Second day.
Early in the morning, Li An set off with Tan Qingxue, escorted by the sect's spirit beast, the White Eagle, saving them from the travel fatigue.
The White Eagle flew high, soaring out of the mountain gate, the wind howled past their ears.
Li An suddenly remembered six years ago, when he walked step by step along the rugged mountain road to reach the Profound Yang Sect's mountain gate.
Now, as he leaves the Profound Yang Sect, the scenery is different.
...
By evening, Li An and Tan Qingxue finally saw a bustling marketplace constructed between the mountain ranges.
The marketplace was built relying on a second-grade spirit vein; people came and went with great hustle and bustle. Ten miles from the marketplace's perimeter, they encountered quite a few Profound Yang Sect disciples patrolling the surroundings. Seeing the White Eagle from the Profound Yang Sect escorting them, they did not obstruct and allowed entry into the marketplace.
Li An couldn't help but be a bit cautious; it seemed true as Xu Qiuhui had said, the security around the marketplace wasn't very good.
However, the marketplace had a large formation protecting it; even rogue cultivators dared not enter, making it quite safe.
At the marketplace gate, Li An and Tan Qingxue dismounted the White Eagle and confirmed their identities at the gate before entering the city.
Inside the marketplace, it was incredibly lively, the roads crowded, all passersby were cultivators.
The store of the Talisman Hall was at the center of the second street in the marketplace. The location was quite good, and the shop front was decorated nicely, with four big characters written on the plaque: Profound Yang Talismans.
These four characters approximately equate to announcing to the world that this is the official store of the Profound Yang Sect.
Tan Qingxue and Li An visited, and a young disciple inside the Talisman Hall idly stood by the counter. Seeing they were from the Profound Yang Sect, he eagerly approached:
"Greetings, Senior Brother and Senior Sister, is there anything you need? I am Wang Yun, a disciple of the Profound Yang Sect's Talisman Hall Chief, Squad Leader Li."
Tan Qingxue said, "Under orders from the Talisman Hall, I've come to replace Talisman Master Li, please notify him."
Upon hearing this, Wang Yun quickly ran inside.
After a short while, an elderly talisman master with white hair and beard shuffled out, utterly thrilled: "The sect finally shows mercy and allows me to return... leaving the Talisman Hall after sixty years, that's wonderful!"
He took Tan Qingxue and Li An on a tour of the shop, explaining all the important points to them.
Then, overjoyed, he packed up his things and left overnight.
In the Talisman Hall, only Tan Qingxue, Li An, and a helper named Wang Yun were left.
The shop wasn't very large. The front hall was for selling goods, and there was a small courtyard at the back for their residence. Compared to the environment in the Talisman Hall, it was much lesser, but still barely acceptable.
The operation model of the Spirit Talisman Shop wasn't complicated. Every month, the sect would send over a batch of goods, mainly spirit talismans, talisman pens, talisman paper, and surrounding materials, and Li An and the others were mainly responsible for selling this batch of goods.
The prices of these goods were fixed, and income was regularly submitted to the sect. If sales volume was high, there would be certain rewards; if sales were insufficient, the monthly stipend would be deducted.
——But since the goods from the Profound Yang Sect generally had high demand, there was no worry about selling them.
In fact, the Profound Yang Sect didn't rely on selling goods to make money; the main income from the marketplace was rent.
The shops in the marketplace were mostly rented by other surrounding cultivation forces, and every month they had to pay a considerable rent to the Profound Yang Sect. Just by rent alone, the Profound Yang Sect could collect a significant amount of spirit stones every month.
The reason for setting up shops was merely to maintain the marketplace's popularity. After all, other cultivation forces and loose cultivators could buy goods produced by the Profound Yang Sect here, which considerably increases attractiveness.
Li An roughly calculated that the total monthly income here could be about four spirit stones, with all living expenses paid by themselves, which was much less compared to the Talisman Hall, with no free talisman pens or papers.
However, what made him happy was that he could also craft talismans on his own and sell them, and this part of the income was his, not needing to be submitted.
Soon, Tan Qingxue and Li An settled down, sustaining the shop's daily operation.
After a brief period of despondency, Tan Qingxue rekindled her fighting spirit. As a first-grade upper-grade talisman master, in the first month, she additionally crafted two first-grade upper-grade talismans and ten first-grade middle-grade talismans, with personal additional income reaching thirty spirit stones!
Li An also quietly took out many first-grade low-grade talisman stock, mainly crafting high-quality talismans like flame talismans, cold wind talismans, and earth shield talismans, additionally selling over twenty spirit stones.
Counting the cost, Li An could steadily net earn twenty spirit stones every month!
This speed made Li An quite satisfied.
This surprised Tan Qingxue somewhat; Li An's talisman efficiency... was evidently much higher than when he was at the Talisman Hall!
However, recalling what Xu Qiuhui had said about Li An, she didn't show surprise and remained silent. She even took the initiative to approach Li An twice, giving him detailed pointers on crafting first-grade middle-tier talismans.
Her enthusiasm and initiative made Li An quite surprised.
Tan Qingxue seemed to become very sincere, and even when he deliberately kept a distance, she still showed much concern for him, reminding him a bit of a warm face sticking to a cold back.
Li An didn't reject her too much, nor was he too proactive, letting everything go with the flow.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed.
