Chapter 128 – Presence and Domain: The Suppressed Teacher

“Swish!”

Arriving before the Yin Soldiers, Mu Lin clenched his fist and struck out fiercely.

“Boom!”

Though Mu Lin was currently small in stature and appeared fair and tender, seemingly lacking in strength, the formidable power of his Jiao Dragon Body caused the punch he threw to directly produce a sonic boom.

Such ferocious force could shatter mountain rocks and sever waterfalls.

Yet now, Mu Lin’s punch only forced the Yin Soldier he struck to retreat a few steps, leaving a dent on its body.

“Thirty percent mitigated. Only seventy percent of my punch remained on the Paper Figure Yin Soldier, while the other thirty percent was borne by the other ghost soldiers.”

Only thirty percent was shared. Such a military formation seemed somewhat weak, but do not forget that Mu Lin was just a beginner.

“Continue training…”

“Advance!”

“Rustle…”

“Left turn!”

“Attention!”

As Mu Lin issued command after command, the Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers drilled the military formation before him with strict obedience.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes, five minutes… ten minutes, fifteen minutes, half an hour, one hour…

Due to the special power of the Year-End Paper, Mu Lin’s Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers could remain manifested for an extremely long time. This allowed Mu Lin to train the Netherworld Soldiers for a full hour and a half in a single session.

The prolonged training, combined with the fact that the soldiers under his command shared the same origin of power and were connected in mind, resulted in exceptionally great gains from his first cultivation session.

Moreover, during the process, Mu Lin discovered something: while the Celestial and Earth formations were uncertain, the Human formation primarily focused on gathering and concentrating the power of individuals.

The key to this power concentration lay in the transmission of force.

And this was precisely what Mu Lin excelled at.

Whether it was the Substitute Paper Figure or the Paper Figure Curse, both involved transferring injuries or power from oneself to the paper figure, or transferring curses from the paper figure to a person.

This kind of transmission was similar to the transfer of power within a military formation.

Having cultivated the Paper Figure Curse and Substitute Paper Figure to Master level, Mu Lin was also a Master in this aspect.

Thus, with a bit of experimentation, he increased the transfer of force when the paper figure was attacked from thirty percent to fifty percent.

And fifty percent was the mark of proficiency at the 2nd Realm.

[Celestial Fortress Array, 2nd Realm Proficiency (123/3600), Trait: Injury Transfer (You can transfer attacks received by the paper figure to other paper figures. Pure impact force attacks can be transferred by fifty percent, while sword slashes and spell strikes can be transferred by thirty percent.)]

After easily reaching 2nd Realm proficiency, Mu Lin’s progress slowed slightly as he advanced toward the 3rd Realm.

Unlike progressing from beginner to proficient, moving from the 2nd to the 3rd Realm required Mu Lin to condense a ‘Wall,’ which was the first core ability of the Celestial Fortress Array.

The so-called Wall referred to a barrier, a shield, a rampart.

After all, the Celestial Fortress Array was not the Substitute Paper Figure, and thus it could not fully distribute and transfer all injuries to other paper figures. Particularly sharp flying sword attacks and spells could only be transferred by ten to thirty percent.

But a barrier was different.

Through connected energy, Mu Lin could have the Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers disperse their Mana into the Void, forming a rampart.

With the rampart erected in front, it could block enemy spells and sword slashes like a city wall. As long as the rampart remained unbroken, enemy attacks would not reach the paper figures.

If an enemy broke into the military formation, with mana interconnected and energy coalesced, the air in the area where the paper figures were located could also stagnate, slowing the enemy’s movements or even rendering them completely immobile.

“To achieve this, besides energy connection, one must rely on vibration… no, it should be the principle of resonance…”

This aspect, Mu Lin had not yet grasped, which was why his cultivation progressed much more slowly.

Generally speaking, for Mu Lin to advance from the 2nd realm “Proficient” to the 3rd realm “Expert” would require a considerable amount of time. However, by dawn, Mu Lin’s Celestial Fortress Array had broken through once again.

This wasn’t due to a sudden epiphany or a bug in his Attribute Panel, but rather:

“So this is what the ‘citadel’ in the Celestial Fortress Array means…”

Because he had the Substitute Paper Figure, after training for a while and feeling bored, Mu Lin let the Substitute Paper Figure take command, training the Yin Soldiers and practicing the Celestial Fortress Array in his stead.

As for Mu Lin’s main body, he intended to continue refining his mana.

However, before cultivating, he reviewed the information about the Celestial Fortress Array once more and glanced at the descriptions of higher realms—since someone had successfully cultivated it before, the Jade Scroll for the Celestial Fortress Array contained descriptions of the 4th realm “Master.”

Then, Mu Lin discovered something: like other cultivation methods, the Celestial Fortress Array, as a military formation, also underwent a qualitative transformation at the 4th realm.

At the 1st realm “Beginner,” the Celestial Fortress Array could barely form a formation.

At the 2nd realm “Proficient,” the array could unleash the power of interconnected energy.

At the 3rd realm “Expert,” the celestial rampart would stand firm, and energy would solidify.

At the 4th realm “Master,” soldiers practicing the formation would touch upon the legendary concepts of “momentum” and “domain”—their energies interconnected, their minds in sync. United in purpose, they could manifest an illusory citadel in reality through their energy, spiritual energy, and will to protect.

Depending on the artistic conception, the citadel summoned by the soldiers would differ.

