As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 50 Card Making Apprentice
"laugh!"

The faint blue flames jumped, burning the fluorescent stone powder in the test tube.

With the addition of the ancient beast's blood clot, the originally emerald green powder quickly turned into a slightly glowing orange-red.

Add 20 ml of distilled water, shake the solution until evenly mixed, and then place it into the turntable socket of a hand-cranked centrifuge.

Xu Yan turned the crank.

His gaze was calm, his breathing steady, his movements precise.

Soon, 0.5 grams of slightly sticky luminous substance were separated from the mixture of fluorescent stone and ancient beast blood clots.

Use a dropper to drop the luminous substance into the ink box that looks like a paint tray.

In the twenty-four small grids, all the red, orange, green and blue colored talisman inks have been prepared, which should be enough to handle the morning business.

Then there is the talisman pen.

He prepared nine talisman pens according to their sizes, materials and blade angles.

Before making each talisman, he liked to untie the rope and re-tie it.

This is a habit developed in the Wanhun Sect.

It not only improves the feel of holding the talisman pen and the fluency of drawing talismans, but also serves as a psychological hint to help you get into the right state.

When it comes to making talismans, Xu Yan is an absolute obsessive-compulsive disorder patient.

In the past half month, he has tried more than twenty types of rope wraps and even thought about making his own rope wraps.

Finally, a rope made from tanned Crowe hide was chosen.

This material feels most similar to the rope he used in the Wanhun Sect.

Use the twist wrapping method to interweave knots and diamond patterns on the talisman pen.

While increasing friction, it also makes people feel happy when watching it.

Squinting his eyes, he gently touched the edge of the blade with the tip of his thumb to make sure that the blade angle of each talisman pen was perfect, then Xu Yan grinned.

His peripheral vision swept across the small card-making room.

Crucibles, balances, heating furnaces, test tube racks, muskets, batteries...all kinds of card-making materials and equipment are available.

Xu Yan frowned slightly.

After a moment's silence, he snapped his fingers.

"Jelly, please help me tidy up the test tube rack. The number two and number three test tube brushes are in the wrong place. Thank you."

Accompanied by the faint light of the void symbol array.

A lump of jelly-like, trembling, shiny, and soft "crystal slime mold" appeared.

Like a poor worker who had just stayed up all night and was pulled out of his warm bed by his boss before he could fall asleep, he yawned and slowly crawled towards the test tube rack.

"Jelly, are you feeling unwell?"

Xu Yan's concerned voice came from behind him, "Are you dissatisfied with our contract? Feel free to raise any opinions!"

The "crystal slime mold" suddenly woke up.

Waving its thick and short tentacles, it pounced on the test tube rack like a hungry tiger pouncing on sheep, swinging the two test tubes with great force.

While cleaning, he forced himself to smile insinuatingly while shivering.

"Come on, be normal."

Xu Yan looked at the floor-length mirror next to him and said, "I'm not some demon that eats souls alive. Am I really that scary?"

What appeared in the floor-length mirror was a boy with messy hair, pale skin, and a slightly shy look.

His right arm was wrapped in fresh bandages from fingers to shoulder, making him look a little frail.

This face is completely different from what it looked like when the mine was abandoned.

Even if Dr. Hyde were resurrected, it would be impossible to recognize who he was.

But Xu Yan was still not satisfied.

He stared at his facial features for a long time, then twisted his fingertips and took out two silver needles.

As a corpse driver, an important step in collecting corpses is to tidy up the remains.

Even if the corpses were as rotten as mud, Xu Yan had a way to paint them with red lips and white teeth.

Not to mention giving yourself a makeover.

The silver needle is gently inserted into the cheek-cartilage point to tighten the jawline.

Yingxiang point shrinks the nostrils and lifts the nose bridge, making it look more handsome.

The temples are treated with a special vibrating needle method to shrink the corners of the eyes, making them appear more elongated.

Combined with the exquisite control of muscle fibers by the Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique, Xu Yan's appearance underwent another subtle change in just half a minute. Those who knew him recently might not have noticed that he was any different from yesterday.

But the subtle changes he made every day accumulated over time, and people who had seen him a month or even more ago would never associate him with a "gravedigger."

