Cao Mansion.
Under the pavilion.
"Are these… really the words of that Young Master Wang?" Cao Xiu stared at his granddaughter, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Cao Qingqing nodded. "It must be true. That Li Lanhua could never have fabricated words imbued with such Dao Yun!"
Cao Xiu was stunned, muttering repeatedly, "My nature is self-sufficient, seeking nothing from without… All the world's adversities are but a state of mind… Marvelous, truly marvelous! Every word is a pearl, encapsulating the true essence of the world!"
He was incredibly excited, a hint of madness creeping into his eyes as he gesticulated wildly. "Soone who can say this is definitely a true, enlightened master!"
"Qing'er, prepare the gifts! I must pay him a personal visit!"
"Grandfather, don't be so hasty," Cao Qingqing said hurriedly. "According to Young Master Wang, these words were left by his master, not spoken by him!"
Cao Xiu replied, "Even so, as that senior's successor, he must have grasped so of the truth. Paying him a visit is harmless!"
Cao Qingqing blocked him again. "Grandfather, I think we must be cautious. That Young Master Wang has a peculiar personality, and his thoughts and actions are beyond what an ordinary person would expect. If you go so rashly, he might think you're trying to pressure him with your status. Wouldn't that just breed ill will instead?"
Cao Xiu thought for a mont and then nodded. "You have a point! We'll send a visiting card first then."
***
「The Zhuang Family」
"Though won may seem frail, they can hold up half the sky!"
"…"
"We are born brave and confident, daring to face all injustice and slander head-on. As long as there is love in our hearts, every single one of us… is beautiful!"
Outside the house, a woman delivered a passionate speech.
The courtyard fell silent for a long ti. The male guards standing nearby furrowed their brows, cringing as goosebumps broke out on their skin.
After a good while, an excited, coquettish voice finally ca from inside the house. "Excellent! 'A woman can hold up half the sky!' So well said!"
The door opened and a tall, stunningly beautiful woman in a purple palace-style gown walked out slowly, her ample bosom heaving with excitent. "Those words truly speak to my heart!"
The woman's hair was piled high, and her entire being exuded a mature charm.
She looked at the person in the courtyard and said, "I never expected there to be a man in this world who understands the hearts of us won so well! I must et such a person! Servants, prepare my phoenix carriage!"
Hearing this, an elderly man with the air of a steward hurried over. "Madam, are you going to seek out that Wang Yitian?"
Gao Ruotong shot him a look, raising an eyebrow. "Is Wang Yitian a na for you to use? Address him as Young Master Wang…"
The old steward's mouth twitched slightly as he bowed. "Yes, yes… But as you know, the Old Master has always been displeased with Young Master Wang. If he finds out you are eting him in private…"
Gao Ruotong huffed, lifting her elegant neck. "So what if he knows? The n of his Zhuang Family don't understand . Am I not allowed to find a man who does?"
The steward forced a bitter smile. My lady, what kind of outrageous words are these?
He was about to try persuading her again, but Gao Ruotong had already turned. Her alluring figure swayed as she boarded the waiting phoenix carriage and departed.
***
「Yuxuan Pavilion」
"The Green Leaf Association, the Hongshan Association…"
Wang Xiu lay back comfortably in a rocking chair, swaying gently.
Nie Linglan sat beside him, gently massaging his legs. "These two are the largest Dao of Painting organizations within the Wasteland Boundary," she explained. "They are at odds due to their differing philosophies."
"The leader of the Green Leaf Association is Cao Xiu, who entered the Earth Immortal Realm a century ago. He advocates that the Dao of Painting cos from the heart, believing that superior paintings must express the artist's state of mind at that mont."
"The leader of the Hongshan Association is Zhuang Mocheng, who advocates for truth in the Dao of Painting! He believes that a truly good painting should depict exactly what is seen—what you see is what you paint. He has also publicly stated that Cao Xiu's path of painting from the heart is rubbish and that over ti, it will only lead painters into a spiritual illusion from which they cannot escape!"
As she spoke, Nie Linglan waved her hand, and prints of two paintings floated before Wang Xiu.
Wang Xiu glanced at them.
The one on the left was similar to the abstract style of my previous life; you could barely make out any real object. To an untrained eye, it would look like a haphazard scribble, no better than a child's doodle. But in my eyes, even though this scroll was just a copy, I could clearly perceive the artistic intent within. Those seemingly chaotic lines and ink marks each contained an extrely powerful spiritual force, like soaring dragons battling in the sky. If soone with insufficient cultivation stared at this painting for too long, they would surely be influenced by it. The killing intent in their heart would be drawn out, and they might even fall directly into demonic possession.
The one on the right, however, was in the realist style. The mountains and water patterns were perfectly clear. Looking at the painting was like being there in person, as if it contained a real world within. I know that if the painting before were the original and not a copy, it would surely possess a powerful Divine Skill, capable of drawing a person into a temporary space created by the Dao of Painting. That kind of space is different from an illusion. It truly exists. Once inside, you've essentially entered a Dao of Painting cultivator's Domain, making it incredibly difficult to escape.
In the end, the Dao of Painting… was still a Dao. Ultimately, its practitioners all relied on various Divine Skills and techniques.
People say that cultivators of the Dao of Painting aren't skilled in combat, but the thods of a great cultivator who has truly been imrsed in this path for many years are so mystical that the vast majority of people in the world simply cannot comprehend them.
"It's a sha, though. They're still rather rudintary," Wang Xiu sighed.
With his current attainnts in the Dao of Painting, he could tell from these two works that their creators were highly skilled, but they were far from reaching a level that could truly move him.
Perhaps it's because the Dao of Painting is still in its infancy in this era.
As the saying goes, the present isn't necessarily inferior to the past.
Tis evolve, and the Daoist Arts transform and progress. Many of the current Daoist Divine Powers are much more profound and intricate than they were tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands or millions, of years ago.
The Dao of Painting was no exception.
The attainnts of today's Zhuang Mocheng and Cao Xiu were surely a cut above those of Dao of Painting cultivators from tens of thousands of years ago, unless one of those ancient cultivators had lived to the present day.
Like the Painting Immortal.
But the Danqing Creation Art that Wang Xiu had inherited was a true, emperor-level cultivation technique. It was the pinnacle of the Dao of Painting's legacy from a long-vanished ancient civilization.
Although Wang Xiu could find no historical records of that era in the annals of the Nine Heavens, he was fairly certain that the current Nine Heavens and Ten Earths had a long way to go before reaching such a peak of civilization.
***
"Cao Xiu… that na sounds a little familiar," Wang Xiu murmured, a sudden thought striking him.
Nie Linglan replied, "A young lady ca to visit you today, Master. She introduced herself as the granddaughter of Cao Xiu."
"Oh…" Wang Xiu recalled. There had been such an incident, but at the ti he hadn't known who Cao Xiu was, so he had refused the visit.
Now, it seed like a bit of a waste. He was an Earth Immortal expert, after all. If he were to flatter , it might have triggered a pleasant surprise.
Nie Linglan looked at Wang Xiu and asked tentatively, "Shall I go and contact her?"
Wang Xiu waved his hand dismissively. "No need. He'll probably be back on his own before long."
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