Starting as a Talisman Master

The talisman-testing platform was set up in a corner of the front hall. It was a square stone platform, no higher than knee-high, and was specifically designed for testing talismans in public.

More than a dozen cultivators had already gathered around, and discussions began to rise. Some whispered messages, while others stood still. More cultivators from outside the east street arrived after hearing the news, and the number of onlookers continued to grow.

"Qixia Sect's new shop, and this happens right after opening... Is there really a problem with the quality of the talismans?"

"Let's watch the show. If Fu Zhen is a defective product, the reputation of Yueyin Pavilion will be ruined today."

Qin Su Niang stood to the side of the platform, her expression unchanged, and said softly, "Brother Liu Qing, these Spirit Gathering Talismans were drawn by you, so you shall verify them, shall you?"

Liu Qing cupped his hands and said, "Sister, rest assured, your brother will certainly do his best."

Full of confidence, he took out the spirit-gathering talisman that had been criticized from the shelf. The talisman paper was yellowed, but the patterns seemed to be intact.

With a surge of spiritual power, the talisman lit up and was placed on the platform.

As the talisman's light first appeared, the spirit-gathering patterns slowly rotated, and the spiritual energy in the air seemed to gather together.

The onlookers held their breath and waited.

But the next instant, the talisman suddenly trembled, and a tiny crack appeared in the middle of the pattern. The spiritual light seemed to be blocked by something, flickering on and off.

The gathered spiritual energy instantly scattered, even backfiring with a wisp of cold energy that rushed straight to Liu Qing's fingertips.

Liu Qing's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly withdrew his hand. The talisman shattered with a "crack" and turned into ashes scattered on the stage.

The front hall was deathly silent for a moment, then erupted in uproar.

"There's definitely something wrong! How could this rune have broken on its own?"

"This is the condition of the new shops at Qixia Temple? And they dare to sell them at 80% of the market price? Are they trying to scam us?"

Liu Qing stood in front of the stage, his face ashen, cold sweat glistening on his forehead, and his fingers trembling slightly inside his sleeve.

"Impossible... This talisman was drawn by me personally, the lines are solid... How could this be..."

Qin Su Niang frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping over the broken talisman and ashes. She had already vaguely sensed something amiss, and said softly, "Brother Liu Qing, do you have something to say?"

Liu Qing stubbornly retorted, "The talisman must have been tampered with! Otherwise... otherwise how could this be!"

The leading rogue cultivator sneered, "You tampered with it? It's your own shop's talismans, how can you blame us? This isn't over until you pay ten times the spirit stones!"

The onlookers joined in louder, and the scene gradually became chaotic.

Lu Chi stood quietly to one side, his gaze lingering on the broken talisman for a moment.

There was a faint trace of yin energy remaining at the crack, indicating that it was not a natural break. It was clearly someone who had pricked it with a fine needle and injected a trace of yin energy, thus disrupting the balance of the talisman's meaning.

Sure enough, the talismans were tampered with during delivery, and very secretly at that. Could there be a mole within the Moon Hidden Pavilion? The troublemakers were probably prepared in advance.

Qin Su Niang's gaze lingered on the broken talisman and ashes for a moment, then she turned to look at Liu Qing, her eyes seemingly asking a question, but she did not speak, presumably communicating through telepathy.

Liu Qing's face was ashen, and cold sweat still clung to his forehead, but under Qin Su Niang's gaze, he took a deep breath and nodded slightly.

Qin Su Niang then smiled faintly, her voice gentle yet carrying an undeniable air, echoing throughout the front hall:

"Please be patient, everyone. The talismans of the Moon Concealment Pavilion are all drawn by our sect's talisman masters, and their quality can be judged fairly."

"Since some people have doubts and others have objections, why not have Master Liu draw another Spirit Gathering Talisman in front of everyone? If the quality is acceptable, then what he said before will naturally be nonsense."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the crowd, her smile deepening: "Furthermore, for those of you present today who wish to purchase a talisman, we can offer an additional 10% discount as a sign of our sincerity."

