13: A genius performance and spectators in the corner

Three days later, Drunken Immortal Tower.

As the most high-end restaurant in Qinghe Market, Drunken Immortal Tower was usually only affordable for Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators or the scions of those great Families.

But today, the first-floor lobby had been booked out, packed with hundreds of low-level Talisman Masters wearing various Daoist robes.

A faint scent of cinnabar and the fragrance of spirit tea filled the air.

Zhou Wannian wore his washed-out green Daoist robe, using the Breath Concealing Technique to suppress his cultivation to the Qi Refining Second Layer. He huddled in a corner behind Gu Fan like a bumpkin who had never seen the world.

Before leaving, he had cast a divination as usual.

【Today's Hexagram: Neutral-Fair】

【Auspicious: Observing, hiding one's brilliance, picking up leaks. Inauspicious: Standing out, showing off.】

Since the Hexagram said "Auspicious for picking up leaks," Zhou Wannian's seemingly cloudy eyes scanned the room inconspicuously.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, look! That's Shopkeeper Wang of the 'Spirit Talisman Pavilion,' and that's Deacon Li of the 'Heavenly Craft Workshop'..."

Gu Fan was quite excited, pointing out several pot-bellied middle-aged men in the front row to Zhou Wannian.

"If you can catch their eye and sign a long-term Talisman Supply Contract, you won't have to worry about sales in the future."

Zhou Wannian just nodded honestly, but in his heart, he disagreed.

A long-term contract? That was a disguised deed of sale. While stable, it would squeeze out most of the profit and result in a loss of freedom.

How could it be as carefree as his current situation, where he could roam between major shops just by changing his identity?

"Look! Zhao Feng is here!"

A sudden commotion broke out in the crowd.

At the main entrance, several young Cultivators entered, surrounding one person.

The man was in his early twenties, with a face like polished jade, wearing a snow-white Tier 1 High Grade dharma robe. Hanging from his waist was a highly conspicuous Hundred Herbs Hall Guest Elder waist plate.

It was none other than the most popular "Genius Talisman Master" in Qinghe Market today, Zhao Feng.

As soon as he appeared, the originally noisy lobby quieted down for a moment, followed by a wave of greetings.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao's style is as impressive as ever!"

"Congratulations to Fellow Daoist Zhao for being accepted as a Named Disciple by Immortal Master Liu!"

"I heard Fellow Daoist Zhao can already draw Medium Grade Talismans? Truly a heaven-sent talent!"

Facing everyone's flattery, Zhao Feng wore a reserved and perfect smile, cupping his hands in return. Every gesture exuded an irrepressible arrogance.

"So this is a Genius..." Gu Fan's eyes were full of envy. "I heard he's only at the Third Layer of Qi Refining, yet he's already touched the threshold of a Medium Grade Talisman Master. Poor guys like us don't know how many years we'll have to toil to achieve such success."

Zhou Wannian cracked melon seeds, silently evaluating in his heart:

His blood and Qi are unstable, and his steps are light and airy; he's clearly obsessed with fame and social engagements, neglecting to polish his Foundation. Although he was pushed to the Third Layer of Qi Refining with Spirit Pills and medicines, his spiritual power is hollow and unsubstantial.

"Fellow Fellow travelers, you flatter me."

Zhao Feng walked to the high platform in the center of the lobby and said loudly,

"Thanks to everyone's appreciation today, I, Zhao, will show my incompetence by demonstrating the application of the 'Flowing Cloud Brushwork' in a Cleaning Talisman."

After he finished speaking, a maid had already spread out high-quality Talisman paper and ground up top-grade spirit ink that emitted a refreshing fragrance.

The entire room held its breath.

Zhao Feng lifted the brush, performed Qi Condensation, and flicked his wrist.

Swish, swish, swish!

It had to be said that his movements were extremely beautiful. The brush strokes flowed like moving clouds and flowing water, without any pause.

His posture was incredibly elegant, causing many female Cultivators below to watch with sparkling eyes.

