After cultivating the Demon Blood Tempering Steel Art, Li Xin could clearly feel his strengthened power. However, that power was violent and unstable, like boiling magma.

  Talisman crafting was a delicate task. If the tip of the brush wavered even once, all the effort would be wasted. If he were to load that rampaging qi directly onto the brush, the lines would surely fall apart, and the talisman would become a failure.

  More importantly, there were still fine wounds lingering inside his body. If he made a mistake, those wounds could worsen in the middle of drawing a talisman.

  They’ll heal naturally with time, but…

  He wanted to minimize wasted time as much as possible. Fortunately, Li Xin had an auxiliary art specialized in recovery and regeneration.

  When he unfurled the green scroll, the paper was filled with complex patterns and characters.

  Li Xin carefully scanned through its contents.

  The Wood Vitality Art was a simple auxiliary technique, so it didn’t seem particularly difficult to learn. After spending several hours memorizing the contents of the art, Li Xin closed his eyes and focused his mind. Then, following the incantation written on the scroll, he began circulating his qi.

  “Sss.”

  Drawing in a long breath, he instinctively pulled in the surrounding wood qi. The process wasn’t familiar yet, but thanks to his relatively strong affinity with wood qi, he managed to capture a single thread of energy.

  He consciously guided that gathered qi toward his injured areas. Warm, gentle energy wrapped around the wounds, and it felt as if water were seeping into parched earth, slowly regenerating them.

  The Xu family’s techniques are truly wondrous.

  After confirming the effectiveness of the Wood Vitality Art, Li Xin couldn’t help but marvel. It was on an entirely different level from the cheap techniques found in the market.

  Completely healing his wounds would take a few more days, but he could easily handle drawing two-stroke Lightness Talismans without exerting strength.

  Of course, he couldn’t neglect stabilizing his qi through daily seated cultivation either.

  Several days passed like that.

  The moment he put down his brush, familiar characters appeared in Li Xin’s vision.

  [You have completed a two-stroke Lightness Talisman.]

  [Your footwork has slightly increased.]

  [The two-stroke Lightness Talisman has fully taken root in your body.]

  [No further increase in speed will occur.]

  Drawing a hundred Lightness Talismans hadn’t taken very long. His elevated realm and the strengthened body from the Demon Blood Tempering Steel Art. And thanks to the high-quality materials provided by the Xu family, the success rate was close to perfect. The moment he succeeded in internalizing the talisman, a reward followed without exception.

  [You have fully internalized the two-stroke Lightness Talisman.]

  [Condition fulfilled.]

  [You have comprehended the movement technique ‘Azure Smoke Step’ from the talisman.]

  [Your understanding of Azure Smoke Step has deepened.]

  New information was forcibly injected.

  For a brief instant, a burning pain flashed through his head, but—perhaps due to growing resistance, it was pain he could endure well enough.

  “Hoo~”

  Li Xin immediately put on his outer robe and stepped outside. His destination, as always, was the back mountain. Whether it was a fist technique or a movement art, testing what he had engraved into his body right away was Li Xin’s way.

  A quiet mountain path where leaves drifted down. After steadying his breathing, Li Xin quietly took his first step. In that instant—his body slid forward like the wind.

  With the effects of the Lightness Talisman combined with his understanding of Azure Smoke Step, the perceived speed was far faster than before. Yet there was barely any sound from his footsteps.

  Li Xin gradually increased his speed, testing the limits of Azure Smoke Step.

  Sharp turns. Continuous acceleration. Left-right transitions. It was as if a strand of blue smoke were cutting through the trees. The moment his foot touched the ground, it bent as if sliding, then immediately traced the next trajectory while maintaining speed.

  “Not bad.”

  Li Xin chuckled softly in admiration.

  After thoroughly testing Azure Smoke Step and returning home, Li Xin resolved to challenge the Strength Talisman once more. Thanks to the Wood Vitality Art, the wounds inside his body had healed to a certain extent.

