182: Chapter 182 Fire Serpent Talisman

You push open the stone door of the cultivation room, and the spiritual power fluctuations across your body have yet to completely subside.

At the end of the corridor, that chubby steward is lowering his head and sketching something in the ledger. Hearing the sound of the stone door opening, he raises his head, sweeps his gaze across your body, and then his eyes widen slightly.

"Yo, Guest Elder Lin!" The chubby steward puts down his writing brush, trots forward, and a practiced smile piles up on his round face. "Your spiritual power fluctuations are more than a notch stronger than when you went in. Congratulations, congratulations, you've broken through to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, right?"

You nod: "Thank you for your kind words."

"This isn't about kind words." The chubby steward rubs his hands, his tone carrying a bit of sincere amazement. "Taking a yunling barrier-breaking pill with an Inferior Spiritual Root and successfully breaking through on the first try—there might not even be three out of ten who can do that. Guest Elder Lin's talent, tsk tsk, this old man has managed this cultivation area for twelve years and hasn't seen more than a few."

You smile, knowing this is just polite flattery, and do not pick up the conversation.

The chubby steward fishes a Spirit Stone out of his sleeve and hands it over: "You rented it for three days, but only used it for a day and a night. According to the rules, I am returning one Spirit Stone to you for the remainder. Originally, two should be returned, but one must be deducted for the wear and tear of activating the gathering Qi Formation. Please forgive me, Guest Elder Lin."

"It is only right." You take the Spirit Stone and store it in your Storage Pouch.

The chubby steward rambles on a bit more about things like maintaining the Meridians. You politely acknowledge it, then turn and leave.

Walking out of the cultivation area, the afternoon sunlight spills onto the bluestone path, and the air is filled with the faint fragrance of Spiritual Plants. You take a deep breath, feeling the spiritual power inside your body is more than double what it used to be, and your steps lighten a bit.

When you return to Courtyard Bing-37, Liu Ruyan is not around; she is probably off working in the spiritual fields.

You close the door, sit cross-legged on the bed, and take out that Spirit Beast Pouch from your bosom.

You probe your Divine Sense into the pouch. Faint, dense cracks are spreading across the surface of the giant golden cocoon, and on the inner side of the cocoon wall, the outline of a curled-up life form is faintly discernible.

You stare at the Spirit Beast Pouch for a long time, the corners of your mouth involuntarily curling up.

What will Xiao Wang look like after evolving? The legendary ancient Divine Beast, the White Tiger? The White Tiger is one of the Four Auspicious Beasts. If Xiao Wang evolves into that thing, I'm afraid the entire Qingyue Market would be thrown into chaos.

A Qilin? That's also unlikely. The Qilin is a beast of auspicious omen...

You shake your head, casting these unrealistic thoughts out of your mind. No matter what it evolves into, as long as Xiao Wang can wake up safely, that's better than anything else.

You carefully place the Spirit Beast Pouch by your pillow, close your eyes, and begin circulating the Burning Heaven True Art to consolidate your newly broken-through cultivation.

Over the next month, your life returns to a routine.

By day you go to work in the Spirit Beast Garden, in the evening you return to meditate and Cultivate, and at night you draw Talismans. The total spiritual power of the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm is enough to support you in continuously drawing fifteen First-Grade Low Grade Fireball Talismans without exhaustion, increasing your efficiency by nearly double compared to before.

During this period, you take the time to make a trip to the Zhao family's shop, spending twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones to buy a set of First-Grade Low Grade concealment Formations.

This gadget is specially prepared for Xiao Wang. You don't know if the Awakening of a Spirit Beast in the Cultivation World will be accompanied by anomalies, such as auspicious clouds descending from the sky or spiritual light soaring into the heavens—tropes that have been written to death in vernacular storybooks. Xiao Wang's Bloodline has an unknown origin; if the commotion of its Awakening is too large and attracts the investigation of Zhao family experts, that would be troublesome.

With the Formation blocking it, you can at least handle the perception of Qi Refining Realm Cultivators. If even the Formation can't block it... then you will only have to use the trump card of [Purple Mansion Reincarnation].

You do not wish to reach that step.

After buying the Formation, you take another stroll around the shop, and finally, gritting your teeth, spend five Spirit Stones to buy three sets of dedicated Materials for drawing First-Grade Medium Grade Talismans.

Five Spirit Stones, three chances.

This price makes your flesh ache terribly.

