Chapter 102 – The Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture Advances

Using paper folding to tell stories had already revealed Mu Lin’s ‘talent.’

Later, Chu Lingluo discovered that Mu Lin was not only talented at storytelling—his calligraphy and painting had also reached the level of a Master. Subsequently, in the Tower of Illusory Heavens, Mu Lin displayed exceptional combat prowess.

This series of performances made Mu Lin, in the eyes of the innocent young girl Chu Lingluo, the perfect Prince Charming from her dreams—highly talented, incredibly strong, and versatile in every way. Chu Lingluo was familiar with the story of Prince Charming.

Well, Chu Lingluo’s budding feelings of romance were also influenced by the stories Mu Lin told. Fairy tales included Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella… and a whole series of romantic stories.

Without giving it much thought, Mu Lin had brought these stories over and shared them all with Chu Lingluo.

Impacted by these beautiful tales of love, Chu Lingluo began to experience her first stirrings of affection, developing admiration for Mu Lin.

Moreover, because Mu Lin seemed too perfect in her eyes, in their interactions, Chu Lingluo placed herself in a subordinate position.

With such emotions, when Mu Lin made mistakes, she, unwilling to leave him, naturally went to great lengths to find excuses for him and give him chances.

Now, Ji Xue’s powerful performance allowed Chu Lingluo’s little mind to rationalize everything logically.

“So, I was the one who was wrong all along. It was my unreasonable behavior that delayed Brother Mu’s future…”

With this thought, Chu Lingluo immediately teared up and apologized to Mu Lin.

“I’m sorry, Brother Mu. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have been so jealous. If it weren’t for me, Ji Xue wouldn’t be our enemy, and we wouldn’t have lost first place.”

“I… I’ll make it up to you…”

To be honest, Chu Lingluo’s apology completely stunned Mu Lin at first.

He didn’t share Chu Lingluo’s way of thinking and had always believed that he was indeed bullying Chu Lingluo—to make her completely give up on him.

Yet, in the end, it was Chu Lingluo who apologized first. How could he have ever expected that?

‘Am I actually a master of PUA?’

This was Mu Lin’s first thought upon hearing Chu Lingluo’s apology.

Fortunately, he quickly snapped out of it and figured out why Chu Lingluo had apologized.

But because of this, he wasn’t sure how to respond.

Going along with it and accepting Chu Lingluo’s apology would be easy, but he couldn’t explain it to Chu Lingluo’s mother.

Mu Lin was indeed arrogant, confident that he would surpass everyone in the future. But the future was the future, and the present was the present.

In his early stages, he was incredibly weak and couldn’t withstand major storms.

Accepting Chu Lingluo’s apology might be simple, but if her mother became furious and found some excuse to quietly eliminate him, he would be wronged for nothing.

‘The probability of Chu Lingluo’s mother taking action isn’t low—at least thirty percent. After all, although she doesn’t want to upset Chu Lingluo and won’t act openly, she could still resort to covert methods. The Dao Palace has winter and summer vacations. If I dared to get entangled with Chu Lingluo, during a long break, she could easily find a pretext to have me killed.’

‘Such as suddenly encountering powerful enemies or an invasion of Evil Spirits… That way, I’d die without anyone knowing the truth, and Chu Lingluo wouldn’t be able to blame her for it…’

Mu Lin valued his life dearly and confidently believed that as long as he grew stronger, he could solve all problems. Therefore, all he wanted now was to cultivate peacefully and avoid stirring up any major trouble in the early stages.

This was also why the previous Mu Lin had agreed to Chu Lingluo’s mother’s proposal—even without the reward of Spirit Stones, he would have done the same.

‘I, Mu Lin, only wish to cultivate in peace.’

That was Mu Lin’s initial thought. Following this line of thinking, he should have taken the opportunity to reject Chu Lingluo, placing all the blame on her and severing ties with her completely.

But that wouldn’t work either.

Though he didn’t know the reason—unconsciously, Mu Lin failed to realize how much the cultural knowledge from his previous life could captivate a little girl who loved such things—he could sense that Chu Lingluo was deeply attached to him. Moreover, having never weathered life’s storms, her emotions were too fragile, and her mother cared for her excessively.

If his rejection were too harsh, Mu Lin feared Lingluo might fall into depression, and her mother would still not let him off the hook.

Frowning, Mu Lin didn’t know how to respond.

Just as he was struggling and Chu Lingluo, thinking Mu Lin would never forgive her, began to show despair, Yan Yunyu stepped forward.

She had also guessed some of the reasons and understood Mu Lin’s dilemma.

In the end, with a strange expression, she pulled Chu Lingluo aside.

Gently wiping the tears from her face, Yan Yunyu spoke softly:

“Lingluo, it’s good that you realize your mistake, but don’t be too anxious or too sad. Just because Young Master Mu doesn’t forgive you now doesn’t mean he won’t forgive you in the future. As long as you stay in the team, there are endless possibilities…”

These words made Mu Lin’s eye twitch slightly, and he felt utterly speechless toward Yan Yunyu.

—Chu Lingluo might not know the inside story, but how could you, who personally instigated all this and participated in the plan, not know?

