"What is wrong?" Lene asked, a bit worried.
Seeing Vika and Fallon turn pale at the sight of a painting made her worry. But the fact that Kent even seed affected by it took her aback.
She looked at the painting, and all she saw was a green eye with a red pupil. At first glance, she knew it wasn't an ordinary painting. However, the reaction that made the ladies pale wasn't present.
She knew they had seen sothing, so she wanted to know what. But regardless of how she looked at it, she saw nothing that should freak her out.
"I have sealed it, Lene, so it wouldn't work unless you channel your energy into it," Kent said, standing up with a tired look on his face.
"What is it, Master?"
"I call it the Demon Heart Gaze. It is a spirit painting that tells whether soone has a heart demon. All you have to do is look into the eye, and you will see your heart demon."
"Does Master also have a heart demon?"
"Yes. I've always had a heart demon, even during my life as the ruthless bandit. However, if we succeed on this mission, then I will be able to kill it before it defeats ."
Lene moved and hugged Kent.
In her eyes, a heart demon was the most dangerous thing a cultivator could ever experience. It could easily kill or, worse, cripple the cultivator. So learning that her master had a heart demon made her afraid.
"Relax, Lene. I am certain it wouldn't be long before this heart demon is dealt with." Kent said in a comforting tone before he snapped his eyes and looked at Fallon and Vika. "However, you two now have a decision to make. Just now, you saw your heart demons, and they are each other...right?"
They said nothing, but their expressions told Kent what he needed to know.
"Fallon, your heart demon is Vika, and Vika, your heart demon is Fallon."
They nodded, and Vika asked, "But how? It isn't like I hate Fallon or want to kill her. She is my friend... My best friend."
"I know that. However, you bla yourself for what happened to her family, even though none of it was your fault. You care about her opinion of you so much that you decided to look down on yourself and bla yourself for sothing you shouldn't be blad for.
Because of that, you have developed a heart demon that, now that I know what happened between the two of you, I can boldly say keeps making you doubt and bla yourself."
Fallon's eyes widened.
She turned and grabbed Vika's hand, the look of guilt appearing in her eyes. "It is not your fault, Vika, so stop blaming yourself."
It was clear she wanted to help her friend now that she knew she had a heart demon.
"I am afraid it is not that simple, Fallon." Kent's words snapped her attention back to him.
"What do you an? You already said the reason why she ford a heart demon was that she keeps blaming herself for what happened to my family. So if she stops blaming herself, won't that solve the problem?"
Kent smiled. "It wouldn't. That is because heart demons are hard to kill. Hers was ford because she keeps blaming herself, while yours was ford because you hate her for no reason.
Deep down, you knew she wasn't at fault. However, to make your life easy, you decided to bla it all on her. In your soul now is a version of Vika that wants you to keep hating and blaming her, while inside her is a version of you that wants her to keep blaming herself.
To destroy these heart demons, you must each confront your version of the heart demon inside each other's souls. Vika would have to confront yours, and you would have to confront hers."
"How do we do that?" Vika asked, feeling Fallon's grip tighten on her. She smiled inwardly because she could feel the friend she once had now seed to have returned when she heard she was in danger.
"Heart demons are insidious. They would never reveal themselves so they can be dealt with easily. They hide and strike when you are vulnerable. They are indeed the most dangerous fiends a person could ever face.
However, now that we have identified the source of your heart demons, killing them can wait. I have to set up a formation, which at my current speed will take two years.
I don't have that much ti now. But even if I did, considering ti runs differently inside the tower, you don't have to worry about your heart demons growing stronger.
In fact, if you two can do away with the animosity between you, it will weaken them. This will make it easy to confront and win when I set up the formation."
They nodded, feeling a little better.
"You have nothing to worry about, ladies. I wouldn't let any harm co to you."
They nodded again. Fallon hugged her friend and apologised. Of course, it will take more than an apology to weaken their heart demons. However, since they have more ti to spend together anyway, they can start to rekindle their friendship.
Fallon proceeded to tell Kent the outco of the eting she had ntioned with the collector.
"Three paintings, huh. I can do that in less than a day."
"Also, I don't know whether it is a coincidence, but she said they will be auctioning a spirit brush at the annual auction."
"Really, did she say which spirit brush it was?"
"No. She only said that if you can produce three paintings, she will help with a VIP ticket to the auction and even promised to put one of your paintings up for auction under her na.
Of course, your painter's na will be announced to all who would co to the auction."
"Sounds like a good thing to . I guess I'd better add two more paintings to it then."
Fallon turned to Vika before they both turned to Kent. "We want to go back to the tower for a while."
Since the ti difference is vast, they wanted to take advantage of it to catch up and see if they could handle the heart demons they've ford.
Kent gave them the go-ahead, and they left.
After they were gone, Lene jumped into Kent's arms and planted her face on his chest. After hugging him for a few minutes, she pulled back and looked at the painting...
"You really knew what you were doing, huh, using a painting to reveal what had been right before them all this while. That is genius."
Kent smiled and grabbed Lene by the ass, lifting her into his arms. She wrapped her slender legs around him and smiled.
"They needed to see the danger they are in. Also, I wanted to see how Fallon would react when she learned Vika was in such danger because of her."
"I suppose she reacted as you expected."
"Indeed. She really cares a lot about their friendship. It was her heart demon that kept her stubborn all this ti. But now that she knows what is on the line, I am sure the next ti we see them, there will be a profound change in their friendship."
"And all this is done from a re painting." Lene stared inches away into Kent's eyes before adding, "What is the next thing you plan on painting?"
After sharing a kiss, Kent returned to painting.
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