But you cannot help feeling tempted. A single First-Grade Low Grade Fireball Talisman can only be sold for half a Spirit Stone in the Zhao family's internal market, whereas a single First-Grade Medium Grade Fire Snake Talisman starts at a minimum market price of five Spirit Stones. In the Talisman Dao Legacy you bought, the Fire Snake Talisman happens to be the drawing method of the only First-Grade Medium Grade Talisman. It would be a waste not to try.

If you learn it, that is triple the profit.

Returning to the hut, you spread out the first Medium Grade Talisman paper, grind the spiritual ink well, pick up the Chiyan wolf-hair brush, and take a deep breath.

The instant the brush tip lands on the Talisman paper, you feel the gap.

You hold your breath, controlling your spiritual power to slowly output along the brush tip. The first three strokes are fairly smooth, but at the turning point of the fourth stroke, your spiritual power abruptly stagnates.

The rune lines beneath the brush tip twist slightly. Immediately following, a countercurrent of spiritual power rebounds from the Talisman paper, and with a "chhi" sound, a charred black hole appears on the Talisman paper.

You failed.

You put down the brush and stare at that ruined piece of Talisman paper for a few seconds.

As expected, back when Young Patriarch Zhao Zhanyuan taught you the starting posture of drawing the Fire Snake Talisman, you had only practiced the first two strokes. Complete Talisman drawing is completely out of a different order of magnitude from simple practice.

You close your eyes and recall the guidance Young Patriarch Zhao Zhanyuan gave at that time: "At the turning point of the fourth stroke, the spiritual power cannot be cut off. It must be like water flowing through a bend, thickening on the outside and thinning on the inside."

You spread out the second Talisman paper.

This time, you deliberately slow down your speed, and at the turning point of the fourth stroke, you imitate the technique described by Young Patriarch Zhao Zhanyuan, shifting your spiritual power toward the outside.

However, when it comes to the eleventh stroke, which is the core Talisman eye of the Fire Snake Talisman...

Your brush tip trembles.

The spiritual power circuit at the Talisman eye instantly collapses, and the entire Talisman paper "boom" burns up, turning into a patch of flying ashes.

You flick your fingertips, which were scalded by the scorching heat wave, and sigh silently.

It is much better than the first time; at least it lasted until the Talisman eye, but the Talisman eye is the real difficult pass.

It is the last portion of Materials.

The first ten strokes are as smooth as flowing clouds and moving water, and you even feel that you have a chance this time.

The eleventh stroke, the Talisman eye.

You grit your teeth, outputting your Divine Sense with full force. Your brush tip spins wildly on the Talisman paper, compressing and condensing the spiritual power...

"Crack."

The Talisman paper shatters, and the debris drifts all over your face.

You put down the brush, wipe the ashes off your face, and lean against the wall in a daze for a while.

Looking at the empty desktop, you bitterly smile and shake your head, temporarily putting aside the thought of forcefully rushing to become a Medium Grade Talisman Master. You have to admit that you do not have any heaven-defying talent in the Talisman Dao; being able to practice Low Grade Talismans to a sixty percent success rate completely relies on accumulated hard work and a steady Divine Sense over time.

You cannot help but think of the news circulating inside the Zhao family. It is said that that pure-hearted Young Patriarch Zhao Zhanyuan, less than three days after just breaking through to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm back then, successfully drew a Medium Grade Talisman on the very first try. The foundation of such a supreme Genius truly makes one envious.

You pack up the remaining Materials, put the brush back on the brush rack, and take a deep breath.

"You cannot rush." You say to yourself in your heart, "Not enough Spirit Stones, insufficient Divine Sense, forcefully practicing is just a waste. When I've saved up enough Spirit Stones, it won't be too late to come back."

You lower your head to look at the remaining Spirit Stones in your Storage Pouch. Counting what was sold from drawing Talismans this month, and after deducting the expenses for the Formation and Medium Grade Materials, you have sixty-three Low-Grade Spirit Stones left in your hands.

There aren't many left. You still need to Cultivate, and you still need to buy Medicinal Pills for Xiao Wang. Better spend thriftily.

You put away your distracting thoughts, sit cross-legged again, circulate the Burning Heaven True Art, and pull your attention back to the most important matter.

Half a month later.

Late at night on this day, you are sitting on the bed meditating when the Soul contract with Xiao Wang in your mind suddenly trembles violently.

You abruptly open your eyes.

The Spirit Beast Pouch is glowing.