Chapter 73 Helping You Maintain Your Dignity

"Hum—"

No hand seals, no incantations, not a single superfluous movement.

With just a glance, a wave of invisible Soul Power exploded from Chen Mu as the center, rushing straight toward the Painting Spirit.

The Painting Spirit instantly let out an incomparably shrill scream, not like a human voice, and extreme shock and pain flashed across his aged face.

"Urgh! You..."

His entire body trembled violently, as if gripped tightly by an invisible hand, his body slowly becoming transparent, the spiritual light around him flickering on and off, as if he might dissipate at any moment, his fingers trembling as he pointed at Chen Mu, his lips quivering.

Even in his dreams, he could not have imagined that this young man who had just accepted his Cultivation Technique Legacy would attack him without any warning, and what he used was precisely the Soul-Loss Art he had just bestowed!

"How... how is this possible..."

"This kind of power... it is clearly only possible at the Perfection Realm..."

The Painting Spirit's voice was intermittent, filled with incomprehensible shock and deep fear.

He only knew that Chen Mu's Heart-Nature was extraordinary, but he never expected that the other party's talent would be this terrifying!

What level of Cultivation Technique is the Soul-Loss Art? It is a secret technique that points directly to the Divine Soul Dao, a Cultivation Technique that requires painstaking effort and slow refinement.

Being able to master it after decades of bitter cultivation would already be considered exceptional talent, yet how long has it been since he received the Cultivation Technique? He was actually able to reach the Perfection Realm in the blink of an eye!

This can no longer be described as gifted; he is clearly a Prodigy, a monster!

However, at this moment, the Painting Spirit had no time to think about these things.

His soul body had flown straight out, crashing into the pillars of the great hall with a dull thud.

The entire great hall began to shake.

This time it was not a massive tremor within an illusion, but the vibration of impending collapse after the Foundation was damaged.

The Painting Spirit struggled to prop himself up, panting against the pillar. Chen Mu looked at the struggling Painting Spirit with an expressionless face, lifted his leg, and approached step by step, his voice calm but carrying an icy, piercing power.

"Senior, I think there is still a treasure you forgot to take out, right?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Painting Spirit's body stiffened abruptly, and a trace of shock and panic appeared on his aged, withered face.

"You... what are you talking about?! I have long since taught you everything regarding the Wind God Wings and Soul-Loss Art left behind by my predecessors. How can you say such things!"

A mocking smile appeared on Chen Mu's face, his gaze piercing toward the Painting Spirit like a blade, as if it could see through all falsehoods.

"Why continue the act?"

"You just said that teaching these two Cultivation Techniques to entrants is the rule, then I would like to know, who set this rule? Was it the predecessor who created this Dao Realm, or... was it a rule you set yourself?!"

"If it were the predecessor's rule, you would certainly not have survived for a thousand years. Although these two Cultivation Techniques are profound, they are not rare enough to be passed down for a millennium. Therefore... you must have hidden the treasure and Cultivation Technique, causing the task to remain uncompleted, which is what allowed you to live until today."

The Painting Spirit's body trembled even more violently; Chen Mu's words struck every single word against his deepest hidden secret.

He was not a naturally born soul spirit, but one that had been created. He was a Painting Spirit shaped by the predecessor who left the scroll, using immense Divine Ability and special rules. His core mission was to screen for a suitable successor and bestow all the secret treasures left by the predecessor.

After finding someone fated, his mission would be completed, and this soul spirit, having been assigned the task, would dissipate along with it.

Originally, he was single-minded, focused on finding a suitable fated person and subjecting them to numerous tests, waiting only to return to the world after completion. However, in the endless years and waiting, he developed his own spiritual intelligence, and in the process, a self emerged.

He did not want to die, and even less did he want to dissipate. He began to fear the moment his mission would be completed.

Thus, in the days that followed, he still set tests for entrants, but even if they passed, he would only give a portion of the Cultivation Technique as a reward, always hiding the core treasure.

A hundred years, a thousand years... He managed to survive by this method, having long forgotten the meaning of his existence, retaining only an obsession with existing.

"I... I did indeed hide it, but... I was only seeking a way to live."

The Painting Spirit's voice trembled. Under the Soul-Loss Art which Chen Mu had brought to Perfection in an instant, he had no power to resist, leaving only extreme fear.

The Painting Spirit, as a spirit body created based on rules, was a false soul, a fake soul. The Soul-Loss Art had an absolute crushing effect on him, leaving no room for him to deny or resist in the slightest.

Chen Mu squatted down to look the Painting Spirit, who had fallen to the ground, in the eye.

"Ridiculous. For your own tiny obsession with living, you cast the predecessor's important task to the back of your mind, letting the true Legacy gather dust here, and letting countless qualified successors return empty-handed."

"And now, you are here talking about living? You have long since betrayed the original intention of your creation..."

"Hand over the true Legacy!"

Chen Mu stood up, his tone unquestionable. Struggle, hesitation, and unwillingness flashed in the Painting Spirit's eyes, all ultimately turning into helplessness.

He finally understood that under this young man, he had absolutely no room for choice. Daring not to hide anything further, he focused on mobilizing his spiritual power and reached out to grab at the Void Realm.

A point of light emerged in his palm, rapidly stretching and deforming, condensing in his hand into a long blade flashing with a cold glint.

The blade was over three feet long, narrow, pitch black, and glowing with a faint, cold light. The hilt was wrapped in dark shark silk, and the two seal-script characters "Soul-Slaying" were carved onto the guard with iron-drawing silver-hook calligraphy.

"This is the soul-slaying blade, which pairs with the Soul-Loss Art, specializing in slaying wandering souls and evil spirits, doubling its power."

"All three treasures have been handed over; according to the rules, I also..."

His words were not finished, but the meaning was already very clear. Chen Mu reached out and grasped the soul-slaying blade floating in mid-air.

It felt heavy in his hand, a cold touch spreading up his arm, creating a subtle resonance with the Soul-Loss Art in Chen Mu's Sea of Consciousness.

"All of them?" Chen Mu did not look at him, his gaze never leaving the blade.

"All of them, that is all there is... that is all..."

The Painting Spirit's voice sounded somewhat weak, as if he were about to dissipate. He looked at Chen Mu quietly, his eyes complex, filled with both relief and regret.

Chen Mu nodded, "I believe you." Then, he raised the soul-slaying blade.

"You..." The Painting Spirit's pupils constricted sharply. Chen Mu was expressionless, his voice as cold and hard as iron.

"Soul-Loss Art, soul-slaying blade—just hearing the names, one can already tell that the predecessor who left this scroll had long anticipated a situation where you would not want to keep your dignity."

"That is why these two things were left behind."

"If you yourself do not want to keep your dignity..."

Before the words had finished, the soul-slaying blade had already transformed into a streak of pitch-black lightning, carrying the immense Soul Power of the Soul-Loss Art, crashing down.

"Then I will help you keep your dignity!"

As the blade swept past, the Painting Spirit's already somewhat transparent figure was split in two. He did not make any sound, only stunned for a moment, then let out a miserable laugh.

"Soul-Loss... Soul-Slaying... So that's how it is..."

"Haha... haha..."

He laughed loudly several times, and then his body turned into fine golden light, drifting in the air...