Chapter 24 – Yellow Turban Warrior: Immense Strength, Impervious to Blades

After observing the Demon-Subduing Warrior Painting for a while, Mu Lin did not immediately begin his visualization practice. Instead, he started folding paper, drawing pictures, and writing calligraphy.

At this point, Mu Lin had already elevated these three skills to the same level of importance as mystical arts.

The reason for this was related to his first attempt at casting a spell.

Although he had not succeeded in his Spirit Awakening, Mu Lin had already drawn Qi into his body and refined a portion of it, thus possessing mana.

Because of this, he was capable of casting spells, albeit with limited power.

Earlier that day, when Mu Lin moved the Grand View Garden to the cafeteria, he found it quite inconvenient to handle alone. So, he folded four paper figures and instinctively colored them with ink. Then, he took a deep breath.

“Hoo…”

As he exhaled, his breath—mixed with the vitality of a living person—blew toward the four paper figures, triggering a peculiar transformation.

“Hum!!”

Under the influence of this special mana, the vitality of a living person, the four paper figures instantly expanded in the wind, growing to the size of real humans.

This was the foundation and essence of the Paper Crafting Scripture—the Paper Figure Art.

What was unusual, however, was that the paper figures Mu Lin created were not like those made by other Paper Artisan apprentices, which were clearly recognizable as fake paper models.

The combination of Master Grade paper crafting techniques and Master Grade painting skills allowed Mu Lin to create paper figures that were remarkably lifelike.

Now, infused with the vitality of a living person, the paper figures grew in size, and these four maidservants appeared almost indistinguishable from real people.

With their graceful figures and elegant postures, many Qi Refiners were captivated by the charm of the paper figures as Mu Lin passed by, and none of them could tell they were fake.

Of course, if this were all, Mu Lin might have increased the importance of paper crafting and painting but not equated them with mystical arts.

What truly solidified his resolve was this—perhaps due to spiritual energy, or because the mind in this world could slightly influence reality, the paper figures crafted with Master Grade techniques possessed a trace of special divine essence. This essence reduced Mu Lin’s consumption of the vitality of a living person by a full thirty percent when he used them as materials for the Paper Figure Art.

Similarly, Master Grade painting endowed the paper figures with vivid postures, reducing Mu Lin’s divine soul consumption by another thirty percent.

“…It actually reduces my mana and divine soul consumption!”

After confirming this, Mu Lin was astonished and immediately decided to elevate the importance of ordinary skills like paper crafting and painting, thinking:

“If Master Grade already has such an effect, what about Grandmaster Level? How much would my consumption decrease with paper figures crafted using Grandmaster Level techniques…”

He even entertained a wild thought.

“With Grandmaster Level origami combined with Grandmaster Level painting, could they enhance the upper limit of my paper figures’ power?”

Driven by anticipation and curiosity, Mu Lin raised the importance of paper crafting, painting, and calligraphy.

…

Mu Lin spent an hour practicing these ordinary skills.

Afterward, he entered a state of hibernation.

Only after his physical strength and mental energy were fully restored did he open the Demon-Subduing Warrior Painting and focus his gaze on the Yellow Turban Warrior within.

“Hum…”

As Mu Lin stared intently, at a certain moment, he suddenly felt a pulling force emanating from the Demon-Subduing Warrior Painting before him.

Under that force, Mu Lin felt his divine soul abruptly leave his body, fly into the painting, and merge with a warrior holding a spear.

“Boom!”

The moment the two merged, Mu Lin felt a surge of violent power filling his body, while his skin hardened like steel.

Immense strength and invulnerability to blades and spears—these were the fundamental abilities of the Yellow Turban Warrior.

Beyond that, Mu Lin also sensed that the warrior before him possessed exceptional spear techniques.

Souls merging and true spirits reflecting each other—this was indeed the best way to understand one another. Through soul spirit immersion into the painting, Mu Lin imprinted the visualization diagram of the Yellow Turban Warrior into his mind in an extremely short time.

