Chapter 73: Sacred Enlightenment, My Holy Light Is Evolving!
This Holy Light Ritual was truly exhausting. After completing the Holy Mark branding, Yuan Zhu truly had no energy to communicate with the old man. He only felt his head being roasted by Holy Light into a daze, his spirit listless, and his body extremely weak, feeling like a patient during a severe illness.
So he chose to go home and rest first, then come back later to continue the transaction.
Leaving Rain Courtyard, it was still afternoon. He barely figured out the bus and made his way home in a daze, returning to his room and collapsing into sleep. Even when his younger brother came home in the evening and repeatedly shook him to get up for dinner, Yuan Zhu dismissed him with a single “Get lost!”
When he was woken up by hunger again, it was already 10 a.m. the next morning.
This sleep left him refreshed, except for extreme hunger in his stomach; otherwise, he felt great. Full health recovery, excellent spirit.
After drinking a glass of water in the living room, he quickly recalled everything that happened yesterday afternoon. He looked down at his wrists wrapped in gray holy relic cloth. A power vastly different from Shadow Power lingered in his wrists, like a seed of fire poised to ignite, ready to burst forth with endless light at his command.
Driven by intense curiosity, he unwrapped the holy relic cloth from his right wrist. The originally normal Holy Mark position suddenly transmitted a faint burning sensation.
This pain wasn’t intense, yet it was particularly conspicuous and hard to ignore. Just like a grain of sand in one’s shoe, constantly grinding against the skin, yet bearable.
Looking at this linear wound, like a charred black line hiding red sparks, the stinging pain mixed with a ‘warm’ feeling, very different from Shadow Power.
From today onward, this human body of his was no longer that of an ordinary person. With the Holy Mark branded, he was henceforth one of the Holy Light. Whether poor or rich, diseased or healthy, smooth or frustrated, he had to cultivate on this path!
He mentally pinged Little Spicy Stick repeatedly in his mind, waking up the still-sleeping Game Sprite.
“I’m alive again! It hurts so much, Boss, never play with Holy Light again!”
“And now?”
He raised his right hand, slightly activating the Holy Mark to produce a bit of Holy Light, which flowed from the wrist wound to his palm, cradling a small glow that nourished the wound and body in reverse.
“Huh? It’s kind of warm, different from the cool feeling of Shadow Spiritual Energy, but also quite comfortable.”
Yuan Zhu nodded: “It should be due to that 1% Pollution Degree. The Holy Light in my hand—is it also taken over by the Immortal Scripture?”
“Absolutely!” Little Spicy Stick nodded vigorously. “The Holy Light in your hand is completely different from the Holy Light from the infusion ritual before. It’s now one of us, contained and taken over by the Great Desolation Immortal Scripture, endowed with dataized properties. It can be called Dataized Holy Light Pollution, just like the taken-over Dataized Shadow Power!”
Yuan Zhu nodded in satisfaction, just as he thought. The Great Desolation Immortal Scripture’s Pollution Degree wasn’t elevated out of thin air; it was at the cost of its own pollution, forcibly converting unfamiliar Pollution Sources into a state that could be ‘observed, interpreted, and controlled.’
The polluting essence of Shadow and Holy Light hadn’t changed, but it gained a Dataized attribute, allowing it to be contained and operated by the Immortal Scripture. This Pollution Degree increase might be an extremely dangerous change for the Immortal Scripture, but for Yuan Zhu, no side effects were apparent yet, and it brought affinity to both Shadow and Holy Light—a good thing.
In a sense, the Great Desolation Immortal Scripture was also a weak Otherworld Pollution Source for the Du Ling World, having successfully polluted a small amount of Shadow and Holy Light. Rather than twisting, devouring, or absorbing them, it chose coexistence, integrating into the native environment.
“Then run a full scan of my body changes now. I want to test the Holy Light Intensity!”
With that, he began controlling the Holy Mark with his mind. Like an instinctive breathing, he easily comprehended the basic usage of the Holy Mark.
This thing gave him the feel of a gas stove switch—he could easily control and ignite it, choosing whether to activate Holy Light and adjusting the intensity of life-burning, from low glow to MAX life-burning strong light.
As he slightly increased the Holy Light output and brightness, the Holy Light generated from the Holy Mark responded to his control, gradually spreading to envelop his entire right palm, like wearing a white-glowing Holy Light glove. His entire temperament appeared incomparably holy.
“Hand of God!” He made a middle finger gesture, unleashing the Great Desolation Heaven-Imprisoning Finger, still just as sacred and blinding.
At the same time, an insight emerged on effortlessly connecting to the external ‘life battery’ to greatly enhance Holy Light Intensity. His right hand now could completely achieve [grab and instantly refine!]
As long as this Holy Light right hand gripped a mouse or frog, if they couldn’t break free from his five-finger mountain, they could only endure the fate of Holy Light Infusion, ultimate sublimation, transforming into light to illuminate the world, sacred and great.
