Tempered Immortal

Chapter 37: Talismans

Originally, Lin Xuan wanted to go back to his cottage to eat, but he was suddenly attracted to a stall and stopped. In fact, he was not the only one, there was already a crowd around the stall.

Lin Xuan walked over, curious as to just what kind of treasure could draw such a large crowd of cultivators.

The owner of the stall was a muddle-headed youth who looked to be in his early twenties. With so many people surrounding him, he was very nervous and his face was flushed. There were a wide variety of talismans placed in his stall.

Items created when cultivators sealed their techniques into special talisman paper were called talismans. Using talismans, when facing enemies, one would not need to use much spiritual power and activation was instantaneous. So the benefits of using them were clear.

To high-level cultivators, talismans are useless, but to low-level cultivators, they were very useful and precious. In particular, when dealing with enemies, having one extra talisman could be the difference between victory and defeat.

But correspondingly, the production of talismans was very complicated. Not only did it require the correct kind of sealing paper, but it also required a large amount of spiritual power, and had had a low success rate. The higher leveled the technique, the harder it was to make. Therefore, talismans were precious and rare items in the world of cultivation.

Lin Xuan strolled around the market for four hours and had not seen any stalls selling seals. And yet here was a stall with so many of them. Taking a rough estimate, there were almost a hundred of them.

No wonder it attracted so many cultivators.

Lin Xuan pushed to the front and after taking a look at the seals placed in the stall, was greatly disappointed. He never thought there would be high-grade seals for sale here, but there was not even a single mid-grade seal.

The seals that were for sale were all low-grade, and they were the most basic and lowest of the low-grade techniques. For example, the Hail Technique, the Blaze technique, the Quicksand technique, the Rock Fall technique, the Barrier technique, etc. There was a wide variety, but these kinds of techniques, even Spirit Condensation first layer cultivators could easily use. What was the point of purchasing them?

Therefore, even though there were many cultivators around the stall, not a single one was willing to purchase anything. Finally, after a long time, a voice, with a ridiculing tone asked, “Stall owner, what are the prices for your talismans?”

The youth flushed even more and lowered his head. Adopting an expression that worried the surrounding cultivators, he said: “One low-grade Purifying Essence pill for two talismans.”

“Hmph! This kind of low-grade technique can easily be executed, and you still want that much for it. Your hunger for pills has driven you insane.”

The crowd also ridiculed him for a while, then slowly dispersed. The youth flushed some more, then sighed, he began to pack up his stall. He had already been here for two days, but he had not sold a single talisman.

It was not because low leveled talismans were useless. For cultivators with low spiritual power, they were a good choice for self-defense. There were two reasons that caused them to be difficult to sell.

Firstly, Foundation Establishment cultivators would definitely not purchase these, because these kinds of low leveled techniques were not worth their time, so they would naturally not waste spirit stones or pills on this kind of exchange. Secondly, for Spirit Condensation cultivators, although they could execute these techniques, it would consume spiritual power and was slower to execute. So of course, they would want talismans. But the problem was, they were poor, so it was beyond their grasp, and they could only envy what they could not have.

That was to say, these kinds of low leveled talismans, Foundation Establishment cultivators wouldn’t want them, and Spirit Condensation cultivators couldn’t afford them or did not think it was a good deal. And thus, he was stuck in an embarrassing situation where he could not please either side.

This simple and honest youth was from Dao Talisman Mountain. One can tell from the sect’s name that the cultivators there would be adept at creating talismans.

These seals were all crafted by him, but because his cultivation level was low, he could only make some of the lowest talismans.

The youth actually wanted to sell the talismans for a cheaper price so he would be able to sell them fast. But the problem was that crafting talismans was not an easy task. Not to mention the fact that talismans needed special sealing paper, they still needed precious materials such as Spirit Beast blood, and the success rates were not high.

These one hundred talismans or so had already consumed all of his wealth. One pill per talismans was really not expensive, he would just be breaking even.

But these kinds of low leveled seals were of little value and were hard to sell.

The youth arrived here before Lin Xuan and has been here for three days already. Numerous cultivators came to check out his stall, but not a talisman seal had been sold.

Becoming disheartened and with the fact that it was time for the midday meal, he decided to pack up his wares.

This whole time, Lin Xuan did not make a single sound, but he had other ideas in mind. He wanted to purchase these talismans. This only reason being, although their low leveled techniques were garbage, as long as there was enough of them, he could still blot out the sky and cover the ground, smashing them down on the enemy. Having a massive amount being used together, it would still have overwhelming power.

For example, these one hundred talismans. If they were all used at the same time, even a Foundation Establishment Stage expert would need to frantically defend. And even if they could not wound the enemy, they would definitely at least give the user enough time to escape.

Of course, in the Cultivation World, other than Lin Xuan, would anyone be so wasteful? With the ability to purify, what did Lin Xuan lack? He didn’t lack pills, so one pill per two talismans was a very simple transaction.

But Lin Xuan did not try to purchase them immediately because pulling out fifty Purifying Essence pills would attract too much attention. Lin Xuan would not do this kind of stupid thing that would only lead to disaster.

He would need to find a more secluded place to buy them.

Coming up with this plan, Lin Xuan followed the other cultivators and walked off, but he did move far away and only casually strolled about near the stall. Of course, all of his attention was focused on that stall selling talismans.

Not long after, the simple and honest youth dishearteningly packed up his items, getting ready to leave the plaza. Lin Xuan quietly followed him.

After leaving the marketplace, the number of cultivators suddenly dropped. Checking to see that no one had noticed him, he quietly stepped behind a large tree and removed an item from his storage bracelet that was concealed in his bosom.

It was a membrane-like item that had a very lifelike face painted upon it. This was not a treasure of the cultivation world but was instead from the secular world. Martial artists often used these disguising masks.

As the name suggested, after putting it on, it would change a person’s appearance and conceal their identity. Although in the Cultivation World, there were more advanced ways to do this, such as some advanced techniques to change facial features. But Lin Xuan’s level was too low and he simply had no way to learn these techniques, so he could only go with the second-best option.

He had purchased this mask in the secular world on his way to the Soaring Cloud Sect. This was his first journey, so he needed to be fully prepared to participate. in the gathering of cultivators. But this also proved that Lin Xuan really did not waste his time thinking and preparing because he already had a use for this mask.