"Fellow Daoist, don’t be in such a hurry to leave. How about you choose any two types of talismans, except for the Evil Warding Talisman?"
The stall owner, seeing Jia Ren about to leave, hurriedly raised the price.
Jia Ren didn’t look back, his mind still filled with many unresolved doubts.
In the Inner City, there were quite a few talisman stalls, more than twenty in total, yet not one sold Demon-Spotting Talismans.
Could it be that Elder Wu possessed an ancient talisman?
With this doubt in his heart, Jia Ren entered the Heavenly Talisman Shop, which specialized in talismans.
The price of Demon-Spotting Talismans here was not one Spirit Stone, but three.
Elder Wu sold them for one Spirit Stone, while the Heavenly Talisman Shop sold them for three—a significant price difference.
"How much for Blank Talisman Paper and Demon-Seeking Spirit Ink?"
The shopkeeper gave Jia Ren a second look. "Are you a disciple of Elder Wu? The Demon-Spotting Talisman inheritance he passed down is incomplete."
"A bundle of ten sheets of Blank Talisman Paper costs one Spirit Stone and two Fragmented Spirit Stones. As for Demon-Seeking Spirit Ink... it’s not for sale."
Why would he allow a competitor to snatch away the Demon-Spotting Talisman business?
Thinking of the high demand for Demon-Spotting Talismans, the shopkeeper gave Jia Ren another look. "Fellow Daoist, what’s your success rate for crafting Demon-Spotting Talismans? Have you considered partnering with the Heavenly Talisman Shop?"
"We provide the materials, and you craft the talismans to earn Spirit Stones, provided your success rate is no less than thirty percent."
"I’m just purchasing materials for someone else."
Jia Ren didn’t want to attract trouble and turned to leave.
The quality and success rate of Demon-Spotting Talismans improve as the Proficiency Level increases. Working for others would also risk exposing my secret.
I misjudged Elder Wu, thinking he had held something back.
How do I solve the issue with the Talisman Ink?
Jia Ren visited several talisman stalls, ostensibly to buy Blank Talisman Paper, but also fished for information indirectly.
He learned: "Besides talisman-specific Spirit Ink, there’s also a more widely applicable General Spirit Ink. However, its crafting effects are much poorer compared to the specific ink."
"Loose Cultivators with incomplete inheritances often use General Spirit Ink to craft talismans."
The talismans’ effects might be slightly inferior, but that wouldn’t hinder leveling up my Proficiency Level. If need be, I can sell the Demon-Spotting Talismans at a lower price.
Let’s go with General Spirit Ink!
Jia Ren bought five hundred sheets of Blank Talisman Paper and fifty boxes of General Spirit Ink, spending a total of one hundred Spirit Stones.
After buying the Talisman Paper and ink, he made his usual round through the Market to familiarize himself with current conditions.
The hottest stalls in the Market were those selling meat. The price of Spiritual Beast Meat had more than doubled; yet, despite this, Monster Beast Meat was still in high demand.
Many Loose Cultivators rely on Monster Beast Meat for food. Since it’s not cheap, and the demand for beast hunting is high, Demon-Spotting Talismans shouldn’t be hard to sell.
After paying a stall fee of two Fragmented Spirit Stones, Jia Ren began selling his Demon-Spotting Talismans.
These were from his initial crafting attempts, so the quality wasn’t great.
They were significantly inferior to Elder Wu’s and couldn’t compare to genuine Demon-Spotting Talismans.
Though of lower quality, they were cheaper.
At a price of one Spirit Stone each, he would at least break even.
In less than two Hours, all forty-six Demon-Spotting Talismans sold out, proving much more popular than he had imagined.
Ten sheets of Blank Talisman Paper and one box of General Spirit Ink cost a total of two Spirit Stones, enough to make ten Demon-Spotting Talismans.
With a success rate of at most four out of ten, I can earn two Spirit Stones.
Having a skill truly makes earning Spirit Stones simple.
With the Proficiency Panel, my success rate in Talisman Crafting will only get higher. Earning Spirit Stones won’t be difficult.
The challenge was ensuring his safety and preventing others from targeting him.
Should I find a proxy?
A middleman could take on the risks and help sell the talismans.
This was something Jia Ren had learned from Qi Yulong and Fang Wu.
Finding a random Loose Cultivator presents the biggest issue: trust. There’s no guarantee of safety, and it could even lead to disaster. Choosing the right person needs careful consideration.
The only people I tentatively trust at the moment are Yang Shengwu, Elder Wu, and Yang Bingzhi. Elder Wu is a Talisman Maker himself and will be leaving the Great Wilderness Market. Yang Bingzhi, as an Inner Sect Disciple of the Five Elements Sect, wouldn’t bother with such trivial matters. The most suitable candidate is Yang Shengwu.
