Chapter 296 - 287: Merit and Demerit Record, a [Mana] Vision

Chapter 296: Chapter 287: Merit and Demerit Record, a [Mana] Vision

"What... what... what are you?"

As the incomprehensible figure strode toward him, Daoist Huang’s teeth chattered, and he stammered out the question.

"Never mind what I am."

Fu Juemin closed the distance to Daoist Huang in two strides but kept a slight distance, lest the heat and fire emanating from his Hundred-legged Fire Walk Talent roast the man alive.

Looming over the Daoist, he spoke calmly. "Don’t you claim to be a successor of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Celestial Master Dao?

Use every technique of your Celestial Master Dao on me... If you do well, then we can pretend tonight never happened."

Hearing Fu Juemin’s words, Daoist Huang stood frozen, staring up at him blankly.

Seeing the man’s dazed expression, Fu Juemin lifted an eyelid. A line of fire shot out from under his own foot, streaking across the ground and instantly reaching the Daoist’s.

With his shoe now on fire, the searing pain in his foot finally snapped Daoist Huang back to his senses. He yelped, frantically stomping on the ground!

After putting out the fire on his foot, the Daoist seemed to summon all his courage. Shouting, "AAAAHHH!" he thrust his Peach Wood Sword straight at Fu Juemin’s chest.

"WHOOSH—"

His form was a mess, but the thrust carried surprising force, even letting out a faint whistle as it cut through the air.

Unfortunately, before the Peach Wood Sword could touch Fu Juemin’s body, the moment it entered the shimmering, glass-like Fire Realm surrounding him, it spontaneously burst into flames, turning to charcoal in an instant.

Daoist Huang let out a strange cry, dropped the remains of his Peach Wood Sword, and scrambled back.

Fu Juemin didn’t move, just watched him calmly and frowned. "Aren’t you a successor of the Celestial Master Dao?

You can’t draw talismans? You don’t know any Thunder Skills?"

"Oh, right, right! Talismans! I have talismans!"

As if waking from a dream, Daoist Huang hastily fumbled inside the apricot-yellow cloth pouch at his waist.

He grabbed handful after handful of Yellow Talismans and, without a second glance, hurled them at Fu Juemin!

All the while, he was chanting something under his breath.

The fluttering Yellow Talismans couldn’t get anywhere near Fu Juemin. They ignited in the scorching mid-air, dissolving into countless flecks of black ash.

Fu Juemin watched, his expression blank.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted an unremarkable Yellow Talisman floating in mid-air. It abruptly ignited on its own and, with a PFFT, shot a short distance toward him.

A faint wave of heat washed over Fu Juemin, causing his eyes to brighten for an instant.

This particular self-igniting Yellow Talisman, mixed in with the pile ignited by his Demon Fire, was nearly impossible to spot. Even Daoist Huang hadn’t noticed a thing.

By now, the frantic Daoist Huang seemed to have thrown all the yellow paper from his pouch; he fumbled inside it a few more times but came up empty.

His interest piqued, Fu Juemin couldn’t help but take a step forward and ask, "Anymore?"

"Yes... yes..."

Sweat beading on his forehead, Daoist Huang rummaged through his pouch for a while before suddenly whipping out a pistol.

He pointed the muzzle at Fu Juemin, his arm trembling, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger.

Finally, he slumped to the ground, replying with a miserable look on his face, "There’s no more."

Fu Juemin slowly squatted down, his four flame-wreathed Fire Centipede Steps elegantly tracing several striking arcs through the air.

Now, so close to Daoist Huang, his sharply chiseled face was revealed in the shadows.

Orange-gold, magma-like cracks spread down from the corners of his forehead and across his cheekbones, the light within them pulsing with his breath. Combined with his dark golden eyes, the effect was one of fiendish, demonic power.

The scorching breath from Fu Juemin’s mouth blasted Daoist Huang in the face. The Daoist’s expression went slack as he mumbled, "Actually, I... I’m just the most ordinary disciple under the Celestial Master Dao. My skills are unrefined...

