Chapter 1218 - A Little Bit About Xiao An—The Painting Tomb (Four)
Chapter 1218 - A Little Bit About Xiao An—The Painting Tomb (Four)
Incinerating thirty percent of all life in this world should basically be enough to suppress the ghost tower…
This was the conclusion she had reached with her calculations. However, once she began with that, the remaining seventy percent would definitely put up a violent resistance. The Great Banyan Tree King had already occupied six provinces and was determined to become the god of the nine provinces, so he would definitely oppose her with everything he had. Compared to that, it was better to burn him to a crisp.
The Great Banyan Tree King was colossal. His branches and roots wove together everywhere, so he was almost invincible in the nine provinces. However, he was also vulnerable to the Buddha Slaying sword, so he should not be too difficult to deal with. With his calculations, he must have realised this as well.
She hoped he could do everything within his abilities to take down the ghost tower, or Li Qingshan would definitely fly into a rage once he returned.
However, even if it angered him, she had to do this!
She still could not leave here before he returned.
An ancient temple stood deep within the mountains. The rustling red leaves covered the steps.
“So this is the Painting Tomb!”
Chu Danqing stood before the temple in amazement. Suddenly, he looked back and discovered in surprise that she was standing behind him silently. Her bluish-grey monk robes actually matched the scenery of the ancient temple extremely well, but her expression would never match any scenery. She held a strange, twisted sword in her hand, which conflicted with the scenery even more for some reason.
“Qingshan’s promise to me has already been upheld. You’ve obtained grand preceptor Dong’s Hundred Scrolls of Wonders. There are many dangers in the Painting Tomb, so you should just go!”
“Hehe, a brat talking so big. How dangerous can this shitty place be? Once we see that fake dragon, cut him a few times, and you’ll understand who’s more dangerous.” The Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished let out a strange, sharp laugh, completely breaking the tranquil surroundings.
Chu Danqing’s expression changed drastically. Xiao An curled her finger and flicked the sword gently, and the Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished immediately fell silent.
“Only when you have left the Painting Tomb safely will the promise be complete.”
“A- alright then!” Chu Danqing stepped on the red leaves and climbed up the stairs.
Xiao An followed close behind him. When she set foot on the first step, the step suddenly dispersed like smoke. The fiery-red maple trees on the sides sprang into real flames with a whoosh, sweeping towards her.
Only now did Chu Danqing realise that everything around them was actually paintings. The flames were only inches away from him, but he felt no heat at all. Instead, his blood began to heat up and churn slightly, which was an extremely pleasant sensation.
That step separated two worlds.
He could not help but stop and looked back in worry.
Xiao An stood in the empty air firmly, without any emotion as if nothing had happened at all.
The Immortal Relinquished sword twisted and warped with light, and the surrounding scenery immediately shattered, unable to touch her.
The Immortal Relinquished sword was originally the ruler of the Sword Tomb, and the path of the sword was a path of slaughter. Its destructive power and lethality was well beyond anything that the Painting Tomb could match.
“I don’t need your protection. I’m begging you, Xiao An. Just go!”
Chu Danqing was troubled. He folded his hands and bowed because he wanted to protect this Painting Tomb. Every single object here, whether it was the flowers or trees, were a famed painting, yet they had actually been ripped apart so heartlessly. It basically made his heart bleed.
Xiao An said nothing, but she had no intentions of leaving.
The Painting Tomb began to surge. Even more of the landscape took part in the attack, but the Immortal Relinquished sword obliterated it all.
“Sigh, there’s really nothing I can do about you!”
Chu Danqing did not dare to stay here for any longer. He ran forwards desperately as Xiao An followed behind him at a steady pace. The Immortal Relinquished sword tore through all obstacles, cutting open an empty hole by force.
Deep within the meditation room, the flowers and trees contrasted against a snowy-white mural. An ink dragon floated there, about to soar off.
Chu Danqing saw it from afar and called out at the top of his voice, “Master!”
“Hehe, that old blindy. Why don’t we just cut him down!”
The Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished snickered, so Xiao An stowed him away. Before this mural, the surroundings suddenly stabilised, no longer launching a furious attack at her.
Chu Danqing bowed before the mural. The ink dragon lowered his head as if he was looking at him, except his eyes were blank. The ink around him was very faint. The battle in the Ink sea had not injured his true body, but it still had quite an effect on him.
He said sternly, “Danqing, you’re here.” Then he looked at Xiao An. “What do you have to say?”
“I only have a single question. Will you still oppose us once you break free?”
