On the main peak square, the group of elders looked at the figure shrouded in clouds on the trial platform through the image above, their faces filled with shock.
Although the exorcism talisman was the most basic Fu-lu, even they would need ten or even twenty breaths to complete it.
The success of the talisman was mainly related to two factors.
First, whether or not the talisman could be drawn in one go.
Second, whether or not the talisman was stable in the process of drawing.
It was not easy to draw the Fu-lu in one go without any ripples in the talisman. One had to ensure the calmness of the heart. If the talisman was slightly impatient, the talisman would be wrong, or the talisman would be too unstable, and the talisman would fail.
If the talisman failed, not only would it waste time and energy, it would also waste precious materials.
Therefore, in the process of talisman drawing, cultivators would try their best to remain calm and write at a steady pace, ensuring that the talisman was complete and the talisman was stable. Naturally, the talisman drawing speed would not be too fast.
To be able to draw the exorcism talisman in ten breaths, one had to have a high level of cultivation, and one's control of the body and the talisman had reached the peak.
Or one had practiced the exorcism talisman for tens of thousands of times. Even if one was in the Soul Refining Stage, they would still be able to draw the talisman quickly and accurately.
But generally speaking, no one would spend so much time and energy on a low-level Fu-lu.
Regardless of the reason, the fact that this person could complete the first stage of the trial in ten breaths was enough to attract their attention.
Unfortunately, this person was shrouded in clouds, preventing them from seeing his true appearance.
One of the main peak elders looked at Elder Xu and asked, "Senior Xu, this person, could it be …"
Elder Xu had already come back to his senses. He nodded and said, "Other than him, who else could it be …"
…
On the trial platform, Li Mu finished the last stroke of the exorcism talisman. The stone platform in front of him suddenly lit up.
Beside him, a cultivator who was at the critical moment of drawing the talisman was shocked by this abnormality. His hand trembled, and the talisman was crooked. The first talisman paper was ruined. The cultivator looked down at the ruined talisman paper and blurted out, "Motherf * cker …"
The stone platform lit up, indicating that the person beside him had successfully completed the Fu-lu. After that person cursed in his heart, he looked at the young man behind the stone platform with a shocked expression and said in his heart, "How could he be so fast?"
He looked at the burning incense in front of the stone platform and didn't dare to think any further. He had already wasted a chance and only had two talisman papers left. If he couldn't draw an exorcism talisman before the incense burned out, he would be eliminated in the first stage of the trial.
He looked at the man one last time and thought to himself, "I hope you can be as fast in bed!"
Dozens of breaths after Li Mu drew the exorcism talisman, a faint light began to shine from the trial platform.
He looked around. A small number of people had already completed their exorcism talismans, but most of them were still immersed in drawing.
Fu-lu School's first trial was quite interesting.
What they tested was the most common Fu-lu, but the testing method was not ordinary.
One incense stick and three talisman papers. Not only did it require the success rate of the talisman writing, it also required the speed of the talisman writing.
For a cultivator who practiced the Dao of Fu-lu, the success rate of the talisman writing was extremely important.
This point was not reflected in low-level Fu-lu. If the success rate was slightly lower, at most some yellow paper and cinnabar would be wasted. But for high-level Fu-lu, the talisman papers and talisman writing materials were extremely precious and could not be wasted. If one failed a few times, they might have to gather materials again.
Li Mu stood behind the stone platform and waited until the last incense stick on the stone platform burned to ashes.
"Wait, I'm just short of one …"
"Give me another ten breaths …"
"Give me a chance …"
… …
The cultivators who had not yet succeeded in drawing talismans all spoke out anxiously. But the stone platform beside them suddenly burst out with a burst of light and swept them away from the trial platform.
The stone platform in front of the cultivators who passed the first stage emitted a faint light, and they continued to stay on the trial platform.
Li Mu looked around again and found that after the first stage, the number of cultivators on the stone platform had decreased by nearly half. An ordinary Exorcism Talisman was also able to distinguish so many cultivators.
After the bell rang, Elder Xu's voice rang in everyone's ears.
"Those who can draw ten Exorcism Talismans within an hour can enter the third stage of the trial."
As his voice fell, countless yellow papers and cinnabar flew in from outside the platform and landed on the remaining stone platforms.
Li Mu counted the yellow papers on the stone platform in front of him. There were exactly ten of them.
This meant that if one wanted to pass the second stage, he had to ensure a 100% success rate and complete it within an hour.
If the difficulty of the first stage was 1, then the difficulty of the second stage was 100.
Within the time it took for an incense stick to burn, there were three chances to draw an Exorcism Talisman. If one had some attainments in the Dao of Talismans, they could do it.
But to ensure that one could draw ten talismans without making a single mistake was not something a beginner in the Dao of Talismans could do. He had to truly and completely master the Exorcism Talisman, and not rely on luck to draw talismans.
If one made a single mistake out of ten times, all previous efforts would be wasted.
This was not only a test of their Dao of Talismans, but also their mental fortitude.
Those who could maintain their calm under such pressure and successfully draw talismans were the talents that the Fu-lu School wanted.
Of course, it wasn't difficult for Li Mu to discern from these two trials that even if the Talisman Sect was wealthy and overbearing, it wasn't willing to waste resources. So, the cultivators that didn't have a high success rate in drawing talismans would be completely eliminated during the first two trials.
