Cultivating Immortality: Starting from Ferrying Passengers

Chapter 25 The Third Level of Qi Refining
"Pfft!"

With one stroke of the pen, green smoke rose from the talisman paper in front of Fang Jingxuan. He quickly picked up the talisman paper, tore off the smoking part, and left the remaining half.

"Phew, it's not bad, it's not bad, there's still half left, I can still practice a few more strokes."

When people become poor, they are reluctant to give up anything. Fang Jingxuan is the same. The upper half of the talisman paper is destroyed, but the lower part can still be used. It is not a complete talisman, so there is no need to worry about the overall size.

"Are other cultivators as frugal as I am? Alas, poverty leads to low aspirations. A piece of talisman paper costs quite a bit of money."

Fang Jingxuan was not embarrassed at all. If it were not for the talisman structure, he would have to write on talisman paper to get a better understanding. He even wanted to just use ordinary rice paper.

However, you can save some talisman paper, but you can't save some spiritual ink and cinnabar. I haven't practiced for a few days, but the spiritual ink and cinnabar I exchanged before are almost gone.

Making talismans is a very expensive business. Without family training, it is extremely difficult for a casual cultivator to change his fate by doing so.

“Although I still haven’t gotten started, I can feel that I am more familiar with the configurations of these talismans than before. Perhaps I will soon be able to understand them.

If I didn’t see hope, I wouldn’t be able to bear spending so much money every day.”

Fang Jingxuan put down the talisman pen in his hand and began to study the reasons for this failure.

These talisman configurations are like circuit diagrams. Once they are drawn incorrectly, or if the strokes are too heavy or too light in some place, the basic configuration will be scrapped.

A cleaning talisman also requires eighteen basic configurations, which are drawn on a palm-sized piece of talisman paper. Each basic configuration must be correct and all of them must be connected.

From this we can see that the difficulty of making talismans is really not something that ordinary people can practice.

This is still the lowest cleaning talisman. Slightly higher talismans require more configurations.

Fang Jingxuan still couldn't imagine what method was needed to cram more than a hundred basic structures onto this small piece of talisman paper.

“When I was writing, my spiritual awareness wasn’t clear enough. The book says that the most important thing in making talismans is a strong spirit. Even if my hands aren’t steady, as long as my spirit is there, it’ll be fine.

My understanding is that the soul can penetrate deep into the talisman paper and carefully monitor the completeness of each configuration. If the talisman configuration is an electric circuit, then the soul is the flowing current. As long as the soul passes through, the talisman is considered complete.

This is the true interpretation of 'writing like a god', but I'm only at the initial stage of Qi Refining, my spiritual power is not strong enough to meet that requirement."

Fang Jingxuan knew clearly the reason for his recent failure. His hands were steady, but his soul was not strong enough to sustain the entire race, so he couldn't control where the spiritual ink was thick or thin.

"It's still due to lack of experience. Those talented talisman makers may have more refined soul sensing. The soul sensing talisman configuration probably has its own secret techniques, and this is the specialty of each talisman maker."

Fang Jingxuan made such an inference. Otherwise, if some cultivators with the same cultivation level could make talismans, but he couldn't, then it must be someone else's problem, not his own.

I can't do it, let me find my own problems? Nonsense, you are better than me, which means there is something wrong with you.

With this idea in mind, Fang Jingxuan was not in a hurry. He still had a lot of time and there was no need to rush for success.

"Brother Fang, Mr. He asked me to invite you to discuss something."

At this time, there was a knock on the door of the courtyard. A young man stood at the door, not daring to come in.

Fang Jingxuan put away his things and went out. He glanced over and saw a young cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining timidly looking at Tuoyuan in the animal pen.

Tuoyuan was quite calm and just bared his fangs to scare him, but this little action made the young man turn pale.

"Okay, Xiao Yuan, let's go."

After the twists and turns a few days ago, Fang Jingxuan's reputation also spread in the streets of Konoha.

This was mainly because the four people exaggerated and praised Fang Jingxuan afterwards. As a result of the rumor, some people actually believed that Tuoyuan could defeat a cultivator in the late stage of Qi Refining.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is impossible, but there is no way around it. People with discerning eyes have always been rare, so Fang Jingxuan's current status is rising sharply.

In the past, when people mentioned Fang Jingxuan, the first reaction was, "Ah, the ferryman who pulls people alive." But now, it's, "Ah, the ferryman who pulls people alive with a ferocious companion beast."

Everyone began to fear the huge Tuoyuan. This little monk was probably so afraid of Tuoyuan because he heard some rumors.

"Would you like to come up and sit with me?"

Fang Jingxuan jumped onto Tuoyuan's back. Even if the distance was only a few steps, Fang Jingxuan would take Tuoyuan with him whenever he went out.

"No, no, I can just walk."

The young man had a conflicted look on his face and seemed to want to try it, but he gave up in the end.

Tuoyuan took a proud step forward and walked steadily forward.

When we arrived at the courtyard where Lao He was, there were already quite a few monks there.

"Jingxuan, come and sit down."

Following Lao He's invitation, Fang Jingxuan calmly sat in the third seat from the right.

In this world, the left is the most respected, and the position on the left is more prominent. Now there are three on the left and three on the right in the lobby, a total of six chairs. Fang Jingxuan is quite satisfied that he can get the last one.

"I called you all here this time to tell you about the latest news in the market.

This martial law was very fruitful. We caught several traitors in the market, apprehended a long-time thief, and solved all the unsolved cases from that year. These are all great achievements. Therefore, this blockade was very necessary and a success."

Lao He was saying something about protecting Hongyefang, and Fang Jingxuan was listening below, secretly shaking his head.

After finishing the routine words, Lao He raised the issue that everyone was most concerned about.

"The higher-ups said that the lockdown isn't their goal. They're considering everyone's situation, and it will be lifted soon. Please be patient for now."

"What? We still have to wait? It's been over a month. What are we going to eat and drink?"

"I'm really at a loss, Mr. He. What do you think we should do?"

For a moment, several people began to complain, and Fang Jingxuan also echoed a few words, saying that they should just follow the crowd and not stand out from the group and appear different.

Lao He pressed down with his hand and said:
"Everyone in the ten streets of the market is in a bad situation, and it's not just us. The Chu family's cultivation seeds were ambushed, and this matter concerns the foundation and reputation of the Chu family. In comparison, who are we?

The Chu family said that anyone who can't bear it can leave the market after being checked, and be free to go outside and explore with everyone."

As soon as these words were spoken, many people began to hesitate. Being able to go out is a good thing, but in the current situation, with the robbers rampant, leaving the protection of the market town would be life-threatening.

But now I just lack a little food and drink, and it seems I can endure it if I grit my teeth.

"I told you to go out but you don't dare. What's the point of that? After negotiations with the Chu family, the rice shops in the market will sell some affordable grain. Although it's still very expensive, at least you can eat it. Okay, that's it. Fang Jingxuan will stay for a while."

After everyone left with different expressions, Fang Jingxuan stayed at the end. Lao He looked at Fang Jingxuan and said with a smile:
"Not bad, you've reached the third level of Qi Refining. When did that happen?"

Fang Jingxuan replied honestly:

"Just yesterday, after meditating all night, I broke through automatically. The boy was able to break through so quickly, mainly because of the effectiveness of your three Qi-boosting pills."

Old He chuckled and said, "Alright, what can three Qi-boosting pills do? You've just caught up, which is perfect. I have something I'd like to ask for your help. Would you be willing?"

When Fang Jingxuan heard that he needed help, he blinked and said with a simple smile:

"Leaving the market? If so, I won't go."

(End of this chapter)