Chapter Ninety: One Year

It was merely a waste of some time.

But as an immortal, He Song believed that anything solvable with time was no trouble at all.

And so another year slipped by quietly.

During that year, He Song’s life remained fairly peaceful. Although the struggle between the city’s law enforcers and the heretical cultivators beyond the immortal market grew ever more intense, it never affected his own daily life.

Only half a year earlier, Meng Guan had sent word that he had joined the city’s enforcement patrol.

After discussing the matter with Wei Fan, He Song ultimately chose not to interfere.

At the moment, joining the city’s law enforcement force was indeed dangerous, but with Meng Guan’s cultivation at the late Qi Refining stage, he should not face too much trouble as long as he remained cautious.

What was more, now that Meng Guan had joined the enforcement patrol, any movement among the heretical cultivators could be learned by He Song and Wei Fan at the first possible moment.

In this way, the safety of the two of them within the immortal market would naturally be greatly improved.

Besides, the benefits of the city’s law enforcement force were excellent, and the more resources Meng Guan could obtain, the better it would be for him.

Whether in emotion or in reason, neither of them had any cause to interfere.

They would only send a paper crane spell at the beginning of each month to confirm whether Meng Guan still lived.

Beyond that.

Over the course of that year, He Song’s understanding of the beginner’s volume of talismanic studies also improved by leaps and bounds.

He had studied the Earth Protection Talisman, the Swift Step Talisman, and the Golden Light Talisman for a long time, and the methods for drawing these spirit talismans were already so familiar to him that they could not become any more so.

And when the annual allotment was distributed, he spent the entire year’s stipend of more than a hundred spirit stones on low-grade talisman-making materials.

After continual study, his success rate in drawing low-grade Earth Protection Talismans finally rose above fifty percent.

In this way, he no longer had to worry about not having enough spirit stones when drawing talismans.

Once the success rate for low-grade Earth Protection Talismans surpassed fifty percent, he could already rely on them to earn spirit stones.

As long as He Song kept drawing them, the spirit stones on him would naturally grow more and more numerous.

Only when he began attempting other talismans would this increase lessen, or even cease to be effective.

A talisman master also needed time to grow familiar with each new talisman he attempted.

During that initial period of unfamiliarity, it was perfectly normal for a talisman master to operate at a loss.

Only after the success rate of the newly learned talisman also reached above fifty percent would a talisman master’s profits rise again.

Having spirit stones to earn meant he could buy more materials for practice.

And so on, again and again.

Very quickly, He Song would be able to master the drawing of low-grade Earth Protection Talismans, low-grade Golden Light Talismans, and low-grade Swift Step Talismans, and raise the success rate of all three to above fifty percent.

Then, after fully mastering the drawing methods of these three low-grade talismans, he would immediately begin publicizing his identity as a talisman master.

By then, that would be the moment when He Song’s wealth truly began to surge.

However.

Now that a year had passed in the blink of an eye, He Song had only raised his success rate for low-grade Earth Protection Talismans to fifty percent.

As for low-grade Golden Light Talismans and low-grade Swift Step Talismans, he had tried them before, but the success rate was not high.

After a brief hesitation, He Song once again turned his efforts back to drawing low-grade Earth Protection Talismans.

As long as his odds of successfully drawing those talismans increased, he would be able to earn more spirit stones.

With more spirit stones in hand, he could buy more materials to practice low-grade Golden Light Talismans and low-grade Swift Step Talismans.

Only when spirit stones were plentiful and materials were endless would he be able to rapidly improve his talisman-making success rate.

Familiarity breeds skill; that was the principle.

One day.

He Song opened his eyes within the quiet chamber.

With a casual motion, he took from the corner the small supply storage pouch he had hidden for a full year, and his figure vanished with it.

Today, it was again time to go to the spiritual fields, harvest the spirit rice, and replenish the formation with spirit stones.

Using Earth Escape and Breath Concealment, He Song moved underground at astonishing speed, swiftly making his way toward the spiritual fields he had opened up.

Several hours later.

After passing through several mortal cities along the way, He Song finally arrived at the location of his spiritual fields.

The valley was pleasant and beautiful.

Ten mu of spirit rice shimmered with a golden luster, and He Song’s head emerged from a dark corner as he scanned the surroundings.

The valley was quiet, with nothing unusual.

He activated Spirit Vision, yet still detected no movement from any other cultivators.

Only after confirming there was no danger did He Song step into the valley, holding two mid-grade Earth Protection Talismans.

First, he replenished the spirit stones in the valley’s formation.

After that came the harvest.

Having already harvested spirit rice once before, He Song this time spent only half an hour before cutting down all ten mu of spiritual fields and replanting spirit rice seeds.

After finishing all this, He Song looked at the more than eleven thousand jin of spirit rice newly added to the small supply storage pouch, and a trace of satisfaction flashed across his eyes.

Adding last year’s yield to this year’s,

the spirit rice now in his possession amounted to more than twenty-two thousand jin.

If sold at market price, those twenty-two thousand jin of spirit rice would be worth more than two thousand two hundred spirit stones.

With so many spirit stones, even if he cultivated all the way to the late Qi Refining stage, he would certainly not lack resources.

After returning to the immortal market, He Song thought it over briefly and did not continue cultivating. Instead, he took some of the low-grade Earth Protection Talismans he had drawn earlier and went to the stall area.

The stall area held a pivotal place within the immortal market.

Whether itinerant cultivators or immortal market disciples, anyone who came to the immortal market would certainly take a stroll through the stall area.

The immortal market itself was established to facilitate trade for the nearby cultivators.

And the stall area was where those cultivators did their trading.

There was heavy foot traffic here.

Information spread quickly.

In addition, one could buy all manner of strange and unusual things.

When He Song had first arrived through reincarnation more than ten years ago, he had once made a thorough study of the stall area’s existence.

Naturally, when he wished to publicize his identity as a talisman master, the stall area became his first choice.

As a talisman master, selling Earth Protection Talismans in the stall area was perfectly reasonable, was it not?

So long as he set up a stall and sat there whenever he did not need to stand guard at the medicinal garden, his identity as a talisman master would swiftly become known to others.

In this way, once he had such a source of income, the spirit stones in his possession could slowly be laundered clean.

At the same time.

Aside from setting up a stall in the stall area to sell talismans, He Song would also use the network of connections he had built over the past ten-odd years in Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market to spread word of his identity as a talisman master.

In this way.

It would not take long.

Within a month at most, He Song dared to guarantee that the news of his becoming a talisman master would spread throughout the entire immortal market.

And by then, as the manager of the medicinal garden, if he sold off some spirit rice by virtue of his office, the resulting spirit stones would naturally draw no one’s attention.

The end.