Red lanterns were hung along the exterior of the study; today was Li Shiming''s first New Year in this world, having arrived here just over three months ago.

    If it weren''t for seeing Steward Zhang hanging up the red lanterns, he wouldn''t have known that the New Year had arrived.

    The New Year reminded him of another world, the relatives and friends from that world, all of which he could not return to. In this world, the only emotional tie he had formed with his original self was with his father, Li WenYuan.

    At this moment, his father Li WenYuan was not by his side either, and an intense sense of loneliness led him to seek out something to distract his thoughts. So, he took out a talisman pen from the chamber''s space.

    This talisman pen was called the ''Snow Spirit Pen'' and was significantly stronger than the ones he had purchased.

    This, indeed, was a talisman pen reserved for the use of the Hao Family cultivators, naturally more superior than the ones the Hao Family sold.

    On the desk, there was a piece of greenish-yellow talisman paper and a small dish of talismanic ink.

    The talismanic ink was concocted by him, produced in the chamber''s space through his consciousness, its quality needless to say was undoubtedly the epitome of talismanic ink materials.

    This particular ink was specially prepared for the ''Basic Light Body Talisman''. He had bought some in the market and found a huge quantity of talismanic ink materials in the storage bag of a Hao Family cultivator, enough to last him for a long time.

    The principle behind talisman creation was to solidify already formed Magic Runes using the talisman paper.

    This process was full of uncertainties: undetectable indentations on the talisman paper, uneven mixtures in the talismanic ink, slight anomalies in the cultivator''s Spiritual Power Pattern, the speed at which the Spiritual Power Pattern was conducted through the talisman pen, the process of merging the Spiritual Power Pattern with the talismanic ink, and so on.

    It could be said that making a talisman was a process fraught with countless unpredictable factors. According to the records of the Hao Family cultivators, being able to produce ten successful talismans out of a hundred attempts could qualify one as a Beginner Talisman Master.

    This starkly illustrated the extreme difficulty of making talismans. Without extensive practice and consumption of resources, it was impossible to train a competent talisman master.

    Moreover, the training of a talisman master required time. After all, whether or not the talisman was successfully made, it counted as a spell cast, depleting the cultivator''s Spiritual Power Pattern.

    With Li Shiming''s reserves of Spiritual Power Pattern, he could only cast the ''Light Body Technique'' ten times. Even with a hundred percent success rate, he could only make ten ''Basic Light Body Talismans'' before needing to replenish his Spiritual Power Pattern.

    In addition to resting his Spiritual Power Pattern, the making of talismans also consumed a lot of mental energy, which was even harder to recover.

    In fact, no cultivator dared to exhaust too much of their spiritual and mental energy at once, as doing so would leave them defenseless.

    However, what was recorded still needed to be tested in practice. The repeated failures provided him with valuable experience.

    His situation differed greatly from that of other cultivators. Other cultivators knew only the point of failure in talisman drawing, without understanding the specific reasons.

    He, through the videos from IBMz15, experienced the process of error over and over, ensuring that the same mistake would not occur a second time.

    Li Shiming took out a self-made pocket watch and checked the time—it was one o''clock in the afternoon.

    His consciousness entered the chamber''s space, and he made a bowl of spirit rice.

    He filled his stomach with spirit rice alone in the study. Outsiders, seeing him eat just a bowl of rice without any side dishes during the festive season, would probably think he was very frugal.

    Yet, if this bowl of spirit rice were to be exchanged for gold, it might fetch an amount of gold equal in volume to the bowl of spirit rice, and that''s only if there were cultivators willing to make the exchange.

    Si Qin hadn''t called him to eat. Not long ago, Li Shiming had explained some matters to her, and coupled with the visits by Gu Jia of the Imperial Family''s offerings, she had come to accept the fact that the young master had begun his path of cultivation.

    For this reason, Li Shiming now had undisturbed quiet time and no longer had to worry about interruptions during crucial moments of cultivation or talisman-making.

    A small bird flew through the window and landed on the desk in front of Li Shiming.

    The small bird''s lively eyes watched Li Shiming, as if confirming something, before it transformed into a piece of talisman paper.

    Li Shiming recognized the bird—it was a Hundred-Mile Communication Token, a means of contact between cultivators.

    Corresponding to the Hundred-Mile Communication Token were the Thousand-mile Communication Talisman and the Ten Thousand Miles Communication Talisman. The greater the distance they covered, the higher the quality, and thus the more expensive they were.

    Using a Hundred-Mile Communication Token required knowledge of the exact location and spiritual presence of the other cultivator; it functioned as a point-to-point communication method. If the intended recipient was not present, the Hundred-Mile Communication Token would wait until its Spiritual Power Pattern depleted to a certain degree and then self-destruct.

    Normally, a Hundred-Mile Communication Token could last for two days, sufficient for regular messages.

    "Mr. Li, a gathering of cultivators on the third floor of Tianshui Pavilion. I will take you to meet your peers!"

    Signed by Gu Jia, it was an invitation from Gu Jia. Li Shiming had heard him mention it before, but he had not expected the gathering of cultivators to fall on New Year''s Day.