Holy! Holy! Simply accumulating merit and virtue.
After this insight arose in his heart, Yuan Zhu felt that without increasing the intensity, his Holy Light seemed a tiny bit more refined and brighter?
“Hm? Spicy Stick, was that my illusion just now?”
Little Spicy Stick: “No, according to the real-time monitoring of the Soul Firewall, the Holy Light Intensity seems to have increased by about 0.01%. What’s the principle?”
“Senior Student said Holy Light is a power of the heart. For ordinary people, both burn life. At the same output power, an ascetic cultivator’s Holy Light Intensity exceeds that of an ordinary cultivator by several times. This is because their will is more refined, converting stronger ‘light energy’ per unit of life burned!”
He had genuinely thought that turning a pest like a mouse into light was an act of accumulating merit and virtue. Not only was he doing good, but the mouse also exchanged its evil life for Holy Light to illuminate the world—its own hidden merit.
He achieved double merit with one act, burning life to protect life, incinerating karma without incurring karma. Though the Holy Light System might not recognize it, its spirit and cognition were already influencing and transforming his Holy Light, inscribing personal concepts, thus subjectively and idealistically enhancing his Holy Light.
In the future, whenever he released Holy Light, as long as various insights continued to emerge—good or bad—they would inscribe his ‘mental information’ into the Holy Light, enhancing its quality, making it gradually stronger.
After hearing the firsthand perspective insight, Little Spicy Stick exclaimed in surprise: “Such an idealistic pollution, so evil. Won’t you fall if you keep going like this?”
Yuan Zhu looked at the undimmed Holy Light, also somewhat solemn. “But I can’t control my own thoughts. It’s really recording the soul and gradually taking my shape (hue, purity, brightness).”
Suddenly, he thought of the Zanpakuto. This Holy Light had a similar wonder—reforging one’s own soul into exclusive Holy Light. Was this thing ‘soul-based + energy-based’?
He waved his hand to disperse the increasingly beautiful Yuan-style Holy Light, striving to stay calm as he considered what ‘fitting himself’ and ‘grand’ concepts to think when operating Holy Light in the future.
No need to deceive himself, but don’t inscribe too much garbage info either. Like ‘I want to slack off, I want to lie flat…’ He was truly afraid that enemies illuminated by his Holy Light would all slack off and lie flat waiting to die—too lacking in style.
“Little Spicy Stick, how much did that burst of output consume from my body?”
He had just released and sustained a faint glow for 30 seconds; he didn’t know the body consumption.
“Huh? Consumption? Boss, I think you’re being a bit cowardly. You’re too cautious—that bit of light consumption is replenished with every breath. The Soul Firewall feedback on your health is normal life activity, less than the stamina consumed in a sprint! Try again.”
Yuan Zhu: “This was just cautious warm-up. Looks like I’ve already mastered Holy Light control. Time to crank up the intensity!”
He looked around and spotted a potted plant his younger brother kept by the window. So he got up, grabbed the plant’s main stem, carried the pot back to his seat, then activated the Holy Mark a second time.
This time, out of caution, he decided to use the external battery as well. Holy Light outbreak!
The burning sensation in his right hand gradually intensified. Dense Holy Light drilled from his palm into the plant’s veins. The entire plant burst from within with light veins like electric wires, threading through branches into leaves, emitting sacred light.
This time, Yuan Zhu noticed the ‘Holy Light’ from the plant was very thin—its vitality too weak. Instead, his own Holy Light poured massively into the plant, purifying it, lashing it, tormenting and scorching it!
The feeling of Holy Light toward him changed again. He could sense that purification was gradually eroding and killing it bit by bit. This Holy Light wasn’t like flame; rather like ultraviolet light, using ‘sacred light radiation’ or the wave-particle duality ‘Holy Light Particle’ aspect to bombard all illuminated life, killing its life units, converting soul and life into new ‘Holy Light Radiation, Holy Light Particles’ to continue bombarding other micro units.
Unfortunately, the Holy Light cluster in his palm was average in intensity, purity, and brightness, and too loose. If condensed highly into a beam somehow, it would become a Conceptual Weapon more terrifying than ordinary laser weapons!
This special method was probably the Holy Seal.
Pure Holy Light was like Spiritual Energy; Holy Seal was like the spells or Supernatural Abilities operating internal Spiritual Energy.
“Boss, observed. Your stamina is declining, a bit of Vitality consumed, your arm slightly weak. But this consumption can be replenished by time and the body’s self-repair. But there’s a bad phenomenon: once your Holy Light is released, it’s gone. Life evaporates into thin air, no storage in the body—unlike Shadow!”
The Tiger Demon lying on the ground could have endless Shadow Spiritual Energy infusing to refill the Mana Bar. This Holy Light, however, currently required burning the health bar to release, and aside from attribute changes from personal will insights, gained no further improvement.
