Outside, lightning flashed and thunder roared as rain poured down in torrents.
The faint flame of an oil lamp illuminated the room, bringing a bit of light and warmth to the cramped space. Lü Zhong lay in bed under a blanket, staring blankly at the ceiling, the very picture of despair.
A short while ago, he had been happily "cultivating" all night.
As an ordinary working stiff, staying up all weekend to game was Lü Zhong's only form of entertainment. Compared to all sorts of pricey outdoor activities, the dopamine hit from gaming was far cheaper.
But he never expected that in what felt like the blink of an eye, he would find himself here.
'Cultivation... heh, now I'm *really* here to cultivate...'
Fragmented memories surfaced in his mind, all from the body's original owner—a sixteen-year-old who shared his exact name. And remarkably, this person was one of the legendary Cultivators.
That's right. In this world, cultivation was real.
One could pluck the moon from the ninth heaven above or catch turtles in the five oceans below.
But none of that had anything to do with a run-of-the-mill cultivator like him, who possessed middling-to-low talent, a Four Spirit Roots aptitude, and was missing the Metal element from his Five Elements.
Cultivation in this realm required a Spirit Root—a miraculous thing that was to a person what roots are to a tree.
Spirit Roots have attributes corresponding to the Five Elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. While everyone is born with a Spirit Root, their talent is graded into five tiers based on the number of attributes it contains.
Five Spirit Root Talent was considered hopeless, like rotten wood that can't be carved. Unless they were born into a Great Cultivation Clan or a prestigious Immortal Sect, or chanced upon some heaven-defying opportunity, the highest they could ever hope to reach in their entire lifetime was the Qi Refining Third Layer.
Lü Zhong's Four Spirit Roots, on the other hand, was considered middling-to-low talent. In the Cultivation Realm, it was as common as dirt. With enough resources, he could reach the Qi Refining Ninth Layer. And if he was incredibly lucky, there was a sliver of a chance he could become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, admired by tens of thousands.
Above that were the Three Spirit Roots, which was considered medium talent.
Cultivators with this talent were not uncommon, making up roughly ten to twenty percent of the total population. They were generally the backbone of the major Sect Clans, and in smaller sects and families, they might even be cultivated as minor geniuses.
If they had the right opportunities, they might even have a shot at glimpsing the Core Formation Dao.
As for Dual Spirit Roots and Abnormal Spirit Roots, both were in the realm of cultivation geniuses and were exceedingly rare.
As long as such individuals didn't meet an untimely end, their future was, at minimum, that of a Core Formation Ancestor. They were typically hidden away by their Sect Clans, treasured and protected to an obsessive degree—as if they might shatter if dropped or melt in one's mouth.
Then there were the Single Spirit Root cultivators, also known as "Celestial Spirit Roots."
Cultivators with this talent were the darlings of the heavens, true prodigies. It was no exaggeration to say they could advance a thousand miles in a single day. Their birth would invariably spark a fierce bidding war among Major Sects and ancient, great clans, throwing the Cultivation Realm into chaos each time.
Perhaps the splendor of the Cultivation Realm existed solely for those with such talent.
But as mentioned before, all of this had nothing to do with Lü Zhong.
After all, he was just a greenhorn who had recently managed the feat of introducing Qi into the body, barely reaching the Qi Refining First Layer.
In the Cultivation Realm, someone like him was undoubtedly at the bottom of the food chain.
'Oh well. Since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it.' Lü Zhong had always been the type to take things as they came.
Though he held little hope, he began to sift through his new memories, wanting to see what his predecessor had left him.
According to the memories, his predecessor had just rented this small hut. He hadn't even spent a single night in it before it "conveniently" became Lü Zhong's.
The hut had a single room and a main hall, with a shoddily built kitchen attached. It was in a state of disrepair, with rot and insect damage in many places. Thankfully, the main structure was still sound, so there was no immediate danger of it collapsing on him.
After rummaging around for a bit, he found several items.
A book scroll with yellowed paper.
A dozen or so sheets of Yellow Paper.
One set of Talisman-Making Tools.
A Hundred-forged Steel Longsword.
Half a crock of Mortal Rice.
This was the sum total of what his predecessor had left him.
'What a poor bastard,' Lü Zhong grumbled with a sigh.
He had no idea what his predecessor had been thinking, spending all his savings of Spirit Stones just to rent this dilapidated hovel.
The reason for renting it was to have access to ample Spiritual Qi for his cultivation.
'Wasn't that just a rash impulse?'
Too agitated to sleep, he decided to pick up the scroll and have a look.
The cover page bore four large words written in a powerful script: *Common Talisman Making Skill*. The author was listed as someone named the Qinghe Scholar, who introduced himself in the preface as a Talisman Master.
In the book's opening, the Qinghe Scholar explained the system for grading Talismans in the Cultivation Realm. Talismans for the Qi Refining Stage were Tier One, those for the Foundation Establishment Stage were Tier Two, Golden Core Stage Talismans were Tier Three, and so on.
Tier One Talismans were further subdivided into Lower, Middle, and High-grade, which corresponded strictly to the early, middle, and late phases of the Qi Refining Stage. Typically, a cultivator's cultivation had to reach the corresponding Small Realm before they could craft a Talisman of that grade.
