“Oh, you’ve been out for so long and just returned. What happened to you?”
As soon as Chen Lin stepped out of his room, he saw the sallow-faced female cultivator walking in from outside the courtyard.
Her steps were faltering, her hair was a mess like a chicken’s nest, and her clothes were disheveled, as if she had just rolled on the ground.
She also carried a strange scent.
The usually sharp-tongued sallow-faced female cultivator was uncharacteristically silent this time, not even daring to look at Chen Lin. She lowered her head, holding a bag of rice tightly with both hands, and hurried back to her room.
Chen Lin thoughtfully glanced at her retreating figure, shook his head, and did not bother with her.
This place was more chaotic than a world in turmoil; everyone had their own way of survival, and there was no need to judge.
Carrying his bundle, he walked out of the courtyard, followed the cleared narrow path for a while, turned a corner, looked around to make sure no one was passing by, and quickly dug a hole in a large snowdrift naturally piled up by the wind, then Drill ed into it.
After a long while, a bloated, black-faced man wearing a fur-lined cap emerged from the snow hole.
The black-faced man first checked his surroundings, and after confirming there was no one, he shook off the snow on his body with satisfaction and walked out of the alley.
Lianyun Inn.
By the time Chen Lin, or rather, the black-faced man, arrived at the Inn’s entrance, it was already completely dark.
“Stop! This place has been booked today. If you’re looking for lodging, please go elsewhere!”
Just as he was about to walk in, he was stopped.
“Oh, I am a Talisman Master. I heard that Young Master Lu is offering a reward for Talisman crafting here, so I came to try.”
Chen Lin’s voice had also changed, becoming somewhat hoarse.
Both the disguise mask on his face and the Voice-Altering Pill were made by him relying on his Ten Times Certain Success ability, serving as experimental subjects for his talent ability.
“Oh, it’s Talisman Master, please follow me!”
Hearing that he was a Talisman Master, one of the two doorkeepers immediately smiled and welcomed Chen Lin inside.
Chen Lin was slightly surprised.
He had expected to go through some trouble, thinking about what to say if the other party wanted to verify his identity, but he didn’t expect to be asked nothing at all.
He wondered if that Lu Li was truly too eager for the Soul Capturing Talisman, or if he believed that in Kaiyuan City, no one dared to harm him, a Disciple of the Lu family.
It saved him some talking.
As he followed the attendant into the Inn’s main hall, he saw that there were already more than ten people, either sitting or standing.
In the center of the hall, Lu Li sat on a chair, his expression unreadable.
And his Junior Sister sat behind him.
After Chen Lin was led into the main hall, the attendant withdrew. Seeing that no one was speaking, he found a corner and quietly sat down.
Then, several more people were successively led in.
After that, no one else arrived.
After waiting for a while longer, Lu Li raised an eyebrow and stood up from his chair.
“Thank you, all Talisman Masters, for your support!”
He first cupped his fists in a bow, then looked around and said, “I presume everyone here knows what I intend to do. My time is pressing, so I won’t beat around the bush. This is the crafting method for the Soul Capturing Talisman. Please observe it first!”
With that, he took out a Jade Slip, which was the one he had obtained from the Old Shopkeeper at Duobao Pavilion.
Chen Lin noticed that as soon as Lu Li finished speaking, the eyes of everyone in the room lit up.
Regardless of whether they could receive the Spirit Stone reward, obtaining the crafting method for an obscure Talisman would make the trip worthwhile.
He estimated that at least a significant portion of these people were here to freeload.
“I’ll go first. I want to see what profound mystery this Soul Capturing Talisman holds, that it would trouble Young Master Lu to organize a Talisman crafting assembly to refine it!”
A red-faced man was the first to walk over, squinting and sneering as he took the Jade Slip in his hand.
The information within the Jade Slip required Mental Energy to view. As he pressed the Jade Slip to his glabella, his expression began to change continuously.
Soon, the man’s face turned ashen as he removed the Jade Slip. He seemed about to say something but then looked at Lu Li and remained silent, instead handing the Jade Slip to the second person.
