Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 42 Come to life

After the Yin Gathering Talisman was successfully activated, Chen Miao kept observing the changes in the room.

For the first half hour, the temperature in the room kept dropping, and Chen Miao could clearly sense the yin energy gathered by the Yin Gathering Talisman.

However, after half an hour, the rate at which the yin energy in the room increased slowed down, and after just over an hour, the concentration of yin energy in the room stopped changing.

This contradicts the information Chen Miao obtained from the "Zhong Family Talismans".

However, Chen Miao soon understood why.

According to the "Zhong Family Talismans", the duration of the Yin Gathering Talisman is between six and twelve hours.

During this process, the speed at which the Yin-gathering talisman gathers Yin energy increases, at least in the first two hours.

It will take two hours for the concentration of Yin energy around the Yin-gathering talisman to stabilize at a constant value.

The reason it doesn't match the recorded information is probably because Chen Miao has already gathered the Yin energy within the range of the Yin-Gathering Talisman's effect.

The Yin gathering speed was fast in the first half hour because Chen Miao had already done some of the work for the Yin gathering talisman.

However, this is only a kind of 'overdraft', and the amount of yin energy within the range is already predetermined within a certain time frame.

Those places that Chen Miao had swept through could no longer provide more Yin energy for the Yin Gathering Talisman. If they wanted more Yin energy, they could only wait for Yin energy from outside the range to flow into the range.

No matter how powerful the Yin-gathering talisman is, it can only 'gather'; it cannot create Yin energy out of thin air.

After figuring out the situation, Chen Miao's first thought was that he no longer needed to draw the Yin Gathering Talisman; the Yin Gathering state was enough.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

His Yin-gathering state is still somewhat different from the Yin-gathering talisman.

Once Chen Miao activates his Yin Gathering state, it can remain active as long as there is Yin energy within a certain range around him, without any time limit. However, this range is very small; it can only gather Yin energy within a radius of about ten meters centered on Chen Miao.

As for the Yin Gathering Talisman, although it has a time limit and the gathering speed is not very fast, its range of effect is far greater than Chen Miao's Yin Gathering Talisman, and it can probably cover the entire funeral home!
The two don't seem to be that different. Chen Miao only needs to drive around with the Yin Gathering Talisman to replace it.
Not!
The Yin-gathering talisman's gathering of Yin energy is not on a plane, but in a spherical space!

No matter how powerful Chen Miao is, he cannot use his Yin Gathering state to gather the Yin energy fifty meters above his head, nor can he drill fifty meters underground to absorb the Yin energy below. But the Yin Gathering Talisman can!

Therefore, the two have different usage scenarios and can gather different amounts of yin energy. Which one to use depends on the specific circumstances.

Currently, there is no scenario where Chen Miao would directly use the Yin Gathering Talisman.

So after making one Yin-gathering talisman for future use, he would try to make other talismans.

After figuring it out, Chen Miao reached out and tore up the Yin-gathering talisman before its duration was up, thus interrupting the Yin-gathering process.

There's already enough yin energy around us; there's no point in gathering more yin.

Just as Chen Miao finished setting out the new talisman paper and was about to continue drawing talismans, most of the Yin energy that had gathered around the Yin-gathering talisman suddenly disappeared, leaving only a small portion!

This change left Chen Miao somewhat bewildered until he saw the pale sky outside the window, realizing that he had been up all night.

The "Zhong Family Corpse-Transporting Secret Records" states that at dawn each day, the yang energy between heaven and earth rises for a moment.

This rising yang energy weakens the yin energy in all the places that sunlight can reach.

The reason why evil spirits and ghosts are rarely seen in the world is because of the daily phenomenon of rising yang energy.

Therefore, in places where the sun never shines, yin places are easily born.

However, the appearance of a dark place does not necessarily mean that it is never seen the light of day!
The "Zhong Family Corpse-Transporting Secret Records" contains relevant records that certain feng shui patterns possess special power that can isolate the rising yang energy at dawn each day, thus preventing the yin energy in the area from being affected.

Logically speaking, if there is rising yang energy, there should also be rising yin energy.

But it's not.

After nightfall, the yin energy slowly increases over time, reaching its peak at midnight, but it does not change suddenly like the yang energy.

This may be related to the different characteristics of Yin and Yang attributes, but the specific reasons are not explained in detail in "Zhong's Secret Records of Corpse Driving".

Or perhaps, even the compilers themselves didn't know the reason.

Chen Miao glanced at the mess of discarded talisman papers on the table. He had been busy all night, but hadn't managed to create a single real talisman.

Chen Miao shook his head, deciding not to continue drawing talismans.

As the curator, even though there's nothing urgent today, I can't just disappear right after taking office.

So, he needs to rest for a while.

Once I relaxed, the aftereffects of concentrating on drawing talismans all night suddenly came rushing back.

With his heavy eyelids half-open, Chen Miao staggered into the bedroom and fell asleep immediately!

When I woke up again, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon!
Since the cafeteria was past lunchtime, Chen Miao had no choice but to order takeout.

While waiting for his takeout, Chen Miao took a book and wandered around the funeral home.

I used a Yin-gathering talisman last night, and I'm wondering if it will have any impact on the funeral home. I need to be careful about this.

