One month later, the Fireball Talisman was successfully completed.

Half an hour later, it was time to start the banquet.

"Erbao..." Zhao Erbao's wife suddenly knelt beside the coffin, her hands tightly gripping the edge of the coffin, tears streaming down her face.

She cried out in a hoarse voice, "Erbao, how could you leave like this... How are we, mother and son, supposed to live now..."

Her cries were heart-wrenching, as if she were pouring out all her grief.

Zhao Erbao's parents sat to the side, their faces full of wrinkles and their eyes vacant, as if they had aged ten years in an instant.

Zhao Erbao's mother clutched a tattered handkerchief, wiping away her tears incessantly, muttering to herself, "My Erbao, how could you be so heartless, leaving us, the old couple, behind..."

Zhao Erbao's father kept his head down, his hands trembling, and remained silent, only occasionally letting out a heavy sigh.

The atmosphere in the mourning hall was heavy and oppressive, as if even the air had frozen.

However, in stark contrast to the grief inside the mourning hall, the atmosphere in the courtyard was unusually lively.

There were more than a dozen large wooden tables in the courtyard, laden with a sumptuous feast, a rare sight in this small town.

The town's residents sat in twos and threes around the table, eating heartily and chatting loudly, as if they had completely forgotten that they were attending a funeral.

"Hey, this braised pork is really good, fatty but not greasy, it melts in your mouth!" A middle-aged man picked up a piece of meat, stuffed it into his mouth, and said with a satisfied look on his face.

"Yes, Zhao Erbao was a beast tamer in his lifetime. His family background is far beyond what ordinary people like us can compare to. This feast is truly substantial." The person next to him chimed in, picking up another piece of food with his chopsticks as he spoke.

"Have you heard? Zhao Erbao was killed by the Mist Shadow Cat. That thing is incredibly powerful; I heard even a Qi Refining Level 4 cultivator couldn't handle it," someone said in a low, mysterious voice.

"That's right, Zhao Erbao was unlucky to run into that thing." Another person shook his head, his tone tinged with regret, but he quickly picked up a piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth, as if his regret was just a casual remark.

Chen Changqing stood in a corner of the courtyard, silently watching all of this, and a sense of emotion welled up in his heart.

Zhao Erbao's family was devastated, while those who came to the funeral were busy eating and chatting.

I also thought the food was quite delicious.

Indeed, people's joys and sorrows are not shared.

After expressing his feelings, he picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.

tasty.

It seems to have whetted my appetite, and I feel even hungrier.

Chen Changqing lowered his head and began the dry feast mode.

"Changqing, this slice of fatty meat is pretty good!" Wang Daqiang picked up a large piece of fatty meat and ate it, grinning as he said to Chen Changqing, "You should try it."

"Mmm." Chen Changqing didn't stand on ceremony, picked up a slice of fatty meat, dipped it in some sauce, and put it in his mouth.

One chopstick after another.

Chen Changqing's chopsticks moved very quickly, even faster than the two middle-aged women at the table who were poised to chop.

The two middle-aged women wanted to say something sarcastic, like, "You're a beast tamer, you eat meat every day, and you're actually trying to steal our meat!" But then they remembered that Chen Changqing was a scoundrel who would beat people, so they gave up the idea.

Chen Changqing finished eating quickly.

After finishing his meal, Chen Changqing left Zhao Erbao's house in a hurry without lingering.

I bought some meat, put it in a bowl when I got home, and gave it to Xiao Hei.

Xiao Hei likes cooked meat, but he doesn't mind raw meat either.

They started eating heartily.

Chen Changqing returned to the inner room, took out his notes on the Fireball Talisman, and slowly began to study them.

Over two whole days, I reviewed my notes several times, noting down all the details of drawing the fireball talisman.

Early on the third day.

After having breakfast, Chen Changqing finished his physical training and archery practice.

Bathing and burning incense.

He restored his body to its peak condition.

Chen Changqing sat cross-legged in front of the table, on which were placed a talisman brush, talisman skin, and talisman ink.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused his mind on his dantian, feeling the fine, thread-like spiritual energy in his dantian.

I feel a little bit excited and a little bit nervous.

Chen Changqing closed his eyes, controlled his spiritual energy to circulate rapidly within his body, and instantly entered battle mode.

The Soul-Devouring Black Lotus burned fiercely in Chen Changqing's mind, making his head clear and ethereal.

He opened his eyes and found himself calm and composed.

He picked up the talisman brush, lightly dipping the tip into the talisman ink. The ink was made from the blood of the Crimson Flame Wolf mixed with spiritual herbs, giving it a dark red color and emitting a faint spiritual energy fluctuation.

Chen Changqing scraped off the excess talisman ink, controlled the wispy spiritual energy within his body, and slowly channeled it into his right arm, where it gradually merged into the talisman brush.

Finally, it slowly gathers at the tip of the brush, converging into the ink of the talisman.

With a slight movement of the wrist, the pen is gently placed down.

I began to slowly trace the rune patterns on the rune skin, following the trails in the notes.

The spiritual energy flowed into the talisman skin through the talisman brush, and a faint red pattern gradually appeared on the talisman skin.

As Chen Changqing sketched, he controlled the output of the filamentous spiritual energy.

