In this silence, a faint light appeared in a household in the Hexi district of Weicheng.
This was a wealthy household, with a vermilion gate, stone lions, and a three-courtyard layout.
The light appeared in the master's study.
Three days ago, Li Yunxin had paid a visit to this family. The gatekeeper had announced him, and the master of the house, a brave man, had welcod him in, treating him to good food and drink, saying he wanted to request so of his calligraphy.
It happened that the master had just been blessed with a son, so Li Yunxin painted a "Picture of an Immortal Elder Delivering a Son." It wasn't a Precious Scroll or a Treasure Scroll, just a Fad Scroll. But for a family like this, a Fad Scroll from Li Yunxin's hand was a treasure that could be passed down through generations.
The master had the painting mounted by a skilled artisan and hung it in his study. He had planned to admire it for half a month, and once it was completely dry, he would store it carefully in a yellow silk brocade bag, only bringing it out to be praised when esteed guests visited during festivals.
But tonight, first ca the violent storm, then the news of an immortal fairy fighting the Dragon King. He was half-in-doubt, but soon he heard the rumbling sounds and saw the strange phenona in the sky. To a secular person, these were like natural disasters. So the whole family gathered together—all in this study, thinking that a master's Fad Scroll might grant them safety.
But just after that streak of light fell out of Weicheng, a sudden drowsiness quickly overca the family. The master sensed sothing was wrong and, with the last shred of clarity in his mind, tried to grab the treasured sword hanging on the wall.
But he still fell into a deep sleep.
And so… the "Picture of an Immortal Elder Delivering a Son" on the wall began to glow with a hazy golden light.
After this light flashed, the baby in the painting ca to life. The small infant, ford of golden light, leaped out of the painting and stepped on the people sleeping on the floor. It first went to the master, whose yang energy was the strongest, and took a deep breath from his mouth and nose. Then it went to the mistress and took another breath. After taking a breath of human energy from every man, woman, old, and young in the room, it hopped out of the door.
Passing through walls, it went on to suck the human energy from all the servants in the residence.
Only then did it go out the door.
This golden child seed to love the taste of human energy the most and continued to search for sleeping people in the silent houses.
After half an hour, as it ventured further, it began to see others of its kind—
There was a middle-aged man who had walked out of a "Picture of Shentu Carrying a Sword," and a youth who had co from a "Picture of Su Qin Boring a Hole for Light"—all from the paintings Li Yunxin had created for the wealthy households in the past two days.
These golden figures, drifting through the city sucking human energy, were infants, children, youths, and adults. So were joyful, so sorrowful, so angry, so calm.
In the past two days, Li Yunxin had created a total of forty-six paintings. The figures from these forty-six paintings all walked out of their scrolls, all doing one thing—sucking yang energy.
When the people whose energy was sucked woke up, they probably wouldn't feel anything—at most, the weaker ones might feel a bit tired.
But as these golden figures sucked more and more energy, their bodies slowly swelled. Different colors churned and tangled inside them, as if they were the very emotions dread by the people whose energy they had sucked.
After two or three hours, no matter what they looked like, their bellies were all round and bloated, and their facial features were squeezed into a ball, looking indescribably comical and strange.
Then…
They exploded.
At this ti, the rumbling from the northeast of Weicheng had not yet ceased. The sky in that direction seed as if dawn had arrived early. A red glow faintly erged from behind the mountain range, like the morning clouds. But in reality, it was a mountain fire—a mountain fire rolling like a giant dragon, accompanied by an endless roar.
Amidst this roaring sound, these golden figures exploded. The yang energy they had sucked from within them should have dispersed, but it suddenly began to flow along the streets of Weicheng in a strange trajectory. It wasn't exactly following the streets and alleys… sotis, it would also pass through walls and houses.
But this yang energy that had been drawn out was like the first bowl of water from an old-fashioned well pump—with this bowl of water, the water from the well could be continuously drawn out. This yang energy, filled with all kinds of emotions, flowed through the streets, gradually converging into a stream. It then drew out even more yang energy from the mouths of even more people in Weicheng, flowing out from their houses…
And finally, it gradually converged into an even larger torrent.
If anyone who had secretly followed Li Yunxin through the streets and alleys in those three days was still awake and could open their Yin-Yang eyes, upon seeing this torrent of yang energy, they would realize…
The places it flowed were all places Li Yunxin had once set foot.
