Delighted beyond measure, Han Li walked back toward the building with the wooden box containing the Golden Bamboo Brush tucked against his chest.
He had traded three bottles of Yellow Dragon Pills and four bottles of Golden Marrow Pellets to the young woman for this treasure and the bag of Seven-Star Grass seeds. Afterward, he had casually purchased some cinnabar from a few other stalls before hurrying back, eager to begin his talisman-crafting endeavor.
After dispelling the protective wards and entering the small building, Han Li noticed that young Kusan was still meditating. Not wanting to disturb him, he went upstairs to his room on his own.
He arranged the talisman paper and cinnabar neatly on the desk, then took out the Golden Bamboo Brush and set to work crafting a Spirit-Pinning Talisman.
Following the method described in the Spirit-Pinning Art, he channeled his spiritual energy through his right hand holding the brush, slowly infusing it into the brush shaft. He then dipped the tip into a small amount of cinnabar and began inscribing the talismanic pattern onto a sheet of talisman paper.
A quarter of an hour later, Han Li straightened up with a look of joy, stretching his stiff back. He gazed at the silvery, gleaming talisman on the desk, his heart swelling with elation.
From its appearance, this talisman was identical to the one Doctor Mo had once used. Though the spiritual energy contained within was somewhat faint, it was still far superior to the crude forgeries he had practiced with before—those had been nothing more than visual copies without a trace of genuine spiritual power.
Han Li picked up the freshly completed talisman and examined it with excitement. Satisfied, he prepared to test the Spirit-Pinning Art. But before he could even begin chanting the incantation, the spiritual energy on the paper suddenly grew chaotic, showing signs of an imminent backlash.
Startled, Han Li reflexively threw the talisman away.
With a soft *pop*, the Spirit-Pinning Talisman spontaneously combusted in midair, bursting into a fireball that burned itself to nothing.
Han Li stared blankly at the empty air, speechless. After a long pause, he sighed—it seemed this talisman had failed too.
Though somewhat disheartened, Han Li had not lost confidence. After all, he felt that the previous talisman had been very close to success, and with more practice, he would surely succeed next time.
And so, over the next half day, he crafted one Spirit-Pinning Talisman after another, only to fail again and again.
The talismans either ignited on their own, erupted in small explosions, or simply had all their spiritual energy dissipate the moment they were completed, reducing them to useless scraps of paper.
When Han Li watched the last freshly completed paper talisman shatter with a sharp *crack*, the normally calm young man could no longer hold back. He looked up at the ceiling and burst out cursing:
"Heaven, you're playing with me! Twelve sheets of talisman paper—at least one should have succeeded! This is only a low-grade Spirit-Pinning Talisman! Did I pick the wrong day to start?"
The outburst lifted a weight off his chest, and his mood improved somewhat.
After calming down, he tilted his head in thought and glanced at the cinnabar box on the desk—only a small amount remained—along with the Golden Bamboo Brush. He concluded that the problem lay elsewhere. His spiritual energy had flowed smoothly through the brush shaft, and the cinnabar had shown vibrant spiritual properties when applied to the paper. Neither seemed to be the issue.
Unable to figure out the cause on his own, Han Li decided after some deliberation to consult the young monk. It was at this moment that he truly understood how important it was to have a mentor or senior to offer guidance on the path of cultivation, and the thought of taking a master crossed his mind.
After hearing Han Li's complaints about his failed attempts, the young monk stared at him with an extraordinarily peculiar expression, as though a beautiful white flower had suddenly bloomed on Han Li's face.
Feeling uneasy under that gaze, Han Li wondered what he had said wrong.
"Benefactor Han, I suspect you know very little about the art of talisman crafting," the young monk finally spoke.
"Master Kusan is right. This is my first time crafting a talisman," Han Li admitted honestly.
"Among us cultivators, very few actually craft their own talismans. Whatever talismans they need, they generally purchase or trade for at the various marketplaces. Even members of the great families do the same."
