Having resolved to draw a Demonic Beast Talisman himself, Li Xin busily moved about the outer city, purchasing demonic beast byproducts.

  The Daejin Domain was a place where demonic beasts were everywhere, so the prices were cheaper than expected. From the start, the materials themselves were far less valuable than the techniques used to process them into cultivation resources.

  “One hundred jeon per day. Don’t waste it carelessly!”

  After purchasing all the necessary materials, Li Xin rented a workshop of suitable size for one day. Such workshops were plentiful throughout the outer city, so it did not take long to find one.

  Sitting inside the rented workshop and gazing at the demonic beast byproducts, a subtle emotion flickered across Li Xin’s face. He then recalled why he had chosen to craft a Demonic Beast Talisman outside of Xu Yul’s sight.

  Xu Hui and Xu Yul… are they really trustworthy?

  The answer was, ‘I don’t know.’

  There had to be reasons why they treated him well. Most likely, it was because they were confident they could draw even greater value from him, which was why they supported him so generously.

  He could not blame their actions. This was simply how the strong treated the weak in the cultivation world. Of course, there was no immediate problem.

  Veteran cultivators always keep thirty percent of their strength hidden, or so they say.

  Li Xin intended to follow the Xu Clan’s arrangements while secretly cultivating strength that no one else knew about.

  I can’t rely on the Xu Clan’s goodwill forever.

  In the worst case, even if Xu Yul changed his mind today and killed him, Li Xin would be unable to resist in the slightest under the current circumstances. Or perhaps he could be killed on the road simply because someone disliked the look in his eyes.

  Li Xin truly despised the fact that his fate was decided by others rather than by himself. So how much power was enough?

  There is no end to power. One can only do one’s best.

  Even this had no clear answer. If even the Daejin Sect, filled with Tier Two cultivators, could not foresee its own future, how could Li Xin, a mere low-ranked talisman practitioner, predict his path ahead? All he could do was give his utmost effort and struggle with all his might as a weakling. And the starting point was this very Demonic Beast Talisman.

  Last night, after immersing himself in the Demonic Beast Talisman Crafting Method all day, Li Xin grasped its core at once. The greatest difference was that, unlike ordinary talismans, a Demonic Beast Talisman required the use of ‘Origin True Qi’ rather than ordinary qi when drawing strokes.

  Origin True Qi referred to the most fundamental life force one possessed from birth—essentially, one’s lifespan. Aside from that, the crafting process itself was not vastly different, but Xu Hui had said that the greatest problem lay in the fear that arose during the process. Yet Li Xin felt anticipation rather than fear. If he offered up his own frail essence and exchanged it for the powerful essence of a demonic beast, who would benefit was self-evident. A greedy glint shimmered in his eyes.

  “Let’s begin.”

  There were still eight hours until midnight. Li Xin did not hesitate and began processing the demonic beast byproducts.

  His movements were decisive, without hesitation. Each practiced motion breathed life into the materials. Steel knife, bone fragments, medicinal blade, leather frame, ceramic vessel. The knowledge imparted by Xu Hui was reproduced through his fingertips, and the first stage ended in an instant.

  However, poisonous residues still lingered in the blood, and moisture and remnant demonic qi seeped through the hide. To remove them completely, the same process had to be repeated several times. The remaining time was far from sufficient. But Li Xin had only undertaken this task because he was confident he could finish everything within the allotted time.

  Closing his eyes, Li Xin recalled the incantations of the Demon Blood Tempering Steel Art. As the technique activated, the poison within the demonic blood was drawn into his body. A prickling sensation spread across his skin, and his veins felt as though they were burning.

  Li Xin clenched his teeth. His mind, tempered by the Calm Heart Mantra, did not waver even before pain.

  “Haah… haah~”

  When his breathing grew rough, Li Xin finally withdrew his hand from the blood. Next came the task of removing the moisture and residual demonic qi from the hide.

  From his storage pouch, Li Xin took out the Five-Element Converging Array Plate and set it to the ‘fire’ attribute. He then recalled the principles of Flame Blaze he had comprehended while drawing an extreme-grade Flame Blaze Talisman.

  A crimson aura bloomed from his fingertips and spread across the hide. Fierce flames evaporated the moisture and purified the polluted demonic qi. Yet excessive heat soon threatened to damage the hide itself. At that moment, Li Xin immediately switched the array plate’s attribute to ‘water’ and recalled the principles of Ice Spirit.

  A cold aura surged forth from his fingertips, rapidly cooling the fire-heated hide. The scorching hide cooled in an instant, returning to its original state.

  Li Xin repeated this entire process several times. With the assistance of the Five-Element Converging Array Plate, he even used up the last remaining stick of Warm Spirit Incense without holding back. Naturally, the quality of the finished materials would be close to the lowest grade. But to Li Xin, the fact that he could draw the talisman at all was what mattered most.

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  Nearly four hours passed in the blink of an eye. At last, Li Xin finished preparing all the materials for talisman crafting. Ink made from demonic beast blood. Talisman paper with its demonic qi fully purified. Everything lay before his eyes.

  Yet in the process, Li Xin’s mental strength had been utterly depleted. Fatigue like that of staying awake for several nights pressed down on his entire body, making him feel as though he might collapse at any moment. In such a state, it was natural that he could scarcely think of drawing a talisman. Even so, Li Xin lifted his brush without hesitation. In fact, he believed that only in such a state could he infuse the brush with pure ‘essence.’

  “Hoo…”

  He took a deep breath and steadied his mind. Then, with utmost care, he loaded a single thread of Origin True Qi onto the brush. The moment the true qi flowed into the brush, a violent pain gripped his heart as if it were being wrung dry. A hollow sensation washed over him, as though all energy was draining from the depths of his body.

