Upon seeing the writing brush that was very ordinary in appearance, Lu Xun would have never imagined that it actually had such a level, one that even reached a high level of twenty!
As written in the basic information, Sir had used this writing brush several times to draw talismans, over time, a ‘spirit’ was produced.
A brush spirit was quite rare to see, but speaking of sword spirits, everyone would understand relatively better.
Since a spirit was produced, it was now equivalent to having spirituality, like a low level life form, this was why it was understandable that it had a level.
Normally, only purple-grade equipment had a probability of producing a ‘spirit’, however… This was only the most ordinary of writing brushes, which didn’t even cost much when it was bought.
Precisely speaking, this writing brush was a gift from the small shop when Sir bought an ink slab…
For a moment, Lu Xun was more curious about his own master.
He extended his right hand and attempted to pick up the writing brush.
The brush was quite light, it wasn’t as hard to pick up as he had imagined, it was just like an ordinary cheap writing brush.
However, the moment it was moistened by ink, Lu Xun’s right hand, which lifted the brush. started to uncontrollably tremble!
Once it was dipped in ink, it became heavy!
‘No kidding! My kirin arm[1] can’t handle a writing brush?’ Lu Xun began to attempt mobilizing the meager number of spirit power within his body.
He wasn’t worried about Ji Li’s trial results now, the foolish girl had a natural divine strength, she was quite strong, her performance in this trial should be out of the ordinary.
When spirit qi was circulated, Lu Xun felt somewhat better.
Although he still felt it was a little difficult… he had to pretend to be confident and relaxed!
He was now burdened by the image as an idol, he strove to do his best to become the Demon Sect’s and even the lands of Heavenly Earth’s only male idol. To promote the fan club culture in the cultivation world, he had to perform well in front of the crowd of tools so that they would become his fans, so that he could reap more prestige value!
Pump and dump[2], the most pleasurable thing to do.
The disciples who watched from behind saw that Lu Xun’s right hand was trembling, however, his expression was still calm to the point of remaining unchanged, they couldn’t help but feel admiration for him.
They only felt that their Little Great Uncle-Master’s unswerving determination was undoubtedly revealed!
Even Shen Yan and the peak masters, who were sitting on Evergreen Peak while watching the show, wore smiles on their faces. They felt that Little Uncle-master’s temperament was indeed not bad.
After all, he was a fierce man who even dared to jump off Greeting Peak.
As a person, it didn’t matter to be a little inadequate at something, but one must learn how to be tough.
Of course, one must persevere through it all, if one failed after enduring for a short while, then that would be even more embarrassing.
Fortunately, the first step was only to lift the brush and dip it in ink. The key was still using the brush to write and draw on the talisman paper!
The instant when the brush’s tip was about to touch the talisman paper, it felt as if time had frozen.
From an outsider’s point of view, Little Great Uncle-Master seemed to have frozen. He stood in the spot motionless, even the hand that held the brush didn’t move. It was as if he were pondering, and also a little bit like he was stunned.
However, in reality, this wasn’t the case. He wanted to vigorously write on the paper, to write freely and unrestrained. But this brush… it wasn’t willing to move!
The true trial only just started the instant the brush’s tip touched the talisman paper!
Elder Autumn Water stood by the side, she explained to the rest of the outer sect disciples, “This is the start of the trial, this writing brush already has its own spirituality. Since all your cultivations are still shallow, to control it, there will be a certain difficulty, you guys will understand later.”
Lu Xun accumulated a good deal of strength and then poured spiritual qi into it with all his might, yet, he discovered it was to no avail.
The more strength he exerted, the harder the brush resisted him.
However, the more it resisted, the more excited Lu Xun was!
“I refuse to believe that I can’t get a hold of you!”
Since this was both a trial and a mission, there was no reason this brush couldn’t be brandished.
‘Since it’s not moving, then it’s definitely the method I’m using that’s wrong.’
As a former mission maniac, Lu Xun had some insight into matters like this. If this road was impassable, then don’t try it incessantly. There was nothing good about bashing one’s head against a brick wall, it would be better to try out another path.
If the land route was obstructed, then try the waterway[3].
Use softness to conquer strength! Flexibility was what was demanded!
