Chapter 22

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Chapter 22: Spell Backlash

"Puff"

Wang Yu’s fingers trembled slightly, and a wisp of white mist burst from his palm. It formed and lingered, floating softly in the air ahead, as if it had no weight at all.

Curiously, he poked the white mist with a finger. It felt cold, but it was not unbearable.

When he pulled back his finger to look closely, he noticed a tiny bit of frost left on the tip.

At that moment, the white mist slowly faded and disappeared completely after a few breaths.

Is this the power of the second layer of the Yin Water Skill?

Wang Yu felt greatly disappointed.

After calming down a bit, he took out a small gray pouch that he had hidden close to him. It was the thing that seemed like a storage bag from the City Lord of Yellow Stone City.

The Lord of Yellow Stone City, being the ruler of the city, found nothing but a damaged small shield and an indestructible glove after his death. Not a single spirit stone was found.

If this truly is a storage bag, then without a doubt, the valuable items must be inside.

His magical power has "greatly increased", so he must try again.

Wang Yu held the cloth bag in one hand and used his divine sense to focus on the opening of the bag. He slowly poured his magical power into it through his fingers, carefully watching for any changes.

As his magical power was gently infused into the bag, a faint unknown white light began to shimmer from the previously still bag.

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow and increased the speed of his magical power infusion. In a moment, when only a little magical power remained in his body, the tightly sealed opening of the bag slowly loosened.

He was overjoyed and poured all his remaining magical power into the bag while also using his divine sense to peek inside. He saw a small pile of shiny spirit stones, two green boxes, and a book-like item.

Before Wang Yu could see clearly, the last bit of his magical power was exhausted. After a slight tremble, the storage bag’s opening suddenly shrank back and locked tightly again.

His divine sense was instantly pulled back, and he had no time to take out anything. Was his current magical power really not enough to open the bag?

Wang Yu sighed, set the storage bag aside, and sat down cross-legged to slowly restore his depleted magical energy.

Around noon, when Wang Yu felt his magical energy was nearly restored, he tried to open the storage bag again. However, he could still only open it halfway and was unable to truly take anything out from inside.

So, he had no choice but to put the storage bag away once more and wait until he reached the third level of the Yin Water Skill to try again.

By evening, Wang Yu, having restored his magical energy, walked out of the stone house, went to an open area outside, took out the silver folding fan, and began to infuse it with magic, slowly opening its surface.

The uneven Spirit Patterns on the fan surface seemed to awaken, stirring with energy, while the surface gradually shone with dazzling light.

This is exciting!

Wang Yu’s eyes sparkled as he firmly gripped the handle of the fan with both hands and swung it forcefully at the empty space in front of him, causing his magic to surge out suddenly.

"Whoosh"

A wild, yellow wind burst forth from the fan’s surface, instantly raising dust and debris within several yards, continuing for three breaths before slowly dissipating.

Sure enough, the Yin Water Skill at the second level could use this ‘Dark Wind Fan.’ However, the magical tool consumes too much energy; just one use nearly drained half of his power. It seems he can only use it in crucial moments.

As he gently stroked the Spirit Pattern on the fan, he thought about returning to the room, where he took out the book "Introduction to Spells" and the red beast skin.

Now that he had reached the second level of Qi Refining Stage, he could finally learn magic tricks for real.

Wang Yu sat on the bed, carefully read "Introduction to Spells" again, set it aside, and then spread the red beast skin in his hand, using his divine sense to scan it.

From the beast skin, five red Spirit Pattern Symbols formed a clear Spell Pattern, each glowing bright red like fire, which recorded the magic trick ‘Firefly.’

He had already understood all the Spirit Pattern Symbols of this spell with the help of super frequency power earlier; the next step was to meditate on the ‘Spell Imprint’ in the divine sense sea and resonate it with his inner energy to cast the related spell.

According to "Introduction to Spells," even the simplest Spell Imprint is not something a Qi Refining Stage cultivator can easily meditate on; it is normal for beginners to fail dozens or even hundreds of times. Luckily, the book recorded several hand signs and a general incantation for meditating the Spell Imprint.

The book clearly states that meditation is merely the process of using hand signs and the power of incantations to imagine the Spell Spirit Pattern out of thin air in the divine sense sea.

This process has a very low tolerance for mistakes, requiring cultivators to constantly use their divine sense to make adjustments. Each ‘stroke’ consumes a lot of mental energy, making it very difficult to successfully form the Spell Imprint.

An unfinished Spell Imprint can only handle a limited number of changes. If it is changed too much, the unfinished Spell Imprint may break apart, which could shock the cultivator’s divine sense sea.

Fortunately, the "Firefly" is just a beginner magic trick, so the Spell Backlash is very light, and there is not much to worry about.

Wang Yu is very curious about imagining things in his "head."

