Chapter 6: The Three Essentials Of Casting Spell
In the cave, water dripped steadily.
Fang Shu sat cross-legged, holding a piece of gray fox fur in his hands, with the pouch turned inside out, already inscribed with thirteen bloody complex characters written in blood.
These were precisely thirteen beads of Immortal Studies secret script.
Each one was drawn by Fang Shu with his own essence blood, not a single stroke could be erratic, and it required completing in one go.
Therefore, even after comprehending the magic thoroughly, he still spent nearly half a month to write these secret script characters onto the fox fur.
Even so, it was because he had experience sacrificing and refining the Long Tongue Sword.
Moreover, the sacrifice and refinement method for the Fur-Shedding and Skin-Changing Technique was even simpler than that of the Long Tongue Sword; it only required writing with blood characters, unlike the Long Tongue Sword which needed tattooing onto flesh.
In the dim light.
Fang Shu lowered his head to look at the blood-colored secret script on the fox fur.
He wiped his mouth with his hand again, removing the long tongue from his mouth.
He dangled the long tongue over the fox fur, using the tongue tip to sense the qi and blood flow within the fox fur, checking if it was harmonious.
These secret scripts, whether written or engraved on the magic tool, were not isolated from each other but formed a “restriction,” just like the meridians in the human body.
Only after refining the restriction could the embryonic tool be transformed into a controllable magic tool; otherwise, it remained a lump of dead matter.
After carefully sensing it, Fang Shu confirmed he had not wasted the piece of fox fur in his hands.
He immediately let out a sigh of relief and lightly sighed:
“No secret script, no learning the technique; no restriction, no completing the tool.”
Additionally.
According to his Second Uncle, Immortal Studies was a discipline of empirical validation.
Cultivators who learned magic and refined magic tools still needed magic power as a bridge to connect the former two, in order to cast them externally and bring great power to themselves.
Magic, magic tool, magic power—these three were truly one.
They complemented each other, interlocked ring by ring, indispensable; this was called “the three essentials of casting spell.”
Without magic, one could not refine magic tools; without magic tools, one could not utilize magic; and without magic power, it was like a starving strongman—even with skills and tools, nothing could be exerted.
Of course, Fang Shu had not yet entered the Dao; he had not a bit of immortal cultivator magic power on him.
Fortunately, “essence blood” could also serve as magic power, though the cost was harming the body and shortening lifespan, not suitable for frequent use.
Fang Shu pondered in his mind:
“Casting magic in this world is quite different from the storytelling books in that dream life’s world.
Casting spell actually requires a magic tool for coordination; it seems quite cumbersome and not very convenient.”
He himself had inquired and asked around.
He discovered that only in ancient immortal tales did immortal cultivators treat magic as magic and magic tools as magic tools, with the two not closely related.
Fang Shu thought to himself:
“Perhaps the current magic, as Second Uncle said, should truly be called ‘Art of Spellcasting.’
Immortal cultivators call it ‘Immortal’ for its fine name, but it actually has little otherworldly air and should more properly be called ‘Fang Shi’ or ‘Art of Spellcasting Practitioner.'”
However, when in Rome, do as the Romans do; since the world called it so, he would follow the crowd.
Additionally.
The current magic（Art of Spellcasting）, though cumbersome in cultivation and casting.
But once cultivated proficiently, it was more convenient and swift than the magic in ancient immortal tales.
Because casting many magics required no chanting incantations or circulating energy, no hand seals or foot steps, but issued with a single thought, like the limbs and fingers of the human body!
This was related to the materials used in sacrificing and refining magic tools and the methods for storing them.
Regarding materials, immortal cultivators could select not only monsters but also gold, silver, copper, iron, thunder, rain, dew; hearts, livers, spleens, stomachs; eyes, ears, noses, throats; even a cultivator’s own three souls and seven spirits…
All things in the world could become tools!
And after a magic tool was refined, it could be worn outside the body as robe or adornments, or placed inside the body as organs, constantly nurtured on the person; large or small, ever-changing.
Additionally.
When Fang Shu first delved into Immortal Studies, he was still worrying needlessly and wrote to ask Second Uncle:
“Even so, what if an immortal cultivator’s magic tools are all stolen? Would they not be reduced to their original form, no different from mortals?”
His Second Uncle’s reply to this was extremely brief:
“One who can pull your long tongue can also sever your head.”
After a moment of reverie.
