Chapter 218 – Zhong Kui's Ghost-Eating Painting

“Star Spirit General, Water God Dragon Lord, Netherworld Yin Gods…”

After some contemplation, Mu Lin ultimately chose the Netherworld Yin Gods as his primary cultivation core.

Regarding the selection of a Yin God, Mu Lin did not choose the Lord of Mount Tai or the King Yama of the Netherworld.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but rather that he couldn’t.

Although the God-Monarch Summoning Art was powerful, it wasn’t possible to fully nurture a God-Monarch from the very beginning.

“Let’s start with a mid-level Yin God as a transitional phase.”

And for this Yin God, Mu Lin chose—Zhong Kui.

The reason for choosing him was simple: his position in the Netherworld was similar to that of a Martial Judge, and his strength was formidable.

More importantly, Zhong Kui’s mythological legends contained references to devouring ghosts.

The ability to devour ghosts already indicated his powerful digestive capabilities, which would be of immense benefit to Mu Lin’s Fixation.

“If I’m lucky, I won’t even need to seek out a digestion-type Cultivation Method.”

Once decided, Mu Lin immediately sat cross-legged and began his cultivation.

…

For advanced Cultivation Methods, the first step of cultivation mostly involved meditation, and the God-Monarch Summoning Art was no exception.

Closing his eyes and concentrating, relying on the imaginative ability brought by his Grandmaster-level Painting, Mu Lin easily visualized the image of Zhong Kui in his mind.

Moreover, the Zhong Kui he visualized was imposing, vivid, and awe-inspiring at first glance.

Of course, merely having the image was not enough for success; Mu Lin still needed to nurture a wisp of core divine consciousness within Zhong Kui.

Such nurturing required long-term cultivation and dedication, and even with effort, success was not guaranteed… or rather, out of a hundred thousand cultivators, not even one might succeed. This was precisely why Heaven-Rank Techniques were so difficult to master.

Fortunately, Mu Lin had a shortcut.

“Hum…”

In addition to visualizing Zhong Kui, Mu Lin also visualized the sublimated Mystical Art—the Sky-Scraping Spell, and he directly integrated the visualized Sky-Scraping Spell into Zhong Kui’s Dharma Image.

“Boom!”

The fusion of the two imbued Zhong Kui with a blank divine consciousness.

Seeing this, Mu Lin did not hesitate and immediately infused both the power of the City God and the Nether Connection Power into this blank Divinity.

The infusion of these rules brought Zhong Kui’s Dharma Image to life.

However, at this moment, Mu Lin’s Dharma Image could only be called a City God, not Zhong Kui.

The God-Monarch condensed through the God-Monarch Summoning Art was not whatever you claimed it to be; rather, it was shaped by what you understood.

Well, those who cheated or borrowed the power of their ancestors were exceptions.

“As expected, it’s not possible…”

If he could condense the City God Dharma Image, Mu Lin wouldn’t actually be at a loss.

Previously, Mu Lin possessed the City God Status but had not been officially appointed, which meant he couldn’t fully utilize the power of the City God.

But now, by deifying the path and treating the City God as his Dharma Image, Mu Lin could completely harness its abilities.

However, Mu Lin felt somewhat unwilling to settle for this.

More importantly, it wasn’t that Mu Lin had no other ideas.

“Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be able to transform the City God into Zhong Kui with my current abilities. Fortunately, most of the time, I’m not normal.”

Mu Lin hadn’t forgotten that his Proficiency Panel increased by 1 point for every effective cultivation session.

And now, although Mu Lin had taken a shortcut with the Sky-Scraping Spell, the God-Monarch Summoning Art itself allowed for shortcuts—others were even more extreme, directly borrowing the divine consciousness of a True Lord to achieve instant mastery.

Compared to them, Mu Lin’s cultivation could be considered arduous.

Since it was an existing loophole, this cultivation method was considered reasonable and even gained the approval of the Proficiency Panel.

Moreover, the progress was remarkably swift.

+31, +42, +36, +29, +51…

As Mu Lin continuously channeled the power of the City God and the Nether Connection Power into the God-Monarch Summoning Art, the Dharma Image—outwardly resembling Zhong Kui but inwardly embodying the City God—grew increasingly majestic and imposing.

