Chapter 326: The Magical Brush

　　Zhu Yao finally understood what the more dire situation was. It was not her prone-to-death physique, nor was her avatar which was actually another person’s body, and nor was it turning into cannon fodder. It was actually… the fact that more than half of the scenario had already been gone through, and the cannon fodder was about to lose her life!

　　She looked at the scenario again, and then only found this out after carefully piecing the timeline together. Momma’s egg! The scenario has already begun playing, and the female lead Fan Zhishan’s harem had already been officially established since ages ago. That Hall Master Cao of Spirit Heaven Palace was beginning to get rid of this cannon fodder called Ling Tian.

　　Those formations and traps outside her house back then were all placed by them.

　　She finally understood why she would wake up on the ceiling supporting frame. The girl hid up there because she was afraid!

　　Then what’s the point of passing this scenario to her!? She had lost the initiative completely, alright? When she thought about how the girl Ling Yian was just a fodder with Foundation cultivation level, she suddenly felt her organs were aching with pain.

　　Since Realmspirit was able to reverse five minutes of her time, why didn’t he return her back to fifty years ago at one go!?

　　Wait a minute! If she were discovered by others when she left her closed-door training site earlier, wouldn’t that mean…

　　The hell!

　　Zhu Yao immediately woke up from her inner view, and then released her divine sense with all her might to investigate the area. As expected, there were presences of practitioners nearby, and she were unable to discern their cultivation levels. Most likely, their power towered over hers, and from the direction they were heading, they were clearly coming straight towards her.

　　It was already too late for her to run now. What should she do? Was dying once more the only option left? The hell, what happened to the promised all-round technical support?

　　“Ling Tian girly, other than this projector, did Realmspirit give you anything else?” Zhu Yao calmed down, and then she sent a voice transmission to the former owner girl within her body.

　　“Realmspirit said that this was everything you need.” The girl replied, and she had even kindly brought the ball out of the body, making it appear in Zhu Yao’s hands.

　　“What’s the use of a ball!?” -faints-

　　Wait a minute!

　　It wasn’t that simple.

　　Realmspirit said that he would provide all-round technical support. She didn’t believe that a five minutes time reversal skill and a projector were all he had prepared. With that trolling mind of his, he definitely still had something up his sleeves.

　　Zhu Yao carefully inspected the ball in her hands. Could this projector possess several features as well? For example, turning into a mass murdering machine or something similar. After willing it, that ball actually began to light up. Unlike the projection earlier, it actually emitted a green light like a fluorescent ball this time, and it’s shape began to change right after.

　　This is actually electrocardiographic!

　　Zhu Yao grew a little agitated, and she began to be more cautious while holding onto the ball. She silently hoped for the weapon that was about to appear to be easy to wield, and it would be even better if it was a peerless godly artifact. Oh right, it must not have any level restrictions either. A safe-to-use, ultimate universe-class slaughtering weapon fit for all ages and gender. Only a weapon like that could enable her to retreat safe and sound.

　　The light grew brighter, and the ball began to stretch out as its shape constantly changed. With a final sizzling sound, it seemed to have completed its transformation, revealing a snow-white cube. On it, there was a neatly written word – Vinegar!

　　Zhu Yao: “…”

　　Why vinegar!? Do you think we’re in an anime!? This old lady here is encountering a pursuer, not SARS! What’s the use of vinegar here!? No wait, vinegar is useless against SARS too, alright!?

　　Realmspirit, your sister! Why don’t you just give me a brush, so I can just write us off as dead!?

　　The vinegar cube that that had been splattered all over the ground flashed with a green light… and turned into a brush!

　　“…”

　　Give me a moment to think of where I should begin retorting in order to make it sound classier.

　　Realmspirit definitely wasn’t sincere about wanting to save this world, definitely!

　　“Eh? Saintess, there’s wordings on the brush.” Ling Tian girly’s voice suddenly resounded.

　　Zhu Yao picked up the brush. With one glance, it could seen how cheaply made it was. It was covered in dark spots, and the tip of this brown brush was not even sharp to begin with. On its shaft, two words were printed on it in Times New Roman font – Magical Brush!