For example, a small stream flowed by the Liu River, sweeping over a stone slab—a pattern on that slab that was originally inconspicuous lit up.
This was the pattern Li Yunxin had half-carved with his wolf-hair brush that day. At the ti, he said the sunlight was good, so he wanted to paint the sun. His painting was abstract and clumsy, and he only finished half of it before tossing the brush aside.
It was this kind of pattern that… lit up after being struck by the yang energy. Due to this light and guidance, the torrent of yang energy branched out, constructing a mysterious circuit that conford to so kind of law.
This thing… was sothing even a random doctor would find familiar.
It was… the ridian chart of the Hand Shaoyang.
And there were thirty-five similar things throughout Weicheng.
…
…
On such a night, in a small temple in Yaojia Village, more than thirty li outside Weicheng, by the Wei River, the Temple Keeper was still awake.
This was a small but popular temple, with only one hall, one courtyard, and two side rooms.
Normally, the Temple Keeper, Daoist Hong Song, would have been asleep long ago, but tonight, he was kept awake by the distant rumbling thunder and the mountain fire.
He draped his clothes on, sat up, pushed the door open, and walked into the courtyard. He passed through the watery moonlight and mottled tree shadows, finally arriving at the door of the main hall.
Feeling restless, he planned to go into the main hall to ditate.
The hall housed the newly acquired statues of The Great Accomplished Crown Prince Jiawen and the Red-Robed Dragon Maiden—the work of a master. At first, he had felt so resistance, but after hanging up the portraits, he was completely convinced.
These images indeed had the effect of calming the mind and clearing the heart. Not to ntion that they truly possessed the spiritual energy of true gods; even if they didn't, the effect of the scrolls themselves was enough for him to treasure them. What's more, he was born with Yin-Yang eyes—he could usually see ghosts. Although ghosts were not common, there were always so who had died unjustly and were drawn to the temple's incense, and they would approach him. When he sat in the hall at night, with these portraits, those ghosts would not dare to co forward.
But tonight, when he walked to the front of the main hall and looked inside, he found a faint light in the room.
He imdiately suspected that so ruffian from the village had coveted the divine images and had brazenly co to steal them. He quickly looked around, found a short wooden stick half-buried in the mud by the wall, held it in his hand, and strode up the stone steps, pushing the door open with a shove.
However, the cry of "How dare you, thief!" had not yet left his throat when he froze in place. Two breaths later, the short stick in his hand fell to the dirt floor with a clatter… Daoist Hong Song knelt down with a thud, prostrating himself on the ground, not daring to lift his head, only saying, "The True Lord has manifested, the True Lord has manifested! This humble Daoist has disturbed you, my cri is worthy of ten thousand deaths!!"
Just after he had pushed the door open…
He saw a glittering golden divine being walk down from the portrait!
He only glanced at it, not seeing it clearly. Thus, he didn't realize that this divine being's appearance was seventy percent similar to Li Yunxin's.
The golden phantom, ford from the believers' incense and willpower, carrying the bit of Li Yunxin's spiritual energy originally left in the painting, strode forward. Without looking at Daoist Hong Song, it passed directly through the door panel and sped towards Weicheng!
And at this very mont, from the thirty-seven divine images he had distributed and enshrined in various temples, a golden divine being erged from each, carrying his spiritual energy—converging on Weicheng!
And this Weicheng…
If Lingkongzi had been suspicious that day, flown high into the sky to look at Li Yunxin's route over those few days, and had drawn it out, she would have discovered…
With his own footsteps, he had asured out a lifelike—portrait of Li Yunxin, with the entire city of Weicheng as the scroll!
The unfinished, playful brushstrokes he had intentionally or unintentionally left in various parts of the city ford the thirty-six major acupoints in the human body's ridians!
And the Prefectural Office gate, which hid the "Upper Yuan Diagram" Treasure Scroll, was the heart of this painting!
Now, the yang energy of the three hundred and sixty thousand people of Weicheng had been guided by those thirty-six major acupoints, forming flowing ridians. And those thirty-seven golden divine lords, carrying Li Yunxin's spiritual energy, had successively thrown themselves into the operation of these ridians.
Yang energy, spiritual energy, a torrent—after circulating for three cycles, it finally rushed towards the Prefectural Office gate like a tidal wave!
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