Chapter 6: The Symbol of Success

  Yuan Tian came to Xuan Yuan Shu's spiritual field and took a look at the growth of the grass in the field.

  Hmm! Not bad, obviously longer and thicker than others. The soil has been turned over, no need to say it must be secretly following Yuan Tian's method.

  Turning over the fodder and watering it so much. Before Yuan Tian came, no one would do such a thing, and in the eyes of other miscellaneous disciples, it was simply not worth the effort.

  Only Xuan Yuan Shu, this little girl, was particularly astute. She observed that the grass in Yu Tianling's field grew exceptionally lush. After a closer look, she found that the land had been tilled. Moreover, Yu Tian regularly watered the grass, and all these details were noted by the little girl who learned from them.

  Of course, irrigating the spiritual field is not as easy as filling a water tank. The area is so large that even the Rain Curse itself is not a large-scale curse. Although the coverage area is not large, fortunately, it consumes less spiritual power.

  After practicing the Lingyu Jue, using the Muyu Curse again is indeed much easier. The Lingyu Jue will not be used here today for two reasons: one is that there are many people around during the day, and the other is that I am still not familiar with it yet.

  Murong Yu's curse didn't take too long to water, and after a while, Xuan Yuan's spiritual fields were all watered.

  Yuán Tiān absolutely isn't someone who takes the spiritual stone and doesn't do anything, he waters the spiritual field very seriously. Not only is the surface wet, but a lot of water has also seeped into the soil layer below.

  Looking at the lush and thriving grass, Xuan Yuan's heart was filled with joy. His rosy cheeks showed two deep dimples: "Thank you, senior brother, I'll ask for your help again next time."

  He handed over a low-grade spirit stone to Yuan Tian, which happened to be due in three months and should pay for the next three months' expenses.

  Yuán Tiān calmly accepted the low-grade spirit stone, he didn't blush like Xuan Yuan's sister, and even smiled with his head down and face red. The signature smile on his thin face was radiant, as if he had just picked up a hundred spirit stones.

  "Go! Go check on your beast shed?" Yuan Tian made a walking gesture, but didn't lead the way. Raising carnivorous spirit beasts was a task assigned to each miscellaneous disciple by the sect. Each disciple had their own area of responsibility, unlike the Spirit Field District which was public and rented out externally.

  Xuanyuan Shu led the way forward, and the animal shed was not far from here. After a while, they arrived at the place where she raised white goats on Baishan Mountain.

  There are quite a few sheep, as many as twenty, which is twice the number of pigs raised by Yuan Tian.

  The sheep's appetite is much smaller than that of pigs. Not only can adult sheep be sold for money, but the wool obtained from regular shearing can also be exchanged for some spirit stones. Xuan Yuan's junior sister took good care of these sheep, and Yuan Tian saw no signs of illness.

  Xin Shou conjured up a spell of rain, and the water in the sink was full. Even twenty sheep followed to take a bath. The white mountain goat was washed clean by the rainwater, shaking off the water on its body, making its wool appear even whiter. Hey! This white mountain goat is really spirited, Xuan Yuan's sister took good care of it.

  After doing all this, there's nothing else to do, and Yuan Tian didn't want to linger. Firstly, he wanted to go back home and study the token again, secondly, lingering too long would lead to some rumors and gossip. As a man himself, it didn't matter much, but he was afraid that those with loose tongues would affect Xuan Yu Shu.

  With his large feet paired with long thin legs, and wearing loose clothes, Yuan Tian strode back to his small stone hut in a gust of wind.

  He came into the house and closed that thin wooden door. Yuan Tian considered a problem, which was the safety issue of this small broken house.

  Although it's said that this place is shabby and usually has no one coming, it doesn't mean that no one will ever come. This morning, while he was sleeping, Xuan Yuan Shu came knocking on the door, which reminded him of this matter. He must think of a way to prevent someone from suddenly bursting in during critical moments of drawing talismans or practicing his skills in the future.

  The best way to ensure safety is to set up an array, just like the Mountain Gate Array of the sect. However, with Yuan Tian's current abilities and financial resources, setting up a large array is impossible, and even small arrays are not yet feasible. Next time I go to the market, I'll take a look at getting a small array with alarm functions, at least that way there will be some reaction time.

  Calmly steadied my mind, arranged the spiritual symbols, white paper, and cinnabar. Holding a wolf hair brush, this time I used a standing posture. With my elbow suspended and wrist flat, I carefully copied the Golden Canopy Symbol painted by the bookstore owner, stroke by stroke.