How could you say such things with a straight face?

‘Indeed, beautiful women are all deceivers.’

Though exasperated, he had to admit that Yan Yunyu’s delaying tactic had indeed helped him greatly, sparing him from making an immediate choice.

But he also wondered why Yan Yunyu was helping him.

To this, Yan Yunyu secretly explained:

“Young Master Mu, you are the main combatant in the team. Just focus on cultivation; all other trivial matters can be left to me. Although I may not be as strong, I have some experience in handling such affairs.”

“I will arrange everything for you, ensuring you can cultivate without worries.”

To be honest, such considerate words made Mu Lin’s heart flutter for a moment.

He had to admit that if Yan Yunyu became his wife, she would be of great help to him.

However, such thoughts didn’t linger in his mind for even a second before he dismissed them.

He hadn’t forgotten that this woman was extremely cunning. Marrying her might bring comfort, but Mu Lin would also have to guard against her betrayal.

Having to be wary of someone by his side was not what Mu Lin wanted. Compared to that, he might as well marry Chu Lingluo—at least he could feel at ease with her.

‘What kind of daydream am I having? Chu Lingluo’s family looks down on me, and Yan Yunyu even more so. She’s only helping me now because we’re teammates…’

Patting his head to clear his mind, Mu Lin returned to his courtyard with a mix of excitement and anticipation.

Indeed, even after learning of Ji Xue’s advancement and her breakthrough of the fifth floor of the Tower of Illusory Heavens, Mu Lin’s mood remained exceptionally good.

This wasn’t because he had any peculiar preferences or, like some martial arts fanatics, rejoiced at gaining another rival.

The reason for Mu Lin’s joy was that his cultivation technique was about to advance.

After day and night cultivation, aided by the efforts of his six clones, Mu Lin’s Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture was nearing completion.

As his main cultivation technique, if it broke through from the second realm to the third realm, the bottleneck from Gushing Spring to Spirit Pool would vanish for Mu Lin.

More importantly, advancing the technique’s realm might further accelerate his cultivation speed.

Thinking this, Mu Lin’s steps grew even lighter.

…

Returning to his courtyard in high spirits, Mu Lin headed straight for his small hut.

At this moment, his six Substitute Paper Figures were still diligently cultivating.

It should be noted that after using the thousand-year-old Year-End Paper, due to its abundant special energy, Mu Lin no longer needed to frequently replace the paper.

Even with the clones cultivating tirelessly day and night, a single sheet of thousand-year-old Year-End Paper was enough for Mu Lin to use for several days, effectively reducing his consumption.

“Speaking of which, if I only use Year-End Paper, it seems I can maintain a balance between income and expenditure by drawing the Adamantine Force Talisman Array.”

This was significant progress, but soon he remembered that besides Year-End Paper and Substitute Paper Figures, Moonlight Dew also played a crucial role in his rapid Mana Cultivation progress.

The latter remained a resource he still couldn’t afford.

Moreover, aside from Mana, the reason his physical progress hadn’t fallen behind was largely due to being fed Spiritual Meals by Chu Lingluo every day.

Thus, Mu Lin was still in a position of relying on others.

“Independence has yet to be achieved; I must continue striving.”

With a sigh, Mu Lin recalled the six substitutes—retrieving the Mana clones and the temporary consciousness he had bestowed upon them. The paper itself rapidly shrank after losing the substitutes and was stored away in his pouch.

“Hum…”

As the Paper Figures returned, power of the same origin immediately surged into Mu Lin’s body.

Simultaneously, a vast amount of cultivation experience flooded into his mind.

The influx of the former caused Mu Lin’s Mana to increase substantially.

The cultivation experience, meanwhile, sent the proficiency of his Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi skyrocketing.

+42, +41, +43, +39…

With six Paper Figures cultivating together for a full half-day, the experience gained for Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi was considerable.

Naturally, the massive proficiency boost caused Mu Lin’s already nearly complete Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi—to advance.

“Hum…”

The moment it advanced, Mu Lin entered a state of enlightenment. His thoughts raced with extreme activity, and inspiration continuously emerged.

In this special state, Mu Lin grasped the key points of the next stage of cultivation.

“The Yin-attribute Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi is not the ultimate goal of Paper Figure Art. Immortal Spirit, or rather, Life-Creating Qi, is the ultimate pursuit of the Paper Crafting Lineage…”

“Therefore, I cannot cultivate pure Yin alone; I must balance Yin and Yang…”

“After advancing to the third realm, in addition to absorbing Moonlight Power, I must also capture a wisp of purple qi each morning at sunrise…”

“When the purple qi merges with the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi, it transforms the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi from yin to yang. At this point, if I use the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi to ‘animate’ a Paper Figure, it will gain greater substance, enhanced power, and reduced susceptibility to suppression by the sun, Thunder, and fire…”

“Simultaneously, the fusion of purple qi and Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi will cause my Mana attributes to evolve, shifting from a gaseous, mist-like state toward a liquid form…”

“…Once I refine liquid Mana, my Cultivation Level will be Gushing Spring. When all my Mana is successfully liquefied, I will reach the mid-stage of Gushing Spring…”

(End of Chapter)