The *Common Talisman Making Skill* detailed the creation methods for seven types of Talismans. Three were Tier One Lower Grade: the Cleaning Talisman, the Candlelight Talisman, and the Arrow Avoidance Talisman. Three were Tier One Middle Grade: the Dust Avoidance Talisman, the Featherweight Talisman, and the Evil Exorcism Talisman. The last was the method for crafting a Tier One High-grade Defense Talisman, the Golden Light Talisman. Its section was the longest and most detailed in the entire book, and the Qinghe Scholar had even added a special note.
"The Golden Light Talisman is essential for a Talisman Maker's survival and security."
After reading the book from cover to cover, Lü Zhong understood why his predecessor had bought the Talisman Making Book and a full set of Talisman-Making Tools. He had clearly intended to walk the path of a Talisman Maker and find a way to support himself.
After all, cultivation was an expensive endeavor; everything cost money.
Take the hovel he was living in, for example. Even though it was riddled with rot and pests, the rent was still one Spirit Stone per month.
And even at that price, his predecessor had to fight tooth and nail just to get it.
His predecessor's goal in renting the place was twofold. Not only did he want to avoid ending up as a Wilderness Independent Cultivator, but he also wanted to use the abundant Spiritual Qi here to speed up his cultivation.
In other words, the rent was essentially a tax on Spiritual Qi.
The thought of the rent made Lü Zhong anxious.
If he couldn't pay the rent, he'd be thrown out for sure, left to wander with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.
Given the average life expectancy of a Wilderness Independent Cultivator, he figured he wouldn't last three days.
At this thought, Lü Zhong cried out inwardly and hurriedly searched his memories for anything related to Talisman Making.
The memories contained many instances of his predecessor practicing Talisman Making. Unfortunately, the guy's talent for it was utterly unremarkable. With no famous master to guide him, he had to figure everything out on his own, with only the Talisman Making Book to go by.
He had gone through a stack of one hundred sheets of Talisman Paper, leaving only a dozen or so, yet he still hadn't managed to successfully create a single one of the simplest Cleaning Talismans.
'If it were me, I probably wouldn't do much better...' Lü Zhong thought with a pang of despair, closing the scroll.
But at that moment, a sharp pain lanced through his mind, followed by a dizzying sensation as the world began to spin.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a space filled with a swirling gray mist.
'What's going on?' Lü Zhong looked around, stunned. He saw countless objects that looked like shards of glass floating in the mist. He subconsciously reached out and gently touched one, and a clear memory instantly flooded his mind.
It was a memory of his predecessor. Having chanced upon a Spirit Grass, he was now being hunted. An intense wave of fear traveled through the memory, making Lü Zhong feel as if he were experiencing it himself.
It was a perfect replay of the original scene.
Incredibly faithful to the event, it felt absolutely real.
When he pulled back from the memory, Lü Zhong found his head starting to ache dully.
'Each shard of glass represents a memory. Touching one replays that memory, but it costs something... something called Divine Sense here...'
Understanding this, he no longer dared to casually touch the memories floating in the gray mist.
'I can review my past memories, but what's the use of that?' Lü Zhong squatted on the ground, tracing little circles as he racked his brain. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he clapped his hands together hard.
'That's it! I can do this!'
He remembered that the Talisman Making Book hadn't been cheap. The reason was that the cultivator who sold it included a lesson on how to create the Cleaning Talisman.
Knowledge was extremely expensive in this world. It was impossible to get anything for free. Without paying a price, you couldn't hope to get a single scrap of genuine information from anyone.
You could say that half the cost of the book was for that single lesson on the Cleaning Talisman.
And that memory should still be floating somewhere in the gray mist. If he watched it, he might learn something.
If he could really learn Talisman Making this way, he'd have a means to earn a living and gain a foothold.
The moment the thought formed, a streak of light shot down and landed before him. It was the memory of the lesson on the Cleaning Talisman.
'Whoa, it even has an auto-search feature!'
Without a moment's hesitation, Lü Zhong "opened" it, and a flood of images appeared in his mind.
It was as if he were standing in a bustling market, so real he could even feel the vibrations of rolling cart wheels through the soles of his feet. Then, an aged voice began to speak, slow and unhurried.
"Talisman creation is meticulous work. You cannot afford the slightest bit of carelessness..."
"Before you begin, I suggest you first sit and meditate. Wait until your mind is calm. Creating the Talisman then will yield much better results..."
"I will only show you once, so watch closely! This is how you create a Cleaning Talisman..."
The old man at the stall picked up a Talisman Brush and dipped it in a pot of Talisman Ink. His Spiritual Power flowed from his palm, through the brush's tip, and onto the Talisman Paper in a steady, even stream. His hand was as stable as an iron vise, and in one fluid motion, he finished drawing a complete Cleaning Talisman.
'So that's how it's done. I can't believe there are so many little tricks to it. None of this was mentioned in the Talisman Making Book.'
Lü Zhong was completely mesmerized. His understanding of how to create a Cleaning Talisman grew immensely.
Once... twice... The more he replayed the memory, the more he learned.
After reviewing the memory seven or eight times, Lü Zhong had paid the price of nearly depleting his Divine Sense. In return, he had finally mastered the theory of how to create a Cleaning Talisman.
Now, it was time to put his knowledge into practice.