I proved immortality with thunder magic.

Lei Hefeng, a bamboo house by the stream.

The quiet room was filled with a subtle fragrance, brightly lit, and so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

At the desk, Zhou Tai held a pen in one hand and twisted his sleeve with the other, drawing talismans on a blank sheet of paper.

The talisman paper was only seven or eight inches long and less than three inches wide, and was flattened by paperweights on both the top and bottom.

As the talisman was being drawn on, the "rustling" sound of writing could be clearly heard in the quiet room.

That's right, Zhou Tai is drawing talismans, using real talisman brushes, talisman paper, and talisman ink.

He drew a first-tier low-grade magic talisman called "Hemostasis Talisman," which, as the name suggests, is a magic talisman that can stop bleeding and treat wounds after use.

He has been learning this method of drawing talismans for nearly two years. He can draw them in one go with his eyes closed, and he can draw ten in a row without making any mistakes.

But when he actually used the talisman pen to draw talismans on the talisman paper, he realized that Qi Yuntao's talk of actual combat and practice was not the same thing at all.

For example, when he practices, he doesn't need to expend any magic power at all, only physical strength and mental energy.

However, when actually drawing talismans in real combat, it is an essential step to infuse the talisman brush with magical power while drawing the talisman, and to let the magical power blend with the talisman ink and remain on the talisman paper.

This step is also very particular. The amount and speed of the magical power injected will change during the drawing process. The more profound the magical talisman, the more changes there will be.

Even the slightest mistake, such as injecting too much or too little magic power, can cause the talisman to fail.

Each time you fail to draw a talisman, you waste a sheet of talisman paper and a batch of talisman ink, and the talisman brush will also wear out.

Zhou Tai started his actual combat three days ago, and has already ruined eight talismans.

Eight failures taught him a lot from his mistakes, and he stopped repeating them.

So now, during his ninth attempt at drawing the talisman, he was still functioning normally even after completing two-thirds of it.

However, when he pushed the progress to the last third, he was slightly slowed down in the input of magic power when making a turn, which caused the connection of the talisman's network to be disrupted, and the drawing of the talisman ended in failure again.

"This is the ninth time! And this is only a beginner-level spell talisman, yet it's this difficult. Have I really overestimated my abilities?"

Zhou Tai put down his talisman brush, clenched his fists, and stared at the ruined talisman paper on the table, his face grim.

He wasn't incapable of accepting failure; in fact, one could say he was prepared for it long ago.

However, the series of failures inevitably caused him to doubt himself.

Drawing talismans is not like doing business. In business, there are plenty of examples from his previous life to refer to, and he has flexible methods to adapt to situations, so there is always a chance to turn the tide in the face of failure.

However, there are no shortcuts or flexibility in drawing talismans, at least not for a beginner.

When there is no prior experience to draw upon, repeated failures can easily shake even the most determined person's resolve.

In particular, each failure will shrink the little capital left, potentially plunging one into ruin, creating immense pressure.

After sitting silently in the quiet room for a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes, stood up abruptly, and grabbed the talisman brush.

"There's no turning back now. I've already spent over a hundred low-grade spirit stones on talisman brushes, ink, and paper, and another thirty low-grade spirit stones on custom-made special talisman paper. I've cut off my own escape route, and now the only way forward is to forge ahead!"

As he spoke, Zhou Tai tore off the discarded talisman paper and threw it into the bamboo basket, while laying out a new blank talisman paper.

Since he left himself no way out, he had to forge ahead and succeed!

With sheer determination and a constant process of learning from his failures, Zhou Tai finally drew his first magic talisman after fourteen consecutive failures.

Inside the quiet room, a freshly made talisman lay flat on the table. The bright red ink on the talisman had dried completely, yet it still gave the illusion that the ink was not yet dry.

Zhou Tai picked up the talisman with both hands and examined it carefully, his face beaming with a smile.

Success after multiple failures did boost his confidence, dispelling the gloom in his heart and restoring his former self-confidence and composure.

After examining it closely for a while, he muttered to himself, "The talisman I just drew has the best effect. Let's test its effectiveness now!"

