171: Chapter 171 Zhao Family Market

"Thank you, Elder." You take the Medicinal Pill and thank him respectfully.

Zhao Chengshan strokes his beard and looks at you, his tone tinged with a hint of probing: "Emperor Shuang Wan, you have been at my Spirit Beast Garden for three months now. I see that you are steady and beautiful. It is not good for you to remain single. I have a nephew in the Family named Zhao Zhanyuan. He is at the Early Stage of Qi Refining level 5, is a talented man, and works in the Internal Affairs Hall. His future is limitless. What do you think? Would you like me to play matchmaker for you?"

Hearing Zhao Chengshan's matchmaking attempt, the corner of your mouth twitches slightly.

You secretly grumble in your heart: 'Level 5 of Qi Refining? Limitless future? Even if I were to marry for the sake of Cultivate resources, what would I gain from him? His age? His poor hygiene? Or the few Low-Grade Spirit Stone he might give me?'

Just then, a figure in black robes suddenly appears in your mind: the Young Patriarch Zhao Zhanyuan of the Zhao Family.

"At the very least, it would have to be someone on the level of Young Patriarch Zhao Zhanyuan to be of any help to my Dao..." This thought flashes through your mind.

But the next second, you snap out of it. What are you thinking? Men will only slow down the speed at which you draw Talisman. If you rely on mountains, they crumble; if you rely on people, they run. Only your own strength is the most reliable.

You shake your head, casting those messy thoughts out of your mind, and put on a look of fearful gratitude: "I appreciate the Elder's kindness, Emperor Shuang Wan is grateful, but this Junior has dull Aptitude. Currently, I only wish to focus on the Dao and achieve a Breakthrough in my Realm as soon as possible. I truly have no interest in romantic matters. If I were to hinder that Senior Brother's Cultivate, I would be unforgivably guilty."

Seeing you refuse so decisively and flawlessly, a trace of regret flashes in Zhao Chengshan's eyes.

"Sigh, you girl, you are just too stubborn." He sighs and shakes his head, "Fine, fine. For those who Cultivate immortality, having a firm heart towards the Dao is a good thing. My nephew missing out on you is his loss."

After this, Zhao Chengshan never mentioned matchmaking again, but he took better care of you when assigning tasks.

Days passed by without much incident for another half a year.

In these six months, you worked in the Spirit Beast Garden during the day and locked yourself in your room at night, practicing making Talisman frantically.

One late night, moonlight like water spilled through the window onto your desk.

You hold your breath and focus. The imperfect Talisman brush in your hand moves across the Talisman paper. Your Divine Sense is highly concentrated, guiding the pure fire-attribute Spiritual Qi within your body, following the Spiritual Ink at the tip of the brush, to outline the final complex array pattern on the Talisman paper.

"Hum—"

As the last stroke falls, a hot red light flashes on the surface of the Talisman paper. A weak yet violent fire-attribute Spiritual Qi circulates on the Talisman paper, eventually fading into invisibility.

You exhale a long breath of stale air, put down the Talisman brush, and pick up the Talisman to examine it carefully.

This is a perfect Low Grade First-Tier Fireball Talisman.

You turn your head to look at the wastepaper basket beside the desk and the small stack of finished Talisman on the other side.

"Ten sheets of Talisman paper, four successes." You widen your eyes in joy, excitement flickering in the depths of your eyes.

A forty percent success rate! This is a terrifyingly high number. You must know that even those veteran First-Tier Talisman masters who have been immersed in the Talisman Dao for many years only have a success rate of sixty or seventy percent when refining Low Grade Talisman. Yet you, in less than a year, relying entirely on your own exploration, have reached this level.

"Finally, I can make a profit by drawing Talisman." You lean back in your chair, a genuine smile curling at the corner of your lips.

You recall the past six months, during which you exhausted almost all your contribution points to buy Talisman paper and Spiritual Ink, and you couldn't even bear to eat well. But now, it seems it was all worth it.

"The resources consumed before have finally paid off," you murmur with a smile.

After mastering a stable success rate for making Talisman, you immediately adjusted your plan.

In the following days, you continued to do your job at the Spirit Beast Garden during the day, and at night, you drew Fireball Talisman in large quantities at full capacity.

You prepare to take these Talisman to the Zhao Family's internal market to sell them for Spirit Stone, and then buy more Advanced Talisman-making Materials and Cultivate resources, forming a perfect positive cycle. In particular, you urgently need to buy a Talisman brush. Your imperfect Talisman brush, under your high-intensity drawing, will likely reach the end of its life after drawing a few more.

The Zhao Family has an internal market specifically for Family members and Guest Elder to trade. It opens on the first day of every month. Everyone can freely sell surplus resources or barter here.

Ten days later, it is the day the market opens.

Early in the morning, you put on a clean and neat moon-white robe. You do not intentionally cover your face and bring the seventy-four Fireball Talisman you recently drew and saved up, heading to the market.

The market is located on a square to the west of Qingyang Lake. At this moment, it is already bustling with noise and excitement. Stalls are set up on both sides, selling various Cultivate resources such as Medicinal Pill, Magical Artifact, and Spiritual Plant.

You find an empty stall at the edge of the market, sit cross-legged, and place the seventy-four Fireball Talisman neatly on the rough cloth in front of you.

Your stunning beauty, even in this noisy market, is as eye-catching as the bright moon in the night sky. Before long, several passing Zhao Family disciples notice you.

"Eh? Isn't that Fairy Lin from the Spirit Beast Garden?" A young male cultivator wearing a brocade robe stops in surprise and walks over. "Fairy Lin, why are you setting up a stall here? Are you selling... Talisman?"

He squats down and picks up a Fireball Talisman to look at it. Originally, it was just a casual glance, but the expression on his face instantly becomes serious.

"This Spiritual pattern trend... so smooth. The Spiritual Qi is restrained and not scattered." He looks at you in surprise. "The quality of this Fireball Talisman is quite good, better than those uniformly distributed by the External Affairs Hall. Fairy Lin, which shop did you get these from?"

You look calm and shake your head faintly: "They are not from a shop. I drew them myself."

"What?!" The male cultivator raises his voice abruptly, his face full of disbelief. "This... you drew this yourself? You have become a Talisman master?!"

As soon as these words are spoken, it is like a stone causing a thousand ripples.

The surrounding Zhao Family disciples, who were originally just secretly checking out your beauty, hear the word "Talisman master" and swarm over.

"She really drew them herself? Impossible, right? Isn't she of inferior Spiritual Root? And she is only at the Early Stage of Qi Refining."

"Look at the quality of this Talisman; it can't be fake! That Spiritual Qi fluctuation is definitely from one that was just drawn!"

"My god, a First-Tier Talisman master in her twenties? This Aptitude..."

Everyone whispers, and the way they look at you changes completely.

Before, although everyone admitted that you were extremely beautiful, very few were willing to spend a lot of money to pursue you. In the eyes of these realistic Family disciples, you were just a pretty vase with no background and inferior Spiritual Root. Moreover, the Zhao Family has strict discipline, so they would never give up precious Cultivate resources for a vase.

But now, the situation is completely different.