The second day at dusk, the sky was ablaze with the vibrant colors of the sunset, the brilliant light climbing along the soft clouds, gradually fading from a deep red to a pale pink.
With her hair tied up in a high ponytail, Jian Huan dashed into the Elders' Courtyard. Before she even reached the hall, her cheerful voice rang out: "Elder Yu, did you call for me?"
At the ancient mahogany table, Yu Qing sat cross-legged.
Seeing his disciple enter, he gestured to her: "Sit."
As soon as Jian Huan sat down, Yu Qing pushed a large bundle towards her, saying: "There are a thousand spirit stones inside."
"!!!"
What the heck, why is he giving her money right away?
Jian Huan was shocked: "Elder Yu, what do you mean by this?!"
Nothing good comes without a catch.
Seeing her reaction, Yu Qing laughed and explained: "This isn't from me. Your incantation from yesterday was quite helpful. I mentioned it to the Sect Leader this morning, and this thousand is a reward from him, which I'm passing on to you."
Oh... a bonus!!
Jian Huan breathed a sigh of relief, the heavy burden in her heart lifted, and her hands quickly reached for the bundle of spirit stones. The joy overflowed from the corners of her eyes and lips: "Thank you, Elder Yu, and thank you, Sect Leader! But this incantation wasn't created by me; I heard it from a certain yoga master."
Yu Qing raised an eyebrow: "Yoga master?" What is that?
Jian Huan briefly explained: "A folk master from my hometown."
Yu Qing nodded.
Beside him was a thick stack of papers, the intention forms submitted by the disciples, the top one being Jian Huan's.
Yu Qing picked it up and asked: "You want to study the Dao of Talismans?"
Jian Huan, hugging the bundle of spirit stones, was in a great mood: "Yes."
Seeing this, Yu Qing reminded her: "If so, you should start preparing the necessary items now."
Jian Huan was puzzled: "What?"
Seeing she didn't quite understand, Yu Qing explained in detail: "Talisman brushes, talisman paper, you'll need them for the talisman classes."
Jian Huan nodded, examining Yu Qing from head to toe with curiosity: "Elder Yu, do you also teach talisman arts?"
Yu Qing gently stroked the green bamboo stick beside him, nodding: "I am a talisman cultivator, what's the problem?"
"A talisman cultivator?!" Jian Huan looked at the bamboo stick in his hand, "I thought you were a sword cultivator..."
Yu Qing shook his head and showed her the bamboo stick.
Jian Huan leaned in to take a closer look and saw golden talisman characters flickering on the emerald bamboo stick.
Yu Qing slowly spoke: "The great paths of the world are not mutually exclusive; in the end, they all converge."
"Alright, you may leave now. Call Gong Feihong over."
Hearing this, Jian Huan stood up, bowed to Yu Qing with the spirit stones in her arms, and happily ran off.
After calling Gong Feihong, Jian Huan headed to the Treasure Pavilion of the Jade Clarity Sect.
A thousand spirit stones were quite substantial, not heavy but a bit space-consuming.
Jian Huan was longing for a spatial pouch.
It was just past dinner time, and the Treasure Pavilion was empty.
A man was napping in the corner.
As soon as Jian Huan's footsteps sounded, the man's ears twitched, and he instantly woke up, standing up and greeting Jian Huan with a warm smile: "Hello, fellow apprentice, what do you need?"
In the Jade Clarity Sect, whether it's the Treasure Pavilion or the dining hall, the staff are all senior apprentices from the inner sect.
Jian Huan politely said: "Hello, senior apprentice, I'd like to see some spatial pouches."
The shop assistant led her to the shelf where the spatial pouches were displayed, introducing: "Our Treasure Pavilion's spatial pouches are all made by the apprentices of the Equipment Forging Hall. They are top-notch in every aspect, not comparable to those outside. Fellow apprentice, how big do you want? A batch of spatial pouches that can hold a city of one hundred thousand people was just delivered this morning, take a look—"
"I don't need that big," Jian Huan quickly interrupted, "I just need the smallest one."
The shop assistant glanced at her and took out a tiny pink pouch: "This is the smallest one."
Jian Huan held it in her hand, playing with it lovingly: "Senior apprentice, how many spirit stones does this cost?"
The shop assistant smiled, revealing sharp tiger teeth: "A thousand spirit stones."
Jian Huan's fingers paused, and she subtly put the pink spatial pouch down: "I see, I'll take another look..."
After that, Jian Huan carefully browsed the entire Treasure Pavilion, inquiring about the prices of items she wanted, such as the Xuantian Mirror similar to a mobile phone.
