Cultivation Reconstruction in the End Times

Chapter 8 Acquisition

Zhang He wrote down all the things he wanted as the old man said. After a while, the old man reached out to take the paper, glanced at it, and immediately raised his head to look at Zhang He. Seeing that he was young, the old man's eyes flickered for a moment. Then, when he saw the wooden talisman about the length of a palm hanging on the leather bag in Zhang He's hand, his gaze paused.

He actually opened his mouth and asked, "Young man, was this wooden talisman drawn by your elder?"

Although Zhang He didn't like Taoist talisman techniques very much in the past, he still had respect for Taoist things. He also knew more or less about some people who had dealings with his father. They all had some special skills, at least their eyesight was different from that of ordinary people. So he didn't hide it and casually said, "It's just a copy drawn by a younger generation. It's not worth looking at."

However, the old man seemed not to have heard his words. He actually got up from his seat and then stared straight at the talisman on the leather bag. Zhang He couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. This talisman was just an ordinary strength-dispersing talisman. Since paper talismans didn't last as long as wooden talismans, he had engraved it on wood so that it could be used repeatedly. The old man in front of him couldn't possibly have never seen a strength-dispersing talisman. Why was he looking at it so intently?

Thinking of the thing sealed in his bag, his heart tightened, and he pulled the leather bag behind him. Although this servant beast was fierce and difficult to tame, and he had found it troublesome many times, after all, he had spent a lot of effort refining it. It didn't mean that he didn't care about it. If the old man had any thoughts about the servant beast, he definitely wouldn't let him have his way.

But Zhang He had misunderstood. The old man was indeed looking at the wooden talisman he had drawn. Although strength-dispersing talismans were quite common, he had really never seen a few strength-dispersing talismans with such high spiritual power.

Taoist talismans were not like what ordinary people thought, that is, just finding a piece of yellow paper and drawing it exactly the same. Talismans drawn by people without spiritual power were of no use at all. As the saying goes, "If you draw a talisman without knowing the secret, you'll only make the ghosts and gods laugh; if you draw a talisman knowing the secret, you'll startle the ghosts and gods."

This "secret" was spiritual power. The higher the spiritual power, the more effective the drawn talisman would be. The amount of spiritual power, in addition to acquired cultivation, also varied from person to person. For example, for the young man in front of him, if this strength-dispersing talisman was really drawn by him, then his talent for drawing talismans could be said to be extremely high. At least in his many years of life, he had only seen this one person like this.

Seeing Zhang He's defensive look, the old man retracted his gaze and looked at the paper again. The young man in front of him had indeed ordered talisman paper. He wanted ten thousand pieces of low-grade talisman paper, fifty thousand pieces of medium-grade talisman paper, and high-grade... one hundred thousand pieces.

Generally speaking, Taoist people usually used low-grade and medium-grade talisman paper. High-grade talisman paper was usually used for high-grade talismans. The success rate of forming such talismans was low, and they were very difficult to form. They also required high spiritual power. So few people usually bought them, and if they did, it was only one or two hundred pieces. It was the first time he had seen a young man like the one in front of him who wanted to buy one hundred thousand pieces at once.

So when he saw the paper earlier, he had some doubts in his heart. He thought that there might be a Taoist priest who had achieved something in the young man's family, so he had asked that extra question. Now that he knew the talisman paper was for the young man and saw that the strength-dispersing talisman he had drawn had strong spiritual power, he had** for a moment.

Then he twirled the short beard on his chin and said, "One hundred boxes of cinnabar cost thirty-five thousand yuan. The talisman paper is calculated in hundreds. Ten thousand pieces of low-grade talisman paper cost one thousand yuan, fifty thousand pieces of medium-grade talisman paper cost twenty thousand yuan, and for high-grade talisman paper... there are only about ten thousand pieces of goods left in the store now."

Upon hearing this, Zhang He immediately said, "I'll take them all."

The old man nodded, then got up and started taking the goods from the box. Although the amount of talisman paper seemed large, in fact, when all packed together, it was only about as much as a carton. The talisman paper was bundled in dozens, and there were different sizes and specifications.

The other one hundred boxes of cinnabar were a bit heavier and filled a small wooden box. After the old man put the two things on the table, Zhang He took out the money he had already prepared from a black plastic bag and handed it to him.

After receiving the money, the old man turned around and took out two talisman-drawing brushes, one bamboo brush and one jade-stemmed brush, put them in a box, and placed them on the table, saying, "The bamboo brush is specially made. It can be used for drawing low-grade and medium-grade talismans for several years. The jade brush is used for drawing high-grade talismans. Its original selling price is five thousand yuan, but consider it a gift from this old man..."

When Zhang He heard this, his heart skipped a beat. Then he raised his eyes and looked at the old man with a puzzled look. Logically speaking, the transaction had already ended, and the money had already been paid. Was it a bit late to do promotion now? Moreover, it was really puzzling to give him such a valuable item for no reason. Or... did he have some ulterior motives for himself? Thinking of the leather bag in his hand, his face darkened.

