A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

Han Li was on the way back to the building, exceptionally happy with the wooden box containing the “Golden Sincerity Brush” in his pocket.

He used three bottles of Golden Dragon Pellets and four bottles of Golden Essence Pills to exchange for the young woman’s treasured item and the bag of Seven Star Grass seeds. After, he casually bought some cinnabar sand from other vendor stalls and rushed back full of anticipation and joy.

After he opened the restriction barrier and entered the small building, Han Li saw the small Buddhist monk meditating and did not disturb him. Instead, he went to the second floor and returned to his room.

After Han Li arranged the cinnabar and the talisman paper on the desk, Han Li took out the Golden Sincerity Brush and became absorbed in creating Soul-Lock Talismans.

According to the Soul-Lock technique’s method to create talismans, the steps were: channel spiritual power through right hand and slowly pour it into the brush shaft being held. Then lightly dip the brush tip into the cinnabar and draw the talisman incantation onto a slip of talisman paper.

A quarter hour later, Han Li wore a happy expression on his face and stretched his somewhat stiff body. He looked at the spiritual talisman flickering a silver light on the table and could not help but feel elated.

From its appearance, this spiritual talisman was exactly the same as the one used by Doctor Mo. Although its Spiritual Qi was slightly weaker, it was of no matter as it was far better than the false goods Han Li practiced with. After all, those practice materials were only similar in appearance and didn’t have the slightest spiritual power.

Han Li took the newly created spiritual talisman and excitedly studied it. After he was done, he prepared to attempt the Soul-Lock technique. Unexpectedly though, before he executed the spell, the spiritual power on the paper talisman sudden grew chaotic and showed signs of violence.

Han Li was shocked and reacted instantly, hastily throwing the talisman away.

Puchi. The Soul-Lock Talisman suddenly combusted into the air without reason and turned into a ball of fire, reduced to a pile of ash.

Han Li blankly looked into the air and remained silent. A while later, he sighed. It seemed that talisman was a failure.

Han Li felt somewhat dispirited, but he did not yet lose his confidence. After all, he felt that the talisman from a moment ago was quite close to being a success. He believed if he were to exert his strength and create several more, he was certain to have success.

For the next half day, Han Li manufactured Soul-Lock Talismans one after another. However, he had continuously failed.

The spiritual talismans he created did not combust by themselves but instead suddenly turned into a small explosion when injected with his magic power. Furthermore, there were also spiritual talismans that would rapidly lose their spiritual power and become useless paper.

When Han Li saw the last paper talisman he completed explode into shreds with a bang, the typically cool-minded Han Li could not help but raise his head to the roof and abruptly shout curses, “Damned Heavens, you’re playing with me! A dozen paper talismans, how could I not succeed a single time! This is only an elementary low-rank Soul-Lock-Talisman! Could it be that today was not a good day?”

After these words left Han Li’s mouth, he felt his depression with had greatly lightened, and his mood became a bit happier.

He tilted his head and pondered. Then he raised his eyebrow and looked at the remaining smaller half left in the small box of cinnabar and the Golden Sincerity Brush. He felt that the cause was not from either of these because his spiritual power poured into the brush shaft very smoothly and the cinnabar boldly imprinted the Spiritual Qi onto talisman paper. It didn’t seem fake.

Since Han Li could not find the reason after a moment of careful consideration, he decided to ask the small Buddhist monk and see whether or not he could dispel his doubts. At this moment, Han Li felt that on the path of cultivation, there would be teachers that could give directions. This was truly important. His heart was rather moved at the thought of formally becoming an apprentice to a master.

After the small Buddhist monk heard Han Li’s complaints over the failure of his talismans, he stared at Han Li with an exceptionally odd gaze as if his face had suddenly sprouted a small white flower.

When Han Li saw the Buddhist monk’s reaction, his heart was somewhat startled. He didn’t know if there was something amiss from the words he had just said, causing the other party to stare at him in this way.

“Almsgiver Han Li, I fear you understand too little about creating talismans!” The small Buddhist monk eventually said.

“Master Ku Sang is correct. This is the first time I’ve created talismans.” Han Li honestly admitted.

“Among us cultivators, those of us who personally create talismans are few. If there is anything requiring the use of a talisman, they would generally purchase or exchange for it at a marketplace. Even if they are from a great clan, they must also do this.”

“Why?” Han Li was amazed.

