CHAPTER 32: 32. THE SUCCESS RATE OF MAKING TALISMAN IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT.

Lei Jun scrutinized the talisman brush.

*So the moderately good lot, the Fifth Grade Opportunity, ended up here?*

He took the talisman brush and went to see Master Yuan Mobai.

Yuan Mobai glanced at it, smiling, "That used to be my own talisman brush, but I’ve left it unused for quite a while.

"You have good luck, huh, the five lower branches in the mine—you happened to dig up the one where the Vermilion Peak Pen was buried.

"Since that’s the case, it’s a rare fate, so keep it and use it."

Lei Jun thanked Yuan Mobai and stashed the talisman brush away.

After heading out, he looked at Wang Guiyuan again.

Wang Guiyuan said, "Don’t look at me like that. To be honest, I’m actually really envious of your luck this time, Lei, but, first, these things about opportunity and fortune can’t be forced, and second, I’ve received other treasures from Master."

Lei Jun nodded and, quite straightforwardly, took out the Vermilion Peak Pen right in front of Wang Guiyuan, examining it carefully.

Wang Guiyuan, rarely at a loss for words, said, "...You make it sound easy, Lei, but don’t get too cocky."

He laughed and cursed, then took his leave.

After bidding Wang Guiyuan goodbye, Lei Jun didn’t immediately return to the Green Stone Ink Mine beneath his private residence, but instead set up an altar in the mansion and began experimenting with the new talisman brush.

Talisman ink, talisman paper, and talisman water—all still used the Heavenly Master Mansion’s transmission disciples’ usual cinnabar, yellow paper, and Dragon Tiger Mountain spring water.

Though he’d been dealing with Green Stone Ink day after day, with his current cultivation realm, Lei Jun still couldn’t handle such premium talisman ink.

*Forcing it wouldn’t be harmful, but he’d just fail and waste time, mana, and materials.*

Cultivators in the Foundation Establishment realm mostly couldn’t achieve unfailing results in talisman crafting.

Generally speaking, in the Foundation Establishment early stage, disciples of the Heavenly Master Mansion had about a fifty percent success rate when crafting talismans—making ten meant five successful ones, which was considered excellent.

Yuan Mobai had praised Lei Jun for being quick on the uptake and having strong spiritual nature when learning about Spirit Talismans.

Lei Jun hadn’t let his master down; during the Foundation Establishment early stage, his average success rate for talisman crafting could reach sixty percent.

If he drew his own life-bound Spirit Talismans—the Divine Strike Talisman and Wind Riding Talisman—he could even hit a success rate of seventy percent.

The number of talismans he could craft per day also went from no more than three when he first established his foundation, all the way up to over ten each day.

Then, after Lei Jun succeeded in advancing his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment middle stage, his average success rate climbed to seventy percent.

If he drew Divine Strike and Wind Riding, he could reach nearly eighty percent success.

Back then, he had been using a regular Black Rabbit Hair Talisman Brush.

Now, with the Vermilion Peak Pen, Lei Jun focused all his intent, circling the incense table, performing the Star-stepping Spell, each stroke falling one after another.

The burning incense in the censer and the smoke above Lei Jun’s head seemed to rise in curling blue streams, merging in the air and soaring up to the Blue Abyss.

The first one, success!

The second one, success.

Next, the third, fourth, fifth, sixth...

The first six talismans were all completed in one go!

Unfortunately, the seventh one failed.

But then, the eighth, ninth, and tenth Spirit Talismans were again completed successfully in a row.

"Ninety percent success rate..." Lei Jun let out a long breath, smiling with joy.

He’d drawn the most basic Evil-Repelling Talismans, not his own life-bound Spirit Talismans, but a ninety percent success rate was still extraordinary.

In general, most Foundation Establishment disciples at the Heavenly Master Mansion only reached such high rates at the Perfect Level.

"And the mana consumption wasn’t nearly as high as I expected." Lei Jun rested for a bit, sitting cross-legged in silent meditation to recover.

If he’d used the Dragon Horse Scales repeatedly, his mana would have been drained dry by now.

But with Yuan Mobai’s Vermilion Peak Pen, that wasn’t the case.

The brush was like the person: gentle, quietly enduring, nourishing silently—a steady, flowing stream.

Lei Jun could clearly feel that he hadn’t yet even begun to tap into the full wonders of the talisman brush.

