Evening.
"Brother An, you finally came!"
In the pavilion by Moon Lake, Wang Dazhu and Zhao Xian had already arrived early, and they had prepared spirit wine.
"So, Brother An, did you pass the assessment?"
Wang Dazhu and Zhao Xian were quite concerned.
"Yes, just barely passed, and got into the Talisman Hall," Li An replied.
"That's great, I also got into the Artifact Refining Hall!"
Wang Dazhu seemed extremely happy, "The Artifact Refining Hall pays eight spirit stones monthly! Moreover, Senior Brother Yu said he would start me off with smithing, and in three years, he'd teach me artifact refining!"
His eyes sparkled with hope for the future.
In reality, Wang Dazhu was indeed doing well; his cultivation was already at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, and now being in the Artifact Refining Hall, his treatment was better than Li An's and he even had the potential to become an artifact refiner.
As an ordinary person, he was doing quite well in the sect.
Li An noticed that Zhao Xian's expression was good too, and couldn't help but say, "Brother Zhao, you must have succeeded as well?"
"No."
Zhao Xian smiled and said, "I went to the Medicine Hall."
The Medicine Hall is also an outer hall of the Profound Yang Sect, mainly responsible for collecting spirit medicines, with better treatment than peripheral halls like Spirit Plant Mountain, but the monthly stipend was only six, and development was limited, far less than the three major halls.
As if understanding the doubts in Li An's heart, Zhao Xian proactively explained, "Three days ago, I received news from the family that my uncle was killed by a demon cultivator. Currently... my father has already become the patriarch."
Li An suddenly realized.
The Zhao family is a Foundation Establishment level cultivation clan. Now that Zhao Xian's father has risen to power, he can also receive more support from the sect's side.
This kind of thing is a disaster for the whole family, but for Zhao Xian, it turned out to be beneficial.
"Brother Zhao, if I remember correctly, your family's place is not far from 'Qingyang Market'?"
Li An continued to ask; Qingyang Market is one of the three major markets under the Profound Yang Sect, a crucial source of wealth for the sect.
"Yes, close to Qingyang Market. My father wrote to say that recently the surroundings of Qingyang Market have been unsettled, with demon cultivators appearing frequently, causing many incidents of murder and treasure plundering. The Profound Yang Sect cultivators in charge of Qingyang Market have taken action many times, but they haven't resolved it yet…"
Li An nodded, the Profound Yang Sect, Hundred Beasts Sect, Divine Sword Sect were still struggling over the middle grade spiritual ore, and demon cultivators appeared again... The outside world seemed unstable.
However, the Profound Yang Sect's Profound Yang Master is still in his prime; within these two to three hundred years, there shouldn't be any issues.
We can still endure.
"Senior Sister Xu Qiuhui successfully entered the inner sect, and now, Chen Cheng has become the Senior Brother, Mu Qingwan has become the Second Senior Sister…"
Wang Dazhu started talking about others' situations, "Mu Qingwan has already reached Qi Refining Fifth Layer, the Yellow Rank Middle Grade Spirit Root is really strong…"
"There's even a rumor that the two of them might become Dao partners."
He spoke with envy in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Li An understood that Mu Qingwan's speed shouldn't be this fast; behind this, it should be with the help of that inner sect contact Chen Cheng.
"Come, drink!"
Zhao Xian gloomily raised his glass.
...
The next day, Li An and the new disciples of the Talisman Hall attended the collective lecture at the Talisman Hall's main hall.
It wasn't given by Hall Master Guo Xiao himself; the first class on talisman basics was taught by the senior disciple Sun Lin, and the second class on key points of talisman-making was taught by Tan Qingxue.
Sun Lin, nearly middle-aged, was already over forty, a First Grade Upper Grade Talisman Master. His physique was robust, wearing the formal dark robe only official disciples could wear, appearing very amiable, giving people a strong sense of approachability, making many new disciples feel close to him.
And while Tan Qingxue usually seemed lively, she appeared quite serious during her lectures.
Li An noticed that Sun Lin's lectures were mostly general, whereas Tan Qingxue would offer detailed insights, raising many practical issues, but beginners might not necessarily understand their value.
"Lecture's over. According to the Talisman Hall's rules, for the first three months, a senior brother or sister will be arranged for one-on-one guidance for new disciples. If you have any seniors in mind, you can communicate and choose one. However, after choosing, your monthly stipend will deduct two pieces for your guiding senior brother or sister."
At this moment, Sun Lin suddenly smiled again.
"Senior Brother Sun Lin, we choose you!"
The seven new disciples spoke in unison.
Tan Qingxue's face changed slightly.
She and Sun Lin had always been in a competitive state in the sect, and enticing new disciples was very important, but now, had Sun Lin made a move in advance?
"Feng Lin!"
She was annoyed and suddenly understood.
Li An, on the other hand, furrowed his brow slightly; it seemed these seven were hinted by Feng Lin... yet he was the only one left out?
Surely, poor people have no rights...
"Alright, let it be then."
Sun Lin smiled and said, "Come with me, I'll give you some extra tips on making talismans."
Li An was the only one left in the main hall.
"Will you choose me?" Tan Qingxue absentmindedly looked at Li An.
"I choose."
Li An nodded.
