Gou Zai Qingluo Cave Heaven Cultivation

Inside the talisman-making workshop.

"Senior Sister Liu, what exactly does this break in the 'Containment of Fire Elemental Energy' rune mean?"

Zhou Baoqing was humbly seeking advice from Liu Yunzhi.

After three days of getting to know each other, he finally understood.

Senior Brother Chen Xuan is truly a master of slacking off; after dumping this difficult task on him, he disappeared somewhere to enjoy the cool breeze.

Liu Yunzhi, who doesn't seem easy to get along with, is actually a good teacher.

"Let me take a look."

Liu Yunzhi put down the scroll of "True Explanation of High-Level Runes" in her hand, leaned over and examined it carefully for a moment before saying, "This break is not a real break, but rather you need to use your rune pen to suspend and pull that wisp of spiritual energy in mid-air, making it seem broken but actually connected, in order to seal the violent surge of fire energy."

"Thank you so much, senior sister. Your guidance has been incredibly enlightening."

Zhou Baoqing said sincerely.

Ever since that day he demonstrated that he could directly enter and independently leave the "Clear Mind Realm," Senior Sister Liu's attitude towards him has undergone a subtle change.

Although she is still a very proud little girl, she answers every question and no longer has the same attitude as before, as if he were in her way.

There is no love or hate without a reason in this world. Only by demonstrating equal talent and value can one gain the affirmation and recognition of others.

After three days of hard work, Zhou Baoqing finally figured out the principle of the talisman. But knowing the principle is one thing, and actually sealing the spiritual energy into it perfectly is another.

Given his skill level, it's absolutely impossible for him to create an extremely unstable fire talisman right now. He should start by learning basic life-related talismans, such as the purification talisman.

Zhou Baoqing never sets his sights on anything unrealistically, only doing what he is capable of.

The principle behind the dust-purifying talisman is not complicated; simply put, it's a directional, miniature cleaning vortex.

He spread out a sheet of clear yellow talisman paper, picked up his brush, and dipped it in specially made Qingling ink.

Because he contemplated the Green Snail Cave Heaven day and night, although he did not reach the pinnacle described in the "Records of a Clear Mind" and have divine inspiration when writing, he still wrote as if divinely assisted.

The pen tip moved across the special talisman paper that served as the talisman's core, and in a smooth and flowing motion, the three basic spiritual runes of "Gathering Wind," "Attracting Dust," and "Purifying" were completed in one go.

He then took a layer of transparent and thin "spirit-sting glue" and cleverly separated the three runes, while also perfectly isolating them from external spiritual energy.

When mortals use it, they only need to pinch their fingers to shatter the membrane, and the spiritual energy of the three runes will instantly converge with the spiritual energy of the outside world, reacting with each other and turning into a refreshing breeze that removes dust.

His expression was focused, with a hint of tension. Then, a flash of inspiration appeared, and the cinnabar ink on the talisman gradually disappeared, transforming into a precious talisman.

I didn't expect to finish it on my first try.

However, imitating its shape does not necessarily make it a complete talisman; only those that are truly effective can be called precious talismans.

"Let's see if it works normally."

With a slight exertion of his fingertips, Zhou Baoqing crushed the spirit-stinging gel covering the runes.

The three spiritual patterns—Gathering Wind, Attracting Dust, and Purifying—successively lit up with a faint, clear light, blending with the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Air currents suddenly converged from all around, and a gentle breeze arose out of nowhere, flowing around the body.

The wind was gentle and mysterious, invisible and dust-free. All the floating dust around was stirred and dispersed, and then cleansed and purified by the power of the rune's original source.

In an instant, the area in front of me became spotless, all the stale air disappeared, and the air became fresh.

The spiritual energy of the talisman paper that carried the runes was exhausted, and it vanished like ashes.

It actually worked!

"Make a few more of these cleansing talismans and take them home to Mother, so she won't have to work so hard cleaning the yard."

Looking at the newly made talisman in his hand, Zhou Baoqing felt a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, as well as a little joy at being able to repay his family.

It should be noted that although the value of this precious talisman cannot be compared with that of a real spiritual talisman, a cleansing talisman like this would still sell for ten spirit crystals in the market.

For a fishing and farming family like the Zhou family, it was a complete luxury.

Anyway, Master Gan has mountains of rune materials, so using a few scraps to practice isn't a big deal.

