Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 244 The Essence of Talismans
"He's only good at studying." Dean Li smiled modestly.

That being said, there was obvious joy in his eyes, obviously very satisfied with Mo Li's performance.

Not far away, Grand Master Qi looked intently into the window, as if he didn't hear the conversation between the two at all.

The corners of his mouth rose slightly, revealing a gratified smile.

At first glance, it looks like an old farmer standing by the field with a sickle in his hand, looking at the harvest with joy.

"The young talisman masters of the Great Qi Dynasty are even better than I imagined," he thought silently in his heart, "If you can recruit all such talents for His Majesty, why don't you worry about not being able to spend the long night?"

Luo Chuan, the head of the Exorcism Division, stood still, motionless, as if he had turned into a sculpture.His expression was as calm as ever, and his eyes were as deep as an ancient well.

The shadow of the house just cast on his face, making it impossible to detect his thoughts from his face.

Shangguan Jin knew that the Chief Si was quietly deducing the future again.

After a while, Luo Sishou showed a faint smile on his face, and he seemed to be in a good mood. Then he pointed to a gazebo in the academy, and said to everyone present:
"It's a long time now. How about we go and have a cup of tea in the gazebo?"

Naturally, everyone would not refuse the saint's proposal.

Especially Dean Li.

He knew that Luo Chuan was a tea lover and was keen on collecting precious tea from all over the country; moreover, the white jade teapot that Luo Chuan carried with him with the magic weapon of space was also a special magic weapon—the tea contained in it would have A magical power that can make people get rid of distracting thoughts and calm down.

"So today I finally have the chance to taste the tea made by the saint and strong man?" Dean Li thought with anticipation.

However, after sitting down, Luo Chuan looked at Dean Li with a smile: "I haven't drunk Longmen Academy's 'Baiwei Tea' for five years since the death of the previous dean. I wonder if I will be lucky enough to taste it again today." ?”

Dean Li was silent for a few seconds, then forced out a smile, and responded politely: "...no problem."

He thought that he would be lucky enough to prostitute a saint for nothing today.

Unexpectedly, he was prostituted by the other party.

.........

Mo Li's process of answering the questions went very smoothly.

On the white paper in front of him, one after another of the questions disappeared and reappeared.The tip of the brush moves like flying, outlining rigorous and complex patterns.

The further you go, the more obscure the topic is, and the more complex the talisman seals required to be drawn.

But Mo Li was not panicked.

On the contrary, as the golden numbers in the upper right corner of the paper gradually increased, his mood became more and more cheerful.

He felt that this assessment session was tailor-made for himself.

Because for every question, the answer can be found in the notes he reviewed yesterday, which is within his expectation.

An hour flies by quickly.

About 5 minutes before the end of the assessment, a very short and unexpected question appeared on the white paper in front of him:

"What is a symbol?"

Next to these words, there is a line of small black characters, indicating that there is no standard answer to this question, and Fu Shi can answer according to his own understanding.

"In today's assessment, there are such simple questions?" Mo Li was surprised.

The definition of "fu" has been clearly written in beginners' books.

Just like all scholars have memorized "Sound Enlightenment".

All the fledgling talisman masters of the Great Qi Dynasty can basically recite the answer to this question backwards.

He didn't expect that after answering a series of questions about such uncommon talismans as "Amulet for Treating Sanyin Malaria", "Amulet for Ruining the Palace of Fate", "Amulet for Culminating Chickens and Dogs", and "Amulet for Treating Stroke of the Elderly", There is such a simple question.

But thinking of the tight time, he didn't think about the deep meaning behind this question, but quickly wrote the original words in the book silently:
"Fu seal is the medium for monks to communicate with the world."

After finishing writing, his handwriting disappeared together with the topic on the white paper, and no new topic appeared.

The golden number in the upper right corner has changed from "one hundred" to "one hundred and five".

"Answering this question correctly, actually added five points at once?" Mo Li opened his eyes wide.

He thought about it, and felt that this should be the benefit he got from solving the questions quickly.

After all, other people may not be able to answer the hundred questions within the allotted hour.

