Chapter 138 – The Way of Talisman Making
Han Li was overjoyed as he carried the wooden box containing the Golden Zhu Pen on his way back to the building.
He used three bottles of Yellow Dragon Dan and four bottles of Golden Marrow Pills to exchange this treasure and the bag of Seven Star Grass seeds from the young girl. Afterwards, he casually bought some dan sand at other stalls and rushed back in a hurry, ready to carry out his big business of drawing talismans.
After breaking the forbidden law and entering the small building, Han Li saw that the little monk was still in meditation and didn’t bother to disturb him, going up to the second floor on his own and returning to the house.
After placing the talisman paper and dan sand on the table, Han Li took out the Golden Zhu Pen and began to devote himself to the production of the “Divine Fixation Talisman”.
He followed the method of making talismans described in the Fixed Spirit Technique, and slowly injected his spiritual energy into the pen through the right hand of the pen, then dabbed some dan sand at the tip of the pen, and drew and made talisman incantations on a piece of talisman paper.
A quarter of an hour later, Han Li straightened up with a happy face, stretched his somewhat aching waist, and looked at the silver glittering spirit talisman on the table, and couldn’t help but be enraptured.
In terms of appearance, this spirit talisman was exactly the same as the one that Dr. Mo had used, and although the spiritual qi contained on it was a bit fainter, no matter how you put it, it was also much stronger than the shoddy goods that Han Li had produced during his previous practice sessions. After all, those practiced products only resembled each other in appearance, and didn’t contain a single bit of spiritual energy.
Han Li took the newly released spirit talisman and excitedly observed it, and after he was satisfied, he was ready to try out the Fixed Spirit Technique. Who knew that before he could cast the spell and recite the decision, the spiritual energy on the paper talisman was suddenly disorganized, showing signs of a violent uprising.
Han Li was startled, and without thinking, he hurriedly threw the talisman out.
”Puffing” sound, that fixation talisman in the air for no reason spontaneously combusted, turned into a ball of fire, burned to a crisp.
Han Li stared blankly into midair, speechless! After a long time, he sighed, it seemed that this talisman had still failed.
Han Li was slightly frustrated, but his confidence was not lost, after all, he felt that the talisman just now was already very close to success, and believed that if he put in more effort and made it a few more times, the following would surely succeed.
In this way, for the next half a day, Han Li made one Spirit Determining Talisman after another, but also failed again and again in succession.
Those spirit talismans that were made either burned themselves, or would suddenly explode, and some simply finished drawing, the entire spirit talisman’s spiritual power quickly disappeared, becoming a piece of waste paper.
When Han Li looked at the last just completed the paper talisman, also “snap” a moment, burst of broken bones, has always been calm, he can no longer hold back, looked up at the roof, suddenly opened his mouth and cursed: “dead God, you play me! Twelve talismans in a dozen, how should it succeed once. This is only an elementary lower level God Fixing talisman! Could it be that I didn’t choose the right day today?”
After these words were spoken, Han Li suddenly felt that the depression in his heart was much lighter, and his mood was also a bit more relaxed.
Thereafter, he cocked his head and thought for a moment, glancing sideways at the Dan Sand Box on the table with only a small half of its stock remaining, as well as that Golden Zhu Pen, and felt that the reason wasn’t in this. This was because his spiritual energy was injected into this quill very smoothly, and that dan sand also had a high aura as soon as it was drawn on the talisman paper, not like a fake.
Han Li, who couldn’t think of a reason for a moment, thought for a moment before deciding to ask the little monk to see if he could solve his confusion. At this point, Han Li felt that on the road to Immortal Cultivation, it was really important to have a teacher or something like that to give guidance, and his heart was quite moved by the idea of worshipping a teacher.
After listening to Han Li’s complaints about his failure to draw talismans, the young monk stared at him with an unusually odd gaze, as if Han Li’s face had suddenly blossomed into a nice little white flower.
Seeing the monk look like this, Han Li’s heart was also a little hairy, not knowing what was wrong with what he had just said that caused the other party to stare at him like this.
”I’m afraid that Caster Han understands very little about the art of talisman making!” The little monk finally spoke.
”Master Bitterthorn is right, this is the first time I’ve made a talisman.” Han Li honestly admitted.
”Among us Immortal Cultivators, there aren’t really many people who would personally make talismans, and if there are any spirit talismans that are needed, they would usually go to the trading grounds around the world to trade for them. Even those in the big families are the same.”
”Why?” Han Li was surprised.
