Starting as a Talisman Master

Qingqueshan Market, Luo Family Talisman Shop.

In the afternoon, tables and chairs were laid out in the room, with talismans, paper, and ink laid out in sequence.

Lu Chi sat in a corner, dressed in a dark gray short shirt with the cuffs rolled up, his expression calm. His features were delicate, yet there was a hint of fatigue, and a light blue tinge floated under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept well for many days.

He tilted his head slightly, raised his hand to press his temples, as if enduring a dull pain, his brows furrowed.

Footsteps sounded by the desk, and a companion stepped closer, asking in a low voice, "Brother Lu, are you feeling unwell?"

Lu Chi lowered his fingers, his expression unchanged, and said only, "It's nothing, just a slight headache."

The man nodded upon hearing this, seemingly used to it. Just as he was about to say something more, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind the shop door, so he wisely stopped talking and turned away.

The curtain was lifted, and Manager Luo strolled out, a teacup and a palm-leaf fan floating beside him as he walked, his steps leisurely, seemingly untouched by worldly dust.

He walked to the counter, leaned back and sat down. The teacup fell to his hand automatically. He took a small sip, glanced around the room, and said calmly, "Everyone, calm down. There are many matters to attend to with talismans these days. Nobody dawdle."

Everyone was startled by these words, lowered their heads to continue writing, and the room returned to silence.

Lu Chi also picked up his brush to continue painting, but the dull pain between his eyebrows never went away.

"This headache has flared up again... It's only halfway through the day, and this is already the second time."

"Could it be that these talismans have really clouded his mind?"

He gently pressed down on the corner of the talisman with his left hand, and slowly moved the talisman brush in his right hand, dipping it in spirit sand and spirit ink, and gradually filled in the broken lines at the base of the talisman.

With a light touch, the spirit sand followed the lines and entered the talisman paper, the broken edge slowly closing up.

Once the last line was completed, the talisman tightened slightly, and the patterns closed naturally.

"It's done."

Lu Chi raised the talisman and held it up to the light. His face remained expressionless, but he felt a little relieved.

He then tossed the talisman into the bamboo tray, and the bamboo strip made a soft rustling sound.

There was a stack of discarded talismans on the table, some with crooked patterns, some with curled ends, and some that had been soaked by rain, all waiting to be "extended in life".

He made a living repairing talismans at this talisman shop; he was also known as a talisman repairman.

New talismans are difficult to draw, requiring both inheritance and natural talent. A single careless stroke can ruin all previous efforts, and most ordinary independent cultivators cannot learn them.

Repairing old talismans is different. As long as you are skilled and meticulous, you can save a lot of spiritual materials, which is also a way to make a living.

Lu Chi worked here for three years, receiving a small amount of spirit sand and spirit stones each month. Although it wasn't a large sum, it was a stable job.

By this time, many people in the shop had already taken their places and were engrossed in their work.

A row of long tables against the wall, where a dozen or so talisman repairmen were engrossed in their work, scraping away old sand, patching the base of talismans, and drawing light patterns, their brushes making a soft rustling sound as they touched the paper.

Lu Chi rubbed his temples again, then glanced at the water clock.

At this hour, after making one or two more sheets, it's time to wrap up.

But then he suddenly remembered something.

Manager Luo once casually instructed him not to rush off after finishing work, but to stay and meet him alone. His tone was flat, revealing neither joy nor anger, which only made people more suspicious.

Why is the shopkeeper looking for him out of the blue?

Lu Chi had a fleeting thought of this doubt, but his hands did not stop. He took out two more discarded talismans, repaired the base and continued the pattern. With a few strokes, he stabilized the talisman's meaning and pressed it into the bamboo plate.

Before long, the hour had passed.

The group tidied up the table, lifted the curtain, and dispersed in a hurry.

Manager Luo sat behind the counter, glanced at him, and beckoned, "Young Lu, come closer."

Lu Chi tidied up his desk as usual, stood two steps away from the counter, and waited quietly.

Shopkeeper Luo looked old, with a slightly hunched back and graying temples, but he was a master cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining, and was quite well-known in the market.

