Chapter 436

Chapter 436: The Power of Gazing at the Heavens and the Shortcut to Controlling the Black River Water

While studying Root Words, Mu Lin eventually grasped the Gazing at the Heavens trait. This outcome didn’t shock him.

He wasn’t a child mindlessly memorizing facts. When observing the stone tablet and contemplating Root Words, Mu Lin focused on unraveling their deeper meanings. Using his Grandmaster-level painting and calligraphy skills as a foundation, he concluded that Root Words were traces of the Way of Heaven and the world’s underlying patterns.

"All things in existence are represented by Root Words. My goal isn’t to learn a single character but to observe these words within the world’s countless phenomena…"

"To understand, learn, and master them, I must first *see*—see the heavens, the people, and their roots…"

This was Mu Lin’s realization. His Grandmaster-level painting had already gifted him an artist’s eye for beauty. Painting relies on aesthetics and observation; only by truly seeing or envisioning could Mu Lin create stunning, soul-stirring works. A Grandmaster painter’s unique perspective formed the bedrock of Gazing at the Heavens. His Grandmaster-level calligraphy then let him translate what he saw into written form.

Of course, the Attribute Panel helped a little.

"No—it wasn’t just the panel. My eyes evolved multiple times, which also contributed."

Upon reflection, Mu Lin realized how extraordinary his eyes had become.

First, his transformation into Zhu Long granted his eyes the power to shift between light and darkness. Second, he could channel the Life and Death Illusion of the Other Shore Flower sea through his gaze. The King of Hell’s authority allowed him to perceive sins and lifespans. Through his dominion over Chongming Bird, he gained X-ray vision, telescopic sight, and the ability to observe microscopic realms.

Combined, these powers—yin and yang shifts, Life and Death Illusions, and universal observation—merged within his eyes. With such foundations, gaining Gazing at the Heavens was inevitable.

…

After reviewing how he acquired this trait, Mu Lin felt profound satisfaction. Gazing at the Heavens let him observe all worldly phenomena, deduce their essences, and define them through words.

Now, in the Underworld as the King of Hell, Mu Lin summoned a handful of Sin Salt. Activating transcendence and enhancing his sight with Communicating with Spirits, his aura turned majestic, his eyes cold and imposing like the heavens themselves. They pierced through all illusions.

As he stared at the Sin Salt… salt grains, like tears, fell from his eyes. The forbidden power had tainted his vision.

Mu Lin was strong, but forbidden power lived up to its name. Few could observe its origins unscathed. Staring into the abyss invites the abyss to stare back.

Thankfully, Mu Lin had anticipated this danger. He was prepared.

"Buzz!"

As the power of Sin Salt eroded Mu Lin’s eyes and turned them into salt grains, a hardworking Substitute Paper Figure in the paper figure workshop suddenly froze mid-movement after months of labor.

Its stiff body began turning into a Pillar of Salt.

Mu Lin had shifted all damage he suffered onto the Substitute Paper Figure.

This worked well – as injuries transferred, Mu Lin’s own condition stabilized.

Now he could keep using his Gazing at the Heavens ability.

After staring intently for so long, the scene before his eyes changed.

Though still looking at salt grains, he now saw a barren salt flat.

"Is this the forbidden place?"

As he wondered, the vision shifted again – the salt flat began shrinking.

This wasn’t Mu Lin’s doing, but rather him seeing the salt’s history. The actual salt flat was disappearing in his vision.

"Contains time power… makes sense. My Root Word Fixing and Communicating with Ancestral Souls both touch on time."

"When I learned Gazing at the Heavens, I blended these time insights into it…"

The vision changed once more.

The thousand-mile salt flat shrank to a handful of grains.

Then these grains shot upward into the outer realm.

Mu Lin understood – this was time flowing backward.

In reality, the salt had fallen from beyond and spread outward.

But past truths didn’t concern present Mu Lin.

What worried him was sixty-three paper figures already turned to Pillars of Salt during his observation.

Keeping Gazing at the Heavens active also drained huge amounts of magic.

Normally, he’d stop here.

But Mu Lin stubbornly continued.

He had resources to spare.