Thinking of this, he raised his head again and quietly looked at his competitors.

Shen Qiu was still frowning.

The tip of Zhao Xinran's pen also hung in the air for a long time without falling down.

As for Gu Xu, he sat on the seat with his eyes closed, looking as if he was meditating.

The corners of Mo Li's mouth turned up, no longer trying to hide his joy.

…………

But Mo Li did not expect that Gu Xu had already answered all the questions half an hour ago.

The reason why he sat there with his eyes closed was because he had nothing to do, so he simply tried to deduce the possibility of various arrangements and combinations of the "Star Array" spell in his head, and accidentally deduced hundreds of ways .

Gu Xu easily completed the first hundred questions.

However, facing the last question that Mo Li thought was a "welfare" for free, he hesitated for 2 minutes and did not write for a long time.

He felt that the examiner put this question at the end, and also specifically emphasized that "there is no standard answer, and you can play freely", which obviously has other meanings.

This made him think of what he had seen in Kongxuan Sanren's notes:
"The essence of Talisman is 'naming'.

"It uses a special language to give special properties to paper or other utensils.

"For example, the most basic 'Taishang Beiji Town Devil Killing Talisman' is equivalent to giving the attribute of 'killing ghosts' to a piece of paper."

According to Kongxuan Sanren, this is what he said when he went to Luojing City to meet with the national teacher to discuss the connection between the Talisman Dao and the Dao of Karma.

At that time, Kongxuan Sanren hadn't turned into a ghost, and the national teacher was deeply inspired by his words, and his talisman Taoism cultivation base was greatly improved, and he officially became a generation of grandmaster.

"Perhaps, this is the answer that the national teacher wants to see?" Gu Xu guessed silently in his heart.

He thought for a moment, and based on the principle of not deducting points for more answers, he combined the views of both sides into one sentence and wrote it down on paper.

Then, the title and text disappeared together.

The golden number in the upper right corner blinked a few times, changing from "one hundred" to "120".

By answering this last seemingly simple question, Gu Xu managed to get twenty points—fifteen points more than Mo Li's rote answer.

…………

In the gazebo not far away, the big shots are quietly drinking tea around a stone table.

Dean Li bit the bullet, and ordered the servants in the academy to bring a pot of "Baiwei tea".Then Shangguan Jin took the teapot with a smile and poured everyone a cup.

Perhaps it's because she often serves beside Luo Chuan, a well-known "tea connoisseur" in Daqi. Every gesture she makes when pouring tea is elegant and impeccable.

"Baiwei Tea" is a special product of Longmen Academy. Its tea comes from a tea tree that Emperor Taizong planted in the academy hundreds of years ago, and is boiled by the famous "Siguo Spring" in the academy.

Its effect is just like its name. It can make people feel happy, angry, sad, happy and other emotions unknowingly. extremely helpful.

To some extent, it can be said to be one of the foundations of Longmen Academy as "the first school for Daqi practitioners".

Of course, it is not very useful for monks who have passed through the "Mengpo Pavilion" in the fifth realm and above.

But Shangguan Jin remembered many things in the past in this short moment.

She thought of the tragic experience of working in the inn when she was a child, the sense of accomplishment after entering the Exorcism Department and the gradual improvement of her status and cultivation base, the joy when she was appreciated by the head of the department, the tranquility and concentration of painting alone in the room, and her work on Laoshan because of The loss of missing the inheritance in a single thought...

When she opened her eyes again, she felt that the long-term calm Zhenyuan in her body suddenly showed signs of restlessness.

And Princess Zhaoning, who was sitting opposite her, was also inevitably influenced by "Hundred Flavors Tea".

In a short moment, the princess' eyes were no longer calm and composed as usual, but a little lonely and helpless, like a little girl who ran away from home and couldn't find her way.

After an unknown amount of time, someone finally broke the peaceful atmosphere.

Luo Sishou drank the tea in his cup and couldn't help sighing: "It's really good tea!"

Dean Li smiled and said some polite words: "My lord, it is an honor for this tea to be recognized by a tea tasting expert like you."