The three troublemaking cultivators exchanged glances, but the leader showed no fear, laughing, "Fine! Let Master Liu draw one right now! If it still cracks..."

If it breaks down again, then Liu Qing's title as a mid-grade talisman master will truly be undeserved.

The Spirit Gathering Talisman is just a common first-tier talisman. What ordinary talisman master hasn't drawn it hundreds or thousands of times? Even if the talisman is made on the spot, testing one's state of mind, one shouldn't fail so easily.

Liu Qing barely managed to compose himself and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "In that case, I, Liu, will certainly be of service."

He took a deep breath, took out his talisman brush and a stack of talisman paper from his storage bag, and then took out a small inkstone, dripping water to grind ink.

The items were laid out one by one, the movements slow but with a deliberate air of display, as if trying to salvage the lost face from the previous embarrassment.

Liu Qing said no more, dipped his brush in ink and began to write. He carefully made each stroke, starting with a dot at the top, guiding the movement of the body, and finishing with the bottom.

The onlookers held their breath.

Just as the talisman's feet were about to close, Liu Qing's fingertips suddenly trembled, the ink line deviated by half a point, and the spiritual energy became unstable for a moment. With a "snap," the entire talisman paper collapsed into ashes once again.

The front hall was deathly silent, then a few low laughs and sighs were heard.

Liu Qing's face was deathly pale, his fingers clenched into fists inside his sleeves, veins bulging on his forehead, and his voice was low but trembling:

"Impossible... I've drawn this talisman countless times, and my skill is already highly refined. How could I have made a mistake for no reason? You must have used something to disturb the spirits!"

The three rogue cultivators exchanged a smile. The leader shrugged, his tone sarcastic:

"Master Liu's words are interesting. The three of us are standing here, completely clean. Where would we find anything to disturb our spirits? If there is, point it out so that all of you fellow Daoists can see."

Another person chimed in, "Exactly. If the talisman collapses, it collapses. If you're not as skilled, just admit it. Why make excuses?"

The third person sneered, "Since Moon Concealment Pavilion dared to make a bet, and now that they've lost, they should pay ten times the amount of spirit stones as agreed. This talisman shop... should close down as soon as possible to avoid further embarrassment."

Qin Su Niang stood to the side of the stage, her fingers clenching slightly beneath her gauze sleeves, her doubts deepening.

There is indeed something strange about this matter. Although Liu Qing is proud, his skills are not bad. Even if he succeeded in making the talisman on the spot, his mindset should have been tested, so he should not have failed twice in a row.

But if those three really did something, why didn't any of the many cultivators present notice anything amiss?

Her gaze shifted to Lu Chi, and seeing his calm expression, a glimmer of hope inexplicably rose within her. She softly asked, "Master Lu, do you have something to say?"

Lu Chi remained silent for a moment, not speaking immediately.

He had a bad impression of Liu Qing and couldn't help but feel a little schadenfreude, but what the other party said was true. He had indeed sensed that disturbing fluctuation and prevented the formation of the talisman.

This keen insight stems from the changes brought about by the enhancement of the Divine Soul Scripture's [Combined Writing] talent.

However, the source of the fluctuation has not yet been discovered. After all, one has not yet reached the Foundation Establishment stage. If one were to develop divine sense, one would probably know it with a single scan.

A thought flickered in his mind, and he quietly activated his talent, [Burning Thoughts].

This talent is originally meant to concentrate the mind and spirit, temporarily exhausting the soul and forcibly focusing it in one place for use in creating talismans to overcome challenges. Even talismans that are normally difficult to create can be forcibly formed.

My soul was taut as if burning with fire, my sea of ​​consciousness was as narrow as a needle, all ordinary distracting thoughts vanished, leaving only a single line of brushstrokes.

But at this moment, he was not drawing talismans; instead, he directed this concentrated power toward that wisp of disturbing energy.

Under the influence of burning thoughts, one's mental sensitivity increases dramatically, and subtle spiritual energies around them become as clear as spider silk.

