Chapter 33

After entering the room, the Zhang Huasheng Zhang didn't talk nonsense and said directly: "This old man will make a long story short; your father used the magic of inviting an immortal to pass on the truth to summon this old man from the Underworld to draw a Shadow Spirit Portrait for you."

Xiao Yu asked suspiciously: "What is a Shadow Spirit Portrait? Can the old Saint explain it in detail to Xiao Yu?"

Zhang Huasheng Zhang twisted his beard lightly and pondered: "The 'Method of Inviting an Immortal to Pass on the Truth' was once the 'Method of Guarding the Spirit and Settling the Soul,' which was the most orthodox Daoist immortal method.

Now it has been modified and simplified, becoming a left-handed evil method that ordinary strange people can perform.

The invitation spell within it doesn't invite an immortal, but a ghost from the Underworld.

As you can see, this old man is a ghost!

The different interests of the hidden and the manifest, the many kinds of strange monsters. Encountering them is unfavorable to people, and meeting them is harmful to things.

This is a great harm.

Another great harm is the soul-taking spell.

Taking the soul of the person being drawn to a quiet room to be with ghosts and monsters will inevitably greatly damage one's vitality afterwards."

Xiao Yu suddenly realized, "Xiao Yu met a ghost in a dream earlier; was it the ghost messenger calling Xiao Yu's soul here to draw the Shadow Spirit Portrait?"

Zhang Huasheng Zhang nodded lightly and laughed: "You are a noble person, and noble people have their own heavenly protection.

Mere ghosts and monsters dare to approach a noble person and even take action against a noble person; they will surely be punished by heaven."

"Uh, I dare not deceive Saint Zhang; Xiao Yu is not a noble person, but just happened to learn the mental formula of 'Tiger Soul Seven Kills' from my foster father tonight.

The Fierce Tiger Divine Intent is slightly successful.

Even when Xiao Yu fell asleep, I was silently practicing the mental formula in my heart.

Later, when the two ghost messengers broke into my dream, Xiao Yu didn't know how, but I used 'Tiger Soul Seven Kills.'

I don't know how those two ghost messengers are doing.

They are ghosts and gods, so they shouldn't be easily injured, right?" Xiao Yu asked, looking at Saint Zhang with wide eyes.

Saint Zhang laughed loudly and said: "More than just injured, one of them directly dissipated his qi and spirit, dying completely.

Actually, this is heavenly protection.

This old man is also a genius, a genius in painting.

I started learning to paint at five, and three days after entering the master's school, my master kicked me out.

Because I had already learned all his skills and was even better than him.

So this old man can understand your overnight enlightenment and realization of that Tiger Soul Divine Art.

This is not a miracle; this is genius.

Ordinary people don't understand, but we can understand each other's genius realm.

But a genius's comprehension is only the foundation and one of the characteristics of a noble person.

To kill Underworld ghosts and gods, one must have heavenly protection.

Heaven will protect noble people, allowing them to turn danger into safety, break through themselves, and repel gods and ghosts."

—It's really great that you think so; I don't need to waste my breath explaining how I learned "Tiger Soul Seven Kills" overnight. Well, when facing my foster father later, I will relay this authoritative analysis from the "Nanzhan Zhonghua Genius Expert."

Xiao Yu, who was eager for the "Nanzhan Zhonghua Expert" to go down the wrong path, naturally didn't want to painstakingly persuade him back to the right path.

"Now that I have come, there is no need to take my soul, right?"

Zhang Huasheng Zhang shook his head and said: "The reason for taking the soul is not simply to draw the outline and shape.

If it were just to draw the appearance of a person, there would be no need for such trouble, sacrificing to ghosts and gods, and chanting spells and writing talismans.

The 'Shadow Spirit Portraits' often mentioned by people are not real Shadow Spirit Portraits; they are actually Shadow Form Portraits.

One is form, one is spirit; you should understand the difference between them, right?

A real Shadow Spirit Portrait contains the spirit and spirituality of the person being drawn.

Some beauties have flawless appearances but are called wooden beauties because they lack spirituality and temperament.

Paintings of beauties are the same.

To attract a monarch with a painting, having only shadow and form is far from enough.

After all, even wooden beauties who are flesh and blood, can speak, and have warmth are hard to enter a monarch's eyes.

A cold painting without life is far inferior to a wooden beauty.

But once the beauty in the painting has spirit and spiritual energy, the effect is completely different.