　　Hoho, and I’m Ma Liang!

　　“Saintess, they’re here.” The girl once again called out.

　　Zhu Yao gritted her teeth. Whatever, let’s do this! Using the dew on the leaves from the tree next to her, she wrote two words on her body – Passerby A!

　　In the next moment, five Azoth disciples suddenly appeared in the sky above her. Dressed in blue and white uniforms, they looked at her with arrogant faces.

　　“Who are you?”

　　“Hi!” Zhu Yao tremblingly raised her hand. “Hello, I’m Ma Liang!”

　　“Why did you trespass into our Spirit Heaven Palace’s Misty Forest?” The disciple asked again.

　　“Uh… I’m lost.” Do you believe me?

　　“Lost?” The disciple frowned. “To actually be lost in a place like this. As expected, wandering practitioners sure are stupid.”

　　The hell, he actually believed it! Is your surname Stupid?

　　That disciple seemed to be extremely impatient. Just as he was about to repulse her, he was stopped by the other disciple next to him. “Senior-martial brother, why the need to waste so much of your breath on a wandering practitioner? Looking at him, he most likely wishes to come under our Spirit Heaven Palace. No need to care about him any further, we have to find Sect… that demonic woman, that is our main priority.”

　　Only then did that disciple calm down a little. He glanced at Zhu Yao below and said. “Hey, the one surnamed Ma!”

　　“Yes!” Surnamed Stupid, is there something you want from me?

　　“Did you see a Foundation female practitioner pass by here? She dresses… in a white robe with a green top.” He asked.

　　Zhu Yao tugged her own white robe with green top a little uneasily, and wildly shook her head. “Nope! Definitely not!”

　　The disciple frowned, whispering. “Strange, she shouldn’t have run far, why haven’t we found her yet?” He once again looked at Zhu Yao with a scornful glance, and coldly said. “Spirit Heaven Palace does not welcome outsiders, you can leave by heading east. Hurry and leave, otherwise, I won’t be courteous again the next time we meet.”

　　After that, he spoke with the other martial brothers, before leaving in a mighty manner.

　　“Thank you!” Zhu Yao waved her hands at the crowd. “Have a safe trip…”

　　Only when she no longer saw their figures did she pull out the first rank mystic artifact she just refined. With trembling hands and legs, she crawled on top of it and flew wildly to the east. In a few moments, she had already exited the forest.

　　Phew~ That was close!

　　Zhu Yao pulled out that cheap and dirty brush. She never expected that it was actually an actual godly artifact! She wrote ‘Passerby A’ on her own body, and those people actually treated her as a passerby! It was as if the possibility of her being Ling Tian had been automatically removed from their brains. Realmspirit was finally reliable for once!

　　“Saintess, we managed to flee. That’s wonderful! You’re so incredible!” Ling Tian girly excitedly said. “With this item, we no longer have to be worried about being discovered.”

　　“That might not be the case!” Zhu Yao glanced at the three words that were about to dry on her body. She added a little more water to the brush and then patched it up again. If her guess was right, the effects of this brush should be similar to Word Enchantment which Qu Qu had mentioned before. However, the scope of the Word Enchantment brought about by this brush was a little broader. “Those few people earlier are just at the Azoth cultivation level, I can’t guarantee that people with higher cultivation levels will be fooled by this.”

　　Ling Tian girly was silent for a moment, before gently speaking up. “At the very least, Saintess and I are safe right now.”

　　“Why are you calling me Saintess?” Zhu Yao had wanted to ask her this for a long while, though she did not manage to find the opportunity earlier.

　　“You came here especially to save me, so naturally you’re a Saintess.” The girl happily said.

　　“Just call me by my name. I’m Zhu Yao.” When called a Saintess, Zhu Yao automatically thought of its nearest synonym – virgin!

　　“Alright, Saintess! Then where are we going now, Saintess? Do you have any other plans, Saintess?”

　　“…”

　　————————————————

　　Zhu Yao felt that the final goal of this mission was to protect Ling Tian girly and prevent her from dying. As long as the girly’s alive, this world would not collapse, and there would not be many similar incidents happening after that. However, looking at the present situation, this goal was difficult to accomplish.