The Spirit Talisman Shop operated normally, with business even better than before.
After all, Tan Qingxue and Li An could be said to be elites among talisman masters, and the talismans they crafted were highly sought after.
To not delay her and Li An's cultivation, Tan Qingxue paid out of her own pocket to hire two young people she knew well, having them assist Wang Yun in selling tasks.
Li An and she hid behind the scenes, peacefully crafting talismans and cultivating.
It was even more comfortable than when they were at the Talisman Hall.
All of this was as Li An had foreseen.
...
Time flew by quickly, and before long, three years had passed.
On this day, Li An walked out of his residence, his face brimming with joyful expression.
It took three years, but he finally broke through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining!
Three years ago, he had already perfected the third layer of Qi Refining, but crossing this threshold took him three whole years.
After all, the first three layers of Qi Refining belong to the early stage, and after reaching the mid-stage, the difficulty of cultivation is completely different.
The cultivation limit of a low-grade yellow-ranked Spirit Root is generally around the sixth layer of Qi Refining. Without fortuitous encounters, one might never reach the late-stage of Qi Refining.
"The range of the Super Sensing Skill has expanded to three hundred meters..."
Li An murmured, as his cultivation increased, the perception range of the Super Sensing Skill also improved.
"One-third of the Iron Tree Skill has been refined into flesh."
Over the past three years, he had consistently purchased Silver Sand in the marketplace. With a more abundant source, he was never short on it. His arms and chest had already been refined into Silver Flesh state.
He could withstand the attacks of mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators!
"In these three years, besides cultivating for breakthroughs and buying Silver Sand, medicinal liquids, talisman papers, and talisman brushes, I have more than three hundred Spirit Stones left..."
Li An took stock of his current "savings," feeling quite pleased.
"I can also try crafting upper-grade first-level talismans now!"
After three years, he had thoroughly mastered crafting middle-grade first-level talismans, making it second nature to him.
Currently, he still had one hundred middle-grade first-level talismans on hand!
Before mastering the crafting of upper-grade first-level talismans, he wouldn't let anyone know he could craft middle-grade first-level talismans.
Always keeping an ace up his sleeve.
He retrieved the high-grade talisman brush that Xu Qiuhui gifted him three years ago!
The high-grade talisman brush was entirely made of spiritual materials, with the body crafted from Snow Spirit Bamboo and the tip made from upper-grade first-level white crane down, extremely precious, with a single brush costing hundreds of Spirit Stones!
To Li An, it was a significant gift.
Li An understood that Xu Qiuhui must have noticed some clues during the incident at the Spirit Beast Mountain Range and guessed something, giving such a significant gift with a hint of entrusting Li An to take care of Tan Qingxue.
Li An didn't mind, as long as it didn't endanger his core interests, he could help, after all, maintaining a good relationship with a future Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator was worthwhile.
However, if Tan Qingxue were to truly act foolishly, he adhered to his principle: respect others' destinies.
The high-grade talisman brush was very light in hand, difficult to control.
Among the goods Profound Yang Sect sent to the shop for sale, there were also high-grade talisman papers, and over the years, Li An would occasionally buy one, now having accumulated fifty-two sheets.
Spreading out the snow-white talisman paper, he held the feather-light talisman brush and lightly applied ink.
As soon as the tip touched the paper, the talisman paper was destroyed!
Crafting upper-grade first-level talismans was incredibly difficult.
Li An was not discouraged and continued writing.
That night, Li An wasted over thirty sheets of talisman paper, with a success rate of zero.
Even with Li An's strong spiritual power, he couldn't help but feel weary and fell asleep.
The next day, he continued crafting, and when only four sheets of talisman paper remained, he finally completed the last stroke and succeeded in creating one!
"Upper-grade first-level talisman, Imprisonment Talisman, done!"
Li An was extremely excited; on the snow-white talisman paper, a symbol of chains seemed to emanate an aura of the Great Dao.
The success rate was exceedingly grim, fifty-three sheets of talisman paper resulted in only one success!
But, this was already remarkable; the gulf between middle-grade and upper-grade first-level talismans was vast, and without extraordinary talent, an average Talisman Master might spend over ten years and a fortune in Spirit Stones to achieve even minor success.
Li An managed to draw one using just over fifty sheets of talisman paper, even surpassing the success rate of a talented novice like Tan Qingxue back when she started.
This was mainly due to the strength of his spiritual power and experiences from a past life.
"The quality isn't very high; it probably won't work against cultivators in the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refining, but it can likely affect those in the seventh layer, and for sixth layer and below… it can probably achieve true imprisonment!"
Li An muttered.
He could currently control about twenty middle-grade first-level talismans simultaneously with his spiritual power.
Using the Imprisonment Talisman to restrain an opponent, and unleashing twenty middle-grade first-level talismans in unison, would definitely annihilate Qi Refining fifth or sixth layer cultivators if they had no protective treasures!
Putting away the Spirit Talismans, he resumed practicing the Water Arrow Skill!
At present, he could send out thirty water arrows in one go!
The control range of the Starfall Dagger also reached one hundred meters.
Over the next three months, Li An quietly handled matters himself and purchased another hundred high-grade talismans from the shop!
Three months later, on that day, Li An left the shop.
After being in the marketplace for over three years, he had mostly figured out the surrounding situation and could proceed with that task.
Fencing the spoils!
...