Chapter 99 – Thousand-Year Year-End Paper: 20x Cultivation Speed

Mu Lin’s reasoning… did not entirely convince Yan Yunyu.

‘Of course I know that merely reaching the Spirit Awakening Realm isn’t enough to pass the fifth floor of the Tower of Illusory Heavens. Going at the Gushing Spring Realm would indeed be better, but you have a Third-Class Spirit Root—how can you possibly compete with others in cultivation speed!’

Clearly, Yan Yunyu held the same view as everyone else: the longer time dragged on, the greater the gap in cultivation level between Mu Lin and Ji Xue would become.

Thus, the more he delayed, the less advantage he would have.

However, since Mu Lin insisted on this path, Yan Yunyu, having no other choice, ultimately gritted her teeth and agreed.

‘His obsession with first place is no less than mine. He probably isn’t joking…’

And so, after some back-and-forth, Mu Lin and Yan Yunyu reached a cooperation agreement.

The latter acted swiftly. Even before school ended, thousand-year-old Year-End Paper and a high-grade Talisman Brush were delivered to him.

However, the resources she controlled truly couldn’t compare to Chu Lingluo’s. While she could manage the Year-End Paper, the high-grade Talisman Brush could only be lent to Mu Lin temporarily.

Mu Lin didn’t comment on this—it was enough for now.

After receiving the materials, Mu Lin first used the Year-End Paper.

Thousand-year-old paper was indeed different from hundred-year-old paper. Just by touch, Mu Lin could sense the distinction between the two.

The latter carried only a slight chill, while the former, upon contact, brought with it a profound sense of historical weight.

Accompanying it were also auras of death, ill omen, and taboo.

“This is truly good stuff. I have a feeling that using Year-End Paper for Painting might bring some changes… Never mind, let’s make a Paper Figure first and see the effects.”

“Rustle, rustle, rustle…”

After some folding, the Year-End Paper was soon shaped into a figure resembling Mu Lin.

“Huff…”

With a breath blown onto it, the small figure folded from the Year-End Paper immediately came to life.

After transferring his Divine Soul into it for Sensing, Mu Lin was astonished to discover that the duration of his Substitute Paper Figure had been extended by the thousand-year-old Year-End Paper.

“That sense of history is slowing down my consumption. If it remains completely still, my Substitute Paper Figure can last… a year.”

“Even in combat, due to the peculiar energy within the Year-End Paper, the Paper Figure’s consumption would be greatly reduced…”

After some experimentation, Mu Lin found that thousand-year-old Year-End Paper reduced the Paper Figure’s consumption to only one-ninth of that of a normal Paper Figure.

This realization made Mu Lin gasp in surprise.

“To be this enduring… is it the effect of time?”

Puzzled, Mu Lin continued his Sensing, only to sigh somewhat as he discovered:

“The increase in power isn’t as strong as ninefold. Although that sense of historical weight can enhance the Paper Figure’s combat effectiveness, the boost is only twofold.”

“As for cultivation…”

After having the Substitute Paper Figure possess the thousand-year-old Year-End Paper and absorb Moonlight Dew, refining it into Mana, Mu Lin raised an eyebrow to find that the refining efficiency of the Substitute Paper Figure wasn’t as high as the combat boost—only 1.8 times that of a normal Paper Figure.

However, after absorbing the Mana back into his Main Body, Mu Lin also noticed something that made his eyes narrow.

The Mana refined by the Year-End Paper Substitute Paper Figure carried an additional, peculiar power.

“Is this… that strange energy from the Year-End Paper? Has it also been refined into my Mana by the substitute?”

Because this power was too faint, Mu Lin couldn’t discern its specific attributes.

Nevertheless, after absorbing it into his body, Mu Lin inexplicably felt that it was beneficial to him.

“Sixth sense warning? A Qi Refiner’s sudden premonition?”

The sixth sense warning was indeed a real phenomenon for Qi Refiners. Therefore, after vaguely sensing it might benefit him, Mu Lin temporarily refrained from asking further.

