"It's here!"
Seeing the panel appear, Lin Chang'an was overjoyed, extremely excited.
Forty years!
He had waited for a full forty years!
Twenty years in the Mortal Realm, followed by twenty more in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, he finally awaited this Golden Finger.
"But how did this Golden Finger awaken?"
Lin Chang'an thought about this with a puzzled expression on his face.
"I just slept, and before that, I went to a brothel, so it can't be the woman."
"Could it be the wine?"
Suddenly struck by an idea, Lin Chang'an widened his eyes as he looked at his big bed.
If he's not mistaken, he must have drunk too much last night. After being brought back by Erniu, he was in a stupor and nearly drank himself to death!
Bah!
Let's say it was at the moment of life and death that the Golden Finger was activated.
"Damn it! The wine must have had water added to it!"
At this moment, Lin Chang'an angrily pounded the table, catching a glimpse of the clear mirror in the room from the corner of his eye.
In the mirror, the reflection showed a gentle and refined face, with a bright and clear appearance; although he was already in his forties, he didn't look old at all, instead exhibiting a certain seasoned charm.
It was that very face that got him kicked out of the Zhou Family first.
However, at this moment, his brows reflected a sense of fatigue, with dark circles under his eyes, which shocked Lin Chang'an.
"Just a few days and I've become so haggard!"
"Damn it! From today, no more drinking!"
Lin Chang'an resolutely slapped his thigh. Recently, due to disheartenment, he had been somewhat lax.
But now that the opportunity has arrived, how can he waste it?
Excitement spread across Lin Chang'an's face, his expression rekindling the same vigor as when he first entered the Immortal Cultivation Realm.
At this point, he couldn't calm down enough to cultivate, instead excitedly studying his newfound opportunity over and over.
Open, close!
Open, close!
...
The light rain continued until nightfall.
The market lost the daytime hustle, while Lin Chang'an, who had holed up in his room, stared out with bloodshot eyes.
But his face still beamed with an excitement that couldn't be quelled for a long time.
He didn't dare to sleep the whole day, fearing that waking would reveal it all to be a drunken illusion.
"I can't lose myself in this; it's just the beginning. There's a long road ahead, and achieving the Dao and longevity may not be mere fantasies."
Lin Chang'an took a deep breath, got up, and plunged his head into a basin of water for a while. After the cold water calmed him down, he lifted his head and took deep breaths.
"But earlier, because I had to go to the mortal realm, most of my Spirit Crystals were exchanged for goods. Right now, the most urgent thing is the corvée labor that Erniu mentioned."
"In previous years, the corvée tax needed five Spirit Stones; this time, it might take at least ten."
Ten Spirit Stones: that's a substantial fortune for a Tier One Loose Cultivator like him.
Even he needed to prepare in advance; otherwise, if he fell short of Spirit Stones, he'd have no choice but to accept dangerous pioneering missions.
At this thought, Lin Chang'an started to silently calculate his current belongings.
A box of gold, silver, and jewels, useless.
A package of Mortal Realm cultivation and martial techniques and divine weapons, useless.
Fifteen Tier One Lower Grade Golden Light Talismans and ten Divine Movement Talismans.
A Lower Grade Magical Artifact, the Cyan Bamboo Sword.
The rest were his essential Talisman Painting tools and the Chang Chun Skill, all neatly arrayed on the table.
"Besides the twenty-six Spirit Crystals temporarily borrowed from Erniu, I still have twenty Spirit Crystals here."
He lowered his head and took out Spirit Crystals from the inner pocket of his tall boots, placing them all on the table.
Looking at all his assets, Lin Chang'an nodded quietly. Over the years, he had spent all his earnings on cultivation.
He must quickly earn more Spirit Crystals.
...
Midnight.
"Talisman Painting requires a calm mind and concentration."
On the table, the Soothing Incense wafted through the air. With all the Talisman-Making tools ready, Lin Chang'an closed his eyes and rested for two hours before his heart finally calmed.
"Now is the time."
He took a deep breath, opened the Jade Bottle, and dipped the Talisman-Making Spirit Brush into the special Cinnabar inside.
With a calm and focused mind, Lin Chang'an's eyes were attentive and serious. He had been making talismans for nearly twenty years.
Especially with the Golden Light Talisman, gentle Spiritual Power flowed from his palm through the brush tip, delivering evenly and steadily.
Gold Attribute Spirit Beast Blood, accompanied by special Cinnabar, flowed smoothly across the talisman paper with the brush, like a dragon or serpent.
This action had been repeated countless times, and had become instinctive; everything came naturally.
"Poof!"
A flame burst forth, igniting the talisman paper spontaneously.
Lin Chang'an seemed accustomed to it, scattering the ashes with a wave of his hand, then taking out another talisman paper and repeating the action.
[Golden Light Talisman +1 (Proficiency 499/500)]
Finally, after three failures, when he succeeded on the fourth try, a data flash appeared in his sea of consciousness.
Lin Chang'an stared blankly for a long while before heaving a long sigh.
"So that's how it is."
If in the past, Talisman Painting was just a means of livelihood, now he saw a bright and promising path.
...
[Golden Light Talisman (Mastery 0/1000)]
The Golden Light Talisman's skill advanced!
Along with the appearance of a top-quality Golden Light Talisman, Lin Chang'an felt an epiphany as his mind replayed the insights from making the Golden Light Talisman.
After a long moment, Lin Chang'an opened his eyes.
"I see, breaking through proficiency unexpectedly brings insights too, like the fog clearing to reveal the day."
Lin Chang'an reflected as he looked down at the Golden Light Talisman on the table, realizing several unnecessary errors in his previous methods.
After a night of focused Talisman Painting, eight Golden Light Talismans neatly lay on the table.
Especially after advancing to Mastery with the Golden Light Talisman, mana consumption was reduced by ten percent—truly valuable Spirit Crystals!
And he suddenly understood the function of this Golden Finger: effort receives reward.
It's not just about practice, insights gained also bring improvement.
He distinctly remembered adding 1 point to proficiency last night during a moment of insight.
"As long as I put my heart into it, there will be rewards."
Retrieving his thoughts, Lin Chang'an also dismissed his idea of farming proficiency points.
If he's not sincere, even a hundred Golden Light Talismans painted wouldn't add a single point to proficiency.
Focusing sincerely and working hard will yield results—this is the correct use of the Golden Finger.
"Although I've found the correct way to use the Golden Finger, the Cultivation Realm is full of hidden dangers, and a single mistake could lead to my ruin; I can't be careless."
Lin Chang'an reminded himself quietly; when he first arrived at the market, he had eagerly gone with fellow cultivators to hunt Demon Beasts.
The idea of sudden wealth, exchanging for Spirit Pills, breaking through cultivation—these always belonged to the fortunate, while most lay in pools of blood.
"Back then, when hunting Demon Beasts, several cultivators at the Qi Refining Middle Stage perished, yet I, at the Qi Refining Early Stage, survived. How was that not also luck?"
After a night of Talisman Painting and feeling the nearly exhausted mana within him, Lin Chang'an smiled.
He even used the Spirit Crystals he usually couldn't bear to use to restore his mana.
By now, the sky outside had cleared, and the rain had stopped.
Warm sunlight spilled over the rain-soaked world, with sparkling dew on the emerald bamboo leaves outside the market casting radiant light.