*It only matched his current realm and mana, so the Vermilion Peak Pen automatically held to a rhythm most suited to his present state.*

As his cultivation grew, the Vermilion Peak Pen would play a greater role in the future.

At that point, the mana needed to drive it would certainly be much greater than now.

But it’d always adjust to fit his physical limits at that time.

"If I used this on Blue Star, it’d be super smart." Lei Jun smiled.

In the next several days, Lei Jun continued trying to master the Vermilion Peak Pen for other Spirit Talismans.

His best two life-bound talismans—Divine Strike and Wind Riding—now, with the Vermilion Peak Pen, could reach terrifyingly perfect success rates.

Ten sheets, ten successes.

Not a single slip of talisman paper, not a drop of talisman ink wasted.

*If this keeps up, once my cultivation reaches the Foundation Establishment upper stage, I’ll be able to hit a hundred percent on other basic Spirit Talismans, too...* Lei Jun thought to himself.

He stowed away the Vermilion Peak Pen for now, quietly nurturing it.

For the next stretch of time and energy, Lei Jun kept his focus on diligent cultivation.

Inside the Green Stone Ink mine, illuminated by emerald light, more tents were staked on Lei Jun’s Tao Foundation Altar Field, marking how close he was getting to the upper Foundation Establishment stage.

Until one day, as Lei Jun sat in meditation with his eyes shut, a strange feeling hit, and he opened his eyes.

Someone had appeared in the mine—the moment he hadn’t noticed.

She was dazzlingly beautiful, tall and perfectly proportioned—it was Tang Xiaotang, whom he hadn’t seen for days.

"After we returned to the mountain, I heard that Master sent you off to dig in the mines—it scared me."

"The tall young woman waved the Soul Containing Talisman in her hand, covered in Misty Cloud Crystals, ’Then Master and Wang explained everything to me, so I finally relaxed.’"

Lei Jun smiled, "I just wanted some serene insight for my cultivation, so Master arranged this for me. I’m sorry to make you worry, Senior Sister."

Tang Xiaotang, "You guys, always scheming."

Lei Jun stopped his cultivation and stood up, taking the Soul Containing Talisman from her hand,

"Honestly, I’m free to go anywhere—I’m just too lazy to head out. But Wang always keeps me informed about what’s going on outside. I hear you were the star on your recent trip off the mountain, Senior Sister."

Tang Xiaotang smirked, "Eh, you know, nothing special."

Actually, "star" wasn’t enough to describe Tang Xiaotang’s achievements away from the sect.

Around the new year, the biggest news in the world was that the Heavenly Master Mansion had a third rising star, joining Second Celestial Master Xu Yuanzhen and Yong Celestial Master Li Zhengxuan.

But compared to the calm, steady, masterly poise of the Yong Celestial Master, this newly ascendant Tang Xianzi was much more in the style of the previous Xu Xianzi—bold and unconventional.

She’d won the sect tons of glory, but also stirred up no small amount of controversy...well, "controversy" was putting it nicely.

To be precise, she stirred up a ton of trouble, giving the Heavenly Master Mansion higher-ups a holiday that was both painful and joyous.

"Nothing else worth mentioning," she said, "but before heading back, I did pull off something really satisfying."

Looking at Lei Jun, Tang Xiaotang said, "I once heard from Senior Sister about when she first met you, before she brought you up the mountain."

Lei Jun said, "Back then..."

*Thank goodness for drawing an auspicious lot and using it to guide my fate for the first time.*

*It’s kind of ironic—those transmigrator novels I read on Blue Star always had main characters who, even if their first days were rough, usually got dragged into trouble by someone else.*

*But me, I nearly got myself killed.*

*Though, honestly, I didn’t even get a chance to do anything.*

*Yet for this world, in some ways, I really do have "original sin."*

*Because I transmigrated with my physical body.*

*Back on Blue Star, I’d read novels where people said that if anyone ever transmigrated physically, to an ancient or another world, to them you’re basically a walking periodic table, or a sample library of viruses and bacteria.*

*But when it happened to me, it wasn’t nearly so glorious.*

*With the added uncertainty of mutation, to a strange world, I’d basically become a poisonous man, an origin of plague.*

*So when I’d just arrived, facing all these Heavenly Master Mansion disciples upholding the righteous path, I had every possible reason to end up in a little urn straight away, public service "demon extermination" at its finest.*