Actually, he really wanted to say, is it possible to choose no one... He didn't lack experience in refining talismans, nor did he need anyone's teaching. Spending two spirit stones like this was too wasteful!
However, being excluded from the faction by Sun Lin, if he also refused Tan Qingxue, he might as well not get along in the Talisman Hall.
Moreover, considering from Xu Qiuhui's perspective, he could only go with Tan Qingxue.
"Alright,"
Tan Qingxue said, "Zhirou, take care of him for these three months."
She waved at another female disciple.
That female disciple's name was Cao Zhirou. She was considered one of Tan Qingxue's confidants in the Talisman Hall. Although not as attractive as Tan Qingxue, she was of above-average appearance. Hearing this, she could only nod.
...
In the middle of the month, the newly joined disciples all received a low-grade talisman brush and twenty sheets of low-grade talisman paper.
This pleased Li An greatly, as the talisman brush from the Talisman Hall was slightly better than the one he had, worth at least eight spirit stones!
Moreover, the one he had bought from the Exchange Pavilion was already close to being scrapped.
Cao Zhirou had indeed come to find Li An a few times, earnestly teaching him some talisman basics. Li An pretended to listen attentively, but his understanding and absorption were slow. Gradually, Cao Zhirou lost interest and stopped paying much attention to him.
After half a month of understanding, Li An also had a preliminary understanding of the basic situation in the Talisman Hall.
The entire Talisman Hall was led by Elder Guo Xiao, who was a Tier Two Talisman Master, with cultivation at the early-stage Foundation Establishment!
Next were his two disciples, Sun Lin and Tan Qingxue. Sun Lin's cultivation was slightly stronger, at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, while Tan Qingxue was at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer. Both were Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Masters.
Elder Guo Xiao was already old, with little lifespan remaining. To select the next Hall Master, Guo Xiao set up a test—
Among the disciples of Talisman Hall, whoever could find him a Second Grade Life-extending Pill within three years would receive the inheritance of Tier Two talismans—once they got the inheritance, the position of Hall Master would be almost certainly theirs.
A Second Grade Life-extending Pill could extend the lifespan of a Foundation Establishment cultivator by fifty years. In the sect, it was considered a strategic resource and could only be exchanged for contribution points; it couldn't be bought with spirit stones.
One Second Grade Life-extending Pill required ten thousand contribution points!
Gathering enough contribution points made it important to draw in disciples from the Talisman Hall.
After all, besides working hard on making talismans themselves to get a fixed amount of contribution points, it was crucial for Tan and Sun to buy contribution points from other disciples.
Generally, one spirit stone was roughly equivalent to ten contribution points, but buying them for real money would be more expensive.
Moreover, not everyone was willing to sell, as contribution points were very important among the registered disciples, necessary for gaining promotion opportunities and exchanging for core resources.
To buy ten thousand contribution points, at least two to three thousand spirit stones were needed...
It could be called a sky-high price!
Li An calculated that unless Tan Qingxue and Sun Lin had extra support, it would be difficult for them to obtain a Second Grade Life-extending Pill through their own efforts within three years!
After all, even if they were Tier One Upper Grade Talisman Masters, the number of talismans they could make each month was limited. The fixed contribution they earned was about 100 points, and the extra spirit stones could only buy about 20 or 30 points.
To accumulate ten thousand points would take at least six years.
The test set by Guo Xiao was actually an abuse of public power for personal gain. While selecting the next Hall Master, it also exploited disciples to extend his own life...
It was quite despicable!
...
Li An had no interest in the competition within the Talisman Hall and didn't want to attract extra attention.
So, he appeared average in the Talisman Hall, with his talisman-making skills only in the middle range of those new to the Hall. Each month, he was able to submit the required talismans on time and earn some extra contribution points, though not many, which he naturally sold to Tan Qingxue's confidant—Cao Zhirou.
With this setup, his monthly stipend and extra income amounted to about eleven or twelve spirit stones, but his own cultivation and purchase of talisman paper still consumed about seven spirit stones each month.
...
In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.
"Fifty-three pieces."
One day, Li An counted his current spirit stone balance and pondered:
"The Life Nourishing Immortal Skill's cultivation speed is too slow. It will take at least another two years to reach perfection at the third layer of Qi Refining."
"Both the Water Arrow Skill and Light Body Steps have been cultivated to their strongest state. It's time to focus on some body techniques!"
Currently, Li An's spirit, enhanced by the Super Sensing Skill, surpassed that of ordinary people. His attack had the Water Arrow Skill combined with the Flying Dagger Skill, and his movement was supported by Light Body Steps.
The only weakness was his body being too weak.
If someone engaged him in close combat, he would be at a major disadvantage!
"The body is the root of the divine soul. In my past life, I overlooked the body a lot. In this life, I must lay a solid foundation right now."
"At the moment, the best Body Refining Skill I know of is the 'Iron Tree Skill'!"
Iron Tree Skill, a Yellow Rank Middle Grade Skill, could temper from skin to flesh and from flesh to bone.
But cultivating the Iron Tree Skill required purchasing many auxiliary materials, such as iron sand for body refining and medicated solutions to aid in skin and flesh recovery.
All of which required spirit stones.
Currently... he barely had enough.
That day, he immediately left the Talisman Hall and headed to the trade market.
...