Chapter Fifteen: The Wondrous Function of the Spirit and Soul

  In these five years, getting up early had already become Chen Tang's habit, regardless of wind or rain.

  Today is no exception.

  Chen Xuan washed and rinsed his mouth, then sat in front of a wooden table, starting to make talismans.

  Unlike before, due to the dull pain all over his body, the wrist that held the brush had a hint of stiffness, and the speed was much slower. It seemed unlikely that he could finish thirty first-class talismans within five time periods.

  However, Chen Tang didn't mind these things, his eyebrows and eyes focused on the talisman paper, his expression was meticulous.

  According to Zhang's grocery store requirements, today, he needs to make a basic talisman - Earth Shield Talisman.

  Tu Dun Fu is a defensive-oriented earth-based basic talisman, which can condense a shield like solid stone in front of the body when cast. The structure of the talisman is not complicated and is similar to Huo Yun Fu, but the properties are completely different.

  But this did not deter Chen Tai, in these five years, he was ridiculed for only knowing how to make basic talismans, but if it's said that mastering the basics of talismans is numerous, then no one can compare to him.

  No choice, in order to earn yuan stone, he had to learn how to make all sorts of basic talismans with different properties. Only then could he exchange them for yuan stones at the Zhang's general store.

  Up until now, Chen Yao has mastered no less than a thousand basic talismans, and this number is absolutely astonishing to the point that nobody dares to believe it.

  In general, most talisman masters will choose one of the five elements that suits their own talismanic path and study it diligently to quickly improve their talismanic cultivation.

  Chen Ting, on the other hand, was a come-one-come-all kind of person. He had studied all the basic talismans of the Five Elements and had mastered them all, but it had taken him more time than others. Whether it was worth it or not, only heaven knew.

  Shasha...

  The tip of the brush, soaked in ink, wandered on the snow-white and soft rice paper, outlining a series of winding and smooth strokes. Chen Tai's brushwork was still precise and agile, seemingly unaffected by his wrist strength.

  However, just as he was halfway through drawing the talisman, a sense of awkwardness suddenly rose up in his mind, as if there were errors in the strokes on the paper. On closer inspection, however, not a single mistake could be found.

  Chen Xiao furrowed his brow and stopped writing, deep in thought. In the past five years, he had made hundreds of earth shield talismans, and his brushwork had long since reached the point where it was second nature to him. So why did it feel so awkward today?

  Taking a deep breath, Chen Tai once again carefully examined the talisman paper on the table, the starting position of the pen, the evenness of the ink marks, the trajectory of the strokes... The more he looked, the more he felt a sense of discomfort in his heart, as if his chest was filled with blocks, making his breathing also become urgent.

  What's wrong?

  How could it go wrong? Everything was perfect!

  Maybe it's not your fault, but...

  As if struck by a bolt of lightning, Chen Tai's mind suddenly rose with a strong impulse, as if possessed by a demon, he picked up the brush and wrote!

  On the talisman paper, the strokes of the talismanic script suddenly changed. The originally intricate and delicate strokes were instead brushed over by Chen Xiao with a single stroke, only to be replaced by dense and complex patterns at the end.

  Bang!

  With a final flourish, Chen Xiao threw down his brush and leaned against the wooden table, panting heavily, but his eyes shone brightly with an unnerving intensity.

  "It's indeed smoother now, but... is this still a clay shield?"

  Half a moment later, Chen Xiao picked up the talisman paper and looked at the half-familiar and half-unfamiliar patterns on it, frowning involuntarily.

  "Whatever, let's just try it out first... even if it's a waste of time..." Chen Yu thought for a moment, still unsure, and then a thread of true yuan burst forth from his fingertips, pouring into the talisman paper.

  Splash!

  A dense yellowish-brown air current suddenly surged forth, and in Chen Tai's hand appeared a turtle-shaped shield as large as a person.

  Succeeded!

  Chen's sigh of relief was accompanied by a sudden surge of shock. The symbol structure, which had evolved over countless years, had already formed a fixed structure, and the earth shield symbol was one of them. The symbol structure within it had long been perfected to perfection by countless sages and greats. To say nothing of modifying the symbol, even the slightest difference in the symbol's trajectory could cause the entire talisman to fail.

  At this time, the earth shield symbol had changed nearly half of its trajectory, yet it was still able to successfully summon, how could Chen Xu not be shocked?

  I... actually changed the symbol structure of the Earth Shield?

  Realizing this, Chen Xiao's knowledge of talismans was almost overturned in his mind, and he couldn't believe that the earth shield talisman in front of him was created by himself.

  He was immediately troubled by a thread of doubt, how did he just do that?

  After a long period of contemplation, Chen Yao suddenly remembered something. Fuxi had observed the River Chart and understood the way of Heaven's mechanism, while he not only relied on his knowledge of symbols to walk out of that starry secret realm but also obtained a true body imprint left by Fuxi. Could it be that all this was because of this true body imprint?

  Ji Yu had once said that this true body seal contains a hint of the Hetu true meaning, and he himself had indeed contemplated this true body seal last night.

  Combining the enhanced sensory perception of waking up in the morning, Chen Xiao almost instantly figured it out - all this must be related to the true body imprint left by the master of the cave mansion in his own sea of consciousness!

