"Phew, this Rock Armor Talisman came out rather well."

Gu An set down the Snow-Bristle Brush, shaking his head in admiration.

It was now four months later, and he had finally grasped the knack of drawing the Rock Armor Talisman.

To be precise, he hadn't figured it out on his own. He had taken the time to return to the sect and spent fifty Spirit Stones to consult an old Talisman Master for guidance.

Previously, Gu An had only paid attention to the changes in the Rock Armor Talisman's core. He hadn't realized that the talisman headers and talisman feet of Middle Grade talismans also varied.

Drawing the Rock Armor Talisman was not like the Water Shield Talisman. The Water Shield Talisman required using the "Hanging Needle and Drooping Dew Style" to start the talisman header. He could barely get by using his water spiritual power to draw a Common Talisman Header, though the success rate was a bit lower.

But the Rock Armor Talisman placed heavy emphasis on the "Broken Hairpin Hiding Mountains Style" to anchor the talisman foot. With Gu An's method of just picking up the brush and drawing a Common Talisman Header and foot, even a First-Grade High-Tier Talisman Master wouldn't succeed once in ten tries-let alone him, a Talisman Master who had just stepped into the First-Grade Middle-Tier!

Gu An felt deeply wronged in his heart too. The Water Cloud Talisman Scripture hadn't written anything about this!

With just two lines of tiny text-"Suspend the silver needle, drip the hanging dew, to harmonize with the heaven-born intent of water" and "Bend the golden hairpin without breaking, deeply hiding the heavy mountain"-how was anyone supposed to discern the method of adopting these styles?

Couldn't they have just explained it clearly! It made me waste fifty Spirit Stones.

Gu An's heart was full of resentment!

In reality, this situation was common in the cultivation world. To prevent their inheritances from leaking, the major sects all wrote vague descriptions in their jade slips, or added secret codes, ensuring that without guidance, no one could even understand what they were reading. This way, even if others accidentally obtained the inheritance, they couldn't cultivate it.

The old Talisman Master had lamented that some sects' jade slips were even deliberately written with errors. Outsiders who tried to cultivate them would directly suffer Qi Deviation and die from their spiritual power running rampant.

While talismans might not go so far as to take a life, they could trap a person for a lifetime, leaving them unable to advance a single inch until they died of depression!

Hearing this sent a chill down Gu An's spine. He directly agreed to the old Talisman Master's fixed price. For fifty Spirit Stones, he learned the "Hanging Needle and Drooping Dew Style," the "Broken Hairpin Hiding Mountains Style," and the "Resting Pearl Condensing Clarity Style" for the Spirit-Soothing Talisman all at once.

After coming back, Gu An pondered over it, and the more he thought about it, the more something felt off. Had he been scammed?

Fortunately, the old Talisman Master actually did the work after taking the money. Not only was Gu An now successfully drawing the Rock Armor Talisman, but his Water Shield Talisman drawing had also improved. Even the Spirit-Soothing Talisman was roughly at the Novice level.

It could be considered value for money, which was the only thing that soothed his wounded heart.

Gu An placed the Rock Armor Talisman into his Storage Bag, sat cross-legged on his meditation cushion, and meditated to restore his spiritual power.

Right now, he had used up all the Talisman Paper on him, and his Three Mysteries Ink was left with only a thin layer at the bottom. He would need to make a trip back to Qingyuan Immortal City soon to buy some Talisman Paper and Spiritual Ink.

In total, he had drawn twenty-seven Water Shield Talismans, eighteen Rock Armor Talismans, and seven Spirit-Soothing Talismans. The market price of a First-Grade Middle-Tier talisman was about five Spirit Stones each, and defensive talismans along with the Spirit-Soothing Talisman belonged to the highly sought-after category, able to sell for six Spirit Stones each.

But that was the selling price. Unless he was willing to set up his own stall and slowly move the goods, he definitely wouldn't be able to sell them for that price. Gu An had previously inquired at the Treasure Gathering Pavilion; the purchasing price for all three types of talismans was five Spirit Stones each.

The Treasure Gathering Pavilion collected them for five Spirit Stones, but if you wanted to buy them, it wouldn't be at that price-they were six Spirit Stones a piece, no haggling allowed.

In other words, counting the seven Water Shield Talismans and twenty Fireball Talismans he had drawn earlier at White Mirror Lake, these talismans of Gu An's could be sold for roughly over three hundred Spirit Stones.

"Hmph! This behavior of buying low and selling high to exploit the labor of Talisman Masters, they simply deserve to be hung up on the Inverted Peak for a hundred years!" Feeling taken advantage of, Gu An muttered inwardly, highly displeased with the Treasure Gathering Pavilion's risk-free profiteering.