The fluctuations were originally extremely subtle, scattered like smoke, and difficult for ordinary people to detect. However, when the burning mind was tense, they appeared like a dark shadow under a lamp, revealing their source.

It was an inconspicuous jade pendant at the waist of the leading rogue cultivator that contained a trace of cold, disturbing energy, silently disrupting the mind when drawing talismans.

Good technique. The worst thing when drawing talismans is to lose your mind. This thing does not harm the meridians, but only disrupts the intention of the brush. Liu Qing failed because he was tricked without realizing it.

Lu Chi withdrew his [Burning Thoughts], his soul slightly weary, but he did not show it outwardly. He simply cupped his hands and said, "There is indeed something unusual about this matter, which is the jade pendant on that fellow Daoist's waist."

Upon hearing this, the entire audience was taken aback at first, and then began to murmur among themselves.

The leading rogue cultivator's expression changed drastically, his hand instinctively reaching for his waist, but he stubbornly retorted, "Nonsense! This is just an ordinary jade pendant, how dare you make false accusations?"

Qin Su Niang's gaze turned cold. She gently raised her hand, and a ray of moonlight, like silk, wrapped around the jade pendant. With a gentle pull, it fell into her palm.

She probed with her spiritual power, and after a moment her lips turned slightly cold: "Indeed, it is the Jade of Disturbing the Spirit. Fellow Daoists, this item proves that Master Liu's mistake was not due to inferior skill, but rather to external forces."

The onlookers immediately turned against them, with one angrily shouting, "Insidious tactics! To cause trouble, they resort to this kind of thing?"

The three rogue cultivators turned pale and hurriedly bowed, apologizing, "We...we were blind, we are willing to apologize."

They said they wanted to apologize, but in reality they turned around and left in a hurry, slipping out of the room amidst the chaos.

Seeing this, Qin Suniang subtly moved her gauze sleeves and secretly transmitted her voice: "Cao Zhen, follow them."

She turned to Liu Qing: "Brother Liu Qing, now that the interference has been removed, would you be willing to draw another talisman so that the fellow Daoists can discern its authenticity?"

Liu Qing took a deep breath, cupped her hands, and said, "Don't worry, sister."

He picked up the paper again and began to write. This time, his brushstrokes were steady, the top of the talisman was raised, the lines were smooth, and he completed the work in one go.

As the talisman lit up, spiritual energy gathered, becoming rich and stable, with effects far surpassing those before.

The onlookers were in an uproar: "It really was an external force at work earlier!"

Liu Qing's expression softened slightly, and he forced a bow, saying, "Thank you, Brother Lu, for noticing the clue."

His expression was somewhat unnatural. He had indeed felt something strange when he was drawing the talisman earlier, as if his mind was being pulled by fine threads, but he couldn't tell whether it was due to external force or his own tension.

Arguing in public and getting interrupted is nothing more than trying to save face and find a way out.

Now that Lu Chi had pointed out the clues, he felt a sense of uncertainty. How did this person know? Could it be that his methods were actually superior to his own?

Liu Qing's gaze drifted slightly, avoiding Lu Chi's eyes, her fingertips tightening subtly within her sleeve.

I still prefer your rebellious side… Seeing that he was absent-minded, his previous demeanor completely gone, leaving only a disheveled state, Lu Chi couldn't help but smile:

"You need not worry about matters that are within your duty, Master Liu. In your future practice, you will need to further refine your mental state and composure."

Liu Qing's expression stiffened slightly. She forced a smile but didn't reply. Instead, she lowered her head and retreated to the back hall.

Seeing this, Qin Su Niang's heart stirred slightly, but she did not say anything to comfort her.

Liu Qing had already lost face by making a public blunder, but Lu Chi's words had turned the tide, saving the day. Such skill, such composure…

No less than Liu Qing, and even... better.

Qin Su Niang's fingers twirled lightly beneath her gauze sleeves, a faint smile curving her lips, yet a resolute glint flashed in her eyes.

If Lu Chi draws talismans in the future, with a complete range of types and a comparable quantity, then the position of chief talisman master... is settled.