Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: First Attempt at Talisman Crafting
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At the stroke of midnight, the bright moon hung high amidst a tapestry of stars. Its serene light scattered across the lake's surface, shimmering with a cold, silver gleam.
A thin layer of mist rose from the lake, enveloping the black-canopied boat. Onboard, the candlelight flickered gently in the breeze, casting long, dancing shadows.
Chen Jianghe took out a peachwood talisman brush, spirit ink, and high-quality yellow paper—a complete set of tools and materials for crafting spirit talismans.
First, he cut the large sheets of high-quality yellow paper, dividing each into four smaller pieces of talisman paper.
One sheet of high-quality yellow paper could be cut into four pieces of talisman paper. He had purchased twenty sheets, giving him a total of eighty pieces.
Then, he opened the spirit ink box and poured a small amount into an inkstone. A faint, aged fragrance wafted to his nose.
This was spirit ink made from cinnabar and the blood of small green fish.
He picked up the peachwood talisman brush and moistened it with water vapor, causing the sparse bristles to clump together and become smoother.
Afterward, he closed his eyes and composed himself, recalling his painting experience from his past life and the rudimentary knowledge of talisman crafting he had gathered.
Talisman crafting, as a cultivation art that one could attempt without a formal lineage, was accessible mainly because its fundamentals were simple.
As long as one possessed spiritual power, tools, and materials, they could give it a try.
It was equivalent to channeling spiritual power through the medium of the talisman brush and spirit ink, using the talisman paper as a vessel to inscribe a magical art upon it, thereby creating a spirit talisman.
He had no talisman crafting lineage to follow, so he could only start by trying to inscribe minor water-type magical arts onto the talisman paper.
Suddenly, his eyes glinted like cold lightning as he held his breath and focused his mind.
He picked up the talisman brush, his movements as smooth as flowing clouds and water.
Water-type spiritual power, like a fine thread, converged at the tip of the brush, painting upon the talisman paper.
Bang~
The talisman paper disintegrated into fragments, scattering in all directions.
“The flow of spiritual power was too heavy, exceeding the paper's limit. My wrist also trembled as I put the brush down, preventing the spiritual power from forming a fine thread.”
Chen Jianghe held the brush with a suspended wrist three inches above the talisman paper. The spiritual power gathered at the tip of the peachwood brush was as fine and fragile as a gossamer thread.
Hoo~
“What I need to do now is master the control of this thread of spiritual power and steady my wrist to prevent the flow from being intermittent.”
He felt that crafting spirit talismans was similar to painting; both required absolute control over the brush's strength and a steady wrist.
The slightest tremble could ruin a painting.
It was the same with crafting spirit talismans. A slight shake could break the flow of spiritual power, destroying the talisman in an instant.
After composing himself for a moment, spiritual power seeped out from his Shaoshang acupoint like a fine thread, coiling around the talisman brush and flowing to its tip.
He steadied his wrist, his arm moving as he willed.
The brush moved like a soaring dragon, creating a painting with every stroke.
He casually completed a painting of the lakeside night scene. His artistic foundation from before he transmigrated was still there.
Immediately after, he took out another piece of talisman paper and began to try crafting a spirit talisman again. This time, he chose to draw the simpler Water Purification Talisman.
This was a basic spirit talisman.
It was even simpler than the sub-par Water Condensation Talisman.
This time, his mind was calm, and he cast aside all distracting thoughts. The spiritual power gathered at the tip of the peachwood brush moved across the talisman paper like a fine thread in a regular pattern.
Halfway through the drawing, the spiritual power faltered, the thread snapped, and the talisman paper turned to dust.
“Is crafting spirit talismans this mentally draining?”
Fine beads of sweat appeared at his hairline, and a trace of fatigue showed on his face. Crafting spirit talismans required condensing spiritual power into a thread, a process that consumed an immense amount of mental energy every single moment.
In comparison, the consumption of spiritual power was almost negligible.
He felt it might be because he was exerting too much effort to control his spiritual power, leading to the immense mental drain.