In the book "Introduction to Spells," this matter is described lightly, as if all cultivators can do it, but as a university student influenced by modern materialist theories, he still feels somewhat doubtful.

After Wang Yu memorized the shapes and arrangements of the five red Spirit Patterns, he practiced the hand signs and incantations before he began to clasp his hands, softly reciting the spell, and trying to imagine the Spell Spirit Pattern.

With his eyes closed, he seemed still on the bed, but as the stuttering sounds of the spell came, he felt his mental energy becoming more active and easier to control.

A magical scene appeared!

In his divine sense sea, a red light dot suddenly appeared. Over time, the dot slowly stretched and turned into a thin line, twisting and weaving little by little, gradually outlining the general shape of a Spirit Pattern Symbol, but it kept changing and adjusting.

Even though Wang Yu was fully focused, he still felt flustered trying to imagine the Spell Pattern while needing to multitask with the hand signs and incantation, occasionally making mistakes.

Even worse, his once easily mobilized mental power became heavy like sinking in deep water after the initial formation of the Spirit Pattern Symbol. Each time he tried to use it was very tiring, and the Spirit Pattern he formed always had various errors, needing constant revisions.

As a result, a red Spirit Pattern Symbol was only two-thirds done in the divine sense sea when it suddenly collapsed due to too many changes.

"Boom"

Wang Yu felt as if his head had been struck by a heavy hammer. A sharp pain shot through him, and he couldn’t help but open his eyes. He curled up in bed, holding his head, grimacing for a long time before his face turned pale and he slowly calmed down.

"Introduction to Spells" made the failure of the Spell Imprint sound easy, but this Spell Backlash was not a common pain. It was a deep agony that felt as if it could leave a mark on his spirit, and he really did not want to experience it a second time so soon.

Moreover, this backlash not only left his mental power a bit disordered, but also inexplicably caused part of his internal magic to vanish.

Wang Yu pondered for a moment and suddenly realized.

The "Spell Imprint" indeed did not come from nowhere; it required the use of magic power. It must be a product of the combination of mental power and magic, which fits with his understanding.

After sitting quietly to rest for a long time, he regained stable mental power and quietly whispered "overclock," then began to form the hand gestures and recite the spell again.

The five senses began to magnify, and everything in front of him started to move slowly, as his mind entered a wonderful state.

In the high-speed synchronization, Wang Yu felt as if he transformed into a high-precision machine, with his consciousness as the blueprint, magic as the power source, and mental strength as the raw materials. In the divine sense sea, he began ultra-high-precision manufacturing. With the help of hand gestures and spells, the manufacturing process flowed smoothly as if practiced a thousand times, without any hiccups or mistakes, and there were no adjustments or changes needed.

A bright red Spirit Pattern Symbol quickly took shape in the divine sense sea, as if it was printed out perfectly, exactly the same as the Spell Pattern on the beast skin.

But why was this terrifying mental energy consumption happening? It was more than ten times faster than before, pouring out like a flood.

Oh no!

Stop quickly!

"Exit high-speed synchronization."

Wang Yu was shocked and immediately stopped the hand gestures, his voice of the spell abruptly halted, and he instantly exited the high-speed synchronization. The Spirit Pattern Symbol that was mostly completed in his mind scattered apart in a flash.

He once again suffered a Spell Backlash, his face filled with a mix of shock and anger.

In just this moment, most of his mental energy suddenly vanished, leaving only about one-third.

By the time Wang Yu endured the pain from the backlash and sat down to practice Breathing Exercises to recover his mental energy, it was already evening.

Undeterred, he once again entered overclocking synchronization mode and found that as long as he did not try to form a Spell Imprint, his mental energy remained normal. However, when he carefully tried to form the Spell Imprint, the same scene occurred.

His mental energy terrifyingly slipped away again, and the Spell Imprint formation failed once more.

After suffering from the torment of the Spell Backlash again, Wang Yu completely gave up.

Although he did not understand what was happening, why the overclocking synchronization led to such strange events, he temporarily abandoned the idea of using the auxiliary system and decided to honestly form the Spell Imprint in a regular way.

Seven days later, Wang Yu sat cross-legged on his bed, looking at the complete Spell Imprint floating in the sea of divine sense, feeling a deep sadness in his heart.

During this time, going through the Spell Backlash as many as thirty or forty times helped him realize that his talent in magic was quite ordinary and he was not some so-called genius.

But now, no matter what, he could finally cast the first spell of his life.

"Firefly"

Wang Yu whispered softly, raising a finger in front of him. With a thought, he connected to the Spell Imprint in his sea of divine sense.

As soon as the Spell Imprint touched his thought, it began to flicker gently in resonance.

With a "pop,"

A small red flame appeared at his fingertip, about three inches high.