Normally, besides meditating and drawing talismans, we... we mostly... practice martial arts."

Fu Juemin watched him in silence, saw Daoist Huang begin to tremble, and then shake more and more violently.

When he caught the acrid stench of urine spreading from beneath the other man, Fu Juemin shook his head. He flicked a finger, sending a burst of Vitality through the air to strike Daoist Huang on the forehead.

With a THUD, the latter fell back, knocked out cold.

"WHOOSH—"

The brilliant orange fire streamed through the night like the tassels of a cloak. As the heatwave faded, Fu Juemin, back to his normal form, stood quietly in place.

He bent down and rummaged through the cloth pouch Daoist Huang had been carrying.

Amidst a pile of junk Magical Artifacts like a Copper Mirror, a Bell, and an Ink Line, he found a few yellowed, dog-eared booklets. He then turned and headed straight back the way he came.

Fifteen minutes later, Fu Juemin returned to the Anshun Inn.

Xu Xinyi was still asleep. He sat alone at the table, spreading out the booklets he’d taken from Daoist Huang across its surface.

He sat in the candlelight, not yet opening them, instead reflecting on the results of tonight’s test.

The construction of the New Demon Body had gone much more smoothly than he had anticipated, likely because the foundation laid by his breakthrough to Inner Sensing and his Perfection of the Pharmacist Skill was so solid.

By integrating the Red Level Talent, Hundred-legged Fire Walk, into his foundation of the Three Souls in One Body—Copper Hide, Soft Bone, and Meat Mountain—he had formed a new "Four Souls in One Body" state...

...the state he had just displayed, which he had privately named—the Flame Monarch form!

Although he had only tested it briefly on the ghost and the corpse at the Coffin Home, Fu Juemin could still feel it...

’It’s so much more powerful than the previous Four Souls in One Body!’

’At the end of the day, the Blue Level Shadow Control Talent is really just a support-type Talent.

Hundred-legged Fire Walk is a full rank higher than Shadow Control, and it’s a genuine combat-type Talent!’

’That feeling of absolute control... The blood flowing in my veins became magma—as I walked the earth, it was as if a Fire Prison had descended into the mortal realm!’

’And the truly tyrannical part of the Flame Monarch form lies in those four Fire Centipede Steps on my back.

They are the true Demon Weapons, capable of piercing, incinerating, and tearing apart anything. In comparison, the Bone Blades that grew at the edges of my limbs after Soft Bone evolved have become mere decorations.’

’Of course, the consumption of Innate Primordial Liquid is also enormous.

In just that short while, I’ve already used up more than a third of the Innate Primordial Liquid stored in my lower abdomen.

If I didn’t have Gui Cang, I’d be loath to squander it so freely.’

’In my Flame Monarch form, could I be considered Flood Dragon Level?’

Fu Juemin wondered to himself.

’I feel like I’m still a ways off from the hundred-meter Fire Centipede when it was alive, and I don’t show any signs of affecting celestial phenomena.’

’The gap between the Elephant Level and the Flood Dragon Level is a huge one. I wonder when I’ll be able to cross it.’

As he thought about this, Fu Juemin’s gaze fell upon the booklets before him.

*Three-Five Merit and Demerit Record*, *Celestial Master Dao Talisman Entry Level*, *Talisman Water Relief Chapter*, *Divination Skill*, *Dragon and Tiger Posture Method*...

Fu Juemin carefully read through them, one by one.

After some time, he finished reading them all. Closing the final page of the last booklet, his face was unreadable.

That Daoist Huang may have been prone to exaggeration and boasting, but he hadn’t been entirely wrong. He really was a proper, initiated disciple of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Celestial Master Dao.

Although the knowledge recorded in the booklets Fu Juemin held was rudimentary, it formed a relatively complete set of teachings.

