Chapter 33: Spirituality And Distortion
“It’s not, but it’s not the environmental pollution in the general public’s cognition.”
“How so?” Wu Xian was puzzled.
Tang Beng thought for a moment, organizing his words, “It’s roughly that when the spiritual structure collapses, it produces an invisible and intangible pollution, which the Scroll Painter world calls 【Twisted Pollution】. This pollution subtly affects everything and also exacerbates the chaos of dimensional fluctuations.”
“Pollution formed by spiritual collapse?”
Wu Xian couldn’t help but recall the scene every time he extracted spiritual substances from materials, where the remaining spiritual substances collapsed along with the materials.
“That’s right,” Tang Beng nodded, “The production of spiritual drawing paper and pigments, including the process of recycling spirituality into spiritual energy, all produce Twisted Pollution.”
“Is there no solution at all?”
Tang Beng helplessly spread his hands.
Wu Xian couldn’t help but fall silent; this was like a paradoxical dead end.
Wanting development would cause pollution, and pollution would affect human survival.
“You just said Twisted Pollution subtly affects everything, what else?” Wu Xian asked seriously.
Tang Beng said: “Everything you can see and think of, including you and me, will inevitably be affected by 【Twisted Pollution】, just to different degrees.”
“People will be affected too?” Wu Xian was shocked.
“Of course,” Tang Beng said noncommittally, “But us humans have high resistance to 【Twisted Pollution】. Mild, small amounts can be metabolized daily, but once there’s too much, all sorts of problems arise.
You’re definitely not unfamiliar with this aspect.”
Wu Xian fell silent again.
Having grown up in the shantytown, he naturally knew the living conditions of the shantytown people, with all sorts of diseases he’d never even heard of in his previous life emerging endlessly, and even many cases of mental instability.
He originally thought it was due to the poor living environment, but now it seems it really was due to the “living environment” being too poor.
“Generally speaking, the higher the spiritual power cultivation, the stronger the resistance to Twisted Pollution.” Tang Beng added.
No wonder the Trash Processing Plant only hired employees with spiritual power cultivation, and the employees generally had short lifespans.
“Ah~ why worry about these useless things?” Tang Tiaotiao was naturally optimistic and clearly didn’t care about Twisted Pollution, “Let’s go, let’s go, kill monsters!”
Wu Xian and Tang Beng exchanged a glance and silently followed.
Since it couldn’t be avoided, what was the point of worrying more?
Near the Trash Processing Plant, people from all walks gathered, and many had already killed into the factory area internal.
Wu Xian controlled Chicken King and Guardian Tiger, silently hanging back behind the Tang Family siblings.
Worth mentioning was that Tang Beng’s main Scroll Painting was actually a Silver Scroll Four-Star Plant Element painted spirit, with vines wrapping around its entire body and lush branches and leaves.
“Tang Bro, this is 【Melancholy Treant】, right?”
He remembered that for a while last year, advertisements for this Plant Element Scroll Painting were everywhere, and it was said to have topped the sales volume list.
“Yeah, the latest flagship series from Grass and Wood Dojo,” Tang Beng seemed somewhat complaining, “Regretted it shortly after buying.”
“Is it very weak?”
“Not quite, at least it’s pretty tough, just not quite what I expected.”
While chatting and laughing, the Melancholy Treant under Tang Beng’s control swung its vines, occasionally releasing a patch of emerald green poisonous fog with considerable power.
But compared to the Moon God Heavenly Rider nearby, it was a bit awkward.
“What about Tang Bro’s own works?” Wu Xian was puzzled.
“My Tang Family mechanical inheritance leans toward equipment.”
Tang Beng didn’t hide it, raising his hand to activate another Silver Scroll Painting.
Click! Click! Click!
As the Scroll Painting’s light flowed, it turned into a cool mechanical arm that wrapped around Tang Beng’s right arm, with the wrist transforming with clicks into two parallel cannon barrels.