Most of the talisman repairmen in the talisman shop were at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining, and Lu Chi was only at the third level. They usually only dared to show him respect.

Manager Luo said calmly, "You've been in my shop for three years now. You know how to do things properly, and you're neither impatient nor slow. Compared to others, you have much less empty talk. I'm very satisfied."

"Manager Luo is never one to easily praise others; this sudden praise followed by commendation suggests he might be planning to assign more talismans."

Lu Chi thought to himself, but his expression remained respectful: "This junior is merely following the instructions of the manager and dares not be arrogant."

Shopkeeper Luo sighed softly, "Recently, there have been many matters concerning talismans, but the market price has been severely suppressed. The shop has decided that the cost of repairing talismans must be reduced slightly. Are you willing to accept that?"

"You want me to take a pay cut?" Lu Chi's heart sank, and he looked troubled. "This..."

Manager Luo then continued, "If you are unwilling, there is no need to make things difficult for you. Starting tomorrow, you do not need to come again. Here is another thirty taels of spirit sand as compensation."

Having said that, he spread his palm and took out fine spirit sand from his storage bag.

"Is it either a reduction in wages or an order to leave?"

"That's it, I won't stay. My capital is already meager; if I cut another ten percent, I'll be left with nothing but toil. I'd rather find another job."

After pondering for a moment, Lu Chi put away the spirit sand with both hands, cupped his hands and said, "The shopkeeper is very generous in bestowing this gift upon me."

Manager Luo seemed surprised that he agreed so readily, paused for a moment, and then nodded noncommittally.

Without saying another word or trying to persuade him to stay, the third level of Qi Refining was extremely common in the market. If one person was lost, he could be replaced in the blink of an eye.

Not long after, Lu Chi walked out of the talisman shop, carrying a cloth bag on his shoulder. Inside the bag were his old talisman brush and thirty taels of spirit sand.

After walking two streets, the tension in my shoulders gradually eased.

I'm unemployed!

Lu Chi had thought things through carefully, but when the moment came, being so hastily expelled from the shop and leaving the place where he had worked for three years inevitably made him feel uneasy.

Today, I have only lost my livelihood, my spirit stones are hard to come by, and my cultivation is slow... In this dog-eat-dog world of cultivation, who knows what will happen to me tomorrow?

"However... at least from now on, I won't be controlled by anyone, and I'll have more control over my own time."

Lu Chi suppressed his frustration and instead felt a touch of self-deprecating optimism.

He has now at least stepped into the threshold of cultivation, which is much better than his previous and present lives of struggling in the mortal world.

Lu Chi is a transmigrator. In the world of cultivation, he was originally a mortal from a rural family. After a disaster and illness, his parents died one after another, and his relatives refused to take care of him.

He was literate enough to find some work to make a living: copying and bookkeeping for others, and occasionally delivering letters and messages, barely scraping by.

It was around that time that he found an unnamed martial arts manual behind a dilapidated temple. The contents were scattered and it turned out to be a technique for cultivating qi and breathing.

Interspersed among the pages are a few pages of rudimentary hand gestures and talisman drawing methods; they are not particularly sophisticated, but they are extremely practical.

Lu Chi practiced the method for some time and unexpectedly discovered his spiritual root. He then guided Qi into his body, entered the Qi Refining stage, and became a cultivator capable of performing some minor techniques.

Later, he came to Qingque Mountain Market and, with his few pages of talisman-making skills, entered a talisman shop, finally having a stable income and a place to go.

I thought that from then on, the great path was within reach, and that one day I would be able to command the wind and rain and ride my sword.

As a result, what he was most skilled at since he started cultivating was not flying or fighting, but keeping watch over the clock, meeting deadlines, and reading the shopkeeper's mood.

More importantly, this body is quite resilient.

Cultivators who practice Qi cultivation and abstain from grains can go without food or drink for a short period without much harm.

With the addition of spiritual energy, the drowsiness was as if it were being suppressed into the dantian, allowing him to endure for several days without closing his eyes.

