Chapter 317: Dalis

Looking at this cultivator who spat out the full name "Dala Bengba," Feng Xue slammed his palm hard—he had gone from initial targeted rebel slogans, to later implanting specific knowledge, and now even achieved high-precision control down to individual characters and behaviors; this gave him a solid understanding of the playability of Diliangjiang.

And achieving this method was simpler than imagined—

Refine the wording of the prayer.

Yes, the Diliangjiang Feng Xue created was derived from the Divine Art of Illumination by the Demon King of the Sea, Mei Luo; the greatest difference between Divine Art and conventional spells was not whether they used Qi or Devotion, but a more fundamental gap:

The essence of a spell is pattern: if the casting process is identical, the result will always be the same, regardless of who casts it—even a machine—and all sects' hand seals and incantations are merely methods to accelerate this process (Note ①).

But Divine Art is different: its essence is exchange—believers use Devotion as currency to purchase the Divine Art they need; this means different deities, even when receiving the same amount of Devotion and identical prayers, may produce different results.

Why does Divine Art require rituals? Because the False Deity lacks subjective agency; to ensure consistent outcomes each time the Divine Art is used, the caster must ritualize the wish process into a fixed "wish format," akin to standardized contract language designed to eliminate ambiguity, ensuring the False Deity understands and correctly delivers the corresponding Divine Art.

Mei Luo's "Illumination Art" ritual essentially defined how to borrow a deity's wisdom and how the sentient being receiving it would use that wisdom; however, due to the special rules of the game world, all Divine Arts are normalized under the Blue Bar's influence—losing the deity's influence entirely, which, from one perspective, can be understood as turning the Divine Art into a spell.

Feng Xue compared the game-world version of the Illumination Art with the conventional version, identified the part "determined by the deity" within the game world's structure, and modified "forcibly draining the caster's (or target's) intelligence" into "extracting specified information content," thereby achieving this precise memory-transfer effect.

Thus, this spell not only greatly reduced the memory cost of learning knowledge, but also enabled precise delivery of specific information to the recipient.

If one thinks more maliciously, it could even achieve mass brainwashing far harder to resist than illusions; if Feng Xue wished, he could even edit memories and fabricate facts out of thin air.

"What did you do to me?" Mu Yunyang, 终究 a cultivator, quickly regained awareness after unconsciously singing the information from his mind; though his tone carried a hint of accusation, only terror could be seen on his face.

"Nothing, just a simple experiment." Feng Xue smiled calmly; as Qi surged in, a drop of Diliangjiang was born.

Yes, he had not only developed Diliangjiang's memory-transfer system, but also, by comparing the ritual structures of Blue Bar spells and Devotion spells, discovered the method of mutual substitution between Qi and Devotion.

Next, as long as he continued deepening the "Heaven-Man Unity" he had grasped from Bi Gelei, fully unifying Qi and Devotion, then deriving Qi-to-Devotion and Devotion-to-Qi, he could enter his envisioned next stage.

"Little Xiao Lingdang, add this achievement to the Cultivation Notes, and name it《Xuanwu Cantongqi·Volume One》."

"Understood. 《Xuanwu Cantongqi》has been recorded." Little Xiao Lingdang's efficiency was unquestionably high; within a single breath, she had recorded the core concept of this spell according to Feng Xue's linguistic habits.

"Heaven-Man Unity has, for now, achieved mutual substitution between Qi and Devotion, but they are not identical—like using alcohol instead of gasoline: 勉强 usable, yet the gap remains vast; however, further testing is hard under Blue Bar rules, since the Blue Bar itself has significant error margins."

Feng Xue mused inwardly on how to proceed with his next attempt, yet his fingers flicked out.

The Qi-version Diliangjiang, upon contacting Mu Yunyang, seeped instantly into his mind-sea, and then a torrent of information exploded outward.

Seeing Mu Yunyang go blank, Feng Xue immediately activated Ghost-Mesmerizing Heart; Mu Yunyang, whose spirit had been utterly shattered by Feng Xue's information bombardment, offered no meaningful resistance—his forehead immediately displayed the term 【Ghost-Mesmerizing Heart】; even if he had needed only another instant to break free, the moment Feng Xue sealed the lock, all was irreversibly lost.

"Forget everything that happened today. Live a good life from now on. Never associate with the underworld again!"

"Understood!" Mu Yunyang's eyes were vacant, as if already clearing his memory; Feng Xue ignored him and continued editing various Diliangjiang variants.

Yet in his mind, he recalled a question he had initially overlooked but kept resurfacing since grasping the core issue—

For ghosts, Devotion and Qi are indistinguishable.

Then what about the spiritual souls of the living?

When a human soul absorbs Qi, it gradually strengthens and produces Law-Power; what would happen if it absorbed Devotion?

Feng Xue had returned to this world intending to ask Old Li this very question, but various circumstances had caused him to miss the chance; seeing this cultivator before him, he was reminded of it again.

He believed that if something had no threshold, someone in this world must have thought of it; with a fully controlled cultivator right before him, he spoke directly:

"What would happen if a living person's spiritual soul cultivated Devotion as if it were Qi?"

Hearing Feng Xue's question, Mu Yunyang, still in the midst of "clearing memory," paused for an instant, then replied in a flat tone:

"Even the purest thoughts contain vast impurities; cultivating Devotion harms the spiritual soul—no cultivator, not even demonic ones, dares attempt it lightly. Legends say that in ancient times, the shamans of Chu used ritual vessels to filter faith, extracting essence for cultivation; but the essence obtained was extremely limited and difficult to gather, usable only as an auxiliary practice. Even so, those who used it underwent drastic personality changes, growing ever more like the legendary deities, and even after death, their souls remained bound by belief, like spirit ghosts, unable to be freed. Yet the current Underworld's ghost-deities evolved from this method."

"So, there are two problems with harvesting and cultivating Devotion: impurities from impure thoughts, and personality corruption from directed belief. Is that right?"

A thoughtful expression appeared on Feng Xue's face; though to most cultivators this was common knowledge, Feng Xue's smile grew ever brighter…

(End of Chapter)