”It’s simple, there are too few experienced and dedicated talisman makers, and the cost of cultivating a qualified talisman maker is too great, so only those great sects of Immortal Cultivation have the strength to cultivate them.” The monk smiled and said.
”Cultivator Han feels that he has failed more than a dozen times in a row, and it’s a shame, isn’t it?” The monk asked.
”Yes. The material money alone is enough for me to buy several ready-made God Fixing Talismans!” Han Li said in chagrin.
”But, does the cultivator know that? It’s normal for novices who want to learn how to make talismans in the beginning to fail at it hundreds of times in a row. If you happen to meet someone with a poor qualification, it’s not uncommon for them to consistently fail hundreds of times! Only after making talismans thousands of times would the success rate gradually increase, and that was only for the same type of talisman. If you change another kind of talisman, although you can’t say that it’s still the same as a novice, but the failure rate at the beginning, it’s still amazingly high and breathtaking. So a qualified talisman maker, without tens of thousands of times of talisman making practice, is simply impossible to cultivate. But if you think about it, how many people can withstand such a loss of materials? Not to mention the Immortal Cultivation Family, even the Immortal Cultivation Sect cultivates the talisman maker, also can only be in the primary talisman making, to let them to practice intermediate talisman making, I’m afraid that those big sects will have to lose their money, can’t afford to do so. After all, the higher the grade of the talisman, the more expensive the talisman making materials used are surprisingly.”
The monk uttered this call, leaving Han Li dumbfounded.
”Then how is it that there are still people selling dan sand and talisman paper at cargo stalls!” Han Li thought for a second and felt that something was wrong.
”Heh! Those dan sand and talisman paper are sold to people who cultivate talisman arts.” The young monk said with a smile.
”Talismanic arts?” Han Li was puzzled.
”It’s the spell that, like the Fixed Spirit Art that Your Excellency practiced, must use a pre-drawn talisman in order to take effect! It’s different from those talismans that store spells within talisman paper with the intent of making it easy to use. The spirit talismans used in talismanic arts cannot simply be inspired by spiritual energy, and require a certain amount of chanting and spell casting before they can be used, but they are generally uncomplicated and easy to pick up.”
”Rune arts because they often have to use the same kind of talisman, so these people felt that it would be too uneconomical to go and buy them. So just like the 施主, they go and practice talisman drawing on their own, because the variety is relatively homogeneous, and the cost, although not small, is always affordable. So if you really want to practice Fixed Spirit Technique, in the long run, it’s best to make your own talismans, but if you don’t use this technique often, it’s better to spend a little bit of money and simply buy a few Fixed Spirit Talismans for backup.” The young monk spoke in detail, and finally gave Han Li some advice.
”Many thanks to Master Bitterthorn for his guidance!” Han Li gave a deep salute with great sincerity.
”You’re too polite, monks!” The monk was busy returning the salute.
”This little monk is quite the talker, if there are any more difficult matters in the future, it would be good to continue to ask him for guidance.” Han Li secretly thought to himself as he made his way back to the house.
”It’s impossible to specifically practice talisman making now! It’s better to take the time to buy a few Fixed Spirit Talismans for backup later! On the contrary, the Eternal Spring Technique on his body had long been practiced to the peak of the eighth layer, and now that he had obtained the heart of the latter layers, it seemed that it was time to break through the bottleneck and enter the ninth layer. In addition the newly obtained several spells should also be practiced, and mastering them earlier will also add a few points of strength.”
The moment Han Li pushed open the door to the house, his mind had already thought of the future arrangements.
In this way, Han Li spent the days to come taking large amounts of medicine inside the house during the day, meditating and refining his qi to cultivate the Everlasting Spring Technique. At night, he went to an uninhabited place in the valley to practice several newly learned spells.
They were “Quicksand Technique”, “Freezing Technique”, “Ascending Technique”, “Winding Technique”, “Sound Transmission Art”, “Hiding Body Art”, “Spark Art”, and the most difficult to practice “Ground Stabbing Art”.
After more than ten days of hard cultivation, Han Li finally broke through to the ninth layer of the Evergreen Technique in the last few days before the end of the Tai Nan Hui, leaving Wu Jiuzhi and the others dumbfounded, and Daoist Green Stripe even claimed that Han Li was a wizard amongst the casual cultivators!
However, Han Li knew in his heart that without those ten or so bottles of pills in his belly, it would have been so easy for him to break through! But speaking of which, he didn’t have many more pills on him, so it looked like he should mix up some more!