The clouds dispersed and the rain stopped.
Shen Ping stared fixedly at the virtual panel at the corner of his vision.
Golden characters slowly appeared upon it.
[You performed Dual Cultivation with your wife once. Talisman-making experience +2.]
[Current wife's affection: 50]
[Dual Cultivation bonus: 0]
[Talisman Master: Rank One Low-Grade (1007/1000) Available for breakthrough]
A Goldfinger!
This was undoubtedly his very own Goldfinger!
At that moment, once the realization settled in, Shen Ping was overwhelmed with ecstatic joy.
Never in his wildest dreams had he expected that after muddling along in the cultivation world for over twenty years, just as he completely resigned himself to his fate and took a wife to consummate their marriage, his Goldfinger would finally activate!
"Dual cultivation grants Talisman Dao experience!"
"I thought I didn't have a Goldfinger, but it turns out I just had the wrong method of opening it!"
He straightened his posture and took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement welling up inside him.
Even though this Goldfinger was late, Shen Ping felt not a shred of regret or grievance. At any rate, he finally possessed a Goldfinger, and hope was once again ignited for his future cultivation!
"H-Husband, this wife feels a bit unwell and really can't get up..."
Hearing Wang Yun's words, Shen Ping hurriedly interrupted, "Yun'er, it's all this husband's fault for not knowing how to cherish you and hurting your body. Just lie there and rest easy; I'll get up and make you something to eat."
With that, he quickly dressed, washed up, and got the fire going to cook.
His wife's affection level presumably influenced the effects of their dual cultivation. Earlier, he had been too caught up in testing it out to pay attention to anything else, but now that he knew, he would have to take good care of his wife from now on.
A moment later, fragrant spiritual rice porridge was ready. He carried the bowl to the bedside and carefully fed it to his wife.
After finishing the porridge, Shen Ping used his spiritual power to help nurse his wife back to health.
Wang Yun's worried expression turned to joy, and her heart was deeply moved. Previously, when Shen Ping had taken her forcefully, she had worried she had run into a cultivator who didn't cherish women and that her days ahead would be filled with hardship. Yet her husband turned out to be so attentive, even cooking meals and tending to her personally.
Such a considerate cultivator was a rare sight indeed.
One had to remember that she was merely a mortal; it would already be considered fortunate not to be treated as a slave or servant by cultivators.
[Current wife's affection: 80]
[Dual Cultivation bonus: 2]
Seeing the changes on the virtual panel, Shen Ping's expression brightened with joy. However, he resisted the urge to continue rolling around with his wife in the sheets, and instead said gently, "Yun'er, you are newly wed, so rest easy and recover your strength. Don't get out of bed to walk around until you've completely healed."
Wang Yun replied softly, "I'll listen to my husband."
After tidying up the bowls and chopsticks, he walked impatiently into a small partitioned room within the wooden house. This was his place for making talismans, and he spent most of his time here.
His income for daily living and cultivation also originated from this very spot.
Focusing his mind, calming his spirit, and offering silent prayers—he went through the entire routine before talisman-crafting with absolute familiarity.
Then Shen Ping opened the virtual panel and recited silently in his heart: Breakthrough!
Boom.
The virtual frame gave a slight tremor.
[Talisman Master: Rank One Mid-Grade (7/10000)]
Almost at the exact same instant, he seemed to gain a profound, innate insight into the Talisman Dao.
Without missing a beat, he picked up his talisman brush, dipped it in spiritual beast blood, and began tracing spiritual runes across the talisman paper.
Before long, a low-grade talisman was completed in one smooth, flowing motion.
Yet Shen Ping's expression remained completely calm. Although he had previously been only a Rank One Low-Grade Talisman Master, his proficiency in talisman-making was very high, and his usual success rate exceeded thirty percent. Such fluid, effortless crafting happened quite often.
Next, he swapped his materials, preparing to craft a mid-grade Protection Talisman.
Such talismans could sell for six low-grade spiritual stones apiece in the Cultivation Market. However, his success rate for crafting them was very low, and it was only on rare occasions of sudden inspiration that he succeeded.
As the talisman brush traced across the special beast-hide material, lifelike spiritual runes sprang to life on the paper. Compared to low-grade talismans, the spiritual runes on this mid-grade Protection Talisman required over thirty distinct strokes, without a single mistake or pause allowed in the middle.
With his cultivation at the 3rd Layer of Qi Refining, it consumed a tremendous amount of mental and physical stamina.
Time trickled slowly by.
A thin layer of sweat covered Shen Ping's forehead.
He concentrated with every fiber of his being on tracing the spiritual rune circuits, the tension in his mind reaching its absolute peak as he approached the very final stroke.
A moment later, the talisman brush stopped.
The spiritual rune circuit of the Protection Talisman was complete.
Shen Ping took a long, deep breath. Looking at the successfully crafted Protection Talisman, a look of joy spread across his face.
Mid-Grade Talisman Master!
Only a Mid-Grade Talisman Master could craft mid-grade talismans in a single, unbroken flow.
"If I can regularly produce mid-grade talismans, the speed at which I accumulate spiritual stones will increase drastically. When that time comes, I'll be able to buy high-grade Detoxification Pills to clear the demonic beast poison from my body!"
Longing and hope for the future shone in his eyes.
...
Half a month flashed by in the blink of an eye.
During this period, Shen Ping wholeheartedly accompanied and cared for his wife, growing ever more affectionate.
He opened the virtual panel.
[Current wife's affection: 100]
[Dual Cultivation bonus: 4]
[Talisman Master: Rank One Mid-Grade (607/10000)]
A fourfold bonus was the absolute limit once affection was maxed out. Since each session granted 2 points, four times that meant 8 points.
