Chapter 160: Chapter 159: Illusion God Mask

[Name: Chu Mu]

[Skills: Basic Sword Technique (Peak of Perfection) 1036/10000, Fireball Skill (Refined Skill) 123/5000]

[Body Refining Technique (1000/1000)]

[Flame Decision: First Layer (475/1000)]

[Alchemy: Dragon and Snake Soup: Refined Skill (1300/2000), Grain Avoidance Pill: Beginner’s Practice (96/100)]

[Spiritual Radiance Value: 1956.3%]

Gazing at the stats on the Light Curtain Panel, Chu Mu was lost in thought.

That one slash, which had nearly resulted in mutual destruction, had increased his Sword Technique Skill Level by a thousand points.

The sharpness of the blade, once illusory, had now manifested into a tangible, observable Illusory Long Saber.

Based on his recent perception and observation, he could basically confirm that this transformation hadn’t brought about any major strange changes. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

It had only slightly amplified the positive effects he had noticed before. In other words, the source of the "radiation" had grown larger, and thus the radiation itself had naturally increased.

His only relief was that the appearance of the Illusory Long Saber seemed to have suppressed the damage to his Divine Soul. Under the tempering fluctuations, the damage was slowly being ground away.

He was truly, genuinely relieved!

Without this change, he truly had no idea where he would have found the Treasures of Heaven and Earth needed to heal a damaged Divine Soul.

As his thoughts reached this point, Chu Mu couldn’t help but grit his teeth. This whole disaster had been so unfair!

Since entering the Cultivation Immortal Realm, he had been as careful as he possibly could be!

He hadn’t offended anyone, had greeted everyone with a smile, and had kept such a low profile that he was practically invisible.

And yet, he still got swept up in this senseless catastrophe. If it weren’t for the strange transformation brought on by his Sword Technique reaching the Peak of Perfection, he would have been 100% dead this time.

And the cause of it all was simply the collapse of the Grand Array at the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace.

Before, the law of the jungle in the Cultivation Immortal Realm—natural selection, survival of the fittest—had been little more than something he’d heard about.

His only direct experience had been outside the Yutai Mine, back when he had yet to set foot on the Immortal Path.

But this time, he was right inside the Marketplace, under the protection of the Cultivation Immortal Realm’s order.

Just because the Grand Array broke, just because of a small window of conflict between the Longevity Sect and the Sun Family...

In the blink of an eye, that order had disintegrated, and the law of the jungle had descended.

It was too abrupt, too... real...

It was as if the Cultivation Immortal Realm he had only ever heard about had been laid bare right before his eyes. It had even dragged him in and nearly cost him his life.

Hearing about something is one thing, but seeing it is another. And experiencing it firsthand left an even deeper impression.

Chu Mu pressed his lips together. He was discovering that in this Cultivation Immortal Realm, perhaps the most useless thing was the so-called morality he retained from his past life.

After a long moment, he managed to suppress the complex emotions in his heart. Closing his eyes, he replayed the life-and-death struggle in the room, meticulously analyzing his first experience in a Battle against a Cultivator.

’I lack defensive measures... and my methods are too one-dimensional...’

Chu Mu silently summed up the lessons. Though he had imagined clashing with Cultivators countless times before, this firsthand experience had shattered all his expectations.

His Fireball Skill couldn’t even break through their defenses. How was he supposed to fight?

’In the end, it all comes down to Cultivation!’

Chu Mu shook his head and pulled out a bulging pile of items from his robes, laying them on the ground in front of him.

After taking inventory, Chu Mu ended up holding a Talisman, his brow tightly furrowed.

There wasn’t much: the Token that had triggered the incident, a mask, a damaged Talisman, a Jade Bottle, and a Spirit Stone Bag.

’Something’s not right...’

Chu Mu murmured, trying his best to recall the moment he collected his spoils.

His head had been splitting, and he had been dizzy. The memory was fragmented and somewhat unclear.

It wasn’t until he used "Spiritual Radiance Blessing" and carefully sorted through his thoughts that the memory of collecting the spoils became perfectly clear.

He had first searched the body, pulling the Talisman, Jade Bottle, and Spirit Stone Bag from the man’s robes. And then...

Chu Mu’s pupils shrank as he suddenly stared at the mask.

