58: Street stalls open

This was also Su Ling's first time drawing a Second Order Talisman.

He didn't use the ink abyss brush right away; instead, he practiced the Talisman patterns step-by-step to familiarize himself with the structure.

Several days later, once he felt he had completely mastered the patterns for the Water Prison Talisman, he took some Blue Coral Stone gathered from Jade Tide Island and ground it into powder. He mixed it carefully into the basic Talisman ink and finally attempted to draw with a sable hair brush.

The results were, naturally, quite touching.

Out of ten sheets of Second Order Talisman paper, he failed to produce even a single one.

Su Ling wasn't discouraged. He carefully recalled his drawing techniques and the rate of his magic power infusion.

He gradually corrected his mistakes.

Several more days passed, and Su Ling finally successfully drew a Second Order Low Grade Water Prison Talisman.

The Water Prison Talisman was an advanced version of the Flowing Water Binding Talisman.

Once activated, it would trap the target inside a sphere of water, with a binding force far stronger than the Flowing Water Binding.

With this experience, Su Ling's subsequent practice became much smoother... Half a month later, his lease for the Immortal Cave expired.

Su Ling packed his things and, carrying his newly drawn Talismans, excitedly rushed to the stall area.

The plaza was managed by dedicated deacons of Thousand Star City; it wasn't a place where anyone could just set up a stall at will.

To set up a stall for one day, one needed to pay three Low-Grade Spirit Stones and receive a stall token to place at their side.

Otherwise, if the deacons caught someone stalling without a permit, they would be expelled immediately.

The plaza was huge, with thousands of stalls.

Su Ling arrived quite early, but the token number he received was already '1034'.

After finding the corresponding stall, Su Ling laid a piece of beast hide on the ground. With a wave of his hand, over a hundred Talismans appeared on the hide, organized by category.

Then, he performed a hand seal, and dozens of fireballs emerged.

Under the control of Su Ling's Divine Soul, these fireballs gradually stretched and deformed.

They eventually transformed into several lines of large flaming characters floating beside him:

[First Order Low Grade Talismans: 3 Spirit Stones each]

[First Order Medium Grade Vajra Talisman, breath concealment talisman, Giant Wood Talisman, Gale Talisman: 5 Spirit Stones each]

[Second Order Low Grade Fire Bird Talisman, Water Prison Talisman, Ice Armor Talisman, Flying Heaven Talisman: 80 Spirit Stones each]

[A bargain you won't regret, a deal you can't miss!]

[Guaranteed freshness! If it doesn't work, come back next time and I'll refund your Spirit Stones!]

The flaming words, written in the common language of the cultivation world, floated above Su Ling's head.

Many of the surrounding Cultivator vendors used cloth banners as signs.

But none of their signs were as eye-catching as Su Ling's magic power characters.

"This kid, so flashy?"

"Why didn't I think of that?!"

"What a brilliant sign!"

"Excellent, excellent! I'll try it too!"

Many vendors began to imitate him one after another.

For a time, flashes of magic power rose and fell as characters of various spiritual attributes filled the plaza.

However, before long, those characters became messy and scattered.

Such fine control of magic power wasn't something just anyone could pull off.

Su Ling chuckled inwardly at the sight; he had practiced for a long time just for this eye-catching advertisement.

As the sun rose higher, more and more Loose Cultivators arrived.

Almost every Cultivator who entered the plaza could see Su Ling's fiery red advertising text.

"Fire Bird Talisman?!"

"Fire-attribute Talismans are usually hard to find, yet someone is actually selling them today!"

"Hurry, hurry! If the quality is good, I need to stock up on a few!"

"Let's go together!"

The bustling crowd of Loose Cultivators headed straight for Su Ling as if by prior agreement.

"Fellow Daoist, is the Fire Bird Talisman also eighty Spirit Stones?"

Normally, the price for a Water Prison Talisman, Ice Armor Talisman, or Flying Heaven Talisman was eighty Spirit Stones.

Fire-attribute Talismans were slightly more expensive, reaching a hundred Spirit Stones each.

But since Su Ling's sign listed them all the same, someone immediately asked tentatively.

