A few days later, Liu Guangjin introduced someone to Li Xin. The location was a small reception room behind the Baizhang Association’s commercial building, without a single window. It was clean without unnecessary decorations, yet the atmosphere felt strangely suffocating.

  “Greetings.”

  Facing an unfamiliar elderly woman, Li Xin instinctively straightened his back. Slender shoulders, dried and withered hands, sunken eye sockets. She neither raised her voice nor exaggerated her posture. Yet the temperature of the room seemed to drop noticeably, turning cold. Her gaze was like a blade, her lips tightly sealed and unmoving. Though she merely sat there in silence, his body tensed on its own.

  “Are you Li Xin?”

  The old woman’s eyes swept over him from head to toe. At that moment, Li Xin unconsciously drew in a breath. This was not pressure born simply from a difference in realm—Killing intent—the chill that only someone who had personally spilled blood and erased it without hesitation could emit. He could have shrunk back under that cold gaze, but instead Li Xin lowered his head and greeted her clearly.

  “Yes.”

  After staring straight through him, the old woman placed a single sheet of paper on the table.

  “Take a look at this talisman.”

  A talisman?

  Li Xin stepped closer without a word and looked down at the talisman she had taken out. At a glance, it looked like a talisman drawn on ordinary talisman paper. He first examined the brushwork—the strokes were firm, and the lines were swung without hesitation. There was a sense of speed, yet no bleeding or trembling. This alone revealed the skill of the talisman master who had drawn it. But soon, something strange caught his eye.

  Li Xin raised a finger and carefully touched the upper part of the talisman. In that instant, a strong sense of incongruity washed over him. The qi touching his skin was different—cold, sharp, and chilling, as if it were scraping beneath the flesh.

  This is absolutely not an ordinary talisman.

  Li Xin’s gaze naturally shifted toward the center of the talisman. There was a pattern there. A complexly intertwined Five-Link Pattern. Five lines bit into and entangled with one another, forming a bizarre shape. More than anything, what was strange was the flow.

  Ordinary talismans guided qi in a proper direction and fixed it onto the paper, but this was different. The qi twisted and tangled, like a living creature writhing in pain.

  Li Xin narrowed his eyes. Normally, if qi collided like this, the talisman should have torn apart or gone berserk from within, yet this talisman stopped precisely at that boundary. An instability that felt intentional. Li Xin slid his hand beneath the paper and lifted it. The talisman felt slightly heavy. The texture was firmer than that of ordinary talismans, with a springy resilience.

  “What do you think?”

  The old woman’s gaze remained fixed on Li Xin. To meet that expectation, Li Xin spoke carefully.

  “This talisman… the grain of the paper felt strange.”

  The old woman’s eyebrow lifted, just slightly.

  “How so?”

  “It didn’t feel artificially processed… it felt like biological tissue that had been thinly spread and dried. And the ink was different from ordinary ink as well. The color wasn’t dull, and there was a reddish stickiness left behind. I believe it was made using blood.”

  For a moment, a brief silence settled in the room. The old woman uncrossed her arms and slowly leaned back.

  “…Good instincts.”

  Her voice was cracked and dry, as if her vitality had withered away, yet a trace of interest flickered in her eyes. She leaned forward slightly and spoke.

  “That talisman is called a Demonic Beast Talisman.”

  Li Xin blinked.

  Demonic Beast Talisman? It was a term he had never heard before. Perhaps sensing his confusion, the old woman continued slowly.

  “The hide of a demonic beast is used as paper, its bones are ground down to make the brush, and its blood replaces the ink. A talisman made that way is called a Demonic Beast Talisman.”

  A talisman made from the byproducts of a demonic beast…

  “Then does that mean the characteristics of the demonic beast seep into the talisman?”

  At Li Xin’s question, the corner of the old woman’s mouth lifted faintly.

