Chapter 55 – The Overly Powerful Yaksha

Feelings of envy and jealousy led many to sneer at Mu Lin’s arrival.

Some even started placing bets, predicting how many floors he could climb.

“Hey, what do you all think—how many floors can Mu Lin make it through?”

“Though I’d love to say he won’t even get past the first floor, with Miss Chu Lingluo around, the first floor won’t be a problem for him. If he’s lucky, he might even clear the second floor. But the third floor? Absolutely impossible for them.”

“I have a different take. Miss Chu Lingluo is excellent, but it’s said she isn’t skilled in offense—she excels at support and trapping enemies. With a good team to coordinate with, she could clear the third floor, maybe even have a shot at the fourth. But teamed up with a waste like Mu Lin, her strengths can’t shine at all. I doubt she’ll even make it past the second floor.”

“Everyone, what if Miss Chu Lingluo is strong enough to clear the second floor, but Mu Lin gets killed by Evil Aberrations in the chaos?”

“…That really could happen.”

“A dragon doesn’t dwell with snakes. If you lack the strength, even if you find a good team, you won’t last.”

After reasoning based on common sense, most believed the second floor was the limit for Mu Lin and Chu Lingluo—the third floor was absolutely beyond their reach.

This was also Yan Yunyu’s assessment.

Thus, after glancing at Chu Lingluo, a trace of pity flickered in her eyes.

‘Sorry, little sister Lingluo, but first place will definitely be mine.’

Mu Lin was unaware of others’ thoughts, nor did he know that his gloomy expression was seen by many as a sign of nervousness.

What left Mu Lin speechless was that even Chu Lingluo thought his troubled expression was due to anxiety, and she tried to comfort him because of it.

“Young Master Mu, there’s no need to be nervous. Even if your results aren’t great for your first Tower Challenge, it’s fine. And…”

Here, her face flushed slightly as she added:

“And no matter the outcome, I… I won’t leave you.”

Her words warmed Mu Lin’s heart, but he soon smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I did run into a small issue, but it won’t affect our Tower Challenge.”

As he spoke, Mu Lin turned his attention inward to his Mindscape.

At that moment, the Western-style castle that clashed with the Eastern-style mansion was still there.

But Mu Lin’s trouble lay elsewhere.

Shifting his focus, his consciousness soon settled into a room where a terrifying, blue-black figure stood silently.

It was the Yaksha he had visualized from the Demon-Subduing Warrior Painting!

However, unlike ordinary Yakshas, the one in Mu Lin’s room was not only more ferocious in appearance—its body was also covered in blue-black patterns. On its chest, these patterns formed an ancient, ominous character: “Burial.”

Just gazing at the character “Burial” filled Mu Lin’s heart with a sense of foreboding death.

This Yaksha was the source of Mu Lin’s frown.

Of course, it wasn’t out of control. The Sky Burial Power infused into it had been refined and controlled by Mu Lin bit by bit, ensuring that even though its entire body had been tainted by the Sky Burial Power, the Yaksha remained under Mu Lin’s command.

The reason for Mu Lin’s frown was simple—after being thoroughly baptized by the Sky Burial Power, it had become far too powerful.

Indeed, what gave Mu Lin a headache was that Yaksha – Burial was too powerful.

According to Mu Lin’s estimation, its strength was at least at the Gushing Spring Realm, which is above the Spirit Awakening Realm. Moreover, with its body covered in ominous signs, it was not weak even within the Gushing Spring Realm.

Logically speaking, possessing such a Yaksha should have made Mu Lin very happy. After all, once summoned, he could forcefully break through the fourth floor of the Tower of Illusory Heavens.

In fact, if he could summon it, Mu Lin would indeed be overjoyed.

However, what troubled Mu Lin was that he couldn’t summon it at all!

—Whether it was the Paper Artisan Lineage or other summoning-focused cultivators, to manifest a visualized monster in the outside world, one not only needed to expend divine soul power but also possess abundant mana.

In Mu Lin’s case, this meant abundant Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi.

But Mu Lin’s Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi was far from abundant.

It was widely known that although Mu Lin’s Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture had reached the Spirit Awakening Realm and he had successfully awakened his spirit, his awakening was achieved through a shortcut. For others, Spirit Awakening involved accumulating mana until it naturally filled all the meridians in the body. Mu Lin, however, relied on his powerful divine soul to forcibly thin out his mana, spreading it thinly throughout his body.

Although this shortcut allowed Mu Lin to succeed in Spirit Awakening, his mana cultivation (Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi) had not actually reached the Spirit Awakening Realm.

Even though some time had passed since his successful Spirit Awakening, and Mu Lin had been diligently cultivating every day without a moment’s rest, and Chu Lingluo had even provided him with Silverfish Osmanthus Soup to allow him to practice the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture during the day and accumulate mana, it had only been about ten days since his successful Spirit Awakening. Moreover, he had only been drinking the Silverfish Osmanthus Soup for a mere three to five days.

In such a short time, and with Mu Lin possessing only a Third-Class Spirit Root, his mana cultivation remained at the Qi Drawing Realm—at most, Qi Drawing Peak.

With his mana cultivation at Qi Drawing Peak, while Yaksha – Burial’s strength was not weak even within the Gushing Spring Realm, there was a full major realm gap between the two.

Moreover, it was a transformative gap like that between the Spirit Awakening Realm and the Gushing Spring Realm—the Spirit Awakening Realm was referred to as Daoist Novice, while the Gushing Spring Realm could be called Feathered Scholar and even receive offerings from the Great Spirit Imperial Dynasty. This alone highlighted the disparity between the two.

The heaven-and-earth difference meant that although Mu Lin had visualized the Gushing Spring Realm demonic monster Yaksha, his insufficient mana made it impossible for him to summon it.

“This is worse than not improving at all.”

“Alternatively, if my mana could reach the Spirit Awakening Realm, even though there would still be a gap, with my Grandmaster-level paper folding skills, Master-grade painting and calligraphy, and through spiritual resonance, I could still summon Yaksha – Burial to the mortal realm by exerting my full effort.”

“Even if I could only manifest it temporarily, it would still serve as a trump card.”

Unfortunately, there were no “ifs” in the world, and Mu Lin’s cultivation had not reached the Spirit Awakening Realm.

Thus, he could only gaze longingly at the powerful Yaksha – Burial.

What relieved Mu Lin was that he had more than just the Yaksha as a trump card.

“Fortunately, even though the Yaksha trump card is unavailable, I still have the Little Girl Who Sells Matches.”

This little girl’s situation differed from the Yaksha’s. Her abilities primarily lay in anomalies and were divine soul-oriented, meaning summoning her to the mortal realm consumed divine soul power, with relatively little demand for Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi.

And the Divine Soul was precisely Mu Lin’s greatest strength. Because of this, even though she was also an Anomaly of the Gushing Spring Realm, Mu Lin was still able to summon her to the mortal world.

“This battle will depend on you!”

After murmuring these words, looking at the Little Girl, Mu Lin couldn’t help but feel a sense of realization.

The Land of Sky Burial indeed held dangers, but it also held even greater opportunities. This further solidified Mu Lin’s resolve to explore the Land of Sky Burial.

“However, exploration is a matter for the future. Right now, it’s time for the Tower Challenge.”

“Let’s go, Lingluo, we’re heading to the Tower Challenge.”

“Mm.”

(End of Chapter)