Cultivation starts from devouring the Dao fruits

Zhao Yu returned to the Market after spending four Spirit Stones on a Talisman Brush, Talisman Ink, and Talisman Paper before he finally returned to his small wooden cabin in the Spirit Fields.

After bathing and changing his clothes, Zhao Yu swallowed nine Evil-Repelling Talismans one by one. Once he activated the Dao Fruit, countless experiences of drawing Evil-Repelling Talismans surged through his mind.

"Talisman Practice: Level 0 (10/100)."

"Talisman—Evil-Repelling Talisman: Proficient (0/200)."

"I can start drawing the Evil-Repelling Talismans now!! It must succeed! Only by mastering the ability to draw talismans can I steadily obtain Spirit Stones and shed my identity as a Spirit Farmer!"

Zhao Yu took a deep breath, focused his mind, channeled his mana, and began to draw the Evil-Repelling Talisman.

Sizzle!

As Zhao Yu finished his final stroke, the talisman self-ignited, turning into ashes that scattered in the wind.

"Failed! And my mana's drained too!! With Qi Refinement at the first level, my mana is indeed too shallow!"

Zhao Yu gasped for air, wiped off his sweat, and gave a wry smile.

Drawing a talisman required the expenditure of a cultivator's mana, physical energy, and mental focus. This was also why Zhao Yu had been reluctant to start drawing the Evil-Repelling Talismans earlier—the first level of Qi Refinement was always his greatest weakness.

After Zhao Yu recovered his mana through meditation, he went to sleep.

In the dead of night, darkness enveloped the land.

A long, sturdy wire silently pierced through the crack of the wooden door, picked the lock, and opened the wooden latch.

The door silently opened, and outside stood a person dressed in black, revealing only two eyes.

Just as the door opened, a basin filled with lime hanging above the doorway instantly tipped over. A large quantity of lime spilled onto the face of the person in black, who screamed in agony, covering his own eyes.

At the same time, a longan-sized wooden ball also smashed onto Zhao Yu's head as he lay in bed. He was instantly awakened, opened his eyes, grabbed the Flying Dagger beside his bed, and threw it directly at the person in black.

Whoosh!

The Flying Dagger instantly buried itself into the head of the person in black. He struggled for a moment, then fell heavily to the ground.

"Damn it! Even a poor devil tries to rob!!"

Zhao Yu, both shocked and angry, grabbed the Flying Daggers beside him and threw them continuously, turning the body of the person in black into a hedgehog, before finally chopping off his head with a blow, the fresh blood staining the floor red.

In the Cultivation World, there were numerous extraordinary skills and strange methods, including ways to feign death. There were tales of powerful cultivators whose heads could grow back even after being chopped off. However, this person in black obviously did not belong to that category.

Zhao Yu put on thick leather gloves and searched the person in black, eventually finding five Evil-Repelling Talismans, a small Spiritual Shield Talisman, and a Low-Grade Bronze Awl Magical Instrument.

"Not even a single Spirit Stone! No, not even Spirit Sand! Truly a pauper! Who knows if this guy was a gambling addict or a junkie!"

Zhao Yu lifted the veil of the person in black, revealing a face with dark circles under his eyes, looking nearly skeletal.

Most robbers would not target Spirit Farmers in the Market Center District, as Spirit Farmers were mostly impoverished and robbing them could attract the attention of the Cangling Sect Law Enforcement Team, a loss far outweighing the gain.

Yet, some cultivators who frequently lurked around casinos or constantly consumed Ascension Pills might risk everything when lacking Spirit Stones, opting to rob Spirit Farmers. Living next to the Spirit Fields, with neighbors far apart, made them easy targets.

Of course, once those gambling-addicted cultivators or junkies killed a Spirit Farmer, they too would quickly be dealt with by the Cangling Sect Law Enforcement Team. Still, such individuals would appear from time to time.

