Born as an ant, I was summoned to ascend to immortality.

Chapter 56 Spiritual Sand as the Guide, Talisman Paper as the Foundation

The next morning, before the mist had dissipated, Qingqing arrived excitedly at Zhouli's cave.

"Junior brothers, junior brothers, get up quickly! Today, your senior sister will teach you the basics of array formation!"

Zhou Li had finished washing and dressing. In her left hand she held a stack of neatly cut talisman paper, and in her right hand she held an imperial edict brush and inkstone. She placed them all on the stone table in the cave.

The imperial brush is made of the finest sandalwood and wolf hair, the inkstone is made of spiritual sand from Wuji Peak, and the paper is made from locally sourced bamboo paper made from spiritual plants from the Purple Bamboo Forest, which faintly glows with the light of dawn.

"Thank you for your trouble, Senior Sister." Zhou Li bowed with a smile.

"Don't underestimate this little talisman, it is the most exquisite array!" Qingqing solemnly unfolded a jade slip, "Master Wen once said, a nine-story tower begins with a pile of earth, and the foundation of array formations is talismans."

She pointed to the intricate and profound patterns on the jade slip and said, "See these? These are runes, the most direct manifestation of the rules of heaven and earth."

"Cultivators use spiritual sand as a guide and talisman paper as a base to trace the runes onto it, and then infuse their own spiritual power to activate them, thus creating a talisman. The process of drawing a talisman is the process of constructing a tiny array."

Zhou Li stared intently at the runes on the jade slip. The lines and traces seemed chaotic, but in fact they contained hidden mysteries, stirring the surrounding spiritual energy, and there was an indescribable power flowing within them.

Qingqing sat up straight, her expression solemn, and said, "Let's start by learning the simplest Spirit Gathering Talisman. This talisman is the most peaceful, and it can slowly gather the surrounding spiritual energy to aid in cultivation."

"Look at the trajectory of these runes. The beginning should be as smooth as dew, the turns as strong as pine trees, and the ending as light as a feather..."

As she explained, she spread out a sheet of talisman paper, held her breath, and with her wrist suspended in the air, slowly lowered the brush.

However, the moment the pen tip touched the talisman paper, it trembled slightly uncontrollably, leaving a small ink dot on the paper.

"Oops!" Qingqing exclaimed in frustration, her face immediately falling as she scratched her head. "Why...why won't my hand obey me? I remember everything so clearly in my mind..."

She looked at Zhou Li somewhat embarrassedly and said awkwardly, "Junior brother, you see, drawing talismans requires the mind and hand to be in harmony. I... cough cough, it's been a long time since I've drawn one, so I'm a bit rusty. Let me draw it again."

There wasn't much frustration in his tone; he was clearly used to it.

Looking at Qingqing's slightly flushed cheeks and her somewhat naive and embarrassed expression, Zhou Li smiled to himself.

This senior sister is impulsive and reckless, certainly not the type to calm down and concentrate. However, although she has a childlike nature, she is not stupid; in fact, she has exceptionally good comprehension. Hopefully, she will come to her senses soon.

Zhou Li said gently, "It's alright, Senior Sister, please try again. I'll watch carefully from the side."

Qingqing took a deep breath, steadied herself, and began to write again. This time, she was completely focused, carefully tracing the path of the spirit-gathering talisman on the jade slip with the tip of her pen.

The initial strokes were fairly smooth, but when she reached the first corner, the brush tip showed some hesitation. She managed to draw the middle section, but the arc she drew turned into a zigzag line. The spiritual energy on the entire talisman paper suddenly stopped, and the faint spiritual light flashed a few times before completely dimming.

"Sigh... another failure." Qingqing put down her writing brush and scratched her hair in distress. "I've been learning this spirit-gathering talisman for three months, and I'm only about 50% sure I can draw it correctly. And they're all low-grade ones with weak effects."

"Junior brother, don't laugh at me for being stupid. Uncle Wen always says that I... well, my mind is too active and I can't concentrate."

"Senior Sister is naturally straightforward, which is truly rare," Zhou Li comforted her.

This failure was not meaningless. Just now, the ant body observed with the Heavenly Thunder Eyes that when Qingqing put down her pen, every slight tremor of the pen tip and every deviation of the turn was clearly imprinted in his mind.

The Heavenly Thunder Eye can directly perceive the flow of energy required for the runes to take effect. He saw that the spiritual energy that should have been activated by the runes on the talisman paper was scattered everywhere because of Qingqing's mistakes.

"It's your turn, junior brother!" Qingqing handed the imperial edict pen to Zhou Li, her eyes encouraging. "Don't be afraid, everyone is like this at the beginning. Just practice more and you'll get better."

Zhou Li nodded and sat down at the table as instructed. He did not rush to write, and his gaze once again fell on the diagram of the spirit-gathering talisman on the jade slip.

This time, he looked even more closely, and the static lines came alive before his eyes, intertwining and weaving along their unique paths, gradually forming an exquisite field.

He gently closed his eyes, and the shape of the entire talisman was clearly reflected in his mind. When he opened his eyes again, his movements of picking up the brush and dipping it in ink were steady and natural, without the slightest hesitation.

With the pen tip hovering over the paper, Zhou Li had a sudden thought and began to write.

He didn't write quickly, but his movements were very steady, and every stroke of his pen landed precisely on the key points where the spirit flowed.

At first, Qingqing was a little mischievous, but as Zhou Li's calligraphy flowed smoothly, the smile on her face gradually froze, her eyes widened, and her little mouth unconsciously opened slightly.

She could even feel that as Zhou Li's brush moved, the scattered spiritual energy around them was being drawn in, strand by strand, and wrapped around the talisman paper.

With the final stroke, a light lift and return of the brush tip. The instant the brush tip leaves the paper, the entire talisman paper suddenly glows, a soft, pale blue halo emanating from the center of the paper, forming a warm, precious light on the surface of the talisman.

It's a talisman, and a high-quality one at that, brimming with spiritual energy!

"Once?! It's done after just one drawing?!" Qingqing suddenly lunged at the table, almost pressing her face against the freshly drawn talisman, looking at it from left to right, her eyes wide as if she had seen a ghost.

Zhou Li put down his writing brush, a slight ripple stirring in his heart. He nodded and calmly said, "Fortunately, I have not failed in my mission. Following my senior sister's instructions and with the jade slip diagrams available, I can simply copy them."

"It took me three months to even remotely get it to look decent!" Qingqing jumped up, pointing at the talisman, her voice rising, "You did it in one go, and... and it's so well drawn! The radiance, the aura, it's almost on par with Master Wen's practice talisman!"

She circled Zhou Li twice, looking him up and down as if she were seeing him in a new light: "Junior brother, tell your senior sister honestly, have you secretly practiced this? Or are you actually from some family of talisman-drawing masters?"

Zhou Li thought to himself that although he was not a talisman painter, he was somewhat skilled in painting. In his previous life, he was obsessed with cultivating Taoism and did a lot of things like burning incense, reciting scriptures, playing chess, and painting.

If I can't even control the brushstrokes, wouldn't all these years of painting have been in vain? But I can't say these words to my senior sister now.

"Senior sister is too kind. It's all thanks to your guidance that I would not have known how to lay out the talisman or how to apply the spirit sand, let alone grasp the basics."

His words were sincere, and Qingqing felt much better after hearing them, becoming proud again: "That's right, a good teacher produces excellent students!"