Of course, at this point, it was merely imprinted and not yet solidified.

But for Mu Lin, this made no difference. With the Proficiency Panel and knowing how to visualize, he could, through persistent effort, solidify the Yellow Turban Warrior to a stable degree.

“That’s enough. I can move on to immersing my soul into the next Yellow Turban Warrior.”

Thinking this, Mu Lin willed his soul spirit to leap into the body of the next Yellow Turban Warrior.

  ”Hiss…”

However, as soon as his soul leaped into another Yellow Turban Warrior, Mu Lin felt a headache—a normal reaction.

The reflection of the soul and the True Spirit Diagram would flood Mu Lin’s Divine Soul with a massive amount of information.

If the soul spirit was weak, the user would be unable to receive the complete information of the True Spirit Diagram. Thus, using the True Spirit Diagram had certain thresholds—the stronger the soul, the greater the gains.

Fortunately, Mu Lin’s Divine Soul was not weak. With his Mindscape – Sky Burial City having reached the third realm, his Divine Soul Realm was as high as the Gushing Spring Early Stage. Easily, Mu Lin withstood the impact of this information.

Moreover, although the Demon-Subduing Warrior Painting contained six Yellow Turban Warriors, their foundation of immense strength and invulnerability was the same. The only differences lay in the six martial arts styles.

Thus, all Mu Lin had to memorize were these six martial arts. After gritting his teeth and persevering, he actually managed to visualize all six Yellow Turban Warriors.

“Hiss…”

Although Mu Lin had a severe headache after completing the visualization, regardless, the six Yellow Turban Warrior diagrams were now imprinted in his mind. As long as he solidified them, Mu Lin would have six powerful guardians.

Rubbing his head, Mu Lin put away the Demon-Subduing Warrior Painting. Then, he noticed that after his soul spirit had merged with it, the special divine essence within the painting had significantly dissipated.

Clearly, this item could not be used indefinitely.

Each time a soul spirit entered, it would erode the divine essence inside. Once the divine essence was exhausted, it would become an ordinary painting.

Shaking his head, Mu Lin stored the Demon-Subduing Warrior Painting. After resting for a while, he once again immersed himself in rigorous cultivation.

……

Time passed slowly as Mu Lin cultivated, and soon, several days went by.

By now, half a month had already passed since Mu Lin and the others entered the Dao Palace.

In the class, more than ten people had successively undergone Spirit Awakening.

What raised Mu Lin’s eyebrows was that today, his good friend Zong Xiu had also successfully awakened his spirit and left the Selection Class.

“Hahaha, I finally succeeded in Spirit Awakening! Brother Mu, I’ll take my leave first and wait for you in the real class.”

“Mm, see you then.”

……

“Another acquaintance gone.”

Zong Xiu’s departure made Mu Lin sigh, and he prepared to resume his cultivation.

Such a swift change in mood made it seem as though Mu Lin harbored little sentiment.

And indeed… that was the truth.

It was the continuous days of cultivation that allowed his progress in the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture to advance rapidly. Before long, he too would find the opportunity for Spirit Awakening and be promoted to the Formal Class.

Under such circumstances, he naturally felt no sorrow.

However, as soon as he sat down, a cold snort came from beside him.

“See you then? Hmph, with just a Third-Class Spirit Root, you sure are confident.”

The mocking words from the side left Mu Lin utterly speechless.

What made him even more speechless was the reason the person beside him was picking a fight with him.

As a Selection Class, the prominent figures in Mu Lin’s class were constantly changing.

Originally, the noble daughter Ji Xue had taken all the spotlight.

After Ji Xue advanced and left, the center of attention shifted to the other two prodigies with First-Class Spirit Roots—well, along with Yan Yunyu.

After they left, the standout individuals became the minor talents like Zong Xiu, who possessed Second-Class Spirit Roots.

And now, most of those with Second-Class Spirit Roots had also left.

Those still called geniuses were the remaining two with Second-Class Spirit Roots and… Mu Lin.

(End of Chapter)