Li An was certainly tempted by the secret realm and opportunities, but having lived two lifetimes, he deeply understood that the more opportunities a place offers, the more intense the competition.
A cultivator at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer truly could not bear even a bit of risk.
How comfortable it was to cultivate safely in the marketplace, and to earn Spirit Stones at the same time?
"The talismans for self-defense are still not enough."
Li An spread out the high-grade talisman paper, gripping the high-grade talisman pen, the tip light as a feather, sketching a mountain-like symbol on the snow-white talisman paper.
Though slow, the entire process was very smooth, completed in one go.
"The Mountain Talisman is done!"
Li An was immensely gratified, finally succeeding after half a year of practice and exploration.
The Mountain Talisman, an exquisite upper-grade Tier One talisman, when used, could deliver a heavy blow to the enemy like a mountain toppling over. Even those at the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer might be knocked unconscious.
It could also be quite effective against those at the Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer.
As for cultivators at the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer or at the peak of the Qi Cultivation Stage, its effect might not be as significant.
"Victory by numbers!"
Li An did not stop writing, and he consecutively produced three more Mountain Talismans.
Currently, he already had twenty Imprisonment Talismans, three Mountain Talismans, and dozens of other middle-grade Tier One talismans.
"The Imprisonment Talismans imprison, the Mountain Talismans strike heavily, but it's still not enough... I need to craft some other talismans for support."
"Hmm... Earthquake Talisman, Armor-Piercing Talisman!"
The idea had already formed in his mind.
"Also, tomorrow I need to buy some herbs to concoct some poison..."
Li An took out the Starry Dagger and fingered it.
This dagger was extremely sharp, and in battle, attaching an Armor-Piercing Talisman to it could likely be invincible against defensive magical artifacts below Tier Two.
…
The next day.
Early in the morning, Tan Qingxue and Zhang Shouye had already departed with others.
Due to the large volume of talisman production, Li An painted talismans at night and also had to be at the shop during the day.
He increased the supply of middle-grade Tier One talismans, which were now effortless for him, producing about twenty pieces steadily each day.
His daily income was as much as thirty pieces, considered a windfall!
This was mainly due to the large market demand, and since Tan Qingxue was away, he monopolized the market.
In the afternoon of the next day, while Li An was painting talismans in his room, Wang Yun suddenly knocked on the door somewhat urgently.
"Talisman Master Li, Talisman Master Li."
Li An wondered and opened the door: "What's going on?"
Wang Yun said, "A persistent and peculiar customer came in, insisted on seeing a Talisman Master, and since Shopkeeper Tan is away, I had to disturb you..."
Li An frowned slightly: "What peculiar customer?"
Instead of going directly to the shop, he immediately released the Super Sensing Skill, ready to activate the array!
Better safe than sorry.
"A one-armed burly man, quite wealthy, said he wanted to buy two hundred 'Breaking Charms'. I told him we didn't have any, but he insisted on speaking with the Talisman Master..."
Wang Yun spoke helplessly.
Two hundred Breaking Charms, now that was a large order... But it made sense; with the secret realm opening in the Liyang Valley, there were bound to be many restriction arrays, and Breaking Charms could inflict some damage on those restrictions.
So, they were quite popular.
But buying two hundred at once was still rare.
Li An pondered for a moment and then went out immediately.
In the store, a one-armed burly man dressed in sackcloth was already impatiently waiting. Seeing Li An come out, he said, "Are you the Talisman Master?"
Li An smiled slightly: "I am. I heard the esteemed guest wants two hundred Breaking Charms? But at the moment, our shop truly doesn't have any."
He maximized the operation of his Super Sensing Skill, ready to activate the array at any time, while in his sleeves, ten upper-grade Tier One talismans were ready to fly out at a moment's notice!
The burly man said, "Not even middle-grade Tier One ones?"
Breaking Charms were somewhat special, available in both middle-grade and upper-grade Tier One, and their prices vary greatly.
Li An pondered: "We have some, but they are quite time-consuming to make, and the daily supply is only three to five pieces..."
The burly man directly took out a large bag of Spirit Stones from his storage bag and slapped it on the counter:
"I'll give you three days, and I'll buy them at three pieces each, this is four hundred Spirit Stones, I'll come to collect them in three days!"
"Can you do it?"
Looking at the large bag of Spirit Stones, Li An's eyes instantly showed avid desire.
He was indeed tempted... Four hundred Spirit Stones, in normal times, it would take him years to save up!
The burly man seemed to notice Li An's temptation and laughed: "If it weren't useful for the Liyang Valley side, you wouldn't be making this Spirit Stone!"
Li An's gaze swept over the burly man's hands, his heart stirred, but he showed no sign on his face, showing difficulty: "But two hundred pieces in three days... It would be quite difficult, I'll need to contact friends from the Talisman Hall to rush the production. How about ten days?"
He could have done it alone, but certainly couldn't reveal that.
"No way, five days, a maximum of five days!"
Li An looked again at that large bag of Spirit Stones, gritted his teeth and said: "Alright!"
The burly man said: "Good, then it's a deal, I will come to collect in five days."
Li An immediately took out an order sheet, filled in the information, respectfully handed it over for the burly man to sign, and reminded him:
"Esteemed guest, please be advised that according to our store's policy, if you do not collect the goods within three days after the agreed time, the store will only hold them for three days. After that, even if you return, the transaction will be considered void, and the deposit will not be refunded."
This kind of small task was usually done by Wang Yun, but perhaps because of the large order, Li An was very attentive.
"Okay."
The burly man immediately took the spirit brush, wrote down his name, and signed two copies.
