Chapter Eighty-Nine: Success Rate (5/5)

For a cultivator at the sixth level of the Energy Refinement stage, making a low-grade Earthward Talisman did not require much mental effort or spiritual power.

But if one were to make a mid-grade Earthward Talisman, producing even one in a day would already be quite impressive.

A mid-grade Earthward Talisman could withstand several strikes from a mid-Energy Refinement cultivator, and the spiritual power contained within it was naturally rather formidable.

With He Song’s sixth-level Energy Refinement cultivation, the moment he finished drawing one, the talisman would immediately drain away most of his spiritual power.

After that, he would have no choice but to recover his strength before continuing.

However, what He Song was drawing at this moment was not a mid-grade Earthward Talisman, but a low-grade one.

Naturally, it did not require so much spiritual power.

He continued drawing.

His gaze was focused, his brush moving like a dragon and a snake, as layer upon layer of talismanic lines appeared across the talisman paper.

Then, with the fall of the final stroke, the paper before him flashed with light.

At once, He Song felt a portion of the spiritual power within his body being drawn into the talisman paper.

When the talisman paper no longer absorbed any spiritual power, the sheet before him had successfully become a low-grade Earthward Talisman worth five spirit stones.

Feeling the reduction in his spiritual power, a flicker of delight crossed He Song’s face.

His fourth attempt at making talismans.

Succeeded again.

“Two successes, two failures, a fifty percent chance? No, that can’t be calculated like that. I’ve only drawn four times. Only when the numbers are higher can I truly estimate the odds.”

Looking at the low-grade Earthward Talisman before him, He Song shook his head and cast off the faint arrogance in his heart.

A low-grade Earthward Talisman had a market price of five spirit stones.

But the materials required to make it, talisman ink and talisman paper, cost two spirit stones altogether.

If one added the wear on the talisman brush, the cost would be a little higher.

Still, a talisman brush lasted a long time and usually did not wear out so quickly.

Thus, although the brush was expensive, the actual cost remained relatively low.

It could be said that if a talisman master’s success rate did not reach fifty percent, he was very likely to lose money.

Even if the success rate did reach fifty percent, with one guaranteed success for every two talismans drawn, the spirit stones earned would only amount to a single stone.

One talisman attempt required two spirit stones in cost.

One completed talisman could be sold for five spirit stones.

If three attempts were needed for one success, then one spirit stone would still be lost.

Such talisman prices were the market prices born from intense competition among talisman masters.

There was no helping it.

There were simply far, far too many people who knew how to make talismans.

If one could not raise one’s success rate to fifty percent, then for the vast majority of talisman masters, there would not even be a chance to make a living from it.

He Song found it hard to believe that merely by studying the introductory chapter of talisman dao for a year and then making talismans with his own hands, his success rate would already be as high as fifty percent.

In general, for an ordinary cultivator learning talisman-making, simply studying the introductory chapter of talisman dao would require at least two years of effort.

The reason He Song had only spent one year was that his cultivation had already reached the mid-Energy Refinement stage, and he had long since learned the introductory chapter of array dao, giving him a foundation to build upon.

That was why he had progressed much faster than ordinary cultivators.

An ordinary cultivator studying talisman-making had to memorize the methods for drawing the talismans in the introductory chapter of talisman dao, and then constantly refine them until they became his own before he could begin practical work.

When actually practicing, the success rate was basically never very high.

If out of ten attempts one could succeed twice, that already counted as a promising talent for talisman-making.

Most ordinary cultivators could only succeed once out of ten attempts, or even fail all ten times.

And talisman-making required spirit stones as well.

Each attempt cost at least two spirit stones.

A single failure meant a total loss.

Of course, one could also keep studying the introductory chapter of talisman dao to gradually improve one’s success rate.

Then, once one became more prosperous, one could use spirit stones to buy talisman paper and talisman ink, and only then begin making talismans.

That was also why the vast majority of cultivators only gradually mastered the hundred arts of cultivation after reaching the mid-Energy Refinement stage.

There was no helping it.

Cultivators in the early Energy Refinement stage were simply too poor.

Only when one’s cultivation reached the mid-Energy Refinement stage, and one’s income rose accordingly, would one have the means to learn talisman-making.

This was also why Meng Guan, in the letter he wrote to He Song, lamented that he had failed to learn a skill while in the mid-Energy Refinement stage and now regretted it too late.

Over the time that followed, He Song used up all six remaining sets of talisman-making materials.

In the end, however, out of ten sets of materials, he succeeded only three times.

He obtained three low-grade Earthward Talismans.

This result filled He Song with quiet delight.

It seemed that having studied array formation in advance, along with the advantage of his soul, made him more suited to talisman-making than the average cultivator.

On his first attempt at talisman-making, his success rate had already exceeded thirty percent.

With such odds, if he spent some more time continuing to comprehend the introductory chapter of talisman dao and supplemented that with steady practice, he would likely be able to raise his talisman-making success rate above fifty percent very soon.

By then, it would be time to proclaim himself a talisman master.

Once his identity as a talisman master became widely known, He Song gazed toward the quiet chamber.

Within that quiet chamber, in that small storage pouch for hauling goods, there were still more than eleven thousand jin of spirit rice hidden away.

At that point, by using the convenience of his position to sell it all, he would bring in more than eleven hundred spirit stones.

In that way, he would never again lack spirit stones in the years to come.

After putting away the three low-grade Earthward Talismans on the table, He Song pondered briefly, and in the end decided to wait a little longer.

Wait until his success rate truly reached fifty percent.

Then begin.

In the days that followed, He Song’s life became peaceful once more.

By day, he would go to guard the medicine garden, cultivating with the help of the garden’s rich spiritual energy, and his cultivation would slowly rise, gradually moving toward the seventh level of Energy Refinement.

At night, he would return home and continue studying the introductory chapter of talisman dao.

From time to time, he would even take out the talisman brush without dipping it in talisman ink, writing and drawing on the table in hopes of finding that feeling he had when making talismans.

However, because spirit stones were scarce, He Song truly had no spirit stones left for daily talisman-making practice.

Thus, he could only wait another year, until his annual stipend arrived, before making talismans again.

Before that, He Song decided to first grow familiar with the process of talisman-making using a brush that had not been dipped in talisman ink, so that he would become even more accustomed to it.

As for actual talisman-making, he would wait until his annual stipend was paid out, then purchase the materials and draw talismans.

Right now, he had not yet publicized his identity as a talisman master, and he still did not know exactly what his success rate in talisman-making was.

Unable to explain the source of his spirit stones, He Song decided it was better to wait one more year.

Besides, the small storage pouch still had enough space. Even if he harvested spirit rice several more times, it would still fit, and stored inside, there was no need to worry about it spoiling.

Rather than taking such a risk for this little bit of time, it was better to follow his plan all the way through.

In this way, his safety would be assured, and the spirit rice he had grown would not suffer any loss.

The End.