8: Chapter 8 First-Tier Low-Grade Talisman Master

"Little Changqing, Talisman crafting is an art that requires patience, perseverance, and talent," Chen Xuanqi said earnestly.

Chen Changqing quietly listened from the side.

"In the past, quite a few Family members came to me to learn about Talismans. Among them, it was either because they lacked talent or patience, as they were eager for quick success. However, the Talisman Dao is an art that requires one to calm their mind to learn it well.

Without sufficient patience and perseverance, even with talent, it is very difficult to become a Talisman Master; even without talent, if one has relentless perseverance, they can still become a Talisman Master."

Chen Xuanqi looked at Chen Changqing and continued, "Grandfather telling you this is to let you know that nothing in the world is difficult for those who set their mind to it. You must know that even Cultivators with Five Spiritual Roots have become Purple Palace Cultivators."

Chen Changqing nodded heavily.

"Alright, enough idle chatter, let's begin." Chen Xuanqi pointed at the Talisman Materials on the table.

"Crafting Talismans requires Talisman paper, Talisman ink, and a Talisman brush."

"Generally speaking, the better the Talisman brush, Talisman paper, and Talisman ink Materials are, the higher the success rate and power of the crafted Talismans will be."

Chen Xuanqi picked up the Talisman brush on the table and said rather proudly, "This is Grandfather's Rank 1 High Grade Talisman brush, the White Fox Spirit Brush, made from the tail of a Rank 1 High Grade White Fox Yao Beast."

"Although a Talisman brush is also a Magical Artifact, it is not used for fighting battles, but rather for inscribing runes."

"I see!" Chen Changqing said with sudden realization.

"Right, Grandfather, this Talisman brush of yours shouldn't be cheap, right?"

"It's alright, it's worth about three hundred Spirit Stones," Chen Xuanqi waved his hand and said.

"Three Hundred Spirit Stones! So expensive," Chen Changqing exclaimed. His own income was only four Spirit Stones per month. If he didn't use them to Cultivate, it would still take him nearly seven years to buy one.

"This bit of Spirit Stones is still affordable for mid and Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators. As your cultivation base gets higher and higher, the channels to obtain Spirit Stones will also increase, and you will find that Spirit Stones are not that important after all. Therefore, in seeking immortality, do not put the cart before the horse."

Chen Xuanqi stroked his beard with one hand and smiled, "When we Talisman Masters first begin learning to craft Talismans, we first use ordinary paper and pens to draw. Only when you have a sufficient understanding of this rune do you begin drawing with Talisman Materials."

"Grandfather, wouldn't drawing Talismans directly allow us to learn more?" Chen Changqing asked curiously.

"Mhm, that is so, but—" Chen Xuanqi's tone shifted.

"The reason we don't directly let you use Talisman Materials to draw Talismans is very simple. Because you are just starting to draw Talismans, your understanding of the runes is not enough, so you will definitely fail most of the time. Not to mention other Materials, just looking at the Talisman paper, once a drawing error occurs, a piece of Talisman paper is completely ruined.

And the cheapest pack of Talisman paper costs one Spirit Stone. Compared to other Materials, Talisman paper is already considered cheap."

"Just think about it, if you use Talisman Materials to draw Talismans right from the beginning, just how huge would your losses be?"

Hearing this, Chen Changqing nodded inwardly; that was indeed true.

"If we Talisman Masters want to make a profit, we must raise our Talisman success rate to sixty percent. For example, the market price of a Rank 1 Low Grade Talisman is four Spirit Stones, while the cost of a single Talisman is two Spirit Stones."

"A Rank 1 Medium Grade one is ten Spirit Stones with a cost of five, and a Rank 1 High Grade one can sell for thirty Spirit Stones with a cost of fifteen."

"I see. Grandfather, what Talisman are we learning today?" Chen Changqing asked.

"Today we will start from the simplest Rank 1 Low Grade Talisman, the Fireball Talisman. This Talisman is also the easiest to carve among Rank 1 Low Grade ones because it has the fewest runes."

After finishing, Chen Xuanqi began to craft the Talisman. He straightened his expression, picked up the Talisman brush, dipped it into the Talisman ink, and began to craft the Talisman with complete concentration.

