147: Chapter 145 True Talisman Formed (Seeking Subscriptions) 147: Chapter 145 True Talisman Formed (Seeking Subscriptions) The room was full of scrapped talisman paper, and Ye Cheng jumped at the sight.
“Chen Hai drew so many talismans and still failed to draw the one he talked about?”
“Is drawing a talisman really that difficult?”
Amazed, he looked around and quickly saw Chen Hai lying on the table, seemingly fast asleep.
Although he was asleep, the talisman pen was still in his hand.
On the table where he lay, a talisman was half-drawn.
The other half was a complete mess.
It seemed that Chen Hai was simply too tired; he fell asleep while still trying to finish drawing the talisman in front of him.
“This matter originally had little to do with him.
If I hadn’t gone to find him at school, he would be in freshman military training right now.”
“He has really gone all out to help my sister!”
“No matter whether he succeeds in drawing the talisman to save my sister or not, I owe him a huge favor!”
Approaching the exhausted Chen Hai, who was now emitting light snores, Ye Cheng had a complex expression and sighed deeply.
Originally, he had intended to supervise Chen Hai as soon as he arrived, urging him to rush the talisman drawing.
But now, seeing the room full of scrapped talisman paper and Chen Hai, who had fallen asleep from extreme fatigue in the middle of drawing, how could Ye Cheng bear to wake him?
“Drawing talismans must be extremely draining.”
“Without sufficient rest, even if I wake up Chen Hai, he definitely won’t be able to successfully draw the talisman he talked about!”
“Although Qingqing’s situation is urgent, rushing the process of talisman drawing only leads to errors, and a poor mental state makes it even worse.”
“Let Chen Hai rest well; I’ll wake him up tomorrow morning.”
“How fortunate Qingqing is to have a friend like Chen Hai…”
After hesitating for a while, Ye Cheng remarked emotionally.
He fetched a thin blanket from another room and covered Chen Hai with it; then he found a chair near Chen Hai and started to doze off himself.
In fact, Ye Cheng was quite exhausted himself.
After all, his recent trip to Xiangxi covered several thousand miles, and he had only managed to nap a bit on the plane.
He chose not to sleep in another room but to rest near Chen Hai, hoping to be aware the moment Chen Hai awoke.
The next morning, it was just before seven when Chen Hai slowly opened his eyes and stretched lazily, feeling refreshed after a good sleep.
Feeling something slide off his back onto the ground, he was startled and looked down.
“Who covered me with a blanket?
Did someone come in last night?”
He looked around and quickly spotted Ye Cheng a few steps away in a chair, his mouth open and drooling as he dozed.
“It was Brother Ye.
He must have come to check on my progress with the talisman!”
“Sitting in the chair, he managed to sleep so soundly; he must be just as tired as I am!”
Chen Hai chuckled to himself.
Yesterday, he drew hundreds, maybe thousands of talismans for practice.
After such long practice sessions, he felt his technique had significantly improved.
It was now early morning, about four hours until noon.
During this time, Chen Hai wanted to conserve his energy, opting not to continue practicing drawing talismans.
Without waking Ye Cheng, he washed up and then leisurely walked outside into the courtyard.
“Mr.
Chen, our boss…” Huang, who was standing at the courtyard gate, hurried over to greet Chen Hai upon seeing him.
As for Zhang, his presence was nowhere to be seen.
Last night, Huang and Zhang must have taken turns keeping watch.
Seeing only Huang and not Zhang, he probably went to rest.
“Brother Ye is very tired and is still sleeping.
Where can we get breakfast around here?” Chen Hai asked with a smile.
Men are steel, but food is stronger.
Skipping a meal would leave him starving.
Currently growing, he had a large appetite and got hungry quickly; he was indeed very hungry after waking up.
And since he needed to draw talismans at noon, he couldn’t just keep starving without eating anything!
“Mr.
Chen, what would you like to eat?
I can go buy it for you!” Huang quickly offered.
“Soy milk and dough sticks are fine, steamed buns and stuffed buns will do as well.
I’m not picky; anything that fills the stomach works for me!”
After a slight hesitation, Chen Hai replied with a smile.
Seeing Huang willing to run the errand, he naturally had no objections.
“Alright, Mr.
Chen, please wait here in the courtyard; I’ll be back soon!” After greeting Chen Hai, Huang turned and walked out.
The morning air was quite fresh, especially near West Mountain.
After taking several deep breaths, just as Chen Hai was starting to move around, Ye Cheng, looking very anxious, quickly walked out of the room and joined him.
“Chen Hai, when did you wake up?
Why didn’t you call me?”
Before Chen Hai could reply, Ye Cheng quickly added, “Let me tell you, my sister’s condition has worsened!”
“If you can’t successfully draw the talisman you mentioned by noon, she will have no escape but death.”
“Come on, we still have a little time, follow me back to the room, and start drawing the talisman right away!”
Grabbing Chen Hai’s wrist, he prepared to pull him back to the room.
“Sister Qing’s condition is that serious?” Chen Hai exclaimed, surprised.
“Yes, that’s the judgment made by Master Hou Donggui.”
“Since you know him, you definitely understand that he doesn’t speak without basis in these matters,” Ye Cheng nodded in response.
