Chapter 302: Industrialized Talisman Making

Upon reflection, Chen Mobai realized he had many tasks he could pursue. At the Wuhua Dao Academy, he was known for being first in Talismans, Agriculture, Sword Cultivation, and Puppetry.

In reality, however, he was merely a First-Tier Talisman Master, lagging behind his peers Si Guanyu and Zhuang Jialan, both of whom had already obtained their Second-Tier certificates. His achievements in agriculture were solely due to the vast fertile lands of the Tianhe Realm, where extensive practical experience allowed him to excel. His top ranking in sword cultivation was purely a result of the Sword Rainbow Splitting Light realm granted by the Great Dao Tree in the Divine Tree Secret Realm, a skill he himself barely understood.

His mastery in puppetry, however, was genuine. As Che Yucheng's disciple, he had indeed dedicated himself to this particular subject. Yet, this was largely because the Puppetry Department was highly unpopular; the entire academy, from first to tenth grade, had fewer than a hundred students combined, many of whom enrolled merely to earn credits. Chen Mobai’s top proficiency in puppetry was also partly because Chai Lun and other top former students of the Puppetry Department had already graduated. As the saying goes, "When the tiger is away, the monkey becomes king."

Che Yucheng was permissive about this, as he believed that true learning only occurs when one genuinely desires to acquire knowledge. Therefore, whether Chen Mobai chose to study puppetry or focus his attention on other subjects, Che Yucheng allowed him to follow his own inclinations.

With his mind currently agitated and unable to meditate for cultivation, Chen Mobai felt it was opportune to dedicate his time to these myriad immortal arts and crafts. He began by registering for the Second-Tier Talisman Master examination on the Immortal Sect’s online portal. After submitting proof of having passed six consecutive years of Talisman Department coursework at Wuhua Dao Academy to the Talisman Department, ten Second-Tier talismans were automatically generated in the system, forming the basis of Chen Mobai’s Second-Tier Talisman Master examination. One year from that day, he would need to visit a talisman examination center in any Grotto-heaven City within the Immortal Sect and complete the crafting of eight of these talismans within two days and two nights. Successfully doing so would constitute passing the assessment, entitling him to a Second-Tier Talisman Master certificate issued by the Immortal Sect.

The talismans listed were: Ice Crystal Talisman, Azure Flame Talisman, Neon Light Talisman, Immaculate Talisman, Water Mirror Talisman, Profound Mist Talisman, Vacuum Talisman, Heavenly Gang Talisman, Returning Light Talisman, and Armor Transformation Talisman. As Chen Mobai reviewed each talisman, he felt the pressure but also noticed that his previously dispersed spiritual energy seemed to concentrate slightly. It seemed that having a task at hand prevented his mind from wandering aimlessly.

Second-Tier talismans differed significantly from First-Tier ones. To maximize success rates, it was ideal to prepare talisman paper, ink, and even brushes specifically adapted to the respective talisman spells. For instance, for the fire-attribute Azure Flame Talisman, using heat-resistant rock paper along with fire-attribute cinnabar ink would ensure that even if the spell failed, the Talisman Master would not be harmed by a runaway magical backlash. Conversely, water-attribute spell talismans were best drawn on gold paper, as the mutual generation of metal and water could enhance the talisman’s power when activated. Nevertheless, in both the Tianhe Realm and the Immortal Sect, the most developed and widely used talisman paper was that made from various plant materials.

For millennia, the Immortal Sect had been promoting the standardization of talismans to conserve resources by using uniform talisman paper and ink. However, to this day, only First-Tier and portions of Second and Third-Tier talismans had been successfully standardized. While some specialized talismans could be successfully drawn using standard paper and ink, they severely tested the Talisman Master’s foundational skills. For someone of Chen Mobai's average skill level, it was best to use talisman paper and ink specifically suited for the talismans when first attempting to grasp the feeling of success.

This was where the benefit of owning a talisman factory became evident. Although the equipment Wu Shangru had left him was somewhat old, it was fully functional. The large talisman paper machine, with adjusted parameters, could produce six types of standardized talisman paper used in the Immortal Sect. Raw materials, however, still needed to be procured. For instance, producing gold paper required gold refined with a cultivator’s spiritual power, while rock paper was made from spirit sand mixed with spiritual soil. Chen Mobai recalled Wu Shangru mentioning that rock paper made from spirit stone fragments was actually of the highest quality. As luck would have it, he had an abundance of such material. Since he was only producing talisman paper for his own practice, he retrieved two bags of pre-crushed spirit stone fragments.

The factory’s workshop director, though astonished, attributed it to his new boss’s extraordinary capabilities. After all, his new boss was the Chief Disciple of the Wuhua Dao Academy, a top genius of the Immortal Sect. At the boss’s command, despite the Lunar New Year holidays, the Feitian Talisman Factory’s workshop director called back several competent local workers. They restarted the machines and painstakingly began producing talisman paper and ink.