Chen Changqing stood to the side, not daring to make a sound, memorizing every stroke Chen Xuanqi made on the Talisman paper in his heart.

In just a quarter of an hour, the old man had finished crafting a Fireball Talisman.

"How is it?"

"Grandfather, I have a few questions..." Chen Changqing pondered for a moment and asked doubtfully. When he watched from the side, he felt that some places were slightly different from the records in the Legacy.

Chen Xuanqi understood, answered them one by one, and then continued to draw a few more Talismans.

"Phew! Crafting Talismans not only consumes mana, it also consumes Divine Sense. This old man can only draw seven in one breath. Little Changqing, did you understand?"

"Mhm, I have understood roughly all the steps." Chen Changqing had watched it several times, and a sense of anticipation to hold the brush and craft Talismans himself arose within his heart.

Chen Xuanqi also saw the fluctuation in Chen Changqing's eyes.

He took out a Talisman brush specifically given by the Family for Family members to learn the Talisman Dao from his Storage Pouch, along with a large stack of Talisman paper and twenty catties of Talisman ink.

After putting these Materials into his Storage Pouch, Chen Changqing carefully estimated that these Materials were enough for him to draw about a hundred times.

"Go on, start with drawing Talismans first, use ordinary paper to trace the runes. After you have completely mastered them by heart, then use Talisman paper and Materials to draw Talismans," Chen Xuanqi said indifferently.

It wasn't that he wouldn't let Chen Changqing study here, but beginners are best off drawing Talismans in a quiet place, otherwise, they are easily distracted by the outside world, leading to failure.

"Thank you, Grandfather." After receiving them, Chen Changqing suppressed the excitement in his heart and took his leave of Chen Xuanqi.

Then, after leaving the Cultivation Technique Pavilion, he first returned home once before going into seclusion to refine Talismans.

Inside the Immortal Cave, he spent about a day familiarizing himself with the Talisman runes before setting his hand to drawing Talismans.

He took out a stack of Talisman paper made from unknown Materials from his Storage Pouch. Its texture was rough, as thin as a razor blade.

He then took out the Talisman brush, dipped it in Talisman ink, and began to draw.

What he was drawing was the easiest to start with among Rank 1 Low Grade Talismans, named the Fireball Talisman. As the name implied, once used, it could form a fireball for attacks.

The power depended on who refined it. If the quality was relatively poor, the power was about the first layer of Qi Refining; if the quality was decent, it could reach the second layer of Qi Refining; and refined to perfection, it had the power of the third layer of Qi Refining.

Only those of decent quality were considered truly successfully refined.

"There is actually resistance coming from the Talisman paper!" The moment Chen Changqing put down his pen, he felt a certain mutual resistance between the Talisman paper and the Talisman ink. After carefully controlling the strength of his stroke, he began to draw.

Bang!

After drawing about one-third on the Talisman paper, it exploded because he failed to control his strength well.

"The strength at this spot just now was too great, causing the preceding Spiritual Qi to become chaotic."

He pondered the reason and continued to take out a piece of Talisman paper to draw.

Bang!

"I didn't expect crafting Talismans to be so difficult. Explosions will also occur if the strokes are not coherent when putting down the pen. It seems that whenever the brush falls, it must be done in one go."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Successive failures allowed him to figure out a portion of the patterns. This skill of mastering patterns through trial and error stimulated his desire for knowledge, and he continued to draw Talismans tirelessly.

Because his Divine Sense was at the Late Qi Refining Stage, which was quite a bit stronger than Chen Xuanqi's, he did not feel exhausted from carving these few Talismans.

After several more attempts, he looked at the Talisman before him.

"I've finally successfully refined one, but the quality is poor and of little use." He put it away and continued to draw.

"I didn't expect a month to have passed just like that." Chen Changqing put away all the Talismans, then opened the Immortal Cave and walked outside to breathe the fresh air of the outside world, giving birth to endless emotions in his heart.

In a month's time, through countless failures, he raised the success rate of the Fireball Talisman to seventy percent.

A success rate exceeding sixty percent meant that he was now a formally initiated Rank 1 Low Grade Talisman Master.

And the one hundred portions of Talisman Materials were also completely used up, yielding a total of thirty-seven Talismans.

Being able to have such a success rate, apart from his powerful Divine Sense, also depended on his extraordinary talent.