The *Three-Five Merit and Demerit Record* was a ledger of good and evil, recording Daoist Huang’s daily words and actions. He would add a merit for a good deed and record a demerit for an evil one. Subduing demons and fiends was considered a great merit.

However, flipping through the entire booklet, there were very few of these; most of the entries were about trivial, everyday matters.

"Those who do not cultivate the Merit and Demerit Record shall not enter the gate of the Celestial Masters."

This sentence was written on the first page of the Merit and Demerit Record, accompanied by a Cultivation Heart Method.

After some thought, Fu Juemin began to understand. This so-called "merit" was probably similar to the "Wish Power" occasionally mentioned in his Pharmacist Skill Cultivation Technique.

The Buddhist Family calls it "Wish Power," while the Celestial Master Dao calls it "merit."

But to put it bluntly, it was really just an alternative method for tempering one’s disposition, developing Consciousness, and Refining Perception.

’When a Martial Artist develops their Consciousness to the extreme, they can integrate it with their fists, feet, and weapons, generate a Heart Scene, and influence reality with their thoughts... They gain all sorts of incredible Extraordinary abilities.

The methods of the Celestial Master Dao are actually the same, just that their Consciousness is applied to Talismans.’

Talismans for exorcising evil, talismans for curing illness, talismans for divination...

The three booklets, *Celestial Master Dao Talisman Entry Level*, *Talisman Water Relief Chapter*, and *Divination Skill*, all explained how to apply this power of Consciousness.

What interested Fu Juemin now were the Talismans of the Celestial Master Dao tradition themselves!

’These things that look like chicken scratch, when guided by the power of Consciousness, can actually touch upon the "Extraordinary"?!’

’That Daoist Huang has some martial arts skill, but his Merit and Demerit Record has barely any merits recorded. He’s still at a very rudimentary stage in cultivating them.

And yet, he could still activate the power of a Talisman... even if the power and success rate were pitifully low.’

But to Fu Juemin, this was already a rather incredible feat.

’After all, for a Martial Artist to reach Gratitude and the Heart Intent Realm is incredibly difficult—not one in a thousand, maybe not even one in ten thousand, succeeds.

How many geniuses and prodigies are washed out along the way? Even he had to put in countless hours of bitter cultivation to get to where he was today!

How can the Celestial Master Dao accomplish that with just one small Talisman?’

’The nineteen northern provinces, the Ding Wu Army... Zhang Yuanlin.’

The name flashed through Fu Juemin’s mind, and his eyes glinted in the candlelight.

Daoist Huang was too weak to be a good benchmark. To truly understand the principles at work, he would have to turn his attention to the current Little Celestial Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Why was Fu Juemin so interested in the legacy of the Celestial Master Dao?

The reason was simple.

He had been practicing martial arts and killing demons for so long, yet on his panel, there was still one Attribute that had yet to be "unlocked."

—Mana!

’’Mana... Mana...’’

Fu Juemin’s knuckles tapped lightly on the table as he mused, ’If the Dragon Tiger Mountain Celestial Master Dao truly lives up to its reputation, able to command thunder and control fire, then it must have some connection to Mana...’

’Yingjing is in the North. On the way there, perhaps I should find a chance to make contact with the Northern Army Group and meet that honored guest of the Ding Wu Army—the Little Celestial Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain, Zhang Yuanlin.’

Fu Juemin suppressed his many thoughts, blew out the candle, and lay down on the bed, still clothed.

As for the booklets he’d taken from Daoist Huang, he decided he would give them to Gu Shouyu tomorrow.

When he had first met Gu Shouyu, he’d specifically asked him if talismans could be used against Demon Fiends. Gu Shouyu had said no.

It seemed now that Gu Shouyu had simply been missing the most crucial piece—the Cultivation Heart Method—which was why the talismans he drew had no effect.

Gu Shouyu should be interested in the legitimate teachings of the Celestial Master Dao. If he could figure something out from them, that would be for the best.