A Night of Desperation

Chapter 315: Reputation 3

Cheng Shu did not refuse such inquiries. Wild Mages like the other party are actually the most numerous in the circle.

They are the lowest layer here, with numerous members, many of whom are ordinary people who have a crude understanding of the mysterious, having come into it by luck. Some have gained their skills through self-study, slowly accumulating inherited knowledge.

The number of Wild Mages far exceeds that of the regular army, and a large part of the reason for this is their classification.

In fact, as long as one knows a simple secret technique, they can be considered a Wild Mage.

Such a crude classification naturally results in a huge number.

Recently, Cheng Shu has been coordinating with officials to investigate members of the Seven Evil Alliance and incidentally clarified the number in the Wild Mage circle of Taizhou.

Just in Taizhou alone, there are over a hundred Wild Mages.

Most of them practice professions like fortune telling, Wizards, Witch, and Feng Shui Masters. Few keep their magic hidden, living comfortably within society through their abilities.

This bar is one that Wild Mages particularly favor because the powerful soundproofing is the result of special Techniques mastered by the bar owner, offering excellent secrecy.

"Are there any masters?" Cheng Shu couldn’t help but think of someone. That person should be considered a decent pillar in today’s Taizhou, right?

"The masters mainly include the Mud Doll Sect’s Primordial Embryo Seven, Copper Soldiers, Iron Soldiers. Go back and check the official wanted list; it has photos."

She paused, then continued.

"From our Taoist Sect, Qingchen Temple primarily, Dao Seeds Zheng Ying, Zheng Ming, and Zheng Rou, all are quite skilled masters."

"As for the official Magicians.... Sister Cheng Shu definitely has a place!" He Yuchong complimented her with a smile.

"Heh." Cheng Shu shook her head, nobody would be pleased to be exploited or risk their life in dangerous missions.

"I’m nothing special, there are two master Magicians officially; Red Snake and Headless Sword, you better run far if you encounter them. Both have a very bad temper."

"Got it, we’ll go back and print the photos right away!"

The siblings, having gotten the information, happily paid and left.

Cheng Shu sat alone in her original spot, with tranquility restored around her, sipping her drink while overhearing others nearby discussing the current masters of Taizhou.

There was talk of Zheng Ying single-handedly defeating a Copper Soldier within a minute.

And there were tales of Zheng Hong fleeing from battle, tripping halfway, and becoming a laughingstock.

There was also discussion about the Red Snake’s utter cruelty, tearing a disciple of the Mud Doll Sect to dozens of pieces on the spot.

And even, she heard talks of Zheng Rou squarely defeating an Illusion Soldier.

She picked up her drink and took another light sip.

It was then that she somewhat felt that Yu Hong, that fellow, seemed to have truly made a name for himself in one battle.

From an ordinary Dao Seed of Qingchen Temple, he had leaped to a small fame.

Here in Taizhou, he was now a notable figure.

*

*

*

Days later...

Yu Hong returned to his own residence, bringing back a complete tome on how to make talismans.

He had long been enamored with the various talismans that performed well in real battles.

Now, he had finally grinded his way to owning it.

And coincidentally, the Black Mark enhancement was also approaching its final phase.

The fusion of two Cultivation Techniques and reducing side effects, what it would turn out to be in the end, Yu Hong was quite looking forward.

In the quiet of the night.

In the courtyard, he walked to the center backhands, his fingers twitching slightly.

Instantly, a Dragon Lizard flashed in the shadows, scouting for any possible trouble around.

Before long, with the Dragon Lizard confirming that everything was fine, Yu Hong calmed down, sat cross-legged, and began actively engaging in Tao Breath Circulation practice.

The progress of Guanwu Jade Spirit Skill was accelerating. It almost reached the stage to condense a new Fear Shadow.

’Estimate it will be these few days... After condensing and shattering it, I can begin the Seventh Layer.’

The Seventh Layer, this is a rather special stage because, in the entire Qingchen Temple’s cultivation, the Seventh Layer is the highest level many teachers can attain.

This level of Daoist Skills would enter a new phase, while the state and realm would also become more refined, causing a significant increase in Technique boosting.

However, likewise, the Seventh Layer is extremely unstable, teachers within the temple who have reached this layer have mostly degenerated.

Only one Taoist from the Yu Generation who was expelled years ago continued to maintain this pure realm and is now missing.

’Generally breaking through to the Seventh Layer signifies the peak of Qingchen Temple; from this step forward, there’s no retreat, otherwise, if one ever regresses, they will never advance further. The Fear Shadow of the Seventh Layer will forever lock one’s Daoist Skills.’

Yu Hong pondered with open eyes.

Just a few months near the highest realm record of Qingchen Temple, he couldn’t help but feel that the Cultivation Techniques here were quite insistent on the supremacy of the mind.

As long as the spirit can keep up, the rise in Daoist Skills is rapid.

Just grasping a bit of the Seventh Layer, maintaining the Sixth Layer cultivation and reciting the scriptures.

Around 2 a.m., the countdown ended.

Suddenly, Yu Hong’s body trembled.

He keenly felt changes in the Daoist Skills and Cosmic Divine Light in his whole body.

All Daoist Skills’ breaths and Cosmic Divine Light, including the part that merged into Inner Strength, were perfectly stripped away and mixed together.

