CRACK!
The nearly bald Talisman Brush was slammed down on the desk. With hollow eyes and a deathly pale face, a figure slumped into the chair behind him, his voice hoarse and trembling:
"Finally... it's done..."
Feeling utterly drained, Qi Yun closed his eyes and rested for a long while. Only then did he manage to muster a shred of strength, forcing his sore and weak back to sit up straight.
If you fall behind on one step, you'll fall behind on every step.
After a fierce internal struggle, he had ultimately chosen not to just sit around and wait for the automatic update to finish.
Once laziness takes root, it grows like a rolling snowball.
Besides, he was currently within the Demon Sect. Slacking off one extra time on a normal day could cost him his life at a critical moment.
Gently rubbing his sore eyes, Qi Yun glanced around. The floor was littered with failed yellow Talisman Paper, while a small stack of about seven or eight Talismans sat on his desk.
In three days, he had used up almost all the Talisman Paper he'd bought, yet he had only successfully created eight Talismans.
'No wonder the market for Low-Grade Talismans is always in short supply.'
'Without solid Talismanic Cultivation, the cost is just too high.'
'And those with high enough Talismanic Cultivation wouldn't deign to draw these common Talismans.'
'It seems the main suppliers supporting this market are probably geniuses with low Cultivation but high talent for Talismans!'
After persevering for so long, Qi Yun had to admit that he truly had no talent for the art of Talisman Skill.
The few successful Talismans he had managed to create were purely the result of brute force repetition and a tiny bit of luck.
'I hope this Talisman Skill update can change my current predicament.'
Taking the few Talismans he'd drawn into his hand, Qi Yun summoned the Magic Technique Panel with a thought and began the Refinement process.
[Magic automatic update complete. This is a minor version update. The Magic effect has been adjusted as follows:]
[Talisman Skill: Removed Talisman Painting failure mechanic. Now only affects Talisman quality.]
"Huh? Could this be the legendary..."
Gazing at the update log that appeared on the Magic Technique Panel, a sharp glint suddenly lit up in Qi Yun's eyes. He shot to his feet and snatched the nearly bald Talisman Brush from the desk.
He smoothed out a fresh sheet of Talisman Paper and casually dipped the brush tip into the crimson Spiritual Ink in the inkstone.
He didn't even hold his breath or concentrate his spirit. With no preparation whatsoever, his wrist moved on muscle memory, gliding across the Talisman Paper like flowing water.
The runic strokes, which he had already drawn thousands of times, were now incredibly smooth, yet possessed a careless, sloppy quality.
A final flick of the brush!
Qi Yun stared intently at the Talisman Paper on his desk.
According to his previous experience, this Talisman—drawn in a hurry, without spiritual concentration or proper preparation—should have been a guaranteed failure.
But now...
An extremely faint glimmer, one that seemed ready to extinguish at any moment, actually flickered on the Talisman Paper.
Immediately after, a thread-like wisp of Daoist Intent from Heaven and Earth was drawn down.
It struggled to merge into the sloppy runes.
It worked!
Although the glimmer was pitifully dim and the Daoist Intent was so thin it was almost imperceptible.
But it had, without a doubt, succeeded.
It hadn't turned into a useless scrap of paper!
"A one-hundred-percent success rate!"
His heart surged with emotion. Having endured the torment of countless failed attempts at Talisman Painting, Qi Yun knew exactly what this mechanic meant to people like him, the Talisman Painters.
This was a Divine Skill!
'No more worrying about failures. A one-hundred-percent production rate.'
HISS!
'I might... be about to get rich.'
Suppressing his turbulent Heart and Spirit, Qi Yun quickly forced himself to calm down and silently planned his next moves.
Although the effects of these poorer-quality Talismans were much weaker than normal ones.
But no matter how bad a Talisman was, it was still a Talisman.
'If one isn't enough, I'll use two. If two aren't enough, I'll use ten!'
