Chapter 66 – Tes

Xiao Yu’er shot a curious gaze at Yang Ye as well, and she wanted to know who his master was. After all, the Dao of Talismans was broad and profound, and it was utterly impossible to become a Talisman Master without the guidance of someone. Even though she herself didn’t possess a master, she’d still followed by the side of some Talisman Masters and studied it.

Yang Ye was slightly troubled while being looked at by their curious gazes. Not to mention that he didn’t know Bao’er’s grandfather’s name, even whether Bao’er’s grandfather would take him as a disciple was still unknown! If he used Bao’er’s grandfather's name here and if Bao’er’s grandfather found out, then Bao’er’s grandfather would definitely not have a good impression of him.

When he thought up to here, Yang Ye said, “Senior, my Master prohibited me from mentioning his name to others. I’m sorry!”

When he heard Yang Ye, Master Zhang nodded lightly, and then he didn’t spare another glance at Yang Ye before he pointed at the blank talisman papers on the table. He said, “Which one of you will go first? Nevermind, for the sake of saving time, both of you can start at the same time!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he paid no further attention to the two of them, and he walked over to the side before withdrawing some scrolls and looking through them.

Yang Ye and Xiao Yu’er exchanged glances and smiled at each other when they heard this, and then both of them nodded lightly as a form of encouragement to each other.

Yang Ye sat before the stone table, and then he took a deep breath before he picked up his talisman brush and started to craft a talisman.

Yang Ye was extremely pressed for time. Since the moment he found out that this younger sister and mother were in danger, he seemed to be calm on the surface, yet he was burning with impatience in his heart, and he wished for nothing more than to immediately fly back to Southpeace City. However, he didn’t act in this way because he understood a principle — if he wanted to completely deal with the threat that the Liu Clan posed, then not only did it require strength, it required status as well!

The Liu Clan could be considered to be a huge clan in Southpeace City, and it was associated with all sorts of powers. Particularly, the Liu Clan even had a slight relationship with the City Governor of Southpeace City. So, if he wanted to deal with the Liu Clan, then merely his identity as an outer court disciple of the Sword Sect was insufficient! Only the identity of a Talisman Master was sufficient! Only the identity of a Talisman Master would allow him to disregard those powers that had a good relationship with the Liu Clan! So, he’d come to take the test to become a Talisman Master upon arriving at Rising Sun City!

At the moment Yang Ye began, Master Zhang that was looking through the scrolls had raised his head to shoot a glance at Yang Ye, and then he shook his head. The crafting of talismans stressed upon calmness and being devoid of any distracting thoughts, but Yang Ye hadn’t even concentrated and calmed himself before starting immediately. This was too hasty. So, he even wondered if Yang Ye really possessed a master! And even if Yang Ye did possess a master, it would probably be a lousy master!

Master Zhang lost all interest towards Yang Ye, and his gaze moved towards Xiao Yu’er instead. When he noticed that Xiao Yu’er had sat cross-legged to concentrate, he nodded lightly. Xiao Yu’er’s natural talent and every other aspect weren’t bad, and her character was practically perfect. He’d wanted to take her as his disciple on many occasions. Unfortunately, when he thought about how she didn’t possess Profound Energy of the five elements, he’d abandoned such thoughts.

The accomplishments of Talisman Masters who didn’t possess the Profound Energy of the five elements was extremely limited in the Dao of Talismans. Perhaps it was fine at the beginning, but at the later ranks, some talismans couldn’t be crafted without five element Profound Energy!

What a pity! Master Zhang shook his head, and then he withdrew his gaze before he gazed once more at the scrolls.

Time gradually flowed by. Yang Ye had already finished drawing the form of a Strength Talisman. He could be said to be extremely experienced in crafting Strength Talismans, so he didn’t encounter any difficulty. In next to no time, he started to imbue spirit into the talisman.

If Xiao Yu’er and Master Zhang looked over at Yang Ye right now, they would notice that Yang Ye possessed the legendary Profound Energy of the five elements. However, both of them hadn’t looked at Yang Ye. Xiao Yu’er didn’t have the mood because she was busy with her own affairs, whereas, Master Zhang had disregarded him. Yes, when he saw Yang Ye hadn’t concentrated before beginning to craft the talisman, he’d completely disregarded Yang Ye.

After another two hours passed, Yang Ye had already finished crafting this Strength Talisman. Yang Ye placed the Strength Talisman aside and took another blank talisman paper, and he intended to craft a Transmission Talisman. He intended to become a Grade Two Talisman Master this time!

Yang Ye didn’t start in a hurry, and he glanced at Xiao Yu’er instead. When he saw the state Xiao Yu’er was in, Yang Ye’s brows knit together slightly. Because Xiao Yu’er was in an extremely bad situation at this moment. Her pretty face was covered in swift while her ink black brows were knit together, and her hand that held the talisman brush was trembling lightly.

Yang Ye knew that she’d definitely encountered difficulty. He withdrew his gaze and started to craft the transmission talisman. At this moment, he could only hope that Xiao Yu’er was able to overcome the difficulty she faced.

