Chapter 6: Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Maker
Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Maker
He had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment.
But in order to do so, Li Ping had emptied his savings and the Foundation Establishment Fund.
The Foundation Establishment Pill he bought from the black market alone cost him nearly 3,000 Spirit Stones. Combined with renting a cave abode and buying other supplementary Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects, Li Ping was now completely broke.
Now, all he had on him was a Tier One Middle Grade Talisman Brush, some Talisman Paper, a few dozen Low-Tier Spirit Stones, and some miscellaneous items.
To get his hands on the Foundation Establishment Pill, he had even sold his frequently used Tier One Upper Grade Flying Sword and several other Low-tier Dharma Artifacts.
It was a good thing his Foundation Establishment succeeded; otherwise, Li Ping would have been too devastated to even cry.
Next, he would have to work hard to earn Spirit Stones to buy a Tier Two Dharma Artifact and prepare his required Spirit Stone contribution for this year’s "Foundation Establishment Fund."
Fortunately, the Spiritual Land cave abode required for cultivation, as well as the Cultivation Technique, could be obtained for free from the Cyan Dragon Mountain lineage, which would save him a lot of Spirit Stones.
"Even after successfully reaching Foundation Establishment, I can’t let my guard down!"
Of course, not having enough Spirit Stones was one thing, but the main reason Li Ping had given up on acquiring the skills of a Leatherworker was that he had no intention of pursuing that profession.
Leatherworkers dealt with Demon Beast Hides year-round. The work environment was dirty, messy, and unpleasant, not to mention it soured one’s mood.
The hides they produced were merely raw materials. Before they became finished products in a customer’s hands, they still had to be processed by Artifact Refiners or Talisman Makers, who took the lion’s share of the profit, leaving Leatherworkers with only scraps.
Since he had a cheat, Li Ping was naturally unwilling to take on such a low-profit profession. If he was going to choose a trade, he would be an Alchemist, an Artifact Refiner, or an Array Master—professions that earned a lot of Spirit Stones and had boundless prospects.
He could barely accept being a Talisman Maker.
As for any profession worse than talisman making, he wouldn’t even consider it.
...
Returning the skinning knife to Old Man Lin, Li Ping smiled and instructed Zhang Tie, "Second Brother, when you have a moment, go find Third Brother, Fourth Sister, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, and Seventh Brother. Tell them I’ve successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, and we’ll celebrate together later."
Zhang Tie agreed with an honest smile. "No problem, Big Brother. I’ll go tell them in a bit."
After giving Zhang Tie his instructions, Li Ping turned to Old Man Lin with a solemn expression. "Friend Lin, the matter of the Friends Association is a secret between us. Besides the seven of us, you are the only one who knows. I hope you can be discreet and keep it confidential. Please don’t let anyone else find out, alright?"
After Zhang Tie joined, Li Ping had specially modified the oath for joining the association to prevent troublesome issues, like parents showing up at his door.
Every Cultivator who joined the Friends Association had to swear to keep all matters related to the ’Friends Association’ confidential and not tell any outsiders.
However, Zhang Tie had told Old Man Lin before this rule was in place, so Li Ping couldn’t say much about it and could only ask Old Man Lin to maintain secrecy.
Hearing Li Ping’s words, Old Man Lin swore, "Senior, you can rest assured. From now on, not a single word will escape from this old man."
Upon hearing this, Li Ping bought a stack of Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Paper from Old Man Lin and left, satisfied.
After breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, his Divine Sense and Magical Power had both grown much stronger. Coupled with the guidance he had previously received from Meng Qingyi, Li Ping felt he was not far from reaching the Tier One Upper Grade in his talisman-making skills.
He decided to use this time to practice more. Once he broke through, he could start saving up Spirit Stones in advance to buy that "Original Flavor Talisman Brush" from Fairy Meng.
Tier One professions were just small-time stuff. To really earn Spirit Stones, he needed Tier Two skills.
...
After Li Ping left, only Old Man Lin and Zhang Tie remained in the messy leatherworking shop.
After a long moment, once he was sure Li Ping was long gone, Old Man Lin spoke with a look of awe. "I could tell long ago that Li Ping was exceptionally talented and had a resilient character—he was no small fry. Now he’s actually succeeded in Foundation Establishment. This old man’s eyes have never been wrong about a person."