Chen Mobai also tried his hand at talisman ink production, operating the machine under the workshop director’s guidance. Having personally crafted talisman ink using the crude methods of the Tianhe Realm—even with the small machines borrowed from the Immortal Sect under the guidance of the Wood Spirit Talisman Shop owner—Chen Mobai was unwilling to endure such tediousness and hardship again. Consequently, Chen Mobai had rarely drawn talismans in the past two years, as his previously made talisman ink was nearly depleted. He had initially planned to entrust this task to his apprentice, Zhuo Ming, once she matured. However, with his own factory and equipment now available, there was no longer a need to wait.

For his first experimental use of the talisman ink machine, Chen Mobai opted for the Immortal Sect’s most common First-Tier talisman ink rather than attempting anything of high difficulty. After sequentially adding spirit sand, spirit materials, and various industrial binding agents, in less than two hours, a rectangular talisman ink stick, three fingers wide and one finger thick, emerged from the machine’s outlet. Each palm-length segment was then cleanly sliced off by a blade.

With a rhythmic slicing sound, standard Immortal Sect talisman ink sticks appeared before Chen Mobai, then were transported along the assembly line to the packaging station. They would first pass through a quality control gate. This was the quality inspection gate. If the talisman ink contained excessive impurities or lacked sufficient spiritual energy, it would be stopped at this checkpoint and diverted into a discard bin. Talisman ink that passed quality inspection would then proceed along the assembly line to a workstation. A gloved female employee would skillfully pick them up, inspect their shape and color for any imperfections, and only then place them into boxes on the workbench, which were then transferred to another assembly line behind her. The boxed talisman inks then passed into another laminating machine. Upon exiting, each box was sealed with a thin, transparent, seamless plastic film. The final step involved employees neatly stacking the fully packaged and laminated talisman ink boxes into large cartons.

This represented the most standardized talisman ink production process within the Immortal Sect. Witnessing this, Chen Mobai recalled how, when he had first crafted the talisman ink for the Crimson Flame Sword Talisman, the entire process—from grinding and mixing ingredients to simmering, air-drying, and sun-drying—had taken approximately a month. Now, it took merely two hours. Before him lay nearly a hundred high-quality, almost impurity-free talisman ink sticks, neatly stacked. Indeed, technology truly revolutionized immortal cultivation.

“By the way, what happens to the talisman ink that doesn’t pass quality inspection?” Chen Mobai led his group to the quality inspection gate and asked the workshop director beside him, Pan Kaiqiang, who had worked at the factory for thirty years. Pan Kaiqiang had a ruddy complexion, a sturdy build, and a shaved head.

“Once a certain quantity is collected, we notify the Immortal Sect’s environmental sanitation department to come and retrieve them. The factory then pays a special waste disposal fee.”

Hearing this, Chen Mobai couldn’t help but shake his head. If these materials were taken to the Tianhe Realm, they would undoubtedly be superior to anything crafted by even the most skilled talisman ink masters. Giving them to Zhuo Ming would likely make her happy for an entire year.

“Pack them up and put them in my office. I need to practice crafting talismans, and using these lower-quality inks can help train my brush control skills.”

Upon hearing this, Pan Kaiqiang and the surrounding workers exchanged bewildered glances. However, he simply assumed his new boss was reluctant to pay the waste disposal fee, so he said no more. He nodded and immediately instructed a young man to pack up the six quality-rejected ink sticks produced during this production run.

Compared to talisman ink production, talisman paper proved much more troublesome. Chen Mobai waited for a considerable time before the first sheet of gold paper emerged. The gold was naturally procured from Wu Wan, who was already one of Feitian Talisman Factory’s suppliers. After Chen Mobai achieved Foundation Establishment, he only carried spirit stones; not a single piece of gold currency could be found in his storage bag.

After three days of overtime, the Feitian Talisman Factory produced enough talisman paper and ink for Chen Mobai to use for an entire year. For this, Chen Mobai paid 12,000 cultivation merits in total for overtime and bonuses for five employees, not including equipment depreciation. The raw material procurement costs for talisman paper and ink amounted to 186,400 cultivation merits. The material costs were directly recorded as expenditures, as these materials had already been procured and stored in the warehouse. Only seldom-used materials like gold were delivered by Wu Wan, and Chen Mobai settled those material costs on the spot. As for other materials that were used, the accountant would deduct their cost from next year’s surplus when settling the books. However, since all profits belonged to Chen Mobai, no one dared to object to him using them for his own purposes.

The Feitian Talisman Factory had a good year, likely due to Chen Mobai becoming its spokesperson. After the year-end settlement, it showed a profit of 1.8 million cultivation merits. However, since transferring this amount to a personal account would incur taxes from the Immortal Sect, Chen Mobai decided to leave all the profits in the company’s ledger. It wasn't foresight that led him to prepare these funds for his talisman crafting practice; it was purely his reluctance to pay taxes.