After all, this was just crafting a basic spirit talisman.
For an ordinary low-grade Talisman Master, it was basically not a significant drain.
He put down the talisman brush, sat cross-legged, and meditated to recover his energy and spirit.
Six hours later.
He suddenly opened his eyes, which shone like cold stars. He picked up the talisman brush, channeled his spiritual power, and his brush moved like a soaring dragon.
A spiritual aura flowed across the talisman paper with a faint glow, and it became a spirit talisman.
“Success!”
Chen Jianghe was astonished.
The result was both unexpected and expected. The reason he had dared to try talisman crafting was because of his excellent foundation in painting.
However, succeeding on the third try was something he truly hadn't anticipated.
“My talent for talisman crafting must be pretty good.”
Chen Jianghe thought to himself, then immediately used the Water Purification Talisman to see the effect of his own creation.
He took a bowl of brackish lake water. After being purified by the talisman, the water became clear, and the fishy, pungent smell disappeared.
He took a small sip.
It was like fresh water, with a hint of sweetness.
His spirits lifted instantly. He picked up his brush and continued to draw Water Purification Talismans, his movements clearly more practiced than the first time.
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
Chen Jianghe finished his stroke, and the talisman was complete.
This was the tenth Water Purification Talisman he had crafted. Both its effectiveness and his proficiency in drawing it had improved significantly.
His success rate had also reached ninety percent.
Previously, the talismans he made could only purify a bowl of lake water; now, a single talisman could purify an entire basin.
While crafting the talismans, his mental energy consumption had been greatly reduced.
At the beginning, he would feel exhausted after drawing just two talismans. Now, he was still full of energy after drawing three.
However, crafting basic spirit talismans was of little use to cultivators.
Of course, if placed in the secular martial world, he could be considered an enlightened master.
Afterward, Chen Jianghe meditated to restore his spirit. Once his essence, qi, and spirit had returned to their peak state, he continued crafting talismans.
This time, he prepared to increase the difficulty.
He would craft the Water Condensation Talisman.
Although it was also a sub-par spirit talisman, the difficulty was considerably higher, and its value was much greater.
A Water Purification Talisman was worth ten taels of silver.
But a Water Condensation Talisman was worth ten grains of spirit sand.
One had to know that at the port, one grain of spirit sand could be exchanged for a hundred taels of silver, but one hundred taels of silver could definitely not buy a single grain of spirit sand.
The function of the Water Condensation Talisman was also clear. When used, it could gather the water vapor and water-type spiritual energy from the air, forming a freshwater sphere the size of a washbasin.
It was not very useful to cultivators, but it was quite impressive in the secular martial world, hence its slightly higher value.
With higher value came increased difficulty.
Chen Jianghe wasted six sheets of talisman paper over two days before he finally succeeded in crafting a Water Condensation Talisman.
He tested its effect.
Although it didn't quite match the effect of a standard Water Condensation Talisman, it wasn't far off.
The second one he made was up to the standard level.
For the next half a month, he focused on crafting Water Condensation Talismans. He wanted to achieve a success rate of over eighty percent.
Then, he could start trying to craft low-grade spirit talismans.
“Thirty-six sheets of talisman paper yielded seventeen spirit talismans. My success rate for the Water Condensation Talisman has reached ninety percent. It's time to try crafting low-grade spirit talismans.”
Ten Water Purification Talismans and seven Water Condensation Talismans.
He now had forty-four sheets of talisman paper left. As for the spirit ink... he had bought a new box, still unopened.
He was a beginner and self-taught, so he wasted a lot of spirit ink.
Generally, one box of spirit ink could be used to craft fifty low-grade spirit talismans. He had only drawn thirty-six sub-par talismans and had already used most of it up.
As for the peachwood talisman brush, it had been shedding bristles much more severely over the past month.
The drawbacks of the fairy's second-hand brush were gradually becoming apparent. It had clearly been used violently by her, causing the ferrule that bound the bristles to loosen. He could see that the peachwood tip wrapped by the bristles was dark and cracked, obviously due to rough handling.