After speaking, he hesitated for a moment, then took a sharp blade and cut his calf, then activated a "hemostatic talisman" on the bleeding wound.

As soon as the magic talisman was activated, it immediately transformed into a streak of bright red blood and landed on the wound on the calf.

When the bloodstains faded, the cut on the calf had healed completely, leaving only a thin pink line.

Zhou Tai casually wiped away the blood near the wound, walked around a few times, and the pain from the injury was so weak that it was almost non-existent.

If ordinary mortals were to witness such healing effects, they would surely exclaim "miracle!"

But in the world of cultivation, this can only be considered a minor technique.

"The hemostatic talisman is one of the essential talismans for cultivators when they go out to search for medicine and explore for minerals. Its price is very stable in the cultivation world. The retail price of a single talisman is usually one low-grade spirit stone, and some shops even offer a buy-twenty-get-one-free deal!"

"Even so, if I can succeed twice out of ten times in drawing talismans, I can at least break even on the cost of the talisman paper and ink. If I can succeed three out of ten times, I can still make a small profit even after factoring in the wear and tear on the talisman brush!"

"That's not right either. If I want to sell the talismans I draw, I can only choose to sell them in packages to those merchants or sect talisman halls. The selling price will definitely be much lower than the retail price, and it's even possible that it will be half the price!"

"Based on this calculation, if I want to make a profit by drawing hemostatic talismans, I need to have a success rate of at least 50%."

Zhou Tai's fingers twitched slightly as he carefully calculated the gains and losses. The more he calculated, the more alarmed he became, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

He probably didn't have a precise idea of ​​how difficult it is to achieve a success rate of more than 50% before he had any real-world experience.

But now he knows clearly that this is something he has no hope of achieving in the short term.

The success of drawing a talisman depends not only on the cultivator's skill but also on the quality of the talisman paper and ink.

Some talisman paper has flaws that are almost imperceptible. These flaws are only discovered after the talisman is drawn, and by then it is too late to fix them.

Similarly, the quality of talisman ink cannot be completely pure and flawless. Sometimes, impurities in the ink are absorbed by the talisman brush without being noticed. This can easily lead to poor magical power transmission when drawing talismans, causing the drawing to fail directly.

Not to mention other uncontrollable external factors.

After a moment of silence, he began to calculate the price he could still bear.

"A stack of twelve first-grade low-level talisman papers is worth two low-level spirit stones; a piece of first-grade low-level talisman ink is worth three low-level spirit stones and can be used about thirty times; this talisman brush of mine is second-hand and can probably be used three to five hundred times; and I currently have one hundred and six low-level spirit stones left!"

"That means I can still buy over three hundred sheets of low-grade first-tier talisman paper, and an equivalent amount of talisman ink!"

Upon realizing this, Zhou Tai's face darkened.

Three hundred chances seem like a lot, but even if he used them all to make hemostatic talismans, he certainly wouldn't be able to raise his success rate to over 50%.

Once he had used up all the talismans, he would be penniless, with only a few dozen hemostatic talismans left.

"What a blunder! If we had known this would happen, we shouldn't have rushed to order those special talismans!"

Zhou Tai slapped his forehead in annoyance, deeply regretting his impulsive actions.

But this can't really be blamed on him, because the longer the outer skin of the Thunder-Patterned Frog is preserved, the more serious the loss of spiritual power will be. Only by making it into talisman paper as soon as possible can the shelf life be extended.

The only reason he could blame himself was that he was too poor and had too little capital.

Looking at the many outer disciples and miscellaneous disciples of Spirit Beast Mountain, how many of them dared to be like him, thinking of learning talisman-making skills on their own when they were only at the third level of Qi Refining, hoping to make money from it!

"Well, it's too late for regrets now. If all else fails, I'll just sell the storage bag. If that doesn't work, I'll borrow spirit stones from Senior Brother Qi!"

Zhou Tai gritted his teeth, a ruthless glint in his eyes.

He has already invested too much, and there is no turning back. Now he will sell everything he owns to keep going.