Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Spirit of the Shaman Fox and the Guardian of the Household (Please keep reading, please keep reading)

“At last, it’s done.”

With each additional rune structure, the difficulty of drawing a talisman increases dramatically. Eleven rune structures—completing them in one breath is no small feat. Even with the assistance of my attribute panel, I had to endure countless failures before succeeding. I can only imagine how many attempts others would need to achieve the same.

Chen Yushu let out a long breath, feeling a surge of emotion. Regardless, he had finally succeeded. His gaze fell upon the attribute panel, and sure enough, the words ‘Luck Borrowing Talisman’ appeared after ‘Drawing Talisman’, filling him with satisfaction.

By now, dawn had broken. He realized he had spent the whole night drawing spirit talismans, so he quickly stopped overthinking and settled into meditation to rest.

When he awakened, the morning sun was already rising. Only then did Chen Yushu begin his morning routine, washing up and preparing a bowl of Blood Vitality Soup. Twice a day, morning and evening, he drank this soup as a matter of course; though it was far less effective than Essence Nourishing Soup, it allowed him to practice the Medicine King Post several more times each day, steadily increasing his vitality and mastery.

Knock, knock, knock!

Suddenly, there was a knock at the gate. Chen Yushu knew that at this hour, only Shi Hao would come by, but he still called out, “Who is it?”

“Brother Chen, it’s me.”

Sure enough, Shi Hao’s voice sounded from outside. Chen Yushu opened the gate.

Shi Hao entered, visibly nervous and somewhat excited, seeming as if he had something to say but hesitated.

“What’s the matter?” Chen Yushu frowned slightly, asking.

“These are the silver coins from yesterday’s sale of spirit talismans. Twenty talismans sold for one hundred sixty taels of silver. Here are one hundred taels; I kept the excess myself.

Also, those people came to me afterwards to order more talismans—twenty in total. I agreed and will deliver them today. I estimate that the disciples of these gangs still have a great demand for talismans; the effects of the recent incident haven’t faded, and many will surely buy a talisman or two for protection.

So, there should be plenty more buyers in the future.”

Having swallowed the words that were almost at his lips, Shi Hao quickly finished his explanation.

“Very good.

Here, I have exactly twenty Home Protection Talismans. Take them.”

Chen Yushu nodded in satisfaction. He never minded having more silver; he had spent thirty taels just yesterday to buy talisman papers, so these hundred taels perfectly compensated for his expenses.

He had already decided to advance his Medicine King Post practice to the minor mastery stage as soon as possible.

And to speed up his training, he would need Essence Nourishing Soup. Blood Vitality Soup was effective, but certainly inferior to Essence Nourishing Soup. He planned to spend fifty taels to purchase twenty portions of Essence Nourishing Soup. As for the remaining fifty taels, he intended to divide them—part as reserves, the rest to send back home.

He knew his family wasn’t wealthy, and with autumn taxes approaching, they desperately needed money. This sum might just solve their urgent problem.

“With these twenty spirit talismans, I can fulfill the orders.”

Seeing this, Shi Hao couldn’t help but smile.

After a brief hesitation, he said, “By the way, Brother Chen, I had another dream last night.”

“Hm?” Chen Yushu was taken aback. “Didn’t those five ghosts get exorcised?”

“It wasn’t ghosts this time.

It was an immortal.”

Shi Hao shook his head briskly and continued, “This immortal found me, asked me to worship it, promised to teach me skills, and said it could help me solve problems. So if I encounter dead bodies or ghosts again, I wouldn’t have to worry—it would handle everything... I’m really unsure, so I wanted to ask your advice, Brother Chen…”

“Did it say what family name it bears?”

Chen Yushu’s eyes flashed, and a peculiar expression crossed his face.

“It said its surname is Hu.”

Shi Hao replied quickly.

“That’s not much of a problem.

It’s a path, certainly. But ultimately, the choice is yours. I can’t advise you.”

Chen Yushu had already made up his mind, almost instantly. This must be the legendary ‘Spirit Medium Immortal’—something belonging to their own tradition. In Li Chao’s Record of Ghost Encounters, there were descriptions of such cases: he mentioned a neighboring village had someone who summoned a Spirit Medium Immortal, with formidable skills, and Li Chao had worked with him several times.

However, theirs was a ‘Huang’ surname; the focus should differ somewhat.

Spirit Medium Immortals generally come in five surnames: Hu, Huang, Bai, Liu, and Hui. Additionally, within the tradition, there is another type called Household Guardian Immortals—it’s all similar, just the entities summoned differ.

“I see.”

Shi Hao nodded, then, after a brief exchange, left, as if he had resolved something within himself.

“I hadn’t expected an immortal to seek him out.

But it’s not surprising.

With his constitution, he easily attracts such things. Being targeted by them is only natural.

And for him, this might not be a bad thing.

After all, these immortals, at their core, seek cultivation and to avoid disaster, accumulating merit. They won’t stand idly by if their disciple is in danger.

With Shi Hao’s constitution, troubles will abound; as long as he doesn’t encounter something major, the immortal should be able to protect him.

Even in the face of something major, these immortals have considerable power; dealing with it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Chen Yushu pondered, truly feeling that this was not necessarily a bad thing.

Of course, the choice remained with Shi Hao.

All things have their advantages and drawbacks.

Once one chooses to worship, the five defects and three deficiencies are inevitable.

On the other hand, the tradition Chen Yushu had inherited as a Yin-walker carried no such taboos or requirements.

Perhaps it’s because Yin-walkers cultivate the ‘self’, relying solely on their own abilities.

Whether it’s visualization or ‘arts’, everything originates within oneself, gathering great power within.

Naturally, external factors have no influence.

…

Inside the shop, Chen Yushu was preparing medicinal decoctions.

At that moment, there were few people in the decoction room.

The recent haunting had left the pharmacy with fewer patients, so less decocting was needed.

Still, Chen Yushu took the initiative to accept a decoction task and entered the room.

Because Wang Kui was present.

Wang Kui was preparing Essence Nourishing Soup for a client—a disciple from a nearby martial academy, a young master from a wealthy family. He required Essence Nourishing Soup daily, and due to the need for effective medicine, he often specified apprentices with better knowledge of pharmacology to prepare his decoctions.

His choice was Wang Kui.

In return, they provided a fixed amount of silver, a form of partnership.

Chen Yushu had no intention of sabotaging the client’s medicine; he only meant to collect a little interest for yesterday’s incident.

As for the method?

Taking advantage of the moment Wang Kui turned his back and wasn’t paying attention, Chen Yushu flicked his hand, producing a spirit talisman, and deftly tossed it.

The talisman landed silently on Wang Kui’s back.

A faint glow flashed, and the talisman turned to ashes, falling to the ground, then was swept away by the breeze, leaving no trace.

This talisman was the Luck Borrowing Talisman, the very one he had drawn that morning.