If a real person can move a monarch, a Shadow Spirit Portrait can certainly do so too.

Conversely, if a Shadow Spirit Portrait moves a monarch, the monarch will inevitably yearn for the person in the painting."

Xiao Yu was shocked, "Xiao Yu is a barbarian from the Western Sands, how could I be related to a noble monarch? Which monarch?"

If it were a monarch of a Western vassal state, this Nanzhan Zhonghua old ghost would definitely look down on him.

He wouldn't say anything about a "noble person" at all.

Well, now she finally understood the meaning of "noble person."

"Hehe, this old man is an outsider after all, and marriage matters concern Miss Yu's reputation, so it is not convenient for this old man to say more; Miss should go back and ask your father." Saint Zhang laughed softly.

As a virtuous person from Nanzhan Zhonghua, how could he violate etiquette and morality to talk about her marriage with a young lady behind her father's back?

Xiao Yu was not a virtuous person, but she knew how to observe words and expressions; since he didn't want to say, she didn't need to pursue it.

"Old Saint, you just said that the method of inviting an immortal to pass on the truth was once an orthodox immortal method? Why would an immortal create an immortal method to depict the spirit and form of a woman to please a monarch?"

Saint Zhang shook his head and said: "The real method of inviting an immortal to pass on the truth is not used to draw beauty portraits. It is a method of guarding the spirit and settling the soul."

Xiao Yu asked suspiciously: "The Shadow Spirit Portrait incorporates the spirit and spirituality of the woman, which only harms the spirit and body; how can it guard the spirit and settle the soul?"

Saint Zhang sighed: "Shadow Spirit Portraits drawn with ancient immortal methods do contain the spirit and spirituality of the person being drawn, but the drawing process is fundamentally different from the evil method of inviting an immortal to pass on the truth.

Because, the ancient method of inviting an immortal to pass on the truth invited a true immortal."

He laughed at himself, "I am honored by the world as a Painting Immortal, but I have no immortal bones or wisdom roots, so I cannot cultivate immortality.

But there really are immortals in the world who enter the Dao through painting.

They both have the same painting realm as this old man and have extremely high talent for cultivating immortality.

Such painting immortals are true gods.

When humans and ghosts are together, humans suffer; when humans meet true immortals, humans enjoy their blessings.

In addition, ghosts and gods drawing Shadow Spirit Portraits need to absorb spiritual charm from the soul of the person being drawn, while true immortals bestow souls upon paper scrolls without spirituality.

That is the means of 'pointing at objects to become immortals'."

"As expected of an immortal... how can a Shadow Spirit Portrait drawn by an immortal guard the spirit and settle the soul? There can't be many Nanzhan Zhonghua noble people who can invite a true immortal to descend, right?" Xiao Yu said.

No wonder the method of inviting a true immortal to pass on the truth could not be popularized and was finally replaced by the deleted evil arts; the difficulty of the original version was too high.

Saint Zhang pondered: "Do you know about the Battle of the Gods in the Middle Ages?"

Xiao Yu's spirit was lifted; she had heard of it and really wanted to know the details, so she urged him to speak!

"Xiao Yu didn't even hear the concept of 'Middle Ages' until today." She smiled bitterly and shook her head.

She was truly smiling bitterly.

If Saint Zhang hadn't mentioned the "Middle Ages," she could have bluffed: The Battle of the Gods? It seems the tribal elders mentioned it.

She wasn't sure how far away the Middle Ages were, but "Middle Ages" at least represented a very long time ago.

So long ago that it became "the previous era."

"Well, the Primeval Era is before the Heavenly Emperor attained the Dao, the Ancient Era is the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors; the Middle Ages lasted until King Wu attacked Zhou; from the establishment of the Great Zhou until now, it can be called the 'Near Ancient Era.'

Once you read history books, you will understand the 'Great Zhou' and 'King Wu'."

Saint Zhang didn't want to waste time on such irrelevant trifles and said directly: "The reason why King Zhou of Shang fell into depravity, triggering the disaster of King Wu attacking Zhou, was because he favored the demon concubine Daji, and the Human Emperor's qi was eroded by demon qi, becoming increasingly muddled and depraved.

And Daji was originally a noble daughter of a vassal state, honest, pure, virtuous, and kind.

Why did she suddenly become a demon concubine who brought disaster to the country and the people?"

—Because the real Daji was replaced by a fox spirit.

