Chapter 9: Yuan Qi Symbol

  "What is a Ling Stone?" A disciple was taken aback.

  Li Muran's heart sank, and he had seen some sayings about the Spirit Stone in the classics. It was a special crystal that contained a certain amount of heaven and earth's primordial energy, with a wide range of uses. In the cultivation world, almost everyone needed Spirit Stones, so they also became a common equivalent in transactions, similar to the role of gold and silver in the secular world.

  Li Muran said, "Brother Wu, can't you be more flexible? We've just started our cultivation journey, where would we get spiritual stones from? How about this, let's put the account for these two spiritual stones on hold, and we'll definitely return them with both hands in the future!"

  "No spirit stone, then it's pointless!" Wu Zhi Shi's face suddenly sank, his hands gestured, and he had a professional attitude.

  These few disciples were also helpless and had no choice but to discuss going to ask for help from their master's senior brother.

  However, the master's uncle was busy with many things, and even formal disciples rarely saw him. It was even more uncertain whether these few auditing disciples could see him at all.

  "What's all the commotion?" Just then, a young figure flashed by, and it was Mo Yunzi, someone Li Muran and others had met before.

  "We've seen Master Mo!" The disciples hastily paid their respects.

  Wu Zhi said, "Master Mo, these few disciples who are listening in also want to receive the symbol papers and other things, saying they want to practice Yuanqi symbols. However, there is no clear rule in the sect about this, so the disciples have been arguing with them about whether or not to report it to Master Zhang and the other masters for a decision."

  "Primordial Qi Symbol?" Mo Yunzi glanced at Li Muran coldly, then suddenly smiled faintly and said: "Just give it to them, anyway it's not worth much spirit stone!"

  Wu Zhi Shi was taken aback at first, then immediately said: "Yes, yes! With Master Mo's word, there's no problem!" He then hastily went to prepare the ritual papers, ink and brushes, giving each of Li Muran and the others a set.

  "Thank you, Master Mo! Thank you, Brother Wu!" Li Muran and the others were overjoyed, and they all thanked Mochunzi before leaving with satisfaction.

  Watching Li Muran and others leave, Mo Yunzi suddenly sneered and muttered: "Hmph, with poor innate talent, you're using the hard-earned and precious yuanqi to make talismans. I think your cultivation will never amount to much!"

  ……

  Li Muran returned to the house and immediately took out the talisman paper and pen, playing with them joyfully.

  In terms of texture, this talisman is also made from the wood shavings of a thousand-year-old sacred tree, three inches long and one inch six fen wide, much smaller than the Kai Guang symbol paper.

  That symbol pen, the pen holder is six inches long, the whole body is smooth and shiny, it should be some kind of jade material. As for the pen tip, it's milky white, Li Muren had seen it in ancient books before, the pen tips of Yuanfu Zong's symbol pens were mostly made from the fine hair of the white-tailed spirit monkeys raised by the sect.

  The vermilion is a bright red powder that dissolves in water and is made by mixing the blood of a green cow with cinnabar ore.

  Talismans, brushes, and ink are all specially refined objects that contain spiritual essence and cannot be replaced by ordinary secular products.

  Daytime cultivation progress was too slow, so Li Muran simply used this time to practice drawing the talismans needed for Yuanqi symbols.

  This star seal is indeed not too complicated, only a "qi" character, a fixed mantra of yuan qi, plus a simple seal.

  With Li Muran's many years of hard work and solid foundation, it only took half a day to practice this not-so-complicated one-word-one-mudra-one-seal exercise proficiently.

  However, this is just an exercise done with ordinary pen and paper. When it comes to the actual creation of symbols, he will encounter great difficulties, but he has no way of knowing them beforehand. It can only be deeply felt when it comes to actual practice.

  Li Muran suddenly thought: "For other disciples, the cultivation of yuanqi is not easy, and it's a pity to use it to make talismans. But I cultivate yuanqi at night, which will dissipate automatically when dawn breaks anyway, so why not use it to make talismans? It won't be a waste of my cultivation!"

  Thinking of this, Li Muran became excited again. The yuanqi he cultivated at night was very abundant and should be enough to use for refining the yuanqi symbol. Moreover, these yuanqi would disappear when dawn broke anyway, so it would be a waste not to use them to refine the symbol.

  After some thought, Li Muran felt that this method was quite feasible. Before finding a suitable way to keep the night's cultivation of yuanqi within his body, using these yuanqi to create yuanqi symbols while they had not yet dissipated seemed like the most efficient approach!

  After all, Li Muran had repeatedly verified that those yuanqi itself was fine, and using it to make talismans shouldn't cause any major problems.

  Moreover, Zixia Daoist can return to the sect at any time. If he comes back and Li Muran can offer a Yuanqi symbol drawn by himself, it will be enough to prove that he is not mediocre, thus increasing his chances of staying in the sect.

  Since you want to make a Yuanqi symbol, then you need to prepare carefully. Making symbols can't be done in one go, it requires step-by-step practice and gradual progress.

  Li Muran analyzed it and felt that the brush pen was still usable, the amount of ink was relatively sufficient, enough to paint dozens of talismans. If not enough, he could borrow some from other fellow disciples; only the talisman paper was a limited material, with only ten sheets in total, one less sheet for each painting, regardless of success or failure.

