Chapter 33: Awakening the Spirit in the Painting

After entering the room, Zhang Huasheng wasted no time: “Old man will speak plainly—your father used the Spirit-Calling True Form technique to summon me from the Netherworld to paint your Shadow Spirit Map.”

Xiao Yu asked curiously, “What is a Shadow Spirit Map? Could Elder Saint explain it in detail?”

Zhang Huasheng gently stroked his beard and pondered, “Once, the Spirit-Calling True Form technique was a ‘Guardian of the Spirit, Pacifier of the Soul’ method—the most orthodox Daoist immortal art.”

Now it has been altered and simplified into a left-path heretical technique any ordinary adept can perform.”

The Spirit-Calling incantation no longer summons immortals—it calls forth ghosts of the Netherworld.”

As you see, I am a ghost!”

The Netherworld’s anomalies are myriad and sinister; encountering them brings misfortune to men, harm to all things.”

This is one great evil.”

The other great evil is the Soul-Seizing incantation.”

It draws the soul of the subject into a quiet chamber to dwell with ghostly entities—afterward, one’s primordial energy is inevitably severely damaged.”

Xiao Yu suddenly understood: “Earlier, when I dreamed of ghosts—was it the ghost emissaries summoning my soul here to paint the Shadow Spirit Map?”

Zhang Huasheng nodded slightly and smiled: “You are a noble one; nobles carry heavenly signs.”

“Such petty ghosts dare approach a noble one—and even strike at one? They shall surely be struck down by Heaven’s wrath.”

“Er, I dare not deceive Elder Saint—I am no noble. I merely tonight happened to learn the Heart Formula of the Tiger Soul Seven Kill from my adoptive father.”

I’ve barely achieved a small mastery of the Fierce Tiger’s divine intent.”

Even when I sleep, I silently practice the formula in my heart.”

Later, when the two ghost emissaries entered my dream, I somehow unleashed the Tiger Soul Seven Kill.”

I don’t know what became of those two emissaries.”

As ghost deities, they shouldn’t be so easily injured, right?” Xiao Yu gazed hopefully at Zhang Huasheng.

Zhang Huasheng burst into laughter: “Injured? One of them was utterly annihilated—his qi scattered, his spirit dissolved, dead as dust.”

In truth, this is heavenly favor.”

I, too, am a genius—a genius in painting.”

I began learning at five; after only three days in my master’s door, he expelled me.”

Because I had already mastered all his skills—and surpassed him.”

So I understand how you, in one night, awakened to the Tiger Soul Divine Art.”

This is not a miracle—it is genius.”

Ordinary mortals cannot comprehend it, but we, the gifted, understand each other’s genius.”

Yet genius alone is merely the foundation—one trait of the noble.”

To slay the ghost deities of the Netherworld, heavenly favor is indispensable.”

Heaven protects the noble, turning calamity into fortune, enabling self-transcendence, and making spirits and ghosts flee.”

—You think this way? That’s perfect—I won’t have to waste breath explaining how you mastered the Tiger Soul Seven Kill in one night. Hmm, later, when facing my adoptive father, I’ll relay this authoritative analysis from the ‘Chinese Genius Expert.’

Internally hoping the ‘Chinese Expert’ veers off course, Xiao Yu had no intention of exhausting herself to steer him back on track.

“Now that I’m here, I don’t need soul-seizing, right?”

Zhang Huasheng shook his head: “Soul-seizing isn’t merely for tracing outlines.”

If one only wished to draw a person’s appearance, there’d be no need for such trouble—no spirit sacrifices, no incantations, no talismans.”

What people commonly call a ‘Shadow Spirit Map’ is not the true Shadow Spirit Map—it is merely a Shadow Form Map.”

One is form, one is spirit—you understand the difference, yes?”

The true Shadow Spirit Map contains the subject’s spirit and essence.”

Some beauties have flawless features yet are called wooden beauties—they lack spirit and aura.”

The same applies to paintings of beauties.”

To captivate a monarch with a painting, form and shadow alone are far from enough.”

After all, even a wooden beauty with flesh, blood, speech, and warmth struggles to catch a monarch’s eye.”