Xiao Yu thought to herself.

"Why?"

She vaguely understood the true purpose of the Shadow Spirit Portrait.

"Because her spirit was replaced by a nine-tailed demon fox on the way to Zhaoge! The Marquis of Jizhou raised many capable people, but no one noticed. The Great Shang court was full of experts, but still no one found anything unusual, and this even included Grand Master Wen—who is now the Heavenly Venerable Puhua. (ps)"

Saint Zhang sighed: "A tiny demon fox caused a Human Emperor to fall, destroyed a holy dynasty, and harmed countless living beings in the world.

After King Wu attacked Zhou ended, all virtuous people considered one question: how to prevent such things from happening again."

—How could it be prevented? This was the arrangement of Goddess Nüwa! Even if this loophole was plugged, the Saint could easily find another one.

Xiao Yu sighed in her heart.

"The Shadow Spirit Portrait contains the spirit and spirituality of the person being drawn; seeing the Shadow Spirit Portrait is like seeing the real person. If the person involved is harmed by demons and evil, just compare it with the Shadow Spirit Portrait to immediately discover the abnormality," she said.

Saint Zhang gave her an appreciative look, "When ghosts and gods pass on the truth and leave an image, they leave the spirit of the woman's soul in the painting.

Missing a part of the spirit, of course, there will be symptoms such as unstable spirit, physical weakness, and mental confusion.

It takes quite a while to recover.

Even so, the soul will always be missing a part.

Immortals will not extract spirit from the soul of a noble daughter.

Immortals can enlighten the person in the painting, using immortal arts to bestow a soul upon it.

The spirit in the painting enlightened by the immortal has the exact same spirit and spiritual charm as the original owner.

It is equivalent to having an extra part of the essence soul out of thin air.

Although there are still symptoms of unstable spirit and confused delirium, it will not become weak.

It is just that the original owner was influenced by the immortal soul in the painting.

Regardless of whether there is an extra part of the spirit or a missing part of the spirit, as long as the spirit in the Shadow Spirit Portrait does not return to the main body, the soul is never considered complete."

Xiao Yu asked: "Can the spiritual charm enlightened out of thin air by an immortal also make the original soul incomplete?"

Zhang Huasheng Zhang laughed: "Don't underestimate immortal means; the spirit in the painting enlightened out of thin air is not a replica of the original owner.

If it were a replica, the Shadow Spirit Portrait would become a fake picture, and the spirit would be different."

"In other words, a section of the soul was added out of thin air, but it was separated from the main body?" Xiao Yu frowned, "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

Zhang Huasheng Zhang laughed: "Since it is to guard the spirit and settle the soul, of course, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

If the Shadow Spirit Portrait is hung in the boudoir and kept with the noble daughter day and night, the noble daughter's soul will gradually absorb the essence of the immortal soul, and the soul will become strong and stable.

Even if there are side effects of mental confusion and unstable soul at the beginning, it will not last long.

If one takes soul-settling soup and spirit-nourishing pills, the symptoms of unstable soul will recover faster."

"That's true; drawing a Shadow Spirit Portrait doesn't necessarily mean sending the picture out."

Xiao Yu looked at the old face of the Nanzhan Zhonghua ghost opposite her and began to hesitate in her heart.

Should she let him draw a Shadow Spirit Portrait for her?

If he were an immortal... unfortunately, he is not; he is just a dead ghost.

"Hehe, is Miss Yu hesitating?" Saint Zhang laughed, his expression proud: "If Miss Yu had heard of this old man's reputation, you would definitely not have any hesitation or entanglement."

Xiao Yu's heart stirred; this old ghost just boasted about the gap between himself and a real painting immortal being only his cultivation talent...

(ps: In the original "Investiture of the Gods," Grand Master Wen indeed did not discover Daji's abnormality.

At that time, he returned from the North Sea and scolded King Zhou bloody, directly ordering King Zhou to execute Fei Zhong and You Hun, and also to depose Daji, who was already the Empress.

King Zhou was submissive and dared not oppose, only using the delay tactic to prevaricate.

If Grand Master Wen had known Daji was a fox demon, he would have directly beaten her to death with a metal mace, not just letting King Zhou depose the Empress.

In fact, when Jiang Jiang Ziya was a "Lower Grand Master" under King Zhou, he also met Daji and didn't discover she had been replaced by a fox spirit.

Later, when Daji was exposed, it was purely because she was too reckless.)