  “You’re quick to understand. Yes. A Demonic Beast Talisman made from a Black Wicked Wolf allows one to hide their presence like a shadow, and one made with the blood of a Deep Black Spider carries poison.”

  Every talisman Li Xin had known until now drew its effects from the talisman master’s qi, but this was different. A talisman whose materials themselves possessed powerful strength and effects.

  Li Xin unconsciously looked down at the talisman in his hand.

  If I could draw Demonic Beast Talismans, what kind of power would I gain?

  From the Strength Talisman, he gained physical power. From the Lightness Talisman, swift footwork. Then from a Demonic Beast Talisman, could he gain the traits of a demonic beast itself?

  All the talismans he had drawn so far were made on ordinary talisman paper with common ink. And now, before his eyes, was an entirely different system that shattered that common sense.

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  Perhaps the old woman noticed this yearning in his eyes. She stared at Li Xin in silence, then murmured softly.

  “…You’re a bit different.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Most people frown the moment they hear the words Demonic Beast Talisman. They call it filthy, evil, dangerous. But you’re curious instead.”

  The old woman’s eye sockets were hollow, deep shadows carved into her wrinkles, yet within those eyes was a peculiar light—interest, and expectation.

  Li Xin did not avoid her gaze.

  “If I can learn it, I want to.”

  “I’ve seen countless people who only talk big. But you don’t avert your eyes.”

  A small chuckle escaped her.

  “Good. If you’re interested in Demonic Beast Talismans, there’s one thing you can do.”

  She crossed her arms again and looked at Li Xin.

  “You’ll process the demonic beast’s hide and blood with your own hands. Well? Can you do it?”

  “I can.”

  There was neither falsehood nor hesitation in that answer. The corner of the old woman’s mouth rose again, ever so slightly.

  “Good. Starting today, you’ll be my assistant talisman hand. I’ll have it registered that way with the union, so keep that in mind.”

  Talisman masters also had assistants. Just as an alchemist’s assistant was called a medicine boy, an assistant who helped a talisman master was commonly called a talisman hand.

  Originally, the term meant the hand that drew talisman strokes. But as time passed, it came to carry a broader meaning. A talisman hand was the talisman master’s shadow. They prepared raw materials, refined talisman paper, ground ink, and handled all tasks required before and after talisman creation. And since high-ranking talisman masters disliked their secret techniques being exposed, talisman hands often also drew miscellaneous talismans as part of delegated work.

  “I know what you want is to have your name listed in the Talisman Union.”

  Her tone was calm, but the meaning behind it was firm. She did not truly want Li Xin to serve as a talisman hand.

  As long as I have one hand that’s at least somewhat useful, that’s enough.

  That was what her eyes were saying. After Li Xin closed the door and left, silence lingered in the room for a moment. The old woman quietly lifted her teacup. Warm steam rose, and as if peering into the tea itself, she spoke.

  “They said he was diligent and na?ve…”

  A small smile spread across her lips. Then, like a faint breath, a chuckle escaped.

  Na?ve? That boy who didn’t even blink when he saw a talisman soaked in demonic beast blood just moments ago?

  The old woman closed her eyes and recalled him. Pale, almost white skin, neat features, an orderly posture—and—eyes far too clear, reflecting all things like light. Outwardly, he was a proper and quiet youth, but what lay within was entirely different.

  He’s accustomed to hiding himself. He’s aware of his opponent while never showing it, calculating how others see him and moving accordingly.

  That was not na?veté. It was a meticulously refined disguise. Setting the teacup down, the old woman murmured softly.

  “I like him.”

  Demonic Beast Talismans. They were not completed simply by using demonic beast blood and flesh as materials. To imbue a talisman with a living creature’s qi, one needed instincts and emotions befitting it. One who could bite down on opportunity, one who hid fangs behind obedience and submission. Only such people could complete Demonic Beast Talismans, and that boy, Li Xin, seemed to possess all of it.

