Creating a paradise in an ant nest

Chapter 99: The meaning of a talisman becomes clear after being drawn a hundred times.

"Senior Brother Liu, you'll have to buy the ink for this bottle of Lightness Talisman yourself. You don't need to buy the talisman paper, I have some saved up."

Ma Guanming took Liu He to buy a bottle of talisman ink, which cost twenty spirit stones.

A Lightness Talisman only costs three spirit stones at the Spirit Talisman Pavilion.

The price of a lightness talisman drawn by a talisman master is even lower when sold to the Spirit Talisman Pavilion.

No wonder it's said that low-level rune masters have pitifully low profits, some even losing money, just to make back the cost of materials.

"This stack of talismans will cost two spirit stones, right? Here you go."

Talisman paper is cheaper; ten ordinary talismans cost only one spirit stone.

"No, these are all my secret stashes, I don't need to pay for them."

Ma Guanming lowered his voice and said.

This is how the handymen who make talismans earn extra money. Everyone knows it by heart. It's not easy to be discovered if they secretly keep one or two talismans each time, and little by little, they can make a lot.

"That's not how it works. What's yours is yours, so take it."

After some initial refusals, Ma Guanming finally accepted the spirit stones from Liu He.

"Senior Brother Liu, I wish you success in drawing talismans. Show Senior Brother Pei your talent then, and see who says you can't draw talismans if you're not good at calligraphy."

Ma Guanming said this.

"Haha, thanks for your kind words. The selection of menial disciples for Spirit Plant Peak begins the day after tomorrow. Good luck!"

The two then said goodbye.

Lingmu Garden.

Deep within the ant nest lies an underground magical cave.

A large patch of Ganoderma lucidum was placed in front of Liu He; it was the Soul-Nourishing Moonflower Ganoderma.

He cut off a small piece from the top, swallowed it, and then circulated his internal energy.

The nourishing moon-flower mushroom transforms into cool energy, flowing into the Niwan Palace between the eyebrows.

He read in a book that the method of consuming the Soul-Nourishing Moonflower Ganoderma is to slice and chew it, or soak it in water, or soak it in very light sake.

Because it was a second-tier spiritual plant, Liu He dared not eat too much, taking only a little each day.

Half an hour later, Liu He finished his cultivation.

This was only the third day since he took the Soul Nourishing Moon Essence, and he could clearly feel his soul strength increasing.

Previously, his perception of his soul was not obvious, but with the Soul-Nourishing Moonflower, he realized the benefits of his soul: his senses became more acute and his control over spiritual energy became more flexible.

The same spell, but the power he casts now is slightly stronger than before.

Obsidian beads.

He released two obsidian beads.

"go!"

The obsidian beads flew off to the left and right into the distance, circled once, and then flew back into his hand.

He could only control one obsidian bead before, and could not control two smoothly at the same time.

"With the increase in my spiritual strength, my Stone Manipulation Technique has improved significantly. I wonder when I'll be able to control three obsidian beads?"

His obsidian beads are a set of three.

It is said that only cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining can skillfully control the three obsidian beads.

If he could control the three obsidian beads, the power would increase by more than 30%, but several times over!

After practicing the stone manipulation technique for a while, he shouted loudly, "Eight Desolations, Nine Netherworlds!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Bahuang excitedly rushed into the spirit artifact cave.

"This is yours for today."

Liu He cut off a piece of the Soul-Nourishing Moonflower Herb and fed it to the Eight Desolations.

The Eight Desolations opened its mouth and swallowed it whole.

It's worth mentioning that neither the Eight Desolations nor the Nine Netherworlds were interested in the roots of the third-tier spiritual plant, the Eternal Spirit Tree, but they did prefer the Soul-Nourishing Moonflower Mushroom.

"Nine Netherworlds, yours."

Liu He cut off another slice of the Soul-Nourishing Moonflower and tossed it into the air.

