Chapter 72 – Enlightenment: Substitute Paper Figure Proficiency Surges

After the discussion regarding Mu Lin’s reward concluded, the group of teachers departed.

When they had arrived, thinking there was an external enemy invasion, they had come in great haste. On their return, however, everyone was quite leisurely.

Because of this, as they left, some chatted about Dongfang Ya’s affairs.

Regarding her wholehearted efforts to secure benefits for her students, some felt she was meddlesome.

“Mu Lin and Ji Xue aren’t truly your disciples; it’s just a nominal teacher-student relationship. A casual level of attention is enough, why go to such lengths…”

Others, however, admired her noble character.

“It’s said that in the town where Dongfang Ya lived, a calamity-level Anomaly passed through, and everyone in that city perished. The reason she survived was because a Demon-Subduing Adept of noble character protected her with all his might… She was likely influenced by this and particularly enjoys looking after juniors…”

Whether they sighed in admiration or thought Dongfang Ya was meddlesome, those departing all carried a faint trace of envy in their eyes.

Clearly, they too wished they had such a responsible teacher in their youth.

At the same time, the departing teachers also discussed whether Mu Lin could maintain his position as the Anping Dao Palace’s First.

On this matter, the majority opinion was—he could not.

This conclusion wasn’t due to any bias against Mu Lin; they arrived at it based on common reasoning.

“Although we don’t know how he managed to surpass a group of Prodigies to become Dao Palace First, for us Qi Refiners, Mana is the foundation. And the further one progresses, the more important Mana Cultivation becomes.”

“Indeed. During the Qi Drawing and Spirit Awakening stages, because Cultivators have just begun, their Spell systems aren’t fully established yet. Fighting above one’s level is common; it’s not rare among Qi Refiners for a Spirit Awakening cultivator to defeat a Gushing Spring one. But starting from the Gushing Spring Realm, trying to fight above one’s level becomes extremely difficult.”

“…No matter what trump cards that Mu Lin has, once Ji Xue and the others advance to the Gushing Spring Realm, his chances become slim. And if Ji Xue and the others advance to the Spirit Pool Realm, he won’t have a shred of opportunity.”

…

Mu Lin was unaware of others’ evaluations of him.

However, he had long since felt the difficulty of cultivating Mana.

And for this, Mu Lin had also found methods to cope.

There were two methods. The first was the conventional approach—taking elixirs.

Among the hundred arts of cultivation—Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Talismans, and Arrays—the reason Alchemists can surpass Artifact Refiners, Formation Masters, and Talisman Masters to rank first among auxiliary paths is precisely because consuming elixirs can enhance a person’s Cultivation Level.

Some precious elixirs can even allow one to break through realms.

However, all medicine carries some toxicity. Moreover, elixirs that enhance Cultivation Level are mostly extremely expensive. Being poor, Mu Lin could only list this as a secondary option.

Mu Lin felt that what suited him best was still the core talent of the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture—the Substitute Paper Figure.

“One person cultivating is slow, but what about three, or five people!”

“Although, currently, my Substitute Paper Figure lacks meridians and cannot circulate Cultivation Methods to refine Mana.”

“It has already reached the third realm. The fourth realm is Master. For any Cultivation Method, progressing from Expert to Master is a qualitative transformation.”

“As long as I advance to the fourth realm, I am eighty percent confident that I can make the Substitute Paper Figure absorb moonlight to condense Mana for me.”

Thinking it, he acted on it. Upon returning to the Training Ground, Mu Lin immediately began self-harm.

“Pfft…”

As a knife stabbed into his own body, Mu Lin felt pain, but at the same time, the progress of his Substitute Paper Figure once again began to increase.

What Mu Lin hadn’t expected was that after a dozen or so stabs, his spell—Paper Figure Curse—which he hadn’t even practiced, had actually gained two or three points of growth.

“Hmm? Why is this… Wait, Substitute Paper Figure and Paper Figure Curse—these two spells are indeed connected.”

