisman contains less spiritual power. My original intention was to sincerely pray for my brother’s safety, but after I had invited the gods, my sincerity was greatly diminished, and the spiritual power was naturally much less than if I had drawn it with my own power.

Master is determined to succeed! But I am really worried, it is too dangerous.

The cinnabar was quickly mixed, and the master dipped his brush in it. He then looked intently at the silver paper, took a deep breath, and his cheeks swelled up, not revealing the slightest breath.

When drawing the talisman, you must not let your breath escape!

The brush is dipped and the symbol is drawn.

I stood nervously by the side, and when I saw the moment the master put down the brush, my face turned red, and my eyes became very serious. It was not easy to infuse power into this silver talisman, let alone infuse all of the power.

Finally, I saw the red cinnabar from the master fall smoothly onto the silver paper, and the mark had been successfully drawn. My heart finally relaxed a little, but I didn’t expect that at this time, a strong wind blew in our small courtyard!

It is already rare to have little wind in the summer, let alone such a sudden gust of wind. My face changed at once.

I suddenly remembered a saying of my master: “Things that go against the natural order of things will eventually go against the will of heaven and be envied by heaven, and there will always be strange phenomena. Could this strong wind be it?

If the master could easily draw the silver talisman with his original skills, then the strong wind would not be a problem, because the talisman would have already been drawn by the time the wind started to blow.

I was afraid that the strong wind would blind my master, so I quickly moved in front of the altar. Now even a fool can see that the wind is blowing towards the altar.

I was facing my master, and the wind was blowing my hair all over the place. I had never thought that the summer wind could blow such a cold feeling. The cold was in my heart, not the kind of cold that was cold, but the kind of cold that froze your heart, making people subconsciously want to avoid it! After all, it was the power of heaven!

But I didn’t dare to avoid it. I saw beads of sweat on my master’s face, covering his cheeks and even his neck. He was performing the incantation very slowly, and my heart was in my throat.

When practicing the runes, it is important to do it in one continuous motion, with a steady flow of breath, strength and rune patterns. The speed should be faster, of course, and if it slows down, the rune patterns will easily break apart and it will be impossible to maintain a steady flow of strength. Master’s state was really too dangerous.

I almost wanted to tell my master to give up, but I saw that although my master was slow, his breath, pen power, and even the patterns of the talisman were not disconnected, and there was not even a hint of trembling. I was even more afraid of affecting my master.

The strong wind was really uncomfortable, and I saw that my master’s face was getting redder and redder, even his eyes were red. It had been a minute, which meant that my master had been holding his breath for a minute. Normally, when you use your power, your blood will rush up quickly, not to mention when you are holding your breath.

I really couldn’t help but tell the master to stop, but I saw a fierce look in the master’s eyes. The next moment, the runes actually sped up, and it took less than ten seconds to complete the runes.

A mouthful of blood spurted from the master’s mouth, and he shouted, “Chengyi, seal the spell! Hurry!”

I didn’t have time to think about it, and I ran to the back of the altar and directly played the hand gestures needed to receive the spell. The next moment, I had already started to recite the mantra in my heart. When the mantra was finished, I fell into a state of meditation.

Guan Er, Guan Er, now my mind is full of the image of Guan Er. If the communication is successful, there will be a sign in my mind.

At this point, my powerful spiritual awareness finally came into play. The image of Guan Yu was vivid in my mind. At a certain point, the image of the talisman appeared, and I did not hesitate to strike the talisman with the hand gesture of sealing, meaning that the talisman would be sealed on it.

At this time, I also sensed a great resistance that was preventing me from doing so. It was a very mysterious feeling, as if I could easily reach out and touch the silver talisman in front of me if I wanted to, but the resistance was so clear.

This is something that people who are not practicing Taoism cannot feel. This is also the harshness of practicing Taoism. People who do not have spiritual awareness are simply unable to feel these things.

I almost mobilized all the energy in my body, and my thoughts were all focused on sealing the talisman. I wanted to seal the talisman in, but the process was so difficult.

I knew that no one could help me now, but I couldn’t let my master down. In the next moment, my eyes were almost as red as they could get.

I suddenly shouted, and the image of Guan Yu entering the talisman filled my mind. Tie it for me!

The next moment, my eyes went black, and I felt the same kind of trance I had before I fainted. I stumbled backwards a few steps, barely able to stand up, but I couldn’t help it in the end, and I vomited with a loud ‘wow’.

My nose was itchy, and when I touched it, it was bright red with nose blood.