Zhang Tie nodded affirmatively, agreeing with him, seemingly having forgotten how the old man had been bad-mouthing Li Ping just a short while ago.
"What’s most admirable is his character. I thought that after he succeeded in Foundation Establishment, he would just toss the Friends Association oath aside and go enjoy his own life. I never expected him to actually prepare to fulfill his vow and help you all reach Foundation Establishment."
When Cultivators make an oath, if they break it, they will be plagued by Heart Demons during their cultivation, making it nearly impossible to ever break through to a higher realm again.
But in Old Man Lin’s opinion, now that he was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, what more could he ask for?
’Does he really think he can become a Core Formation Ancestor?’
’If it were me, I definitely would have ignored the Friends Association oath by now. Giving all those shiny Spirit Stones to Low-tier Cultivators... it’s practically a sin!’
The fact that Li Ping chose not to break his oath and instead intended to help the others with their Foundation Establishment had truly shocked him.
At this point, Old Man Lin squinted at his own apprentice. "You kid, you’ve got the luck of a fool. From now on, you’ll not only have a Foundation Establishment Cultivator as your backer, but you’ll also have his support. Maybe you’ll actually have a sliver of a chance to reach Foundation Establishment in the future."
Zhang Tie was a Cultivator with Three Spirit Roots. At thirty-six, he was four years younger than Li Ping.
With a Foundation Establishment Cultivator leading the charge, plus the combined contributions of the other members of the Friends Association, it wouldn’t take ten years to gather enough Spirit Stones to buy another Foundation Establishment Pill.
By then, Zhang Tie would be forty-six. For a Cultivator, that was still the prime of his life, so his chances of achieving Foundation Establishment wouldn’t be low.
Zhang Tie grinned. "Big Brother never lies to me."
...
Inside a refined little courtyard house in the Outer City’s Vermilion Bird Lane.
Li Ping gripped his Talisman Brush, his gaze heavy as he looked at the cyan Talisman Paper spread out on the table before him. In his mind, he carefully reviewed the method for creating a Tier One Upper Grade Talisman: the Cyan Thunder Talisman.
Talisman making was, in essence, the art of storing a Cultivator’s power within a Talisman. When it came time to use it, only a sliver of Magical Power was needed for activation.
To create a certain type of Talisman, a Talisman Maker first had to learn the corresponding Magic. Then, they had to draw a magical power circuit on blank Talisman Paper capable of storing the Magic, thereby solidifying it.
Therefore, a Talisman Maker’s level was inextricably linked to their own Cultivation.
Take Li Ping, for example. Before Foundation Establishment, the strongest Magic he could cast was only a high-level Tier One spell, which meant the best he could create was a Tier One Upper Grade Talisman.
After Foundation Establishment, he could cast Tier Two Magic, which finally allowed him to attempt crafting Tier Two Talismans.
Li Ping had learned the Cyan Thunder Skill long ago. Now, with his Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivation, casting it was effortless.
For Li Ping, the greatest difficulty in creating a Tier One Upper Grade Talisman was drawing the magical power circuit capable of storing the ’Cyan Thunder Skill’.
’That should be about right.’
After reviewing the process one more time and finding no omissions, Li Ping dipped his Talisman Brush in Spiritual Ink and his hand began to move across the spread-out Talisman Paper like a dragon in flight.
As he moved, an incredibly complex symbol quickly took shape. But just as the magical power circuit was about to be completed—
POOF!
A ball of flame erupted, and the Talisman Paper spontaneously combusted without any external fire. The talisman creation had failed.
After extinguishing the flame, Li Ping frowned in thought for a moment before trying again.
This time, there were no mishaps. He successfully drew the magical power circuit on the blank Talisman Paper, then quickly cast the Cyan Thunder Skill, solidifying the Magic into the completed circuit.
As the Magic solidified, the glow on the Cyan Thunder Talisman slowly faded.
The moment he finished, Li Ping’s consciousness saw the short, thin twig at the very bottom of the legacy tree in his Sea of Consciousness suddenly grow a little longer.
[Talisman Maker: Tier One Upper Grade]