Chapter Twenty-Four: Crafting Spirit Talismans

Zhang Ming and Xue Kun exchanged puzzled glances, completely unable to comprehend what had just transpired. However, one thing was clear: Ling Tian and the others were safe and had returned with money. It seemed evident that Ling Tian was no ordinary employee. With this thought, both Zhang Ming and Xue Kun looked at Ling Tian with newfound respect.

"Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go rest for a bit," Ling Tian yawned lazily, turned, and left the office. He found a car, drove away from the City of Elegance Group, and headed to the orphanage.

In the small cabin nestled within the bamboo grove of the orphanage's backyard, Ling Tian had found the perfect place for his training. The spiritual energy in this area was denser than elsewhere, and it was quiet, free from any disturbances. His daily routine consisted of working during the day and cultivating at night.

Once back in the cabin, Ling Tian sat cross-legged and adjusted his breathing to enter a meditative state. Under his control, his spiritual awareness began to vibrate intensely, extending in invisible ripples outward to a radius of one and a half meters. Everything within this coverage became vividly clear in Ling Tian's mind, even the tiniest ant was unable to escape his perception.

His spiritual awareness functioned like radar—no, it was even more powerful. It could not only scan everything around him but also manipulate the vital energy within his body. The stronger the spiritual awareness, the greater the control over vital energy, allowing for more agile manipulation and improved efficiency in its usage.

As his spiritual awareness grew, the coverage area expanded, and the things he could perceive increased. At his current level, he could even see larger bacteria, and eventually, he would be able to perceive the atoms and neutrons of materials.

In his meditative state, with the aid of a golden stone, Ling Tian began to stabilize his spiritual awareness.

When he awakened from his meditation, it was already eight in the morning. Gentle sunlight streamed through the gaps in the cabin, warming his face pleasantly.

Ling Tian stretched and felt invigorated, then took out a jade tablet from his pocket. The tablet contained not only cultivation techniques but also a wealth of knowledge about various rare treasures, formations, alchemy, artifact forging, and talismans. It was truly a comprehensive repository of information.

Among formations, alchemy, artifact forging, and talismans, these four were Ling Tian's greatest interests and needs, particularly as they were all combat aids. Formations could harness the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to create various defensive or offensive arrays. Alchemy allowed for quick healing of injuries and enhancement of strength. Artifact forging enabled the creation of powerful treasures.

As for talismans, they fascinated Ling Tian the most. Talismans were single-use items, but their power was extraordinary and versatile. What intrigued him the most was that possessing a large number of talismans meant he could simply throw them to cause mass destruction, making them the best tools for both single combat and group attacks, and they were easy to carry.

If Ling Tian could produce a significant number of talismans, it would be equivalent to having numerous allies at his disposal. In critical moments, they could provide crucial support in battles against enemies, allowing him to escape safely unless his opponent was exceptionally powerful.

Immersed in the knowledge from the jade tablet, Ling Tian's mind was filled with wondrous ideas. Suddenly, he had a peculiar thought: what if he could fuse formations, alchemy, and artifact forging into talismans? Wouldn’t that be even more perfect?

At that point, simply throwing out a talisman could automatically set up the formation he needed, or concoct the specific elixirs he required, or forge a powerful artifact. This way, Ling Tian could utilize his free time to create various talismans, and when needed, just toss one to quickly obtain what he desired.

The idea was beautiful, but reality was challenging. To incorporate these elements into talismans, Ling Tian would need to master these skills thoroughly and conduct in-depth research into talismans, becoming an unprecedented existence. However, if this idea were realized, Ling Tian would be invincible.

The vast and extraordinary knowledge contained in the jade tablet consumed Ling Tian’s attention to the point of neglecting sleep and food. When he finally withdrew his spiritual awareness from the tablet, it was ten in the morning the next day. Even with his already formidable spiritual awareness, he felt a slight headache from the overwhelming influx of knowledge.

With his enhanced spiritual awareness, Ling Tian possessed a powerful brain capable of excellent comprehension and memory. If he were given an encyclopedia now, he could read and memorize it all in just a minute.

It was easy to imagine the vast amount of knowledge he absorbed and understood during his long stay with the jade tablet.

Ling Tian stepped out of the cabin, not wanting to disturb the elderly director and the others. Silently, he slipped into the kitchen to grab something to eat, then quietly left the orphanage to head to where he had parked his car.

He drove to the largest market in Yunhai City, the Azure Market, which featured a dedicated area for talismans.

The Azure Market was expansive, divided into many sections. Ling Tian went straight to the area selling talismans. Today, his goal was to see if this ancient city of a thousand years had any truly valuable talismans. He also wanted to buy some yellow paper and cinnabar to practice his skills.

After a day and night of learning, Ling Tian had gained a certain understanding of talismans. However, theory was ultimately just theory; practical application was essential.

Ling Tian arrived quite late, and the vast area was already filled with stalls, with talismans of all shapes and colors laid out everywhere. After surveying the scene, he noticed that the most common were the luck-bringing and evil-repelling talismans, with only a few being handmade; the rest were mostly machine-printed.

All the talismans lacked any spiritual energy fluctuations, meaning they were essentially useless despite their good appearance. People bought these items for psychological comfort; even if some believed they worked, they couldn’t purchase genuine items. Of course, there were collectors of talismans as well.

Ling Tian spent over a hundred yuan to buy a box of cinnabar, more than fifty sheets of yellow paper, and some necessary materials, along with a table and a stool. He then wandered around, looking for a good spot. Unfortunately, he had arrived too late, and all the prime locations were taken. He had to settle for a relatively remote area.

After spreading out his blanket and arranging the materials, he sat on the stool and began to ponder which talisman to create first. He had spent over a hundred yuan on materials, leaving him with just over fifty yuan.

Having donated all his savings to the orphanage over the years, he had only recently acquired five hundred thousand yuan from a bar and given it all to the City of Elegance Group. It was only now that he realized he was on the brink of an economic crisis.

Food and lodging were manageable at the orphanage, but collecting rare materials and creating talismans required substantial funds. Asking a woman for money was not his style, so it seemed he would need to find a way to earn it himself.

Thus, for his first attempt at making talismans, he not only needed to succeed but also to create something sellable, which required careful consideration.