With ample materials for talisman crafting practice, Chen Mobai began to focus intently on drawing talismans. The location, naturally, was Qingshan Village. It was a rare occasion for the entire family—the elderly, middle-aged, and young—to gather together. In the small village, Chen Mobai’s arrival attracted curious crowds of villagers. Chen Mobai, who had initially sought peace in the mountains, found himself having to depart after the Lunar New Year festivities.

Upon returning to Danxia City, as Chen Mobai was drawing talismans, his aunt’s family came to visit.

“Brother, quick, sign this for me!”

Wang Xinying, now a young woman, was reserved and demure in front of others. Her beauty, inheriting the Chen family’s good genes, featured picturesque eyebrows, milky-white skin, and a graceful figure, making her the class beauty of Immortal Sect Fifth High School. However, in Chen Mobai’s presence, she remained as sweetly naive and gleeful as she was in childhood.

“Why so many?” Chen Mobai picked up his pen, looked up at the doorway, and widened his eyes upon seeing the stack in Wang Xinying’s hand.

“My entire class, including the teachers, asked me, and so did a few good friends from the neighboring class. I even filtered out some requests, otherwise you’d have to sign for the whole school!” As Wang Xinying spoke, she was still at the doorway. She kicked off her knee-high snow boots, not bothering to change into slippers, and ran towards him across the wooden floor, her feet clad only in snowy-white cotton socks, clutching a stack of Chen Mobai’s photos.

How could Chen Mobai possibly refuse his sister’s request? He multitasked, signing with one hand while the other continued to draw the Ice Crystal Talisman. The cold winter weather was perfectly suited for cultivating this talisman.

“Brother, how are you doing that?” Wang Xinying watched Chen Mobai at his desk, one hand signing and the other crafting a talisman, her eyes widening in admiration.

“You want to learn?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Unfortunately, even if I teach you, you wouldn’t be able to learn it. You need to achieve Foundation Establishment first to learn mind-splitting techniques.”

“Hmph, just you wait! Once I get into one of the Four Great Dao Academies, I’ll achieve Foundation Establishment in no time, just to show you!” Wang Xinying pouted, pressing her hands on the desk, and stared intently at Chen Mobai. He offered a wry smile but refrained from mentioning the difficulty of achieving Foundation Establishment, a matter that had already troubled his mind due to two close friends failing in their attempts.

“How are your cultivation progress now?” Although activating his Void-piercing Spiritual Eye would allow him to discern Wang Xinying’s cultivation level at a glance, Chen Mobai certainly wouldn’t do that.

“I’m already at the eighth level of Qi Refinement, and if I’m lucky, I might reach the ninth level before next year’s college entrance examination.” Wang Xinying beamed with pride as she spoke. Her spiritual root talent was excellent; although it was also a three-attribute true spiritual root, her Metal spiritual root had 30 points, which was superior to Chen Mobai’s initial attribute.

“Child, if it weren’t for your brother’s connections, allowing access to Qi-replenishing spiritual water and barrier-breaking pills, how could you possibly progress so quickly?” His aunt, Chen Yulan, upon hearing her daughter’s words, gently reprimanded her, telling her not to be boastful.

“It’s mainly due to her own hard work,” Chen Mobai interjected, defending his sister. “By the way, have you decided which university you want to attend?”

“Wuhua Dao Academy, of course!” Chen Mobai naturally defended his sister, whom he had watched grow up. Wang Xinying made a face at her mother, and after declaring her ambitious goal, she walked over to Chen Mobai’s side, picked up a piece of talisman ink, and began to help him grind it.

The brother and sister had shared a strong bond since childhood, and this affection had not wavered with Chen Mobai’s Foundation Establishment. Feeling the pure, childlike heart of his sister beside him, Chen Mobai’s previously troubled mind suddenly found peace. Indeed, nothing in this world lasts forever. It was best to let things be, cherish the good memories, forget the bad ones, and simply live in the present.

With this realization, Chen Mobai offered a faint smile and completed the final stroke of the Ice Crystal Talisman. An ice flower blossomed at the center of the talisman, then receded into the talisman paper, transforming into a subtle pattern that would only emerge upon activation.

“It’s so beautiful!” Wang Xinying, who was helping to grind the ink, witnessed this and was completely captivated.

“It’s for you, consider it a New Year’s gift.” At Chen Mobai’s words, Wang Xinying naturally didn’t hesitate. She immediately took the Ice Crystal Talisman into her palm and delightedly turned it over, examining and playing with it.

“Child, aren’t you going to thank your brother?”

“Thank you, Brother!”

Amidst laughter and joy, on the first day after the Lunar New Year, the family gathered around the table for a meal. Snowflakes drifted outside the window, yet inside, the atmosphere was festive and filled with warmth and harmony. Chen Mobai felt an unprecedented sense of contentment within his heart. That night, he slept soundly, free from dreams.