Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Pavilion Entry Assessment

Shen Ji chattered on excitedly for a long time. It wasn’t until Jiang Xu shifted back uncomfortably that she realized she had gotten a bit too close to him. Flustered, she quickly retreated another step.

BANG!

"Ouch!"

She hadn’t expected to move back so abruptly and accidentally slammed her leg hard against the corner of the table. The pain nearly brought tears to Shen Ji’s eyes.

"Uh, Fellow Daoist Shen, are you all right?"

"Hiss... I’m—hiss... I’m fine!"

After Shen Ji recovered from the shock of pain, the blush on her face had yet to fade, and her eyes were still brimming with tears.

Feeling embarrassed under Jiang Xu’s gaze, Shen Ji turned her face away, bit her lip, and mumbled, "Follow me," before leading the way out the door and towards the study.

Jiang Xu followed Shen Ji into the study.

His eyes were met with rows upon rows of bookshelves, all meticulously organized with various category labels.

"Which kind would you like to read first? I can help you find them."

"In that case, what would you recommend I start with?"

Shen Ji thought for a moment.

"Then you should start with books related to the Great Qi of Ancient Times. I’ll find them for you."

After speaking, Shen Ji skillfully retrieved seven or eight books from several shelves and placed them in front of Jiang Xu.

"Start with these. I’ll find more for you after you finish them."

Jiang Xu looked up and saw that the stack of seven or eight books was over half a meter high.

He let out a silent groan and picked one up to start reading.

After handing the books to Jiang Xu, Shen Ji also casually picked one up for herself to read.

However, Shen Ji’s mind clearly wasn’t on her book. Her bright, sparkling dark eyes would periodically drift away from the pages in front of her and, for some reason, land on Jiang Xu.

Seeing Jiang Xu already engrossed in his reading, Shen Ji grew even more delighted.

Her eyes, no longer hiding their interest, seemed to take root on Jiang Xu.

...

The afternoon passed by, lost in books.

Night fell,

and the darkness deepened.

Jiang Xu stood up, stretched his back, and moved his limbs around.

He originally thought it would take at least a day or two to get through these books.

But Jiang Xu had clearly underestimated how the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer had enhanced his Spiritual Power, granting him an extraordinary memory.

Even though the content of the Ancient Texts was obscure and wordy,

the afternoon had been enough for him to finish reading and completely absorb the information in all the books.

After loosening up, Jiang Xu turned to look at Shen Ji, who was still reading.

"Fellow Daoist Shen, it’s getting late. I won’t disturb you any longer. I’ll visit again next time."

"What? You’re leaving already? Why don’t you stay the night?" Shen Ji blurted out.

"Huh?" Jiang Xu’s mouth fell open.

"No, no, no!"

Shen Ji finally realized what she had said, and her face turned so red it looked like it might start bleeding.

"I just saw that it’s gotten very dark outside and was worried you might be in danger. And I saw you were so engrossed in your reading..."

Shen Ji’s voice trailed off. She felt like everything she was saying sounded like an excuse.

"Ahem, I’ll be going then."

"Take care, Fellow Daoist Jiang."

...

On the way back from Shen Ji’s house,

Jiang Xu mentally summarized what he had just read.

Those books had truly taught him quite a lot.

’According to the Ancient Texts, the Great Qi where I am now is located in the Western Wilderness Continent. In Ancient Times, it was the most barren and resource-poor of the Five Continents.’

’But precisely because of this, and the scarcity of high-Realm Immortal Cultivators, the Western Wilderness Continent wasn’t heavily damaged. The Ancient Artifacts that were preserved—like ancient scriptures, Cultivation Techniques, Magic, or what have you—are relatively intact.’

’If that’s the case, once I level up my Spiritual Eye Technique, maybe I can go treasure hunting at the stalls in the Marketplace? It’s possible someone might not recognize a valuable item and sell it cheap.’

’It’s just that breaking through with the Spiritual Eye Technique is fourth or fifth on my list of priorities.’

’In the end, it all comes down to not having enough Limit-Breaking Points. Limit-Breaking Points are related to lifespan... I wonder if there are any Secret Techniques or Elixirs that can extend one’s life.’

...

「Two days later.」

After paying the registration fee of 3 Spirit Stones, Jiang Xu was approved to participate in the Talisman Pavilion’s monthly entrance examination.

Jiang Xu had been preparing for this examination for a long time.

Not preparing to perform better, though.

Because his Cold Ice Talisman was already enough to leave the people of the Talisman Pavilion utterly astounded.

But that would be far too conspicuous.

So Jiang Xu bought a lot more Talisman Paper to practice drawing a new type of Talisman.

This time, he chose the Silence Talisman, the second-simplest among the unranked Talismans.

To pass the Talisman Pavilion’s examination, one had to be able to skillfully draw at least two types of unranked Talismans. Only then could one be considered a Talisman Maker.

Even if it was just an unranked Talisman Maker,

it was at least a foot in the door.

While drawing the new Talisman this time, Jiang Xu was surprised to find that his Skill Level with the Silence Talisman shot up right from the start. His success rate was clearly much higher than when he was first drawing the Dust-removal Talisman.

And after using up just two dozen sheets of Talisman Paper, his Skill Level with the Silence Talisman had already reached the Skilled Level.

Jiang Xu guessed that perhaps because of his previous epiphany, his overall understanding of the Talisman Dao had been elevated to a new level, making him a true Tier One Lower Grade Talisman Maker.

So, drawing a lower-grade Talisman would naturally be much easier.

"Next, Jiang Xu!"

An Inner Sect Disciple in charge of the examination looked at the roster and cast her gaze toward Jiang Xu.

She was a charming woman of about thirty, her curvaceous body clad in a goose-yellow dress. She exuded an air of maturity.

Jiang Xu acknowledged her and hurried forward, arriving before a long table.

"First round: a test of your fundamentals!"

The examiner disciple said unhurriedly:

"First, draw fifteen different basic Runes! I will examine them for errors in your fundamentals—your brushwork, the Runes themselves, and your Mana Nodes. More than five mistakes, and you fail the examination!"

Jiang Xu felt a little nervous.

He took a sheet of Talisman Paper from the side and began to draw the first Rune on it.

Time passed. After a few minutes, Jiang Xu successfully drew the first basic Rune. Seeing the examiner disciple nod, he prepared to continue with the next Rune.

"Wait!"

At that moment, the examiner disciple beside him frowned, her voice filled with dissatisfaction:

"Are you going to draw a second basic Rune on the same sheet of Talisman Paper? Don’t you know that you can’t draw multiple Runes on the same sheet if they aren’t connected? It will damage the Talisman Paper. That’s your first mistake!"

Sweat beaded on Jiang Xu’s forehead as he hurriedly reached for another sheet of Talisman Paper.

He had actually wanted to draw a complete Dust-removal Talisman, which would have allowed him to draw eight basic Runes at once.

But Jiang Xu had forgotten that this first round was only testing the basics; he wasn’t supposed to draw a complete Talisman yet.

’...So strict. Even that counts as a mistake.’

Realizing how strict the examination was, Jiang Xu didn’t dare to be careless. He proceeded to draw another Rune on a new sheet of Talisman Paper.

The book Jiang Xu had purchased, *Talisman Dao Introduction (Upper Volume)*, contained a total of thirty-six basic Runes.

He had basically mastered all of them, so this first round of the examination wasn’t too difficult.

According to the book, there were one hundred and eight basic Runes in total.

Mastering these one hundred and eight basic Runes was enough to draw Tier One and Tier Two Talismans, which corresponded to the Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment Realms.