I'll make you the furnace and the cauldron, so you can refine Yin and Yang and prove the Great

Shen Yunlian moved lightly towards the interior: "Fellow Daoist Li, please come with me."

Li Hanshan followed her, walked through the corridor illuminated by the luminous pearl, turned a corner, and entered a room that was even quieter than the workshop.

This room is adjacent to the previous study, but the layout is completely different—rolls of carefully preserved talismans are stacked on the wooden shelves on the four walls. They are made of different materials, some with a silvery-white metallic luster, some with a warm jade-like texture, and a few with a rare dark purple luster, which shimmers with fine electric arc patterns under the light.

The table in the very center was wider than a typical talisman-making table, with a smooth layer of spirit silk mat on the surface and fine spirit-gathering array patterns engraved along the edges.

Shen Yun walked to the wooden shelf against the wall, took down a well-preserved animal hide drawing from the top shelf, and unfolded it on the table. The drawing depicted a rune structure even more complex than a sixth-order Purple Lightning Talisman; dense lines intertwined like a woven spiderweb, each connection point marked with extremely fine annotations indicating the flow of spiritual energy. Pointing to the most crucial area in the center of the drawing, her tone held the patience characteristic of a teacher: "You can already draw a sixth-order Purple Lightning Talisman. Next, I'm going to teach you the Purple Lightning Pavilion's true specialty—the Double-Tiered Talisman."

"Double runes?" Li Hanshan approached the table, his gaze falling on the complex rune structure diagram.

Shen Yun's fingertips slowly traced the interwoven patterns on the drawing: "A double-layered talisman, as the name suggests, is a second layer of runes superimposed on a first-layered talisman. The two layers of runes form two independent spiritual energy circuits within the talisman paper. When used, they can be activated sequentially or released simultaneously, with a power more than 50% higher than a single-layered talisman of the same level. But this is only the basic usage—the true brilliance of the double-layered talisman lies in the resonance between the two circuits. When the spiritual energy fluctuation frequencies of the two layers of runes reach a consensus, the released power will double or even more."

The power is doubled! Once you learn this double talisman, it's really good; it's not just the difference between one talisman and two.

Even if two sixth-tier spirit talismans are activated simultaneously, their power cannot be more than double that of a single sixth-tier spirit talisman.

As Shen Yun spoke, she took a roll of talisman paper with a dark purple sheen from the wooden shelf, unfolded it, and cut off a section about three inches long, laying it on the table. The texture of the talisman paper was completely different from ordinary talisman paper—its surface was covered with a layer of extremely fine purple fiber patterns, which shone with a cold, metallic light under the light, and at the edges, faint, dense electric arc-like patterns could be seen moving deep within the paper, like a tamed river of thunder flowing in a narrow channel.

Shen Yun pushed the talisman paper in front of Li Hanshan: "This is talisman paper made from Purple Thunder Bamboo. Purple Thunder Bamboo is a unique spiritual bamboo of the Purple Thunder Pavilion. It must be planted on a spiritual vein to survive, and it only grows a usable section of bamboo every hundred years. After a special processing technique, it can be made into talisman paper. Purple Thunder Talismans of the sixth rank and above must be carried by this kind of talisman paper; otherwise, the talisman structure will collapse the moment spiritual power is injected due to insufficient material strength."

Li Hanshan reached out and touched the talisman. The moment his fingertips touched the surface, he felt a very slight tingling sensation, like touching gentle lightning. He could feel that the lightning-attribute spiritual energy contained within the purple fibrous texture was extremely pure, far more stable than any talisman he had used before, like a carefully cultivated stream flowing quietly in a narrow riverbed. He looked up: "This talisman... must have taken a lot of effort to make, right?"

Shen Yun nodded, a hint of suppressed emotion in her voice: "The growth cycle of Purple Thunder Bamboo is too long; only a few dozen qualified bamboo plants can be harvested each year. Even after hundreds of years, the Purple Thunder Pavilion only has a little over a hundred sixth-tier talisman papers in stock. I can provide you with some, but you must use them sparingly during your practice. Don't waste them on trying out second-tier talismans before your basic runes are stable."

As she spoke, she took a palm-sized jade box from the lower shelf of the wooden shelf and placed it on the edge of the table. "There are five talisman papers inside. Use them to practice the basic structure of the double-layered talisman. Once you can complete the drawing of the first layer of talismans without damaging the talisman papers, I will see your progress and decide how to teach you the next step."

Li Hanshan took the jade box; it felt slightly heavy in his hand, and he could sense the warm, gentle fluctuations of lightning energy emanating from it. He carefully placed the jade box on a corner of the table, then turned to the unfolded animal hide drawing. His Void Refinement level divine sense, like a finely intricate net, projected the interwoven rune structures one by one into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness. The lines did indeed share the same origin as the basic structure of a sixth-order purple lightning talisman, but at each connection point, there was an extra bend, like an expanded building with new layers added to the original framework. He traced the patterns in the air with his fingertips, sensing the changes in the flow of spiritual energy at those bends.

Shen Yun stood beside him, seeing that he had already begun to deduce the structure of the runes, so she didn't rush to interrupt. She watched quietly for a while, then took a talisman brush dipped in spirit ink from the brush holder and handed it to him. She then took out a sixth-tier purple lightning talisman paper from the jade box and spread it on the table: "Try the basic part of the first level of runes first. I don't expect you to succeed on the first try, just find the position of that core arc first."

Li Hanshan took the talisman brush, his spiritual energy seeping from his fingertips into the brush handle, flowing along the tip into the spiritual ink. He made his first stroke on the dark purple talisman paper—the silver-purple arc that appeared on the surface extended forward more smoothly than he had expected. He could feel that the spiritual ink penetrated the surface of the talisman paper more slowly than on ordinary talisman paper, as if it were slightly supported by the purple fibrous texture, giving the movement of the brush tip a more stable damping feel. The core arc smoothly completed its entire course under his brush, the upward curve at the end perfectly matching the markings on the drawing.

As he put down the talisman brush, Shen Yun had already moved closer. Her fingertips gently traced the edge of the arc, confirming that the spiritual energy had penetrated the paper evenly, before she nodded slightly: "The first stroke was good. The brushstroke was steady, and the depth of the spiritual energy infusion was just right. Now try the second connecting line."

The distance between them shrank to less than an arm's length when Shen Yun leaned closer to examine him. Li Hanshan could smell the crisp, herbal scent emanating from her, mixed with the slightly pungent aroma of spirit ink, like a thin mist woven from crushed spirit herbs and thunderclouds. As she lowered her head, the tassels hanging from her hairpin lightly brushed against the edge of Li Hanshan's hand, causing a slight tickle. She seemed unaware of the touch, her fingertips still tracing the path he had just drawn along the edge of the talisman paper, until she confirmed that the flow of spiritual energy in the pattern perfectly met the requirements, before straightening up.

But Li Hanshan sensed the brief pause she made as she straightened up. Her gaze lingered on his face for half a breath longer than usual before she looked away, pointing again to a junction on the blueprint. Her voice remained steady: "Here, the second connecting line needs to extend half an inch outward from the end of the first arc before turning. The angle can't be too steep, otherwise the spiritual energy will dissipate at the turning point due to the rapid change in direction."