　　Firstly, that Hall Master Cao of Spirit Heaven Palace would not let her go, otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent such a large number of disciples to capture her. Clearly, he had already torn down his entire face for this.

　　Speaking of which, Zhu Yao could not help but look down at the girly a little for her management skills. She was being abused by her subordinates, yet she did not have the strength to fight back. It sure was saddening to see how bad she was at her job as a Sect Master. Zhu Yao wished that she could get Zi Mo, who had abundant experience as a Sect Master, to give her some lessons on how to become an incredible leader.

　　Furthermore, looking at the scenario, the female lead Fan Zhishan became the new Sect Master of Spirit Heaven Palace, so how could she possibly let former owner girly off? With the vast number of men on her side, and every single one of them was an elite with huge forces backing them, a Foundation fodder who had just came online was basically the chopping block. She basically had no strength to retaliate at all.

　　So, the most important thing to do right now was to power up. Only the strongest fist could beat sense into others.

　　Zhu Yao was filled with confidence. To her, cultivation was just a matter of time. However, when she tried drawing in spiritual energy into her body, she realized she was simply too naive.

　　She could not draw in spiritual energy!

　　Earlier, she clearly could control the spiritual energy inside her at will and use arts, but when she tried guiding spiritual energy into her body, there was not a single reaction coming from the spiritual energy in the surroundings!

　　“What’s going on?” This was illogical.

　　“Saintess, that’s because… this is my body.” The girl’s voice weakly resounded. “Though you can control it at will, but… my soul is still present. You are unable to help me raise my cultivation.”

　　Zhu Yao’s face darkened. “In other words, it will only work if you cultivation on your own.”

　　“Mn.”

　　“Then, how long have you cultivated for?”

　　“Fi…”

　　“Five years?”

　　“Fi…fty years!”

　　The hell, she wanted to cuss out at her mom. This speed was simply too slow.

　　“Saintess…” Ling Tian suggested a little guiltily. “Why don’t… we seek help from Grandhall Sect? Grandhall Sect and Spirit Heaven Palace has always been on good terms, furthermore, Reverend Fa Yu and I are old acquaintances. If I inform him of the matter concerning Hall Master Cao’s betrayal, he will definitely exact justice for me.”

　　“Are you certain?” Why did Zhu Yao feel that this was a little unreliable? “You must think this through. That one surnamed Cao and the female lead from Sleipoup Sect… that Fan Zhishan, they are already hooked up together. Will Grandhall Sect really go against Sleipoup Sect for your sake?”

　　Ling Tian grew a little hesitant after hearing that. “If this doesn’t work either… We will have no choice but to go to Itshavenwill Secret Realm. I heard from rumours that there’s an ancient technique there that can instantly raise someone’s cultivation to that of a Demigod, though it is surrounded by danger. Even its borders are being guarded by tenth rank mutated beasts, I’m afraid…”

　　“Let us talk about seeking help from Grandhall Sect then.”

　　“…”

　　————————————

　　In the end, Zhu Yao decided to head over to Grandhall Sect. From what she heard from the girl, the relationship between Grandhall Sect and Spirit Heaven Palace is indeed far from shallow.

　　The Spirit Heaven Palace in the early ages was the strongest deity sect in this world. Because of the reincarnation of the Heaven’s Pillar, every generation of Sect Masters was someone with extraordinary aptitudes, and all of them were called Ling Tian. However, the Heaven’s Pillar was a patch for this world in the first place. Following the subsequent reincarnations, the patch upload was beginning to near its completion. Thus, the aptitude of the reincarnated Sect Masters began to worsen, with every subsequent generation growing weaker than before. The Ling Tian girly now was the final one, which was akin to the patch upload from the previous Sect Masters totaling to ninety-nine percent, while Ling Tian girly was that final one percent.

　　Thus, Spirit Heaven Palace no longer enjoyed its former glory. Furthermore, compared to other sects where power was revered, Spirit Heaven Palace neither chose their Sect Masters through popular vote nor through judging of one’s strength. Instead, at the moment of each Sect Master’s lifespan was about to be depleted, they would first prophecise where and when the next Sect Master would appear, and have the sect disciples look for him or her. Thus, Ling Tian girly was already a Sect Master at the moment of her birth.