The entire stripping process took less than two seconds.

Then came the fusion.

All powers merged together to form a new silver-blue energy mass.

The energy mass hovered in the center of Yu Hong’s chest and abdomen for a while before slowly dispersing, with part going back in between the temples, replacing the previous Daoist breath position.

Another part dispersed throughout the body, replacing Cosmic Divine Light to continue strengthening the body.

And another part merged back into Inner Strength.

These three were neatly divided.

Snap.

Suddenly, an A4 sheet appeared on the ground in front of Yu Hong, not knowing when it had fallen, with a large print of clear text on it.

He picked it up to see, the first line was about the fusion Cultivation Technique.

’Fusion successful, new technique automatically named Taiyuan Guanwu Jade Spirit Skill.’

"Quite straightforward..."

Yu Hong was speechless and continued reading.

’The technique is divided into nine layers, this fusion enhancement:

1. Completes the flaw that the spirituality of Taiyuan True Method is easily corrupted and twisted.

2. Completes the flaw that Guanwu Jade Spirit Skill only cultivates spiritual will.

3. Corrects the partial erosion flaws of Cosmic Divine Light on the body’s will, altered to visualize Light Disaster as the ultimate Fear Shadow image.

4. Enhances the cultivator’s resistance to portions of Cosmic Divine Light erosion.

5. Repairs the potential defect of higher-level Fear Shadow backlash.’

’Warning 1: The nature of Cosmic Divine Light, which erodes and corrupts all things, is primarily to preserve and eternalize individual entities, and spiritual will be absorbed into the Ultimate Sun as nutrients. This nature overlaps with the nature of evolution and cannot be completely eliminated, only offset. The offsetting source comes from two other types of Source Disasters: Spirit Disaster and Wind Disaster.’

’Warning 2: Due to the integration of part of the Infinite Demon Palace’s techniques and the unique aspects of Guanwu Skill in Guanwu Jade Spirit Skill, involving two different Source Disasters, namely Spirit Disaster and Wind Disaster. To offset the pulling force of Ultimate Sun, these two are introduced; be cautious during cultivation to absorb corresponding particles to avoid triggering the respective Source Disasters.’

"..."

Yu Hong felt numb reading up to this point.

He just wanted to eliminate some side effects of the two techniques, but the result... turned out like this??

’So, the side effect of Ultimate Sun can only be offset by the power of other Source Disasters?’

He understood the implication of Black Mark.

The function of this technique is to fuse the powers of all major Source Disasters, allowing them to mutually restrain and oppose each other, thus forming a special balance.

’If this balance fails... does that mean the corresponding Source Disaster will erupt??’ Yu Hong was speechless, but he believed Black Mark wouldn’t be that detrimental.

At least since he awakened Black Mark, he has never encountered a case of being harmed by Black Mark.

He continued reading.

This technique, briefly called Tai Ling Skill, has a very simple structure.

It’s simply using Taiyuan True Method as the main body, with Guanwu Jade Spirit Skill as a supplement, simply merged together with only minor adjustments made to some key parts.

Essentially the framework hasn’t changed from before, the only major change is with Fear Shadow.

The Fear Shadow of Tai Ling Skill, due to the contamination by Cosmic Divine Light, when summoned, according to the directions, is no longer purely a spirit will’s illusion but can freely switch between illusion and entity.

And because of the infinite essence of Cosmic Divine Light, once Fear Shadow is summoned, it naturally possesses an Undying Body, no matter how many times it is killed, it can quickly recover.

Only by defeating its spiritual core can it be thoroughly defeated.

And each Fear Shadow’s spiritual core is actually the fear emotion that once arose in Yu Hong’s heart.

’This change isn’t significant, against magicians, getting killed is still the same as not, what improved is its real-world interaction and physical disruption. Fear Shadow’s real-world destructive ability has increased a lot.’

Yu Hong understood in his mind.

If the Daoist Skills in this world mostly focus on the spiritual will, then this improved Tai Ling Skill has covered this weakness, allowing it also to interact with reality.

He continued reading further.

The subsequent changes focused on eliminating the instability of realms, such as the degradation of the Seventh Layer of Guanwu Skill, Taiyuan True Method needing to periodically retrieve Cosmic Divine Light, and other such drawbacks.

Tai Ling Skill not only has no instability of realms but also can condense a constantly emerging Cosmic Divine Light Well within the body in the later stages of practice. This is akin to a miniaturized mobile Ultimate Gate.

Of course, apart from the Light Well, Spirit Well and Wind Well are also needed later.

Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief knowing all the modifications to the technique.

’Why does it feel like it became more dangerous after the changes...’

He flipped the A4 paper, and the back was densely filled with lots of black tiny characters, these characters like fine sand, each only the size of a rice grain. Mixed among them were slowly crawling visualization images.

These images, crawling slowly among the sandy characters, gave off an impression of profound emptiness as if their bodies weren’t just patterns but were gaping holes connected to unknown depths.

Yu Hong started reading earnestly from the first line.

Hiss.

Suddenly, all the characters and images on the paper, like insects, quickly climbed up along his fingers, passed over the back of his hand, and burrowed into his sleeve.

In no time, all the text and images on the paper entered through Yu Hong’s mouth, nose, and ears.

Seconds later, the paper turned completely blank, no text to be seen.