Symbiotic panel, I am cultivating immortality in the world of immortality

Chapter 157 The "Immortals" in the Ink Painting World

What unfolded before him was a world within a painting.

In that world, there was a circular building with five floors, each floor exquisitely constructed, even the walls painted with ink wash were full of beauty and luxury.

It seems that every part was meticulously crafted.

"Tulou?"

What surprised Li Ye was the building itself—he had originally thought it might be a small courtyard, a thatched hut, or simply a piece of land.

The result was unexpected: a huge and exquisite circular pavilion.

When he stepped into this place, he could feel that the space was very "dry" and lacked any vitality.

It was even drawing spiritual energy from him, as if countless tentacles were surging towards him, their suckers tightly binding him, giving him a very unpleasant feeling.

He glanced at the black cat, his eyes questioning.

"This is a necessary process for recognizing God."

The black cat walked beside him, its tone tinged with nostalgia: "Only by imbuing this world in the painting with your own magic can it truly belong to you."

"So what benefits can this world bring me? I think it would take at least three or four third-tier spiritual veins to permeate this place with spiritual energy."

Li Ye looked up at the central courtyard of the Tulou, from where he could see the sky above the dome painted in black and white ink, with fluffy white clouds drifting by.

It is indeed very beautiful; this ink painting truly matches his aesthetic sense.

There is no doubt that this is a small world.

If it were any other cultivator, they would probably be overjoyed.

But does he really lack a small world?
For the Four Seasons Sect, creating small worlds and distributing them to disciples is a simple matter—as long as an inner disciple reaches the Golden Core stage, they can obtain a Sumeru ring with a small cave heaven.

Moreover, he himself possessed the Jianmu Cave Heaven.

Now that Li Ye has seen a lot of good things, she's started to care about what benefits these things can bring her.

After all, his energy is really limited.

The black cat understood what Li Ye meant.

After thinking carefully, it explained, "This world within a painting can collect all the supernatural powers and spells you have ever learned and turn them into scrolls, even those from spiritual plants and beasts."

You can practice your supernatural powers and spells here at any time.

In addition, this painting allows you to create life forms within it using the "Life-Giving Scroll" supernatural power.

Li Ye frowned slightly: "Performing magic and farming? But the predecessor of this place should be a small world of a Confucian cultivator, and it is also related to the immortal in the painting."

Are these two abilities alone insufficient?

"Furthermore, this place can accommodate yin energy and souls; they will not dissipate if they live here!"

Black Cat suddenly became a little nervous. Could it be that Li Ye wouldn't want to?
What if Li Ye doesn't want it?

“Yin energy and soul…” Li Ye curled his lips. “Can’t I nourish my soul in other places? Or is it that this world in the painting can repair the soul and nurture the soul body?”

His interest has indeed started to wane.

As things stand, we need to use a massive amount of spiritual energy to recover here, but the benefits offered are neither urgently needed nor irreplaceable.

"..."

The black cat remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "Currently, only the locust and bamboo spirit scrolls have this ability."

If you can collect the remaining three scrolls of plum blossom, orchid, and chrysanthemum, and combine all five scrolls, you can summon this world from the painting into the real world.

At that time, you can freely paint and modify mountains and rivers, and even erase cultivators who oppose you..."

"Wait!" Li Ye interrupted it, asking in confusion, "Making changes at will sounds very powerful, but are there any requirements regarding magical power? What level do I need to reach?"

"Uh."

"It should be at least the late stage of the Golden Core realm."

The black cat considered his answer for a moment before replying.

"Late stage of Golden Core?"

Li Ye couldn't help but laugh. If he were to reach the late Golden Core stage with his supernatural abilities and the support of the sect's wondrous techniques, moving mountains and filling seas would probably not be a difficult task.

As for a magical duel... wouldn't he engage in one at that time?

The black cat was truly speechless after Li Ye's words. It seemed that this inheritance was not particularly important to Li Ye.

The world within the painting itself didn't seem to offer Li Ye as much help as the previous supernatural abilities.

Li Ye had stopped walking.

It seems they don't plan to go any further inside.

The black cat jumped around anxiously, and finally revealed its last ability: "Spirit can also be cultivated here."