Xiao An pressed down on the Buddha Slaying sword again. Saving an enemy for the sake of completing a promise was something Li Qingshan would do, but she would not. Speaking of which, she would only complete the promise successfully once Chu Danqing left the Painting Tomb safely.
“So that’s your true intentions!”
Chu Danqing stood up between her and the mural, gazing at her furiously.
“Danqing, back down,” the Dragon King of Ink Sea ordered in a dignified manner.
“Yes, master!” Despite his reluctance, Chu Danqing could only step aside.
“If I said I won’t, would you believe me?” said the Dragon King of Ink Sea.
“Fellow, you are too proud to lie. Even if it is a lie, it’ll count,” said Xiao An.
“In other words, you want to coerce me into agreeing that I won’t ever oppose the two of you again?”
With a rumble, a bolt of lightning shot across the sky. Dark clouds began to gather in layers. A storm was about to erupt.
Chu Danqing felt extremely distressed. He knew how his master was proud and aloof and would never agree to any threats, but under these circumstances, he definitely was not the buddha nemesis’ opponent. He never imagined all of his efforts would end up claiming his master’s life.
“Life and death are just ordinary affairs. You can’t call it coercion. The dragon king is free to make a choice, but I do hope I can avoid a battle.”
“Why?”
“If I kill you, your disciple will definitely try to avenge you. I’ll have to kill him too, but he’s Qingshan’s friend. Unless I have no other choice, I don’t want to do that either.” Actually, there was another reason. Paintings could not be “eaten”.
The Dragon King of Ink Sea sank into his thoughts. Only the dark clouds grew thicker and thicker.
Their eyes met. One pair was blank, while the other pair was empty. The blankness was with emotion, but the emptiness was truly emotionless.
Since there were emotions, he had to care, just like how his disciple was willing to risk his life at any time out of his concern for him, just like how he cared about his dream to soar through the heavens and swim through the seas.
Meanwhile, the emotionlessness was almost unworldly. He was in the painting, but his heart lay outside. Those words did not even resemble a threat, but the embodiment of some kind of law.
The Dragon King of Ink Sea let out a sigh. “If Li Qingshan said something like that to me, I’d fight him again no matter what!”
“Qingshan won’t say something like that.”
“I will never oppose the two of you ever again.”
Xiao An nodded. With a swing of her sword, she cut through the Painting Tomb and was about to leave.
“Hold on. I originally planned on giving Qingshan this painting as a thank you. I want to give it to you instead now.”
Chu Danqing gazed at her deeply and passed over a painting.
Unfurling the painting, Xiao An’s expression changed slightly like a ripple across a lake. Her eyes were glued to the painting.
As it turned out, it was a portrait of Li Qingshan, standing there casually with his hands on his hips.
“Hopefully, you don’t forget about him!”
Xiao An returned to her senses and agreed with him in a hurried manner before tossing down a pile of paintings. She drifted off into the crack.
Chu Danqing gazed at the Hundred Scrolls of Wonders on the ground. He was dumbfounded. That was almost a hundred arcane-treasure-level paintings, yet she had tossed them to him. It left him smiling wryly. Was she copying Li Qingshan, ensuring that all of his debts would be paid off?
He let out a deep sigh of relief and turned towards the mural. He was already holding a brush in hand. He dripped a droplet of blood onto the tip of the brush and brought it towards the mural.
The brush was silent as he dabbed out twice.
With a rumble, the mural shattered, and the ink dragon soared.
The Painting Tomb shook violently. All of the scenery turned into rapidly-spinning colours like a kaleidoscope, gathering towards the vigorous dragon.
Chu Danqing had already exhausted everything in him with those two dabs of the brush. As the world spun around him, he fell down, directly into the great desert where night had already taken over. All he saw was the figure of a dragon meander about in the colourful mirage. With each meander, he became even larger. In the beginning, he could still see his entire body, but towards the end, he could only see a scale and half a claw.
In the end, a colossal dragon head poked out, followed by a slender body. As if it had been dyed by the colours of the mirage, pigments emerged from the inky-black, adding to the texture.
A dragon’s cry rang through the desert as the ink dragon rose into the air. The Painting Tomb no longer existed, having merged with him.
The imitation trapped within the painting could finally soar through the world like a true dragon.
The stone door to Qing Xiao’s dwelling opened up.
A beam of moonlight entered the dark, hollow centre of the mountain, outlining her figure.
The dwelling that they had dug out so seriously back then had become so crude now.
She drifted down and unfurled the scroll, gently touching the painting.
Even with the wonders of white bone and great beauty, there were still appearances she could not completely see through and discard. It furrowed her brows and moistened her eyes.
The moonlight was lucid. Tears fell like rain.
How could she forget about him?