The cheapest, earliest, and most affordable Xuantian Mirror cost one thousand eight hundred.
Talisman brushes varied in quality; the best ones had no upper price limit, with the most expensive one in the cultivation world once reaching a price of a million spirit stones, while the cheapest one cost three hundred eighty.
Talisman paper... also varied in quality, with expensive ones having no upper limit, and the cheapest one costing one spirit stone per sheet.
Yes, talisman paper was sold by the sheet!
Before coming, Jian Huan thought talisman brushes and paper were just simple purchases, but after arriving, she realized that talisman arts were not as simple as she had read in those cultivation novels.
When a talisman cultivator reaches a certain level, they can draw powerful talismans using ordinary ink and yellow paper. But for beginners, without such vast spiritual energy, they need to use talisman brushes with spiritual energy and talisman paper made from spiritual wood.
Just like sword cultivators, powerful masters can defeat monsters with bamboo sticks. But ordinary cultivators, without good swords, can't win.
Jian Huan was in tears.
The only consolation was that the shop assistant's service attitude was impeccable, accompanying her with a smile throughout, patiently answering all questions.
Finally, Jian Huan asked him: "Senior apprentice, if I draw talismans in the future, will your shop buy them? And at what price?"
The shop assistant looked at her sympathetically: "No, we don't buy them."
Jian Huan: "?"
The shop assistant reminded her: "The Treasure Pavilion only sells spiritual artifacts and talismans from the Equipment Forging Hall. You can find other places to sell yours."
Jian Huan: "Okay..."
In the end, Jian Huan left empty-handed, having bought nothing.
She remembered, she had connections in the factory, why did she come to the shop?
The time was still early, and the sky outside hadn't darkened yet.
In the wooden house, Jian Huan sat cross-legged on the bed, holding the shabby bag she had brought with her.
After the sect had issued the disciples' robes, Jian Huan had put her old, worn-out clothes in the bag.
Now, she took out these clothes.
On the other side, a pile of spirit stones was stacked, emitting a faint glow in the dim room.
Jian Huan stroked her chin, pondered for a moment, counted out two hundred spirit stones from the pile, and placed them aside.
The rest, she wrapped in a bellyband, then wrapped the bellyband in her old clothes, layer upon layer, before putting them into the bag and placing the bag securely at the head of the bed.
Jian Huan packed the two hundred spirit stones and took them to find Shen Jizhi.
When she arrived at the Equipment Forging Hall, it was completely dark outside.
The hall was brightly lit, while the trees outside were shrouded in darkness.
Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi stood in this shadow.
The cicadas were chirping loudly, making people's ears hurt.
Jian Huan rubbed her ears, looking through Shen Jizhi's broad and lean right shoulder into the Equipment Forging Hall.
Inside, senior apprentices were busy with their tasks, some meticulously carving patterns on semi-finished spiritual artifacts, others bending and twisting hard spiritual iron with their bare hands.
Shen Jizhi, pulled out by her, waited for a while without hearing her speak, frowned and asked: "What do you need from me?"
Jian Huan leaned close to Shen Jizhi and whispered: "I want to buy talisman brushes and paper, but the Treasure Pavilion is too expensive. Your factory—" She paused, realizing her mistake, and quickly corrected, "Your hall, will it be cheaper?"
She was very close, the girl's breath hitting him.
Shen Jizhi lowered his eyes, his gaze falling on her face, his frown gradually easing in the breeze and cicada chirps.
He felt a slight stir in his heart and asked: "How much can you afford?"
The talisman brush in the Treasure Pavilion cost three hundred eighty, Jian Huan directly cut almost half: "One hundred eighty for the talisman brush, one spirit stone for two sheets of talisman paper?"
She looked up at him.
A crescent moon hung above his head, his features somewhat blurred in the night, his expression hard to discern.
Jian Huan felt a bit guilty, not knowing if cutting the price in half was too much, and quickly added: "The worst talisman brush and paper will do, as long as they work."
Shen Jizhi was silent for a moment, not agreeing: "Wait, let me ask."
Jian Huan urged: "Mm-hmm, then hurry!"
Shen Jizhi walked into the Equipment Forging Hall, his figure quickly disappearing.
He went to the back courtyard, where some waste materials were piled up in a corner.
These were leftover scraps from the Equipment Forging Hall, which would be collected in a spatial pouch and thrown into the fire furnace for disposal when they accumulated to a certain extent.
The Treasure Pavilion of the Jade Clarity Sect had branches all over the place, following a high-end route.
Every piece of equipment must be crafted to perfection; these scraps would ruin the texture of the equipment, and no one would look at them twice.