Some could summon an impregnable fortress, while others summoned a majestic metropolis.

At this point, Mu Lin made a strange discovery.

“I may not be an expert in resonance, but I do have a citadel—an illusory city of will!”

Thinking this, Mu Lin immediately focused his mind, preparing to project the Sky Burial City from his Mindscape into reality.

—This was not easy; at least, Mu Lin alone could not achieve it at his current level.

However, while he couldn’t do it alone, with the assistance of nearly a hundred Yin Soldiers and a method of communication, it became feasible.

Using the hundred Yin Soldiers as a foundation, supplemented by the special techniques of the Celestial Fortress Array, and through energy resonance and interconnected artistic conception, Mu Lin exerted his full effort to project the Sky Burial City from his mental world—into reality!

“Woo…” An eerie cry inexplicably sounded, followed by ghost money fluttering down from the sky like snow.

Amidst the drifting ghost money, a solemn town slowly materialized.

However, what made Mu Lin raise an eyebrow was that during the materialization process, a peculiar connection linked to his Sky Burial City, and power surged forth accordingly.

Under that terrifying force, Mu Lin’s Sky Burial City gradually became corrupted, transforming from stern and prison-like to desolate, ancient, eerie, and horrifying, imbued with an artistic conception of burying everything.

The emergence and erosion of the city caused the area where Mu Lin was located to become eerie and terrifying. Its Yin Soldiers and Ghost Messengers also underwent some mutations after the projection of Sky Burial City appeared…

Meanwhile, Mu Lin was enthusiastically testing his Cultivation Method, unaware that the appearance of the illusory Sky Burial City had startled many teachers from the Dao Palace.

“Phantom Realm!”

“Taboo Power invasion?”

“How is this possible? With the Tower of Illusory Heavens suppressing it, how could a Phantom Realm emerge within the Dao Palace?”

The unusual fluctuations of power prompted many teachers to hastily leave their secluded cultivation sites and rush toward Mu Lin’s location.

The first to arrive was naturally their instructor, Dongfang Ya, who cared deeply for them.

Upon discovering that the area being eroded by the Anomalous Taboo Power was Mu Lin’s residence, she quickened her pace even further.

Then, as she approached the vicinity, she was stunned to witness Mu Lin summoning Sky Burial City using a hundred Yin Soldiers as the foundation of his formation.

“This Taboo Power was summoned by Mu Lin. He’s been corrupted and fallen into demonic cultivation… Wait, that’s not right!”

Upon closer observation, Dongfang Ya realized that the Taboo Power of Sky Burial City had indeed manifested in reality, but this power was still under Mu Lin’s control.

After understanding everything, Dongfang Ya was utterly astonished.

And she wasn’t the only one stunned. Soon, Elder Qin, the Headmaster, Ma Daoren, and other teachers arrived as well.

Noticing Dongfang Ya standing nearby without intervening, everyone gathered around her and began questioning her.

“What happened?”

“Why aren’t you stepping in to stop it?”

Some also looked toward Mu Lin’s direction. Seeing him summon the projection of Sky Burial City using a hundred Yin Soldiers as the formation’s foundation, one person’s brow furrowed noticeably:

“Demonic cultivation… No, Qi Refiners who have been corrupted and fallen into demonic cultivation usually go mad and slaughter indiscriminately after summoning Taboo Power. He seems to be… controlling it.”

“He’s controlling that power!”

“If he’s controlling it, then it’s not demonic cultivation but a Domain. But how is that possible? Domains are something only Qi Refiners at the Spell Master stage can access. I haven’t even reached the realms of Influence and Domain yet!”

Watching Mu Lin’s actions before them, many Qi Refiners were bewildered.

Their confusion was understandable, as Influence and Domain were far from ordinary.

The essence of a Qi Refiner’s cultivation was to comprehend all things in heaven and earth, control them, and then use this understanding of the world to promote the evolution and transformation of their own body, aligning themselves with heaven and the Dao.

In the early stages of such cultivation, Qi Refiners focused primarily on enhancing their physical strength, Mana, and Divine Soul.

However, upon reaching a certain level of cultivation, a Qi Refiner’s pursuit shifted from self-improvement to influencing heaven and earth.

And Influence and Domain were the first steps toward affecting the world.

So-called Influence involved using one’s own spiritual will to exert pressure and influence over an area. At this stage, a Qi Refiner could manipulate wind, rain, thunder, lightning, mountains, and rivers with their spiritual will, making them move according to their intentions.

Yet, in this state, wind and rain remained wind and rain, and mountains and rivers remained mountains and rivers. The Qi Refiner could only influence and manipulate them, not alter them.

Domain, on the other hand, was a further advancement of Influence. The expansion of a Domain could change the environment, ecology, and even the rules of an area.

Now, the Sky Burial City projected by Mu Lin gave off the feeling of a Domain.

But such advanced power was something only Spell Masters at the Sha Refinement and Gang Condensation stages, or even True Persons at the Transformation Stage, could control.

Having cultivated for only three or four months, Mu Lin had unleashed a domain, which naturally left them astonished.

This was also the reason why Dongfang Ya was stunned.

However, as an experienced Qi Refiner, Dongfang Ya soon noticed some clues.

“Mu Lin isn’t that powerful yet, and he is even less capable of controlling a domain at this stage. The current situation is a result of him borrowing the power of Sky Burial City.”

(End of Chapter)