76: Chapter 76 Making Money Through Talismans

Morning light filtered through the window lattice of the Quiet Room and spilled onto the table.

In the corner of the table, forty pale purple Talismans were neatly stacked.

Each Talisman paper emitted a stable spiritual glow, and the silver-purple thunder patterns on the surface were interwoven into a complex network, with fine electric sparks faintly flowing and disappearing between the lines.

Lin Xuan picked up the top one and lightly touched the surface of the Talisman with his fingertips.

"Hum..."

A slight resonance came from the Talisman, and the internal circulation of Thunder Spiritual Energy was stable and tenacious.

He could clearly perceive that once this Talisman was activated, it would instantly form a shield with a diameter of three feet, interwoven with dense lightning, which could not only block attacks but also convert part of the impact into counter-shocking thunder rays.

It had been a year.

Since listening to Talisman Master Xu's lecture at Thousand Talisman Peak, he had adjusted his train of thought, no longer forcibly "suppressing" the violence of the Thunder Spiritual Energy, but instead researching how to "guide" and "construct" it.

In the first three months, nearly a hundred sheets of purple-patterned paper were burned, and the success rate barely reached thirty percent.

Then another three months, fifty percent.

And now, seventy-five percent.

He drew three to four Thunder Shield Talismans every day.

Over the year, practice made perfect.

Lin Xuan carefully put these forty Talismans into a specially made wooden box.

Today was the day he had agreed to meet Shopkeeper Qian from Fuyuan Pavilion to collect the Talismans.

Pushing open the door of the Quiet Room, the spring morning breeze carrying the fragrance of bamboo leaves blew against his face.

The old bamboo in the courtyard had sprouted new shoots, and the wild jasmine in the corner had bloomed with scattered white flowers.

Time passed so quickly; in the blink of an eye, it was another spring.

He cast the Wind Control Technique and flew lightly toward the market.

The spiritual energy of Qi Refining Level 3 was quite easy to support for this kind of short-distance flight—in fact, his true cultivation had already approached the threshold of Qi Refining Level 4, but the Origin Returning Qi Concealment Formula had always maintained the appearance of the Early Stage of Level 3.

Fuyuan Pavilion had just opened, and Shopkeeper Qian was directing the clerks to wipe the counters.

"Junior Brother Lin, good morning!" Shopkeeper Qian's eyes lit up, and he greeted him with a smile, "Are the Talismans for this month ready?"

"Forty Thunder Shield Talismans, Shopkeeper, please check them." Lin Xuan handed over the wooden box.

Shopkeeper Qian opened the box, casually pulled out five or six sheets, carefully examined the patterns against the morning light, and then pinched a seal to stimulate a trace of spiritual energy to test the internal circulation stability of the Talismans.

After a while, he nodded with satisfaction: "The quality is stable, they are all top-grade goods. The old price, twenty-two contribution points each."

As he spoke, he took out an abacus and clattered it: "Forty sheets, eight hundred and eighty contribution points. Junior Brother Lin, your craftsmanship is getting more and more stable; the quality of the Talismans you hand in every month is almost exactly the same."

Lin Xuan smiled: "Practice makes perfect, that's all."

Shopkeeper Qian transferred the contribution points into Lin Xuan's identity jade token and suddenly lowered his voice: "Junior Brother, the war on the front line has been tight recently, and the Sect's mission hall has posted many 'emergency Talisman-making' commissions."

"Like your Thunder Shield Talisman, if you take the commission directly, you can get twenty-five points per sheet, but it requires supplying at least sixty sheets per month, and the term is at least half a year."

Twenty-five points? Lin Xuan calculated in his mind.

If he followed his current seventy-five percent success rate, drawing eighty Talismans per month and getting sixty qualified products, that would be fifteen hundred contribution points, which was more than six hundred more than selling to the shop.

But he shook his head: "Thank you for telling me, Shopkeeper, but I'm still used to the current way, it's safer."

Shopkeeper Qian was not surprised and laughed: "I knew you would say that. Those commissions have many restrictions and require regular inspections, which is indeed troublesome."

"But having said that, Junior Brother Lin, your monthly income just from making Talismans is four or five hundred points, which is considered top-tier among the outer Sect Disciples in the Early Stage of Qi Refining."

Four or five hundred points? That was what was on the surface.

Lin Xuan knew clearly that he could actually successfully draw about one hundred and ten Thunder Shield Talismans per month.

He handed forty to Fuyuan Pavilion, and the remaining seventy-plus, he would split into three or four times, disguise himself, and go to other Talisman shops in the market to sell them separately, where the price could also be negotiated to around twenty-one points.

He actually wanted to go to the market in the Sect's affiliated territory to sell, which would be more covert, but it was a bit far, and he felt very insecure going to such a distant place with his Early Stage Qi Refining cultivation, so he decided against it after thinking about it.

Calculating this way, the monthly income from making Talismans was actually almost one thousand contribution points.

Plus the three or four hundred points per month from the medicinal garden mission and the spiritual plant income...

