Absurd Heart Beast Sect Spells

Steward Hu picked up the Tiger Roar Painting and, imitating Li Mo, lit it under the candle flame.

Moments later, a pile of ash appeared on the table.

Steward Hu dipped a finger into the ashes and smeared them across the faceless face, which gradually revealed lifelike features.

Li Mo wasn't overly surprised; his emotions had settled.

After all, no matter how bizarre the methods Steward Hu displayed, he had lived through an era of information explosion in his past life and had been exposed to horror films.

"Li Mo, the Tiger Roar Painting clearly has many flaws. Can you now paint it to perfection?"

There was an unmistakable note of assessment in Steward Hu's words.

Li Mo nodded in agreement.

Without waiting for Steward Hu to move aside, Li Mo pulled over another chair and sat at the opposite end of the desk, face to face with Steward Hu.

The corners of Steward Hu's mouth lifted, her interest in Li Mo growing stronger.

She didn't disturb him, instead busying herself with touching up her makeup.

Li Mo's gaze turned calm and unruffled; his ability allowed him to quickly enter a focused state, revealing the subtle wonder of the Book of Fortune.

He patiently began grinding ink.

The ink stick, now only the size of a fingernail, rubbed against the inkstone, slowly dissolving into the clear water.

Li Mo kept grinding until the ink stick was reduced to a grain of rice, his fingers pressing it onward to make full use of its value.

Steward Hu put away her smile and watched Li Mo with a serious expression.

Suddenly, footsteps from apprentices returning to the side room sounded outside the door. Unnoticed, over an hour had passed, and the sky had grown deeply dark.

Li Mo picked an unremarkable small-brush calligraphy pen and dipped it in a touch of ink.

With a single stroke, the sturdy trunk of a pine tree took shape. He skillfully refined the details with leaf-vein strokes, revealing the stark artistic conception of a lone pine on a high mountain.

Steward Hu realized Li Mo wasn't painting the Tiger Roar Painting he had practiced for so long.

Li Mo painted patches of grass.

Then he sketched the outline of an old man, perfectly integrating him with the pine tree.

Steward Hu was slightly puzzled at this; for certain reasons, she wanted to see Li Mo's depiction of the Mountain Lord, not an old man in the woods.

She was about to interrupt the painting when she was drawn in by its spirit.

Li Mo's expression grew almost manic, switching the brush between his left and right hands to prevent muscle fatigue from affecting the precision of his strokes.

Steward Hu immediately dropped the thought, a hint of appreciation flickering in her eyes.

Before the old man in the painting was fully detailed, Li Mo depicted a beast's body beside the tree—indeed, a Mountain Lord draped in long stripes.

The Mountain Lord seemed somewhat languid, its tail hanging low, its head deliberately lowered by a third.

Li Mo's movements grew faster and faster. Even though the Mountain Lord was already lifelike, he didn't stop, alternating his hands in rapid succession.

He could sense it himself—he seemed to have fallen into a state of epiphany.

Most crucially, Li Mo possessed the Eidetic Memory ability; as long as he could remember this state of epiphany, he could try to simulate it later.

So he chose not to stop, letting his body act on instinct.

Only when the ink ran out did Li Mo snap back to reality as if waking from a dream. Exhaustion made him gasp for breath.

He looked at the painting, his expression turning somewhat helpless.

Because he hadn't stopped in time, the Mountain Lord in the painting had an unnecessary addition, creating flaws that made it inferior to the Tiger Roar Painting.

Li Mo had also copied Zhang Shanzi's tiger painting, this one called the Pine Spring Calming Heart Painting.

The Pine Spring Calming Heart Painting depicted an old man and a tiger sitting face to face. Zhang Shanzi used the Mountain Lord's ferocity to highlight the old man's serenity.

It was like an immortal observing a tiger.

But Li Mo's Pine Spring Calming Heart Painting was different. Because of the excess ink, the Mountain Lord's aura actually overshadowed the old man, as if it might crush his head at any moment.