“Brother Ye, the Danghui talisman I mentioned can only be properly drawn at noon!”
“Now is not the right two-hour period, and if I draw a talisman now, it’ll be nothing but a waste of my energy.”
Despite Ye Cheng dragging him back to the room where they drew the talismans, Chen Hai only managed to free his wrist once they were inside and, with a helpless expression, explained.
“Ah…
can only draw the talisman at noon?
What should we do now?”
Ye Cheng’s face dramatically changed, and he started pacing anxiously in a frenzy.
Suddenly, he seemed to think of something.
He stared directly at Chen Hai, his face stern as he questioned, “Chen Hai, you’re not trying to trick me, are you?”
“In this room, there are at least several hundred talismans that you failed to draw yesterday!”
“Are you trying to tell me that you drew all these within just one or two hours yesterday at noon?”
With a fierce glare at Chen Hai, Ye Cheng seemed ready to punch Chen Hai in the face if it turns out Chen Hai was deceiving him.
“Brother Ye, what are you thinking?”
“Yesterday at noon, I only drew about ten to twenty talismans, sadly, none of those were successfully drawn!”
“As for the talismans you see around the room that are discarded, those were just me trying to get a feel for it later.”
“Since it wasn’t the right two-hour period, I never thought these would be successful!”
Chen Hai explained with a helpless smile on his face.
Hearing this, Ye Cheng’s expression relaxed significantly.
“Chen Hai, so are you saying that all we can do now is wait…?”
“What do you mean by ‘just wait’?
Before noon, we first need to fill our stomachs; then, I need to conserve my energy and adjust my state to prepare!”
“Alright, you take your time adjusting.
I just hope my sister can hold on a bit longer!”
With a look of sorrow, Ye Cheng sighed deeply.
It had only been about fifteen minutes, but the Huang who went out to buy breakfast finally came back to the courtyard house.
Saying he was buying breakfast for Chen Hai, he naturally didn’t forget to bring one for Commander Ye Cheng as well.
After breakfast, the mess in the talisman-drawing room was tidied, and they cleaned it up.
As they endured the long wait, the wall clock’s hour hand finally pointed to eleven.
Chen Hai, who had already made all the preparatory work for drawing talismans, picked up the talisman pen and began furiously sketching on the paper in front of him.
After hundreds to thousands of practice runs yesterday, his touch today when drawing talismans was noticeably stronger.
When he reached the last few strokes of the Danghui talisman, his talisman pen suddenly felt heavier.
As the tip of the pen touched the paper, there was massive resistance as if some great force was impeding the formation of this talisman.
Caught off guard by this situation, the tip of Chen Hai’s pen twisted, and blue smoke began to rise from the paper in front of him.
As expected, the Danghui talisman had failed again.
“What happened, Chen Hai?
Why did smoke suddenly start coming out while you were drawing?”
Huddled in the corner of the room, Ye Cheng couldn’t hold back and blurted out in shock.
“What else but a botched drawing and a failed talisman!”
“Brother Ye, didn’t you promise to stay quiet in the corner and just watch?”
“If you startle me during a critical moment of drawing, causing the talisman to fail, how will you explain this to your family?”
Giving Ye Cheng a disdainful look, Chen Hai huffed in annoyance.
“I just couldn’t help it this time; I promise it won’t happen again!” Covering his mouth, Ye Cheng quickly shrank back into the corner.
Drawing talismans is traditionally not to be disturbed by others.
His ability to stay in the room, supervising Chen Hai, was the result of much coaxing and negotiating with Chen Hai.
Seeing that Ye Cheng seemed to know his place, Chen Hai didn’t bother with him further.
Taking a deep breath and adjusting his state slightly, he picked up the talisman pen and began to draw again.
Soon, he was once again approaching the crucial last few strokes of the Danghui talisman.
With the previous failure as a lesson, he was mentally prepared this time and had specially accumulated some force to deal with the current situation.
To counter that mystical force, beads of sweat densely covered his forehead.
Sweat drenched his front and back, dampening a small patch of the ground where he stood.
Despite this, the talisman pen in his hand remained as steady as Mount Tai.
Stroke by stroke, he slowly completed them, and finally, the last stroke of the Danghui talisman that Chen Hai drew was finished.
In that instant, the area within several meters around him turned completely pitch black.
It was as if all the light existing within this area had been swallowed up by something.
It was noon, the time when sunlight was supposed to be at its strongest.
Yet at this moment, while other areas of the room were bright, the area around where Chen Hai was drawing the talisman had abruptly turned dark.
This scene, seen by Ye Cheng from the corner, felt as if a piece of the room had been forcibly removed.
“Is this a True Taoism Talisman?”
Gazing at the bizarre scene not far away, Ye Cheng tightly covered his mouth, preventing himself from exclaiming.
Thankfully, this sudden anomaly came quickly and left just as fast.
In less than an instant, the darkness had dispersed.
“Brother Ye, I have honored your trust; my Danghui talisman has finally been successfully drawn!”
Sweating profusely and panting, Chen Hai held up the talisman he had just drawn, his face filled with excitement as he shouted to Ye Cheng.