As Xiaodouding put pen to paper, Zhang Chen looked over and was momentarily stunned, because even though Xiaodouding’s drawn talisman looked exactly like his own, the order of the strokes differed by one.
And that single stroke was like a bolt of lightning across Zhang Chen’s mind, instantly opening it up to a flood of inspirations.
"No, my brush strokes are wrong! There is one stroke different from yours." Xiaodouding finished drawing the talisman, muttered to himself, and erased it, preparing to copy Zhang Chen’s stroke order.
"No! Your stroke order is correct, mine is wrong! How did you think of drawing it like that?" Zhang Chen looked at Xiaodouding with a hint of confusion in his eyes.
"I’ve been learning to draw talismans from you, but always felt the strokes weren’t fluid, as if writing with the pen strokes all wrong, it felt odd, so I instinctively changed it." Xiaodouding said.
Zhang Chen’s mouth twitched as he heard this, can such a thing happen?
Is Chengyu truly talented to such a degree?
The opposing side hasn’t even studied talismans, yet just relying on an instinct of stroke fluidity to draw the correct talisman, how should Zhang Chen, who has been laboriously pondering for days, feel?
His mind was filled with mlgp, feeling utterly demoralized, causing a sense of shame and the feeling of being a fool.
Zhang Chen didn’t pay attention to Xiaodouding at this moment, but instead glanced at his Golden Finger Interface:
[9 Skills (entry-level): Sealing Rune (0/50)]
[Remark 1: Capable of suppressing non-mainstream Power of the Strange.]
[Remark 2: Seek out one sheet of yellow talisman paper and some cinnabar, mix them, and operate magical power to draw the talisman successfully]
[Points: 104000]
"Oh~" Zhang Chen looked at the Golden Finger Interface with an expression of surprise, as the Sealing Rune requires fewer points to upgrade than his Body-Stabilizing Rune.
Yet it can suppress all mysterious power, which piqued Zhang Chen’s interest.
Without hesitation, Zhang Chen added points, upgrading from entry-level straight to perfection, then saw his Golden Finger Interface flicker again:
[9 Skills (perfection): Sealing Rune (0/800)]
[Points: 103200]
"Next upgrade will enter a different tier, stepping from the mundane into the mysterious." Zhang Chen glanced at the points, still more than a hundred thousand, feeling mightily powerful, and directly added them.
[[9 Skills (quasi-first-tier): Sealing Rune]
[Requires ten pounds of pure silver]
"Is silver required this time?" Zhang Chen looked at the Golden Finger Interface, thoughtfully stroking his chin.
"I lack for nothing, except silver. But now the Daoist Temple is guarded by experts, not to mention the mysterious Gu Mingyue, even those armored warrior need to be handled carefully, should any unnecessary trouble arise, it might place me in danger." Zhang Chen temporarily set aside his thoughts, deciding to go out when it became dark to ensure safety.
At this moment, the sound of snoring echoed inside the house, a book resting on Chengyu’s head, with snores coming from beneath it.
Zhang Chen looked at the sky, it had already darkened, unexpectedly several hours had passed while researching talismans.
Looking again at Chengyu, in the next moment he transformed into a Vampire Bat, silently fluttering away, disappearing into the night.
This time, he was prudent, not only flying at low altitude but also dispersing the Vampire Bat.
Returning to the cave, Zhang Chen headed directly to where the silver was piled up, and saw wisps of silver mist rising, inhaling into his nostrils, appearing at his Forehead Ancestral Acupoint, transforming into a silvery talisman.
Silver Talisman --- Completed!
Then Zhang Chen continued to add points, upgrading his talisman.
Tier one, points reduced by 800
Tier two, points reduced by 4000
Tier three, points reduced by 20000
At this moment, Zhang Chen’s skill had reached tier four:
[9 Skills (tier four): Sealing Rune (200000)]
[Points: 79400]
Within his Cyan Lotus, four silver talismans flickered, fluttering in the air like spirit butterflies, constantly entwining with magical power, as Zhang Chen chanted, four silver talismans overlapped into one, silently suspended within the Cyan Lotus, undergoing magical refinement.
"Not bad, very good! The wonder of the Sealing Rune lies in suppressing those tricky characters, primarily suppressing those you cannot kill but also cannot release. Even against humans, it’s still effective, capable of suppressing their Power of the Divine Soul, sealing all means." Zhang Chen looked at the Sealing Rune, increasingly satisfied, leisurely feeding the hornet, then transformed into a Vampire Bat and departed.
Returning to the Daoist Temple, Zhang Chen looked at the still sleeping Chengyu, quietly mocking: "Sleeping like a little pig!"
Then he picked up the girl, placing her on his bed, Zhang Chen didn’t meditate or practice, instead picking up the yellow talisman paper from the table, ground the cinnabar cleanly, and began to outline his recently obtained Silver Talisman.
With a flash of silver light, all the text symbols on the talisman disappeared, leaving only a pale yellow sheet, quietly lying on the desk.
Zhang Chen took his drawn Gold Talisman, held the Gold Talisman in his left hand and the Silver Talisman in his right, carefully comparing them, a contemplative look in his eye.
The talisman, although still yellow talisman paper, was transformed after drawing and applying magical power.
Firstly, it was heavy, the talisman weighed three to five times more than normal paper, and was extremely tough, akin to synthetic leather.
"Quite interesting!" Zhang Chen stroked the talisman, a thoughtful look in his eyes: "It’s a pity there’s no opportunity to test it for now."