Li Mo hesitated and said, "Steward Hu, this painting is somewhat..."

"Not bad. You truly have talent."

Steward Hu studied the Pine Spring Calming Heart Painting and repeated, "Really talented."

She gave it a light flick, and the painting air-dried naturally. The old man in the painting became gaunt, like a skeleton wrapped in skin.

The Mountain Lord was even more terrifying; the spreading ink occupied nearly half the rice paper, as if riding a demon wind to pounce on the dying old man.

"Li Mo, starting tomorrow, you will be an official painter of the Calligraphy and Painting Hall."

"Thank you, Esteemed Steward."

Steward Hu couldn't hide her fondness for the painting in her eyes, but then she did something that shocked Li Mo deeply—she burned the Pine Spring Calming Heart Painting to ashes once more.

"Li Mo, remember to paint as you always have from now on. Leave no traces."

Steward Hu took three still-warm Bone Scrolls from her sleeve.

[Merit Transfer Jade Scroll]

Li Mo showed no outward sign of knowing what the bone scroll was for, but in truth, the Book of Fortune had already flooded him with memories—this bone scroll was a Merit Transfer Jade Scroll from seven thousand years ago, a tool specifically used to store spell information.

"Steward Hu, this is..."

"Inside are three spells. They aren't life-establishing techniques, but spells will give you abilities that set you apart from the Mortal Realm."

"Spells are the art of survival; techniques are the method of self-protection."

According to the information provided by the Book of Fortune, in the Heart Beast Sect of seven thousand years ago, techniques were used to absorb the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, while mastering spells allowed one to unleash the power of the spiritual energy within the Dantian.

Steward Hu pushed the bone scroll toward Li Mo and continued explaining, "I can't provide you with techniques—you'll have to go to the Medical Hall and choose your own."

"Spells are taught by the respective halls. Li Mo, you can pick one."

Li Mo had heard many rumors about the truth of cultivation—it was said that one must cultivate both spells and techniques, that neither could be lacking. It seemed this was indeed true.

"Press the bone scroll against your brow."

Li Mo nodded, pinching the bone scroll between his fingers and placing it against his brow.

"Don't take too long digesting the bone scroll—it can easily damage your soul. Just get a general idea."

Li Mo was about to reply when a flood of spell information surged into his mind, smoothly absorbed by his Eidetic Memory.

Aside from the methods of spell cultivation, the bone scroll also contained auxiliary medicinal formulas.

However, the content was limited to the Childhood Stage.

The spell was called [A Hui Possession Curse].

The Book of Fortune reacted, and Li Mo discovered that the Heart Beast Sect of seven thousand years ago also had the A Hui Possession Curse, but it was dozens of times more complex.

Relatively speaking, the cultivation steps here were much simpler, but the effect of Smelting Town's A Hui Possession Curse after completion made Li Mo's hair stand on end.

Li Mo had no time to dwell on it—his brain was already beginning to ache faintly.

He set down the bone scroll for A Hui Possession Curse and examined the other two spells.

The three spells shared a strange commonality: they all used the cultivator's body to raise... no, to imitate spirit beasts.

[A Hui Possession Curse] takes one of the four limbs and turns its bones into snake bones.

[Paint Green Clothes] uses tattoos on the surface of the skin to depict a beast's head.

[Soul Chasing Poison Stinger] hollows out the palm to hold venom, with the little finger transforming into a poison stinger.

Li Mo had only skimmed the contents once when he realized that the so-called spells Steward Hu spoke of, once cultivated, brought nothing but harm to oneself.

The spell with the same name, A Hui Possession Curse, in the Heart Beast Sect released a snake-bone spirit whip—at the Qi Refining Stage (Childhood), it could split a giant tree. In Smelting Town, it was reduced to the crudest imitation.

What kind of nonsense was turning the bones of a limb into snake bones?

Only Eternal Life could afford to be so reckless; otherwise, the body would surely collapse.

"Spells and techniques cultivated together?"

"Could it be that the techniques in the Medical Hall can turn decay into miracle?"