Who Still Uses Talismans in This Day and Age?

Due to policy regulations, students in the spiritual root implantation classes enjoyed free tuition for their first ten years. Even though this world appeared heavily capitalized, the Immortal Mansion governed as a unified regime. No matter how rapacious the corporations became, none dared openly defy the Immortal Mansion's decrees. Tuition might be free, but when it came to taking an online class, you could hardly expect the college to foot the bill. Five spirit coins was not terribly expensive. Yet Chen Zhuo nearly ground his teeth to dust. His immortal path potential had just drained away! "September 14, Immortal Calendar 14994: The college charged me a five-spirit-coin fee for an online lecture. I have recorded this grievance!" Chen Zhuo secretly resolved that this grudge was noted. In the future, he would sneak around like a rat and siphon the college's resources dry! Authority +1. As soon as Chen Zhuo paid, he noticed Meng Yan and Liang Ningwan vanish from beside him, leaving him entirely alone in the room. "Huh?" Chen Zhuo was taken aback, unsure whether the other two had declined to pay or if paying placed each student into an isolated space. Regardless, none of that mattered to him. His sole focus was mastering the military fist! "Come on, let me see just how fierce this five-spirit-coin military fist really is!" Chen Zhuo widened his eyes, determined not to miss a single detail! On the screen, Teacher Wang Yanqing's spiritual avatar grew sharp and distinct. He stood in a virtual space resembling a martial training hall, surrounded by glowing meridian diagrams and human silhouettes of light. "Welcome, students, to the first lesson of the Fledgling Dragon Military Fist, Forty-Sixth Revised Edition." As Wang Yanqing spoke, he began his introduction. "This set of military fist techniques was modified by the Immortal Mansion Military Department specifically for early-stage Qi Refining cultivators like yourselves. The copyright belongs to the Military Department, and they are the ones charging the fee, so don't blame me if you feel like cursing. "The military fist is no mere rudimentary martial art. It comprises nine forms and thirty-six stances..." With that, Teacher Wang began demonstrating the movements. Chen Zhuo's eyes lit up. Those five spirit coins had not truly left him; they had simply transformed into immortal path potential to accompany him forever! Perhaps he could set that grudge aside for the moment. "Now that the theory is covered, we will begin teaching the first form: 'Fledgling Dragon's First Exploration'..." ... One hour later. Cave Abode 2501, Immortal Mansion Unified Foundational Cultivation Apartment. Chen Zhuo practiced with everything he had, yet he ended up utterly out of breath, sweat pouring down him like rain! Maintaining the posture of "standing like a pine, spine like a dragon" was exceptionally arduous. He drove himself relentlessly! However... "Even though I can feel spiritual energy nourishing my physical body, the efficiency is far too slow." After completing a full routine, Chen Zhuo collapsed into a seat, panting as he calculated in his head. If he maintained this pace, combining the Changchun Art and the Fledgling Dragon Military Fist, it would take him roughly seven months to step into the third layer of Qi Refining... "The spiritual energy in the Immortal Mansion world is way too thin!" Chen Zhuo could not resist muttering a complaint. Paired with the military fist in the Spirit Bead World, the results would surely be phenomenal. Yet Chen Zhuo was exercising extreme caution now. After all, a predatory leopard beast still lurked right near the spot where he had departed the Spirit Bead World. Chen Zhuo could not be certain whether it had left. Though half a day had passed and the leopard would most likely have moved on, there remained a possibility that it was still prowling the area. If he ventured back unprepared and made a single misstep, he could be ambushed and slaughtered on the spot. This was no game; he had only one life, and Chen Zhuo was naturally as careful as could be. "I can't let that leopard leave alive. Even if it isn't squatting in place, I have to hunt it down and execute it right there!" Browsing the campus network's second-hand market on his spiritual communication jade, Chen Zhuo pondered, "It saw me vanish from that world. With a leopard's intelligence, it probably can't comprehend what happened, but what if it stumbles upon some miraculous opportunity in the future and cultivates into a shapeshifting grand demon? If it remembers what happened today, the future trouble would be endless!" Granted, that speculation was a bit absurd. To become a shapeshifting grand demon required at least the Nascent Soul stage. Alternatively, certain specialized surgical procedures under the Immortal Mansion's jurisdiction could allow a demon beast to assume human form early, at the Golden Core or even Foundation Establishment stage. Neither route was something a common leopard could ever hope to access. Still, what if? Even if there were only a 0.0000001% chance, Chen Zhuo had to be prudent! It had to die! Yet to kill that leopard with his cultivation at only the second layer of Qi Refining, he needed to use his head. "I left the Dharma-Control Scout Drone in the Spirit Bead World without retrieving it. That works out fine, though—its battery should last about two days. Within these two days, I have to secure both offensive and defensive measures." Chen Zhuo planned quietly. If the leopard was lying in ambush at the landing site, he needed a reliable defense against the initial strike. Furthermore, if he wanted to eliminate the beast, the ideal approach was killing it from a distance rather than engaging in close combat himself. That, however, would demand an enormous sum of immortal path potential. Chen Zhuo glanced at his balance. [Greetings, Fellow Daoist Chen Zhuo. Your current spirit coin balance: 48.83.] Rounding up, that was barely forty-nine coins. Exhausting. With so little immortal path potential, how was he supposed to cultivate? Not to mention he needed both offensive and defensive assets. What could fifty spirit coins even buy? Nothing of real worth. The cheapest Dharma artifacts cost over a hundred coins; his meager funds could only cover mortal-grade gadgets, like the basic Dharma-Control Scout Drone from before. Fortunately, there was the campus network. Chen Zhuo could see if there was any second-hand gear worth picking up. [Male, thirty-seven years old, eleventh layer of Qi Refining, graduating soon. Any juniors need someone to test the power of their spells or martial techniques? 5 spirit coins per hour, professional sparring partner...] [Earnestly recruiting two juniors to test pills. 500 spirit coins each. Guaranteed not to kill you, with a chance of paralysis ranging from several to over a dozen years.] [Selling a batch of discarded pills at low prices. Though the pill toxin exceeds 30%, the medicinal efficacy remains potent. Produced by the Alchemy College...] [I am Liu Heng, a ninth-year student majoring in Ancient Pill Recipe Restoration. I recently acquired a dual cultivation art by chance. Are there any junior sisters willing to become Dao companions with me and pursue the Great Dao together?] [...] "Uh." Chen Zhuo scrolled through the flea market and realized something. This place hardly felt like a second-hand goods exchange; it looked far more like a makeshift labor market. Thankfully, the Taiqing Vocational and Technical College of Alchemy was one of the four major vocational and technical colleges administered by Taiqing City, and its internal network was connected to outside institutions. Without hesitation, Chen Zhuo logged onto the external network and successfully linked to the Taiqing Vocational and Technical College of Talisman Crafting. The Taiqing Vocational and Technical College of Talisman Crafting ranked dead last among the four colleges. Paper talismans, as an ancient medium, had gradually become obsolete in modern society. After all, who still used paper talismans in this day and age? With the march of progress, modern cultivators had all switched to microchips. A single tiny chip could be inscribed with hundreds of spiritual talisman patterns... Consequently, enrollment at the talisman college dwindled year by year. In another millennium or so, the college would likely shut down completely and cease admissions altogether. To contemporary cultivators, paper talismans were something nobody with any sense would touch. Yet Chen Zhuo figured... If nobody else wants them, I will! Right away, he sifted through the flood of junk postings and found exactly what he needed. "Golden Armor Talismans and Sword Qi Talismans!" "You're the ones!"