Li Mu picked up his brush and began to draw talismans.
On the main peak's square, a group of elders and many disciples of the Fu-lu School were watching the live broadcast of the trial.
"This stage won't be easy for them."
"It's not just them. Some disciples of other sects may not be able to draw ten Fu-lu talismans without making a single mistake."
"Twelve years ago, that person only took fifteen minutes. He was the fastest person to complete the second stage of the trial in all of history."
"I wonder if there will be any surprises this year."
While the crowd was chatting, it didn't take long for another ray of light to appear on the screen. This time, not only the elders, but even the spectating disciples in the square let out a cry of surprise.
"It's fake, right? Not even fifteen minutes?"
"This person can't be an octopus demon, right?"
"Although the Exorcism Talisman is very simple, drawing ten of them can't be that fast …"
On the square, the image zoomed in, and a blurry figure appeared in front of them again. In the next moment, someone exclaimed, "It's him again!"
"I know, he must know that the first two stages of the trial tested the basics of the Fu-lu. He deliberately practiced it!"
"Give me a year and a half, and if I only practiced the Exorcism Talisman, I could be faster than him."
"But if he does this, he will be eliminated in the third stage, not to mention the fourth stage …"
…
On the square, after a moment of surprise, all the disciples calmed down.
It was only an Exorcism Talisman, and no matter how skilled one was in cultivating it, it was of no great use. At most, one could be a wandering physician in the mortal world or sell protective talismans to deceive mortals. It was impossible to rely on an Exorcism Talisman to pass the trial in the Talisman Dao of the Talisman Sect's ancestral court.
Most of the disciples didn't have a high evaluation of this person's attainments in the Dao of Talismans.
There were only two possibilities for him to be able to draw the Exorcism Talisman so skillfully.
First, his Dharmic energy was very strong, and it was at least at the sixth level. But how could a sixth level expert participate in the trial of the Dao of Talismans, so this possibility was directly eliminated.
Second, his cultivation wasn't high, but he spent a large amount of time practicing the Exorcism Talisman. Practice makes perfect, and after practicing thousands of times, he could still draw it so skillfully and accurately.
But such actions were meaningless. The Exorcism Talisman was useful to mortals, but it was useless to cultivators. A cultivator with a normal mind wouldn't waste time on it.
Maybe this person just wanted to attract everyone's attention in the first two stages of the trial.
However, the elders in front didn't think so.
One of the elders looked at Elder Xu and asked, "Senior Xu, what do you think?"
Elder Xu recalled the scene just now and said, "His movements of drawing the Exorcism Talisman were smooth and smooth, and he succeeded in drawing the Exorcism Talisman in one go. This means that his Dharmic energy is very stable. There were no gaps between the ten Fu-lu Talismans, which means that he had a card up his sleeve … If it was him, he definitely wouldn't just be proficient in the Exorcism Talisman.
That elder looked at the fog in the image and said, "His basic skills are very solid, and it's rare among the core disciples. I just don't know if he can pass the third stage. The next stage is testing talent, and not basic skills …"
…
It was exceptionally quiet on the trial platform.
After Li Mu finished drawing the ten Exorcism Talismans, he observed the surrounding cultivators.
It was quiet all around, and no strange sounds could be heard.
The first two stages of the Fu-lu School's assessment were unusually fair.
They didn't differentiate the cultivators based on their cultivation level. They tested the low-grade Yellow-level Exorcism Talisman, the most basic Fu-lu Talisman. Whether it was Dongxuan or Soul-Refining cultivators, they all knew how to draw.
No matter how high a Grotto Profound expert's magic power was, they could only obtain 100 points at most under the situation that the full score was only 100.
As for Soul-Refining cultivators, although their strength was low, as long as they worked hard and performed exceptionally, they could also get the same number of points.
Of course, for low-level cultivators, it was definitely more difficult to pass the trial. They were allowed to make mistakes in the first stage, but in the second stage, they couldn't make even the slightest mistake.
For this reason, almost all of the cultivators temporarily shut off their hearing to avoid being disturbed by the outside world when they were drawing the Exorcism Talisman.
Sometimes, there would be a mistake, and after a sigh, they would be silently taken away by the stone platform. As time passed, the number of cultivators on the trial platform decreased.
In this trial, they couldn't rush it, but they couldn't be unhurried either.
Drawing the Exorcism Talisman required a calm mind. Once rushed, it was easy to make a mistake, and one mistake would waste all of their previous efforts.
Furthermore, there was a time limit for this stage. If they were calm and slow, it would increase their success rate, but if they exceeded the time limit of two hours, they would still be eliminated.
There were constantly cultivators making mistakes and being taken away by the stone platform.
This made the remaining cultivators even more careful. They didn't dare to try to be fast, and hoped that time would pass slowly.
However, the bell for the second stage of the trial still rang on time.
Countless stone platforms emitted a burst of light, sweeping away the cultivators who didn't complete the trial on time. There were less than a thousand cultivators left on the platform.
In the second stage of the trial, two-thirds of the cultivators who passed the previous stage were directly eliminated.
In just two rounds, five out of six people were eliminated. The trial of the Fu-lu School was even crueler than the imperial court's imperial examinations.
Li Mu didn't have to wait long before another golden light lit up the sky in front of him.
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