Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

"Greetings, young friend. My name is Liang Anping, and I am the shopkeeper. May I ask what grade of talismans you wish to sell?"

Liang Anping stood up to greet him, showing no disrespect to Lin Zui despite his low cultivation level. Having run the shop here for a long time, he knew all too well what it meant to judge a book by its cover. In the world of cultivation, opportunities were countless, and no one could say for sure which one would fall into their lap.

If they ever urgently need spirit stones, they might sell their treasures. He has already taken advantage of these people more than once.

"Greetings, shopkeeper. My name is... Fang Xing."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Zui hesitated. Living in the mortal world, how could he not prepare a few aliases for himself?

"I have crafted some low-grade, beginner-level talismans. I wonder if your shop would be willing to accept them?"

When Liang Anping heard that they were only some low-level, basic talismans, he was a little disappointed. However, this was normal. Such opportunities to find bargains were rare and hard to come by. Since there was no business to do right now, he might as well take a look and kill some time.

"Of course I accept them. May I ask how many you have, young friend?"

"Not many, maybe a hundred."

As Lin Zui spoke, he opened the package, and a thick stack of talismans appeared in front of Liang Anping.

"This...so many?!"

Liang Anping was startled and quickly stepped forward. He released a burst of spiritual energy from his fingertips to envelop the talisman. After carefully sensing it, he immediately showed a look of joy.

"Hmm, not bad, the spiritual energy is abundant and there is no leakage at all. They are indeed brand new talismans."

Liang Anping nodded. One or two low-level talismans were nothing special, but hundreds at once was a different story. With a little bargaining, he could easily make at least ten spirit stones.

As for sales, there's no need to worry. The market is full of low-level cultivators, and these low-level talismans are the main consumers. One spirit stone for one talisman, so there's no worry about selling them.

Liang Anping was delighted and was about to say something when he suddenly realized what the other person had just said.

"You just said that you personally crafted all these talismans. Could it be that you are a talisman maker?"

"I'm sorry to have made you laugh. My spiritual root is of poor quality, and I have no future in cultivation. Fortunately, I have some talent in talisman making. However, I can only make some low-level talismans. I dare not call myself a talisman maker."

Liang Anping's eyes showed admiration.

"Young friend, you are too modest. At your age, to be able to refine so many different kinds of low-level talismans is a testament to your outstanding talent. Given time, your achievements will be limitless."

"Thank you for your kind words, senior. I don't know about these talismans..."

"I have already inspected it, and there is nothing wrong with the talisman. I am willing to offer eighty spirit stones to purchase it. Are you satisfied, young friend?"

Lin Zuixin was overjoyed. He had spent less than twenty spirit stones to buy the cinnabar talisman paper and a few different low-level talismans. Now, the price had quadrupled. What was there to be dissatisfied about?

However, what relieved him even more was that these talismans made using the "Divine Seal Technique" seemed to be no different from ordinary talismans.

This reduced his concerns about making a lot of money by producing talismans in the future. As long as he was careful not to reveal his unusual success rate, he should not attract anyone's attention.

After the transaction was completed, Lin Zui bought another storage bag from Liang Anping.

This kind of low-level storage bag only costs twenty spirit stones, which is not expensive, but it was still unaffordable for Lin Zui in the past.

After leaving Liang Family Immortal Treasure Shop, Lin Zui strolled around the market a few times, bought a batch of cinnabar talisman paper and a few new talismans he had never seen before, and then went to Ru Gui Pavilion in the center of the market and chose a superior room to stay in.

Now that he had confirmed that using the "Divine Seal Technique" to create talismans was feasible, he had nothing to hesitate about.

In the days that followed, Lin Zui devoted himself to making talismans, and every now and then he would take a portion of them to the market to exchange for spirit stones.

Unexpectedly, even though he only took out a small portion each time and sold it separately in different shops in the market, his reputation gradually spread over time.

When the three forces behind the market heard that a young talisman maker had emerged in Fuyun Market, they all sent people to recruit him, but Lin Zui politely declined them all.

For him, joining a small, insignificant family would offer limited help; it would be more advantageous to maneuver among the three families and wait for the best offer.

