Ba Yin's ancestor, named Ba Lin, had a life that could truly be called legendary.

Originally a slave miner, he lived in perpetual darkness, his fate seemingly sealed to mine until exhaustion claimed his life.

Yet by a stroke of serendipity, he excavated a fragmented stele in the mine, from which he acquired an incomplete Cultivation Method.

Thereafter, through secretive and arduous cultivation, coupled with his natural talent, he actually managed to alter his fate.

However, because the Cultivation Technique he practiced was incomplete, he never achieved Foundation Establishment before his life span ended, but he left behind an inheritance for his descendants, which has been passed down through the generations.

As Ba Lin couldn't make progress in cultivation, he later turned to Drawing Talismans, where his talent shone through. At one point, he even gained some fame with his talisman secret technique.

After reading about him, Yuan Ming couldn't help but feel a measure of respect for his ancestor.

He then looked over some related deeds and relics of this person, slowly piecing together a more vivid and specific image in his mind.

When he returned to the desk and looked at the scroll again, his heart immediately felt different.

After grinding the ink, Yuan Ming stood in front of the desk, eyes closed for a good while.

Upon opening his eyes, he immediately picked up the brush and began to draw on the rice paper.

About half an hour later, the image of Ba Lin had come to life on the paper, nine parts similar to the original, and his expression nearly seventy percent accurate.

Yuan Ming glanced at the details of the original portrait and was about to continue drawing when he suddenly furrowed his brows.

He looked up sharply, focusing on a particular pattern on the clothing depicted in the scroll.

There the lines were intricate, starkly different from the surrounding patterns, and even seemed somewhat out of place.

Initially, Yuan Ming thought it was either a crack on the paper or some kind of stain, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was not so simple.

Ming's Divine Thought stirred, and his Divine Power combined with Mana began to flow towards his eyes, which faintly glowed.

His gaze fell upon the scroll, becoming keenly detail-oriented and exceptionally clear.

"This is a rune, this is definitely a rune..." Yuan Ming murmured in surprise.

Once he said this, he felt somewhat puzzled. Why was there a rune hidden in the painting, and its placement and twisted lines clearly indicated it was concealed intentionally.

"Just a rune, why hide it deliberately within the portrait?" Yuan Ming pondered aloud.

At that thought, he suddenly remembered something mentioned obliquely in the biography he had read earlier.

The reason Ba Lin could make a name for himself in the Southern Border and Northern Territory with only the peak state of the Qi Refinement Realm was due to his mastery of a secret Corpse Control method.

At the time, Yuan Ming found it odd—clearly not a Soul Cultivator, what method did he use to control corpses?

"Could this be a Corpse Control Talisman?" Yuan Ming's mind raced with this thought.

He immediately took out Yellow Talisman Paper, a writing brush, vermillion, and other materials from his Storage Ring and attempted to recreate the talisman.

Previously, while in the Fire Refining Hall and learning from his senior, Mu He, Yuan Ming was skilled in the craft of Drawing Talismans, his Divine Soul granting him a natural talent for it.

However, drawing on Yellow Talisman Paper was still a first for him.

Yuan Ming once again scrutinized the rune's design carefully and analyzed the start and end points of each stroke. He then took a deep breath, composed himself, and began to draw on the blank paper.

Drawing Talismans required a seamless execution; the ink lines had to be smooth and uninterrupted.

If the strokes were broken, the rune could not channel Spiritual Energy properly, failing to connect with the elements, thus becoming useless.

Yuan Ming was fully aware of this principle, yet his first attempt was a failure.

The structure of this rune was ten times more complex than the ones he had drawn before, and he made a mistake halfway through.

Yuan Ming set aside that piece of paper and picked up the brush to try again.

The result, expectedly, was another failure.

But Yuan Ming never lacked patience and never gave up, practicing from day to night.

During these hours, he did not rest for a moment, even sending away Fu Qing, who had personally come to deliver his meal.

Fortunately, hard work pays off; by midnight, he had succeeded.

He picked up the paper from the table and examined it carefully. It was identical to the one on the scroll, with smooth lines, no sign of delay, and not a trace of interruption.

Pleased, Yuan Ming nodded and set it aside.

Mounds of discarded papers had piled up to the height of his knees beside him, while the paper for drawing was nearly gone.

Yuan Ming took out an elixir and swallowed it, then returned to his bed to meditate and practice Breathing Control for half an hour before returning to the desk.

This time, he laid out a piece of store-bought Yellow Paper and prepared ink mixed with vermillion and spirit stone powder, picked up a fine wolf-hair brush and began to draw on the Yellow Talisman Paper.

With nearly a thousand attempts behind him, Yuan Ming found it easy this time, completing the spirit talisman with just a single stroke.