The reconstructed memory was crystal clear. After the black-robed man died, he had looted the spoils, then noticed something strange about the man’s face. After pulling it off, he found this mask. The man’s original face was completely different from the one the mask had shown.

’A Magical Artifact?’

Chu Mu’s heart pounded in his chest. It could change one’s appearance, and his Divine Sense hadn’t even detected anything unusual. This was not something a mundane disguise technique could accomplish!

He picked up the mask and tentatively enveloped it with his Divine Sense, a faint sense of resistance welling up in his mind.

Chu Mu couldn’t hide his delight. He knew this much: all Magical Artifacts had a Restriction and had to be put through Refinement before they could be used.

Resistance meant there was a Restriction. And a Restriction on an item taken from someone else meant there was bound to be a remnant Divine Sense imprint left behind by the original owner.

To control this Magical Artifact, he would need to erase that remnant Divine Sense imprint and then go through the Refinement of the artifact’s Restriction. Only then could he truly claim it as his own.

Impatient, Chu Mu immediately mobilized his Divine Sense, intending to obliterate the remnant Divine Sense imprint the black-robed man had left on the mask.

The black-robed man was already dead, so the remnant Divine Sense imprint was just an inert thing. With the existence of the Illusory Long Saber, even with his damaged Divine Soul, it took him no effort at all to completely grind away the man’s lingering spiritual imprint.

After spending more than an hour on the Refinement of the Restriction, information about the Magical Artifact itself flooded into his mind, and Chu Mu could no longer contain his joy.

A Magical Artifact, an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, and a Support-type Upper Grade Magical Artifact at that!

The mask was called the Illusion God Mask.

It had three functions: changing one’s appearance, concealing one’s Cultivation, and masking one’s Divine Soul Aura.

The face could be changed at will. Under the control of his Divine Sense, it was just like the character creation "face sculpting" in the games of his past life; every feature could be manipulated as he pleased.

As for concealing one’s Cultivation—a Cultivator’s Cultivation is the process of Breathing Spiritual Qi and using Refinement to turn it into Magical Power. What manifests in one’s Divine Sense Perception is the bright radiance of that Magical Power.

This mask could conceal a Cultivator’s own Magical Power radiance. Even if other Cultivators tried to inspect him with their Divine Sense Perception, unless they could break through the power of this Upper Grade Illusion God Mask, they would be unable to see his true Cultivation.

And as for masking one’s Divine Soul Aura...

Every Cultivator’s Divine Soul Aura is unique. All contracts and registrations in the Marketplace are based on the Divine Soul.

In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, a Divine Soul Aura was the equivalent of DNA from his past life. To mask one’s Divine Soul Aura was to mask one’s identity.

Add to that concealing his Cultivation and changing his appearance...

Chu Mu was starting to understand why, despite sensing that he was being watched, he had never been able to find the person spying on him.

With a mask like this, it would have been a miracle if he *had* found them.

Changing one’s appearance, concealing one’s Cultivation, and masking one’s Divine Soul Aura—with these three functions combined, he could transform into anyone he wanted!

As long as no Cultivator forcefully inspected his Divine Soul Aura, or was so high-level in their Cultivation that they could ignore the Illusion God Mask’s concealment, there was basically no possibility of being exposed!

And since the Illusion God Mask was an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, it was likely that not even a Foundation Establishment Powerhouse could ignore its effects.

Chu Mu couldn’t hide his glee as he toyed with the Illusion God Mask. Ideas swirled in his mind. In this Cultivation Immortal Realm, with this Illusion God Mask... many things would become much, much simpler.

He played with it for a long time, changing through one face after another, finally settling on a very plain, composite face.

The mask molded to his face as if it were natural, showing no signs of being out of place.

Only then did Chu Mu turn his attention to the other items on the ground. After a quick inventory, the list of spoils was clear.

The Spirit Stone Bag contained thirteen Lower Grade Spirit Stones and five Broken Spirits. The Jade Bottle held about ten pills, but he would need to identify their specific properties.

As for this damaged Talisman...

He examined it closely, trying to discern its function with his limited knowledge.

Finally...

Chu Mu’s mouth twitched. This... This was a Storage Talisman!

Why was it damaged?

A damaged Storage Talisman meant that the temporary space created within it would have also been destroyed. Naturally, any items stored in that temporary space would have vanished along with it.

Suddenly, Chu Mu felt the urge to curse. This was a Storage Talisman! Who knew how many good things had been inside it!

...