Yang Shengwu owed his entry into the Cultivation World to a favor from my late father. He also saved my life several times while hunting beasts and has taken good care of me, thoroughly proving his character.
Letting him handle the sales of Demon-Spotting Talismans, sharing a portion of the Spirit Stone profit in exchange for him taking on the risk, seems viable. This way, I’d be safe and could focus my energy on Talisman Crafting and cultivation.
Where do Yang Shengwu and his family live? First, I need to think about how to convince him.
The Inner City wasn’t vast, and Loose Cultivators all had their own social circles. It didn’t take Jia Ren long to gather the information he needed.
"Are you asking about Yun Niang’s family?" a woman cultivator in her forties asked. "They’re having a hard time. Her husband was bitten nearly in half by a Magical Beast while hunting and has been in a coma ever since."
The woman enthusiastically led the way, carrying a basin and splashing water from it as she went.
Walking along the cobblestone path and making several turns through the alleyways, they arrived at a humble stone house.
Property was expensive in the Inner City; the better the location, the more abundant the Spiritual Energy.
Yang Shengwu’s income from hunting Magical Beasts was unstable, so the area they rented was relatively remote.
With the household’s main provider gravely injured and unconscious, life must be very difficult for them.
"I would never do such a thing! Get the hell away from me!"
A fiery woman’s voice rang out. Jia Ren recognized it instantly—it was Yang Shengwu’s wife, Yun Niang.
"Two Spirit Stones at a time. It’s not hard to earn Spirit Stones, and you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your man, would you?" a man’s voice wheedled.
"If you change your mind, remember to come find me at the Cloud Attire Pavilion."
A man with a greasy appearance, heavily scented with face powder, walked out of the house.
Yun Niang looked furious, her hands clenched tightly into fists.
"The Cloud Attire Pavilion is certainly well-informed to have found this place so quickly."
"Once they set their sights on someone, it’s hard to escape their clutches."
Other female cultivators, hearing of Yun Niang’s refusal, gossiped behind her back, seemingly certain she would eventually succumb to worldly temptations.
The woman who had led Jia Ren showed no sign of leaving, still holding her water basin, clearly intending to watch the drama unfold.
The Cloud Attire Pavilion?
Jia Ren was not unfamiliar with the name.
His former self had visited it a few times. Most of the female cultivators there specialized in the arts of pleasure—an experience hard to forget.
"Why are you here?" Yun Niang asked, her voice cold when she saw Jia Ren. "I don’t have any Monster Beast Meat to give you."
She clearly wasn’t pleased to see him. She had never thought much of him. He never focused on cultivation, instead flitting among women—a slippery character. Yang Shengwu, remembering old kindnesses, would often give his own Monster Beast Meat to help Jia Ren out. But Jia Ren, ungrateful, took it for granted. It was only after they moved to the Inner City that she no longer had to see this freeloader.
Jia Ren knew his poor relationship with Yun Niang was his predecessor’s fault.
The body’s original owner had often taken advantage of Yang Shengwu, earning Yun Niang’s displeasure and her inevitable sarcastic ridicule.
He had also liked to stir up trouble, once teasing her by saying it was a pity for a woman with her looks not to be at the Cloud Attire Pavilion.
From then on, the two had been at odds, like fire and water.
"How is Big Brother Yang Shengwu doing?" Jia Ren asked. "Do you need any help?"
Yun Niang opened her mouth but, surprisingly, didn’t make things difficult for Jia Ren.
Ever since Yang Shengwu’s accident, she had truly seen the fickleness of human nature and the coldness of the world.
To save Yang Shengwu, she had pleaded with several Loose Cultivators with whom she had decent personal relationships, but none had been willing to spare even a single Spirit Stone.
If not for our misfortune, why would the Cloud Attire Pavilion try to take advantage of our vulnerability?
"It’s all my fault. I pushed him too hard," Yun Niang lamented, tears welling up.
"He went hunting Magical Beasts as soon as the Inner City opened. Otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened... WHIMPER, WHIMPER..."
Yun Niang covered her face with her sleeve and led Jia Ren into the inner room on the left.
A heavy scent of medicinal herbs filled the air. On the wooden bed lay Yang Shengwu, his body missing from the waist down. The wound was wrapped in white gauze, now stained dark red with blood.
Yang Shengwu’s face had a bluish tinge; he remained unconscious.
"The Magical Beast that injured him was highly venomous. The Detoxification Pill he took was useless. We’ve spent all our Spirit Stones on rice and grain, and we simply have no means to afford a higher-grade Detoxification Pill..."
"Big Brother Yang Shengwu has always treated you well. Please, help him," she pleaded.
No matter what, any extra help offers a glimmer of hope.
"Big Brother Yang has shown me immense kindness; I can’t just sit by and do nothing," Jia Ren replied seriously.