Gu Ningyun’s movement as she stood up faltered, and she instead picked up the purple jade slip.
Four golden characters were imprinted upon it—《Compendium of Talismans》.
Does the Talisman Hall even give away jade slips?
Not bad, not bad. Xiaoyao really is generous.
Gu Ningyun extended her divine sense into it. There was a table of contents at the very beginning.
According to the contents, the 《Compendium of Talismans》 first introduced the methods for crafting and judging different grades of talisman pens, talisman ink, and talisman paper. Following that were methods for judging talisman grades and tutorials for drawing various types of talismans.
As for the content following the directory, Gu Ningyun could only see the section on wind-attribute talismans and the tutorial for the Swift-Walk Talisman; she was temporarily unable to view the rest.
Could it be that she needed to practice the Swift-Walk Talisman to the yellow-rank top-grade first?
She clicked on the Swift-Walk Talisman section and found that the content inside was identical to the previous jade fragment.
Or rather, that jade fragment might have been a copy of the content from this 《Compendium of Talismans》.
Gu Ningyun’s fingers tightened around the jade slip. A portable version of the Talisman Hall—what a treasure!
She withdrew her divine sense, intending to put the jade slip into her storage bag.
Having spent the whole morning in the Talisman Hall, she planned to head to the dining hall for a meal first, then spend the afternoon drawing talismans in her study.
At that moment, the female voice spoke up right on cue. "Copy of the 《Compendium of Talismans》. Exchange price: 18,000 points. Would you like to exchange?"
Gu Ningyun’s hand froze.
She silently tried to put the jade slip into her storage bag, but as expected, it wouldn’t go in.
Gu Ningyun asked, "Senior, if I don't have enough points to exchange for it, does that mean I can't come to the Talisman Hall to learn the subsequent content anymore?"
"If not exchanged, the 《Compendium of Talismans》 cannot be taken away.
The Talisman Hall can teach the drawing methods of three talismans for free. To learn other sections, points must be paid."
Gu Ningyun: "..."
Thinking of the 《Taiqing Astral Wind Art》 in the Technique Hall that she hadn't finished learning yet, a bad premonition suddenly rose in her heart.
She should have realized it sooner. A sect this massive needed to function; it was impossible for everything to be free.
Xiaoyao had already provided the resources they needed when they were at their weakest.
Whether it was the beautifully environment and fully-equipped Cloud Residence or the dining hall that provided free spirit food.
Whether it was the continuous supply of body-refining materials or the ten-thousand-year peach wood sword given for free.
There were also the various mandatory classes, the dutiful martial uncles, the heritage of the Sword Hall, the yellow-rank top-grade guqin...
They were given as much spirit food as they needed and whatever dharma artifacts they required.
She wasn't some ungrateful leech. Xiaoyao nurtured them, providing protection, connections, resources, and foundation. It was only right for them to give back to Xiaoyao by performing missions.
Most rogue cultivators or sects with foundations inferior to Xiaoyao wouldn't even have a place to exchange spirit stones for resources.
This was a virtuous cycle between disciples and the sect. Disciples performed missions to earn points and then used those points to exchange for the sect's resources. The sect maintained its operations and even grew stronger through these missions.
It was just...
18,000 points was simply too expensive! It was more expensive than 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 and 《The Qin and the Wei》, nearly catching up to the purification-capable 《Zongjiao》!
If she hadn't taken on the ancient script translation tasks and played the guqin at the entrance of the Trial Tower for over ten days, she wouldn't have been able to afford it in the short term by relying solely on the missions in the Mission Hall suitable for Qi Refining level four.
What she didn't know was that others would take seven or eight days just to get the hang of the first talisman, and then spend another month or two practicing it to the high-grade level.
As for the top-grade, regardless of what the tutorial said, it was actually just an elder's expectation for their juniors.
Only those with extremely strong talent for the Talisman Dao, or talisman cultivators who had drawn for decades or even centuries, could possibly draw a top-grade talisman.
