txolops Chapter 25 The Path to Advanced Cultivation Techniques
Chapter 25 The Path to Advanced Cultivation Techniques
After putting the completed Fire Rain Talisman into his storage bag, Li Ping frowned again as he briefly sensed the changes within himself.
Just by casting a low-grade second-tier "Fire Rain Technique," he consumed about a third of his early Foundation Establishment mana.
Although this was partly due to his lack of cultivation of advanced techniques, resulting in lower purity of mana, the consumption of second-tier spells was evident.
This made Li Ping sigh repeatedly, no wonder cultivators prefer to use magical artifacts rather than spells when fighting, perhaps because spells are slow to cast and not as fast as magical artifacts.
However, casting spells consumes too much mana, which is probably a major reason why cultivators have abandoned spells.
……
"I can only draw two low-grade second-tier talismans consecutively before I have to stop and meditate to recover my mana." Li Ping silently calculated, "If it's a mid-grade second-tier talisman, drawing it once will consume more than 80% of my mana. As for high-grade second-tier talismans, even if I have the corresponding skills passed down, I simply can't draw them without sufficient cultivation and mana."
"When my magic power is exhausted, I have to stop and meditate to recover."
The excessive mana consumption also affected Li Ping's efficiency in drawing talismans.
He did a preliminary calculation: if he didn't cultivate and focused solely on making talismans, including the time spent meditating to recover his mana, and with the blessing of the Tree of Inheritance's '100% success rate in talisman making,' he could make about 10 low-grade second-tier talismans or about 5 mid-grade second-tier talismans per month.
If he moves to a second-tier spiritual land to cultivate, the speed at which he recovers his mana through meditation will increase, and his efficiency will be further improved.
Assuming he sells all these talismans, his monthly income would be around 500 spirit stones, and even the net profit would be at least 400 spirit stones.
The net profit for a year is 4,800 spirit stones, enough to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill and still have some left over.
Of course, other second-tier low-grade talisman makers have a chance of failure in talisman making, and their efficiency in earning spirit stones is far less than that of Li Ping.
However, Li Ping wouldn't be so foolish as to spend all his time making talismans.
For cultivators, the most important thing is their own cultivation level; spirit stones are just external things, enough is enough.
Once he acquires a suitable cultivation method, he will devote most of his time to cultivation and will not spend too much time and effort on making talismans.
Each year, he draws a few dozen low-grade second-tier spirit talismans, earning enough resources to sustain his cultivation.
……
"Many people in the Immortal City know that I am quite skilled in talisman making and am not far from becoming a second-tier low-grade talisman maker." Li Ping thought to himself, "Therefore, it is only natural for me to draw a second-tier low-grade spirit talisman, and no one will find it strange. But it is not suitable to show off a second-tier mid-grade spirit talisman, otherwise it will easily attract the attention of those with ulterior motives."
To outsiders, Li Ping's talisman-making skills might have already reached the first-tier superior level before he even reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
After successfully establishing one's foundation, one's magical power and spiritual awareness increase more than tenfold, and the art of talisman making requires extremely high levels of magical power and spiritual awareness.
With his magical power and divine sense being more than ten times stronger than before, he made progress in talisman-making skills and broke through to become a second-tier low-grade talisman maker, which is not surprising.
It is common knowledge in the cultivation world that when a cultivator breaks through a certain level of cultivation, their skills will improve as well.
Therefore, if Li Ping were to demonstrate his skills as a second-tier low-grade talisman maker to the public, no one would pay attention; at most, they would just make a few comments.
However, if other cultivators knew that he had crossed two levels in a short period of time and actually reached the middle level of the second rank in talisman-making skills, it would likely attract a lot of attention.
In the world of cultivation, there are many people who have had extraordinary encounters. He might be considered one of them, and some people might try to investigate his extraordinary encounters and forcibly take them away.
Although Li Ping was not afraid, he did not want to cause too much trouble.
In addition, the benefits of crafting second-tier low-grade talismans are already enough for his cultivation needs.
Moreover, since he was determined to become a Gou Xiu, Li Ping felt it was necessary to prepare some methods that exceeded his own level.
Therefore, Li Ping did not intend to reveal his actual talisman-making skills to the outside world. From now on, he would only sell second-tier low-grade spirit talismans.
He could also draw some mid-grade second-tier spirit talismans, but he would only use these spirit talismans as his trump card.
During a battle, if seven or eight mid-grade second-tier spirit talismans are thrown out at once, even a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator will have to temporarily dodge. If a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator cannot dodge in time, they will be seriously injured or even risk death.
"If anyone mistakes me for an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, hmph..."
……
A month later, thanks to Li Ping's tireless overtime work, his storage bag contained six different second-tier low-grade spirit talismans and two second-tier mid-grade spirit talismans.
The second-tier mid-grade spirit talisman is for his self-defense, while the second-tier low-grade spirit talisman is for selling to spirit stones.
Before this, he had visited several large shops in the inner city in his search for mid-grade second-tier spirit wood, but none of them gave him any face.
Although Li Ping said "I understand," he actually had a lot of grudges in his heart.
Furthermore, the second-tier low-grade spirit talismans are entirely a seller's market, with supply falling short of demand. As soon as they are put on the shelves, they are snapped up by cultivators who rush to the scene.
Therefore, Li Ping no longer needed to let those large shops take a cut.
He planned to price all the second-tier low-grade spirit talismans he had drawn at 50 spirit stones and put them in his third brother Gu Musheng's shop for sale.
As for Gu Musheng's reward, considering that he had to take care of his own brothers, he tentatively set it at 1 spirit stone per spirit talisman.
Of course, this payment was not given by Li Ping to Gu Musheng, but rather paid by Gu Musheng to him.
A steady stream of low-grade second-tier spirit talismans will bring a huge influx of customers to Gu Musheng's shop. When cultivators rush to buy spirit talismans, they will likely also buy some other supplies, which will boost the sales of other low-grade magic weapons and spirit talismans.
This has brought considerable benefits to Gu Musheng.
One spirit stone is the referral fee that Gu Musheng has to pay him.
In this way, he can earn 51 spirit stones for each spirit talisman, and it won't be long before he can collect enough spirit stones for advanced cultivation techniques.
Thinking that he had been a Foundation Establishment cultivator for more than half a year, yet still lived on a first-tier spiritual vein in the outer city, without even a high-level cultivation technique, and had never seriously cultivated even once.
Li Ping couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.
While pondering, Li Ping stepped into his third brother's "Green Bamboo" shop.
Li Ping's arrival startled Gu Musheng, who was meditating behind the counter. Upon seeing Li Ping, a look of joy appeared on his face: "Brother, what brings you here? I was just about to go look for you."
"Looking for me? Huh!" Li Ping was slightly puzzled, but he quickly noticed the change in Gu Musheng's aura.
Seventh level of Qi Refining!
It turns out that at some point, Gu Musheng had already broken through to the late stage of Qi Refining.
……
The dog solemnly closed the shop door, and Gu Musheng approached Li Ping with a mysterious look: "Brother, regarding the high-level cultivation technique you want, I have a connection in Immortal City. It's a bit risky, but the price is very low."
As Li Ping listened, he was first puzzled, then surprised, and finally smiled unconsciously.
He nodded inwardly, "This kid's got some skills after all. You've done a great job this time, so I won't charge you for the referral bonus!"