Third Brother's Visit and the Talisman Arts
After that day, Baek Cheong's daily life was dyed in the harsh colors of toil. Every morning upon waking, she was summoned to the pill refining room and forced to sit motionless before the furnace. Gok Elder's teachings were incomparably rigorous and sharp compared to before.
"Your pill heart wavers! If sincerity doesn't infuse the pill, no matter how perfectly inscribed with pill script it may be, it will harm the one who consumes it!"
The moment she tried to stretch out her divine sense even slightly to peek at Moomyeongbang, Gok Elder's stern rebuke inevitably came crashing down. He used the excuse of not tolerating any drop in pill quality, but in truth, it was a firm resolve to block any stray thoughts from the source.
This is the life of a repairman? Baek Cheong gritted her teeth and spent the entire day on the grueling task of separating herbal essences and fusing energies. Once pill refining lessons ended, she returned to her residence for the tedious routine of expelling impurities and tempering her channels. Managing the vast dantian of Qi Refining 4th star demanded twice the patience it once did.
Her sole escape was granted only around midnight. The fleeting moment before collapsing exhausted onto her bed and drifting off to sleep.
"Days are way too short..."
She barely managed to log into Moomyeongbang and skim the chat board, but even catching up on backlog posts was overwhelming. The thrilling days of posting troll bait and watching repairmen react felt like ancient history. Satisfied with light lurking, she surrendered to overwhelming sleepiness in those grinding days that stretched nearly a month.
Then one day, a welcome guest arrived at the Yeonha Baek family.
Baek Woo, the third son who had left home to wander and pursue the path of talisman crafting, had returned briefly to his hometown. Before departing on a perilous journey beyond the Northern Sea with his renowned talisman master teacher, he came to reconnect with his family.
"Father, Mother! Your son Woo has returned."
As Baek Woo entered the family dining hall and greeted them with dignified poise, his parents' faces bloomed with smiles.
"Yes, our Woo is back. You must have suffered out there, but your face looks radiant."
"I'm refining my lacking skills under Master's guidance."
The atmosphere in the dining hall, with the whole family gathered after so long, was warm and harmonious. Baek Woo asked after his siblings and shared the family's recent news, easing years of longing. But due to the clan's busy affairs, he hadn't yet heard the full details of Baek Cheong's miraculous achievements or her receiving personal instruction from Gok Elder.
Baek Woo's gaze turned to Baek Cheong, sitting quietly beside their parents. His eyes were thick with deep pity and sorrow.
"Our precious little Cheong-ah. No troubles in my absence? You've grown so much."
Baek Woo approached warmly and stroked her head. Baek Cheong beamed and nodded.
"Yes, Third Brother! You've gotten even cooler too."
"Haha, you little rascal. Such a smooth talker."
Baek Woo couldn't bear seeing his young sister, born with the despairing trash spiritual roots of O-yeong-geun. Having wandered the world, he had witnessed firsthand the brutal limits of mixed spiritual roots in the repairman world.
"Cheong-ah, don't push yourself too hard in cultivation. No need to despair over lacking talent. Beyond elevating your realm in the Hundred Arts of Immortal Cultivation, the world holds countless wondrous paths. Just find the one that suits you."
At Baek Woo's warm-hearted consolation for his sister, Father and Mother exchanged meaningful glances and smiled secretly to themselves.
Then Baek Woo rummaged in his bosom and placed a small box before Baek Cheong.
"These are low-grade talismans I drew myself. Useful ones for daily life, like the Cleanse Talisman or Fierce Flame Talisman. The materials for talisman crafting are simple too, so try drawing them when you're bored. Who knows? You might discover unexpected talent in wielding the brush and tracing lines."
It was a light gift, like a toy or pastime. A subtle show of pride as a talisman craftsman.
Talismans?
Baek Cheong peered curiously into the box. Geometric lines and patterns drawn in red cinnabar gleamed mysteriously on yellow paper.
Pill refining's a drag, but talismans look kinda fun.
To Baek Cheong, who wrestled daily with flames and herbs, brush and paper seemed a delightful diversion. She vaguely recalled skimming over talisman-related posts on Moomyeongbang as too complex and arcane.