However, the talisman-making workshop has clear regulations that students must not sell the raw materials or the talismans made in the workshop without permission. Violators will be fined credits or expelled from the clan school.

Behind every rule lies a bloody lesson, and it seems that there must have been "clever" senior students who managed to exploit loopholes in the past.

This also completely extinguished Zhou Baoqing's idea of ​​making money through exploiting loopholes.

Forget it, I'll just stick to farming and raising fish in the Green Snail Cave.

"Huh? Junior Brother succeeded in crafting a magic talisman on his first try?"

Amidst the mountain of books, Liu Yunzhi witnessed this scene, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.

Making a magic talisman is no simple task, not as easy as eating or drinking. Even I, who am known as a talisman genius, took two whole days to make my first purification talisman!

If she knew that Zhou Baoqing had started from a complete novice who knew nothing about talismans, and had mastered the basics of talismans in just a few days, she would surely exclaim that he was a monster.

…………

Time flies, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye. There are only seven days left until the small test that comes around every hundred days.

The atmosphere of the mock exam inside Qingjin Hall was extremely intense, with even the air filled with a sense of anxiety.

During the herb identification class, Master Zhou looked at the answer sheet in his hand and exclaimed with satisfaction:

"Zhou Changping, you've made remarkable progress in the past two weeks. You were able to identify 90% of these hundreds of spiritual herbs correctly, which truly impresses me. Keep up the good work!"

Master Xiao Zhou was also a member of the Zhou clan. He was a young alchemist with a gentle nature. Because he and the head of the academy, Zhou Yanqing, were both teachers in the clan school, he was called "Master Xiao Zhou" to distinguish the two of them.

"Yes! Thank you for your praise, Master!"

Zhou Changping was so excited that his face was flushed. This was the first time he had been publicly praised by the teacher in class since he came to the ethnic school!

Once he was back in his seat, he excitedly lowered his voice and looked at Zhou Baoqing: "Brother Bao, the method you taught me really worked!"

Looking back on the past two weeks of "special training," Zhou Changping considers it a golden rule.

He was originally a foodie who got a headache whenever he saw a book, so Zhou Baoqing taught him how to identify medicines through association.

For example, the book describes "Phoenix Tail Snake-Herb" as having leaves like a phoenix tail, being cold in nature and slightly poisonous, and being able to detoxify fire poison.

Zhou Baoqing then taught him: "Imagine this is a pheasant (phoenix tail) that has been bitten by a snake. The meat is tough and poisonous. To detoxify it, you can only put it in ice water (which is cold in nature) and stew it! This will not only detoxify it but also reduce internal heat!"

Although the chubby boy wasn't good at studying, he had an incredible memory when it came to food. This "recipe-style" memorization method allowed him to instantly remember the properties of hundreds of medicinal herbs.

Zhou Baoqing smiled slightly, concealing his merits and fame.

He used this memory association method frequently in his previous life. For example, he once memorized a string of boring numbers, "589048," by associating it with "a post-90s working at 58.com working 48 hours a day." In this way, he could still remember it vividly even after several years.

However, in the cultivation world, which emphasizes "enlightenment," this would definitely be considered a "heretical" cultivation method.

After nearly two weeks of intensive study, Zhou Changping has completely shed the label of "academic underachiever" in academic subjects.

The little fat boy's cultivation course was not bad to begin with. After all, even a pig, eating all kinds of high-grade spiritual food every day, would not fall behind others in terms of cultivating vital energy and breathing techniques.

Now Zhou Baoqing has fulfilled his promise to Zhou Changping, and he has a clear conscience about the food he has eaten.

As for myself...

Zhou Baoqing's gaze fell on the exam paper on the table that had been rated "top-notch".

He casually folded up the exam paper, and when he looked up, he happened to see Su Wan sitting in the front row looking back at him.

Zhou Baoqing gave a bright smile.

Seeing this, Su Wan wrinkled her delicate nose in slight dissatisfaction.

She couldn't understand how someone who was always at the bottom of the class could make such rapid progress in all four subjects—talismans, medicine, arrays, and artifacts—in just half a month.

The idea of ​​"competing for the top spot" at the Hundred Herbs Garden was just a joke at first, but I never expected that my number one position would actually be in jeopardy.

Could there really be such extraordinary geniuses in this world who remain silent until they make a stunning debut?