Boom!
Spiritual power compressed into an energy cannonball, instantly headshotting a Tier 2 Insectoid Monster not far away.
“Cool!” Wu Xian gave a thumbs up in admiration.
“Not bad~ just average.”
Tang Beng laughed heartily, and the siblings cooperated, heading straight into the factory area internal.
Inside the factory area, the dimensional fluctuation anomaly was indeed more severe, completely covered by dimensional mirage scenes, exuding eeriness and weirdness everywhere, with chilling wails echoing in the ears.
Not far ahead, exclamations and screams came from two teams that had killed into the factory area.
“Look, Brother Zhou seems to have succeeded!”
“Is that the Soul Divine Diagram? Such strong mental pressure!”
“Insectoid Race combined with evil Scroll Painting system? Impressive.”
“Hmph! If he can do it, why can’t we?”
Wu Xian and the other two naturally sensed this powerful mental power fluctuation, looking up to see a white-clothed youth on a power skateboard looking excited, laughing towards the sky.
It was actually the guy who bought the 【Mother Insect】 earlier, seemed to be called Zhou Qi.
At this moment, a eerie green Soul Divine Diagram unfolded above Zhou Qi’s head, with a weird art style in the scroll, intertwining ferocious and terrifying poisonous insects.
“As expected of Senior Student Zhou Qi, truly outstanding!” Tang Tiaotiao said in surprise.
Tang Beng had graduated from the art studio just last year and naturally recognized this outstanding junior, envy hard to conceal in his eyes.
Comparing people really leads to frustration; perhaps this is the gap in talent.
At this moment, a familiar redwood coffin whistled from afar, hovering near Zhou Qi—it was the legendary Xue Lingling.
“Not bad, kid, it’s my kind of vibe. Interested in developing at my club?” Xue Lingling admiringly sized up Zhou Qi’s Soul Divine Diagram.
That eerie and evil feeling was exactly her favorite style.
“You’re… Senior Xue Lingling?”
Zhou Qi, in shock and doubt, recognized this legendary figure of Yaoyang City.
Xue Lingling said noncommittally, then scanned the factory area, using spiritual power to amplify her voice: “I’m preparing to create my own club, welcoming young talents and aspiring individuals to sign up.
Hope everyone performs well and lets me see your shining points.”
Her voice echoed throughout the Trash Processing Plant airspace, making numerous Spirit Tamers’ eyes light up.
“Oh right, some might not know me,” Xue Lingling continued, “But it doesn’t matter, let me show you something real.”
With that, surging mental power stirred, and a Soul Divine Diagram shining with dark golden light slowly unfolded above her head.
Led by a giant Tusked Monster, several ferocious Ghost Gods appeared in turn, releasing powerful auras that really made the on-site Spirit Tamers drool with envy.
“Xue Lingling has reached the point of creating a club?” Tang Beng exclaimed in shock.
“Is creating a club that impressive?”
Tang Tiaotiao pursed her lips, not entirely convinced.
“Naturally,” Tang Beng said: “Not just any Scroll Painter can create a club; even if they can, they need that charisma.”
Tang Tiaotiao was excited, “Then after graduation, I’ll create one too for fun.”
“…” Tang Beng was somewhat speechless, but to be fair, with little sister’s current demonstrated talent, it didn’t seem completely impossible, “Wait until you condense a Divine Diagram first.”
Wu Xian curiously observed their Soul Divine Diagrams, lost in thought.
Everyone’s Divine Diagrams were the same color, dark gold.
But Xue Lingling’s 【Divine Diagram】 had brightness and might far exceeding the two by a lot.
While talking, Zhou Qi had already left with Xue Lingling, making the art studio students envious to death.
After all, not only was Xue Lingling powerful herself, but she also had the Xue Family backing her.
If a spark of love ignited during future daily interactions, it could save at least twenty years of hard work.