A Holy Mark newbie without a Holy Seal would just be burning life in vain, at most improving Holy Light quality a bit.
With a Holy Seal, it would be vastly different. Not only explosive lethality, but also collecting a bit of ‘Soul Bone Ashes’ to make a stele (Holy Seal) in the future, commemorating the lives he squandered.
Yuan Zhu: “Shadow and Holy Light aren’t comparable at all—fundamentally different Systems. But Holy Light’s own quality should be higher than Shadow, right?”
“I don’t know about other wild Holy Light and Shadow, but comparing the two energies you’ve tamed: currently 1 share Holy Light > 5 shares Shadow.”
Shadow Pollution truly held little brother status on Du Ling Star; this Holy Light was far more domineering.
“Then this 1 Holy Light > 5 Shadow, what relation does it have to the Pollution Degrees they occupy?”
Little Spicy Stick paused for a moment, as if supercomputing, and only after a while replied in a puzzled voice: “Boss, so strange. I found no influence of Pollution Degree on the two Polluting Energies. 17.6% Shadow can’t beat 1% Holy Light. Even if we raise Holy Light’s Pollution Degree, it remains over five times Shadow, not breaking to six times.”
“So, what does this Pollution Degree represent? Like my affinity to Holy Light Pollution?”
The Game Sprite was full of doubt: “I don’t understand either. I need more data for modeling comparison. Current data is too little. Your affinity to Holy Light seems locked too? Maybe lowering Shadow’s Pollution Degree won’t affect your Shadow affinity?”
“Then didn’t I get polluted all this for nothing?” Yuan Zhu exclaimed in shock!
Little Spicy Stick: “What does it have to do with you? Shadow Pollution is the Great Desolation Immortal Scripture’s game and result with the native polluting Evil Spirits. You’re just the Immortal Scripture’s human shell for building a protective wall. This Holy Light Pollution is our first joint pitfall of the Old Immortal Scripture Master.”
Yuan Zhu pondered: “So if you and I team up to pit the Great Desolation Immortal Scripture more times, won’t it forever lie in the ICU?”
Game Sprite: “Play it safe. I always feel before clarifying Pollution Degree’s essence, don’t rashly raise it too much. Besides, one person can only cultivate one System. Even dual cultivation is for after getting stronger. Stay calm. I’m afraid of dying; I don’t want you doing another Holy Mark Ritual—simply like eighteen layers of Hell!”
Yuan Zhu scoffed: “Just this little pain, I was only a bit weak. You’re too frail. Let’s go! To Rain Courtyard, collect the final payment!”
“Boss, you’re running out of money again. Should we prepare a couple more ‘golden thighs’ for trading Holy Seals?”
Yuan Zhu rejected: “No rush. With this pair of Holy Marks branded, the human body’s power has a source—enough. We can check Rain Courtyard’s Holy Seals, use as reference and backup. My 2000 points are sitting idle; time for a reinforcement round. Are Space of Gods’ Holy Seals richer, or this little Rain Ning University internal Holy Church?”
“Boss is brilliant! How didn’t I think of that? You’re truly calculating everything!”
A day’s plan starts in the morning. The Game Sprite’s clumsy but sincere flattery put him in a great mood, setting the tone for the day’s spirit. Rainbow Energy Nutritionist—indeed professional.
…
One hour later, he returned to Rain Courtyard. The gatekeeper didn’t stop him and he also ran into the long-waiting Senior Student.
She glanced at the bandage on his wrist: “I heard you completed the ritual yesterday afternoon? Efficiency is impressive. How does it feel?”
Yuan Zhu shook his hands. Aside from the persistent burning sensation, the Holy Mark hadn’t brought much change yet: “No difference. Even more ordinary than I imagined, no different from an ordinary person.”
“Any System requires cultivation. But if you want to quickly feel physical changes, you can pick a Holy Seal biased toward physique enhancement.”
Yuan Zhu nodded: “Thanks, I’ll consider it. What categories of Holy Seals are there?”
“I’m not very knowledgeable either, but I know Holy Seals are also called Conceptual Weapons, mostly existing as ‘Holy Artifacts,’ which can be manifested and shaped via Holy Light, bringing various special effects. Plus some conceptual or ability-type Holy Seals, fewer in number.”
Yuan Zhu: “Between these two types, which is better?”
“Don’t know. Each type has extremely precious rarities. Mainly depends on fit, whether it suits you. Holy Seals are more about combo effects with greater numbers—often specific combinations, resonating with the soul, explode with multiplicative effects.”
Yuan Zhu listened to the Senior Student’s teachings while walking, suddenly feeling these Holy Seals like runewords from ancient single-player Diablo 2: specific junk combos, if soul-fitting, burst with super effects. Was this the so-called ‘special lineage inheritance’?
He held no expectations for Rain Courtyard’s Holy Church; rather, Space of Gods might sell top inheritances?
