A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Chapter 46: Chapter 45: Talisman Maker’s Inheritance

Upon hearing what Lü Zhong said, a bitter smile appeared on Li Dong’s face.

”To save my son, I’ve already spent all my savings. How about this? As payment for the trip to the General’s Tomb, I’ll teach you how to make the Tier One Lower-Grade Candlelight Talisman.”

’A Candlelight Talisman?’

Lü Zhong gave Li Dong a wry smile. ’Sales for that talisman are even lower than for the Arrow Avoidance Talisman.’

He had good reason for never learning to make the Candlelight Talisman. It was one of the most troublesome Tier One Lower-Grade Talismans to draw, and sales were sluggish. Aside from Loose Cultivators who adventured in the wilds, almost no one was willing to buy such an impractical talisman.

Its impracticality was all relative, of course.

Compared to the simple, easy-to-use Candlelight Skill and various other cheap light sources, the Candlelight Talisman wasn’t very useful. It had a short duration, and its light wasn’t as bright as that of the Candlelight Skill.

Besides, Lü Zhong’s dislike for the man made him want to make Li Dong pay dearly.

”Fellow Daoist Li, perhaps you could add something else?”

”Haha...” Li Dong gave an awkward laugh. He knew the price he’d offered wasn’t fair. After a moment’s hesitation, he took a beast-skin-wrapped package from his robes.

He untied the cord binding it, revealing a yellowed book inside.

”This is a Talisman Maker’s legacy that I came upon by a stroke of luck years ago. Though much of it has been lost to fire and insects, the introductory basics of Talisman Making are intact, along with detailed explanations of talismans. The only parts missing are the methods for crafting various Tier One Middle- and High-Grade Talismans in the later sections.”

Lü Zhong’s expression shifted when he heard this.

A Talisman Maker’s legacy—this was, without a doubt, the one thing he wanted most right now.

As an Independent Cultivator Talisman Maker, he was still completely ignorant about how to identify the different parts of a talisman or what each of them meant.

The only reason he’d been lucky enough to learn Talisman Making at all was thanks to the Gray Mist Space.

Lü Zhong took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. After a moment of thought, he said in a low voice, ”I can’t tell if this is real or fake. Let me take a look first.”

”...Fine!” Li Dong hesitated for a moment before placing the book on the table.

Just as Lü Zhong reached for it, Li Dong, looking worried, suddenly pressed his hand down on the book and added, ”You have ten breaths. I think that’s more than enough time to determine if it’s genuine.”

”No problem,” Lü Zhong agreed readily.

Only then did Li Dong lift his hand from the book.

Lü Zhong picked up the Talisman Maker’s legacy and immediately began flipping through it at an incredible speed, far faster than just skimming.

It looked less like he was reading and more like he was just rifling through the pages.

Seeing this, Li Dong actually felt relieved.

At that speed, it would be impossible for a mere Qi Refining cultivator to memorize the book’s contents with their eyesight and memory alone.

In a moment, the ten breaths were up.

After flipping the last page, Lü Zhong returned the book to Li Dong without a moment’s hesitation.

Inwardly, however, he was gloating. ’The Talisman Maker’s legacy is mine!’

With the Gray Mist Space, he could rely on its memory recall to review the book’s contents perfectly.

An expression of regret appeared on his face. Lü Zhong shook his head and sighed. ”This Talisman Maker’s legacy isn’t what I’m looking for. I wonder, does Fellow Daoist Li have anything else?”

Li Dong hadn’t expected that even a Talisman Maker’s legacy wouldn’t be enough to sway Lü Zhong.

At these words, he fell into deep thought.

After the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, he finally looked up, gritted his teeth, and said, ”I’ll teach you how to make the Evil Exorcism Talisman!”

”Done.” Lü Zhong nodded immediately.

The Evil Exorcism Talisman’s uses were not to be underestimated; it was practically an essential talisman for combat against Demon Cultivators.