  Today I was in a good mental state, and after tracing for a while, I felt about the same. I put white paper on the table, no longer placing it on the spirit symbol. Tracing through white paper is always just a drawing method, not writing or painting.

  Drawing talismans directly on white paper is indeed more difficult than tracing over finished products. I started writing and found that it was a bit crooked. The strokes of the talisman are too complicated, tracing is fine, but writing is a completely different story.

  This didn't stump Yuan Tian, his little brain was full of ideas. From memory, he recalled doing something like this before, and on a piece of white paper, using a ruler to draw according to the size of the characters, he drew one out.

  Although this is simple, it's very useful when practicing calligraphy. The distance between top and bottom, left and right, as well as the proportions from the middle to the four corners are all standardized.

  With the practice of calligraphy, the effect was indeed immediate. After wasting dozens of sheets of white paper again, Yuan Tian felt that his talisman drawing had already become quite satisfactory.

  Got rid of the painted symbols and tried a few more, which were all quite suitable in terms of size and length. Picked them up and compared them with the finished spirit symbol on white paper, and there shouldn't be any differences now.

  Just because it looks similar when drawn doesn't mean that the talisman is successful. After all, I've always been drawing on white paper and have never actually drawn on talisman paper before.

  Took a few deep breaths to calm down. Yuan Tian carefully unfolded a piece of paper, and with the low-grade spirit stone, he could only buy five pieces, this thing was really not willing to be used.

  He picked up the wolf hair brush, dipped it in cinnabar red ink. Yuan Tian's hand hovered over the talisman paper for half a day without making a move. The talisman paper is so expensive, I'm really afraid of ruining it. Forget it, can't bear to waste the wolf's energy, and the spirit stone spent can still be earned back.

  Don't blame Yuan Tian for being stingy. When Huang Lao was alive, he could barely afford to eat his fill and had no spare spirit stones to spend. It wasn't until after Huang Lao's death that they inherited his meager estate. Adding the extra money from selling the flower-patterned pig, they were finally able to buy a copy of the Lingyu Decree.

  These five talismans were obtained by thickening one's face and asking Mr. Dongguo, if they are all scrapped next time, it will be a bit embarrassing to open one's mouth again.

  Things are going more smoothly than imagined, and with a stroke of the brush on the talisman paper, the dragon flies and the snake walks, and one talisman will be successful in no time.

  Of course, this is not a qualified Golden Hoop Talisman. As a qualified low-grade defensive talisman, it should be infused with spiritual energy at the level of Qi Refining Five Layers from start to finish, and the infusion should be continuous throughout the drawing process.

  Yuán Tiān is now not only unable to infuse his spiritual power into the fifth layer of Qi cultivation, but even his own third layer of Qi cultivation has not been fully exerted. Because if he exerts himself fully, it will be consumed too quickly, and then it will be difficult to control the brush.

  Now only the first level of Qi Gong has been achieved, and the uniform infusion of spiritual power is much more stable. This talisman was just to verify whether the strokes were correct, as for its effectiveness, Yuan Tian never had any expectations.

  The strokes went exceptionally smoothly, and the golden characters were completed in one breath. With a flick of his wrist, he put down the wolf hair brush, and a small piece of earthy brown light emerged before being completely absorbed into the talisman paper.

  Jīn gāng zhào fú although has a gold word, but actually is not the gold attribute of spirit symbol, but is earth attribute of spirit symbol.

  The defensive power of the golden attribute spirit symbol can indeed be stronger, but there are two weaknesses. One is that the low-grade defense symbol of the golden attribute can only be used in a fixed manner. Once the rain shield is opened, the spellcaster cannot move and can only stand still. Two is that the defensive symbol of the golden attribute, whether it is low-grade or mid-grade high-grade, its durability is not as good as the defensive symbol of the earth attribute.

  This stroke succeeded, and Yuan Tian didn't rush to draw the next one. Sitting on a stone bench, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, drawing talismans was indeed tiring work, and this was still only using one layer of spiritual power to draw a low-quality talisman.

  No wonder a low-grade defensive talisman can be sold for a low-grade spirit stone, the talisman paper is clearly worth one spirit stone for five sheets, and the wolf hair brush and cinnabar are durable things. It turns out that this price is expensive, it's expensive in terms of energy consumption.