"Why?" Han Li asked, surprised.
"Simply put, experienced talisman masters are exceedingly rare, and the cost of training a qualified one is prohibitively high. Only the major cultivation sects have the resources to do so," the monk said with a smile.
"You feel wretched about failing over a dozen times in a row, don't you?" the monk asked.
"Yes. Just the material cost alone would have been enough to buy several ready-made Spirit-Pinning Talismans!" Han Li said with frustration.
"But do you know, Benefactor? For beginners who wish to learn talisman crafting, failing over a hundred times consecutively is completely normal. For those with lesser talent, even hundreds of consecutive failures wouldn't be unusual! Only after a thousand or more attempts does the success rate gradually improve—and that's for crafting the same talisman. If you switch to a different type, while you won't be a complete beginner anymore, the initial failure rate is still astonishingly high. A qualified talisman master requires tens of thousands of practice attempts to be properly trained. And think about it, Benefactor—how many people can sustain such material waste? Not just cultivation families, but even the major sects' talisman masters can only achieve proficiency in basic talisman crafting. If they were to practice mid-grade talismans, even those great sects would go bankrupt. After all, the higher the grade of talisman, the more outrageously expensive the materials become."
Han Li was stunned speechless by this lengthy explanation.
"Then why do stalls sell cinnabar and talisman paper?" Han Li countered after a moment's thought.
"Ha ha! That cinnabar and talisman paper is sold to cultivators who practice talisman techniques," the young monk explained.
"Talisman techniques?" Han Li was confused.
"They're like the Spirit-Pinning Art you've been learning—spells that require pre-drawn talismans to activate. They're different from talismans that store spells inside for convenient use. The talismans used in talisman techniques can't be activated with spiritual energy alone; they require specific chanting and spellcasting. But it's generally not complicated and easy to pick up."
"Because talisman technique users frequently need the same type of talisman, they find it too expensive to keep buying them. So just like you, they practice crafting the talismans themselves. Since they only need one type, the cost is manageable despite being considerable. So if you truly wish to practice the Spirit-Pinning Art, crafting your own talismans is best in the long run. But if you don't plan to use it often, it's better to just spend a little money and buy a few Spirit-Pinning Talismans for backup," the monk explained in detail, offering his advice at the end.
"Thank you for your guidance, Master Kusan!" Han Li said with genuine gratitude, performing a deep bow.
"You're too polite, Benefactor!" The monk hurriedly returned the bow.
*This young monk is quite easy to talk to. If I have any more questions in the future, I should come ask him again,* Han Li thought as he walked back to his room.
There was no point in continuing to practice talisman crafting for now. He would buy a few Spirit-Pinning Talismans for backup when he had the chance. As for his Art of Eternal Youth, he had long since reached the peak of the eighth layer. Now that he had obtained the techniques for the subsequent layers, it was time to break through his bottleneck and enter the ninth layer. Additionally, he needed to practice the newly acquired spell techniques. Mastering them early would add to his strength.
The moment Han Li pushed open his door, his mind had already mapped out his plans.
And so, in the days that followed, Han Li spent his days in his room consuming large quantities of pills and meditating to cultivate the Art of Eternal Youth. At night, he went to secluded areas of the valley to practice the newly learned spell techniques.
These included the Quicksand Art, the Frost Art, the Levitation Art, the Entangling Vines Art, the Voice Transmission Art, the Concealment Art, the Spark Art, and the most difficult of all—the Earth Spike Art.
After more than ten days of intensive practice, Han Li finally broke through to the ninth layer of the Art of Eternal Youth in the final days before the Tailan Assembly ended. Wu Jiuzhi and the others were left gaping in astonishment, and Daoist Qingwen repeatedly called Han Li a prodigy among rogue cultivators.
But Han Li knew perfectly well that without the dozen or more bottles of pills he had consumed, breaking through would not have been so easy! However, his pill supply was running low, and he would need to concoct more soon.