A lifeless, cold painting is far inferior even to a wooden beauty.”

But once a painted beauty gains spirit and vitality, the effect is entirely different.”

If the real woman can move a monarch, so too can the Shadow Spirit Map.”

Conversely, if the Shadow Spirit Map moves a monarch, he will inevitably yearn for the woman within the painting.”

Xiao Yu’s heart pounded: “I’m a western desert barbarian—how did I come to be linked to a noble monarch? Which monarch?”

If it were a western vassal lord, this Chinese ghost would never deign to speak of ‘noble ones.’”

He wouldn’t utter the word ‘noble’ at all.”

Ah, now she finally understood the meaning of ‘noble.’”

“Hehe, I am ultimately an outsider. Marriage concerns the maiden’s reputation—I dare not speak further. Miss, ask your father yourself,” Zhang Huasheng said softly with a smile.

A virtuous Chinese scholar would never violate propriety by discussing a young lady’s marriage behind her father’s back.”

Xiao Yu was no virtuous scholar, but she understood reading the air—if he wouldn’t speak, she had no need to press.”

“Elder Saint, you said the Spirit-Calling True Form was once a righteous immortal art? Why would any immortal create a technique to paint women’s spirits and forms merely to please a monarch?”

Zhang Huasheng shook his head: “The true Spirit-Calling True Form was never meant to paint beauties. It is a Guardian of the Spirit, Pacifier of the Soul technique.”

Xiao Yu frowned: “If the Shadow Spirit Map incorporates a woman’s spirit and essence, wouldn’t that harm the spirit and body? How does it guard the spirit and pacify the soul?”

Zhang Huasheng sighed: “Shadow Spirit Maps painted with ancient immortal techniques do contain the subject’s spirit and essence—but the process differs fundamentally from the heretical Spirit-Calling.”

Because in antiquity, Spirit-Calling True Form summoned true immortals.”

He gave a self-deprecating smile: “I am honored as the Painting Immortal, yet I lack immortal bones and innate wisdom—I cannot cultivate immortality.”

But true immortals do exist—some have entered the Dao through painting.”

They possess my level of artistic mastery, yet also possess extraordinary cultivation talent.”

Such painting immortals are true gods.”

Man dwelling with ghosts suffers harm; man encountering true immortals receives blessings.”

Furthermore, ghost deities drawing Shadow Spirit Maps must extract spiritual essence from the subject’s soul; true immortals instead bestow soul upon lifeless paper.”

That is the method of ‘Awakening the Inanimate to Immortality.’”

“No wonder they are immortals... How does an immortal’s Shadow Spirit Map guard the spirit and pacify the soul? Even among Chinese nobles, few could summon a true immortal, right?” Xiao Yu said.

No wonder summoning true immortals was never widespread—it was eventually replaced by the corrupted heretical technique; the original was too difficult.”

Zhang Huasheng pondered: “Do you know of the Investiture of the Gods during the Middle Antiquity?”

Xiao Yu perked up, eager to shout: I’ve heard of it! I want to know the details—tell me quickly!

“I only just today heard the term ‘Middle Antiquity,’” she said with a wry smile.

She truly was smiling wryly.”

Had Zhang Huasheng not said ‘Middle Antiquity,’ she could have bluffed: The Investiture of the Gods? I think I heard tribal elders mention it.”

She wasn’t sure how distant ‘Middle Antiquity’ was—but it clearly meant very, very ancient.”

Ancient enough to be ‘the previous age.’”

“The Primordial Age preceded the Heavenly Sovereign’s attainment of Dao; the Ancient Age was the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors; the Middle Antiquity lasted until King Wu’s campaign against Zhou; from the founding of the Great Zhou to now, we call it ‘Recent Antiquity.’”

“When you read history, you’ll learn of the ‘Great Zhou’ and ‘King Wu.’”

Zhang Huasheng had no patience for trivial matters—he pressed on: “King Zhou fell into decadence and became a tyrant because he favored the seductive concubine Daji—the royal aura was corrupted by demonic energy, gradually dimming and sinking.”

“Yet Daji was originally a noblewoman of a vassal state—virtuous, pure, gentle, and virtuous.”