After checking and finding nothing amiss, Chen Miao chatted with Li Fu, the new manager of the cold storage.

Li Fu was not a talkative person. Chen Miao originally wanted to ask him if he had encountered any supernatural events during his more than ten years of guarding the tomb, but Li Fu did not seem to want to talk to him about it.

Chen Miao wasn't in a hurry; there was plenty of time.

……

Time flies. A week has passed since Chen Miao became the curator.

Within a week, the private discussions within the museum about Chen Miao becoming the director also disappeared.

The main reason is that everything was arranged very well after Chen Miao became the curator.

Whether it's contacting paper mills to replenish paper offerings, wreaths, and paper money for the shop, finding someone to order urns to replenish inventory, or communicating with the deceased's family to arrange transportation, they basically do everything themselves.

He is even more conscientious and responsible than Chen Weiyi.

In addition, Chen Miao is a funeral director, so he basically coordinates with all the staff at the funeral home for every memorial service.

His business acumen and organizational skills have been recognized by everyone.

After seeing Chen Miao's work ability, those employees who were once hesitant felt much more at ease.

Given this situation, even if Chen Miao cannot restore the funeral home to its former state, he can still preserve everything he has now.

This is enough for those who just want a stable job to support their families!
In the past week, besides taking care of the funeral home, Chen Miao spent about two hours every night drawing talismans.

When Chen Miao successfully drew one out of three talismans on his first attempt, he mistakenly believed that his success rate was around 30%. However, it wasn't until a week of drawing talismans that Chen Miao realized his true success rate.

3%!

Chen Miao would draw talismans for two hours every night. Because the yin energy would harm his hands, he would only draw two talismans every seven or eight minutes. In one night, he would only use two qian of cinnabar to draw thirty talisman papers.

On average, only one out of thirty talismans will be a genuine talisman!

One night, Chen Miao had a bad run of luck and spent nearly three hours drawing forty pictures before finishing just one. Even with breaks in between, his hands were starting to give out.

This success rate left Chen Miao somewhat disappointed.

This is only because of the Ice Heart state, which allows Yin energy to be gathered in the palm. Even so, the success rate is only 3%!

What would be the success rate of other people, such as Zhong Fa and Zhong Cai, in drawing talismans?
Afterwards, Chen Miao calculated the cost of making the talismans.

The materials that Xiang Shang got for him were enough to draw 1,500 times!

With a 3% success rate, you can obtain a total of forty-five genuine talismans!

Chen Miao gave Xiang Shang 30,000 yuan back then, which means that the cost for Chen Miao to make a real talisman was 700 yuan!
Upon realizing this, Chen Miao was somewhat stunned.

It doesn't seem to be very expensive?
Could it be that talismans aren't valuable outside?
But then Chen Miao realized something was wrong; he was special!
If someone else were to draw the talisman without the Ice Heart buff, the success rate would likely be reduced by several times.

But this is not the most important.

Most importantly, ordinary people draw talismans in yin places, where the yin energy is all-encompassing, naturally causing greater harm to the body.

Chen Miao can paint every day because he only needs to take care of his right hand.

But for others, going to a dark place would probably require a long period of rest.

After all, you can't try things like you would with your hands, especially with parts of the body like the heart.

What if you accidentally die suddenly?
Furthermore, not everyone possesses the "Zhong Family Talismans," and the saying "the law should not be lightly passed on" is no joke.

Therefore, the cost of drawing talismans is not the biggest problem at all.

Time, success rate, and production method are what make talismans precious!
Chen Miao also considered trying to exchange materials to draw talismans, which might increase the success rate.

But then he felt it was unnecessary, because he didn't currently have any scenarios where he needed to use these symbols.

Accumulating talismans slowly using ordinary materials should be enough to handle most things.

Moreover, as proficiency increases, the success rate of talismans should improve slightly.

After all, a new skill has already appeared in the skill list under the author information.

[Character Drawing: A Beginner's Guide]

During this period, the talismans were drawn at night. During the day, Chen Miao would practice carving and memorize incantations.

It is worth mentioning that Chen Miao also specially had a bell made in the style of the corpse-controlling bell, following the method of making the corpse-controlling bell in "The Secret Records of the Zhong Family Corpse Transport".

Then, he used blood ink to draw corresponding runes inside the Corpse Control Bell.

After washing and drawing runes on the inner wall three times, Chen Miao sensed that yin energy was being absorbed by the ink on the runes.

The Corpse Control Bell was successfully made.

It's unclear whether the creation of the Corpse Control Bell was inherently easy, or whether it was due to his mastery of talisman drawing.

Just when Chen Miao thought these fulfilling days would continue, Kong Fang, a salesman at the store, suddenly told Chen Miao about a special situation.

There was a deal with a guaranteed lucrative reward, but Kong Fang wasn't sure if he could take it on; Chen Miao had to make the decision.

Immediately, Chen Miao called Kong Fang to his office to learn the details of the deal.

……

PS:

If you find a chapter missing while reading, don't worry. It's not that the author forgot to post it, but rather that it was restricted by the review process. It should be released after revisions, but it will take a while.

The author has been very careful, but there are still some places where the description was overlooked and judged as violating the rules. There's nothing that can be done about it, so please bear with us.

(End of this chapter)