Sure enough, the old man said, "Young man, since you've spent so much money all at once, you must be a bit short of money for the time being, right?"

Even without the old man's reminder, he knew that he had less than two hundred thousand yuan left in his hand, but the things he wanted to buy were less than half of what he needed. It was indeed as the old man said.

However, he didn't know what the old man was up to, and he wouldn't admit that he was short of money. He just looked at the old man coldly.

Seeing that Zhang He didn't say anything, the old man smiled indifferently, then opened the old drawer and took out a notebook from it, saying, "My store not only sells talisman paper and props but also buys finished talismans."

This sentence really caught Zhang He by surprise. He couldn't help but be stunned. The old man then continued unhurriedly, "I've been running this store for decades, and I have some regular customers. They often ask me to collect some medium-grade and high-grade talismans for them, and they offer a good price. Just now, I saw that the strength-dispersing talisman you drew was quite good, and you bought so many medium-grade and high-grade talisman paper. I guess you bought so much to practice drawing talismans, right? I wonder if you'd like to exchange the finished talismans you draw for some money. At least you can earn back some of the money you spent on buying talisman paper... There are sample diagrams in this notebook, and each one is clearly priced. It doesn't matter if you make a deal or not. You can take a look first..."

When Zhang He heard this, his heart stirred. After hesitating for a moment, he put the two boxes aside, took the notebook, and flipped through it. The notebook was made of white paper, and on each piece of white paper, there were two or more yellow talismans pasted on it. As the old man said, the prices were clearly marked below.

He had read his father's notes several times. In the previous period, he had practiced talisman techniques for a while because of the forbidden technique. Also, because of the Seven Star Talismans, his vision had broadened a bit, and he had gradually grasped some skills in controlling the strength when drawing talismans. So when flipping through the notebook, he didn't think these talismans were too difficult to draw, and he recognized most of them.

The talismans on the first few pages were priced at dozens of yuan, and he was a bit uninterested. When he quickly flipped to the middle, the prices had risen to several hundred or even more than a thousand yuan. Zhang He then slowed down. There were several kinds of talismans that he had drawn before. For example, when performing the forbidden technique, among the six auxiliary talismans, he saw two of them in the notebook, and both were priced at one thousand eight hundred yuan.

Then he flipped through a few more pages and was immediately stunned. The prices of the next few talismans were beyond his imagination. They should be high-grade talismans. One of them was as high as fifty thousand yuan, and there were also quite a few priced at eight thousand, ten thousand, or twenty thousand yuan.

He had been practicing the Seven Star Talismans on the silk for some time. At first, he couldn't even draw half of one properly. Since he had practiced the breathing and qi-nourishing technique for a while, he had now successfully drawn several sets for backup. And the talisman priced at fifty thousand yuan was almost on a par with the Seven Star Talismans. He thought he should be able to successfully draw one within dozens of attempts.

Originally, time was pressing, and he shouldn't have wasted time here. However, he really had too little money on hand, and the things he could buy were limited. Since he was delayed in Province G for a few days, he might as well draw a few talismans to earn some money, which could be used to buy more essential items.

The old man saw that Zhang He had been staring at the talisman priced at fifty thousand yuan, and he couldn't help but feel eager. He had hung this talisman in the notebook for several years, and until now, he hadn't received a single one like it. Two days ago, he had originally wanted to take it down, but an old friend had called and said that he needed this talisman to perform a Taoist ritual for a real estate developer.

The fee for his old friend's Taoist ritual alone was two hundred thousand yuan, not to mention the red envelopes. From what his old friend said, this real estate developer was very generous. His old friend meant to ask him to help contact someone. If he could get the talisman, he would take the job.

The old man had been running around in a hurry for several places in the past few days but still hadn't been able to get the talisman. Today, seeing that Zhang He had been looking at that talisman, he couldn't help but feel hopeful. He had been in this business for decades and often drew and sold talismans himself. Although the lines of the strength-dispersing talisman drawn by Zhang He earlier were a bit clumsy, the spiritual power inside was extremely abundant. It even faintly seemed to be on the verge of overflowing. This wasn't something that an ordinary person could draw. Even if the lines were drawn beautifully, a talisman without much spiritual power was just a piece of waste paper.

So the old man still had some expectations for Zhang He. Sure enough, after a while, Zhang He pointed to the talisman priced at fifty thousand yuan and said, "Can you take it out for me to take back and copy?"

The old man immediately nodded, "Of course." After saying that, he took the talisman off the paper, put it in a plastic bag of the same size, and handed it to Zhang He. This talisman wasn't drawn with cinnabar but with ordinary ink, and it didn't have any spiritual power effect. It was just a sample diagram, and it didn't matter if it was lost.

Zhang He took it and put it in his upper pocket. After putting away the two brushes, he thanked the old man, then carried a box in each hand and walked out quickly. After walking a long way out, he stopped in a park where there weren't too many people. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around and using the cover of the rockery, he waved his hand and put the two boxes of talisman paper and cinnabar into the peach pit space. Then he slowed down and walked back to the hotel.