Before it could land, a gust of "wind" swept by, and the Soul-Nourishing Moonflower Herb had already fallen into the mouth of the Nine Netherworlds.

"Time to draw some talismans."

Liu He went to the miniature plant garden.

He made himself a table and chairs for drawing talismans using spirit wood, with a stone vat next to him filled with pitch-black talisman ink.

This is just a drop from that bottle of talisman ink.

Liu He only used one drop of the talisman ink, which was worth twenty spirit stones, and it turned into a whole vat in the miniature spirit plant garden, more than he could use up.

The penholder is made of Qingyang spirit wood, and the brush hair is made of a mixture of tail hair from a spirit wolf weasel and tail hair from a spirit rabbit.

"The initial investment in learning talisman drawing is so large, it would be a real loss if you couldn't learn it."

Liu He thought to himself.

He then dipped a talisman brush in ink and began to draw talismans.

The talisman paper he used was cut from normal talisman paper; one talisman paper could be cut into countless pieces from an ant nest.

The size is just right, but it's too thick. Fortunately, it doesn't affect its use.

According to the records, one should first practice with ordinary brush and ink when drawing talismans, and only try using spirit brush and talisman ink after becoming proficient enough, in order to save resources.

But Liu He had no shortage of resources, so he started directly with the spirit brush and talisman ink.

The first drawing was, unsurprisingly, a failure; it went wrong before it was even one-fifth complete.

"Again!"

If he lacks talent, then he should practice more.

If "reading a book a hundred times will reveal its meaning," then similarly "drawing a talisman a hundred times will reveal its meaning."

The second, third, and all the way up to the sixth card all failed without any surprise.

"call"

Liu He let out a long breath; twenty strands of spiritual energy within his body had been consumed.

Drawing talismans is extremely taxing on spiritual energy and mental focus. It requires complete concentration, and the spiritual energy must be injected steadily and continuously throughout the process; too much or too little will not work.

The spiritual energy of one's own spirit, combined with the spiritual power of the talisman ink material, is used to draw extremely precise talisman patterns and lines on the talisman paper, leaving no room for error.

This is the difficulty in drawing symbols.

"Let's learn from our failures and move on."

He first took a elixir to restore his spiritual energy, and then summarized his experience of the previous failure.

The elixir that restores spiritual energy came from Commander Fu, who also released it from the outside into the ant nest, where it was inexhaustible.

With ample logistical resources, Liu He was able to practice drawing symbols so freely.

It wasn't until the eighth talisman that Liu He made a mistake in the final step of sealing the talisman.

"Again."

Liu He finally succeeded in drawing the ninth talisman.

"It's finally done!"

This was the first talisman he had successfully drawn, and he was overwhelmed with excitement.

"There are virtually endless practice resources; I don't believe I can't learn them."

"Again."

Unfortunately, he made a mistake halfway through making the tenth talisman and ruined it again.

Of the first ten Lightness Talismans, he only successfully drew one. His success rate was far lower than Pei Shuyi's, and he did not meet Pei Shuyi's requirement of "mastering three".

However, while others familiarized themselves with ordinary writing materials beforehand, Liu He directly used a spirit brush and talisman ink.

If you practice beforehand, you might be able to successfully draw two or even three.

"My talent in the art of talisman drawing is indeed average, but I'm not completely clueless. With more practice, I can still reach an average level."

he thought.

They then continued practicing.

Once the spiritual energy is nearly depleted, replenish it and continue drawing talismans.

After dozens of practice sessions, his success rate in drawing the Lightness Talisman quickly reached 50%.

That's enough.

The extensive practice left him exhausted, and he decided to stop for today and take a break.

Back in reality, the lightness talisman in his hand became extremely small.

The talisman paper and ink were both thrown from reality into the ant nest.

According to the first law of ant nest space: it cannot be enlarged.

Therefore, the lightness talisman he successfully drew in the ant nest space will not grow larger in reality; it will remain as small as it was in the ant nest.

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