The residual spirituality you gathered through the Life-Giving Spirit Scroll can grow stronger here, and then be used to nourish other races of the same kind.

Cultivating spirituality?
Li Ye then became interested.

That makes sense. The birth of a fairy in a painting must be due to the accumulation of spiritual energy—the life-giving and spirit-nurturing method recorded in the Bamboo Spirit Scroll has that kind of ability, and this must be related to that ability.

So why is the black cat unwilling to talk?

This power is so special that it's bound to pique Li Ye's curiosity.

So its concealment is for the sake of some possible "spirituality" that exists here—it wants to cultivate this spirituality with its own hands.

This is something Li Ye cannot accept no matter what.

Fortunately, he had already prepared countermeasures against the black cat.

It seems it's time to resolve this hidden danger. This creature has never clearly acknowledged a master and is suspected of having other owners, yet it enjoys the convenience brought by its cave dwelling, which is clearly unacceptable.

Li Ye looked at the black cat and smiled slightly:

"You are being dishonest."

"Even if this is a world within a painting that you can control, do you really think you can deceive me, Black Cat?"

"Have you forgotten what supplies you with spiritual energy? Haven't you considered that the Spirit Vein Willow grows entirely according to my will, doesn't that subtly influence you?"

The spiritual energy injected into the Huai Ling Scroll outside by the connection of the Spirit Vein Willow suddenly boiled up, and even the spiritual energy that had already merged into the scroll could not escape it.

The spiritual energy within the bamboo spirit scroll was also being extracted.

That was the foundation that made up the world in this painting, and now that the foundation has been removed, it is naturally becoming shaky.

In Li Ye's smile, the world is on the verge of destruction.

The black cat was greatly shocked.

It hadn't expected that the spiritual energy it had absorbed into the book could still be controlled in this way. Didn't that mean that Li Ye could control it by controlling the spiritual energy?
It immediately realized why, even after Li Ye arrived at the Four Seasons Sect, he hadn't offered it more spiritual veins; it was still the same first-tier spiritual vein.

So that's what the consideration was!

"I'll only give you this one chance," Li Ye said calmly to the black cat. "Before, you didn't hide anything from me, so I was able to convince myself not to harm you."

But now you're starting to hide things, and that's something I can't accept.

I only have one chance. If you cannot offer me absolute loyalty, then I will have no choice but to destroy you, even if it hurts.

Even if we lose a very powerful lineage, it doesn't matter.

I have it, and I can afford to lose it.

He wasn't just issuing a simple warning; he was also channeling his power, as if he truly intended to destroy it. The spiritual energy within the Locust Spirit Scroll and the Bamboo Spirit Scroll was being extracted even faster.

During this period, almost all the spiritual power stored in the black cat was taken out, and its eyes gradually lost their luster.

The ink painting of this world in the painting also began to collapse.

"..."

The black cat let out a long sigh.

It now realized that all the spiritual energy that the Spirit Vein Willow had supplied to it was tainted with Li Ye's aura. This aura had become one with the spiritual power, and even it hadn't noticed it.

"I will obey your orders."

A beating ink-wash heart flew out of its body, just like the heart model seen before the journey, very realistic—but it was a human heart.

The heart was brought before Li Ye, literally meaning "opening one's heart."

A tiny point of light, hidden within the heart, was revealed.

That is its "true spirit".

Li Ye nodded in satisfaction, imprinted his own magic power and divine sense onto the True Spirit, and then gave the order:

"Show me what you're trying to hide."

Does the fairy in the painting really exist?

At this point, the black cat was no longer able to resist or object; it could only obediently lead the way, not forgetting to introduce itself:
"Besides me, the Huai Ling Scroll also houses the immortals from the painting that the old master never managed to depict successfully."

"I lied to you before because I wanted to provide her with spirituality."

As it spoke, it led Li Ye to an ordinary-looking house in the Tulou and pushed open the door.

Li Ye originally thought that "the fairy in the painting" was still a person, no matter what.

Inside the house, right in the center, lay a fox, its large, fluffy tail and its body spotless white without a single stray hair.