This is a purely natural disguise.

There is no technical means to find the flaw.

Xu Yan nodded with satisfaction.

Putting a pair of thick-soled brass glasses with loupe lenses on his nose, he looked more like an ordinary card-making apprentice.

"Cuckoo, it's eight o'clock!"

The gears turn and the clocks chime.

A classically shaped mechanical bird popped out, flapping its spring-loaded wings and calling out in a clear, melodious voice, "The weather is clear and the sun is shining. It's another beautiful new day!"

"Jelly, open the door."

Xu Yan pushed his slightly heavy thick-bottomed brass glasses, stretched his muscles, and welcomed the new day.

The "Crystal Slime Mold" swung out its sticky tentacles and removed the door panels of the "Star Spirit Card Repair Center" piece by piece.

The hustle and bustle of Rolling Stone Castle, along with the slightly pungent smell of worldly life, poured into the small shop.

The "Second-hand Lingka Street" where the Xingxing Store is located is located in a busy downtown area.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the Rolling Stones, who had been partying all night, regained their seemingly endless energy.

The colorful neon lights shone all night above the hotels and restaurants converted from old factories, and their afterglow still lingers.

Steam trucks carrying clean water and giant beasts covered in scaly armor met on a narrow road in the congested streets. The honking of horns and the roars of the giant beasts intertwined into a daily symphony.

With the help of guardian spirits, the thin manual workers carried tons of materials like human cranes and built their bustling homes like a colony of skilled ants.

Xu Yan's gaze passed through the crisscrossing wires, and he fully appreciated the town's skyline, with a knowing smile on his face.

Even though it's only been over a month.

He found that he had fallen in love with this world where the ancient and modern times intertwined, a world that was dangerous, chaotic yet full of vitality.

Half a minute later, clock in for work.

Xu Yan's smile disappeared.

"Grandma, it's you again! I already explained yesterday that there's nothing wrong with your seal card. It's just that your spirit has been over-consumed, and it's a natural exhaustion!"

Looking at the old woman in front of him who was dressed simply and had a sad face, Xu Yan's head became as big as a bucket.

"Oh, oh, no big problem?"

The old woman suddenly understood and looked at Xu Yan expectantly, "So, you can fix it? They say the new card maker at the Star Shop is amazing!"

"..."

Xu Yan took a deep breath and tried to explain in the simplest way, "Grandma, the seal card is like a tape recorder, and the spirit stored in it is like a tape. You know the tape recorder, an electronic product invented in the middle of the Fourth Era.

"If the tape recorder breaks down, we can repair it. If the magnetic strip on the tape is tangled or the screws are loose, or if you are not satisfied with the music on it and want to record new music, we can do it for you.

"But the tape has aged naturally and completely demagnetized. Even the magnetic strips have turned to brittle powder. We really can't restore it to its original state. Do you understand?"

"Fully understand!"

The old woman's eyes lit up. "You can restore our Black-Horned Iron Bull to its original state!"

Xu Yan closed his eyes.

Half a second later, he opened his eyes again and leaned out from behind the counter.

"Grandma, let me explain it one last time in a different way."

Xu Yan smiled, "Do you know what the essence of a spirit is?"

The old woman shuddered.

It felt like the temperature in the Lingka store suddenly dropped by more than ten degrees.

"It's a ghost."

Xu Yan asked himself and answered, "Don't be fooled by the fact that the guardian spirits in the civilian cards seem harmless or even innocent and cute. That's because the card maker sealed them away and used an illusion array to change their appearance and give them a layer of skin.

“In essence, they are all ancient fierce ghosts who have cultivated for thousands of years.

“Humans are born, grow old, get sick, and die, and so are ghosts. It’s just like us workers, punching a clock in and leaving work at a set time.

"If a ghost, when it should have vanished into thin air and re-entered the cycle of reincarnation, was sealed away by someone with a secret method, allowing it to continue to linger between heaven and earth, what kind of behavior is this?
"This is like making a ghost work overtime for a long time without paying it overtime pay!

"Guess what this overtime ghost will do to such a black-hearted boss?"

(End of this chapter)