Lü Zhong first trimmed the lamp's wick, making the flame burn brighter.
Then he took out his Talisman-Making Tools and placed them on the square table he had wiped clean with a rag.
Due to a lack of funds, the set of Talisman-Making Tools left behind by the body's original owner was extremely rudimentary.
The shaft of the Talisman Brush was made from worthless scraps of ordinary Spiritual Bamboo, and the bristles at its tip were just as shabby—nothing more than the mottled tail fur of a Spirit Rat.
The Talisman Ink was also the worst of its kind. According to his memories, it was made from the blood of a Mud-Shelled Spirit Pig. These Spirit Pigs were commonly raised throughout the Cultivation Realm, and while the Spirit Blood they produced was of abysmal quality, it was just barely usable for making Talisman Ink.
Staring at the rudimentary Talisman-Making Tools, Lü Zhong thought, 'No wonder my predecessor failed at Talisman Making so often. Trying to make anything with this junk must have been tough... Well, I guess it's my turn to suffer now.'
'Trying to learn Talisman Making without any Spirit Stones? I'm just setting myself up for a hard time.'
He let out a helpless sigh. To scrape together enough for rent and avoid being thrown out, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and learn Talisman Making.
To conserve Talisman Paper, Lü Zhong couldn't bring himself to waste the precious sheets on practice. Instead, he dipped his Talisman Brush in water and began tracing on the square table.
Knowing the correct steps to inscribe a Cleaning Talisman wasn't enough. Lü Zhong had another hurdle to overcome: first, he had to master drawing its form accurately. Much like painting, this required precise hand-eye coordination.
After dozens of consecutive attempts, all he managed to produce were Ghost Talismans that bore little resemblance to the proper form of a Cleaning Talisman.
Rubbing his sore eyes, Lü Zhong reluctantly abandoned any thought of continuing his practice.
'Inscribing talismans isn't something you can learn overnight.'
'Ugh, I'm so damn poor!'
He sighed heavily, then blew out the oil lamp.
Perhaps from overexerting his Divine Sense, he was hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion. The moment he lay down on the bed, he was out like a light.
...
Lü Zhong awoke in a daze, unsure how long he had slept.
Gazing at the unfamiliar surroundings, his mind still felt foggy.
Even now, he found it hard to believe he had actually transmigrated.
'Huh? What am I doing?'
Lü Zhong was surprised to find himself sitting cross-legged in a meditative posture for some unknown reason.
It took him a moment to realize he had subconsciously begun circulating the >. This was a Minor Technique for beginners, not a true Cultivation Method. Its greatest function was to help a person succeed at introducing Qi into the body, allowing them to step onto the path of cultivation.
Once a person succeeded at introducing Qi into the body, this Technique became almost useless.
After completing one Minor Circulation of the technique, his mind felt surprisingly clear.
Even his cultivation had increased by a minuscule amount. Lü Zhong felt a surge of pleasant surprise and hastily continued to circulate the Technique Mantra. After a dozen or so Minor Circulations, his body felt back to normal, making him marvel at the wonders of Immortal Cultivation Techniques.
But when he tried to continue, he found his meridians were already beginning to ache faintly.
"Well, I almost forgot I have Four Spirit Roots," Lü Zhong said with a helpless sigh.
A cultivator could only circulate their energy a limited number of times each day, constrained by the strength of their meridians. This highlighted the importance of natural talent. Those with a high-quality Spirit Root had a better Spiritual Qi conversion rate than those with a poor one. Their cultivation would naturally progress much faster, leading to a massive gap over time.
It wasn't impossible to close this gap, however.
Spiritual Land, Pills, better Cultivation Techniques, and so on—all of these could help narrow the gap in talent.
Unfortunately, Lü Zhong was just a Little Independent Cultivator without a single Spirit Stone to his name. How could he possibly get his hands on any cultivation resources?
Never mind anything else, he didn't even have a single suitable Basic Cultivation Technique.
He couldn't help but sigh again. Lü Zhong had lost count of how many times he had sighed recently. Resigned, he got out of bed, picked up his Talisman Brush, and prepared to resume his Talisman Making practice. He had to master the Cleaning Talisman as soon as possible.
'Rent, a Basic Cultivation Technique, and...'
He had barely drawn a few strokes when his stomach started to rumble.
'Cultivating while poor is a struggle every step of the way!' Ground down by his troubles, Lü Zhong had no fight left in him. He set down his Talisman Brush, scooped up a ladle of Mortal Rice, and poured it into a pitch-black iron pot.
SNAP!
With a snap of his fingers, a small flame sparked to life at his fingertip.
He then flicked his finger, sending the flame toward the stove... where it went out. It actually went out!
A closer look revealed that there was standing water in the stove.
Lü Zhong's face was blank. He patiently cleaned out the stove before finally managing to light the fire.