[Name]: Painting Fox
[Mood]: Bitter, sad

[Status]: Lacking spirituality, unable to move, and will continue to weaken as spirituality gradually diminishes until death.

"fox?"

Li Ye circled around the white fox and looked at it. It was indeed very beautiful, especially its fluffy tail, which looked like it would feel great to touch.

But does this have anything to do with the fairy in the painting?
When Zhu Lingjuan transformed into bamboo, the fairy in the painting he saw should have been a woman, right?

"Actually, the old master did not like humans."

Black Cat was somewhat embarrassed to talk about it: "He was fond of all kinds of human beings transformed from mythical beasts, among whom he was most infatuated with the Jade Rabbit in the Moon Palace and the legendary fox demon who had a very deep relationship with the scholar."

What you saw earlier was the Jade Rabbit Fairy, who had already transformed into human form.

This is the fox spirit who has not yet been able to completely step out of the painting.

Beings like me, with my dark fur, were never held in his arms to comfort him…

Towards the end, there was a hint of resentment in its voice.

Li Ye: “…”

"Stop talking!"

"You're clearly a male cat... huh?"

Some of the positive impressions people had of their predecessors were gradually crumbling. Li Ye let out a deep breath, unwilling to continue on this topic.
"What does it mean that only this one method can mend a broken mirror?"

According to Li Ye's previous idea, that senior must have lost his beloved and poured his love into the painting, hoping that the creatures in the painting would come to life.

But now it seems that this is not the case.

"Actually, it was just that the old master accidentally destroyed a painting, so he was heartbroken and wanted to paint another one," the black cat replied.

Upon hearing this, Li Ye couldn't help but cover his head.

—Through the master-servant contract already signed, he knew that the black cat was not lying, and things really were just that absurd.

If this continues, all his impressions of that senior will collapse. How could there be such a person!
He really couldn't complain.

The only option was to change the subject: "Why do you want it to complete its development? How will it benefit you?"

"Oh, that was a task my old master left me." The black cat glanced at the painted fox with disgust. "But now that you're my master, why don't we skin this fox spirit alive and pull out its tendons!"

It was eager to pounce, its paw pads revealing sharp claws like drawn knives, as if it would pounce at Li Ye's command.

"..."

Li Ye felt that he hadn't been speechless as many times as he had been recently.

However, to the black cat, this really does seem to be a fox spirit. It clearly loves its old master, yet it has to shoulder the task of helping the fox spirit recover every day.

So, did it intentionally expose itself this time?

If that's true, then this black cat really is black from head to toe.

But he felt that the senior was just a fanatical spirit beast enthusiast, or rather, someone who liked handsome or beautiful humans with beast-like features.

He glanced at the black cat without making a sound, shook his head and said, "No need, it should also be considered a kind of spirit beast."

I happen to have some methods for controlling beasts; I can try them on it.

Li Ye walked to the fox's side, stretched out his hand, and used the beast-taming technique that Master Zhao had taught him before.

Its name is "Five Elements Spirit Control Technique".

All spiritual beings that are still within the Five Elements can be controlled, including this painted fox.

He still has some doubts and will ask them after Hua Hu wakes up.

Five chains of different colors extended from his palm, binding the painted fox from head to tail, the chains penetrating deep into the fox's limbs, bones, soul, and consciousness.

Finally, they converged towards the fox's forehead.

It transformed into a colorful gemstone, quietly set in its forehead.

Then the fox suddenly opened its eyes.

The eyes, rendered with ink wash techniques, are incredibly expressive.

The voice that spoke was that of a clear, young girl: "Master!"

It stood up lightly, its large tail wrapped around Li Ye's leg once, and gently rubbed its head against Li Ye's leg, saying affectionately:

"I can help you control this world within the painting."

"That dark creature over there, you should lock it up, it's really in the way."

"That's right, that's right, this is my true spirit!"

A crescent-shaped inner core was spat out by the white fox and flew to Li Ye's front. It glanced at the black cat beside it, who was furious but dared not retaliate.

Li Ye glanced at the inner core, then at the soft, white fox rubbing against his thigh, and finally understood why that senior didn't "favor" the black cat.

This……

There are indeed some differences between the two.

The gap is quite large.

(End of this chapter)