Once Lu Xun started to lose his strength, he attempted to use a gentler method to handle the brush, a more professional way to put it. It was what people called skillful strength.
And then… the brush moved!
Although it was very subtle, the writing brush indeed slightly moved, leaving a light trace on the talisman paper!
It seemed like it didn’t like to be used roughly, it liked it in a gentle manner.
Lu Xun understood all of a sudden, the trial this time was to test the Demon Sect’s disciples’ power of control over their spiritual power inside their bodies!
It was to let the disciples learn how to cleverly use their spiritual power, to understand where and how it was most suitable to be used.
There was a more close-fitting word, it was—thoroughgoing!
Lu Xun started to carefully perceive it, the writing brush was used to draw with great difficulty on the talisman paper. Even a straight line couldn’t be drawn, all of them were crooked. But this already made Elder Autumn Water and the group of shameless old farts on Evergreen Peak feel amazed.
Our Little Uncle-Master… comprehended it quite quickly!
They, however, didn’t know that Lu Xun had already done many missions in order to do something like this. He concluded the insights from his past experiences.
He was an experienced man in such matters, he understood that if he went down the wrong path, then he should change it immediately. There was no need to be foolishly damned stubborn about it.
For some reason, even though he clearly hadn’t received any professional training, he was actually quite skilled at finely controlling the spiritual qi inside his body!
“Strange, I clearly haven’t spent much energy on this, could it be…”
…Lu Xun then suddenly recalled that whenever he slept at night, Second Senior Sister’s lashing of love would appear!
Perhaps, the sword intent that Second Senior Sister left on his body had led to the same result, despite it being of a different method!
However, now wasn’t the time to think about this. Lu Xun held the writing brush and drew on the talisman paper with great difficulty. He felt quite a bit of pain, it wasn’t only on the physical aspect, but it was also mainly on the psychological aspect.
The fine manipulation of spiritual power exhausted the mind too much!
Time slowly passed by, five minutes was finally up.
‘Ding! Completed the first part of the mission, current progress: 20%, received 1000 points of experience value!’
Exhausted, Lu Xun closed his eyes. After closing them for three seconds, he opened them again, and without hesitation, he continued to move the brush!
He was a bit greedy, might as well take it all, and leave not a single bit!
As for the torment on his mind and body? This was nothing for a man with the experience of 36 times in one night!
What made him feel the most powerless was his pathetic amount of spiritual power, it was about to be used up.
The so-called thoroughgoing was similar to you having a sum of money and then spending it with a strict budget—to spend money where it was most crucial. However, if there was too little money, then it would be useless no matter how strict or meticulous your budget was.
On Evergreen Peak, the only female Peak Master in the Demon Sect, Luo Wanqiu, who was like a beautiful married woman, said, “Little Uncle-Master has done well, unfortunately, his cultivation is still shallow. His spiritual powers should be nearly exhausted, he should already be at his limits. If in t…”[4].
She still hadn’t finished talking before she immediately felt that something was off!
The dark-faced Gongshu Pan was unexpectedly an impetuous person, he laughed out loud and said, “A breakthrough on the spot, Little Uncle-Master is truly a man of wonders!”
They never expected that someone could actually break through while practicing thorough control!
Practicing thorough control while breaking through a bottleneck… he could actually still divide his attention!?
When Lu Xun saw that the spiritual power inside his body was exhausted, he decisively tapped level up!
Since he wasn’t in a rush to use all 10,000 plus points of experience value, he only leveled up once.
His thorough control was still far from adequate. If his spiritual power rose drastically, he would probably mess it up.
One step at a time!
After using up 1,000 points of experience value, Lu Xun reached the third layer of the Qi Devouring Formula. The surrounding spiritual qi rushed into his body and transformed into spiritual power that he could employ.
He, who had seemed destitute and frustrated just now, seemed to have become rich and imposing all of a sudden!
He calmed down and focused his mind, doing his best to control the writing brush.
In the next moment, under everyone’s astonished gaze, he used the brush in his hand to draw…
…A straight line on the talisman paper!
…
[1] Internet slang for the arm that’s larger than the other
[2] A type of securities fraud
[3] Another dirty joke
[4] Here the last character of the dialogue, the author literally just typed in a radical, part of a character, so it is quite literal on paper that she spoke half way