Xiao Yu’er had encountered trouble indeed. She’d crafted Healing Talismans at home on numerous occasions, and her success rate was already extremely high. It was exactly because her success rate was extremely high that she’d dared to come to take the test at the Talisman Master’s Association. However, she was slightly nervous this time, yes, she was extremely nervous.

The reason she was nervous was that she was afraid of failure. She’d failed on numerous occasions in the past, but she couldn’t fail this time because it was related to the safety of her Xiao Clan!

The Xiao Clan had risen too quickly, and the Xiao Clan’s Patriarch, her father, didn’t know how to restrain himself. Thus, conflict had arisen between the Xiao Clan and the veteran clans within Rising Sun City. Even though the Xiao Clan had a Spirit Realm expert, it was still insufficient when facing these veteran clans.

Especially this time, the level of conflict between the Xiao Clan and these veteran clans had risen, and it had even caused the Xiao Clan to fall into a hopeless situation. The only way to resolve the danger that the Xiao Clan faced now was for her to become a Talisman Master. Only if she became a Talisman Master would the Xiao Clan possess the qualifications to negotiate with them, and only then would they accept her Xiao Clan’s request for peace between them.

Because there wasn’t a single clan that was willing to offend a clan that possessed a Talisman Master. After all, a Talisman Master’s network of relationships was extremely terrifying, and this was especially so for an accomplished Talisman Master.

So, she couldn’t fail today. Once she failed, then those veteran clans wouldn’t have any worries, and at that time, it would be the moment of her Xiao Clan’s annihilation.

However, she’d never expected that because she was thinking about too many things and was too pressured, it caused her to lose her usual calm. Thus, some mistakes that shouldn’t appear during the process of crafting the talisman had appeared.

This won’t do. I must calm down. I can’t fail! Xiao Yu’er stopped. She took a deep breath and waited for her heart to calm down slightly before she started drawing again.

After another two hours passed, Master Zhan was leaning on the chair with his eyes closed slightly, and he seemed as if he’d already fallen asleep. On the other hand, the young man and young woman in the room were completely concentrated on crafting their respective talismans.

After another two hours passed, Yang Ye withdrew his brush and lightly heaved a sigh of relief before he smiled. As usual, the Strength Talisman and the Transmission Talisman were both high-grade talismans. As for why he always succeeded in crafting high-grade talismans, besides being a genius, Yang Ye was truly unable to think of another reason.

“Alas!” Right at this moment, Xiao Yu’er suddenly sighed while she placed the talisman brush lightly onto the table, and her face was covered in a bitter expression.

When he saw this, Yang Ye placed the two talismans on the table, and then he walked over and said, “Young Miss Xiao, what’s wrong?”

Xiao Yu’er laughed bitterly and said, “I failed. I’m too nervous. Brother Yang, did you fail as well? It’s fine, you have two more chances. You can try again!”

Yang Ye glanced at that Xiao Yu’er had failed to craft, and he was just about to say something when his gaze suddenly descended once more onto the talisman paper. As he gazed at it, he picked it up and pointed at the point where she began to draw on the talisman paper before he said, “Young Miss Xiao, you… you started to draw from here?”

Xiao Yu’er was stunned. She didn’t know why Yang Ye asked this question, but she still nodded in the end.

Yang Ye smiled bitterly when he heard this and said, “Young Miss Xiao, this method is wrong. I know of a better method. Right, it’s like this. You start here, and then….”

As she listened to him, Xiao Yu’er’s eyes opened wide. After Yang Ye finished, she said, “Can this method really work?”

Yang Ye nodded and said, “You can try it. But I think that it will!”

Actually, Yang Ye felt slightly embarrassed at this moment. Now, he finally knew why his success rate in crafting talismans and the quality of his talismans were so high. It wasn’t entirely because of his own natural talent, and it was mainly because of the ‘Five Element Talisman Marking Technique’ that Bao’er gave him. Only now did Yang Ye realize how precious it was because that copy of the Five Element Talisman Marking Technique was filled with the experiences and annotations provided by Bao’er’s grandfather.

Yang Ye hadn’t realized how extraordinary those experiences and annotations were in the past, and he’d only realized now. If he didn’t possess all of that, then he would absolutely be unable to craft a Strength Talisman. With the experiences and annotations recorded within that copy of the Five Element Talisman Marking Technique, he’d practically never taken a wrong path because the book had clearly recorded what he could do and what he couldn’t!

Should I capture a violet mink for Bao’er in the future? As soon as this thought arose in Yang Ye’s heart, the violet mink in Yang Ye’s Vortex Dantian shot a pitiable gaze at him.

After he consoled the little fellow for a while, Yang Ye gazed at Xiao Yu’er who was still hesitating, and he said, “Young Miss Xiao, give it a try. I’ll be watching from the side!”

When she heard Yang Ye, Xiao Yu’er took a deep breath, and she stopped hesitating and said, “Alright!”

She didn’t know why she trusted Yang Ye. Perhaps she trusted Yang Ye because Yang Ye spoke with extreme confidence, or perhaps it was because she had no other choice.