He began to attain enlightenment from the Demonic Sect.

Chapter 7 Intention

Although it only became a very simple and basic low-grade cleansing talisman, it was undoubtedly a crucial step for Du Jianyuan.

"My 'Heaven Rewards Diligence' technique has only advanced my talisman skills... After mastering the drawing method of the Cleansing Talisman, drawing other talismans wasn't as difficult as before."

Du Jianyuan quickly suppressed his joy and his thoughts gradually calmed down.

Based on the information from the bead, as long as one hundred low-grade talismans are drawn, the talisman technique can reach the intermediate level.

"But if I really rely solely on drawing cleansing talismans to increase my talismanic skills, even if I reach the intermediate level, I'll only be able to draw basic daily talismans and won't know anything about other talismans..."

"Besides, if you want to earn spirit rice through talismanic arts, you still need to draw talismans like entanglement or fierce fire."

Du Jianyuan had already inquired about the market situation.

Everyday talismans for cleaning and silencing only cost two or three catties of spirit rice per talisman.

Taking into account the cost of talisman paper, talisman brush, spirit ink, and the time and effort involved, drawing these talismans is a completely unprofitable business.

A normal-quality Entangling Talisman and a Fierce Fire Talisman can be sold for eight catties and twelve catties of spirit rice respectively.

"Talismans may seem simple, but they are full of hurdles... No wonder so many cultivators at the second or third level of Qi Refining in the Talisman Room are unwilling to work on this."

"If the losses continue, it will not only delay your cultivation, but also exhaust your mind and energy. If you are not careful, you will make mistakes in your daily work and be punished by the head servant."

Moreover, the spiritual energy in this dwelling is extremely thin.

After drawing a talisman, it takes a long time to recover magical power, which seriously hinders the progress of cultivation.

"We can't waste the Nourishing Essence Pill's potency on restoring mana; let's use Spirit Rice instead..."

Du Jianyuan steamed two catties of spirit rice and simultaneously sank his spiritual consciousness into his dantian.

【The Infernal Flame Burning Heart Technique: 28/200 (Beginner)】

These past few days of cultivation and consolidating my true essence have already consumed nearly half of the nourishing essence pill's potency.

"The spiritual energy in this desolate place is scarce. Without investing resources, it's almost impossible to make any progress."

Du Jianyuan cursed, knowing in his heart that he had to draw the Fiery Talisman as soon as possible.

Once one's resources are exhausted and one can't find the time to take on odd jobs to earn money, one will be unable to support both spiritual practice and talisman drawing, and that will truly be a dead end.

After a long while, the spirit rice was steamed. Du Jianyuan ate it while trying to find humor in his misery, and said to himself:

"Now that I'm penniless, I don't have to worry about anyone sneaking in at night to rob or kill me."

After all, those who wanted to kill him were after the spirit stones and pills.

After finishing his meal, Du Jianyuan gradually recovered his physical strength and magical power, and picked up the cleansing talisman on the table to examine it carefully.

Since this is the first time it has been painted, the condition is slightly rough.

However, cleansing talismans are not meant to cause harm or destruction; as long as they work, they are fine and there's no need to be too particular about them.

"I'll accumulate more experience in drawing talismans tonight, and I can start trying to draw the Fiery Talisman tomorrow."

Du Jianyuan laid out the talisman paper and began to write again.

The second cleansing talisman was drawn easily and looked quite good.

When it came to drawing the silent note, the hand was a little rough, but the strokes were very crisp and the rune nodes were connected naturally, so it was barely a success.

In the latter half of the night, he ate another pound of spirit rice and began drawing entanglement talismans.

The first attempt failed.

Du Jianyuan was not discouraged. After making adjustments, he continued to lay out paper and put pen to paper.

((Dang))

At dawn, the bells rang out once again across the mountain peaks.

[Talisman Skill: 4/100 (Low-grade Qi Refining)]

"Ten low-grade talisman papers yielded two cleansing talismans, one silencing talisman, and one entangling talisman. Not bad at all..."

A faint smile appeared on Du Jianyuan's tired face; he had only one-third of his magical power left.

However, you can recover slowly in the talisman room later, so it won't be a problem.

"With my current level of talisman skills... I can't be considered a true talisman master yet."