"This guy actually has a low-grade magic artifact! He's even richer than me, yet he came to rob me! Luckily, I've already become a Martial Arts Grandmaster, highly responsive, or else he really would have succeeded!"

Zhao Yu held the Bronze Awl, filled with relief.

A well-preserved low-grade magical instrument generally costs over fifty Spirit Stones on the market, yet Zhao Yu didn't possess a single low-grade magic artifact for self-defense.

Zhao Yu dragged the body of the man in black to the side of the Spirit Fields and dug a hole to bury him.

"This place is really too unsafe, the Market Center District is safer! Unfortunately, the rent for a small courtyard in the Market Center District is too high!"

Zhao Yu lay on the simple wooden bed, sighing softly.

The yearly rent for a small courtyard in the Market Center District is more than one hundred and twenty Spirit Stones, the density of Spiritual Energy there is more than three times that of the Spirit Fields area, and the Cangling Sect Law Enforcement Team is nearby, ensuring good public order, hardly anyone dares to cause trouble there, let alone murder and robbery.

The simple wooden houses in the Spirit Fields area do have an advantage, they are completely free, but only Cultivators can live there.

The next day, after Zhao Yu had practiced his martial arts and attended to the farmland, he went to the market and spent a Spirit Stone to buy a copy of 'Basics of Instrument Mastery'. He began to learn how to manipulate the only magic artifact he had, the Bronze Awl.

"To activate a magic artifact, one must consume Divine Sense and Mana!"

Zhao Yu sat by the Spirit Fields, picked up the Bronze Awl, and following the teachings of 'Basics of Instrument Mastery', he infused his scarce Divine Sense and Mana from the first level of Qi Refinement into it.

The Bronze Awl emitted a faint glow and floated up from Zhao Yu's hands, hovering in mid-air, wavering for a few breaths before falling directly to the ground.

Zhao Yu's face turned pale, his scant Divine Sense and Mana completely absorbed by the Bronze Awl.

"It won't work; my Divine Sense and Mana are too weak. I cannot freely control this Bronze Awl. I must either use it as a dagger or as a Flying Dagger!"

Zhao Yu pondered carefully for a while, then sat in meditation to restore his Mana, quietly waiting for his Divine Sense to recover.

After his Mana and Divine Sense had fully recovered, Zhao Yu then activated his Mana, used his Flying Daggers technique, and threw it directly. The Bronze Awl, glowing faintly, slammed into the trunk of the tree Zhao Yu used for practicing his Flying Daggers techniques.

Bang!!

The tree was directly pierced through, leaving a large hole.

Zhao Yu's lips curled into a slight smile, expressing his delight, "Amazing! This is the power of a magic artifact!! I finally have a secret weapon of my own."

In the days that followed, Zhao Yu continued his regular life of practicing martial arts, tending to the Spirit Fields, cultivating Earth Elemental Skill, and drawing ward-off-evil talismans.

Zhao Yu swallowed four ward-off-evil talismans obtained from that man in black in one go, gaining forty points of proficiency. Due to multiple tasks and his shallow Mana, he could only draw one ward-off-evil talisman per day. Each of his attempts at drawing a talisman failed, yet he was not discouraged; he just silently summarized his experiences in his heart.

The fifth day.

Zhao Yu sat at the simple wooden table, focused on drawing a ward-off-evil talisman. As he completed the final stroke, the talisman flickered with a faint light before disappearing.

"I did it!! I successfully drew a ward-off-evil talisman!!"

Zhao Yu held the talisman, his eyes filled with joy and excitement. This was the first Spirit Talisman he had ever drawn, signifying that he would have a steady source of Spirit Stones, and he could leave his Cultivator identity behind next year.

"Talisman — Ward-off-Evil Talisman: Proficiency (41/200)."

Zhao Yu mused, "Successfully drawing a single ward-off-evil talisman only nets me one proficiency point! This means I need to successfully draw fifty-nine more talismans to reach an expert level. This is perhaps related to my average Talisman Path talent."