Chapter 82: Brushweaver Guild


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sir…You are?” Li Lang cautiously asked the muscr man by the door.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He had a suspicion that this was the proctor for his Brushweaver test, but that would also mean he was an esteemed one star Brushweaver. Li Lang’s mind just couldn’t make the connection between the brawny man before him with someone who elegantly held a brush.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I am Bai Yunfeng, the one star Brushweaver in charge of your test,” the man gantly dered.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...I see. I am ready, sir. Please give me your instructions.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmph, the test has already begun. My first test was testing your patience, and you already got impatient after thirty minutes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That…Has to do with Brushweaving?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course! Brushweaving requires concentration and steady hands. Both of these things require great patience to hone.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“With that said, thirty minutes is eptable for one as young as you. We will now proceed to the practical part of your test.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">Now I’m not sure if this was actually part of the test or just some excuse he came up with for beingte.</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">The man’s straightforwardness had already gotten Li Lang exhausted, but he proceeded as directed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">They slowly walked over to the table with all of Li Lang’s tools set up.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“This part will be simple. You must make a proper talisman in order to be an official apprentice Brushweaver. Any kind of talisman will do.”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">I’m starting to lean toward the direction where the patience test didn’t matter at all…</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Bai Yunfeng then ced down several nk talisman papers and took a seat on the adjacent desk.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You have one hour,” Bai Yunfeng dered before closing his eyes.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang wasted no time and got straight to it. He took out an ink stick and began infusing his Qi into it before grinding it down into its liquid form.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He had been practicing the same light element talisman so far, so he easily drew the required runes from memory. As he focused, he felt like the time around him elerated until he heard a noiseing from therge Brushweaver beside him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The big man had fallen asleep and was snoring. The scene stunned Li Lang for a brief moment before he shook his head and continued working on his talisman.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Like that, while Bai Yunfeng slept, Li Lang soonpleted two talismans over the hour.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Senior Bai, an hour has passed. Please wake up,” Li Lang said as he tapped on the man’s shoulder.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The man responded byzily stretching out his back as he let out an unrestrained yawn.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s been that long already? Let me see.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He strode over to inspect Li Lang’s work, giving the twopleted talismans a thorough inspection. It didn’tst long when he suddenly activated the two talismans.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Two bright lights began to illuminate the room.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It works, not bad. Follow me toplete the paperwork.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang blinked nkly at the response. The test had felt easypared to the time he had at the Alchemist Guild.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As if he read Li Lang’s mind, Bai Yunfeng exined as he held the door open.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s it, kid. There are no more tests. Bing an apprentice Brushweaver isn’t too difficult as long as you can afford the resources to craft the tools and know a proper technique for the inscription itself. Anyone can do it. It’s the test to be a one star Brushweaver that is hard. Inscribing multipleplicated runes is when things start to get messy.”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">I guess I owe Yi Lin a lot for providing all that for me. Or maybe it is this easy to be an apprentice craftsman when you’re studying under a mentor…</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">As he thought about the convenience of having a proper mentor, Li Lang couldn’t help but reconsider finding one for Alchemy as well. He was already an apprentice, but he didn’t know any Qi techniques for the profession. He relied on trial and error from Ruby’s artifact space to brute force a solution.


    <span style="font-weight:400">While it had worked so far, Li Lang had a hunch that the more high-level pills wouldn’t be as easy. As the mysterious power of Qi got more involved, he wanted to attain proper methods to study new approaches to how pill refining worked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Therge man known as Bai Yunfeng soon led him back to a counter in the lobby. He spoke a few words to the clerk there before they swiftly went into the back to retrieve something.


    <span style="font-weight:400">A few minutester, the man returned.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Here you are, Master Bai.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Right here, Li Lang. You must sign this Qi contract to be our official member. Please look it over, but there shouldn’t be a problem.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang carefully read over the terms.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“This is the type of contract that will alert both parties to any breaches, correct?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s right. It’s not powerful to do anything else, rest assured. Not even the guild is rich enough to waste those Heaven Smiting contracts.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was at this moment that a handnded on Li Lang’s shoulder and he turned to discover it was Yi Lin, his mentor in Brushweaving.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re done?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, just have to sign and finish up the procedures.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yi Lin then nced over the contract himself before nodding.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Seeing this, Li Lang went ahead and signed it after he found no problems with it and returned it to the clerk.


    <span style="font-weight:400">In return, he received a metal ring with a pentagon-shaped bezel with the word ‘Water’ inscribed on it. Li Lang didn’t hesitate to wear it immediately, putting it on his middle finger. He now had two simr-looking rings, one on the index finger and the other on the middle finger.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The main difference besides the different words inscribed onto it was the color of the background. The alchemy ring with the word ‘fire’ on it had a red background, while the Brushweaver ring had a blue background.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Good job,” Yi Lin said with a smile.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You better keep up the work, kid.” Bai Yunfeng followed up immediately after. “I’d like to see you humble my nephew in Brushweaving, too.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Your nephew?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Bai Yuchen, the guy you beat up. He’s told me all about you and your friends. Ha ha ha.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang didn’t need to ask to know what the boy in question had told his uncle. There were definitely no pleasant words, that was for sure.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re his uncle…?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yep, but don’t worry about it. I have nothing against you. In fact, I’m happy you put Yuchen in his ce. Kids his age easily let it get to their heads, and it’d do him good to get a wake-up call sooner rather thanter. Anyway, I won’t take up any more of your time. See you around.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The mentor and student wordlessly watched the brawny man leave before Yi Lin turned his attention back to his student.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That wraps up all the business we have at the guild today. Shall we head back?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang nodded, and they quickly got on their way.


    <span style="font-weight:400">While they were traversing the busy main streets of Emberglow City, Yi Lin asionally scratched his head awkwardly while staring at Li Lang. The strange behavior didn’t escape Li Lang’s notice.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Is something the matter?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...I just want to tell you that I’ll have to be away for a week or two starting next week.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, no problem. I can study by myself during that time. I should be able to buy any materials I’ll need too now that I’m a member of the guild.”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">And I can look for an alchemy mentor during that time!</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Good…Sorry about this. It seems my procrastination has caught up to me and I have to go fulfill some requests in person. That stupid old guild master, holding my promotion qualification over me to get me to do things.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Good luck.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The two soon returned to Yi Lin’s abode and spent the rest of the day working on various requests Li Lang’s mentor had piled up. While Li Lang acted only as an assistant or spectator at times, it was still fruitful for him to simply observe.


    <span style="font-weight:400">With the auto-analyzer not being able to decipher anything other than the Qi signature of the talismans, the importance of these sessions was only magnified.


    <span style="font-weight:400">During that night, Li Lang once again returned to the artifact space once he had finished his cultivation session.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wee back, master, and congrattions on your breakthrough! The auto-analyzer should be even faster now!” Ruby’s childish voice immediately sounded out.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Thanks, Ruby. I also have a question for you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If you consume my Brushweaving tools, will I be able to create talismans in here?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course! I am not so limited that I can’t even do that. However, just like with anything else containing Qi, I won’t be able to handle anything beyond your current cultivation. There’s just no way to analyze or simte Qi beyond Master’s realm.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s understandable…It still works out perfectly. Thanks, Ruby.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hehe.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Having heard his answers, Li Lang began diving straight into the results from the previous day, monitoring their toxin levels and various parameters.


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">Now then, I just need to procure another set of Brushweaver tools. I should also look into getting an Alchemy mentor while Yi Lin is away.</em>