However, since three months ago, when a senior brother from the Equipment Forging Hall was promoted to elder, Shen Jizhi took over the vacancy. Since then, these scraps have been managed by Shen Jizhi.
After taking charge, Shen Jizhi no longer discarded the waste materials into the fire furnace. Instead, he collected them until a certain amount was reached and then sold them in Approaching Immortal City for one spirit stone per jin.
At this moment, Shen Jizhi was sifting through the waste materials, picking out a few small pieces of discarded wood about the length of a finger and some uneven lengths of wool.
These were materials for making talisman brushes.
Shen Jizhi had never learned to forge equipment, but through three months of observation, he knew how to make a talisman brush.
Moreover, his fire spiritual root, which he had deliberately refined over these days, should make crafting a talisman brush not too difficult.
A few days ago, Shen Jizhi was considering whether to explore the path of equipment forging to earn some spirit stones.
After all, as a sword cultivator, even if he made money, most of it would eventually be spent in the Equipment Forging Hall.
Unexpectedly, just a few days after having this thought, Jian Huan came knocking.
Why not give it a try?
Shen Jizhi collected the different pieces of wood and wool, then went to find his junior brother.
Besides the wood for the brush and the wool for the bristles, the most crucial part of a talisman brush was the spiritual ink inside.
Spiritual ink was essentially colored spiritual ore, and the reason talisman brushes were expensive was largely due to this.
In front of his junior brother were various spiritual inks, each introduced to Shen Jizhi: "This piece of spiritual ink is the worst; it lacks spiritual energy, and the talismans drawn with it will be much less effective. The one sold for three hundred and eighty spirit stones at Treasure Pavilion uses this."
Shen Jizhi asked, "How much would I need to buy it for?"
The raw materials of the Equipment Forging Hall were not usually sold to outsiders, but members of the hall could purchase three items each month.
For the past two months, Shen Jizhi had used his quota to upgrade his sword, and this month, he hadn't bought anything yet.
His junior brother replied, "Thirty spirit stones."
Shen Jizhi nodded, hesitated for a moment, and pointed to a piece with significantly better color: "What about this one?"
His junior brother said, "This one is much better in all aspects; it costs one hundred spirit stones, while Treasure Pavilion sells it for one thousand eight hundred."
Shen Jizhi stood there, weighing the options in his mind for a long time before saying, "Then give me the one for one hundred spirit stones."
Jian Huan was sitting under a tree, cultivating. Whenever she had time, she would cultivate.
Hearing footsteps, she opened her eyes and saw someone approaching. She immediately jumped up and ran over.
As she moved, her white skirt brushed against the moonlight like frost, her figure rippling like waves.
Jian Huan's eyes were bright: "How is it?!"
Shen Jizhi nodded: "It should be fine."
Jian Huan clenched her right fist and swung it down, exclaiming, "Yay!"
Shen Jizhi said, "However, talisman paper won't be cheap, but the brush can be."
Making talisman paper was troublesome, and he wouldn't earn much from it. Considering the time spent, he might end up losing money.
Jian Huan was slightly disappointed but didn't say anything.
Shen Jizhi asked, "Since you think it's okay, shall we finalize it?"
Jian Huan nodded firmly: "Yes."
Shen Jizhi asked, "When do you need it?"
Tomorrow afternoon there was a talisman class, so Jian Huan said, "Can it be tomorrow noon?"
"Sure," Shen Jizhi thought for a moment and reminded, "By the way, this can't be put on credit."
Jian Huan understood: "I know."
After all, this was a deal where she was benefiting, saving two hundred spirit stones.
She was using Shen Jizhi's influence at the factory, and she couldn't push her luck by asking for credit; that would be too much.
Jian Huan was delighted and asked him, "Are you coming back with me?"
Shen Jizhi shook his head: "I'll be staying overnight at the Equipment Forging Hall tonight."
Jian Huan nodded and waved goodbye to him.
Shen Jizhi returned to the Equipment Forging Hall, borrowed a book on equipment forging, flipped to the pages on talisman brushes, and carefully read through them before starting to work.
His sword, from start to finish, was something he had figured out on his own, and even the wooden hut was built by him.
Shen Jizhi wasn't new to making things, so he handled it quite smoothly.
Under the bright light of the Equipment Forging Hall, Shen Jizhi held several pieces of wood, using a small knife to slowly shape them into the same form, then carefully fused them together with his fire spiritual energy.
Under the fiery spiritual energy, the young man's meticulous and focused face was like a painting.
As the morning light began to rise, a simple yet elegant talisman brush appeared in his pale palm.