Being able to reach the high-grade level during the initial learning stage was already considered having outstanding talent.
By the time they practiced their first talisman to the high-grade level and then learned the next two free talismans, nearly several months would have passed.
After nearly a year like that, as their cultivation and talisman levels improved, the missions they could take would also get better, and they could save up most of the 18,000 points.
Only Gu Ningyun had entered the threshold in a single morning and successfully drawn a Swift-Walk Talisman.
.
Stroking the cool jade slip, Gu Ningyun asked, "Senior, may I ask if the three talismans taught for free, besides the Swift-Walk Talisman, are also included in the 《Compendium of Talismans》?"
"Yes."
Fine then.
The talisman knowledge in this jade slip was indeed very comprehensive. Almost all the talismans she had seen in the identification section of the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 were included here.
Furthermore, it even had the most precious video tutorials.
Whether she bought the jade slip or learned the subsequent knowledge in the Talisman Hall, she would have to pay these points anyway. It was better to just buy the jade slip now.
In the future, when she went out of the sect for experience and it wasn't convenient to come to the Talisman Hall, she could pull out the jade slip to study at any time.
Taking one last look at the exit of the cultivation chamber, Gu Ningyun forced herself to drop a certain dangerous thought and gritted her teeth. "Exchange."
The identity jade token at her waist lit up. Gu Ningyun watched with teary eyes as her point balance went from 50,626 to 32,626.
Forget it, forget it.
A golden stream of light swept over the jade slip. Gu Ningyun extended her divine sense into it, and the restrictions following the table of contents had disappeared.
Tsk, so it wasn't because the Swift-Walk Talisman hadn't reached the yellow-rank top-grade.
Storing the 《Compendium of Talismans》 into her storage bag, Gu Ningyun glanced at the talisman-drawing set on the table, her fingertips itching with interest.
According to the description in the jade slip she had just accidentally scanned, Gu Ningyun now recognized that the talisman-drawing set on the table was of the highest grade usable during the Qi Refining stage—yellow-rank top-grade.
Recalling the Sword Hall's act of gifting the ten-thousand-year peach wood sword, Gu Ningyun tentatively tried to sweep the talisman-drawing set into her storage bag.
It was successfully stored.
The senior's voice didn't appear either.
It worked!
Finally, after storing the talisman she had drawn, Gu Ningyun walked out of the cultivation chamber with satisfaction.
Xiaoyao really is quite generous to their formal disciples, hehe!
.
During the following period, Gu Ningyun stayed cooped up in her study drawing talismans.
Regarding the talisman she had first drawn in the Talisman Hall cultivation chamber, Gu Ningyun checked it against the descriptions in the 《Compendium of Talismans》. It wasn't even as good as a yellow-rank low-grade; it could only be said to have barely maintained a balance so the paper didn't collapse.
Later, with constant practice, her spirit energy fluctuations while drawing became closer and closer to the fluctuations of wind spirit energy. She finally succeeded in drawing a yellow-rank low-grade talisman.
Then came mid-grade, and then high-grade. Eventually, while drawing a certain talisman, the spirit energy fluctuations at her pen tip were equal to the external wind spirit energy fluctuations from the moment she started.
At this moment, she seemed to hear the sound of the spirit energy’s pulse.
Following the sound, she finished drawing the "walk" rune in a single stroke. A massive amount of wind spirit energy entered the talisman paper from the outside, pulsing beneath the red rune and the pen tip.
Her pen tip vibrated with the fluctuations, as if dancing on an ocean current of spirit energy.
A bright cyan light flashed, and the pulsing sound gradually faded into the distance.
Gu Ningyun put down her pen and looked at the rune on the table, which was full of spirit energy and flowed smoothly, savoring the feeling she had just experienced.
That was the feeling of resonating with natural spirit energy and completing a top-grade talisman.
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