Chapter 404 - Chapter 404: Chapter 396 Earth Escape Talisman_1 (1/2)

Chapter 404: Chapter 396 Earth Escape Talisman_1

“Dark Talisman Languages for sale, but the owner has a bit of an odd temper. Once you ask for the price, never try to haggle, or else he’ll never sell you a talisman again,” Bei Bing wrote on the slate.

“Alright, thanks! Then I’ll be off. If there’s anything you need help with, feel free to look for me at any time.”

Qin Niu chatted with her for a bit before leaving the shop and heading straight for the Dark Talisman Language Shop.

The shop didn’t give a good impression.

Out front, there was a hemp stone sign with the words “Dark Talisman Language” carved crookedly on it.

This hemp stone had a square hole, was long-bar-shaped, and clearly looked like a piece of a door frame salvaged from a demolished old building.

Looking at the shop’s exterior decoration, the walls were mottled, and areas closer to the ground were covered in moss.

There wasn’t even the simplest of decor.

Inside the shop was a long wooden cabinet, somewhat like the standard bookshelves, but more closely resembling a medicine cabinet used for storing Chinese herbs.

It was because this long wooden cabinet had a series of drawers.

The floor inside was made of uneven mud.

Customers didn’t even need to enter the shop, just one glance from outside was enough to make them feel the shop was unreliable.

Crafting talismans is an extremely precise task.

Whether it’s the materials or the process of drawing the talismans, every stroke must be meticulous, without the slightest error.

This shop couldn’t even write a proper sign, so how could they possibly draw a good talisman?

Qin Niu, on his first trip to the city to buy talismans, hadn’t even stepped foot in the shop.

Just a look from afar, and he had dismissed it.

If it hadn’t been for Bei Bing’s recommendation, he would never have known that this shop sold Advanced Contract Talismans.

After entering, he saw a middle-aged man around fifty standing at an old desk, carving a piece of wood.

It was a thick log, as wide as an adult’s waist.

The man furrowed his brow, carving meticulously with the knife in his hand, stroke by stroke.

Noticing a customer entering, the man didn’t look up to greet him but continued to focus intently on his carving.

“Excuse me, do you have any Advanced Contract Talismans for sale?”

“Yes, one hundred and twenty taels of silver each,” the owner answered without raising his head.

“I’ll take five,” Qin Niu said.

Even though Bei Bing had referred him and the price seemed steep, Qin Niu was in urgent need of them and reluctantly accepted the cost.

After all, what mattered was the quality.

With his current wealth, spending an extra hundred taels of silver on such critical cultivation materials was entirely acceptable.

“Wait a moment!” the middle-aged man replied indifferently, still focused on the wood he was carving on the desk.

Qin Niu instinctively looked at the man’s carving.

The wood was etched with smooth lines.

Every line the man carved was continuous from start to finish. Some were deep, some shallow; some thick, some thin.

“What’s the use of carving all these lines?” Qin Niu wondered to himself.

As time passed, the man’s carving gradually neared completion.

“Is this, wind?” Qin Niu couldn’t help but widen his eyes at the finished carving.

The man ignored him and picked up a strip of cloth, hanging it beside the wood carving. The cloth didn’t react at all.

The man shook his head in disappointment.

“You wanted five Advanced Contract Talismans, right?” He kept Qin Niu waiting so long with no hint of an apology.

Instead, he looked grumpy, his tone unpleasant, because the carving hadn’t produced the desired effect.

“Right,” Qin Niu replied, not taking issue with his attitude.

The man opened one of the drawers from the cabinet and took out five wooden boxes.

Each box bore a strange symbol on it, somewhat reminiscent of a child’s doodle. However, upon closer inspection, one’s spirit felt like it was being drawn in by an invisible force.

“That’ll be six hundred taels of silver. You can check them now, but once you leave the shop, no returns or exchanges are allowed.”

For someone to do business with such an arrogant attitude and yet not close up shop, he must either rely on his skills to get by, or because the profit on talismans was so high, selling one Advanced Contract Talisman could sustain him for three years.

“I’ll inspect the goods first.”

Qin Niu took the wooden boxes, opening one of them.

The talisman was actually black, not the most common yellow.

The runes drawn on it were a dark red.

It looked somewhat sinister.