　　Of course, in the cultivation world, no matter how great someone’s status was, it was all but a false image without absolute strength. The past Spirit Heaven Sect Masters were revered in altars by the masses, and this could be understood due to their incredible aptitude and future impressive cultivation levels. This was why the masses accepted Spirit Heaven Palace’s method of passing down leadership back then. Not to mention, it faintly added some flavour akin to legends. However, as the quality of the Sect Masters continued to dip in a straight line, this method naturally began to garner suspicion from the rest. This was especially so for people with actual strength, and division was something that was bound to happen.

　　Grandhall Sect was once one of Spirit Heaven Palace’s branches. Later on, it slowly grew larger and stronger, gaining independence. However, it still had a subtle relationship with Spirit Heaven Palace. The Reverend Fa Yu that the girl spoke of was presently the Sect Master of Grandhall Sect. From what Zhu Yao heard from the girl, he was also her childhood friend, though it had been a long time since she they last met. However, they seemed to be the type with a tight relationship.

　　When the girl spoke of this, even her tone had become rather spirited, carrying a flavour of pride that even she didn’t realize herself.

　　Zhu Yao frowned. That unreliable feeling grew heavier. Speaking from her experience, childhood friends would all die and all that would be left were memories of them.

　　Thus, when they finally managed to infiltrate into Grandhall Sect and saw that man conversing happily with the female lead Fan Zhishan in the hall, Zhu Yao did not feel shocked in the least at all.

　　“Then I will entrust this task to Sect Master Fa Yu.”

　　“Little sister Fan is too courteous, this one naturally believes little sister. To tell you the truth, I had long seen through that demonic woman Ling Tian. She’s dangerous and sly, possessing a deep scheming heart. She has been acting for these few years. This one has never understood how such a person is worthy of becoming the Sect Master of Spirit Heaven Palace. I have to thank little sister Fan for the reminder, as thanks to you, I was able to receive an enlightenment.”

　　“Big brother Fan Yu, you’re too courteous! I just find it unbearable to see the masses being lied to, so I came here especially to inform you. I was born at the same time as her, so it is understandable that the entrusted Elder that came to pick me up took someone else by mistake. Big sister Ling Tian can’t be blamed for this… I had been wandering outside for many years, and I finally… I have never resented big sister Ling Tian.”

　　“Haah! You’re just too kind-hearted. You’re actually still speaking on her behalf. If not because she deliberately concealed this fact, why would I only find this out now? You’re the true Sect Master of Spirit Heaven Palace. If not because you incidentally awakened the Spirit Guiding Beast, no one would have been able to expose that fake. Don’t worry. Everyone knows about that poisonous woman now. My Grandhall Sect will also use all available resources to aid you in capturing her.”

　　“Big brother Fa Yu…”

　　“Little sister Fan…”

　　The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. It was as if she could hear an in-game announcement:

　　Congratulations, Female Lead has received Number Nth Male Lead x1

　　Harem Members +1. Current Total: **

　　The life of a R-18 female lead sure was blinding to the eyes!

　　It seemed like this help-seeking route was a dead end. Just as Zhu Yao was about to retreat, she felt a chill on her cheeks, as water began to flow out of her eyes. The water droplets dripped straight onto the ‘transparent’ word written on her chest, instantly smudging the stains. “The hell, Ling Tian girly, don’t cry!”

　　“Who is it!?” A loud roar sounded from the hall.

　　We’re doomed!

　　1. The name Ling Tian is actually the same as the sect (Spirit Heaven Palace) itself.

　　2. Ma Liang is actually the main character in an old stop-motion film named ‘Ma Liang and his Magic Brush’. Basically, whatever he draws with the magic brush, it would come to life.

　　3. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, many people in China believed that vinegar fumes were able to disinfect the virus. The price of vinegar surged due to panic buying, going up to about 200 to 300 yuan per 200g bottle, when it’s usually about 6 yuan (USD$1) for one.