  Yet even amidst the pain, Li Xin’s eyes shone brightly. As the demonic beast blood mixed with his Origin True Qi, an astonishing change occurred in the old, ordinary-looking brush he held.

  The faintly engraved spell inscriptions on the brush body glowed red and began to emit light as if alive. At the same time, the aura at the brush tip grew even clearer.

  This is…!

  Only then did Li Xin realize it. The reason Xu Renlu had given him this brush. He had already known that Li Xin would one day draw a Demonic Beast Talisman, and had prepared a tool optimized for that very purpose.

  Even Xu Renlu probably didn’t expect the brush’s spell inscriptions to activate now.

  Li Xin felt a chill at the Xu Clan’s meticulous planning, but—

  At this level, the success rate is more than high enough.

  This unexpected gain instead filled him with even greater confidence. He then drew the first stroke of the talisman.

  What talisman was he drawing? Though he had once drawn an extreme-grade Flame Blaze Talisman, that had been a special case. The talisman Li Xin was most confident in now was undoubtedly the Ice Shadow Talisman.

  He began skillfully drawing the three strokes of the Ice Shadow Talisman he had mastered, onto the demonic beast hide paper. Though Demonic Beast Talismans were classified as heterodox talismans, their system still followed the trigrams of the Book of Changes.

  Li Xin already possessed a fully internalized understanding of stroke principles. Because he trusted his own ability, he felt no fear of failure, and without fear, the aura flowing from his brush grew all the purer.

  That aura, like a starving beast, swiftly seized and devoured the turbid demonic qi remaining in the hide. The strokes were completed one by one, and the final line was drawn far more smoothly than expected.

  …It finished this easily?

  Even Li Xin himself was taken aback by the result. Yet the message that appeared before his eyes was no illusion.

  [You have completed a Three-Stroke Yin–Yang Talisman through the principles of Ice Shadow.]

  [Completion Evaluation: Upper–Lower Grade ]

  [The remnant soul of the demonic beast harmonizes with the body.]

  Not a Demonic Beast Talisman, but a Yin–Yang Talisman?

  Before he could even be startled by the unexpected name—

  At that moment, Li Xin felt a tremendous change surge through his body. It was as though he had been plunged into boiling water, every cell in his body reacting violently as if being reconstructed.

  What was the greatest difference between demonic beasts and humans? It was their powerful bodies. The human body was fragile beyond measure, but demonic beasts were born with sturdy bones and resilient hides. The remnant soul of the demonic beast harmonizes with the body. It was a simple phrase, yet the changes it brought about were anything but minor.

  “Keugh—”

  His breath caught in his throat. In an instant, his entire body screamed in unison. First came a prickling sensation, as if thousands of needles were piercing every blood vessel at once. Second came relentless shocks, as though a massive hammer were smashing each bone apart and reforging it again and again. Third came a horrifying sensation, as if countless insects were crawling beneath his skin, gnawing away at his flesh.

  Li Xin writhed under the unbearable pain. Deep claw marks were left on the stone floor, and the torn nails regrew shortly afterward.

  “Huuk, huuk—”

  When the transformation ended, the pain vanished in an instant, and only then did Li Xin have the leisure to examine his body. His blood had been purified, clear and transparent, and his bones were condensed, heavy and solid like steel tempered hundreds of times. His skin transformed into a texture akin to demonic beast hide, possessing both elasticity and strength. All of these changes stemmed from a single talisman.

  “…This is beyond imagination.”

  Li Xin trembled at the powerful, pure strength surging from his body. The reward gained from the talisman far exceeded his expectations. But as he mulled over the message again, a question arose. The talisman’s recorded name was not Demonic Beast Talisman, but Yin–Yang Talisman.

  At that moment, Li Xin understood. This was the talisman’s true name, and its true meaning.

  Yin and yang. Life and death. Growth and decay…

  It was something only Li Xin, who had personally embodied the talisman’s principles, could comprehend. The remnants forged from the blood and hide of a dead demonic beast were steeped thoroughly in yin energy. On the other hand, a human’s Origin True Qi constantly circulated and sought to expand outward, carrying yang energy.

  “The byproducts of a dead demonic beast are yin, and the strokes placed upon them carry pure yang…”

  A flash of insight passed through Li Xin’s eyes.

  “When the two melt into one within the talisman, only then does ‘yin and yang’ achieve harmony.”

  The cycle of the four seasons, the rumble of thunder, the fall of rain, the growth of crops. All natural phenomena could not be explained by the Five Elements alone—the harmony of yin and yang—the fundamental principle that set all things in motion.

  The laws of nature are only complete when yin and yang exist together.

  The moment he grasped this truth, Li Xin’s mind expanded into a realm he had never experienced before. It felt as though all the fatigue he had accumulated vanished at once.

  My mental strength has increased nearly fivefold…

  Li Xin was deeply astonished by the change brought about by this small enlightenment. Perhaps this realization itself was the greatest reward he had gained from the talisman.

  I think I finally understand the true principle behind Demonic Beast Talismans.

  If ordinary talismans operated primarily on the principles of the Five Elements, then Demonic Beast Talismans—no, Yin–Yang Talismans—operated on the principles of yin and yang.

  Neither could be said to be superior. In the end, all of them were merely fragments of nature, parts of the Heavenly Dao.

  With the same strokes, one can hold the Five Elements… or yin and yang…

  And what made all of this possible was the stroke-based talisman method perfected by the Heavenly Dao Gate. Once more, Li Xin trembled at the depth hidden within a single, simple stroke.