“Why did she suddenly become a demoness who ruined the nation?”

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

Xiao Yu thought.

“Why?”

She vaguely understood the true purpose of the Shadow Spirit Map.”

“Because her spirit, on the journey to Chaoge, was replaced by a nine-tailed fox demon! The Marquis of Ji had many talented adepts—none noticed. The Shang court was filled with sages—still, none detected the anomaly, not even Grand Master Wen—now the Universal Manifestation Heavenly Venerable.”

Zhang Huasheng sighed: “A single small fox demon brought down a human sovereign, destroyed a holy dynasty, and slew countless living beings.”

“After King Wu’s campaign ended, all virtuous scholars pondered one question: How to prevent such a thing from ever happening again?”

—Impossible to prevent entirely; this was Nüwa’s design! Even if you sealed this crack, the Saints could easily find another.

Xiao Yu mused inwardly.

“The Shadow Spirit Map contains the spirit and essence of the subject; seeing the map is like seeing the person. If the subject is harmed by demonic forces, merely comparing the map reveals the anomaly,” she said.

Zhang Huasheng gave her an approving glance: “Ghost deities summoning shadows leave behind the subject’s spirit within the painting.”

With part of the spirit missing, symptoms arise: spiritual instability, physical weakness, mental confusion.”

It takes considerable time to recover.”

Even then, the soul remains permanently incomplete.”

Immortals do not extract spirit from noble maidens.”

Immortals can awaken the painted figure, bestowing soul through divine art.”

The spirit born from the painting possesses the exact same spirit and essence as the original.”

It is as if an additional portion of soul has been created from nothing.”

Though spiritual instability and confusion may still occur, the body does not weaken.”

Only the original is affected by the painted immortal spirit.”

Whether the spirit is added or subtracted, as long as the spirit within the Shadow Spirit Map does not return to the body, the soul remains incomplete.”

Xiao Yu asked, “Can spiritual resonance conjured out of thin air by an immortal make an original soul incomplete?”

Zhang Huasheng said, “Don’t underestimate the immortal’s methods—the spirit within a painted image isn’t a replica of the original.”

If it were a replica, the Shadow Soul Map would be a fake, and the spirit itself would be different.”

“So, it means an extra fragment of soul is added out of nothing, yet separated from the original?” Xiao Yu frowned slightly. “Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”

Zhang Huasheng chuckled, “Since its purpose is to guard the spirit and stabilize the soul, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.”

If you hang the Shadow Soul Map in a maiden’s chamber and keep her in constant proximity, her soul will gradually absorb the essence of the immortal spirit, growing stronger and more stable.”

Even if there are initial side effects—mental daze, unstable soul—they won’t last long.”

If she takes Soul-Stabilizing Decoction or Spirit-Nourishing Pills, the instability will resolve even faster.”

“That’s true—painting a Shadow Soul Map doesn’t require giving the painting away.”

Xiao Yu stared at the old face of the Chinese ghost across from her, her mind growing conflicted.

Should she ask him to paint her a Shadow Soul Map?

If he were an immortal... but he wasn’t—he was just a dead ghost.

“Heh, Miss Yu is hesitating?” Zhang the Saint laughed, his expression haughty. “If you’ve heard of my reputation, you’d have no hesitation or doubt at all.”

Xiao Yu’s heart stirred. This old ghost had just boasted that his only difference from a true immortal painter was his cultivation talent...

(PS: In the original text of the Investiture of the Gods, Wen Zhong never noticed Daji’s anomaly.

When he returned from the North Sea, he summoned King Zhou before him and cursed him mercilessly, ordering him to execute Fei Zhong and You Hun, and to depose Daji, already Empress.

King Zhou meekly agreed, offering no resistance, only stalling with excuses.

Had Wen Zhong known Daji was a fox spirit, he would have crushed her instantly with his iron mace—he wouldn’t have merely ordered her deposition.

In fact, when Jiang Ziya served King Zhou as a junior minister, he had met Daji face-to-face and never realized she had been replaced by a fox spirit.

Daji’s exposure came purely from her own recklessness.)