Whether it was Demonic Qi, Corpse Qi, or Yin Qi, this talisman could expel it. If it struck a Corpse Refining Zombie or a Yin Soul, it could also inflict damage.

In all of Qingliu Square, Li Dong was likely the only Loose Cultivator who knew how to make a Tier One Middle-Level Talisman like this.

As for the other Independent Cultivator Talisman Makers, such as Huang Shuyuan or Dong Rulin, from what Lü Zhong knew of them, even those with Mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation could, at best, only draw Arrow Avoidance Talismans.

If he could master the Evil Exorcism Talisman, he could carve out a huge piece of the pie that had previously been monopolized by the major shops.

But even with this in mind, Lü Zhong didn’t agree right away. After all, no amount of money was more important than his life.

”Let me think about it for three days, then I’ll give you an answer. How about it?”

”One day. Otherwise, I’ll find someone else,” Li Dong said, his eyes bloodshot.

”Fine, one day it is!” ’That should be enough time,’ Lü Zhong thought. ”I’ll give you a definite answer before dusk tomorrow, Fellow Daoist.”

One day should be enough time to gather most of the relevant information about the General’s Tomb.

After seeing Li Dong out, Lü Zhong closed the courtyard gate and immediately sat cross-legged on his bed.

He entered the Gray Mist Space, and the memory of him flipping through the Talisman Maker’s legacy immediately surfaced.

It was then that he realized something was off.

’Rather than memory recall, it would be more accurate to call this ability scene recall.’

He had flipped through the pages at an incredible speed, yet he could still recall the contents of each one with perfect clarity, without the slightest bit of blur.

’From this perspective, it’s clearly more of a scene recall.’

Without dwelling on it, Lü Zhong began to read through the recalled Talisman Maker’s legacy.

Worthy of the word ”legacy,” the book—called the *Seven Profound Talisman Scripture*—truly contained a highly detailed explanation of the fundamentals of Talisman Making.

’Seven Profound? Could this be the Talisman Making legacy of the Seven Profound Sect...’

He read on. The first section was an introduction to the origins of the Seven Profound Sect.

Lü Zhong skipped right over it.

Then he got to the main content: the composition of a talisman.

A talisman is composed of three parts: the Talisman Head, the Talisman Core, and the talisman foot.

The purpose of the Talisman Head is similar to a spell chanted during casting. A spell can commune with heaven and earth, allowing a Magic Skill to form on its own. A talisman’s ability to function is also heavily reliant on the Talisman Head; a talisman must use its Talisman Head to commune with heaven and earth.

The characters used to write a Talisman Head are called ”Runes” by Talisman Makers.

There are twenty-four Runes in total, which the book mentioned was only one-third of the total number of spell-words.

’So that means there are seventy-two spell-words in total?’ Lü Zhong recalled the Magic Skills he had learned; it seemed he had only mastered ten or so of them, and he suddenly felt a bit dizzy.

By arranging and combining these twenty-four Runes, one could form a Talisman Head.

Next was the Talisman Core. The Talisman Core is a tracing of the True Form of the Great Dao.

On this point, the book mentioned the fundamental skills of Talisman drawing.

The first was the ”Eight Methods of the Character Yong.”

The Talisman Core is composed of eight types of continuous dots and lines: the dot, horizontal, vertical, left-falling stroke, right-falling stroke, rising stroke, turn, and hook.

In addition to the strokes, there was also the matter of brushwork.

For example, smoothly transitioning between center-tip, side-tip, and exposed-tip strokes; pressing and lifting the brush without the tip collapsing or splaying, and so on.

Only by mastering strokes and brushwork could one analyze the composition of a talisman’s various parts. The reason formally trained Talisman Makers could learn to draw new talismans on their own was precisely because they had mastered this essential knowledge.

However, the book also made a point of clarifying that learning to draw new talismans wasn’t that simple.

The reason, it turned out, lay with the talisman foot.