“They are both spells that use paper figures as a medium to establish a connection with humans.”

“The difference is that Paper Figure Curse links to others, while Substitute Paper Figure links to oneself.”

“At the same time, Paper Figure Curse transfers injuries from the paper figure to the human body.”

“Whereas Substitute Paper Figure transfers injuries from the human body to the paper figure…”

The more Mu Lin thought about it, the more similar they seemed. This similarity stirred his spiritual intuition, prompting him to instinctively modify his Substitute Paper Figure.

“The method Paper Figure Curse uses to establish a connection with others is through True Name, essence blood, birth date and time… My Substitute Paper Figure contains my essence blood, my Divine Soul aura, and my Mana, but it lacks my name.”

“Perhaps I can inscribe my True Name and birth date and time onto the Substitute Paper Figure.”

“Buzz…”

Following Mu Lin’s intention, the Substitute Paper Figure located in his dantian suddenly underwent a change, as if a sharp brush were carving characters onto it.

First, the characters wrote Mu Lin’s name, and then his birth date and time were also inscribed onto the Substitute Paper Figure.

“Boom!”

As his True Name and birth date and time were inscribed onto the Substitute Paper Figure, Mu Lin inexplicably felt that his connection with it had become much tighter.

Upon opening his Proficiency Panel, Mu Lin discovered that this was not just his imagination.

【Substitute Paper Figure (Innate Spell), 3rd Realm Expert (4909/8100), Traits: Clone Illusion (two clones), Injury Transfer (50%)】

“The proficiency has actually reached 4909 points. I remember it was just over 1000 earlier. That sudden flash of insight increased my proficiency by three or four thousand!”

The sudden surge in proficiency left Mu Lin stunned for a long time.

Now, he understood why all Qi Refiners pursued enlightenment.

Indeed, a single moment of enlightenment could match months of arduous cultivation.

And this was despite Mu Lin having the Proficiency Panel, which allowed his Cultivation Method proficiency to increase rapidly. For many people, a single moment of enlightenment could equal years of effort.

“Even for me, this is very useful. Originally, Substitute Paper Figure would have taken two or three months to advance to the next stage, but with this enlightenment, I can advance in at most a month…”

“…Still a month to go.”

Thinking of this, Mu Lin sighed.

What frustrated him even more was that the slow advancement of Substitute Paper Figure was also related to Mana.

Mu Lin wasn’t afraid of pain and could steel himself to stab himself.

However, once the Substitute Paper Figure was damaged, it required Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi for repair. Because Mu Lin had very little Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi in his body, the number of times he could train the spell each day became extremely limited.

“Mana, Mana—this has become my shackle…”

—This also shows that some teachers were right in saying that Mana is the foundation of everything.

His excessively scarce Mana prevented Mu Lin from fully dedicating himself to practicing Mystical Arts.

…

Troubled by his scarce Mana, Mu Lin furrowed his brow tightly.

His expression made Chu Lingluo, who was beside him, feel heartache.

“Brother Mu, are you troubled by something?”

“No…”

“Hmph!”

The casual dismissal made Chu Lingluo a bit angry. Sitting up straight, she looked seriously at Mu Lin and said, “Brother Mu, don’t treat me like a child. We’re teammates; we should help each other.”

“Uh…”

Seeing that Chu Lingluo was genuinely annoyed, Mu Lin realized his attitude was inappropriate.

“Sorry, my fault… But I still want to explain—I don’t treat you like a child, but like a little sister.”

What Mu Lin didn’t notice was that his words caused Chu Lingluo to freeze for a moment, and her delicate fists clenched tightly from nervousness.

Unaware of this, after apologizing, Mu Lin shared his troubles.

“I have a Cultivation Method to practice, but due to my scarce Mana, the number of times I can cultivate each day is extremely limited…”

As he spoke, Mu Lin didn’t expect Chu Lingluo to be able to solve his problem.

But soon, he witnessed the power of money.

“Scarce Mana… Wait a moment.”

(End of Chapter)