78: Chapter 78: Talisman and Ink

Wednesday, 6:00 AM, Chen Zhen opened his eyes.

He sat up, his gaze sweeping across the room.

Cleaning Spell.

With 1 point of spiritual energy consumed, an invisible ripple swept through.

The effect of the Cleaning Spell infused with Stellar Energy was becoming increasingly smooth.

The room became clean in an instant, the air crisp and cool, and the leaves of the two potted spiritual plants unfurled.

But he was in no rush to leave today.

He took the calming flower out of his Storage Space.

The pale purple petals shimmered with a warm, gentle luster in the morning light, their faint fragrance lingering and distant.

Through Internal Vision, he could see the pure spiritual energy inside the flower still flowing slowly.

He took out a grinding bowl, plucked the petals one by one, and placed them inside.

Infusing his hands with spiritual energy, he began to grind.

Under the grinding, the petals turned into pale purple powder, each grain wrapped in faint spiritual energy.

After ten minutes of grinding, he obtained a small pinch of powder, about two grams.

[anshen flower powder (Refined)]

[Quality: Quasi-Spiritual Plant · Top Grade]

[Effect: Calm Spirit + 800%, can be used to make incense/ink]

Ink.

He took the ink stick and inkstone out of the Storage Space, poured in clear water, and began to grind the ink.

When the ink became thick, he poured in the anshen flower powder and simultaneously injected a trace of Stellar Energy.

The ink boiled instantly, emitting a pale purple mist.

After the mist dissipated, the ink in the inkstone had turned deep purple, its surface shimmering with faint spiritual light.

[Calming Talisman Ink (Star Radiance Version)]

[Quality: Fine]

[Effect: Talisman success rate + 30%, Talisman effect + 50%]

He picked up his brush, dipped it in the newly made Talisman ink, and set his brush upon the blank Talisman paper.

The brush moved like a Dragon or snake, and the rune took shape.

As the final stroke fell, the Talisman paper erupted with a dense purple light, which lasted for five seconds before slowly fading away.

[Stellar Mind-Calming Talisman (Top Grade)]

[Effect: Calm Spirit + 500%, lasts 8 hours, includes faint nourishment for the Divine Soul]

[Quality: Top Grade]

Chen Zhen looked at this Talisman, his eyes brightening.

500%, 8 hours, nourishing the Divine Soul.

It was more than twice as strong as yesterday's Star Radiance version.

He continued to draw.

One, two, three.

Three top-grade Calming Talismans consumed one-third of the powder.

He would save the remaining powder for later use.

He folded the three Talismans and put them into his pocket.

He put on his backpack and left.

At seven o'clock, Chen Zhen stepped into the classroom.

Zhang Meng was catching up on homework in the back row. Seeing him enter, he shouted as usual: "Help! Lend me your English homework to copy!"

Chen Zhen threw his homework notebook over.

Zhang Meng caught it and buried his head in frantic copying.

Chen Zhen walked to his seat and sat down.

Su Xiaoya, who sat in front of him, turned around, her eyes bright.

"Chen Zhen, my mom used that Talisman last night, and she slept really well!" She lowered her voice. "She told me to thank you."

Chen Zhen nodded, took a top-grade Calming Talisman out of his pocket, and handed it to her.

"This is for you."

Su Xiaoya took it and was stunned for a moment: "This is..."

"An enhanced version," Chen Zhen said. "For your mom to use."

Su Xiaoya looked at the Talisman; just by looking at the appearance, it was different from yesterday's.

The runes on the paper shimmered with a faint purple light; it was clearly not an ordinary object.

"This... isn't this too valuable?"

"Take it," Chen Zhen said. "Tell me the effect if it works well."

Su Xiaoya was silent for a few seconds, then nodded and carefully put the Talisman into her pencil case.

Chen Zhen scanned the classroom.

Chen Hao was in good spirits today and was bowing his head to solve problems.

Li Yang was lying on the desk but wasn't asleep; his eyes were fixed on the blackboard in a daze.

Wang Xue was talking to the girl next to her, her smile much more natural than yesterday.

In the corner by the window, Zhou Rui was bowing his head to read.

Sitting next to him was a boy wearing glasses.

A new transfer student? This person wasn't here yesterday.

Chen Zhen took an extra look.

That boy's aura... was a bit strange.

He wasn't a cultivator, but his presence was more solid than an ordinary person's.

It was as if... he had been in contact with something for a long time.

He didn't think too much about it and withdrew his gaze.

The first class was English.

The English teacher was lecturing on grammar, and half the class was dozing off.

Chen Zhen wasn't sleeping, nor was he listening to the lecture.

He took out a blank piece of Talisman paper and used a pencil to draw runes on it.

It wasn't drawing a Talisman; it was practice.