As the runes touched down on the paper, Yuan Ming immediately felt a response, sensing the yellow talisman paper sinking ever so slightly, as faint spiritual power fluctuations began to emanate from its surface.

"Success," Yuan Ming rejoiced in his heart.

He lifted the yellow paper talisman and examined it closely before gesturing with his hand, summoning the "Heavenly Snake Master."

Whether it was a Corpse Control Talisman or not, he would find out with a test.

Yuan Ming immediately pinched the talisman and slapped it onto the chest of the Heavenly Snake Master.

As the yellow paper talisman made contact, Yuan Ming channeled a bit of mana into it. The paper instantly ignited, transforming into a ball of yellow light, and in a flash, it merged into the Core Formation Stage corpse.

As the light faded, Yuan Ming's mind raced, and with a flick of his fingers, he tried to command the corpse to move.

However, the Heavenly Snake Master stood still as a statue, motionless.

"What's happening? Could I have been wrong and this isn't a Corpse Control Talisman?" After several attempts, Yuan Ming gained nothing.

Just as he felt the pangs of regret, his gaze suddenly sharpened as he noticed something extraordinary.

This corpse, dead for who knows how many years, was faintly emanating a pulse of qi-blood!

This was simply inconceivable.

Shocked, Yuan Ming quickly approached for a careful examination and indeed found that an inexplicable force of qi-blood had emerged within the corpse's body. It no longer seemed like a rigid zombie, but more like a living corpse.

After pondering for a moment, he pointed at his forehead, and a black soul crow took flight, crashing into the Heavenly Snake Master's brow.

The Heavenly Snake Master's eyes slowly opened.

With the soul crow in control, Yuan Ming felt an even deeper connection. He maneuvered the Heavenly Snake Master around the room, changing poses. His astonishment grew with every movement.

The original zombie, as if it had been granted a shred of life force, became more supple and agile. Controlling it with the soul crow also became easier and more convenient.

However, the qi-blood power sourced from the talisman was not permanent and was diminishing over time, growing weaker and weaker.

"If this body possesses qi-blood power and the soul crow acts as divine sense, doesn't that make it almost no different from a 'living person'?" Yuan Ming suddenly thought.

Thinking this, he immediately tried to use the circulation method of the Nine Elements Technique to stimulate the cultivation of mana within the Heavenly Snake Master, but to no avail.

"As expected, it doesn't work... Let's try the White Ape Beast Skin."

Taking advantage of the remaining talismanic power, Yuan Ming quickly fetched the White Ape Skin and draped it over the Heavenly Snake Master.

As he channeled mana into it, the White Ape Skin actually flashed white and began to stretch and wrap itself around the Heavenly Snake Master.

Before long, it truly transformed into a high white ape covered in long fur.

Meanwhile, Yuan Ming felt the qi-blood power within the Heavenly Snake Master depleting rapidly. Before he could understand what was happening, the power of the talisman vanished entirely.

Yuan Ming's soul crow, too, could not withstand the onslaught of the nefarious energy within and withdrew.

"Alas, the talisman's power depleted too quickly. Perhaps the materials used were too ordinary; it might be better with higher-level ones," Yuan Ming thought as he massaged his forehead.

At that moment, he reached out to store the Heavenly Snake Master away.

His expression suddenly froze as he touched, "What... what's going on?"

Only now did he realize the White Ape Skin, which should have retracted on its own, was still covering the Heavenly Snake Master, not just draped over it but maintaining the form of a long-haired white ape.

When Yuan Ming tried to pull it off, he discovered that the White Ape Beast Skin had fused tightly with the Heavenly Snake Master's corpse, as if it had grown together.

"What's happening? Have the flesh and the skin merged?" Yuan Ming was dumbfounded.

If this were a living person, repeated use of the Fur Cloak Technique could indeed cause the beast skin to fuse with the flesh, potentially leading to Human Demonization.

But this was just a single use, and on a corpse at that.

Yuan Ming couldn't make sense of it. After a thorough examination, he found that the Heavenly Snake Master, now in the guise of a white ape, showed no other anomalies; it was as before.

He even tried controlling the corpse with the soul crow again and found it could still be commanded as before, with the duration of control unchanged, everything as usual.

Yuan Ming had no choice but to give up and stored it away.

After this turmoil, daylight was beginning to break outside the house.

Yuan Ming rested briefly, then picked up his brush once more to continue painting that portrait of Ba Lin, as he had originally said he would complete the painting within seven days.

He examined the details of the original painting once more and, after some careful revisions on the rice paper, finally completed the painting scroll.

This copied portrait, compared to the original, was very close in appearance and presence. Aside from its freshness, it was almost indistinguishable.

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