Elsewhere, this would be called "progress in the body of Tao," but in the shop, it becomes a blessing in the eyes of the shopkeeper, who wants to help the shopkeeper work a few more shifts.

As time went on, they cultivated the Tao, but lived like livestock tied up to work.

Now that the allowance has been cut off, I feel a little lost. But then I think, now that the shackles are off, time is back to me.

Perhaps this gap will allow me to truly experience the freedom and ease that comes with spiritual practice.

Walking along the outer edge of the market, Lu Chi turned into a narrow alley and returned home.

It was actually just a small hut, but its advantage lay in its proximity to the market. A circle of light blue talisman paper was pasted on the door frame, its edges curling slightly in the wind, yet not a single sound could be heard.

Those were the most common silence notes in the market. They were cheap, but effective. Once the door was closed, even if it was noisy outside, you could only hear your own breathing inside.

Before opening the door, Lu Chi glanced down at the inside of the threshold, where a thin warning talisman was pressed down.

The two dots of cinnabar on the talisman were as small as beans, and they were placed side by side steadily, without being separated by even a fraction.

He then pushed the door open and entered, closing it behind him.

The market has been quite unsettled lately, with frequent thefts and robberies. Although Lu Chi is penniless, he is afraid of being targeted by idle people.

"good."

Lu Chi let out a soft breath, poured himself a bowl of water, tilted his head back and took a sip, and the fatigue from working non-stop finally dissipated slightly in his chest.

He then sat down on the edge of the bed, using the breathing technique of the nameless martial art to calm his mind. His breaths became long and short, and he slowly guided that faint spiritual energy into his abdomen.

The spiritual energy consumed in repairing the talisman, coupled with the rush to finish the work at the shop and the reluctance to fully unleash his breathing techniques, had left his dantian feeling completely empty.

In this round of internal energy cultivation, he first made up for his losses so that he wouldn't feel weak when he raised his hand tomorrow. He also took the opportunity to refine his foundation and accumulate as much energy as possible.

The room was so quiet that only the soft popping of the lamp wick could be heard. The spiritual energy flowed along the meridians little by little, initially like being pulled by thin threads, but gradually becoming smooth, as if it were a familiar path.

After completing a round of internal energy cultivation, he opened his eyes. The tightness in his chest had dissipated considerably, and his dantian felt more solid than before.

"At this rate, in two or three months... I should be able to reach the fourth level of Qi Refining."

Before Lu Chi's smile could fully form, the initial warmth in his heart slowly cooled down.

He was well aware of his own physical attributes; he only had a low-grade spiritual root. Reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining in another two or three months sounded fast, but what about after that?

How long will it take to reach the fifth, sixth, and seventh levels of Qi Refining?

He quickly weighed the options in his mind but couldn't come up with a precise figure. He just felt as if the lamp in the room had dimmed a bit more.

As for the words "immortality," they are like distant mountains shrouded in mist, their outlines indistinct, leaving only an unspeakable year and month.

Born into this world, Lu Chi naturally wanted to become an immortal and live forever, but the road was too long, and the days were grueling, with no end in sight. Who wouldn't feel a little discouraged?

The thought had barely formed when the throbbing pain in his head suddenly intensified, as if something was slowly pushing and pounding inside.

He subconsciously raised his hand to press on his temple, his fingertips pressing down, but he couldn't suppress the dull, throbbing pain; instead, it became even clearer.

Lu Chi frowned, a strange unease rising in his heart.

This feeling came on strangely and has been lingering since today. It doesn't feel like fatigue or an old ailment; it feels more like... something is about to break open.

He was about to take another deep breath to steady himself when the throbbing pain suddenly subsided.

Without warning, it disappeared.

Lu Chi was startled, his hand still pressed against his forehead, before he could react, his eyes suddenly lit up.

[Job Panel]

Name: Lu Chi

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Stage 3]

Occupation: None

[Currently Unlockable]: Rune Master (Unlocking in progress)

Slide the panel down, like turning a new page.

[Unlock Quest: Rune Master]

[Unlock Objective]:

[Completed]: Repaired three talismans (completed)

[Completed]: First time creating a talisman once