"puff……"

With a slight fluctuation in spiritual energy, the spiritual energy on the talisman patterns became unstable and instantly erupted into a ball of flame.

Chen Changqing leaned back slightly, showing no sign of panic. He picked up the prepared wet cloth and smothered the burning talisman on the fire.

"According to Master's notes, the output of spiritual energy should be reduced by 30% at this corner where the fireball talisman was just drawn; it should be reduced when entering the curve and increased when exiting it."

Moreover, the changes should be gradual, neither too sudden nor too rapid.

The spiritual energy decreased a bit too quickly just now; something went wrong.

At this time.

A sliver of experience and insight into drawing fireball talismans quietly crept into his mind.

Above the flames of the Soul-Devouring Creation Black Lotus, a line of small golden characters floated by.

"Fireball Talisman +1"

Chen Changqing's eyes brightened slightly.

Divine perception.

"Soul-Devouring Black Lotus"

"Owner: Chen Changqing"

"Cultivation level of magical power: Qi Refining Level 1"

Physical Cultivation Level: Body Refinement Level 1 (163/200)

"Spell: None"

「技能：箭术1级（105/200），爬树0级（35/100），书法0级（23/100）」

"Talisman: Fireball Talisman Level 0 (1/100)"

Chen Changqing's eyes brightened slightly. He took out another talisman skin, dipped it in talisman ink again, and began his second attempt.

This time, he was more careful, slowing down the output of his spiritual energy. The talisman brush moved slowly across the talisman skin, and red patterns gradually took shape.

However, just as he had drawn one-tenth of the talisman, the patterns on the talisman suddenly trembled, the spiritual power went out of control, and the talisman turned to ashes again.

"It still doesn't work. According to Master's notes, when drawing this corner, the spiritual energy output should be reduced by one-fifth. I didn't control the amount of spiritual energy output well just now..."

A subtle understanding of how to control the changes in spiritual energy output quietly entered Chen Changqing's mind.

Chen Changqing took a deep breath, regained his composure, and continued with his third attempt.

The third attempt failed.

The fourth attempt failed.

With each failure, the Soul-Devouring Black Lotus provided Chen Changqing with feedback on his experience and insights into drawing fireball talismans.

Chen Changqing clearly felt his improvement after only four attempts.

His control over spiritual power became even more refined.

My understanding of the Fireball talisman has also become more profound.

Unfortunately, there is no spiritual power left in his body.

He was only at the first level of Qi Refining, and his spiritual power was extremely low.

The talismans have been drawn four times and are now completely used up.

Fortunately, there was a source of energy in his dantian, which was slowly rotating.

The spiritual energy is slowly recovering.

By evening, his spiritual energy had mostly recovered.

Continue drawing symbols.

……

The next twenty days or so.

Chen Changqing practiced body tempering, archery, borrowed money, cooked, and drew talismans.

My days are very fulfilling.

He practiced drawing the fireball symbol again and again, following the method in the book.

Although each attempt failed, the Soul-Devouring Black Lotus would provide feedback on the experience and insights gained from the Fireball Talisman.

Now, his control over spiritual power is constantly improving.

Even at the corners of the talisman where problems are prone to occur, it becomes increasingly smooth.

He can clearly perceive his own progress.

On this day, Chen Changqing finished his physical training and archery practice.

After washing and cleaning up, adjusting my breathing, circulating my magic power, and entering battle mode, the Soul-Devouring Creation Black Lotus burned fiercely.

Chen Changqing calmed down instantly.

He picked up the talisman brush again, dipped it in the talisman ink, and began another attempt.

Dip it in talisman ink and scrape off the excess ink.

The talisman brush gently landed on the talisman skin and moved slowly. The output of spiritual power sometimes decreased smoothly and sometimes increased smoothly, and the red patterns gradually took shape.

Chen Changqing was completely absorbed in drawing the runes, as if the whole world consisted only of him and the rune pen in his hand.

Finally, the last stroke of the rune was completed, and the red patterns on the rune skin shimmered with a faint light.

Spiritual energy flowed within it, forming a complete fireball talisman.

"Success!" Chen Changqing was overjoyed, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the patterns on the talisman suddenly trembled, the spiritual power went out of control again, and the talisman turned to ashes.

"Just a little bit more..."

"Fireball Talisman +1"

The Soul-Devouring Black Lotus burned fiercely, and wisps of experience and insights from the Fireball Talisman flooded back into his mind.

Once my emotions calmed down again, my state of mind returned to normal.

He began drawing talismans again, this time with exceptional smoothness and silkiness.

The talisman brush moved slowly across the talisman skin, and red patterns gradually took shape.

With the final stroke completed, the red patterns on the talisman shimmered with a faint light, and spiritual energy flowed within them.

Chen Changqing held his breath and carefully observed the patterns on the talisman skin.

This time, the runes did not tremble, nor did the spiritual power go out of control. The light on the runes gradually stabilized and then slowly disappeared.

"Success!" Chen Changqing was overjoyed and a smile appeared on his face.

The first fireball talisman has finally been successfully drawn!

Chen Changqing carefully put away the fireball talisman, his heart filled with joy.

He spent over twenty days successfully drawing a fireball talisman.