It took only ten breaths.

"Done!"

With a soft shout from Zhao Feng, a spiritual light flashed on the Talisman paper. A beautifully lined, spiritual-power-filled top-grade Cleaning Talisman appeared on the paper.

"Good!"

Thunderous applause erupted below.

"Those lines are so smooth! Not a single stutter!"

"Is this the Flowing Cloud Brushwork? It's so beautiful!"

"I'll offer five Spirit Stones! I want this Talisman to take back and frame for meditation!"

Zhou Wannian was also clapping, but he was shaking his head inwardly.

Just for show.

To pursue the "aesthetic" and "fluidity" of the lines, Zhao Feng consumed at least thirty percent more spiritual power at the turns to forcibly smooth out the edges.

And this so-called "top-grade" Cleaning Talisman's effect was just so-so, at most removing a bit more stubborn stain than an ordinary one.

Not like his "earthworm talisman"—though ugly, that one spiral stroke could scrape off three layers of topsoil!

Most importantly, the Divine Sense and spiritual power Zhao Feng consumed to draw this one Talisman was enough for Zhou Wannian to draw three.

"Efficiency is too low; he would have died eight hundred times on the battlefield," Zhou Wannian gave his final evaluation.

After demonstrating the Cleaning Talisman, Zhao Feng seemed to want more, or perhaps he wanted to further display his strength.

"Since everyone's interest is so high, today I, Zhao, will challenge a Medium Grade Talisman—the Fireball Talisman!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire audience was in an uproar.

Challenging a Medium Grade Talisman at the Third Layer of Qi Refining? That was drawing a Talisman above one's level!

Zhao Feng had someone bring out "Red Cloud Paper," worth two Spirit Stones per sheet, and replaced the spirit ink with one mixed with Red Fire Sand.

This time, his expression was much more solemn.

He lifted the brush and applied the ink.

It was smooth at first, but when he reached the core talisman core, the fire spiritual power began to grow restless.

Zhao Feng broke into a sweat, trying to use his powerful Divine Sense to suppress it and forcibly draw perfect straight lines.

"Too much rigidity leads to easy breaking..." Zhou Wannian sighed inwardly.

Sure enough.

"Poof!"

With a muffled sound, black smoke rose from the Talisman paper.

It exploded.

Zhao Feng's face stiffened, a flash of annoyance passing through his eyes.

"Sorry, I'm out of practice. Again!"

The second sheet.

"Poof!"

Exploded again.

The third sheet... the fourth... after five sheets of precious "Red Cloud Paper" in a row had exploded, Zhao Feng's face had turned ashen.

The cheers from the audience also turned into awkward silence.

"There's something wrong with this spirit ink!"

Zhao Feng slammed the Talisman brush down and pointed at the Materials on the table, shouting angrily,

"This Red Fire Sand isn't ground finely enough; there are too many Impurities, causing the spiritual power transmission to be blocked! It's not my problem, it's a problem with the Materials!"

The shopkeeper from the organizers hurried up to apologize, took away the five ruined Red Cloud Papers and the remaining spirit ink, and replaced them with new ones.

After switching to top-tier Materials, Zhao Feng finally managed to complete a Fireball Talisman on his sixth attempt. Although the spiritual light was a bit dim, it was a success nonetheless.

"Whew..."

Zhao Feng wiped his sweat and regained his arrogant expression. "I've made a fool of myself. In the path of the Dao of Talismans, a tiny error can lead to a huge mistake. Even a tiny bit of Impurities will result in all previous efforts being wasted."

The audience once again broke into a chorus of flattery: "Yes, yes, Fellow Daoist Zhao's strict requirements for Materials are also for the pursuit of perfection."

Zhou Wannian's gaze, however, was fixed on the five "failed Talismans" being taken away by the worker.

Red Cloud Paper!

Two Spirit Stones per sheet!

Just because of a few wrong strokes or a small hole from an explosion, they were just thrown away like trash?