"By the way," Shopkeeper Qian remembered something, "The price of Medium Grade Talisman paper has risen a bit recently; a stack of purple-patterned paper costs one hundred and fifty-eight contribution points now. It is said that the transport line in the purple thunder bamboo production area has been harassed by the Xuanyin Sect, making the supply unstable."

"Understood, thank you for the reminder, Shopkeeper." Lin Xuan cupped his hands to say goodbye.

Walking out of Fuyuan Pavilion, people were coming and going on the market street.

This year, the conflict between the Sect and the Xuanyin Sect had been tight and loose at times, and the prices of materials in the market had fluctuated accordingly.

Many Disciples took advantage of the war to take on various missions to earn higher contribution points than usual.

Lin Xuan did not wander around much; he bought some Medicinal Pills for daily Cultivation and returned directly to Emerald Bamboo Peak.

He did not go straight back to his small courtyard but went to the medicinal garden first.

Inside Qinglin Valley, the spiritual plants were lush and green.

The experimental field of thunder-pattern grass in Zone C that he was responsible for was still growing well.

But standing on the ridge of the field, Lin Xuan felt a bit conflicted.

A year ago, the medicinal garden mission was his important source of contribution points, three or four hundred points per month, which could support most of his expenses.

But now, the income from making Talismans was three times that of the medicinal garden.

And he had to spend two hours in the medicinal garden every morning, and in the afternoon, he had to take care of the spiritual plants in his space, Cultivate, and make Talismans... time was becoming less and less sufficient.

"Senior Brother Lin!" A crisp voice came.

Liu Qingyan walked over carrying a bamboo basket, which contained a few freshly picked red sun grass.

The red squirrel Xiao Huo on her shoulder jumped around, and upon seeing Lin Xuan, it let out a "squeak".

A year had passed, and Liu Qingyan had grown taller; the childishness between her brows had faded a lot, and she had become more composed.

Her talent in spiritual plants was indeed good, and she was now a backbone of Zone C, which even Deacon Wu often praised.

"Junior Sister Liu." Lin Xuan nodded in greeting.

"Senior Brother came early today." Liu Qingyan smiled, then suddenly blinked, "By the way, I went to the General Affairs Hall to submit my mission the day before yesterday and saw the newly posted 'Spiritual Planter Assessment' notice."

"It says that if medicinal garden Disciples pass the assessment, they can be promoted to 'Apprentice Spiritual Planter', the basic monthly contribution points will be raised to two hundred and fifty, and they can also take on higher-level cultivation missions."

Spiritual Planter Assessment? Lin Xuan's heart stirred.

If it were a year ago, this news would be very attractive to him. But now...

"Thank you for telling me, Junior Sister, I will go and take a look later." He responded politely, but he already had other plans in his heart.

After finishing the morning's work in the medicinal garden, Lin Xuan returned to the small courtyard.

He sat cross-legged in the Quiet Room, first running one cycle of the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art, feeling the increasingly dense Thunder Spiritual Energy vortex in his Dantian.

Then, he stood up and assumed the starting posture of the Thunder Body Refining Technique.

One year of uninterrupted Body Refining, the effect was significant.

He took off his top, revealing his lean and powerful upper body.

The muscle lines were smooth and distinct, not the exaggerated bulging kind, but lean with explosive power.

The surface of his skin faintly shone with a pale purple luster—this was the manifestation of long-term tempering of his body with Spiritual Qi, and his Physical Body gradually adapting to and absorbing the power of thunder.

The most obvious change was in the bones.

Lin Xuan clenched his fists and could clearly feel the hard texture coming from deep within his bones.

He had already achieved Major Achievement in the "Sinew and Bone Tempering" stage of the Thunder Body Refining Technique.

Ordinary swords and blades hacking at him would probably not even break his skin; even if a Low Grade Magical Artifact hacked directly, it would at most leave a shallow mark.

And the biggest sign of Breakthrough appeared three days ago.

That day when he was Cultivating in the Gravity Valley, he tried to enter the depths of the four-fold gravity zone.

When the pressure reached a certain critical point, his entire skeleton suddenly made a faint "crackle" sound, as if spring bamboo shoots were breaking through the soil, or like ice cracking.

Immediately after, a warm current surged from the depths of his bone marrow and instantly flowed through his entire body.

At that moment, he clearly felt that his bone density was increasing, his toughness was improving, and even his muscles and fascia had been tempered a second time.

"Sinew and Bone like Jade, Thunder Patterns naturally born" — this was the mark of the "Sinew and Bone like Jade" stage, the third level of the Qi Refining chapter of the Thunder Body Refining Technique.

Once he made the Breakthrough, his Physical Body strength would be completely fearless of attacks from Low Grade Magical Artifacts, and attacks from ordinary Early Stage Qi Refining Cultivators would be difficult to cause him substantial damage.

More importantly, the improvement in Physical Body strength could, in turn, withstand more violent thunder tempering, accelerating the practice of the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art.

Body and Magic Dual Cultivation, complementing each other.

"At most, in another month, 'Sinew and Bone like Jade' will definitely Breakthrough, and then my Body Refining cultivation will be able to rival a Qi Refining Level 3 Cultivator." Lin Xuan stopped his practice and exhaled, a flash of bright light appearing in his eyes.