Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting

Su Wu's screams rang out incessantly inside the house!

A lifelike portrait began to appear on his back.

The figure in the portrait looked exactly like the old monk sitting on the meditation bed.

Once the desiccated corpse had finished drawing the entire portrait, it slit open the top of Su Wu's head with its sharp nails and poured a large quantity of silvery liquid into the cross-shaped incision.

The agony of his skin separating from his flesh tormented Su Wu,

and the hellish torture blurred his mind.

Then his vision went black, and his consciousness left this world completely.

"You died."

"This simulation has ended."

"Rating: D+.

Comment: This world remains shrouded in mystery to you.

Rewards: D+ rating base reward +5 Origin Jade;

Escaped pursuit by Narrow-Sleeved Guanyin once +10 Origin Jade.

Wallet balance: 198 + 15 = 213 Origin Jade."

"The following items can be taken out of this simulation..."

Option 0: Mind-Root Reserve ×2.

Option 1: Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting ×1.

Seeing that the Mind-Root Reserve in option 0 had increased to two, Su Wu was startled. He had not expected to be able to bring Zhuo Jie's Mind-Root Reserve into reality more than once.

If I keep stacking Mind-Root Reserves, will the accumulation eventually lead to a qualitative change?

He thought it was very possible.

After all, the simulator's description of the Mind-Root Reserve was clear: an immense power gathered beneath the undercurrents of consciousness. It was a form of energy. If he kept accumulating and strengthening it, a qualitative change was entirely possible once it grew to a certain point.

Then Su Wu noticed option 1-the Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting.

Just as he was about to check the item's detailed description, the simulator chimed: "You experienced and witnessed the entire process of making the Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting. You may sell its crafting method. Would you like to sell it?

The 'Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting Crafting Method' has been appraised at 3,000 Origin Jade."

I can sell that too?

The sale price of 3,000 Origin Jade tempted Su Wu for a moment, but he still chose to read the detailed description of the Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting first.

Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting: As the Vicious Ghosts inside them are about to revive, some humans who harbor ghosts choose to prolong their lives by using a secret method to disperse the ghosts' power into the skin of humans with a specific Fate Pattern.

The humans into whom this power is dispersed will suffer constant, excruciating pain as their skin gradually separates from their flesh.

Finally, the practitioner pours mercury into the tops of their heads, completely separating their flesh from their skin. Their skin is then made into human-skin ghost paintings.

This human-skin ghost painting is influenced by the power of a Vicious Ghost named 'Withered';

Covering yourself with this skin will rapidly drain the vitality from your body, turning you into something dead, like a withered branch, allowing you to evade pursuit by supernatural entities;

Each use of the Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting costs you 10% of your blood and inflicts various forms of irreversible damage on your body.

Taking the Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting into reality costs 5,000 Origin Jade.

...

The Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting could let someone escape pursuit by a supernatural entity once.

That amounted to an extra chance to survive.

The price, however, was losing 10% of one's blood, along with suffering various forms of irreversible bodily damage.

This item was useful, but it lacked the enormous potential of the Mind-Root Reserve.

It fell even further short of the Corpse-Strider Fiend's Hand, which held all kinds of possibilities. Besides, buying the Fiend Hand would cost Su Wu only 2,000 Origin Jade.

So after reading the item's detailed description, he set it aside.

"Sell the Human-Skin Withered Ghost Painting crafting method."

"Buy all the Mind-Root Reserves currently available!"

"Purchase successful!"

"Your wallet balance is 213 + 3,000 - 2,000 = 1,213 Origin Jade."

As the simulator's notification faded, Su Wu suddenly felt a cool current pour into his mind.

He tried to examine the sensation closely, but the moment his thoughts stirred, the cool current vanished without a trace, fleeting as a flash.

Su Wu felt as though something had been added to him. He opened his eyes and surveyed the furnishings in his room. As his gaze passed over the patches of mold on the wall, a faint sense of unease rose within him.

*Does the Mind-Root Reserve let me sense warning signs of approaching danger?*

*Or is it because I have two Mind-Root Reserves that I've gained this instinctive warning, like a cicada sensing autumn before the wind begins to blow?*

*Now that I've obtained the Mind-Root Reserve, my next step is to see whether I can find the Meditation Method in Zhuo Jie's past life!*

*I've already investigated two of the three monks. Surely the last one can't be another trap.*

*No father could possibly set his son up this badly, could he?*

Su Wu felt both apprehensive and faintly hopeful.

He rubbed his hands together.

Before entering the simulation of Zhuo Jie's past life again, he took another look at the description of the Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand.

His eyes went straight to the last two lines.

Current chance of successfully harboring the Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand: 93.6%.

Compatibility with the host: 13.5%. ```

The first figure startled Su Wu.

He had never expected the success rate to jump above ninety percent this time!

His exploration in this simulation had barely progressed any further than it had last time.

Why was that?

Did the second monk have a deep connection to Zhuo Jie?

Or was it because I endured immense pain before dying? Does simply experiencing tremendous suffering increase the success rate?

Or had Zhuo Jie's skin also been made into a ghost painting before he died, giving us the same experience?

Whatever the reason, the increase in his chance of success was real.

That, in turn, made Su Wu hesitate. It seemed he could choose to harbor the ghost hand before obtaining the Meditation Method.

But should I make that choice?

Inside the room, a tiny flame illuminated a few feet around it.

An old monk, so gaunt and wasted that he was almost a skeleton, sat behind the oil lamp and silently studied Su Wu.

Su Wu had run for an entire day and night to reach this temple and finally meet the third monk. Yet the sight of the man made his heart sink slightly.

Judging by his appearance, this monk did not look like a normal person.

Su Wu began to have second thoughts.

This time, however, before he could speak, the monk, little more than skin and bones, grinned and said, "You're Zhuo Sang's son, aren't you? You really do look just like him!"

Zhuo Sang?

Was that Zhuo Jie's father's name?

Something stirred in Su Wu's mind. Without confirming or denying it, he handed over the letter he was holding. "My father told me to come to you!"

The thin monk accepted the letter but did not open it immediately.

Instead, he looked at Su Wu and asked, "You haven't visited the other meditation rooms, have you?"

"No." Su Wu calmly shook his head, his expression composed.

Even if he had, that had been in the previous simulation.

What did that have to do with this one?

"Your father told me you have a Spirit Cache Fate, with an innate ability to seek good fortune and avoid danger. Now I can see he was right..."

Only after hearing Su Wu's answer did the thin monk smile again. As he opened the letter on the table, he said slowly, "If you'd gone to any of the other meditation rooms first, you'd already be dead by now!"