The tip of the pen moved across the paper, and the rune was formed in one stroke.

But without spiritual energy and Talisman ink, it was just an empty shell.

He had drawn five sheets when he suddenly felt a gaze on him.

Looking up, the bespectacled transfer student in the corner was staring at the paper in his hand.

The two looked at each other for a second.

The transfer student withdrew his gaze and continued to read.

Chen Zhen put the paper away.

This person was a bit interesting.

The bell rang for the end of class, and Chen Zhen went to the restroom.

When he returned, the transfer student was standing in the corridor, blocking his path.

"Are you Chen Zhen?"

Chen Zhen looked at him.

A little over 1.7 meters tall, thin, wearing black-framed glasses, his skin was unnaturally pale.

His school uniform was worn neatly, and his hair was combed meticulously.

"Who are you?"

"Shen Mo," the boy extended his hand. "Just transferred here yesterday, Class 3."

Chen Zhen didn't shake his hand.

"Something up?"

Shen Mo withdrew his hand, not embarrassed, and smiled.

"Nothing major," he said. "Just wanted to ask, what was that thing you were drawing in class earlier?"

Chen Zhen looked at him.

"Just doodling."

Shen Mo nodded, as if accepting the answer.

But he didn't leave.

"Back in my hometown, some people liked to draw these things too," he said. "My grandfather knew how."

Chen Zhen felt a stir in his heart.

"Your grandfather?"

"Yeah." Shen Mo looked into his eyes. "The things he drew were a bit like what you drew."

There was a silence for two seconds.

Chen Zhen spoke: "Does your grandfather still draw?"

Shen Mo shook his head.

"He doesn't draw anymore. He passed away last year."

He paused, took something out of his pocket, and handed it to Chen Zhen.

It was an old piece of paper folded into a small square, the edges yellowed; it clearly had some years on it.

Chen Zhen took it and unfolded it.

Inside was a complex rune.

A core circle with three dots, radial curves, and a peripheral dot matrix.

Dongshan Rune.

It was exactly the same.

He looked up at Shen Mo.

Shen Mo smiled.

"Left behind by my grandfather," he said. "He said this thing was very important and told me that if I ever met someone who understood it, I should show it to them."

He stopped smiling and looked into Chen Zhen's eyes.

"Do you understand it?"

The bell for class rang.

Shen Mo turned and walked away.

Chen Zhen stood where he was, looking at the old piece of paper in his hand.

Dongshan Rune had appeared in someone else's hands.

And that person was now standing in front of him.

The third class was Physics.

Old Li was lecturing on electromagnetic induction, and the blackboard was covered with coils.

Chen Zhen didn't hear a word.

He was thinking about Shen Mo.

A transfer student, arrived just yesterday, and came directly to him today.

Showed him an old Talisman paper from decades ago.

Asked him "Do you understand it?"

What did this person know? Who was his grandfather? Where did that Talisman paper come from?

He glanced at his system panel.

[System notification: Special individual detected]

[Target: Shen Mo]

[Aura: Ordinary person, but carries weak residual abnormal energy]

[Inference: Long-term contact with Talisman-type items]

Long-term contact with Talisman-type items.

His grandfather was indeed in this line of work.

At noon, school ended, and Chen Zhen went to the cafeteria.

As soon as he sat down, someone walked over with a tray.

Shen Mo.

He sat down opposite Chen Zhen and started eating.

He ate very slowly and politely; his chopsticks didn't even make a sound.

Zhang Meng watched from the side with a vigilant expression: "Who are you?"

"Shen Mo, Class 3." Shen Mo looked up at him. "Just transferred here yesterday."

Zhang Meng was stunned for a moment: "Oh, you're that transfer student?"

Shen Mo nodded and continued eating.

Halfway through his meal, he suddenly spoke: "Chen Zhen, are you free after school this afternoon?"

Chen Zhen looked at him.

"Something up?"

Shen Mo took a piece of paper out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

It was his grandfather's Talisman paper.

"I want to take you to a place," he said. "My grandfather's Old House."

Chen Zhen stared at him for three seconds.

"Why look for me?"

Shen Mo smiled.

"Because you are the first person who understood that Talisman."

After school in the afternoon, Chen Zhen packed his bag and prepared to leave.

Zhou Rui walked over from behind and stood beside him.

"Master, that person..."

"I know," Chen Zhen interrupted him. "You go back first; see you at the usual spot tonight."

Zhou Rui nodded and left.

Chen Zhen walked out of the school gate, and Shen Mo was already waiting there.

"Let's go," Shen Mo said.

The two got on a bus, rode for four stops, and got off at the entrance of an old residential community.

The community was very old, consisting of buildings built in the eighties and nineties, with mottled outer walls and sparse greenery.

Shen Mo led him into a building, went up to the fifth floor, took out a key, and opened a door.

