Chapter 82
He spoke as he picked up a talisman brush, beginning to draw on the talisman paper: “Pay attention to my posture and hands. Open your mind and observe the changes in the talisman patterns in the void.”
“Drawing a talisman requires the unity of hand, eye, and spirit. When your hand moves, your eye must follow, and when your eye sees, your spirit must be present! The brush must not stop; it must flow in one breath!”
As Brother Zhuang’s brush danced, some talisman patterns began to coalesce on his paper.
A golden armor talisman appeared beneath his hand.
“The challenge of drawing talismans lies not in the act of drawing itself, but in recognizing the talismans!” Brother Zhuang set down his brush and addressed the group: “The talisman patterns and the spirit are the essence of talismanic arts!”
“Brother, I’ve heard that talisman masters are ranked. What distinguishes their ranks?”
The others looked on with eager expressions, seemingly more interested in this topic.
Brother Zhuang pondered for a moment before replying, “Saying that talisman masters are ranked is somewhat misleading; fundamentally, it’s about the rank of the talismans you draw.”
“How do you determine the rank of a talisman?”
He pointed to the golden armor talisman on his low table: “This one here is a Xuan-grade talisman.”
“A talisman essentially stores spells within the talisman paper,” he continued. “The rank of a talisman is determined by its power—like this golden armor talisman, which can withstand a full-force attack from a Foundation Establishment cultivator; that makes it a Xuan-grade talisman.”
“A Huang-grade talisman corresponds to the spell power of a Qi Refinement cultivator.”
“A Xuan-grade talisman corresponds to Foundation Establishment, while a Di-grade talisman is akin to the Golden Core stage, and so on.”
“What about a Tian-grade talisman?” someone asked curiously.
“I can’t say much about Tian-grade talismans; almost anyone who can draw one is at the Nascent Soul stage.” Brother Zhuang paused, glancing at Zheng Fa. “I say ‘almost’ because Sister Zhang can as well.”
…
After briefly explaining, Brother Zhuang instructed them to try drawing the golden armor talisman themselves.
“Don’t start on the talisman paper just yet; practice a few times on plain paper first.” Seemingly concerned about waste, Brother Zhuang offered a few more reminders.
Having said that, he moved down to the hall, guiding each of the new disciples in their posture.
When he reached Zheng Fa, he didn’t show any unusual reaction, merely adjusted Zheng Fa’s forearm angle before moving on.
After drawing the golden armor talisman once or twice, Zheng Fa suddenly realized—this talisman art was incredibly suited to him!
In Zheng Fa’s understanding, drawing talismans was quite similar to making bombs.
The strength of one’s spirit and understanding of the talisman patterns determined your “loading capacity”—the stronger your spirit, the more patterns you could perceive; the more patterns you recognized, the more you could attract.
As for spiritual power, it was roughly equivalent to the amount of gunpowder you had on hand.
Drawing a single golden armor talisman consumed nearly a third of his internal spiritual power, but this didn’t affect the talisman’s potency; it only limited how many talismans Zheng Fa could draw. In other words, even among Qi Refinement cultivators, he could only draw a certain number of talismans in a day, but the talismans he created would be more powerful than those of others.
So, a more fitting analogy would be between physical strength and skill.
With the same physical strength, different skills would yield different results.
After guiding them around, Brother Zhuang stepped out of the room, seemingly allowing them to practice freely.
Han Qi approached Zheng Fa’s seat and whispered, “I can’t believe it’s Brother Zhuang today… you’re a bit unlucky.”
“What’s wrong with Brother Zhuang?” Zheng Fa asked.
“Brother Zhuang… how should I put it? He should be in the Discipline Hall, not the Talisman Pavilion.” Han Qi’s expression was peculiar. “He’s all about rules and has little regard for personal feelings; he’s offended quite a few people. But honestly, we all kind of like him.”
“Why’s that?” Zheng Fa couldn’t understand.
“You know how the atmosphere in the sect has been lately? It’s getting harder for us lower-tier disciples to thrive while they’re nurturing genius disciples.” Han Qi explained. “Brother Zhuang seems to have been a censor in the mortal realm or something; he’s got a bad temper and didn’t do well there. After joining the sect, he’s still got that temper, and it’s even worse now.”
Zheng Fa nodded. “So he dislikes geniuses?”
“Not exactly. His belief is that no merit should go unrewarded; even geniuses should be treated the same as us when it comes to rewards.” Han Qi sighed. “He also says that the scarcer the spiritual materials, the less the higher-ups should waste them; otherwise, it breeds discontent and unrest in the sect.”
“…” Zheng Fa nodded, beginning to understand Brother Zhuang’s perspective.
“Speaking of which, if it weren’t for Sister Zhang, he’d probably be in a pretty miserable position in the sect.”
“Sister Zhang?”
“His attitude tends to offend people, and he often crosses paths with influential figures. There were times when people wanted to make trouble for him, but it was Sister Zhang who stepped in to protect him.”
Han Qi frowned again. “But there’s something strange; for the past few months, the talisman discussions shouldn’t fall to Brother Zhuang.”
“…”
Zheng Fa glanced outside, unsure if Brother Zhuang held any opinions about him.
But Brother Zhuang’s presence today likely meant he had been assigned to keep an eye on him.
Outside, Brother Zhuang watched a man approach slowly and cupped his hands in greeting. “Hello, Brother Li.”
Though his posture was humble, his expression remained neutral, seemingly lacking warmth.
“Brother Zhuang, even though we belong to different branches, there’s no need to keep a cold face every day.” Brother Li chuckled. “I’ve heard that a great Buddha has arrived today.”
“…”
Brother Zhuang remained silent, listening as Brother Li continued, “The number one in ten thousand years, huh? Coming in and taking the same share as us, I suppose your branch will have to prioritize him for spiritual materials in the future!”
“Brother, why stoop to gossip like a woman, trying to sow discord? That’s quite petty.”
“Hmm?”
“Dare you say that in front of Sister Zhang?” Brother Zhuang replied coldly. “Since you know we belong to different branches, Zheng Fa has Sister Zhang to guide him and us to assist him; it’s not your place to speak here.”
“You!”
…
“Brothers are at it again over talismans!”
Han Qi exclaimed, pointing toward the door.
Zheng Fa saw Brother Zhuang, who had been impeccably dressed, now rolling up his sleeves, swinging his arms rapidly, and throwing out several talismans as he engaged in a heated exchange with another man.
“Wait, is this what they call a discussion inside the sect?”
(End of this chapter)
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