Hearing Dean Li's words, Chief Luo smiled politely and said, "Then can I take a pot home?"

Dean Li pondered for a moment, then replied: "Of course there is no problem."

…………

The melodious bell rang again, announcing the end of the assessment.

The four people in the house put down their pens at the same time.

Shen Qiu shook his head mockingly, and jumped off the chair first.He felt that if his intuition was correct, he should be the worst performer among the four in this first session.

Mo Li followed behind, with a faint complacent expression on his haggard face; as soon as he went out, he began to look for Dean Li everywhere, as if he couldn't wait to get his cousin's affirmation.

There was a little regret in Zhao Xinran's eyes, but he soon regained his composure.

She was not surprised when she found that she had forgotten a lot of the basic knowledge of the art of talismans.

Perhaps in this link, she will be distanced by her opponent.

However, she believes that in terms of "application" and "innovation" of talisman, she will be able to make up for these gaps, and even leave her opponents far behind.

Gu Xu was the last one to walk out of the room.

His expression when he went out was exactly the same as when he entered.

Neither proud nor sad.

Everything is under his control.

He's just playing normally.

…………

Before the start of the second session, they had half an hour to spare.

So they each went to a nearby side room to rest quietly and cultivate their spirits.

Da Qi Guoshi waved his hand lightly, and took back the magical papers they had written just now.

"That kid Shen Qiu looks very smart, but I didn't expect that he is not good at basic skills!" The national teacher glanced at the number "72" on the upper right corner of Shen Qiu's answer sheet, smiled and said, "Actually, he only got 72 questions right. .”

Hearing the words of the national teacher, Fu Tao, the teacher of Longmen Academy, immediately said beside him: "Learning the art of talismans and seals should be down-to-earth. It is absolutely impossible to be clever and unconstrained. I don't want the students of Longmen Academy to be infected with it." Such vibes."

As Dean Li's confidant, Fu Tao naturally supported Mo Li.

So under such circumstances, he immediately attributed Shen Qiu's low score on the test paper to his attitude.

However, the national teacher was not taken away by his words, but smiled, and explained for Shen Qiu: "This kid has had a hard time in his family, he doesn't even have a serious teacher, and he relies on his collection of books. Self-taught... To find someone to help answer questions, you have to travel a long way with gifts.

"His unsatisfactory performance in this link does not mean that he is a clever person, but there are many objective reasons. If he is given sufficient resources, I believe he should not be worse than others.

"I think, since we are selecting talents for the country, we should give them ample opportunity to fairly refer to the performance in each link.

"And don't judge the character of others because of your own selfishness."

Hearing the word "selfishness", Fu Tao immediately fell silent.He knew that the national teacher had seen through his mind.

Afterwards, the national teacher looked at Zhao Xinran's answer sheet again, saw the golden number "89" in the upper right corner, and commented with a smile: "There is a little flaw. But those questions themselves are relatively uncommon. Can you do this?" The degree is already very good among the talisman masters."

At this time, another academy professor, Du Yuan, echoed, "That's true."

Du Yuan himself is also a Talisman master, but he is taciturn by nature and not good at expressing.

He has read many of the questions on this answer sheet - he thinks that if he does it himself, it should be around "ninety", and the gap with Zhao Xinran will not be too big.

Next, the national teacher opened Mo Li's answer sheet.

The small number "one hundred and five" is shining with golden light in the upper right corner of the paper.

As a practitioner of the sixth realm, Dean Li can see this number clearly from a distance, and he is undoubtedly very satisfied with his cousin's performance.

He reached out and stroked his beard, deliberately concealing his joy, and said modestly: "This is only the first link. There are two more difficult links waiting for him!"

The national teacher did not speak.

At the same time, Luo Sishou poured himself another cup of "Hundred Flavors Tea", instead of slowly tasting it as usual, but with the attitude of Duke Yan Zhao Changying drinking from a big bowl and Shi Xiaohan eating rice in a big bowl. He drank it all, as if he was going to exhaust Longmen Academy.

In the end, the national teacher's eyes fell on Gu Xu's answer sheet.

(End of this chapter)