He knew in his heart that only by drawing two Fiery Talismans out of five talisman papers would he be granted the status of a low-grade talisman master by the head of the guild.

I just arrived at the talisman room.

Yan Jun noticed that Du Jianyuan's expression was a bit off. Without saying a word, he put his hand on Du Jianyuan's shoulder, examined him carefully, and then gave him a meaningful smile, praising him:

"It seems you've already consolidated your true energy... Not bad, not bad."

Du Jianyuan's expression changed drastically, fearing that this fellow would increase his punishment today, he quickly bowed and clasped his hands in greeting:

"grown ups……"

"Hey, don't panic."

Yan Jun raised his hand to interrupt, and said with a smile:

"I'm a person of my word. If I say seven days, I mean seven days. I won't go back on my word... Tell me, what talismans have you drawn?"

In his view, the fact that Du Jianyuan could glean insights from a few words of Taoist wisdom from his seniors in the inner sect proved that he possessed extremely high Taoist wisdom.

Such a talented person would naturally not be stumped by mere talismans.

Du Jianyuan's heart sank, realizing that his every move was being watched, and he could only honestly answer:

"The three talismans—cleaning, silence, and entangling—have all been drawn..."

Before he finished speaking, Yan Jun took off the storage bag at his waist and took out the talisman inside to examine it.

"Of ten, four are useful, but only one is truly useful."

Yan Jun, looking utterly disappointed, stuffed the talisman back into his storage bag, tossed it back to Du Jianyuan, and waved his hand, saying:

"Get back to work. Come find me when you have a 40% success rate with the Fiery Flame Talisman."

"Yes, sir."

Seeing that the other party didn't make things difficult for him, Du Jianyuan breathed a slight sigh of relief and began to ponder:

"That bastard will never be so kind as to let me go... He probably hopes I'll draw the Fiery Talisman soon so he can squeeze all the profits out of me onto the talisman and earn more spirit rice for him."

But then he thought about it again and felt relieved.

In this wretched place, no matter what kind of work you do, you can't escape being exploited and oppressed; you can only endure it for now.

"Good morning, Yuan-ge'er."

"Good morning, Brother Quan."

Du Jianyuan arrived at his workstation, greeted Huang Quan, and noticed a new face sitting next to him.

He was a boy of about thirteen years old, about the same age as when he first came to the talisman room. His technique was extremely clumsy, and he burned through the paper blank as soon as he started baking it.

The boy's face turned pale, both shocked and panicked. He tried to remain calm as he took the new paper blanks and continued to bake them, but his hands were still trembling uncontrollably.

Du Jianyuan and Huang Quan exchanged a glance, chuckled, and shook their heads, but neither of them said anything. They each buried themselves in their work.

After working for a while, Huang Quan took a moment to speak:

"Shall we grab a drink after work? To celebrate your breakthrough to the second level of Qi Refining."

"I've been too busy lately. Once I'm done with this, I'll personally apologize to Lord Huang."

"You little brat... fine, I'll be waiting for this drink."

"no problem!"

Five hours later.

Du Jianyuan has already finished refining fifty low-grade talisman papers.

Now that he had figured out Yan Jun's intentions, he stopped deliberately dragging things out and tried to finish his work as soon as possible so he could go back and study the Fiery Talisman.

However, before setting off, he replaced the thirty low-grade talisman papers he had bought at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall with the talisman papers, intending to use the talisman papers he had refined himself to draw talismans and see if he could improve the success rate.

As Du Jianyuan was preparing to hand in his report, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of Huang Quan secretly helping the newcomer, pointing out the door to the talisman paper being baked.

"Brother Quan is so kind in guiding each newcomer, probably hoping that one day they'll become successful and turn around to help him out..."

Du Jianyuan knew that Huang Quan's aptitude and wisdom were not high, and that this was the only way he could survive. He then lowered his voice and said:

"Brother Quan, I've finished my work, I'll be going now."

"So fast?"

Huang Quan turned around in surprise and quickly gave him a look, signaling him to dawdle for another hour so as not to attract the attention of the head constable.

Du Jianyuan gave him a reassuring look, then took the talisman and went to hand it in.

As expected.

After Yan Jun discovered that he had changed the talisman paper, he didn't point it out or make things difficult for him. He simply waved his hand and told him to stop working.