Han Li, elated, tucked the wooden box containing the "Golden Bamboo Brush" under his arm and headed back to the pavilion.
He had traded three bottles of "Yellow Dragon Pill" and four bottles of "Gold Marrow Pill" with the young woman for this treasure and a pouch of Seven Star Grass seeds. Afterward, he casually bought some cinnabar powder at other stalls before rushing back in high spirits, ready to embark on his grand project of talisman creation.
Once he bypassed the protective formation and entered the small pavilion, Han Li saw the young monk still in meditation and wisely chose not to disturb him. He went upstairs on his own and returned to his room.
Arranging the talisman paper and cinnabar powder separately on the table, Han Li took out the Golden Bamboo Brush and began to immerse himself in creating a "Soul-Stabilizing Talisman."
Following the method described in the talisman technique, he slowly channeled spiritual power from his body through his right hand holding the brush into the brush shaft. Then, he dipped the brush tip into a bit of cinnabar powder and started to inscribe the runes onto a sheet of talisman paper.
A quarter of an hour later, Han Li straightened up with a look of delight, stretched his slightly sore limbs, and gazed at the spirit talisman gleaming with silver light on the table, unable to contain his joy.
In terms of appearance, this spirit talisman was identical to the one Doctor Mo had used. Although the spiritual energy it contained was a bit faint, it was still vastly superior to the shoddy items Han Li had practiced making before—those were merely shaped like talismans and contained no spiritual power whatsoever.
Holding the newly created spirit talisman, Han Li examined it with excitement. Once satisfied, he prepared to test the Soul-Stabilizing Technique. But before he could even form the hand seals or recite the incantation, the spiritual energy on the paper talisman suddenly became chaotic, showing clear signs of a violent eruption.
Startled, Han Li reflexively threw the talisman away.
With a "pfft" sound, the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman spontaneously ignited in mid-air, turning into a ball of fire and burning completely to ash.
Han Li stared blankly at the empty air, speechless! After a long while, he sighed. It seemed this attempt was a failure too.
Feeling a slight sense of defeat, Han Li's confidence remained unshaken. He felt that the previous talisman had been very close to success. With a bit more effort and a few more attempts, he believed the next ones would surely succeed.
And so, over the next half-day, Han Li crafted Soul-Stabilizing Talisman after Soul-Stabilizing Talisman, but failed repeatedly one after another.
The talismans he made either ignited spontaneously, suddenly exploded, or simply had all their spiritual energy dissipate the moment he finished painting them, turning into useless scraps of paper.
When Han Li watched the last completed talisman also explode with a "pop" into smithereens, the usually calm and collected man finally couldn't hold back. He looked up at the ceiling and suddenly burst out cursing:
"Damn heavens, you're playing me! A dozen sheets of talisman paper, and at least one should have worked! These are only basic, low-grade Soul-Stabilizing Talismans! Did I pick the wrong day?"
After venting, Han Li felt much less gloomy, and his mood improved somewhat.
He tilted his head in thought, then glanced at the cinnabar box on the table, which now only held a small amount, and at the Golden Bamboo Brush. He felt the cause didn't lie there. The spiritual power had flowed smoothly into the brush shaft, and the cinnabar powder had seemed vibrant with spiritual energy when painted onto the paper, not at all like a counterfeit.
Unable to figure out the reason after thinking for a moment, Han Li decided to go ask the young monk and see if he could shed some light on the matter. At this point, Han Li truly realized how important it was to have a master or mentor to guide one on the path of immortal cultivation, and the thought of taking a disciple swayed him a little.
After listening to Han Li's complaint about his failed attempts at talisman creation, the young monk stared at him with an exceptionally strange look, as if a beautiful little white flower had suddenly bloomed on Han Li's face.
Seeing the monk's expression, Han Li felt a bit uneasy, not knowing what he had said wrong to make the other look at him like that.
"Young Master Han probably knows very little about the way of talisman crafting!" the young monk finally spoke.
"Venerable Musang is correct. It is my first time attempting it," Han Li admitted honestly.