  With this successful stroke, Yuan Tian won't waste any more time and effort on the next one. The real challenge is yet to come - engraving the Ling Spirit Seal.

  After a period of meditation, the spiritual energy inside his body had more or less recovered. Yuan Tian took out a low-grade earth-attribute spirit stone and wiped it clean with his snow-white sleeve.

  It's really a pity to use it, this is such a good piece of spirit stone. In order to earn more spirit stones in the future, I can only sacrifice this piece of spirit stone for now.

  He had thought of it long ago. Since the commonly used defensive talisman, Jin Gang Luofu, was of earth attribute, using an earth-attribute spirit stone as the base should be correct.

  Put this smooth earth-attribute spirit stone on the table, then place a piece of paper with runes drawn on it face down on top. Pick up the delicate small engraving knife and try plucking a hair with it. Hmm! Sharp enough, should be no problem.

  Ling Shi's texture isn't very hard. Carving it with a sharp knife doesn't require much strength. Yet, Yuan Tian's hands were moving at an extremely slow pace right now.

  He had only made a few strokes when he stopped. He raised his head, opened his mouth and took several deep breaths. It was too tense and stimulating, not only did his forehead sweat, but even his back was soaked. This is carving on the spiritual stone, if it fails, a good piece of spiritual stone will be ruined.

  If it's successful, haha! Then I can mass-produce the Golden Amulet. As for Spirit Stones, they'll be coming in by the truckload. Once I have the money, I'll replace that small paper boat first, and then I can carry even heavier pigs.

  Can't help but say that Yuan Tian really hasn't seen much money, as a poor and lowly miscellaneous disciple, these years following Huang Lao Shi have been truly bitter. And yet the other miscellaneous disciples still envy him, if those talented disciples were to find out, they'd probably laugh their teeth off.

  After calming down his emotions, Yuan Tian continued to carve the chapter. Although his fingers were slender, he held the carving knife very steadily. The carving knife followed the strokes of the character, and through the paper, it carved onto the spiritual stone one stroke at a time.

  This time the progress was a bit faster, and it wasn't until the seal was half-engraved that Yuantian stopped. Take another break, catch your breath and relax for a moment.

  Although this job is not a physically demanding one, it's a precise and meticulous task. If you're not fully focused, even the slightest deviation will lead to failure.

  Adjusted my state again, and continued to engrave the chapter. Fortunately, this is engraving a chapter, not drawing a talisman, so I can stop halfway to rest. If it were drawing a talisman, it would have to be done in one breath. This is also why, when Yuan Tian drew the talisman, he didn't dare to mobilize all of his spiritual energy from the three layers of cultivation. He was afraid that halfway through, his spiritual energy wouldn't be able to keep up.

  Although the action is slow, it wins in stability. Although a small knife carved one by one, a character seal was finally made.

  Put aside the excitement, what's most important is this. That is to print talismans, specifically Vajra Bell Talismans. Not painting talismans but printing them, using a seal with the character for "talisman" to print them.

  On the table, a talisman paper was spread out flat. In his right hand, he picked up a seal carved with talismans. This seal, made from low-grade spiritual stone, felt particularly heavy at this moment. So heavy that Yuan Tian had to place his left hand on the back of his right hand to help stabilize it.

  Mobilize the spiritual energy throughout the body to surge towards the hands, and then all surged into this seal.

  Hey! Both hands pressed down together, and the seal was firmly pressed onto the talisman paper. The spiritual energy of the whole body continued to flow through the right hand, pouring into the seal. Then, it flowed through the seal again, pouring onto the talisman paper.

  Until a piece of earthy light rose up, Yuan Tian finally stopped, letting the seal leave the talisman paper.

  The surging light illuminated the entire small house, which had originally been closed for secrecy with only a single luminous pearl inside. At this moment, the light emanating from the symbol exceeded that of the luminous pearl.

  As the earthy light converged, a spiritual symbol finally succeeded. A defensive talisman made with a seal, a low-grade Golden Canopy defense symbol.

  Yuan Tian plopped down on the bed with a thud and leaned against the wall, not wanting to move even half an inch.

  I'm so exhausted! I'm so tense! There's a feeling of collapse.

  It's a success! The seal of the symbol has finally succeeded, and from now on, we can mass-produce spirit symbols. It was originally an unrealistic bold idea, but I didn't expect it to succeed like this. Happiness came too quickly, and mentally, I'm still a bit unadapted.