"It is indeed eighty Spirit Stones each."

Su Ling nodded first, then changed his tone and said somewhat apologetically, "However, you must purchase two other Talismans before you can buy one Fire Bird Talisman."

Bundling—a sales tactic that was common in his previous life.

But in Thousand Star City, Su Ling had yet to see any shop use such a method.

Fire-attribute Talismans weren't something just anyone could draw; in a sense, they were a scarce resource.

In the Precious Talisman Pavilion, not only was a Fire Bird Talisman priced at a hundred Spirit Stones, but they were also subject to purchase limits most of the time.

A typical Loose Cultivator could only buy three at most.

Here with Su Ling, there was no such thing as a purchase limit.

Besides, many people had a use for Water Prison Talismans, Ice Armor Talismans, and even Flying Heaven Talismans, and would usually keep one or two in their Storage Pouches.

After all, most Loose Cultivators had incomplete Cultivation Techniques and their learned Spells weren't comprehensive enough.

Not only that, Su Ling even allowed the onlookers to pick a Fire Bird Talisman at random to activate on the spot.

In just three breaths, the blazing fire bird melted a piece of Water-Patterned Steel he had prepared beforehand.

Water-Patterned Steel was often used to test the power of Spells.

An ordinary Foundation Establishment offensive Spell could crack it.

To achieve an effect like the Fire Bird Talisman, one would need at least the magic power of the Middle Foundation Establishment Stage.

This act of on-the-spot verification immediately drew waves of praise.

"Senior, give me two sets first."

A Tenth Layer of Qi Refining Loose Cultivator gritted his teeth and took out Spirit Stones to trade with Su Ling.

"Since you're my first customer, I'll give you an extra Vajra Talisman."

Su Ling grinned and threw in an extra First Order Low Grade Vajra Talisman.

The cost was less than a single Spirit Stone, making it perfect as a gift.

"Thank you, Senior."

The young Loose Cultivator thanked him with a grateful bow, put the seven Talismans into his Storage Pouch, and turned to leave.

With the first sale made, the subsequent sales went much smoother.

Soon, a new line of flaming characters rose up.

[Fire Bird Talismans, only twenty left! Buy now while stocks last!]

During this period, Su Ling had practiced drawing Second Order Talismans using water and ice Talisman papers until he was quite proficient.

During that time, he had gone back to the Precious Talisman Pavilion to purchase another hundred sheets of Second Order Talisman paper.

With the help of the ink abyss brush, his success rate exceeded fifty percent!

In total, he had drawn over twenty each of Water Prison, Ice Armor, and Flying Heaven Talismans, and thirty Fire Bird Talismans.

In less than half an hour after opening the stall, he had sold ten sets.

Excluding the waste from practice, the cost of each finished Second Order Talisman was already controlled at around twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

This meant that in just half an hour, Su Ling had earned nearly two thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

The business was so booming that nearby vendors watched with envy... An hour later, Su Ling's Fire Bird Talismans were sold out, and the surrounding crowd gradually dispersed.

"I wonder, Fellow Daoist, if you can craft red chain talismans?"

A Foundation Establishment Cultivator wearing a bamboo hat, who had bought five Fire Bird Talismans, suddenly crouched down and asked in a low voice.

"red chain talisman?"

Su Ling was slightly taken aback by the question.

The red chain talisman was a Second Order fire-attribute Talisman that possessed both binding and burning effects.

Among Second Order Talismans, it was considered a relatively high-end one.

It required a special magic power circulation structure that allowed the user to continuously infuse magic power to maintain the binding effect.

The 'Detailed Explanation of Second Order Talismans' contained the drawing method for this Talisman.

Su Ling hadn't delved into it yet.

However, after a moment's thought, he replied seriously, "Fellow Daoist, the red chain talisman is not easy to craft; the price would be at least a hundred Spirit Stones... If you truly need it, you can come find me here in a month."

"In that case, I'll trouble you, Fellow Daoist. I will certainly come in a month's time."

The bamboo-hatted Cultivator relaxed slightly and gave a solemn promise.

"It's a deal."

"It's a deal!"