After roughly understanding the situation regarding Year-End Paper, Mu Lin summarized it.

“Due to containing the power of time, Year-End Paper’s most potent ability is to extend the existence time of paper figures and reduce their consumption.”

“Power enhancement comes second, while cultivation enhancement ranks third.”

“Currently, thousand-year Year-End Paper enhances my cultivation by 1.8 times. Since it only enhances the Substitute Paper Figures and not my main body, my current cultivation efficiency is: main body 4 (after consuming Moonlight Jade Dew) + six clones 16.2 (Moonlight Jade Dew + thousand-year Year-End Paper), which is 20 times the normal rate.”

This cultivation speed was already quite fast, even comparable to a First-Class Spirit Root. This further boosted Mu Lin’s confidence in advancing to the Gushing Spring Realm within a month.

At the same time, the importance of resources was once again elevated in Mu Lin’s mind.

He hadn’t forgotten that while his Substitute Paper Figures advancing to the Master Realm indeed contributed greatly to his skyrocketing cultivation efficiency, Year-End Paper and Moonlight Dew also played significant roles.

…

Leaving the paper figures behind to continue cultivating, Mu Lin himself returned to the Dao Palace Training Ground.

However, unlike before, while the paper figures were cultivating, Mu Lin’s main body did not cultivate. Instead, he began studying the talisman formation 【Adamantine Force】, which was something good for enhancing his paper figures’ combat capabilities in direct confrontations.

In just over a month, he would be participating in the Dao Palace assessment of the Southeast Region. To ensure he could secure a top-five ranking, he would try every means to increase his combat power, so he absolutely had to study this.

…

Being a combination of two talismans and involving formation runes, the drawing method for Adamantine Force was extremely intricate.

Ordinary people would feel dizzy just looking at the complex patterns, let alone quickly copying them.

Fortunately, Mu Lin was not among the ordinary.

Master-grade painting skills allowed Mu Lin to quickly analyze the lines, brushstrokes, colors, light and shadow, composition, proportions, and clairvoyance layering of the pattern before him.

In just a few dozen breaths, he understood how to draw it, and in a single stroke at that.

Picking up a talisman brush, dipping it in talisman ink, Mu Lin took out a blank sheet of paper and began writing on it.

“Swish…”

As expected, Mu Lin failed on his first attempt at copying.

On the second and third attempts, he still failed. But from the fourth attempt onward, failure became a stranger to him.

“Swish…”

Focused, Mu Lin swiftly and fluidly drew the talisman formation 【Adamantine Force】 in one go.

Moreover, the talisman formation Mu Lin drew could be used directly.

Faced with this situation, Mu Lin—was not surprised.

His previous studies in calligraphy and painting were not merely for leisure or passing time.

He believed calligraphy and painting would be useful for talisman formations, which was why he learned them.

“In a way, this is like ‘sharpening the axe before chopping wood.'”

The facts proved Mu Lin right. Calligraphy and painting were indeed useful; they laid a foundation for his talisman formation studies.

And because Mu Lin’s calligraphy and painting had both advanced to the Master grade, their characteristics meant that when Mu Lin wrote, it was no longer just about having useful tools—it was like adding wings to a tiger.

“The writing of the Adamantine Force Talisman Array requires continuous strokes without interruption, simple…”

“…When writing talismans, I need to maintain a steady output of Mana, without any fluctuations… This is also easy; my powerful Divine Soul ability grants me exceptional control…”

“Lastly, when writing the Adamantine Force Talisman Array, I must also imbue the intent of the 【Adamantine Body】 into it. Only then can the talisman array take effect.”

To be honest, the final step is difficult, which is why many people fail even after writing it thousands of times.

But this problem doesn’t exist for Mu Lin. Just look at the 【Intent Penetrating the Paper】 of Master Grade Calligraphy.

It can be said that with a solid foundation, Mu Lin’s rapid success in writing is inevitable. If he were as slow as an ordinary person, that would truly be strange.

(End of Chapter)