With the Eight Immortals' magical treasures in hand, even a mortal like myself! Ha!

Several days later, Gu Qing and Tieguai Li followed Yan Yun's caravan and finally arrived at Yan Family Fort after a half-month journey.

Although Yan Family Fortress is called a castle, it is actually more like a city, where hundreds of thousands of mortals live, and the number of cultivators is not very large.

Only cultivators are allowed to freely enter this fortress. If ordinary mortals try to leave, they will be killed by the cultivators of Yan Family Fortress, seemingly for the sake of secrecy.

However, I heard that most of the ordinary people inside entered Yan Family Fortress voluntarily.

Since it was to escape enemies outside, it was naturally voluntary.

I wonder if there were any like Gu Qing and Tieguai Li who voluntarily entered the fortress to become apprentices.

Yan Family Fortress is located on a mountain peak, which is surrounded by a protective array. Only members of the Yan family can freely enter Yan Family Fortress.

"Brothers, please wait a moment." Yan Yun took out a talisman and lit it with fire. Immediately, the talisman emitted a lot of smoke, and a path appeared on the mountain road that originally had no road.

"Let's go!" Yan Yun reminded them, and then led Gu Qing and Tieguai Li into the formation. They followed the path for more than ten miles and finally saw Yan Family Fortress.

It was a huge castle that stretched as far as the eye could see. After all, it housed hundreds of thousands of people, so it was perfectly normal for the castle to be large.

After entering the city gate, there was a row of inns, which made Gu Qing very curious about who these inns were open to.

"Brothers, please stay at the inn for now. I will come back to find you after I have finished dealing with my business." Yan Yun's words carried a hint of apology. Gu Qing, however, did not mind and let Yan Yun leave.

Gu Qing and Tieguai Li stayed at an inn. Although most of the people living in this city were ordinary people, they did not use gold and silver, but instead used spirit stones for transactions.

Gu Qing and Tieguai Li paid two spirit stones to stay at the inn. It seemed that Yan Family Fortress did not refuse some independent cultivators from entering the fortress.

It makes sense when you think about it. The streets are lined with shops run by ordinary people selling talismans and magical artifacts. These shops can't just do business internally and consume their own stock, can they?

Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to let some independent cultivators come in to trade.

In this way, Gu Qing understood that these inns were probably places for rogue cultivators who were temporarily hiding from the pursuit outside.

Of course, these were all Gu Qing's speculations; she would have to ask Yan Yun to find out the truth.

And so, Gu Qing and Tieguai Li waited in the fort for another day or two, and finally saw Yan Yun again on the morning of the third day.

"I am truly sorry to have delayed you both for so long. I have already contacted our clan uncle to teach you the art of talismans. Please prepare yourselves by purchasing some cinnabar and talisman brushes," Yan Yun said.

Gu Qing was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, and then asked, "Don't we need to register our identity?"

Yan Yun smiled and said, "I've already prepared this for you. These are your identity tokens. You must keep them safe. All you need to do is drip your essence blood onto the tokens."

Gu Qing took the token and examined it, discovering that it was a low-grade magic artifact. It seemed that the Yan family was not simple either.

After Gu Qing finished everything, he went to the street to buy a talisman pen and some cinnabar, talisman paper and the like, and then went to the clan uncle that Yan Yun had mentioned.

He was an old man in his seventies or eighties, a cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Refining, dressed in a red robe.

The old man in the red robe glanced at Gu Qing and Tieguai Li before asking, "Yan Yun, are these the people you brought back from outside?"

"That's right, Uncle, please take good care of me in the future," Yan Yun said, cupping his hands in greeting.

The old man in red waved his wrinkled hands and said with a smile, "Don't worry, since he's your friend, I'll definitely take good care of him. Come with me."

"Go with my uncle; he'll teach you how to draw talismans," Yan Yun said with a smile.

"Alright, then thank you very much, Brother Yanyun." Gu Qing bowed in thanks and followed the old man in red into a side room.

After entering the room, the old man in red glanced at Gu Qing and Tieguai Li, then chuckled and asked, "Do you two have experience drawing talismans?"

"No, please teach me more, sir." Gu Qing had never drawn a single talisman before, because he had spent a long time in Huangfeng Valley and rarely even used talismans.

"In that case, let's start by making the most basic fireball talisman. First, copy ten of them, then draw one on the talisman paper." After saying that, the old man in red turned and left without paying any attention to Gu Qing and the other person.

Gu Qing felt somewhat embarrassed. He had originally thought there was some shortcut to drawing talismans, which was why he came to Yan Family Fortress to take a look and wait for Han Li to arrive.

It seems that Gu Qing was overthinking things. There are no shortcuts to drawing talismans. You still need to practice a lot and be willing to calm down and work hard to succeed.

"Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it. I'll just have to start drawing talismans. I'll trouble you to accompany me, fellow Daoist." Gu Qing had no intention of complaining at all.

Tieguai Li simply smiled and said, "It's alright. I have some interest in the art of talismans, so I'll just learn as much as I can."

Gu Qing nodded, and then carefully copied the fireball talisman as if he were refining medicinal herbs.

Gu Qing knew the Fireball Technique, so he quickly mastered the strokes and completed the Fireball Talisman in just six or seven days.

Tieguai Li was already a Core Formation cultivator, so drawing the fireball talisman was even simpler for him.

Successfully drawing something is one thing, but the success rate is another.

Even though Gu Qing had reached the late Foundation Establishment stage and was very skilled in controlling spiritual energy, his success rate in drawing talismans was not very high when he first started. It took him six or seven talisman papers to successfully draw one talisman.

In other words, out of a hundred talismans, not even ten were successful, so it was somewhat of a loss.

Fortunately, they were all low-level talismans, and the talisman paper they used was made from Seven Star Grass, so the cost was not very high.

"You two have a great talent for drawing talismans," the red-robed old man exclaimed, praising Gu Qing and Tieguai Li's work over the past few days. Even the way he looked at the two of them changed.

"What a pity, what a pity!" the old man in the red robe said, shaking his head slightly.

Gu Qing felt somewhat confused, so she asked, "I wonder what the old gentleman is regretting?"

The old man in the red robe waved his hand and then said, "What a pity, you would have had a better future if you had stayed at Wanmiao Temple."

Wanmiao Temple is one of the three major orthodox sects in Yuanwu Kingdom. It is known for its talisman-making skills. I didn't expect the old man in the red robe to mention this sect.

Seeing the doubt on Gu Qing's face, the old man in red robes straightened his back and said, "When I was young, I was a disciple of Wanmiao Temple for more than ten years."

After hearing this, Gu Qing finally understood why the old man in the red robe had mentioned Wanmiao Temple. It turned out that he had stayed at Wanmiao Temple for more than ten years.