"What a spendthrift!" Zhou Wannian's heart ached so much he could hardly breathe.

But he quickly thought of something, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

In the previous chapter, he had used the "Earthworm Version Cleaning Talisman" to suck out the Earthly Baleful Qi from Gu Fan's Formation Plate.

So... could he use the same principle to "suck" out the spirit ink and chaotic spiritual power from these failed Talisman papers?

If he could wash away the ink marks, wouldn't this Red Cloud Paper... still be usable?

Even if the quality dropped a bit, it was still mid-grade talisman paper! Using it to practice the Spiral Ascension Talisman would be a perfect match!

"Picking up a leak! This is the 'picking up leaks' the Hexagram mentioned!"

Zhou Wannian's heart pounded wildly, but his face remained impassive.

The exchange meeting continued until evening.

When it ended, Zhou Wannian deliberately lingered until the very end.

He saw several workers responsible for cleaning up dumping those discarded Talisman papers and fruit peels into the trash.

"Brothers, please wait a moment."

Zhou Wannian approached them with a humble smile, inconspicuously slipping a few spirit fragments into their hands,

"I'm a slow learner just starting out with Talismans. I wanted to take back these failed Talisman papers drawn by the Genius Zhao to admire the Genius's brushwork and see where exactly I fall short. I wonder if you could do me a favor?"

The workers weighed the spirit fragments in their hands and looked at this poorly dressed "Qi Refining Second Layer" Loose Cultivator as if he were a fool.

Treating scrap paper like a treasure? This guy must be out of his mind, wanting to soak up some of the Genius's Immortal Qi, right?

"Take them, take them! It's just a pile of scrap paper; we'd have to go through the trouble of throwing it away anyway."

A worker casually threw the stack of crumpled, charred Red Cloud Paper to Zhou Wannian.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Zhou Wannian treated them like treasures, carefully tucking the "trash" into his robe, and left with a thousand thanks... Back at Cuizhu Lane, he locked the courtyard gate and activated the Formation.

Zhou Wannian immediately spread the five discarded Red Cloud Papers on the table.

Although they all had varying degrees of damage and charring, most of the papers' spirituality remained.

"I hope this works."

Zhou Wannian took out an "Earthworm Version Cleaning Talisman" and stuck it onto one of the failed Talismans.

"Suck!"

Spiritual power was activated, and the familiar spiral suction was generated.

The residual cinnabar ink on the failed Talisman was actually peeled off layer by layer like dust, and absorbed onto the Cleaning Talisman!

A moment later.

The Cleaning Talisman turned black and burned up.

And that Red Cloud Paper, which was originally covered in incorrect patterns, had eighty to ninety percent of the ink marks vanish, except for a small charred hole in the middle, revealing the original pale red paper surface!

"It worked!"

Zhou Wannian pumped his fist excitedly.

Although the paper had become a bit thinner due to the cleaning and had lost twenty percent of its spirituality, it was still genuine mid-grade talisman paper!

As long as he avoided that small charred hole, he could completely draw Talismans in the blank spaces!

"Paper worth two Spirit Stones, and I washed it back with a Cleaning Talisman that costs less than three spirit fragments?"

"How is this a Cleaning Talisman? This is clearly a 'Touch of Gold Talisman'!"

Looking at these five "refurbished" Talisman papers, the flame of "getting something for nothing" burned in Zhou Wannian's eyes.

"Zhao Feng, oh Zhao Feng, go ahead and be the Genius in the spotlight."

"I'll take all the trash you ruin."

"When the day comes that you're killed for being too high-profile, I might even be able to 'recycle' the things in your Storage Pouch through the black market."

That night, Zhou Wannian did not draw Talismans.

He was busy being a "cleaner," washing those five Red Cloud Papers clean.

Next door, Gu Fan, hearing the sound of humming coming from Courtyard Jia 16, was a bit puzzled:

"Did this Fellow Daoist Zhou go to see a Genius performance and get so stimulated he's gone mad?"