But clearly, the Treasure Gathering Pavilion's existence was to amass wealth. The Qingyuan Sect naturally wouldn't cut off its own arm or destroy its own Great Wall.

[One of your Black Spirit Fish has died of old age, returning a Spiritual Qi Cluster to you!]

[One of your Black Spirit Fish has died of old age, returning a Spiritual Qi Cluster to you!]

[One of your Black Spirit Fish has died of old age, returning a Spiritual Qi Cluster to you!]

Three prompts rang out in Gu An's mind in quick succession. Without time to refine the pure spiritual power in his Dantian, Gu An used a Light Body Spell and leapt out through the window.

In the past, the Black Spirit Fish would occasionally suffer deaths or injuries, but there had never been a time like today where three died in such a short span. Something must have happened!

Sure enough, right after leaving the wooden house, he saw a demon snake swimming into the Bluewave Pool, in the middle of devouring the Black Spirit Fish.

Gu An's face darkened. The Bluewave Pool mixed three kinds of spirit beasts together, and coupled with the Cold-Scale Python incubating in the water, the spiritual mechanism was chaotic. He had actually failed to sense the Ironline Snake's aura for a moment.

The snake was about five meters long and brownish-black in color, with black iron lines lined up across its body that reflected a metallic luster. Its scarlet pupils stared at the water's surface as it hissed, flicking its tongue.

Gu An's gaze focused. This was an Ironline Snake at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Its scales were incomparably hard, it carried snake venom, and it had mastered the Iron-Skin Spell. This was a bit dangerous!

Fortunately, the Ironline Snake was gluttonous and had swam into the Bluewave Pool. Although this snake could swim, it was still much easier to kill than on land.

At this time, the Black Spirit Fish and Blood Moon Eels sensed the danger and frantically dove toward the bottom of the water. Losing its targets, the Ironline Snake cast its cold gaze toward the Clear Spirit Clams.

Gu An stared coldly at this Ironline Snake, feeling furious in his heart. His hands formed the seals for the Water Spear Spell, and three water spears condensed in the air.

The Ironline Snake sensed the surging spiritual energy of the Water Spear Spell and hurriedly turned its head, wanting to escape the water spears' range of envelopment.

But unbeknownst to it, four wrist-thick green vines had emerged from underwater, pulling tightly at the Ironline Snake's body to leave it unable to move.

"Hiss!"

The Ironline Snake let out a hiss, its entire body tensing up like a bow as it exerted force forward, wanting to break through the green vines' restraints.

But it was already too late. The three water spears carried sharp whistling sounds as they pierced toward the Ironline Snake's body in a triangular formation. Unfortunately, the Ironline Snake kept twisting its body, and only one strike hit.

Rings of blood spread out in the water. The pain made the Ironline Snake thrash wildly, kicking up large bloody splashes of water.

Gu An certainly wouldn't let this opportunity go; striking while the enemy was down was the proper course of action. The Emerald Shadow Needle silently emerged from his sleeve and plunged into the water.

The Ironline Snake seemed to sense the subtle movement beneath the water's surface. Enduring the pain, it stopped thrashing, and a layer of pig-iron-like gray light surfaced on its body.

Iron-Skin Spell!

At this time, the Emerald Shadow Needle also arrived at the wound on the Ironline Snake's belly. It crashed into the gray light formed by the Iron-Skin Spell and returned without success. It circled around and hid back into the water, quietly waiting for an opportunity.

Seeing that it had successfully blocked that human's attack, the Ironline Snake placed its attention onto the human on the shore, rushing over in uncontrollable rage.

The Entangling Spell activated once again, confining the Ironline Snake for a moment before it was torn apart.

A faint smile curled at the corner of Gu An's mouth. Three water spears condensed once more, shooting head-on toward the Ironline Snake's seven-inch vital spot.

Seeing this, the Ironline Snake hurriedly gathered the gray light of the Iron-Skin Spell at its head, colliding together with the water spears. For a moment, it was hard to tell the victor, and the surging spiritual power formed a whirlwind.

A fierce wind kicked up, blowing the forest trees into a bend and churning waves upon the water's surface.

Right at this moment, a deep emerald light drilled out from the water's surface. Concealed by the sound of the fierce wind and churning water, it actually went entirely undiscovered by the Ironline Snake.

"Whoosh!"

The cold light pierced through the wind and water, sinking deeply into the Ironline Snake's seven-inch vital spot as a jade-green venom quietly spread.