  Grasping the brush, he recalled his previous failure. The memory of his hand refusing to move as he wished, as if bound by invisible shackles, was still vivid.

  But now, it was different. Thanks to cultivating the Demon Blood Tempering Steel Art, he could now resist that qi to some degree and move his hand by his own will. Of course, that didn’t mean he could immediately complete the talisman.

  The core of a three-stroke talisman lay in Internal Containment. It wasn’t just about drawing strokes, but about what—and how much—you could contain within them. The Strength Talisman Li Xin was trying to draw was, as its name suggested, a talisman specialized in power.

  There was only one thing that mattered. How pure and refined a force he could embed within the strokes. The problem was that it wasn’t as simple as pouring in brute strength.

  “Another failure.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Li Xin put down the brush and sank into thought.

  The pile of failed attempts stacked high on one side of the desk came into view. To complete the Strength Talisman, he needed to concentrate immense qi at the tip of the brush, while drawing each stroke delicately and evenly.

  It sounded simple, but in practice, it was nearly impossible. At times, the strokes were too thick. At other times, they were so faint that qi barely seeped in. Even when he felt the strokes were balanced, the qi contained within was insufficient, causing the talisman to collapse uselessly.

  “Hoo…”

  The hand gripping the brush throbbed, and his concentration steadily faded. The urge to throw the brush away rose again and again. But Li Xin did not give up. The composure he had built while drawing the Warm Heart Talisman. That steady state of mind guided him back to the desk.

  What should I do…

  There was a limit to simply drawing with force. He needed a way to pack dense qi into the vessel of a stroke, not just raw strength.

  Dense qi…

  At that moment, a single word flashed through his mind.

  “Mountain Fist.”

  The reward granted to Li Xin after internalizing the Strength Talisman—Shattering Mountain Fist. It wasn’t a fist technique that merely shattered the surface. It ignored the exterior and destroyed the inside. And what made that possible was extreme density focused at a single point.

  Let’s try it.

  Qi surged from his heart, through his shoulder, arm, fingertips, and flowed into the brush shaft.

  The brush trembled faintly, pulsing as if it were a living creature. The old brush he had purchased from the Script & Brush Pavilion was sufficient to withstand the power of Shattering Mountain Fist. No—if anything, it felt excited, like a spirited horse eager to run wild again.

  “Hoo—”

  He slowly regulated his breathing. Then he focused all the qi in his body onto the tip of the brush.

  Not power spread wide—but power condensed at a single point. The essence of it had to be carried in this one stroke.

  The first stroke touched the paper. Having drawn it countless times before, the brush slid smoothly. The stroke was straight and unwavering.

  The second stroke. Up to this point, there was no great difficulty. The strength of the qi, the speed of the brush, the friction against the paper—every factor remained under Li Xin’s control.

  The final, third stroke. Before drawing it, he quietly closed his eyes. Reciting the incantation of the Demon Blood Tempering Steel Art, he drew out even the last remnants of qi left within his body. And into a single brush, he poured everything he had.

  From wrist to elbow to shoulder, his joints screamed, and every muscle erupted in searing pain. As if floodgates had been flung open, qi poured out of his body.

  For an instant, his head spun. Even so, Li Xin did not release the brush.

  The third stroke felt endlessly long. Every moment the brush tip slid across the paper was a battle against pain.

  Slowly—very slowly—a new stroke was layered atop the second.

  The instant the final stroke was completed, a faint golden light bloomed above the talisman.

  The light soon faded, and silence returned to the room. Holding his breath, Li Xin carefully lifted the talisman.

  The helplessness he had felt on the day he first held a brush. Dozens of failures, countless crumpled sheets of talisman paper. All of it had been a process for this single sheet.

  “…It’s done.”

  A short sentence. In his hand was a completed three-stroke Strength Talisman.

  [You have completed a three-stroke Strength Talisman.]

  [Completion rating: Mid-Low.]

  [Your physical strength has increased.]

  “Hm?”

