Chapter Twenty: The Secret of the Copper Mirror

  "I hope tonight's luck will be better!" Li Muran smiled and muttered to himself.

  To create the Flame Explosion Symbol, one needs to draw a word, a seal, an incantation and a diagram. For Li Mubai's disciples who have not been training for long, as soon as it involves drawing diagrams, it is absolutely not a task that can be completed easily.

  Although Yan Bao Dou Wen is just one of the simplest fire attribute Wu Xing Dou Wen, and although Li Muran has practiced it over a hundred times, he still doesn't have absolute control.

  Li Muran took out a second-order talisman paper, a silver-backed wolf hair brush, a piece of high-quality talisman ink, and a jug of spiritual spring water from his storage bag.

  With meticulous care, Li Muran adjusted the ink with the spiritual spring water, then closed his eyes to calm his mind for a moment, casting aside distracting thoughts.

  Then he put aside things like storage bags.

  With a mind free of distractions and a body free of clutter, one can create talismans. Li Muran had a habit of putting aside all unnecessary objects before drawing each talisman.

  At this moment, a gentle mountain breeze blew over, and the talismans on the table trembled slightly.

  Li Muran furrowed his brow and took out the copper mirror from the storage bag, pressing down one corner of the talisman paper so that it would no longer float away.

  The copper mirror is quite heavy and stable, making it very suitable for holding down paper. Moreover, the copper mirror has been with him for many years and is already familiar to him, so it won't bring any inconvenience or discomfort. When creating a Yuanqi symbol, Li Muran often uses the copper mirror to hold down the paper, so there's nothing special about him doing so today.

  Everything was ready, and after a slight adjustment, Li Muran closed his eyes slightly, activated the internal force in his body, compressed the internal force according to the incantation of Yan Bao Technique, and gradually accumulated it in his right arm.

  This process was as smooth as water flowing into a canal, and next he only needed to lightly flick his finger to cast out an unremarkable Flame Explosion Technique.

  But Li Muran did not do so, after the flame technique's mana was ready, he opened his eyes, his right hand quickly picked up the brush, dipped it in half-full ink, and immediately dotted down the first stroke of the symbol on the center of the talisman paper.

  He was as still as a mountain, his body unmoving, only his wrists moving with extreme agility, drawing mysterious symbols with his brush. First, it was the character for "flame", then a winding and twisting incantation of fierce fire, followed by the Flame Explosion Fist scripture.

  As he drew the talismans and incantations, the Flame Explosion Technique's power accumulated in his arm slowly flowed into the talisman paper through the brush; everything was stable, swift and orderly. But when he began to draw the Flame Explosion Fighting Talisman, the power in his arm suddenly surged frantically into the brush, pouring onto the talisman paper.

  Li Muran momentarily lost control, and the talisman paper suddenly ignited in an instant, turning into a wisp of blue smoke.

  "It's indeed difficult to draw Douwen!" Li Muran secretly shook his head.

  Li Muran took out another talisman paper and cast a spell again.

  This time, after smoothly drawing the talisman and incantation, he absorbed the lesson from last time, immediately retracted his magic power, and began to draw the Flame Explosion Talisman.

  Although he tried his best to control the magic, the Flame Explosion magic in his arm still flew quickly towards the symbol pen and entered the symbol paper; fortunately, the symbol paper could still withstand it and was not burned.

  However, after the two strokes of calligraphy were drawn, the tip of the brush suddenly became scorching hot, like a red-hot branding iron!

  "Ah!" Li Muran exclaimed, subconsciously throwing down the brush and examining his right hand that held the pen.

  His right hand was just as normal, let alone scalded, without even a hint of redness. The symbol pen that had been thrown aside also showed no change whatsoever.

  The intense burning sensation just now seemed to be just an illusion of his, without any trace; however, this talisman also self-destructed due to the interruption of the symbol drawing.

  "Can't a beginner Qi practitioner like me really draw an Flame Explosion Symbol?" Li Muran murmured somewhat dejectedly.

  After two attempts, the difficulties he encountered were far beyond his expectations. In a book that specializes in introducing primary talisman making, it is mentioned that generally only cultivators with a later period of Qi Mo can make Yan Bao symbols relatively skillfully. A small number of talented and cultivated cultivators with mid-term Qi Mo can also successfully create them, but the success rate is slightly lower. As for the cultivators in the early stage of Qi Mo, although they can cast the Yan Bao technique, it is very difficult to make Yan Bao symbols.

  The biggest difficulty lies in the "Yan Bao Dou Wen", which is not considered complex.

  In that classic, it is said that each Douwen contains the evolution law of heaven and earth and all things, involving the operation of the laws of heaven and earth, so its power is extraordinary; to draw a Douwen, one must overcome the various potential obstacles brought by the laws of heaven and earth. Therefore, in order to successfully draw a Douwen, the cultivator's own cultivation must be far above the power contained in the Douwen, so as to overcome the difficulties and smoothly draw the talisman.

  Li Muran thought he could skillfully cast the Flame Explosion Technique and had laid a solid foundation for making seals, so it was possible to create a Flame Explosion Seal. He didn't expect that trying it out today would still be extremely difficult.