If he wanted to draw talismans, he couldn't stay in the original room anymore. With so many people around, drawing talismans would be disturbed. So when he got back, he changed to a single room. He stayed in the room for several days, constantly spending his time between practicing breathing exercises and drawing talismans. Even when eating, he just took out the rice balls he had bought earlier from the space, wolfed down one or two, and then continued practicing.

Five days later, the things he had customized were finally ready. Zhang He hired a car to transport the bedding, clothes, cotton fabric, and yarn to an empty storefront he had rented. Then he closed the door and stored the things one by one in the peach pit space before leaving.

The next day, he took the three talismans he had drawn to the place where he had bought the talisman paper last time. This time, the old man seemed very busy, and many people were queuing up to order things. After waiting for about half an hour, he was able to go in. The old man was sorting out the goods. When he saw Zhang He, his eyes immediately lit up.

Zhang He didn't waste any words. He took out the three drawn talismans and the sample diagram he had originally taken from the old man and put them on the table.

The old man took them in his hand and looked at them repeatedly, reluctant to let go for a moment. His face was also a bit excited. As he looked at the talismans, he also looked at Zhang He in surprise several times, and his eyes changed. In just five short days, Zhang He was actually able to draw three high-grade talismans. He could clearly feel the huge amount of spiritual power in the three talismans, which was as dense and solid as water. Even a famous talisman master in Province G might not be able to do it. After looking at them for a long time, he finally carefully put the talismans on the table with satisfaction.

Zhang He's eagerness to get the money was written all over his face. Anyone who wasn't blind could see it at a glance. So the old man immediately called his friend without saying anything and then smiled and asked Zhang He, "Young man, do you want a bank transfer or cash?"

Zhang He immediately said, "Cash." So the old man nodded and went out to call the girl outside and gave her some instructions.

When he came back, he asked Zhang He to wait a moment, saying that the money would be brought over soon. Then he took out a small carton and put it on the table, saying, "Here are five thousand pieces of high-grade talisman paper. Consider it a gift from this old man to you, young man."

Last time, Zhang He had wanted one hundred thousand pieces of high-grade talisman paper, but he only had ten thousand pieces in stock. So in the past few days, he had asked someone to purchase some. Mainly, high-grade talisman paper was not easy to obtain, so he couldn't gather one hundred thousand pieces at once. He had only managed to get five thousand pieces. Just now, Zhang He had brought three top-grade high-grade talismans, and he had made a lot of money from it. Although his purchase price was fifty thousand yuan, the lowest friendly price he could sell them to his friend was eighty thousand yuan each, and there was still a situation of high demand but low supply. Mainly, the world was too chaotic now, and there were too few good talismans. Most of the good talismans were held in people's hands and wouldn't be easily sold. He planned to keep the other two talismans in reserve and would only sell them for at least one hundred thousand yuan each.

This time, giving Zhang He five thousand pieces of high-grade talisman paper for free was both a gesture of gratitude and an attempt to win him over. This was also his cleverness in doing business. Giving people preferential treatment was sometimes more effective than saying thousands of kind words. In the future, if Zhang He had any more good talismans, he would surely consider the old man first.

Zhang He naturally wouldn't be polite about something given for free. After a while, the girl brought back a shoe bag, took out the shoe box from it, and opened the lid. The box was filled with cash.

Zhang He checked the amount one by one, and after confirming the amount and authenticity, he repacked it and took away both the shoe box and the carton. He walked quickly for a long way. When he saw that no one was following him, he circled around a few times and then returned to the hotel. Then he stored the money and the talisman paper in the peach pit space.

Then he quickly packed up the things in the room, checked out of the hotel, and directly took a train to Province Z in the afternoon. Before this, because he wanted to know the latest developments of the living dead incident, he had checked online. For the time being, there were no breaking news on the Internet. It seemed that the police had blocked this matter very strictly and hadn't made the situation public.

After that, he casually browsed several websites and accidentally saw a help-seeking post posted by a netizen on a forum, which caught his attention. The post said that in a mountainous rural area in Province Z, due to the rain, the road had collapsed, and the farmers in the village couldn't transport the dozens of acres of strawberries and tomatoes they had painstakingly planted. Seeing that a year's hard work was going to waste, they were all sitting in the fields crying.

Dozens of acres of land wasn't a large amount, but the netizen said that the place was very poor, the terrain was remote, and there were few people. They relied on the harvest from the fields to make money by transporting it out of the mountains with horse-drawn carriages. As a result, the only mountain road had collapsed, and the people in the village relied on this little income to live for a year. So they were appealing on the Internet to see if anyone could help come up with a solution or offer some sponsorship.

After reading it, Zhang He's first thought was that he could probably stockpile some of these things. After all, in the apocalypse, what was most lacking wasn't the food that could fill the stomach, but the