  Li Xin narrowed his eyes. When he had completed a two-stroke Strength Talisman, the message had clearly said, ‘Your physical strength has slightly increased.’

  But this time, the word ‘slightly’ was gone.

  And there was one more new line.

  [Completion rating: Mid-Low.]

  From three-stroke talismans onward, do rewards vary depending on completion quality?

  To know for sure, he would have to draw a few more Strength Talismans.

  Still, not bad for a first attempt.

  Li Xin examined the first completed Strength Talisman from every angle.

  His hand holding the talisman was shaking uncontrollably.

  “…I can’t draw any more today.”

  When it came to two-stroke talismans, he could easily draw twenty in a day, but three-stroke talismans were on an entirely different level. One a day. Two if he pushed himself. That was the limit currently allowed to Li Xin.

  That means…

  Li Xin realized instinctively. If rewards began to differ based on completion quality starting from three-stroke talismans, then drawing large quantities would no longer be the goal.

  Quality over quantity. Even for a single sheet, he had to pour in the utmost care and concentration.

  So skill matters the most?

  The moment he realized that, the corners of Li Xin’s lips lifted faintly.

  ***

  After tidying up, Li Xin immediately went to find Xu Hui. She was neatly dressed, holding a teacup. Perhaps because her lifespan was nearly exhausted, Xu Hui had stopped drawing Demonic Beast Talismans some time ago.

  “I’ve completed the Strength Talisman.”

  Li Xin carefully presented the finished three-stroke Strength Talisman. Xu Hui set down her teacup and nodded.

  “It took a bit longer than I expected.”

  Her reaction was calm. She had already assumed that Li Xin would complete it soon after finishing his cultivation of the Demon Blood Tempering Steel Art, so it wasn’t particularly surprising.

  But—

  “…Hm?”

  As she examined the talisman in her hand, her gaze subtly wavered.

  “…You drew this yourself?”

  Li Xin nodded silently. Xu Hui turned the talisman over and over, as if she couldn’t quite believe it. Her expression grew increasingly serious, and she let out a quiet note of admiration.

  “For a first attempt, this is excellent. If you refine it just a little more, you can reach proper grade.”

  An evaluation that it was close to proper grade.

  Then a proper-grade talisman would probably be around mid.

  Based on Xu Hui’s reaction, Li Xin confirmed the rough standards of the ‘completion rating.’ After observing the talisman for a while, Xu Hui spoke softly.

  “Then, will you try learning another talisman now?”

  Another talisman…

  Learning new talismans was certainly important. But his gaze remained fixed on the three-stroke Strength Talisman.

  “No.”

  Li Xin shook his head firmly.

  “For the time being, I want to focus on improving the completion of the Strength Talisman.”

  Xu Hui nodded calmly. She had no intention of forcing her own methods on Li Xin. Even among talisman practitioners, everyone pursued different paths. Some sought broad versatility by learning many talismans, while others devoted themselves to pushing mastery of a single talisman to its limit.

  There was no right or wrong. In the end, the path of a talisman practitioner was something one chose for oneself.

  “Continue to strive diligently.”

  The Strength Talisman Li Xin had created was excellent, but at its core, it was still nothing more than an ‘Additional Stroke’ talisman.

  A method of adding strokes atop an existing one. It was relatively easy to learn and its effects were clear, but it represented only a small fraction of talisman crafting. The true difficulty of three-stroke talismans lay in those with three Mother Strokes.

  Talismans where each stroke possessed its own independent meaning and qi, yet combined organically into a single whole. Among such three-stroke talismans, the one with the highest difficulty was none other than the Demonic Beast Talisman.

  For a young talisman practitioner who had only just completed a Strength Talisman, the road ahead was still long. Even so, Xu Hui wore a sufficiently satisfied expression. Even if he wasn’t fast, at least his direction was firmly aimed toward the destination.

  “Take this with you.”

  And giving him that push from behind—that was precisely the role of the Xu family.