Chapter 241 – Fusing Death Divinity

“Fixation, Refresh!”

“Boom!”

With a low shout in his heart, the Source Rune at the center of Mu Lin’s brow—Stabilize—immediately burst into a radiant, multicolored light.

This light enveloped Mu Lin’s entire body, placing him in a special state. In this state, his body and mind were in perfect harmony with heaven and earth, making it easier for him to connect with the Heavenly Dao and the Human Dao.

While this transformation occurred partly because Mu Lin’s Source Rune ‘Stabilize’ was exceptionally powerful, it was not the only reason.

Mu Lin’s Stabilize could only refresh and fixate states he had previously experienced onto himself.

In other words, states he had never experienced could not be refreshed.

The fact that such a change occurred now indicated that, beyond the Stabilize rune, Mu Lin himself was also remarkable.

However, Mu Lin soon had no time to dwell on this small joy.

What weighed heavily on his heart was that even after entering the special state where he had once connected with the will of the Human Dao, the Human Dao’s will… still did not favor him again.

The concerns of Qin Yuan, Zuo Li, and Yan Yunyu were not unfounded.

“Alas, my Stabilize can only affect myself, not the heavens and earth.”

Sighing, Mu Lin felt somewhat disheartened but not utterly despondent. He had long anticipated this and had other preparations in place.

Closing his eyes, Mu Lin silently prayed to the Heavenly Dao and the Human Dao:

“O will of the Human Dao, hear my plea.”

“Calamities plague the world, threatening the survival of humanity. I, Mu Lin, am willing to dedicate myself to establishing the Netherworld, founding the underworld courts, balancing the order of the Yin-Yang Realms, and restoring peace to the world…”

At this point, those with keen insight would have understood Mu Lin’s approach—he was making a grand vow.

This act was akin to borrowing from both the Heavenly and Human Daos, repaying the debt in the future.

In the primordial world, the two Western Sages achieved enlightenment through this method.

In the Netherworld, the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha also made a grand vow: “Until hell is emptied, I vow not to attain Buddhahood.” This vow caused his Mana to surge, elevating him to one of the Four Great Bodhisattvas.

Of course, making grand vows was not without its drawbacks. Due to the constraints of his vow, Ksitigarbha, for eons and into the foreseeable future, could never attain Buddhahood.

After all, human evil is endless, and hell will never be empty. Having made such a vow, he could naturally never become a Buddha.

Fortunately, Mu Lin, who understood that everything came with a price, employed a bit of cleverness.

Establishing the Netherworld, founding the underworld courts, and balancing the order of the Yin-Yang Realms—such a vow seemed grand.

But this was Mu Lin’s path to enlightenment, something he intended to do without needing anyone else to urge him.

Thus, by making this vow, he was essentially giving up nothing—it was no different from reaffirming his own resolve.

As for restoring peace and tranquility to the world afterward, Mu Lin firmly believed that he would eventually become humanity’s strongest. When the sky falls, the tallest must bear the burden, and he was destined to be that tallest one—there was no escaping it.

This vow, too, came at no real cost.

Well, Mu Lin had always adhered to a simple, solid principle: rights and responsibilities are equal.

“Since I protect humanity, the Mortal Realm belongs to me… I must protect my Earth!”

…

With the grand vow made, all that remained was to wait.

But this time, Mu Lin was quite confident.

Having already established a connection with the will of the Human Dao twice, he believed it would not completely ignore him.

In fact, the Human Dao will did not keep Mu Lin waiting long. As soon as his great vow was uttered, a vast, sacred, ancient, and lofty will connected with Mu Lin’s spirit.

With the emergence of this will, Mu Lin instantly understood that his great vow had been witnessed and acknowledged by the Heavenly Dao and the Human Dao.

This was a good thing, and it also meant that he could not retreat from this point onward.

However, Mu Lin had no intention of giving up in the first place, so this had no effect on him.

“It’s done, but I still took a shortcut after all. The reward from the Human Dao will likely won’t be much. I hope it can unlock the activity of the Death Divinity and cleanse it of any hidden dangers.”

Mu Lin prayed anxiously, but soon, he realized he had underestimated the generosity of the Human Dao will.