"Come on in."

Chen Zhen walked in.

The room was very dark, with the curtains drawn.

A scent of old paper and ink rushed towards him, mixed with a faint musty smell.

He scanned the living room.

It was piled with books everywhere—on the bookshelves, the coffee table, the floor, everywhere. A blackboard hung on the wall, covered in drawn runes.

It was exactly the same as what he had seen in the Dongshan cave.

Shen Mo walked to the desk and turned on the desk lamp.

The light illuminated the pile of things on the table.

Brushes, ink sticks, inkstones, stacks of Talisman paper, and several yellowed thread-bound books.

"My grandfather spent his whole life researching this," Shen Mo said. "He wouldn't say what he was researching; he just called it 'ancestral craft.' My dad didn't believe it, and he wouldn't explain. He passed away last year, and all these things were left to me."

He turned around and looked at Chen Zhen.

"I don't understand these. But I know he was always waiting for someone."

"Waiting for whom?"

Shen Mo shook his head.

"I don't know. He only said that if someone could understand that Talisman, I should bring them here."

He pointed to the pile of books.

"These things, they're all for him."

Chen Zhen looked at him and was silent for a few seconds.

Then he walked to the desk and picked up the thread-bound book on top.

The cover had three characters written with a brush: "talisman scripture".

Opening it, it was full of hand-drawn runes, each with dense annotations next to it.

On the first page, a core circle with three dots.

Next to it was written: "The pivot of the earth's veins, the nexus of heaven and earth. He who obtains this Talisman can connect with the earth's Qi."

Chen Zhen flipped through it.

Second page, radial curves.

Third page, nested geometry.

Fourth page, seventy-two dot matrix.

Fifth page...

They were all variations of the Dongshan Rune, some he had seen, others completely foreign.

Flipping to the last page, there was a handwritten passage:

"Our family has guarded this Talisman for generations, yet we do not know its use. It has passed to my generation, seven generations now. Heaven and earth are about to change, and the Dao of Talismans shall rise. If a fated person reaches this point and is willing to inherit this undertaking, all that our family has hidden for generations shall be entrusted to them."

Chen Zhen closed the book and looked at Shen Mo.

Shen Mo was leaning against the doorframe, watching him.

"These things are all yours," he said. "I don't understand them; keeping them is useless."

Chen Zhen looked at him.

"Why do you trust me?"

Shen Mo thought about it.

"Because my grandfather said, those who understand will naturally understand." He smiled. "And the way you flipped through the book just now was exactly like my grandfather."

Chen Zhen was silent for a few seconds.

Then he put the "talisman scripture" into his backpack.

"I'll take these things."

Shen Mo nodded.

"I'm moving to the dorms tomorrow, so this house will be empty. You can come by yourself when you have time."

He took out a key and handed it to Chen Zhen.

Chen Zhen took it.

The two stood in the dim room, silent for a few seconds.

Shen Mo suddenly spoke: "My grandfather also said one more thing."

"What?"

"He said, that thing is coming soon."

At eight o'clock in the evening, Secret Base.

Chen Zhen sat cross-legged in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array, with the pile of books from Shen Mo's grandfather in front of him.

"talisman scripture" x 3, "General Outline of the Dao of Talismans" x 1, "Introduction to Talisman Arts" x 1, "notes of past talisman masters" x 4.

Nine books, all handwritten copies; the oldest was said to be from the Qing Dynasty.

He opened the first volume of the "talisman scripture" and began to read.

Runes, annotations, usage, taboos.

Flipping page by page, a knowledge framework for Talismans automatically built up in his mind.

[Learning Dimension experience + 350]

[New branch unlocked: Introduction to the Dao of Talismans (1/100)]

He continued to flip.

Second volume, third volume, fourth volume...

At one o'clock in the morning, he closed the last book.

[Introduction to the Dao of Talismans → Minor Achievement in the Dao of Talismans (35/300)]

[Ability unlocked: [Talisman Eye] can identify the type and quality of runes at a glance]

He closed his eyes, digesting the massive amount of knowledge he had learned tonight.

Talismans were not as simple as just drawing a symbol.

Material, ink, time, state of mind, spiritual energy attributes.

Every detail affected the final effect.

In the notes of Shen Mo's grandfather, thirty-seven types of Talisman ink formulas were recorded.

Among them, three used spiritual plants.

The calming flower was one of the ingredients.

He opened his eyes and looked at the few pots of soul-calming grass.

The largest plant had already been harvested for its flower.

The remaining four would bloom in about a week.

By then, he could make more Talisman ink.

He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside, the city lights were like stars.

Shen Mo's grandfather's words were still turning in his mind.

"That thing is coming soon."

Chen Zhen: ...

What thing is coming soon? What a riddle!