It would be a while before the rice was cooked, and he was in no mood to practice Talisman Making, so he pushed the door open.
The sky was still dark when he stepped outside.
The early spring air was fresh, carrying the faint, earthy scent of recent rain.
Squatting on the moss-covered doorstep, he began to recall what he knew about this place.
According to his memories, this place was a small Ruins Market called the Qingliu Ruins. It was so small it didn't even have a Defense Array. The only thing it had was a Spirit Lock Array, which served to gather the Spiritual Qi emanating from the local Spirit Vein and prevent it from dissipating.
As a Ruins Market, the Qingliu Ruins covered about three hundred mu. A wide street ran through its center from east to west, flanked by a haphazard collection of old and new buildings of varying heights. It was home to a great number of Loose Cultivators trying to eke out a living.
Most of the Loose Cultivators were farmers. Some grew low-tier spirit rice, while others cultivated perennial Talisman Grass to sell for money. They were essentially poor souls scraping a living from the soil. A small minority, however, ventured into the nearby mountains to gather herbs. It was a high-risk, high-reward profession; an encounter with a Demon Beast in the mountains likely meant you weren't coming back.
Fortunately, the Qingliu Ruins were under the jurisdiction of the nearby Qingyang Sect, a Daoist Inheritance Sect that was considered reasonably fair in its dealings. At the end of the day, they still cared about their reputation, which made this place a suitable residence for Loose Cultivators.
This was likely the very reason the body's original owner had chosen to settle here.
RUMBLE...
The sound of wheels rolling over the stone road echoed with a dull thud.
It was the mortal night-soil women. They were all hired by the Qingyang Sect and were responsible for cleaning up the various kinds of filth in the area.
They were in the process of loading wooden buckets filled with excrement onto a cart, which they would then haul far from the Ruins Market for disposal. The buckets would be meticulously scrubbed clean downstream and returned to their respective owners according to the marks on them.
When the night-soil women passed Lü Zhong's door, they didn't sneer at his shabby home. On the contrary, their posture became even more deferential. They kept their heads bowed as they pushed their carts past, terrified that the lofty Immortal Master might vent his anger on them.
Some time later, as the eastern sky began to show the pale white of dawn, the small alley started to come alive.
Some people left their homes with worried expressions, carrying old herb-picking hoes and baskets as they prepared to head into the mountains. Others, shouldering hoes that glowed with a faint Spiritual Light, hummed cheerfully on their way to the Spirit Fields outside the Ruins Market to begin a new day's work. Still others remained in their warm homes, listening to music and enjoying delicious meals prepared by mortal servants.
Occasionally, a streak of Escape Light would flash across the horizon, though it was impossible to know which important figure was rushing to some urgent business.
Lü Zhong watched it all with fascination. So many things about this world were still new and strange to him.
The smell of something burning snapped him out of his reverie.
After a hasty breakfast, Lü Zhong filled his stomach and went back to practicing his Talisman Making.
After a full day of diligent practice, and thanks to his considerable drawing experience from his past life, he was finally starting to get the forms right. He was another step closer to successfully inscribing a Cleaning Talisman.
As Dusk approached, Lü Zhong suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He took out the jar of Talisman Ink and an intact sheet of Talisman Paper.
His brush moved like a soaring dragon, swiftly outlining every stroke of the Cleaning Talisman on the yellow Talisman Paper.
Every crucial detail for inscribing the talisman surfaced in his mind with perfect clarity.
The entire talisman was completed in one smooth, continuous motion, without the slightest hitch.
"Success!"
Lü Zhong watched as the glow on the Talisman Paper slowly faded. Unable to resist, he picked it up and examined it from every angle, a smile spreading across his lips. "To think I actually had an epiphany! Otherwise, it probably would've taken me another half a month to inscribe this talisman!"
Carefully recalling the sensation of his success, he took out another blank sheet of Talisman Paper. He dipped the slightly frayed Talisman Brush into the Talisman Ink, channeled a steady stream of Spiritual Power through the tip onto the paper, and began his next attempt.
One stroke, two strokes... he was just about to finish when...
POOF!
The attempt failed. The Talisman Paper burst into flames as the Spiritual Qi flowing into it turned chaotic.
Lü Zhong wasn't discouraged. He took out another blank Talisman Paper and decided to try again.
One sheet, two sheets, three sheets...
After three consecutive failures, he finally succeeded once more.
By the time he had used up all the blank Talisman Paper, Lü Zhong had three successfully inscribed Cleaning Talismans to show for his efforts.
He gleefully put them away, wrapping them carefully in oil paper and tucking the bundle under his pillow. Only after finishing all this did Lü Zhong cover himself with his still-damp quilt and prepare for sleep.
'Tomorrow is market day,' he thought. 'A perfect chance to sell these talismans.'