"I’ve got three to five hundred paper figures! Losing sixty-three means nothing!"

"Magic? The Agricultural and Martial Corps’ spiritual veins are mine! This much magic should reveal your secrets!"

He poured even more magic into the effort.

The surge of power showed Sin Salt’s true nature clearer – he saw it flying through worlds.

When 180 Substitute Paper Figures became salt pillars, Mu Lin finally saw Sin Salt’s origin.

A world much like his own, filled with disasters and evil ghosts.

There, salt became sacred through faith, worship lasting thousands of years, and the laws of heaven and earth.

This world’s salt truly held miraculous power.

Through sprinkling salt, the humans of that world could drive away evil ghosts, purify impurities from their bodies, and cleanse polluted areas.

With Holy Salt, they blocked repeated attacks from evil ghosts, shielding their world from calamity.

Yet ultimately, that world still fell.

Ironically, its downfall came not from monsters and evil spirits, but from humanity itself.

Some rulers craved immortality, while powerful beings sought godhood… their greed sparked internal strife.

To make the heavenly path lift restrictions and release more source energy, many powerful beings allowed evil gods to invade their world or actively betrayed their kind.

—When a world faces crisis, the heavenly path instinctively expends source power to birth prodigies or treasures, explaining why golden eras often precede calamities.

This was the world’s self-preservation. But in Holy Salt’s world, humans exploited this mechanism, relentlessly draining the world’s source to fuel their ambitions.

They overreached. With the source depleted, the world could no longer suppress the evil spirits’ corrupting power.

Devoid of this protective force, countless calamities and evil gods easily tainted their world.

As destruction loomed, powerful beings might escape, but ordinary people could only beg Holy Salt for protection.

Yet Holy Salt, though miraculous, wasn’t omnipotent.

In a fully corrupted world, it couldn’t save everyone. Mass deaths twisted people’s worship into bitter hatred.

They hated Holy Salt’s failure to rescue them.

They hated the monsters and evil spirits that slaughtered them.

Most of all, they hated the powerful beings who bled their world dry.

This tsunami of hatred merged with the heavenly path’s death throes, transforming Holy Salt into Sin Salt—a cinder of annihilation infused with a world’s collective fury, now manifesting as forbidden power.

From then on, Holy Salt vanished. Only Sin Salt remained, eroding, polluting, and assimilating everything.

…

The historical vision stirred deep emotions in Mu Lin, sounding a dire warning.

“Never let our world meet this fate. Those who drain the world’s source for personal gain must die!”

Resolved, Mu Lin stared intently at Sin Salt.

Understanding its evolution revealed Sin Salt’s connections. Through these threads, Mu Lin grasped Holy Salt’s true nature.

Using his calligraphy and painting skills, he gathered Sin Salt’s pathways, weaving them with the world’s textures—traces of the path—to form a Root Word.

The word was “Purify!”

A symbol with absolute cleansing power.

Normally, Mu Lin’s Gazing at the Heavens ability only permitted observation of world textures and path traces, not control.

Mastering the Root Word—Purify required gradual comprehension through study.

But where Gazing at the Heavens fell short, willing heart fire prevailed.

Seeing the character formed by countless patterns, Mu Lin’s will became flames engulfing it.

“Boom!”

“Refine!”

Though both Root Word and willing heart fire were ethereal, Mu Lin forcefully refined Purify.

“Hum!”

Imprinting Purify onto the True Spirit Domain Chart fused Sin Salt irrevocably with Mu Lin.

He couldn’t suppress his grin.

“Hahaha…”

His joy stemmed not just from refining Holy Salt, but discovering a shortcut to control black river and other forbidden powers.

“Black river dissolves all. Before, controlling it cost me clones each time.

Without my mark, enemies could turn black river water against me during battles.

Given its dangers, brute-force mastery seemed impossible.

Now everything changes. Using Gazing at the Heavens to perceive black river’s origin and forge its path traces into a word—refining that character grants full control.”

True names hold power.

Western sorcerers command demons by knowing their true names. Summoners bind beasts and artifacts through named pacts.

Now Mu Lin’s Gazing at the Heavens lets him dominate forbidden powers’ origins via their true names.