Or rather, he felt he had taken a shortcut, but the Human Dao either did not know or judged by actions rather than intentions. As a result, the assistance the Human Dao gave Mu Lin was exceptionally abundant.

“Hum…”

As the two connected, that immense will immediately surged into Mu Lin’s Crimson Wine Gourd, fully activating the Death Divinity and using supreme power to cleanse all hidden dangers.

But this was not the end. After the connection was established, the Human Dao will also assisted him in deduction, functioning like a supercomputer.

Under these circumstances, Mu Lin immediately abandoned the idea of sealing the Death Divinity into a Paper Figure. Instead, inspired by a sudden insight, he guided this wisp of Death Divinity into his dantian qi sea.

In the end, this wisp of Death Divinity settled upon Mu Lin’s Spirit Foundation—the Mount Tai Lord Altar.

“Boom!”

The fusion of the high-tier power of Death Divinity immediately caused Mu Lin’s Mount Tai Lord Altar to undergo another transformation.

Boundless, profound light radiated from the altar, while vast amounts of knowledge flowed out and surged into Mu Lin’s mind.

“Boom!”

The influx of extensive knowledge, combined with the assistance of the Human Dao will, plunged Mu Lin into another state of enlightenment.

Under these circumstances, his understanding of death grew increasingly profound and clear.

If Qi Refiners of this world, with the assistance of the Human Dao will and after gaining numerous insights related to death, were to develop new mystical arts, most of them would likely be abilities like Finger of Death or Death Scythe.

However, Mu Lin possessed a wealth of imaginative ideas from his previous life.

When thinking of death, the first things that came to Mu Lin’s mind were also offensive spells like Command: Death and Finger of Death.

Yet, such thoughts only lingered in his mind for a moment before he cast them aside.

“This enlightenment is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. Only deducing offensive spells would be a complete waste. I can definitely do something unconventional.”

Thinking this way, the first thing that came to Mu Lin’s mind was the Book of Life and Death.

“By fusing Curse Art with the laws of death and incorporating the City God’s Divine Position, I could likely create a pseudo-Book of Life and Death—one that could directly strip away lifespan or even decree someone’s death at the third watch using the Judge’s Brush!”

This ability was powerful and highly compatible with Mu Lin’s current system. However, in the end, he did not immediately choose it.

Not because it was bad, but because Mu Lin had other inspirations.

“The Book of Life and Death is excellent, but in my previous life, there were also legends of the Hall of Heroic Spirits and Impure World Reincarnation, which are also related to death.”

“With the power of Nether Connection, combined with my Paper Figure Art and Paper Figure Soul Seal, I can essentially create a pseudo-Heroic Spirit Summoning Art, summoning the heroes of this world and sealing them into paper figures to assist me in battle.”

“Wait, not just for battle—in daily life, I could also have these heroic spirits instruct me.”

“Moreover, I recall that so-called heroic spirits are never purely historical figures who truly existed. Many legendary heroes are largely products of imagination, even outright myths.”

Like Heracles, Cú Chulainn, King Arthur, Karna, Kiyohime, Tamamo-no-Mae… none of these ever appeared in actual history.

“If imagination can coalesce into the position of a heroic spirit, I could simply publish books in this world—for example, by adapting Journey to the West with some changes, allowing the legend of that monkey to emerge here.”

“Then, using the power of human imagination, condense the heroic characters from the stories…”

Such an operation would undoubtedly be difficult, but in this world where spirit truly holds power, it’s not entirely without a chance of success.

After all, human faith can elevate deities to divine thrones, transforming them into Celestial Deities. Nurturing a few heroic spirits shouldn’t be an impossible fantasy.

“Should I do it?”

“Should I choose the Book of Life and Death, or the pseudo-heroic spirit summoning…”

After some contemplation, Mu Lin ultimately chose the latter.

The reason for this was Mu Lin’s belief that if he could condense some Netherworld Judges into heroic spirits and summon them into the present world, the Book of Life and Death would likely appear as an accompanying Mystic Treasure.

Take Judge Cui Jue, for instance—he might naturally possess the Book of Life and Death.

