After all, this is something that completely defies science, so at some point, Brian Carter started carrying this piece of paper with him at all times. Anyway, carrying a piece of paper around takes no effort at all.

Later on, this habit became second nature. People are emotional creatures—no matter what it is, if you keep something close to you for over ten years, you’ll probably develop a strange attachment to it.

But precisely because of this, Brian Carter became even more aware of the weight of this paper, so even the slightest change wouldn’t escape his notice.

Especially now that it was actually generating heat on its own?

“What on earth is going on?”

Full of doubt, Brian Carter didn’t lose his composure. Instead, he turned to look around, then walked to a corner beneath a street-side building. After making sure there was no one around, he quickly pinched a corner of the yellow paper and gave it a shake.

With a shake, the previously neatly folded yellow paper suddenly stretched out its body.

But after this stretch, its form made Brian Carter’s eyes go wide, his mouth agape.

It changed!

It really changed!

If, in the past ten-odd years, this yellow paper had always looked just like any ordinary A5 book page—except for being yellow and perfectly clean, with nothing eye-catching—now it had grown larger.

It was now as big as two A5 sheets, and there was even a new split in the center, creating another sheet of yellow paper.

Simply put, it now looked like the front and back covers of an A5 book stuck together, with a single page sandwiched in the middle.

What shocked Brian Carter even more was that on that single page in the middle, there were actually words and a diagram!!

This yellow paper… oh, maybe now it’s more accurate to call it a yellow-covered book.

On that single page, the topmost line of text was all in profound traditional Chinese characters.

【觅文符】

There were only these three characters on the page, and below them was a strange diagram. With Brian Carter’s incomplete high school education, he probably wouldn’t have been able to recognize them at all, because these traditional characters were a bit odd—not the kind of traditional characters popular in Taiwan today, but more like ancient script found on old artifacts, maybe even older than those.

If he hadn’t studied hard for three years with Mr. Brooks, gaining some knowledge in this area, and if he hadn’t been willing to put in the effort himself, recognizing these characters would have been a pipe dream.

Even so, it was still very difficult for him to make them out.

But in the end, he managed to barely recognize them, half guessing, half deducing. And once he did, the meaning of these three characters hit Brian Carter like a sledgehammer, almost knocking his soul out of his body.

【觅文符】? What does that mean?

A talisman!! He could barely count as half an intellectual—he didn’t know much, but he did know what a talisman was.

It’s one of the most common things in Chinese Taoist culture. Even in modern Hong Kong movies, talismans sometimes appear in scenes—they’re the stuff of ghost-catching and supernatural powers, long since dismissed by most as feudal superstition.

But now, how did this yellow paper suddenly sprout a talisman, appearing before him like a ghost?

This talisman is called 【觅文符】, so what does it do? “觅” means to seek, “文” means writing or culture…?

Staring blankly at the following characters, Brian Carter gradually became dazed. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand the meaning of 【觅文符】.

Just as he was staring intently at these words, the three characters 【觅文符】 suddenly moved, and a surge of intent shot along Brian Carter’s line of sight straight into his mind.

In an instant, it was as if someone had directly implanted the meaning of 【觅文符】 into Brian Carter’s brain, and he suddenly understood. It was like someone who couldn’t drive suddenly having the memories of a master driver fused into his mind, leading to instant enlightenment.

The function of 【觅文符】 turned out to be clairvoyance, though clairvoyance was just a means—the real purpose was to use this ability to search for 【文气】.

Then, to absorb 【文气】 and nourish the yellow-covered book itself.

As for what exactly 【文气】 was, the intent didn’t explain in detail, but it did provide a target: antiques. For example, historical ceramics, jade artifacts, ancient coins, and other cultural and artistic treasures all contain 【文气】.

Brian Carter would have to find these himself. The clairvoyance of 【觅文符】 was meant to let him see through the surface of things, to better find genuine antiques, and then use the yellow-covered book to wrap them up, slowly absorbing the 【文气】 within.

Of course, the power of 【觅文符】 was limited. First, there was the range—it could only see through up to one meter. And each 【觅文符】 only lasted for one hour, and Brian Carter could only draw one per day.

However, the yellow-covered book could continue to grow. Once it absorbed enough 【文气】, it could expand, generate new chapters, and add new talismans.

Chapter 004: The Seeking Script Talisman

Having fully understood all this, Brian Carter’s expression immediately became one of extreme surprise and suspicion.

Even though he had only grasped the theory and hadn’t practiced it at all, and was still half in doubt, he could already confirm that this yellow paper was truly a treasure!