"Brother, how do you draw these? I wanna try too!"
As Baek Cheong pleaded with sparkling eyes, Baek Woo chuckled and slapped his knee.
"Oh ho, interested? Good. The basics of talisman crafting lie in emptying the mind and gathering energy at the brush tip. It's connecting heaven and earth's principles into a single stroke on paper. Let Brother demonstrate personally."
Baek Woo rolled up his sleeves and fetched a high-quality jade rabbit-hair brush and a small inkstone filled with red cinnabar from his storage pouch. He spread yellow talisman paper flat on the table and took a deep breath.
"I'll show you the easiest one, the Cleanse Talisman. The secret is letting energy flow without obstruction."
Baek Woo's eyes grew solemn as spiritual energy gathered at his brush tip. The brush, laden with cinnabar, glided across the paper. His fluid, unhesitating strokes traced the geometric pattern in a single unbroken line. A soft red glow suffused the paper, and a pure energy faintly spread through the surroundings.
"There, complete. Impressive, right?"
Baek Woo proudly held up the talisman. Father and Mother couldn't hide their joy at their son's fine craftsmanship.
But Baek Cheong's reaction was entirely different.
From the instant Baek Woo wielded the brush, her divine sense had been analyzing furiously. Curiosity about talisman crafting, combined with dissecting his finger movements, brush trajectory, and the spiritual energy seeping into the paper in three dimensions, stored it all in her mind. The energy control honed handling the five elements in pill refining, plus the vast knowledge from Moomyeongbang lurking, wove together in her head.
Extract energy at a steady thickness and array it along the stroke's path. Way simpler than handling energy in pill refining?
Baek Cheong snorted inwardly, snatched a spare brush from the table, dipped it deeply in the inkstone to coat it thickly with cinnabar, and pulled a blank sheet toward her.
"I'll give it a try."
Baek Woo couldn't hold back his laughter at his sister's eager attitude. A child who couldn't even hold a brush properly copying a talisman after one glance was absurd. Even renowned genius talisman masters in the repairman world endured hundreds of failures before drawing a single proper line.
"Go ahead, draw freely. Crooked lines are fine—just pretend to infuse energy..."
Before Baek Woo's encouragement finished—
Baek Cheong's brush descended boldly onto the paper.
Swish! Unhesitating strokes raced across the surface. No hesitation, no breaks—a perfect single-stroke masterpiece. The complex pattern of the Cleanse Talisman Baek Woo had demonstrated replicated flawlessly on her paper, without a hair's deviation.
The instant she dotted the final stroke and lifted the brush—
A blindingly intense light erupted from Baek Cheong's talisman like an explosion. Far denser and purer than the faint glow of Baek Woo's, it was on another level entirely. The air in the dining hall purified in an instant, an uncanny phenomenon.
"...Huh?"
A dumb sound leaked from Baek Woo's mouth. He alternated stares between his own talisman and the one Baek Cheong had just drawn, rubbing his eyes. The quality gap was obvious to the naked eye. Her talisman's spiritual energy density and pattern perfection transcended low-grade, reaching mid-grade.
"Th-this... Not just mimicking the form, but perfectly infusing energy too? In a single stroke?"
Baek Woo's legs gave out, and he slumped into his chair. Years of blood, sweat, and tears under his master's whip on perilous roads—his talisman craft shattered pathetically by his ten-year-old sister's playful attempt.
In the heavy silence hanging over the dining hall, only Baek Cheong smiled brightly, flapping her talisman.
"Wow! This is way easier than I thought! Brother, show me another one. Fierce Flame Talisman? I'll copy that too!"
Baek Cheong felt like she'd found a fun game after ages. Easier than pill refining, instant results without much effort—it suited her perfectly.
"Th-that..."
But her innocent cry struck a fatal blow, crumbling Baek Woo's spirit. Father and Mother were equally dumbfounded by their daughter's overwhelming talent.
"Like this?"
In the end, she even replicated the Fierce Flame Talisman perfectly without instruction.