Every day, he and his wife Wang Yun engaged in dual cultivation five times: three times at night, once in the morning, and once during their midday break—truly living a life of endless indulgence.
The result of such diligent and hard work was that his success rate in crafting mid-grade Protection Talismans skyrocketed, even catching up to his success rate for low-grade talismans. On average, he could now steadily produce one Protection Talisman out of every three sets of materials.
This left Shen Ping extremely excited. After all, such a high success rate for mid-grade talismans meant he could rapidly build up his family fortune.
"Yun'er, stay at home and remember not to go out. I'm taking a trip to the Cultivation Market."
Having cooped himself up for half a month, Shen Ping had no choice but to venture out. His stockpiles of talisman-making materials were completely exhausted, and supplies like spiritual rice and meat were running low as well. With five dual cultivation sessions every day, without nutritional replenishment, even as a cultivator he would start feeling weak in the legs and aching in the lower back.
Moreover, Wang Yun was also finding it hard to cope, her physical and mental state visibly declining.
"Husband must be careful and cautious when going out!"
As soon as she heard Shen Ping was heading to the Cultivation Market, worry etched itself onto Wang Yun's face. Although Yunshan Bazaar was relatively safe, unexpected events could always happen, and when one's strength was low, every outing was a trial of life and death.
"Rest assured, I'll take good care of myself."
With those words, Shen Ping pushed open the cottage door and stepped outside.
Stepping once more onto the pocked and uneven alleyways, his entire spirit and demeanor felt completely different. A bright light flashed in his eyes, a far cry from the walking corpse he had been before.
"Fellow Daoist Shen is newly married and finally willing to step outside."
"You've married such a delicate and beautiful wife; if it were me, I'd want to linger in that cozy nest too."
"Fellow Daoist Shen really knows how to enjoy life!"
Meeting familiar neighbors along the way, they bantered and joked with Shen Ping one after another.
Shen Ping chuckled dryly without replying. As he navigated a series of winding turns through the alleyway and finally reached the main thoroughfare, he spotted two cultivators walking toward him.
"Fellow Daoist Gong."
"Fellow Daoist Su."
He hurriedly greeted them respectfully.
These two cultivators were cousins with formidable cultivation bases. Fellow Daoist Gong was the only cultivator in the Late Qi Refining stage living in Red Willow Alley; the relative safety Red Willow Alley had enjoyed over the years was largely thanks to Fellow Daoist Gong's deterrence. His cousin, Fellow Daoist Su, possessed a graceful appearance and a tall figure, drawing the admiration of numerous cultivators.
Fellow Daoist Gong grunted a brief acknowledgment before leaving with his cousin.
In their eyes, Shen Ping was merely a low-grade talisman master who wasn't worth their notice; returning his greeting was entirely out of consideration for sharing the same alley.
Shen Ping didn't mind.
He was in the Late Qi Refining stage, after all; acting a bit superior was perfectly normal.
The main thoroughfare grew lively as soon as he reached it, the cries of peddlers hawking their wares on both sides growing louder and louder.
Without stopping, Shen Ping followed the main road all the way to its end, where a towering stone gate stood tall, inscribed with three large characters: Yunshan Bazaar.
It was said that this plaque had been personally written by a Golden Core powerhouse, and low-grade cultivators weren't allowed to stare at it directly, lest they feel dizzy in the head.
Passing through the stone gate, a sense of security naturally welled up in Shen Ping's heart. Within the boundaries of this market, very few cultivators dared to stir up trouble; since its establishment, there had only been three or four security incidents involving murdered cultivators.
When he first arrived in Yunshan Marsh, he had lived right inside Yunshan Bazaar. Unfortunately, after his body suffered injuries and his daily expenses skyrocketed, he had been forced to move to Red Willow Alley outside the market. Yet even in Red Willow Alley, rental prices had been climbing steadily in recent years.
Originally, according to his plans, he would have had to move again in a few more years, but now that wouldn't be necessary.
Both sides of the market's main street were lined with shops whose architectural layouts were much grander, a majority of them equipped with spirit-gathering and defensive arrays.
Shen Ping stopped in front of a shop primarily dealing in talismans and Dharma Artifacts, and stepped inside.
"What would Fellow Daoist like to buy?"
The shopkeeper's cultivation was at the 7th Layer of Qi Refining. Seeing a low-level Qi Refining cultivator like Shen Ping, his attitude wasn't cold at all; he still welcomed him with a warm smile.
"Shopkeeper, do you buy talismans here?"
"We do."
"Mid-grade Protection Talismans—what's the price?"
As Shen Ping spoke, he produced a Protection Talisman he had crafted himself.
The shopkeeper glanced at it and smiled. "My little shop treats young and old with equal fairness; we'll go by the market price of six low-grade spiritual stones. If Fellow Daoist has more talismans in the future, you can bring them all to me. No matter how many you have, I can take them!"
Defensive talismans like Protection Talismans were always in high demand. If he rented a stall outside to sell them, during good market conditions he could sell them for eight or even ten low-grade spiritual stones each.
However, purely in pursuit of safety and stability, Shen Ping had specifically chosen to sell them at a shop within the market.
He took out five talismans and handed them to the shopkeeper.
Leaving the shop, not only were there no extra spiritual stones in Shen Ping's Storage Bag, but he was actually thirty low-grade spiritual stones poorer. The reason was that he had purchased sixty sets of materials for making Protection Talismans, with each set costing one low-grade spiritual stone. Afterwards, he had visited other shops to buy a month's worth of spiritual rice, meat, and other restorative ingredients.
The savings in his Storage Bag were nearly bottoming out, leaving only enough spiritual stones to suppress his poison on a daily basis.