  So, after Li Muran practiced the symbol exercises proficiently, he didn't rush to create symbols. Instead, he used a symbol brush and ink on ordinary white paper to make symbols.

  The talismans drawn in this way naturally have no effect at all; however, they can make Li Muran familiar with the use of talisman brushes and ink, so as to avoid some unexpected mistakes when making real talismans.

  On the second night, Li Muran sat and breathed for an hour, his body's yuanqi was already saturated.

  Li Muran took out a small dish, sprinkled some talisman ink powder on it, then poured in a little clear water from a gourd, stirring evenly.

  The clear water in the gourd was fetched by him from a spiritual spring dozens of miles away. It is said that this spiritual spring water itself also has some spirituality, and using it to melt the talisman ink is slightly better than ordinary well water.

  Although the effect is also negligible, for Li Mochou, who has always been demanding and never misses any details, it is very important. He spent several hours running back and forth, not tired of the hard work. If it were other disciples, even if they knew this point, they might not have gone to fetch the spiritual spring water.

  The ink is evenly mixed, Li Muran spreads out a piece of talisman paper, takes out the talisman pen, dips it in half-full talisman ink, calms his mind and focuses his spirit, and begins to draw the talisman.

  From the first stroke of the broken pen, Li Muran felt a huge difference between the real seal and the practice. As he drew each stroke, not only did the pen encounter thousands of threads entwining, with increasing resistance; but also his internal yuanqi gradually flowed out along with the strokes, transferring to the talisman paper.

  Fortunately, Li Muran has a solid foundation, with superior hand strength, eyesight and mental power. Coupled with the surging of his internal energy at present, it can be said that he is relatively smooth sailing.

  After a moment, an intricate character "qi" was drawn out, this character jumped onto the paper, with an air of elegance; Li Muran's brush did not stop, surrounding this "qi" character, continuing to draw out a section of incantation.

  This talisman itself is not particularly complex, but at the moment of drawing, Li Muran feels that the yuanqi in his body flows more quickly through the strokes into the talisman paper. Apparently, this incantation is the key to the One-Star Yuanqi Talisman.

  The talisman was more than half drawn when a strong suction force suddenly emerged, greedily absorbing the yuanqi flowing out of the brush. Li Muran was unprepared for a moment, and his mana mobilization was not swift enough, causing the yuanqi to be interrupted for a brief moment.

  Although it was just a small oversight, it ruined this ritual and the talisman paper also spontaneously combusted.

  "Brother Qingfeng said that the key to making Yuanqi symbols lies in the mobilization of internal Fa Li, indeed it is!" Li Muran thought to himself, not feeling discouraged at all.

  Only those who have truly practiced will understand such details; one failure is just an experience to be drawn from.

  Although the seal failed, Li Muran found that his internal yuanqi had been consumed by more than half. He rested for a while, then calmed his mind and meditated again, waiting for his internal yuanqi to be abundant before continuing to make the yuanqi seal.

  This time, as he drew the talisman, he continuously stimulated the yuanqi in his body to surge towards the brush, and with a mighty burst of yuanqi, drawing the talisman became effortless.

  But unexpectedly, due to his overly hasty mobilization of yuanqi, the curse character appeared with a deviation in a certain stroke because the yuanqi was too strong, and ultimately the seal failed.

  This star yuanqi symbol is the simplest and most basic, but it's not easy to make! In addition to laying a solid foundation and mastering the drawing of the symbol, if the movement of yuanqi is too slow or too hasty, it won't work.

  Li Muran did not give up and after a short rest, he continued to meditate and draw talismans. Finally, on the third attempt before dawn, he successfully drew a One-Star Yuanqi Talisman.

  The hard work of the previous night made Li Muran rest for a whole day. After dinner, he continued to cultivate and make talismans.

  Li Muran calculated that creating a Yuanqi symbol would consume a considerable amount of spiritual power. At night, his cultivation speed was extremely fast, and he could create three to four Yuanqi symbols in total.

  "Ten talismans, won't they be used up in just three nights?" Li Muran thought to himself, "Elder Qingfeng said that after becoming a formal disciple for a year, we have to submit five one-star yuanqi talismans every month, it doesn't seem too difficult!"

  For Li Muran, it was indeed not difficult. After drawing the first Yuanqi symbol, the remaining symbols were even more effortless, and he successfully drew seven one-star Yuanqi symbols in three nights with ten sheets of talisman paper.

  However, for other disciples, it's probably not that easy. Disciples with average talent and cultivation usually have to work hard for two or three days to accumulate enough yuanqi to create a single one-star yuanqi talisman; five one-star yuanqi talismans would require almost half a month of cultivation. If they make mistakes a few times during this period, the cost will be even higher!

  With these few Yuanqi symbols, Li Muran finally had some confidence. Being able to produce Yuanqi symbols so quickly and with a not-too-low success rate was enough to prove that he had a solid foundation and some natural talent in symbol-making. If Purple Mist Shifu didn't have any prejudice against him, she would probably take him on as an apprentice, given the quality of these few Yuanqi symbols, allowing him to continue staying in the sect to cultivate.