  "Give it another try!"

  Li Muran resolutely took out another talisman and pressed it under the copper mirror.

  Then he cast his spell and drew his symbol for a third time.

  The first few words were nothing to Li Muran, but when it came to drawing the Flame Explosion Technique, that was the real test.

  This time, when drawing to the third stroke of the Douwen character, that sudden and intense burning sensation came again from the brush, Li Muran's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, his teeth clenched tightly, he didn't let go of the brush, and endured the severe pain to continue drawing the symbol.

  Just painted two strokes, the scorching feeling suddenly disappeared again. Li Muran had not yet had time to be happy when the talisman paper suddenly ignited again, and the symbol creation failed once more.

  "Come again!"

  A strong and unyielding spirit rose up in Li Muran's heart. Most ordinary disciples, when faced with difficulties like this, would usually give up; but Li Muran felt that although he failed every time, each failure allowed him to gain real experience and lessons, make some improvements, and was not without gains.

  "As long as I can keep making progress, there will be a time when I'll successfully create the Flame Emblem!"

  Li Muran tried five or six times in a row, all of which ended in failure. Every time he made a move, strange obstacles and difficulties would suddenly appear, making it difficult for him to cope.

  He was closest to success when he had forcibly drawn the Douwen, and all that was left was to add a seal to complete the talisman. However, the law power contained in the talisman paper was too violent, and before he could finish drawing the seal, the talisman paper self-destructed into a piece of flame. Fortunately, he didn't get hurt.

  The production of Flame Burst Symbol requires second-grade symbol paper, with each sheet costing one piece of spirit stone. Every failure results in the waste of a spirit stone. Li Muran's approach is considered extremely extravagant among fellow disciples of the same rank. If he didn't have some family wealth, he wouldn't dare to keep trying like this.

  Li Muran thought to himself, "I'm already very close, but unfortunately, my spiritual energy has been depleted quite a bit; I'll take a short rest, meditate and refine it to replenish my energy, then try again! Even if I exhaust these twenty second-tier talismans, as long as I can gain a lot of real experience, it won't be a waste!"

  He believed that as long as he persisted, he would definitely be able to successfully draw the Flame Emblem. As long as he had one successful experience, he could have a second and third! As he tried more and more, practiced more and more, his success rate in drawing talismans would also gradually increase.

  It was very quiet at the top of Chaoyuan Peak, so Li Muran sat down on the spot. The efficiency of nighttime cultivation was extremely high, and soon he felt that his internal yuanqi was quite abundant, so he stopped sitting.

  Li Muran opened his eyes, took out a second-order talisman paper, and was about to make another talisman. Suddenly, he found that the copper mirror suppressing the talisman paper had undergone some subtle changes!

  "Ah!" Li Muran was startled, and hastily picked up the copper mirror to examine it carefully. He found that the surface of the copper mirror had a faint layer of light condensed on it, although very weak, but upon closer inspection, he knew it was clearly different from usual.

  "It's strange, I almost take out the copper mirror every day to study it, why didn't the copper mirror have any abnormalities before, but today there is a faint glow?"

  Li Muran was extremely perplexed, he thought hard about what reason caused the copper mirror to change.

  "Last time the copper mirror shone brightly, it was when making the talisman for opening light. This time is also for making a talisman, could it be related to making the talisman?"

  Li Muran thought of this and shook his head again. During this period, he had made more than a hundred yuanqi symbols, almost every time he made a symbol, he would take out the copper mirror and place it aside or press down on the symbol paper, but he had never found any unusual phenomena.

  "What's the difference if not because of the seal? Why does the copper mirror glow when making the Kai Guang symbol and Yan Bao symbol, but not at all when making the Yuan Qi symbol?"

  Li Muran bowed his head in contemplation, recalling with great effort all sorts of fragments from the past.

  He believed that all this was not accidental and must have been caused by some detail that led to the change in the copper mirror.

  "Attention to detail", this is probably what Li Muran likes and excels at the most, he went over all sorts of details in his mind since drawing the talisman, carefully analyzing the similarities and differences.

  "What's wrong?" Li Muran muttered to himself, he raised his head and subconsciously looked at the bright moon with a silver halo.

  Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Li Muran's mind.

  "The moon! That's right, it's the moon!"

  Li Muran suddenly thought that when making the Kai Guang symbol, it was also done in an outdoor environment under the moonlight, and the copper mirror was exposed to the moonlight; while making the Yuan Qi symbol, it was all done indoors, where the moonlight could not shine on the copper mirror.

  Li Muran took another look at the faint glow emanating from the copper mirror, and indeed it was similar to the halo around the moon. He became even more certain of his conjecture.

  Li Muran excitedly thought: "If it's really like that, let the copper mirror be placed under the moonlight for a while longer. The light emitted by the copper mirror will become even stronger and may even recreate the scene of making the talisman that night."

  Li Muran suspended his crafting, placing the copper mirror under the moonlight, and waited quietly beside it.

  An hour later, seeing the silver light on the surface of the copper mirror, Li Muran's heart was both tense and excited:

  "Finally going to get in touch with the real secret of the copper mirror!"