In nearly the blink of an eye, Mu Lin’s progress in this technique reached the peak of the beginner stage. Then, the bottleneck of the beginner stage was swiftly broken through, and the God-Monarch Summoning Art advanced to the proficient stage.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the proficient stage was also surpassed.

Mu Lin’s cultivation method had now entered the expert stage.

At this point, his progress remained rapid.

Such swift advancement was thanks to the power of Spirit Communication.

Let’s not forget one thing: Nether Communication – Heroic Soul Summoning is a fragment of the authority of the Lord of Mount Tai.

This kind of transcendent power, involving time and resurrection, was originally beyond Mu Lin’s ability to condense. It was only because he introduced the Netherworld City God system into this world and gained the favor of the Human Dao’s will that he obtained such power.

“The Human Dao’s will is the convergence of all spiritual essence, its status higher than that of Deities and True Lords, second only to the Heavenly Dao. With its favor, it would be strange if my power were weak.”

With its extraordinary status and perfect compatibility with the City God, using it to cultivate the God-Monarch Summoning Art naturally allowed Mu Lin’s progress to soar.

Soon, this technique was cultivated by Mu Lin to the third realm, the expert stage, and even reached its peak.

“Wait, this isn’t cultivation. For me now, I’m merely repackaging other powers and placing them into the basket of the God-Monarch Summoning Art.”

Since Mu Lin had cultivated other powers for a long time, accumulating substantial strength, their infusion allowed the God-Monarch Summoning Art to easily reach the peak of the third realm, the expert stage.

However, by this point, Mu Lin’s previous accumulations were exhausted.

Moreover, because it relied entirely on the infusion of other powers, Mu Lin’s understanding of this technique was not profound. Although he had cultivated it to the third realm, the expert stage, he knew the “what” but not the “why.”

Under such circumstances, breaking through further would be extremely difficult for Mu Lin.

This is what is commonly referred to as an unstable foundation. By common reasoning, Mu Lin would need several years to solidify his foundation.

Additionally, as this is a Heaven-Rank Technique with numerous bottlenecks, even after solidifying his foundation and reaching the peak of the third realm, Mu Lin would still require some luck and opportunity to break through to the fourth realm.

And if luck were not on his side, he might never achieve a breakthrough in his lifetime.

Such is the difficulty of cultivating a Heaven-Rank Technique.

“However, that applies to ordinary people. For me, effort yields visible progress.”

Thinking this, Mu Lin once again meditated on the image of Zhong Kui and infused it with the power of the City God and Nether Connection Mana.

“Hum…”

Unsurprisingly, Mu Lin’s effective cultivation increased the progress of this technique by +1. Since the technique had already reached the peak of the third realm, this +1 naturally allowed it to break through to the fourth realm, the master stage.

“Boom!”

The moment of breakthrough sent a shock through Mu Lin’s head, as if an explosive had detonated in his mind.

Then, countless inspirations, like stars, emerged in his Sea of Consciousness.

He had once again entered a state of enlightenment.

“The City God is not Zhong Kui. Merely infusing the power of the City God, I cannot fully visualize Zhong Kui. Forcing it would only conjure a counterfeit bearing Zhong Kui’s name…”

“…I need to find a way to elevate and break through for him…”

“…Got it. Since the City God’s power is insufficient, I can incorporate other forces. The power of the stars can be infused…”

“…There are countless stars in the sky, among which the Southern Dipper governs life, and the Northern Dipper governs death. Death—this is precisely the Domain of the Netherworld. Moreover, the Northern Dipper is the leader, and Zhong Kui is also a leader… Therefore, I can infuse the Northern Dipper Seven Stars, this force representing death and slaughter, into Zhong Kui’s body…”

“No, there’s no need to infuse it directly… In some myths and legends, Zhong Kui is a master swordsman. I can completely condense the power of the Northern Dipper Seven Stars into a Seven-Star Sword for slaying ghosts and subduing demons, and have Zhong Kui’s Dharma Image wield it…”

(End of Chapter)