  It seems that this method of visualization can not only make one's spirit and soul stronger, but also silently nourish and deepen one's understanding of the Dao.

  Chen Xiao wanted to understand everything, suddenly felt enlightened and refreshed, picked up the symbol pen, and started making symbols again.

  Time flew by, and in less than three hours, thirty earth shields with vastly different patterns appeared, a full two hours shorter than before!

  Two hours is enough for Chen Tai to do too many things...

  What made Chen Tai even more delighted was that the true yuan in his dantian had not been depleted as usual, but instead still had more than half left. This also meant that he could make thirty more earth shield talismans, and earn an extra ten yuan stones every day!

  Better give these talismans to Uncle Zhang first, yesterday didn't even make the talismans, don't know if Uncle Zhang will blame himself...

  Chen Ting took a deep breath and suppressed her excitement, getting up and walking out of the house.

  Zhang's miscellaneous goods store.

  Zhang Dayong stood behind the counter, and as soon as he saw Chen Xuan enter, he pretended to be angry and said: "Good kid, why did you skip work yesterday? Have your wings grown hard and don't plan on following me anymore?"

  A warm feeling surged up in Chen Xiao's heart. If it weren't for Uncle Zhang taking care of her all these years, she and her family would have lost their livelihood long ago.

  Five years ago, he had just learned the basics of talisman-making and was peddling them everywhere, but few people asked about them, and no merchants were willing to buy them. In Songyancheng, the demand for basic talismans was huge, and merchants preferred to buy in bulk, but at that time, Chen Yao could only make five basic talismans a day, which was not even worthy of consideration by the merchants.

  Fortunately, he met Zhang Dayong, who expressed his willingness to purchase the talismans he made at a price equal to that on the market, and had done so for five years without ever going back on his word. This made Chen Tai extremely grateful to Zhang Dayong, always treating him as a respected and trustworthy senior.

  "Uncle Zhang, here are today's thirty talismans." Chen Xiao handed over a stack of talismans.

  Zhang Dayong laughed and scolded: "I knew you'd divert the topic."

  As he spoke, he took over a stack of talismans, didn't even look at them, and casually placed them on the counter. Then he took out ten yuan stones and threw them to Chen Tai, saying with a smile: "Young man, it's been five years now, when are you going to make second-grade talismans?"

  Chen Xiao replied: "I've already made up my mind to make it, I just need the money to buy the books."

  Zhang Dayong was originally joking, but unexpectedly got a serious reply from Chen Yuanyuan. He was slightly stunned and burst out laughing: "Then I'll wait for you to make the second-grade token, no matter how many, I'll take them all, and the price will be absolutely fair."

  Seeing Zhang Dàyǒng's smile with unreserved encouragement, Chen Tīng felt warmth in her heart, and Zheng nodded: "Mm, I will learn as soon as possible."

  Chen Cui turned around and left with a ten-yuan stone and a jade book.

  "The Broom Star has finally left..." A young apprentice of the Sealing Department came to the counter, grinning as he picked up a mud shield symbol. After taking a closer look at the pattern on it, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Uncle Zhang, is this really a mud shield symbol?"

  "You stinky brat, you've been practicing for half a month and still can't recognize the Earth Escape Symbol. If you don't work harder, roll up your bedding and get out of here!" Zhang Dayong scolded with a frown, but when his eyes fell on the symbol paper, he was also stunned.

  Having run a grocery store for nearly thirty years, Zhang Dajiang's eyes had been trained to be extremely sharp, and he could almost instantly tell that the structure of the talisman's strokes had been completely altered.

  Chen Xiao this kid, is he also learning to be a slick talker and fool me?

  A faintly uncomfortable feeling rose to Zhang Dayong's head, and in recent years, there have been some disciples of the symbol school who have played some small cleverness on the symbol cards, thinking that they can deceive him, but how could they deceive his eyes? As for these fake guys, Zhang Dayong was extremely disgusted, and he would drive away one by one, without showing any mercy.

  Now, even his most trusted little guy might do this, Zhang Da Yong couldn't accept it a bit, and his face turned slightly gloomy.

  The abnormality in front of the counter gradually attracted the attention of others in the store, and they all gathered around.

  "Wow, this is actually a Tu Di Fu made by Mian Tan Chen? The more I look at it, the more fake it looks?"

  "I think so too. The earth shield symbol doesn't have such a pattern, and the structure of the symbols on top is completely wrong! Chen Tang is really going too far!"

  "It's just that Uncle Zhang has taken care of him for so many years, but instead of being grateful and repaying his kindness, he uses this thing to deceive people, which is truly shameful."

  ……

  A buzz of discussion rose and fell, with faces showing more or less a hint of schadenfreude.

  Zhang Dayong's face was getting uglier and more painful, he had decided that if Chen Xiao didn't give him a satisfactory answer tomorrow, he would completely cut off all dealings with him and never again sell the talismans made by Chen Xiao!

  "Let me take a look!"

  A melodious voice like the song of a valley thrush suddenly rang out, and a girl in a white dress emerged from the crowd. Her bright eyes sparkled, her skin was as white as snow, and her appearance was extremely sweet and beautiful. As soon as she appeared, she instantly attracted everyone's attention.