Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

The closer one got, the stronger the repulsive force became.

By the time it was nearly half a meter away, the rebound force had caused the four-finger-thick log wall to develop fine cracks, and dust shook down rustlingly.

Seeing this, Chen Li hurriedly stopped the test; if he continued, the wall would not be able to withstand it.

"The repulsive force at half a meter distance... I estimate is about a ton," Chen Li thought to himself.

Of course, this was the repulsive force against the flat surface of the wall, which had a broad contact area and did not prove anything. If it were something small like an arrow, having one-hundredth or two of the force would already be quite good.

However, that said,

Although small objects received a greatly reduced force, they also had less mass and were therefore more easily influenced.

"No wonder this talisman is called an ’Arrow-Evasion Talisman’. Under such a force field, ordinary arrows would probably be diverted by the field before they even got close to the body," Chen Li mused:

"I guess attacks from magic artifacts would also be affected to some degree, especially against some low-grade magic artifacts, it seems to provide quite strong defense."

Once away from the wall, Chen Li was in the defense field and felt as though nothing was amiss and unaffected in the slightest.

He continued to study the characteristics of the Arrow-Evasion Talisman.

First: The light was normal; being inside, he did not feel the light dim in the slightest, indicating it was ineffective against attacks of light.

Second: He had been there for quite some time, and his breathing was smooth; the air did not become turbid, meaning the air could enter and exit without hindrance, so it had no defensive capability against poison gases.

Third: He felt no repulsive force from the ground, indicating it was powerless against attacks from below.

Fourth: There was almost no dust in the air, indicating it had a very strong filtering effect on smoke and similar things.

"It seems it only works on solids and is ineffective against gases, light, or what you could say energy. No wonder it only sells for a Low-grade Spirit Stone... Ah, thanks to the price increase, now it can fetch two stones in the market," Chen Li thought to himself:

"Its area of effect is too narrow; all things considered, it’s like a poor man’s Amulet!"

...

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

Noon.

Zhou Hong extended her hand, arm in arm with Chen Li, as they returned from selling Evil-Repelling Talismans at the market.

"Every day, you have to practice Qi Cultivation, swordsmanship, and talisman-drawing, leaving little spare time. I can sell the talismans next time. Today, it looked like selling them wasn’t too difficult for you."

"Hmm, that’s a good idea!" Chen Li thought for a moment and nodded.

Zhou Hong was not weak, her cultivation having reached the fifth level of Qi Cultivation, higher than his.

She also had a first-order high-grade magic artifact and the high-grade magic robe that Chen Li bought for her. Coupled with her being accustomed to the tenuous life of Jianghu, she was not easy prey to the common dangers of the slum area.

"The magic robe you bought me last time, why don’t we return it? Our expenses have been too great nowadays, 150 Low-grade Spirit Stones each month aren’t enough, and at this rate, we might not hold out for long."

Chen Li gently patted her hand and said, "Don’t worry about money; I still have seven Mid-grade Spirit Stones on hand, plus the income from drawing talismans, so we can hold on for another half a year at least.

Our main expense is on pills, other expenses are not much. Worst comes to worst, later on, we could simply go without pills for a while and endure a period of ascetic life. The only thing is, the hairpin I promised you, I might not be able to buy it for you anytime soon."

"I already like the hairpin you gave me last time; there’s no need to buy another. And besides, I don’t care about these things," Zhou Hong whispered, tightening her grip on Chen Li’s hand.

The two chatted quietly while walking slowly toward their home.

Before they reached home, they saw Zhang Yan standing at the doorway from afar.

"Ah, Fellow Daoist Chen, is this your wife? What great fortune you have!" He was holding a bag in his hands, his face blossoming into a chrysanthemum smile, a stark contrast from his irritable temperament of the past few days.

"I didn’t expect Fellow Daoist Zhang to arrive so early. I thought you would come by evening. Have you been waiting long?" Chen Li smiled as he opened the door.

"No, no, I just got here myself not long ago, haha!" Zhang Yan hurriedly said.

Chen Li felt a burst of satisfaction upon hearing this.

What goes around comes around.

Yesterday a dog, today a human.

This scene was simply a reversal of his last visit to Zhang Yan’s home, with the roles completely switched.

"You two chat at your leisure." Zhou Hong said.

Chen Li nodded.

Then, he invited Zhang Yan into the talisman-making room.

Zhou Hong came in with tea: "Fellow Daoist, please enjoy the tea!"

Zhang Yan quickly stood up to receive it: "Thank you, sister-in-law."

Zhou Hong chuckled lightly, said nothing further, and turned to leave, closing the door behind her.

"It’s still better without making the talisman paper, it looks a lot cleaner, there’s no odd smell, and there’s nothing to worry about." Zhang Yan said with a laugh, rubbing his hands together, slightly restless.

Chen Li found this amusing.

Not bothering with idle talk, he got straight to the point, "You brought the talisman paper, right?"

"I did, I did, each piece is top-quality talisman paper." Zhang Yan perked up, hurriedly reached for the cloth bag, and pulled out the talisman paper in stacks.

Chen Li briefly checked them and found the quality to be good, then he counted the quantity.

There were one hundred and fifty-five sheets, five extra.

"The five extra are a gift, just notify me when you’ve used them up, and I, Zhang, will deliver them straight to your door," Zhang Yan said with an apologetic smile.

"Sure, no problem. Whose am I not buying from? As long as the quality of the talisman paper is good, I’ll buy from you in the future," Chen Li replied.

"Fellow Daoist is generous!" Zhang Yan, feeling reassured, laughed: "I’m not stingy either; if there’s anything else you don’t understand about the Arrow-Evasion Talisman, I’ll give you some pointers now. You must have drawn a lot of failed talismans recently, bring them all out, and I’ll help you check them."

"Uh!" Chen Li hesitated for a moment, then smiled: "Thank you, Fellow Daoist, indeed, I’ve run into quite a few problems drawing talismans these past few days!"

With his current level of spiritual power, he could draw one Evil-Repelling Talisman and one Arrow-Evasion Talisman at the same time. Then, before meditating for Qi Cultivation at night, he would draw one of each again, using up his spiritual power, giving him the ability to draw four talismans every day.

And another ’Arrow-Evasion Talisman’ had been successful yesterday.

This deepened his understanding of the Arrow-Evasion Talisman and got him on the right track—in truth, pointers now wouldn’t help as much as successfully drawing a talisman once would.

But why reject someone’s kindness?

Moreover, his guidance might help him draw fewer failed talismans.

Chen Li picked out a failed talisman he had drawn yesterday from the wastebasket and handed it over with both hands.

"Don’t throw away the failed talismans. Studying them more might yield new insights," Zhang Yan said as he took it and let out a light ’hmm’ of surprise.

"This talisman is very close to being finished, just a bit off... This stroke is too fine, and the output of spiritual power is slightly too forceful, causing a leakage, and only when you finished did the phenomenon of spiritual power burning occur. What a pity, what a pity," he said, giving Chen Li a look.

It’s only been a few days, yet he’s reached this level.

It seems it won’t be long before there’s another competitor for ’Arrow-Evasion Talismans’ in the market.

Luckily, he primarily relies on Featherweight Talismans to make his living, so it doesn’t affect him much.