In the Realm of Gods and Mysteries: Eternal Life Through Paper Art Secrets

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Chapter 13: Advancing to Level 3, Mind Image · City of Heaven’s Funeral

Mu Lin: "What’s this?"

Zong Xiu: "These are Spirit Leaves. When you sense spiritual energy next time, tuck them under your tongue. It’ll boost your chances."

Mu Lin froze for a moment, then waved his hand.

"Too valuable. I can’t take them."

"Brother Mu, I’ve already succeeded. I don’t need them anymore."

"…Then I’ll buy them."

After haggling, Mu Lin purchased the Spirit Leaves at seventy percent of the market price.

Unbeknownst to him, Zong Xiu smirked after he left.

"Recovered some losses…"

Zong Xiu hadn’t approached Mu Lin solely out of friendship—he’d wanted to offload his leftover Spirit Leaves.

The other aristocratic children in class had their own resources, making his leaves hard to sell. Only Mu Lin, who’d earned Spirit Stones the previous day, was a viable buyer.

Mu Lin remained oblivious to this scheme. Even if he’d known, he wouldn’t have minded.

True friendship required equal footing. Without matching ability or status, sincerity was impossible. Had Mu Lin not displayed his masterful papercraft skills earlier, Zong Xiu’s ties to him would’ve frayed as their gap widened.

Regardless, Zong Xiu had sold him the crucial Spirit Leaves cheaply—a favor Mu Lin acknowledged.

That afternoon, Mu Lin immediately placed a fresh Spirit Leaf under his tongue upon entering the classroom.

"Hum…"

As saliva soaked the leaf, a peculiar sensation jolted through him.

Suddenly, he sensed spiritual energy—not just through his forehead like with the fish oil paste, but across his entire body.

Moreover, the leaf’s spiritual essence faded slowly.

"One leaf beats a whole bottle of fish oil paste. Worth it!"

Once connected to the energy, Mu Lin activated the Black Water Mystic Serpent’s Transformation Technique.

He felt spiritual energy flood his body, cycling along the tail-biting serpent’s path.

Yet after three cycles, frustration hit—his absorption rate was pitiful, and converting ordinary energy into black mist magical power proved inefficient.

Multiple sessions barely yielded a wisp of black mist.

"Too slow!"

"At this rate, fifteen days of cultivation would only match the energy gained from refining the Black Water Mystic Serpent’s vital blood."

Back then, he’d converted just ten percent of that energy into magical power (twenty percent fortified his body).

"Ten percent takes fifteen days? A full absorption would demand a hundred fifty days!"

“A drop of blood, half a year’s time…”

At this moment, Mu Lin understood why wealth stood first among the four pillars of cultivation: wealth, companionship, methods, and land.

Resources truly held immense importance for cultivation.

Of course, he also knew this was tied to his weak Spiritual Roots Talent. Had he possessed Level 1 Spiritual Roots or the fabled Heavenly Spiritual Roots, merely absorbing spiritual energy would’ve matched his Refine vital blood speed.

But he lacked such advantages.

With bitterness, Mu Lin pressed on with his training.

When an incense stick’s worth of time passed, the Spirit Leaf’s effects faded, and Mu Lin… once again lost connection to external spiritual energy.

He did not speak of this.

He already knew his Spiritual Roots Talent was inferior. Sensing spiritual energy’s speed depended on one’s affinity with it—his low compatibility made slowness inevitable.

“Zong Xiu with Level 2 Spiritual Roots consumes Spirit Leaves daily yet still needs two to three days. As for me… seven to eight days at best, ten to fifteen at worst…”

Considering A-level awakening required seven days and B-level thirty-three, while Level 3 Spiritual Roots holders like him wasted half that time just sensing energy, Mu Lin grasped the truth—A and B evaluations weren’t meant for those with Level 3 roots.

Or rather, not for impoverished Level 3 cultivators. Their only possible ranks were C or D.

The cruel reality drew a sigh from Mu Lin, but he refused resignation.

Post-cultivation, Mu Lin folded paper flowers and figures to hone his origami skills.

Half an incense stick later, feeling refreshed, he closed his eyes to meditate.

Having meditated once that morning, his Mind Image · City of Heaven’s Funeral had already reached Level 2 Proficiency (749/800).

One more session would push this cultivation method to Level 3.

Swords, spears, bow and arrow… coffin.

Following this sequence, the final visualization target became a dwelling.

Lacking mental strength for extravagance, Mu Lin imagined a plain house with a small courtyard—no flowers, trees, or furnishings. This hollow shell proved simple to construct.

Soon, the house materialized in his mind.

He let it crumble, then rebuilt it.

Time flowed as Mu Lin repeatedly visualized and collapsed the structure. Through endless cycles of creation and destruction, the house grew familiar, its visualization smoother—until mere thought conjured it instantly within his sea of consciousness.

Now only one step remained: solidification.

“Hum…”

After several more attempts, the house finally stabilized permanently in his mental realm. Henceforth, only active forgetting or soul damage could erase it.

With the house—his ninth construct—completed, Mind Image · City of Heaven’s Funeral’s second level achieved perfection.

A peculiar enlightenment welled from Mu Lin’s True Spirit: advancing to Level 3 required combining all nine visualized elements.

Though this secret stood recorded in the method’s texts, ordinary cultivators faced lengthy unification processes. For Mu Lin? Merely increasing his proficiency by 1 triggered automatic fusion.

“Boom!”

During meditation, Mu Lin clearly perceived the nine elements merging—swords, bow and arrow, armor, coffin—all flowing into the house’s framework. Their unification birthed wholeness, elevating Mind Image · City of Heaven’s Funeral to Level 3.

Before he could explore Level 3’s capabilities, unusual changes erupted in his sea of consciousness.

The unified structure trembled. Energy separated from the nine elements, coalescing into a luminous sphere at the house’s center. Mu Lin’s consciousness suddenly inhabited this glow.

“This is… my soul spirit!”

“Wait—soul spirit manifesting only occurs at full Qi Practitioner or Spring Fountain Realm! How…?”