Chapter 79
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Chapter 79: True Meaning Artist
Upon realizing this, Mu Lin was stunned.
At that moment, he still had some doubts. But when he told Chu Lingluo about it and asked if it was true, her answer confirmed everything.
"Brother Mu, didn’t you know? The pinnacle of painting is the True Meaning Diagram. I thought you chose this path aiming for that!"
"I… well, you know my humble background. I lack deep cultivation knowledge. My love for writing and painting is just pure enjoyment."
Learning Mu Lin’s lack of cultivation understanding, Chu Lingluo poured out all she knew—including hidden truths about True Meaning Artists.
Mu Lin then realized becoming a True Meaning Artist required more than just great painting skills. Crafting immersive True Meaning Diagrams drained one’s spirit. Powerful diagrams might take months or years to complete. Some artists even died from exhaustion after finishing formidable works.
Observing and resonating with the essence of powerful beings also proved difficult. Mu Lin experienced this firsthand. When visualizing high-grade magic items, his mind felt overloaded—like a weak computer struggling with massive files.
Notably, Mu Lin’s spirit cultivation wasn’t low. Otherwise, he couldn’t have visualized such items.
"My current spirit cultivation should’ve reached the Spirit Pool Realm."
Indeed, his spirit cultivation now resided in the Spirit Pool Realm among A-level cultivators, no longer the Spring Fountain level from his early City of Heaven’s Funeral training.
—
While practicing City of Heaven’s Funeral, creations in his Mind Image world multiplied. These acted as pillars expanding his sea of consciousness, strengthening his soul power continuously.
Since Mu Lin cultivated multiple soul methods, his Spirit Pool Realm progress wasn’t beginner-level but nearing completion. The Heart Lamp of Will’s constant clash with Burial Power honed its proficiency rapidly, boosting his spirit cultivation.
Moreover, reaching Master Level in painting, origami, and calligraphy flooded him with insights, further enhancing his soul. This caused his spirit cultivation and magical cultivation to mismatch severely.
"My magical cultivation remains at drawing in energy, yet my spirit has reached Spirit Pool. Among Qi Practitioners, this must be unique."
As Mu Lin sighed wryly, Chu Lingluo explained True Meaning Diagram taboos.
Horrified, Mu Lin learned True Meaning Artists faced extreme risks—stronger artists invited greater dangers.
Powerful Qi Practitioners, monsters, and forbidden entities could sense being observed. They could invade minds through mere thoughts. While benign beings caused no harm, evil spirits relished corrupting souls or seizing bodies.
Even passive forbidden entities could taint artists through mental connections, driving them mad.
"Always be careful when visualizing, Brother Mu. Avoid forbidden places. Soul Resonance helps artists but also brings calamity. Every year, some go mad after encountering horrors."
"You’ve heard of this year’s Night Fire Lantern Chaos, right?"
This revelation caused Mu Lin’s pupils to sharply contract.
“Wait, is the Night Fire Lantern connected to the True Meaning Artist?”
Unaware of Mu Lin’s reaction, Chu Lingluo nodded and explained:
“Yes. My mother said the Night Fire Lantern chaos began when a True Meaning Artist visualized the Ancient Fire Hell during meditation. That place holds eternal forbidden flames. Though she only glimpsed it from afar, she saw a vision of an entire nation burning.”
“The scene overwhelmed her mind. She became convinced it represented ultimate beauty. Afterwards, she obsessively tried to bring the Ancient Fire Hell into our world – wanting to burn cities and nations to recreate that fiery destruction.”
“Luckily, she lacked the power to do this directly.”
“The Night Fire Lantern is both a creature from that hell and the True Meaning Diagram she painted. She then sacrificed her vital blood and soul to temporarily turn the phantom lantern real… or rather, she transformed herself into the Night Fire Lantern demon.”
“Her mad plan was for the demon to first burn away people’s memories and souls in an area. Absorbing these would let her grow stronger and summon more evils from the Ancient Fire Hell.”
“You know the rest – the Demon Exorcism Division eventually crushed the Night Fire Lantern chaos.”
“……”
Mu Lin nearly confessed he hadn’t just heard about it, but lived through it. He stayed silent to avoid worrying Chu Lingluo, though the story dampened his reckless impulses.
He even considered pausing his soul cultivation methods.
“Soul Resonance plus extraordinary spiritual power? That’s basically the ‘Insight’ from Cthulhu myths!”
High Insight wasn’t inherently bad. But in a world brimming with taboos and horrors, excessive Insight meant mortal danger.
“…Better let things develop naturally. I’ll focus mainly on boosting my magic power from now on.”
……
After realizing his True Meaning Artist potential, Mu Lin divided his time between cultivation and painting.
Yes, forbidden entities could corrupt artists – but abandoning cultivation due to fear of madness made no sense. Besides, corruption mainly threatened advanced artists. For beginners like him, careful practice brought more benefits than risks.
The biggest advantage? True Meaning Artists could earn Spirit Stones!
This wasn’t about nobles buying art for pleasure. Cultivators needed True Meaning Diagrams to accelerate their training. As long as Mu Lin could paint these diagrams, selling them would be easy.
……
