Chapter 92: Talisman Method Breakthrough, Finally News Arrives

"Refining acupoints and changing blood, essence and Qi do not decline?"

Chen Ci stared at the changing annotation behind the Stone Lock Hunyuan Art on his panel for a while, pondering for a moment.

The last four characters were easy enough to understand; it simply meant maintaining one's physical state such that even in old age, one could remain vigorous like a youth.

But what this "refining acupoints and changing blood" meant touched upon a blind spot in his knowledge.

It was not written on the Stone Lock Hunyuan Art.

There was also no record of it in the Sanyin Qi Consumption Method.

As far as he knew, when ordinary people practiced martial arts to Zhoutian Consummation and a strand of True Qi was born in the dantian, it was just like a practitioner who had succeeded in breathing exercises; from then on, there was no major difference in the path of cultivation, and they had already entered the Dao.

Either they would grope around on their own, using this strand of True Qi to refine one or two acupoints like grinding a pestle.

Or they would find a Qi-refining technique and step onto the path of cultivation.

The Sanyin Qi Consumption Method that Chen Ci practiced also followed the path of cultivating True Qi and refining acupoints, but he had truly never heard of the saying "refining acupoints and changing blood."

Had he discovered something extraordinary?

Chen Ci rubbed his chin, but quickly cast this joke-like thought to the back of his mind.

How much use could a mundane technique found everywhere in the pugilistic world have? However, this "refining acupoints and changing blood" was indeed somewhat different from "cultivating True Qi."

Chen Ci slightly controlled the Three Yin True Qi in his dantian and cultivated a strand of Hunyuan True Qi, but after studying it for a while, he ultimately gave up.

Acupoints were such important places; if he suffered damage from reckless research, the loss would truly outweigh the gain. He would leave it alone for now and focus on cultivating his own Qi-refining method, which was the proper path.

Chen Ci kept this matter in mind, preparing to find someone to ask about it when he had time.

"Ultimately, I have fulfilled a wish. This damn Stone Lock Hunyuan Art, I finally don't have to practice it anymore. How gratifying, how joyous."

Chen Ci stretched his limbs slightly: "No, on such a happy day, I must celebrate no matter what. Visiting a brothel to listen to music is out; I am not that kind of person. But cooking a jin of Spirit Rice is acceptable. I ate too fast last time and didn't really taste it."

It wasn't that he was greedy for that Spirit Rice; it was mainly that today, he had to have a good meal!

Ah, so fragrant.

Chen Ci shoveled the Spirit Rice Meal into his mouth, even feeling that the old hen fed with Black Jade Rice husks tasted several times better. Stewed with the mountain mushrooms unique to this season, that little flavor—it just hit the spot.

After eating his fill, Chen Ci lay lazily for a while, not expecting that eating this Spirit Rice today was truly the right choice.

Fire Control Method: Entry/2/100

Qi Observation Spell: Entry/1/100

Mundane ingredients and medicinal herbs wouldn't work, but boiling this Spirit Rice actually helped the cultivation of the Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method. Especially when Chen Ci boiled every grain of Spirit Rice to perfection, he could clearly feel his grasp of the heat and Qi flow rise to a higher level. If he lost focus even slightly, some part of the Spirit Rice might lose its flavor.

"Governing a country is like cooking a small fish; cooking rice is like refining a Spirit Pill. The ancients did not deceive me."

Chen Ci patted his belly and sighed: "What kind of family condition is this, to actually cook Spirit Rice to eat? If it weren't for the sake of pill method cultivation, slurp slurp, I definitely wouldn't be this extravagant."

A small cauldron of rice cost over a hundred taels of silver. He looked at the people on the mountain just as ordinary people looked at him.

Medicine Absorption Spell: Entry/20/100

Condensing Pill Method: Not Entered/51/100

Chen Ci withdrew his gaze from the Gold Finger panel. If the dish is bad, practice more. He didn't believe he couldn't make a living refining pills.

"This Spirit Rice, isn't it just too fast to eat?"

Chen Ci felt a bit of heartache. He had grown the Spirit Rice for over half a year, and in just ten days, he had finished a third. At this rate, in another month, his own Heiyu would be eaten clean.

Although eating it into his stomach wasn't a loss, the Five Elements Divine Sand consumed must have been four or five jin.

However, there were gains; the progress of his pill method was also visibly growing by a little bit.

Fire Control Method: Entry/4/100

Qi Observation Spell: Entry/3/100

"Practicing pills makes it hard to practice techniques, and practicing techniques makes it hard to practice artifacts. True Qi is insufficient, time is not enough, and every few days I still have to go out to fish and practice the Peiyuan Method."