Li An watched carefully as the burly man finished writing, then accepted it carefully, handed one copy back for the burly man to keep, and said: "It's done."
The burly man nodded and turned to leave immediately.
Watching the burly man leave, Li An slightly relaxed his mind but did not let his guard down. He turned and said: "Close the shop!"
He picked up the large bag of Spirit Stones and went straight back to his room.
Opening the Spirit Stone bag, Li An carefully checked each piece of Spirit Stone.
"No issues."
He muttered under his breath.
Closing his eyes, he recalled an incident from three months ago.
At that time, when he went to sell off illicit goods in a private transaction market, a slender young man had once used a Tier One Upper Grade Thorn Armor to exchange for restriction materials...
At that time, due to curiosity, Li An glanced a few times at that young man.
He remembered... that young man seemed to be wearing a white ring on his hand!
And today, the burly man who came to visit was also wearing a white ring!
— This is actually quite normal, aside from storage bags, which are low-level storage magical artifacts; slightly higher-level storage rings are also quite common, worn by many.
What aroused Li An's suspicions was that the slender young man was looking for restriction materials, while this burly man was looking for Breaking Charms...
Are both related to restrictions?
"Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but it's always best to be cautious."
He closed his eyes, embedding the style of the storage ring on the burly man's hand from today deep into his mind!
Then, he took out many premium talisman papers and began crafting Breaking Charms.
In truth, given his current level, Li An could even craft Tier One Upper Grade talismans,
but he certainly couldn't show them to others.
In drawing Tier One Middle Grade talismans, Li An used a different premium talisman brush. He was very fast, and his success rate was exceptionally high, producing about seven talismans out of ten!
That night, Li An directly painted more than sixty talismans!
This efficiency was astounding; even though Li An had extraordinary spiritual power, he felt overwhelmingly weary.
...
In the following days, Li An stayed behind closed doors, continuing to paint talismans.
By the third nightfall, Li An finally raised his head, rubbed his sore eyes, and turned his stiff neck.
Two hundred Breaking Charms were already duly prepared.
"The poison is almost ready too..."
He walked to the corner of the wall and gently lifted the Star Glow Dagger from a small basin filled with blue medicinal liquid.
The sharp edges of the Star Glow Dagger had already taken on a faint blue glow.
Li An took out a Flame Talisman to toast the Star Glow Dagger, then placed it back into the small basin to soak, repeating this three times to complete the poisoning process.
"I must rush to forge Earthquake Talismans and Armor-Piercing Talismans... Both are special types within Tier One Upper Grade talismans and difficult to forge."
"But I have to make at least a few for self-defense!"
...
Time swiftly passed by.
Five days went by in the blink of an eye.
Today, early in the morning, Li An was waiting in the shop, seemingly at ease but was in fact highly tense, maintaining constant contact with the array with his spiritual power.
However, to his surprise, from morning till dusk, even till the time to close the shop, the burly man didn't appear!
"Talisman Master Li, should we close the shop?" Wang Yun inquired.
"Let's wait a little longer."
Li An calmly replied.
Another hour passed, the burly man still hadn't arrived, but a piece of news made its way into the market:
In the secret location of Liyang Valley, an incident occurred at a cave, with dozens of casualties, yet a Foundation Establishment Pill did appear, only to be absorbed into a deeper restriction by an array.
This news drove the market utterly wild.
The Foundation Establishment Pill truly appeared!
All at once, there was a surge of people coming to buy all sorts of supplies, especially at Li An's Spirit Talisman Shop, which saw many customers specifically wanting to purchase Breaking Charms.
Because, according to the news, that cave was breached using Breaking Charms by a mysterious one-armed burly man who was the first to rush inside and almost got the Foundation Establishment Pill, but was killed by a hidden array.
The news was chaotic; Li An couldn't help but be a little surprised, a mysterious one-armed burly man...
Could it be that the burly man who ordered the Breaking Charms five days ago died in Liyang Valley?
If so...
Wouldn't that mean a fortune was made??
He kept all four hundred spirit stones from the deposit, and the two hundred Breaking Charms could still be sold...
However, this thought flashed by quickly, and Li An became truly vigilant instead.
He acutely sensed a sense of danger; was it too much of a coincidence?
He was extremely cautious and did not sell off the Breaking Charms that the burly man had ordered.
The second and third day followed.
Li An still didn't see the burly man!
The guy really didn't come back... could he really have died in Liyang Valley?
Li An couldn't help but feel some doubt himself.
Simultaneously, he inquired about the news from Liyang Valley, learning that the team composed of disciples from the Profound Yang Sect also suffered some losses but currently were not in serious trouble, allowing him a slight sense of relief.
On the fourth day, according to the agreement, the bunch of Breaking Charms no longer belonged to that burly man, and Li An instructed Wang Yun to display them in batches on the counter for sale.
He continued to stay at the shop.
The release of Breaking Charms immediately sparked a purchasing frenzy; they were sold very quickly, with over twenty sold just by midday.
"I need sixty!"
In the afternoon, a dried-up old man rushed in, "Sixty Breaking Charms!"
Wang Yun excitedly went forward to welcome the customer, counted the spirit talismans, collected the spirit stones, while Li An sat to the side, seemingly reading idle books on talismans, but subtly lifted his gaze towards the old man's hands.
Huh?!
Li An's heart stirred because... this old man was also wearing a white storage ring!
Moreover, with Li An's Super Sensing Skill activated, his vision could clearly see the small pattern on the old man's white storage ring...
It was a skeleton pattern!
Identical to the one worn by the burly man who ordered the talismans a few days ago!
Immediately, he sensed an alert!
...