The second person took it with a puzzled expression, and just like the red-faced man, his face also turned green after observing it.
Next, the Jade Slip was passed around to everyone in the room, and each person’s expression after viewing it was not pleasant.
Finally, it was Chen Lin’s turn.
He pressed the Jade Slip to his glabella, and his Mental Energy transformed into a tendril, probing into it.
Scene after scene appeared in Chen Lin’s mind.
This feeling was marvelous, something ordinary people could never comprehend.
Soon, the crafting method for the Soul Capturing Talisman was completely read.
According to the content in the Jade Slip, the cultivation requirement for crafting this Soul Capturing Talisman was not high, and the crafting technique was not complex.
However, it had a drawback.
That was, the stability of this Talisman was extremely poor, and under normal crafting, there was almost no possibility of success.
To improve the Talisman’s stability, the crafter needed to use their own Divine Soul as an Introduction and fuse it into the Talisman.
The more fused, the higher the success rate.
Even so, the ultimate success rate was still quite low, and even after successful crafting, its stability remained poor, lasting at most for one day and one night.
Besides the drawing method for the Soul Capturing Talisman, the Jade Slip also contained a secret technique that could cleave the Divine Soul.
However, this secret technique was very crude and simple, and its use caused considerable harm to oneself.
Chen Lin returned the Jade Slip to Lu Li, his expression also not looking good.
Of course, he was faking it.
With the Ten Times Certain Success ability, he only needed to follow the normal crafting method to successfully craft the Soul Capturing Talisman, without needing to use such an evil technique as a Soul Introduction.
At the same time, he secretly lamented in his heart.
The drawbacks of this Talisman were too great, and its effect only lasted for one day; otherwise, it would have been an excellent item for him to earn money by utilizing his talent ability.
Moreover, this Talisman was too niche; it was neither an offensive nor a defensive type, but rather used to collect Souls.
Something that collects Souls but can only last for one day—he truly didn’t know what it could be used for.
He wouldn’t even know who to sell it to after crafting it.
“Alright, everyone has understood the crafting method for the Soul Capturing Talisman. Its crafting is not complicated, only the success rate is a bit low, but I have prepared sufficient Materials, and the rooms are also tidy. Everyone, prepare yourselves and let’s begin!”
Lu Li took out a large pile of Materials from his Storage Pouch and spoke loudly.
However, no one moved.
After a long while, it was still the red-faced man who first broke the silence, “Fellow Daoist Lu, crafting your Soul Capturing Talisman causes too much damage to the Soul. You didn’t make that clear before. Please forgive my inability to help!”
Immediately, another gaunt old man squinted and sneered, “Indeed, although Fellow Daoist Lu has offered extremely generous compensation, the Soul is the foundation of cultivation. Once damaged, one will be forever cut off from the Grand Dao. A mere few thousand Spirit Stones are not enough for this old man to do such a thing!”
“Hmph!”
As soon as the old man finished speaking, Junior Sister Lan Yu Qing, who had been sitting silently, let out a chuckle.
She also squinted and sneered, “This Fellow Daoist must be sixty or seventy years old, yet your cultivation is only at Qi Condensation third layer at such an age, and you are still stubbornly pursuing the immortal Dao. This young lady truly admires you!”
Her voice was like silver bells, but her words were sharp and piercing.
The old man’s face flushed, but he still stiffened his neck and said, “Even if the Dao path is dim, Soul damage has a great impact on us Talisman crafters. This old man will not craft such a Talisman. Farewell!”
With that, he walked towards the door with an ashen face.
“Hmph!”
Lu Li’s expression turned cold.
“What do you take this place for? Come and go as you please?”
After speaking, a black light shot out from his hand, piercing through the old man’s chest with a soft sound, then flashing back like lightning.
The entire process ended in the blink of an eye, and the old man collapsed, breathless, without even a hint of reaction.
“Hiss!”
Everyone gasped, looking at Lu Li with expressions of shock, fear, and anger.
But not a single person dared to step forward.
Even the two who showed signs of the pathological squinting sneer disease forcibly held back from speaking.