"I can see the difference, yes," Wu Ling said, still trying to process the demonstration. "But I don't understand. The second talisman felt rougher, almost more crude. How was it the one that was more powerful?"
"This is what you need to correct in your calligraphy, your painting, and your zither playing," his Master began to explain. "You are attempting to use your art like sorcery. Art isn't sorcery, it's art. It draws its power from the heart."
"Calligraphy isn't about expressing the pure power of a word," she said. "It's about using a word to unleash a feeling. When I drew the first one, I did as you have done. It is beautiful in the way any teacher would expect and it evokes the essence of fire, so it works."
"When I drew the second one, however, I thought about my most hated enemy," she continued, her gaze becoming intense and her aura surging so intensely that her colorful dress danced on a breeze that only she could feel.
"That word contained my desire to see that enemy purged from creation, reduced to ash, and scattered on the wind. All of the innocents who suffered at their hands, the countless funeral pyres I've built for their victims… All of that and more went into that word, 'Fire,'" she said, slowly regaining control of her surging aura as she spoke.
"Little Ling," she said after a few moments had passed and she calmed herself. "Your most successful calligraphy lately was when you interrogated Nalan Jiang. You were present, in the moment, and your heart was filled with grief and hurt and a desire for him to suffer a fraction of what your senior sister had."
"Because you were in the moment," Hua Jue said, laying a finger on his chest over his heart. "There were no barriers between your heart and your art. But when you prepare yourself in advance, you produce works that are cold, sterile, and lack the intensity you're capable of. This is what you need to correct," she explained.
For a few minutes, Wu Ling just stood there, processing what he had heard. Then, he stepped up to the writing desk again, and this time, imagined Nalan Jiang as the recipient of the talisman that he wrote. His strokes weren't as neat as before but they weren't as intense as Hua Jue's either. This time, when he threw the talisman, the explosion was much less intense but the flames spread to completely engulf the target, burning with an intensity that his previous attempt lacked.
"That's a very cruel flame," Hua Jue observed. "It's less destructive, but I believe it would continue to burn even if the person you lit on fire were to plunge themselves into water. You wanted your target to suffer," she said.
"You mentioned Nalan Jiang," Wu Ling said, working to regain control of his own emotions. "I didn't want to destroy him without making him suffer a fraction of the pain that he inflicted on Senior Sister Xuan Lu."
"It's good that you have a visual and a source of inspiration," his master said calmly. "But to draw out the power you want, you'll need several such sources of inspiration. You've also reached a point where you're capable of more complex works. Let me show you a few different talismans you may find useful and we'll see if you can summon up the feelings to empower them," she added with a smile.
Time seemed to flow like the water of a calm river. While Wu Ling was vaguely aware of time's passage from one moment to the next, he couldn't tell how long he spent under Hua Jue's watchful eyes and gentle guidance. The starlit sky never changed, and no sun ever rose, but step by step, the Illusory Butterfly Immortal Empress demonstrated the vast potential Wu Ling had at his fingertips and helped him find the keys to unlocking it.
It wasn't until she'd guided him in all of his arts, even going so far as to help him enhance his paintings of Hou and Yue that Wu Ling noticed her presence beginning to grow faint. They'd left the starlit lake behind and returned to his Inner World to revise his paintings but it seemed like their time was drawing to a close.
"It's time," Hua Jue said at last, standing near the place on the wall where her painting usually looked over Wu Ling's Inner World. "Take this," she said, passing Wu Ling a book that felt like it had only just been written.
"The Heart Seizing Foxglove Mantra," she said with a smile. "I have distilled the relevant parts of Zhai Xing's methods for you. Whether you are Wu Ling or Hua Qianhu, you should find techniques that draw your targets to you and allow you to reach them without difficulty."
"Once you understand them and their desire, you may seize their heart and soul, crushing both with ease," she explained. "In time, you may be able to do so from greater distances or over longer periods of time that let you escape before you end their life, but for now, this will allow you to draw close and be lethal with a touch. I hope that it satisfies your needs, Little Ling."
"Disciple thanks Master for the gift and the guidance," Wu Ling said, accepting the manual and bowing deeply to Hua Jue's fading figure.
"Little Ling, one last warning," Hua Jue's voice echoed after she returned to her place on the wall, still and unmoving as a painting. "You have thought of Hua Qianhu as a mask that you wear, but this is no longer true."
"You are her and she is you. You will have to find a new balance that treats her as more than your shadow or you will find that your shadow overwhelms you in a cultivation deviation or backlash. Good luck, my disciple," she said, her voice echoing from an unimaginable distance away. "The path ahead is difficult, but I believe that you will walk it to great heights."