Chapter 412 - 390: A 10-Year Cause, Today’s Bountiful Fruit

[You have sold human desires—the gratitude, joy, and delight of a Righteous Qi Realm Painter, weighing five jin and six liang—and obtained the complete Qimen Taoist Skill, Spirit Mimicry Technique.]

’The gratitude, joy, and delight of a Righteous Qi Realm Painter...’

This all came from Aunt Wen!

Song Ciwan had previously sold an epiphany from Aunt Wen. It had weighed over five jin, and in exchange, she had obtained the Third Layer of the Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting.

Now that she was selling human desires again, Song Ciwan subconsciously assumed she would receive cultivation time in return.

But to her surprise, what she actually received was the Spirit Mimicry Technique!

’What is the Spirit Mimicry Technique?’

As she carefully read and savored the incantation that had mysteriously appeared in her mind, Song Ciwan finally understood. The Spirit Mimicry Technique was a form of magic used to simulate all kinds of Spiritual Objects in the world.

’What’s the use of simulating Spiritual Objects?’

For example, say you have a very precious Spirit Grass that you want to refine into an Elixir. You might worry about making a mistake and ruining the grass before the Elixir is complete.

That’s where the Spirit Mimicry Technique comes in.

It works by simulating the Spiritual Object to construct an Illusion Realm within a certain range. If one’s cultivation of this technique reaches a profound level, the Illusion Realm can produce not only a simulated Spirit Grass, but also a Pill Furnace, Pill Fire, Auxiliary Medicines—everything you need...

Within this Illusion Realm, the cultivator of the Spirit Mimicry Technique can then practice Alchemy through simulation.

You can practice ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times—until the Spirit Mimicry Technique can no longer be sustained, or until you have mastered the Elixir’s refinement process so completely that it’s second nature. Only then would you dispel the technique.

The Spirit Mimicry Technique wasn’t limited to Alchemy, either. It could also be used to simulate Artifact Refining, Drawing Talismans, and more.

If the Spirit Mimicry Technique had any downsides, they would be as follows: first, it is difficult to master; second, the simulated results may deviate from reality; and third, it not only consumes a vast amount of True Qi but also demands extremely precise control.

In short: difficult to learn, difficult to practice, difficult to use, and difficult to perfect!

’But so what?’

For Song Ciwan, who could trade for cultivation time, the Spirit Mimicry Technique was nothing short of the greatest Divine Technique in the world!

’It’s truly a Qimen Taoist Skill worthy of being traded for Aunt Wen’s human desires. It’s truly marvelous, truly exceptional, and it even seems to suit a Painter’s disposition.’

After memorizing the Spirit Mimicry Technique, Song Ciwan felt a sudden inspiration. She immediately operated the Heaven and Earth Scale to make another sale.

[You have sold the pious faith of a Righteous Qi Realm Painter—that all things have spirit and can be trusted—weighing three jin and six liang, and obtained the Divine Communication Technique, Painting Realm.]

Painting Realm: A touch of the brush grants spirit. A world in a square inch. The painting becomes a realm, and reality is revealed through illusion.

Note: The duration of the Painting Realm depends on your current Cultivation. Mastering this Divine Technique grants extremely strong control over all Magical Treasures of the Painting Dao.

This Divine Technique was marvelous, unparalleled, and wondrous!

Spreading her hand, Song Ciwan immediately took out the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map, which had been suppressed in her Vast Sea Grotto Heaven.

Living beings resided within this map, and among them, one named Princess Chunshui had once caused a great disaster in Pinglan City.

Princess Chunshui had killed many who deserved to die, but she had also killed many who did not. She was so suffused with Malice and Demonic Qi that if Song Ciwan were a judge, she would have had no choice but to sentence her to death.

While Princess Chunshui’s circumstances may have been pitiable, if one were to truly pity her, then what of the innocent people who had been caught up in the disaster and killed?

’Some beings deserve pity; others do not.’

Song Ciwan had kept the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map suppressed for over a decade. Looking at it now, the ten beauties within the painting were still there. However, one of them had lost all her color and facial features, leaving behind only the simple line-drawn silhouette of a beautiful woman.