However, the attitudes of the three families made him wary. He then quietly reduced the frequency of selling talismans, saving a lot of time to try making beginner and intermediate talismans. He also bought various Qi Refining stage pills in the market to prepare for cultivating the Five Elements Transformation Technique.

Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Zui rarely went out, except for the occasional trip to sell talismans and buy some pills. He basically had no interaction with anyone.

Under this deliberate low profile and concealment, the several forces that were originally quite enthusiastic about him gradually lost interest in this young man who seemed only capable of making low-level talismans.

Only Liang Anping of the Liang Family Treasure Shop never stopped trying to win him over, even going so far as to raise the acquisition price to show his goodwill.

Lin Zui remained nonchalant in response, neither agreeing nor refusing, but he was still somewhat grateful. In return, he chose to sell talismans to Liang Anping almost every time afterward.

However, Lin Zui has not appeared for three months since the last transaction, which makes Liang Anping somewhat suspicious, wondering if something has happened to him.

On this day, Liang Anping was sorting through old items in the shop when a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the door.

"Mr. Liang, what good things have you packed? How about letting this junior see them?"

Upon hearing this, Liang Anping looked up and saw a handsome young man peeking inside from outside the door. Who else could it be but Lin Zui?

"You little brat, if you're so good at talking, why don't you come in and help out?"

Liang Anping laughed and scolded, saying that after three years of getting along, the two had developed a kind of friendship that transcended age, and they spoke much more casually.

"Here it comes, here it comes."

Lin Zui smiled and agreed, then stepped forward to help Liang Anping tidy up.

"What's been going on these past few months? What have you been busy with?"

Lin Zui smiled wryly upon hearing this.

"Hey, don't even mention it. I felt my cultivation was slowing down, so I was preparing to go into seclusion to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refining. But something went wrong halfway through, and I almost died."

Upon hearing this, Liang Anping looked him up and down a few times.

"No wonder your breathing seemed a bit unsteady; do you have some hidden injuries?"

Lin Zui nodded, not denying it.

But in reality, it wasn't that he encountered a problem while breaking through to the fifth level; rather, it was because he was cultivating the "Five Elements Transformation Technique" and something unexpected happened.

Three months ago, after acquiring a large number of pills and believing he was fully prepared, Lin Zui finally went into seclusion to cultivate the "Five Elements Transformation Technique".

He already possessed earth-attribute magic power at the fourth level of Qi Refining. He originally thought that he only needed to cultivate the other four types of magic power to the fourth level of Qi Refining and achieve balance before he could begin cultivating all five elements simultaneously. However, when the moment actually arrived, he realized that it was not the case at all.

The Five Elements Transformation Technique breaks down the entire spiritual root into five interdependent and mutually reinforcing, yet independent, miniature spiritual root vortexes. The magical power absorbed and refined by these vortexes is distinct in its five elements, yet they can transform into each other as if they were one.

However, the original earth-attribute magic power was completely incompatible with the five new magic powers he had cultivated, and they even repelled each other. After several attempts, not only did he fail to solve the problem, but he also caused Lin Zui to be extremely distressed and almost went into a state of demonic possession.

Left with no other choice, Lin Zui had to painfully dissipate his original earth-attribute magic power and start cultivating from scratch.

After this incident, Lin Zui realized that the "Five Elements Transformation Technique" could not be cultivated in conjunction with other techniques. Since he had decided to cultivate it, he could only stick to this path and could not switch to other techniques.

With things having come to this, Lin Zui could only take it one step at a time. Fortunately, he had prepared quite a few pills beforehand. Although this was not a spiritual vein area, the pills should be enough for his cultivation.

However, while the idea was good, Lin Zui only realized what a bottomless pit it was when he actually started cultivating. He cultivated all five elements simultaneously, which required a high amount of mana. With each breakthrough, the vortex grew stronger, which in turn passively expanded his dantian, resulting in even more mana being required for the next level.

In addition, his five spiritual roots resulted in poor refining efficiency and a lot of waste.

The final result was that dozens of bottles of pills were used up just enough to help him break through the second level of the bottleneck, leaving Lin Zui secretly astonished.