Never mind High-Grade Talismans; for Low-Grade Talismans, you could absolutely make up for quality with quantity.
The Infinite Treasure Market allowed one to set their own prices, but they could only be lower than the official price, and by no more than ten percent.
'Worst comes to worst, I'll just set my price to the absolute minimum.'
'Thin profits, high turnover.'
'I could even... do group buys! Or wholesale!'
With his modern mindset, Qi Yun didn't get too hung up on the issue of Talisman quality.
Everything has its own target audience.
Normal Talismans were effective, but their unit price was high, and they were single-use consumables.
Many Outer Mansion Disciples were so stingy when using them, they wished they could tear one Talisman in half to use it twice.
But my Youth Edition Talismans would be different.
Their unit price would be low, so people wouldn't feel the pinch when using them.
In a cultivation environment like the Outer Mansion, where most people were struggling just to survive, these might even be more popular.
The light in Qi Yun's eyes grew brighter and brighter. The exhaustion from grinding away for three straight days seemed to vanish in an instant.
"No time like the present!"
As if seeing piles of Holy Essence beckoning to him, a fully energized Qi Yun grabbed his Talisman Brush and dove headfirst into an ocean of Talisman Painting.
...
"Out of stock? Fucking out of stock again! I've been trying to snag one for three days straight, and it's still out of stock! This has to be rigged!"
In the private courtyard of an Outer Mansion Disciple's residence, a red-eyed Ruan Bai stared intently at the panel's Screen Wall. His fingers swiped nonstop, trying to refresh the Infinite Treasure Market for the item he had been waiting days for.
Alas, no matter how many times he refreshed, the coveted product slot remained empty.
"Sigh..." Seeing that refreshing was hopeless, Ruan Bai deflated like a popped balloon. His shoulders slumped as he let out a frustrated and helpless sigh.
"I really don't know which prodigy from the Holy Sect managed to develop this kind of Talisman..."
"They understand the struggles of us poor bastards in the Outer Mansion all too well!"
In recent days, a batch of "Youth Edition" Exorcism Talismans and Evil-Breaking Talismans had suddenly appeared in the Infinite Treasure Market.
The price of these Talismans was only one-fifth that of the normal version.
Although their effectiveness also couldn't compare to the original.
But a price that was a full eighty percent cheaper still drove countless Outer Mansion Disciples into a frenzy, buying them all up within breaths of them being listed.
And just like that, the Youth Edition Talisman became an instant hit.
Almost every day, Outer Mansion Disciples would camp in front of their Screen Walls, just to be the first to snatch up these Talismans.
Unfortunately, the mysterious Talisman Painter seemed to have an extremely limited production capacity.
The amount of stock released each day was a drop in the bucket.
Coupled with the fact that more and more people were learning about this "Divine Talisman," the difficulty of purchasing one skyrocketed exponentially.
Ruan Bai had been glued to his Screen Wall for two days, yet he still came up empty-handed.
"Forget it. I'll just rest for a few days..." Shaking his head slowly, Ruan Bai was about to get up and remove his Taixu Jade Token from the Screen Wall.
But a flicker of his eyes seemed to catch the words "Youth Edition Talisman."
Huh?!
His heart felt as if it had been squeezed tight by an invisible hand, then suddenly released. A jolt of ecstasy shot through Ruan Bai's entire body like an electric current.
'My chance has finally come.'
His pupils contracted. His body exploded with unprecedented potential. His finger, as fast as lightning, stabbed toward the listing with a whoosh.
"Hahaha! The heavens have not forsaken me!" Ruan Bai laughed maniacally, eagerly looking for the purchase confirmation.
But when he saw clearly what he had selected, his flushed, gleeful face instantly turned ashen.
[Youth Edition Talisman Proxy-Buying Service (50% Markup)]
A roar of grief and indignation instantly echoed through the small courtyard.
"Damn scalpers! I'll #@$%...!"
...