At some point, the malevolent spirit of Princess Chunshui had completely dissipated.

Song Ciwan performed the Great Derivation Birth Skill. A quick divination by pinching her fingers revealed the cause. She immediately understood: Princess Chunshui’s malevolent spirit had been absorbed and digested by the drop of Heavy Water floating above her Vast Sea Grotto Heaven!

This malevolent spirit had never been a complete being. Instead, it was an amalgamation of the immense Resentment and sinister energies from Bright Moon Square. These energies had combined with the Quasi-Spiritual Artifact, the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map, giving subtle birth to the evil Princess Chunshui.

Now that Princess Chunshui was gone, the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map had reverted from a Quasi-Spiritual Artifact to a Top Grade Magical Treasure.

After a decade of suppression, the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map had been downgraded. It no longer possessed the astonishing spirituality it once had, when it was on the verge of becoming a Spiritual Artifact at any moment.

However, the map’s fundamental essence remained. After a moment of thought, Song Ciwan placed the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map directly onto the Heaven and Earth Scale. She then rummaged through her inventory and added a large pile of other items, even making the extravagant gesture of including thirty Primordial Longevity Pearls!

’Let’s see what a Top Grade Magical Treasure plus some Primordial Longevity Pearls can get me.’

[You have sold the Top Grade Magical Treasure, the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map; thirty Primordial Longevity Pearls; the remains of several General Spirit and Slaughter Spirit Level Demon Spirits; and various other materials. In exchange, you have obtained the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact: the Demon Slaying and Demon Suppression Map.]

Another Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact!

Song Ciwan sank her consciousness into the space of the Heaven and Earth Scale’s Balance Plate. Her gaze shifted, and in an instant, she was completely captivated by the Treasure Map resting on the Balance Plate.

The Demon Slaying and Demon Suppression Map, at this moment, was still a blank scroll.

But though it appeared blank, it exuded a terrifying aura as vast as the Abyss. The endless white was not mere emptiness, but a twisted cage containing countless bizarre vortexes.

These cages were invisible upon the long scroll, their bars spread wide, like ancient Fierce Beasts opening their gaping maws.

They lay in wait, ready to instantly imprison any Demon Fiend’s Soul Body that dared to enter.

So the Demon Slaying and Demon Suppression Map was a malevolent Spiritual Artifact, one that could capture and suppress Demon Fiends, then compel them to serve its master!

Song Ciwan’s Dantian was brimming with True Qi. Her Cultivation was now countless times stronger than when she had first performed the Refinement of the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death. Bracing herself, she quickly retrieved the Demon Slaying and Demon Suppression Map from the Heaven and Earth Scale.

Binding it with her blood, refining it with True Qi, and imprinting it with her Divine Soul...

With the grace of flowing water, Song Ciwan completed two of the three steps in an instant.

Binding it with her blood and imprinting it with her Divine Soul posed no problem.

The True Qi Refinement, however, was not so quick. Song Ciwan presented the Treasure Map, channeling her True Qi while simultaneously releasing her Samadhi True Fire to aid the process!

The night passed in a flash. By the next day, Song Ciwan recalled the fully refined Demon Slaying and Demon Suppression Map to her Dantian.

She rose to her feet. With a slight shimmer, she instantly transformed into an unremarkable Male Cultivator.

Changing her face and build wasn’t enough; Song Ciwan also changed her entire set of clothes, from the inside out.

After altering her aura, this strange Male Cultivator bore no outward resemblance to the real Song Ciwan.

Song Ciwan took a step through the Void, instantly leaving the Han Guang Glaze Residence. She put away her portable mansion and took another Void step, this time emerging from her grotto-abode onto the slopes of Cyan Feather Mountain.

Song Ciwan openly departed Cyan Feather Mountain and headed to a street in Guangling City that specialized in selling Spiritual Materials. There, she purchased one set each of basic beginner- and intermediate-level materials for Alchemy, Talisman Making, and Artifact Refining.

Then, carrying her new batch of materials, Song Ciwan used Void Shifting once more to return to her grotto-abode on Cyan Feather Mountain.