Chen Ci calculated on his fingers: "At this rate, I can only refine twelve bottles of Health Preservation Pills and ten bottles of Bigu Pill a month, which isn't even enough for me to have three small meals of Spirit Rice a day. Sigh, hard work leading to wealth is truly a lie."

But today, Chen Ci still wanted to celebrate again.

After the Stone Lock Hunyuan Art reached perfection, the Soul Fixing Talisman he had studied bitterly for a year also broke through.

One year. Do you know how this Lord Chen spent this year? He drew over three thousand Soul Fixing Talismans. Three thousand talismans! The cost of the talisman paper alone was worth four or five Spirit Pearls.

As for the silver he earned, it seemed he had broken even, and it also seemed he hadn't.

As if.

Soul Fixing Talisman: Proficient/1/100 (Talisman paper and cinnabar ink, one must succeed; calm the spirit and pray for blessings, five out of ten can succeed; for every hundred talismans completed, one can advance)

His cheap Gold Finger had actually given him a small surprise.

After the Soul Fixing Talisman broke through to Proficient, Chen Ci had tried it. He could pick any time and place, without even needing to prepare anything; as long as he thought in his heart that this talisman must succeed, he would vaguely enter a very wondrous state. His brush moved like a god, and the talisman was formed instantly.

However, it was only this one, and it would even affect his state of drawing subsequent talismans. It was somewhat similar to a feeling of "overdraft."

It was very magical, but its use was not very great at the moment.

"This Soul Fixing Talisman is still a talisman method biased toward saving people and auxiliary use; it's not very powerful. The He Mountain Scripture also has a Profound Yin Ghost-Slaying Talisman method. Not to mention minor ghosts, it would be very satisfying to deal with the Evil Method of my cheap fellow apprentices. I wonder if I have time to learn a trick or two."

Chen Ci scanned his panel a few times and sighed. Although the Soul Fixing Talisman had no bottleneck and relied on practice making perfect, grinding it was also very exhausting. Fortunately, the "Proficient" level was enough for now. He would just grind it slowly in the future; let it be as fate wills.

"Cook another cauldron of Spirit Rice!"

"In the future, the True Qi used for practicing the Soul Fixing Talisman can be saved and used for refining artifacts and practicing techniques. That would be quite good."

Sanyin Temple, Main Hall.

Chen Ci sat on a chair, holding a teacup, listening to the Apprentice below report the annual income of the temple's industries. Because he refined Essence Refining for the Fuhu Altar, he did not need to send offerings to the Chi Long Main Altar this year. The harvest for this year added up to a not-insignificant sum.

There were 6,500 mu of farmland. If the annual income were converted into silver, it was estimated to be around 15,000 taels of silver.

"Master, this year is a bumper year, with a total harvest of over 2.4 million jin of grain."

Niu Ji held the account book and asked carefully: "Moreover, the price of grain is rising sharply now. One jin of coarse grain can sell for ten wen. Grain merchants have already come to collect grain. Whether to sell to them or not still requires your decision, Master."

Chen Ci put down the teacup, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes. In this way, wouldn't the farmland income this year go straight to 30,000 taels of silver? This was quite a bit more than in previous years.

"Sell a million jin first."

Chen Ci thought for a moment and gave the order.

He had not expected that so-called Waterway Superintendent would indirectly earn him a profit, though prices were rising sharply, and he wondered if it would eventually affect the prices of Spirit Materials and spirit items.

Should he hoard a batch himself?

Chen Ci thought about it and decided against it; such things carried too much risk, and his capital was insufficient, so it was better not to play with such financial schemes.

"Very well, Master."

Niu Ji put away the account book and then presented a cyan envelope: "This was sent by the Head of the Family of the Huang Family, who said it is a letter from a senior surnamed Lin, which must be opened personally by you, Master."

"Mm, go and get back to your work."

Chen Ci waved his hand to dismiss the Apprentices, then took the envelope and returned to the backyard.

"Sure enough, in this life, you always have to pay back what you owe."

Chen Ci clicked his tongue twice and opened the envelope; the content inside was simple, consisting of only a few lines.

"On the fifteenth of the tenth month, the Lower Prime Festival of Dispelling Calamities, I hope Brother Chen will be magnanimous and hold the line for me."

Signed personally by Lin Banshan.

The fifteenth of the tenth month, that would be the middle of next month, leaving a little over a month.

Chen Ci casually shredded the letter paper and rubbed his chin; the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer had not been refined yet, so he at least needed to refine more clusters of Yin Fire, as the Ma Family Village counted as a force in the miscellaneous family heritage, and he still needed to show the most basic attitude.

Better safe than sorry, better safe than sorry.

(End of chapter)