Chapter 99

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Chapter 99: Thousand-Year Sui Mu Paper and 20-Fold Cultivation Speed

Mu Lin’s reasoning… did not completely persuade Yan Yunyu.

"I know passing the Fifth Floor of the Tower of Illusions is impossible with just the Awakened Realm—the Spring Fountain Realm would be better. But you have Level 3 Spiritual Roots! How can you match others’ training speed?"

Like everyone else, Yan Yunyu believed delaying would widen the gap between Mu Lin’s Cultivation and Ji Xue’s. The longer they waited, the weaker his advantage.

Yet Mu Lin insisted. With no alternatives, Yan Yunyu reluctantly agreed.

"His obsession with first place matches mine… he wouldn’t joke about this."

After negotiations, the two formed a partnership.

Yan Yunyu moved swiftly. Before classes ended, the thousand-year Sui Mu paper and a high-grade talisman brush arrived in Mu Lin’s hands.

Her resources couldn’t rival Chu Lingluo’s. While she supplied the Sui Mu paper, the talisman brush was merely a loan. Mu Lin accepted this—it sufficed for now.

He tested the Sui Mu paper first. The thousand-year version differed starkly from the hundred-year one. The latter felt slightly cold, but the former radiated a dense historical weight upon touch, accompanied by deathly, ominous energy.

"Good material. Using this for drawing might bring unexpected effects… Let’s make a paper figure first."

*Rustle…*

After folding, the Sui Mu paper took Mu Lin’s shape.

*Haa…*

A breath animated the paper figure. Transferring his consciousness to it, Mu Lin froze—the Substitute Paper Figure’s duration had extended drastically.

"The historical aura slows energy drain. If unmoving, it could last… a year."

Even during combat, the strange energy in the Sui Mu paper reduced consumption. Tests showed the thousand-year version used only one-ninth the energy of a normal paper figure.

Mu Lin inhaled sharply. "Such endurance… Is this time’s influence?"

Further examination brought disappointment. "Combat power only doubled despite the historical weight. Not the ninefold boost I hoped for."

As for Cultivation…

When the Substitute Paper Figure absorbed Moonlight Essence and Refined it into mana, the efficiency reached just 1.8 times normal. But upon reclaiming the mana, Mu Lin noticed something—the energy now carried a peculiar special force.

"This is… the strange power from the Sui Mu paper. Did the Substitute Paper Figure refine it into my mana?" Mu Lin wondered.

The energy was too faint for him to determine its exact nature.

Yet after absorbing it into his body, he instinctively felt this power would benefit him.

"A sixth sense warning? Or a Qi Practitioner’s intuition?"

Knowing such premonitions held truth for cultivators, Mu Lin temporarily set aside his questions after sensing potential advantages.

After studying the Sui Mu paper’s properties, he concluded:

"Time energy within this paper primarily extends paper figures’ active duration and reduces energy drain."

"Power amplification comes second, followed by cultivation boost effects."

"Currently, thousand-year Sui Mu paper provides 1.8x cultivation amplification. Since it only affects the Substitute Paper Figure clones, my total efficiency becomes: main body 4x (from Moonlight Dew) + six clones 16.2x (Moonlight Dew + Sui Mu paper) – totaling twenty times normal speed."

This training speed rivaled Level 1 Spiritual Roots practitioners, fueling Mu Lin’s confidence in reaching Spring Fountain Realm within a month.

He reaffirmed resources’ critical importance – while his Master Level Substitute Paper Figure contributed most to this progress, the Sui Mu paper and Moonlight Essence played vital supporting roles.

…

Leaving the paper figures to cultivate,

Mu Lin returned to the Taoist Palace training grounds.

Unlike before, he didn’t practice personally while his clones trained. Instead, he focused on studying the Vajra Strength talisman formation to enhance his paper warriors’ combat capabilities.

With the Southeast Province Dao Palace assessment approaching in a month, securing top five required every advantage he could muster.

…

Combining two talismans with intricate formations made Vajra Strength notoriously complex.

Ordinary practitioners grew dizzy merely examining its patterns, let alone replicating them.

But Mu Lin was no ordinary cultivator.

His master-level painting skills dissected the design effortlessly – analyzing lines, brushwork, color gradients, spatial relationships, and dimensional layers within moments.

Within breaths, he mastered the single-stroke technique required.

*Swish*

The first attempt failed predictably.

Second and third tries also stumbled, but from the fourth onward:

*Swish*

His talisman brush danced across White Paper with dragon-serpent fluidity, completing the Vajra Strength formation flawlessly.

The functional talisman’s immediate activation didn’t surprise him.

His earlier dedication to master-level calligraphy and painting hadn’t been mere hobbies – they’d been deliberate preparations for talisman craft.

"This proves the wisdom of honing one’s tools first," he mused.

These disciplines provided more than basic foundations – at Master Level, they transformed into potent advantages.

"Unbroken brushstrokes? Simple."

"Steady mana flow? My enhanced spiritual control handles that."

"Infusing Vajra’s indestructible essence? That’s the true challenge."

This final step defeated most practitioners despite countless attempts.

But Mu Lin’s mastery of "Intent Through Paper" technique rendered it trivial.

With such fundamentals, rapid success was inevitable – anything less would’ve been abnormal.