“It’s quite simple. Those masters experienced and specialized in creating talismans are too few. In addition, the cost to nurture a qualified talisman expert is far too great. Only with the strength of those large cultivation clans can they be nurtured.

“Almsgiver Han felt very vexed after having failed a dozen times in succession, right?” The Buddhist monk asked.

“That’s right. I’ve used up my materials and money. I purchase enough to make several Soul-Lock Talismans!” Han Li said, upset.

“However, does Almsgiver know? For novices beginning to learn to create talismans, failing a hundred times in succession is a normal matter. If a person were to have slightly less talent, to persist in having several hundred failures wouldn’t be strange! Only after creating over a thousand talismans would your rate of success possibly gradually increase. This is only with regards to creating a single type of spiritual talisman. If you were to change it to another kind of talisman, even if you are no longer a novice, you would generally fail at the beginning. Nevertheless, those with frightening talent are astonishing to see. As a result, qualified talisman masters cannot be nurtured without the practice of several tens of thousands attempts. However, how many people did Almsgiver Han Li think would succeed with this amount of material? Not cultivator clans but only great cultivation sects can foster a talisman master. In addition, they would only be able to contribute elementary talismans. If they were to practice creating middle grade talismans, those great sects would likely lose their fortunes. It would be an unbearable burden. After all, the higher grade the talisman, the more costly the talisman creation materials would be.”

The Buddhist monk said all of this, causing Han Li to be dumbstruck.

“Then why do vendor stalls still sell cinnabar and talisman paper!” Han Li had second thoughts and felt something was wrong.

“Hehe! Cinnabar and talisman paper are sold to cultivators who use talisman techniques.” The small Buddhist monk said with a smile.

“Talisman techniques?” Han Li did not understand.

“It is the same as Soul-Lock Technique your esteemed self was practicing. They are magic techniques that require the use of a talisman created in advance! The magic technique would be stored within the talisman paper, allowing the talismans to be used at convenience. A talisman technique’s spiritual talismans are incapable of simply being aroused by spiritual power; they require a particular incantation to use. However they generally aren’t complicated and are quite easy to obtain.

“Because talisman techniques frequently require a corresponding talisman, talisman users feel that buying talismans are too expensive. As a result, they are like Almsgiver. They would go and practice drawing talismans. Although the cost of the materials are not small, they would be able to eventually support a single type. That is why if Almsgiver truly wishes to practice the Soul-Lock Technique, it would be best create one’s own talismans in the long term. If this technique is not commonly used, then Almsgiver may as well spend some money to buy a few Soul-Lock Talismans as reserves.” The small Buddhist monk softly preached, eventually giving Han Li a suggestion.

“Thank you for Master Ku Sang’s pointers!” Han Li sincerely gave him a deep salute.

“Almsgiver is too polite!” Buddhist monk returned the salute.

‘This small Buddhist monk actually speaks much. In the future if there is anything hard to understand, I may as well ask him for guidance.’ Han Li thought to himself as he returned to the room.

‘Currently, closed-door talisman creation practice is impossible! I should find some time to buy a few Soul-Lock Talismans for emergency use. My body has long achieved the peak of eighth layer of the Eternal Spring Arts. Now that I’ve acquired the cultivation method for the last layers, I should be able to break through the bottleneck and enter the ninth layer. In addition, I acquired several new magic techniques to practice. I should wield them a bit sooner and increase my strength.’

The moment Han Li pushed open the room door, he had already finished pondering about his future plans.

Like that, Han Li sat in room in the coming days. During the daytime, he would take a great amount of medicine and sit in meditation, refining Qi and cultivating the Eternal spring arts. At night, he would run into a desolate area in the valley and practice his newly learned magic techniques.

These were “Quicksand Technique”,”Freezing Technique”, “Flight Technique”, “Binding Technique”, “Sound Transmission Technique”, “Body Concealment technique”, “Fire Blossom Technique”, and the most difficult to practice, “Earth Thrust Technique”.

After ten days of painstaking cultivation, on the final day of the Great South Meeting, he broke through to the ninth layer of Eternal Spring Arts, causing Wu Jiuzhi and company to be dumbstruck. Daoist Priest Qing Wen even praised Han Li as a genius amongst rogue cultivators.

However, Han Li was well aware that were it not for the ten bottles of medicine pills he consumed, how else could he have easily overcome the bottleneck! However, he no longer carried many medicine pills on him. It seemed he should take the time to concoct some pills once more!