“I’ll have my hands full from now on. Not only do I need to cultivate, but I also have to find a way to spread Netherworld myths through storybooks…”

“Fortunately, culture in this world is quite scarce, and illustrated storybooks are few. With Journey to the West as a foundation, I can easily adapt it into a widely circulated tale.”

“Hmm, the influence of the Chu Family and Yan Family shouldn’t be overlooked either. With their power, especially that of the Four Seas Pavilion, even if my storybooks aren’t well-written, they could be sold nationwide…”

“…Speaking of which, since I plan to leverage the power of the Chu and Yan Families, I don’t necessarily have to write them myself. As long as I provide the outline and set a basic tone, I can have members of the Chu and Yan Families find ghostwriters to polish and write them for me…”

“Journey to the West doesn’t need polishing, but for character diversity, I’ll inevitably need to create some side stories, like those about Judge Cui Jue. That’s where I’ll need help…”

In his state of enlightenment, Mu Lin’s thoughts raced, pondering many things.

Soon, however, he set aside how to spread the stories and instead focused on merging and deducing the Death Divinity and Spirit Communication technique with the inspiration of heroic spirit summoning from his past life.

Through Mu Lin’s efforts and a slight boost from the Human Dao’s will (a finger-sized universe), he eventually deduced his pseudo-heroic spirit summoning.

To Mu Lin’s surprise, the Source Rune “Stabilize” was also integrated into this deduction.

Its inclusion allowed Mu Lin to avoid using the summoned heroic spirits immediately after summoning them.

With “Stabilize” and Paper Figure Soul Seal, Mu Lin could seal the summoned heroic spirits into paper figures, putting them into a dormant state.

When to use it, when he could awaken them—such operations allowed Mu Lin to continuously accumulate the number of heroic souls. In the end, with a single wave of his hand, he could summon an army of heroic souls.

“Sowing beans to create soldiers? My ability to summon thousands of heroic souls with a wave of my hand is undoubtedly stronger than that.”

The Heroic Soul Summoning had aspects that delighted Mu Lin, but it also brought him significant troubles.

The first and foremost was the source of energy.

Matching the strength of the heroic souls was their immense energy consumption.

In his previous life, the manifestation of the seven heroic spirits had little to do with their summoners.

It was the Greater Holy Grail system, relying on sixty years of accumulated energy from the Spirit Veins, that gathered enough power to pull the heroic spirits from their thrones.

Even then, they could only exist for seven days.

In this world, there was no Greater Holy Grail to help Mu Lin offset the consumption. Therefore, whether summoning heroic souls or subsequently driving them, he had to expend his own Mana.

“A miscalculation!”

The scarcity of energy prevented Mu Lin from summoning them immediately.

The second troubling point for Mu Lin was that the heroic souls he summoned lacked consciousness.

“Rather than calling them heroic souls, it would be more accurate to say they are imprinted projections recorded by the Heavenly and Human Paths. For now, they can only assist me in battle and slaughter.”

…

Although there were some regrets, after making this grand vow and fusing with Death Divinity, Mu Lin gained far more than he lost.

Nether Communication – Heroic Soul Summoning aside, the fusion with Death Divinity brought about some fundamental changes to his Divine Soul.

Now, he could even claim to be a Divine Being.

Most attacks and Illusion Arts that directly targeted the soul would no longer affect Mu Lin.

Moreover, influenced by Divinity, his Divine Soul even carried a hint of immortality.

“Even if my physical body were to perish completely, my Divine Soul, protected by Divinity, would fear neither wind, rain, nor Thunder. There would be no worry of memory loss. In fact, if I wished, I could abandon my physical body at any moment and cultivate the Divine Path.”

“But I must not act recklessly. What is immortal is ultimately the Divinity, not my consciousness. Just as I could borrow high-tier power to erase the Crow God’s consciousness, others could also erase my consciousness, leaving only the Divinity.”

In addition to the elevation of his Divine Soul’s tier, fusing with Death Divinity also granted Mu Lin some new traits.

For instance, with Judge’s Eye, he could perceive the aura of death and misfortune on certain individuals. By exerting his full effort, he could even discern a person’s lifespan.

Furthermore, when Mu Lin studied or cast Mystical Arts or Spells related to death, their power and efficiency would receive a tremendous boost under the enhancement of Divinity.

(End of Chapter)