"What a chance!"
Yingnian's bright eyes lit up. The painting scroll in her hands abruptly closed, turning into a streak of light that swept toward the Thought Spirit.
Trapped by the painting's shadows, the Thought Spirit could not dodge in time and was wrapped squarely inside the scroll.
Yingnian lifted her chin slightly and gave Chu Mo a smug little wink. She was about to retrieve the scroll when her expression suddenly shifted. The pleased glow froze on her face.
Inside the scroll, the Thought Spirit struggled violently. Dozens of lingering thoughts erupted within its body at once, swelling the scroll until it bulged and seemed on the verge of tearing.
"Youxuan, help me!" she cried hurriedly.
Chu Mo's eyes flashed, and he raised a hand in a beckoning gesture. The Ink Seal, which had long been poised to strike, abruptly activated. A hidden fluctuation spread in an instant, passing through the Thought Spirit's body and stamping its mark upon something abstract.
Its name was consciousness.
The Thought Spirit's struggles abruptly halted. Its six arms dropped with a smack, and all three heads drooped at once. The many manifestations of mystique that had been churning around it subsided one by one.
It was as though it had become one of the living dead in an instant.
At last, the scroll fell completely still.
Yingnian breathed a sigh of relief, retrieved the scroll, and lowered her gaze to examine it. A lifelike ink-painted giant spirit had appeared in the painting, with three heads and six arms, imposing and majestic, as though it might burst out at any moment. "Done." Her face blossomed into a smile. She was about to thank Chu Mo when she noticed him watching her with the hint of a smile.
"Fellow Daoist, it's time to split the