  ***

  A few days later, just as the sun was rising, Li Xin was heading toward the outskirts of Qingshan Valley. The narrow path wound back and forth, and the gravel underfoot was damp with moisture. Throughout the walk, there wasn’t a trace of human presence, not even birdsong.

  As he followed the path at a slow pace, Li Xin felt a vague tension about where he was headed. Before long, at the end of the path, an old thatched hut came into view. The roof looked as if it had gone untended for years, sunken in places, and moss and cracks intertwined along the outer walls. It felt as though someone had deliberately chosen to live while avoiding people.

  Li Xin quietly stopped before the door. Just as he raised his hand to knock, the door creaked open on its own. The old woman appeared from within.

  “Come in.”

  Li Xin stepped inside. The courtyard was wider than expected. A shabby fence enclosed it on all sides, and on one side, old jars were piled haphazardly, but that was not what caught Li Xin’s attention. At the center of the courtyard, something’s hide fluttered slightly in the breeze. On the faded hide, which had barely seen sunlight, dried scraps of flesh still clung in places.

  “Touch it.”

  Li Xin carefully reached out his hand. There were hardened parts and mushy parts coexisting at the same time. It felt strange.

  “A hide doesn’t become paper just by drying it. First, you scrape off the flesh thinly, then soak it in a medicinal bath for several days. It calms the qi and softens the grain.”

  Li Xin nodded absentmindedly, but his face slightly twisted at the smell pressing against his nose. Demonic beast blood carried powerful qi—ferocious vitality, or poisonous malice. That distinct metallic stench burrowed deep into his lungs.

  “After that, you take it out, dry it, scrape it again, dry it again… repeat that at least ten times before it gains value as talisman paper.”

  This was not a simple drying process. It was the process of taming the demonic beast’s qi. And within that qi was another hidden scent—the smell of herbs. She jerked her chin toward the jars behind her. Black liquid bubbled on the surface, each bubble writhed as if alive.

  “The blood must be refined before use. You mix in herbs and suppress the qi. Even if you can’t completely tame it, you can at least make it obey.”

  Inside the jars was demonic beast blood whose qi had been regulated through herbal mixtures. A concoction meant to subdue killing intent and poison. Though the creature was long dead, its blood and hide still brimmed with vitality.

  “To draw Demonic Beast Talismans, your mind must remain intact. If you’re careless, the talisman might consume you instead.”

  Processing materials for Demonic Beast Talismans. An ordinary talisman master wouldn’t even want to look at such work. Each time demonic beast hide was touched, killing intent seeped into the body, and the blood carried poison that could harm cultivation if it touched the qi meridians, but Li Xin did not hesitate.

  This was an opportunity. Demonic Beast Talismans were rare and alien even among talisman arts. Because they dealt with crude, savage, and unpleasant things, orthodox apprentice training and systematic records were difficult to find. That was precisely why learning such material processing methods was itself invaluable.

  “Union contribution points will be given according to the rules. I’ll inspect the materials you process, and if there are no issues, they’ll be converted into contribution points. With those points, you can buy artifacts, pills, or even talisman methods.”

  Of course, the old woman had no intention of teaching Li Xin the Demonic Beast Talisman methods themselves. What she wanted from him was merely a talisman hand to take care of bothersome work, not a disciple.

  “Honestly, anyone can do this kind of work. People just avoid demonic beasts. The technique itself is simple. Even a lone cultivator can do it once their hands are used to it.”

  Li Xin nodded. Scraping hide and mixing blood required no special talent. One only needed to endure the revulsion, grow accustomed to the stench, and withstand the killing intent. That alone was enough. The reason this task had been given to him was Liu Guangjin’s recommendation.

  “I’ll work hard.”

  The old woman nodded slowly, then she opened a storage cabinet behind her and took out processing tools—an iron knife, bone fragments, an old medicinal diagram, a hide frame, and shallow earthenware bowls for pouring blood. All of them bore clear signs of long use.