Fang Shu gathered his thoughts and thought no more.
He checked the fox fur magic tool in his hands several times again, and after confirming no deficiencies, he immediately stood up, holding the fox fur and chanting:
“Demon skin as guide, my body transforms into that.
Fur-Shedding and Skin-Changing, transformation by self.”
In the cave, he had already set up a crude altar, with human hair, human armor, human saliva placed in it, and fox heart, fox eyes, fox fur arranged.
Demonic energy loomed, wild aura thick.
As he mounted the altar to chant and tread the astral steps, within six feet around, yellow paper crackled and fluttered in the wind.
With the magic tool refined, it should now be taken for one’s own use.
What he was doing now was the final sacrifice and refinement, integrating the tool onto the body.
Chirp chirp!
Suddenly, a fox cry echoed in the cave.
It was Fang Shu hunching his body, draping the shawl-like fox fur over himself, landing on all fours, and making sounds from his mouth.
Suddenly, he bit his tongue tip and spat toward the surrounding yellow paper.
Whoosh! The yellow paper ignited upon contact with blood, emitting a thick incense scent, and gradually forming a fox-shaped smoke that darted about in the cave.
This was precisely him using his own essence blood as the trigger, serving as magic power to drive the magic and magic tool.
Fang Shu tilted his head back, exerting his lungs, swallowing all the fox-shaped smoke into his body.
Immediately, his voice became strange, sharp and urgent, like a fox cry or human speech, reciting an incantation:
“Borrow your power, manifest my miracle!”
Chirp!
His figure suddenly crouched low, wriggling strangely, shrinking bones to six feet in size.
When Fang Shu raised his head again, his eyes were already narrow and long, gray fur growing on his face, features sharp—a living fox face.
He coiled his body, grooming fur and licking paws on the altar, shaking out his whole body, discovering that from face to tail, from back to claws, all was fox-like.
At this moment, he was thoroughly a fox from head to tail, far beyond what an Illusion Technique talisman disguise could compare.
Whoosh whoosh.
He leaped out of the altar, prowling everywhere in the cave, darting up and down.
The cave, which had seemed quite dim in his eyes before, now was no different from daytime.
Moreover, various scents appeared in his mouth and nose; his sense of smell was more than ten times sharper than when in human form.
After transforming into a fox, Fang Shu opened his long tongue, swiftly spitting out the Tongue Sword from his mouth.
In fox form, he could still use the Tongue Sword, and it differed somewhat from human form—its ghostly agility doubled, making it even easier to wield the sword in darkness and assassinate enemies.
After playing around thoroughly.
Fang Shu stood upright, grinning on his fox face, extending a claw to peel the fox fur from his face.
His body leaped out from the fox fur, crackling as it grew large, transforming back into human form.
As for the fox fur he removed, it did not fall to the ground as a pile of fur.
It swayed unsteadily, fur closing up, becoming a smirking furry fox, lightly spinning a few circles in place on its own.
When its pair of lifeless eyes slowly met Fang Shu’s.
Chirp!
A fox cry came from Fang Shu’s mouth, and it pounced with a rub, climbing onto his neck and coiling into a fox fur hood.
Stroking the smooth fox fur at his neck, Fang Shu could not help but look exhilarated and excited, saying:
“Fortunate! Another magic cultivated.”
With this technique, traveling in mountains and wilderness henceforth would be much more convenient and concealed.
In critical moments, he could even shed this fox fur like a gecko dropping its tail to escape unscathed, preserving life.
Upon reaching the Immortal Cultivator Marketplace, he could even consider selling this fox fur to bolster his funds.
The more he thought, the happier Fang Shu became.
Moreover, this fox fur had just been sacrifice refined; once he nurtured it for a long time and used some medicinal herbs to deepen the sacrifice and refinement.
It might advance from an unranked magic tool to a ranked First Tribulation Magic Tool.
At that time, it could bring him even greater value!
Fang Shu anticipated it.
With the magic tool sacrifice refined, no need to linger here.
He glanced at the messy cave, his intent to leave surging.
Immediately, Fang Shu packed up the belongings in the cave, then pinched the Light Body Talisman and leaped out of this cave.
When he landed, he puffed into a gray-furred fox again.
His four feet stepped out, testing a few times, then darting swiftly at the cliff base.
In the blink of an eye, Fang Shu vanished into the mountain forest, traceless like a wild fox.
