Liu Chuanfeng was taken aback. Is this still Han Qiongzhi? How come I don’t remember her ever being so beautiful? He became filled with even greater admiration towards Li Qingshan.
Sun Fubai tugged his sleeve, and Liu Chuanfeng returned to his senses, walking away in a hurry.
Chu Danqing glanced at her and was unable to look at her again. With his sharp eyes as a painter, he recognised her with a single glance. She was the woman who had said she would drink with Li Qingshan after he had fallen drunk. Chu Danqing had almost passed her by with his face covered, afraid she would recognise him.
However, there was no one else in Han Qiongzhi’s eyes right now.
Li Qingshan held Han Qiongzhi’s hand and smiled. “Once I win, we’ll travel across the Clear River prefecture together!” Although it was easier for him to take advantage of her when they went boating, bustling, noisy places suited her personality better!
Han Qiongzhi’s face reddened slightly. “If you win, I’ll give you a gift as a reward.”
Li Qingshan could not help but study her up and down. Her thin waist that was wrapped in a brocade waistband, her tall, firm breasts that almost burst out from her clothing, and her perky bottom that held up her dress swept him away in his fantasies. Don’t tell me the gift is…
Han Qiongzhi reprimanded him, “Don’t become lost in your fantasies. It’s just a gift.”
“Let’s just go boating instead then!” Li Qingshan whispered in her ear. If he did not pull her in and dote on her recklessly, it would have been a waste.
“Don’t you even think about it.” Han Qiongzhi shot a glance at him and pushed him away. Go!
All the disciples on the platforms saw this. The news that Li Qingshan and Han Qiongzhi had become a couple was no longer a secret, but they still could not help but gasp when they saw it in person.
“Second senior sister has basically become a whole different person recently. She’s even wearing clothes like that. Just what has Li Qingshan done to deserve all this?” A legalist disciple sighed. In the past, Han Qiongzhi had never cared about what she wore.
“Stop envying him. At least we can feast our eyes on her. Before, she really was fier-”
“What about before?”
The two people raised their heads. Before they knew it, Han Qiongzhi had already appeared before them, staring at them. Their hearts shuddered, and they bowed in a hurry. “Second senior sister.”
“Hmph, I’ll teach you a lesson after I get back!” Han Qiongzhi was not angry at all. She saw Wang Pushi wave at her and gently stepped onto the higher platform, arriving beside Wang Pushi.
The two legalist disciples exchanged glances and sighed in relief simultaneously. Their second senior sister had really been in a fantastic mood recently.
At this moment, Li Qingshan stepped into the arena, leading to a series of cheers. Li Qingshan, who had come from an ordinary background, seemed quite like a hero of the common people.
Two long tables were placed on the two sides of the Main Martial Arts stadium. Li Qingshan and Chu Danqing each stood behind a table, looking at one another from afar. Their eyes locked and sparks flew.
Liu Zhangqing announced the rules of the match and declared the agreed wagers from the two sides. “Primary disciples, please prepare yourselves!”
“The Heavenly Maiden Scatters the Blossoms!” Han Qiongzhi frowned.
“What’s that?” Wang Pushi was clueless. His cultivation was much higher than Han Qiongzhi’s, but his knowledge of amusing rumors and stories paled in comparison to these aristocratic descendants. Han Qiongzhi had even purposefully investigated Chu Shidao because of Li Qingshan, so she was obviously familiar with this renowned painting.
After hearing Han Qiongzhi’s explanation, Wang Pushi smiled. “Looks like the kid’s about to win a love rival. You better be careful, Qiongzhi.”
Han Qiongzhi said, “Even the commander is making fun of me. I refuse to believe that I’ll lose to a painting!”
Wang Pushi laughed. “You never know.”
“If you want to keep talking about that, I’m not standing here anymore.” Han Qiongzhi stamped her foot. She too had heard there had been many cultivators who offered tremendous sums for the painting of a beauty from Chu Shidao so that they could hang it in their dwellings. They would summon and send them off at will, without causing them any trouble they had to worry about.
“Alright, alright, alright. I’ll stop. Look, it’s begun.”
Everyone was curious about this match between novels and painting. Just how would the two of them determine the victor?
Chu Danqing had already placed his painting on the table. He said loudly, “Li Qingshan, this painting is called Hellscape Rhapsody. I spent three months conceiving it and another three months painting it. It’s extremely terrifying. Even I wouldn’t want to create a painting like this unless I had no choice. If you’re clever, then it’s still not too late for you to forfeit. Otherwise, even you might end up injured later!”
Chu Shidao stood on the platform behind Chu Danqing. When he spotted the painting, he shivered all over. He smiled as he stroked his beard in great relief. Not only had Chu Danqing inherited his skill, but he would definitely exceed him in the future.
The outcome was already decided for this battle!
Li Qingshan took out a thin picture book and placed it on the table. “I spent two hours conceiving this book, a day to complete it, and a month to spread it. I have no idea how effective it is, so you better try it yourself!”
“Qingshan, you’ve grabbed the wrong book!” Liu Chuanfeng also stood on the platform behind Li Qingshan. He was worried.
Li Qingshan waved his hand without even looking back. “Don’t worry, it’s the right one!”
“Since you just won’t give up, I’ll let you experience the terrors of hell!” Chu Danqing brought his fingers together and pointed away. The painting rose with a flutter.
A blazing colour filled the entire paper, but there was only one colour—red!
Scarlet red, fiery red, blood red. The scarlet-red mountains stood strange and jagged; the boundless sea of fire blazed; the blood-red rivers surged.
Everyone who directed their attention towards this painting shuddered. A terrifying will of madness gushed into their faces. Just what kind of hellscape painting was this? There seemed to be countless fiends and evil spirits writhing in endless agony.
Gradually, fantasy became reality. Fiends leapt off the tall mountains one by one, emerging from the sea of fire and floating out from the rivers of blood, rushing out of the painting.
Their tall bodies, their scarlet-red skin, their twisted limbs, their hissing growls, and their empty eyes were all filled with endless hatred and resentment. One, two, several dozen fiends crawled out from the painting, as if they were crawling out of hell to seek revenge on the living people.
In that instant, a nightmare seemed to become real!
Screams rose up from the platforms. Many female cultivators even paled.
However, Han Qiongzhi was not afraid. Compared to what Altar Lord Black Lotus had unleashed to kill people back then in Ancient Wind city, a hell like this lacked an element of realism. She was just worried for Li Qingshan.
Wang Pushi smiled. “That’s the aura from the Hell realm. This painting suits my school of Legalism very much. He really is something else for old man Chu to accept him as his final disciple and spend a decade nurturing him. Li Qingshan is in trouble.”
Chu Danqing recalled what had happened when he first entered seclusion to produce this painting. Often, he would suddenly begin rolling around on the ground in regret as he painted, banging his head against the wall heavily in shame.
He had spent a whole decade cultivating arduously, and the moment he emerged, he had become a public laughingstock. No female cultivator would like him anymore. He was about to go crazy. He felt like he was standing in hell, being scorched by the flames.
In the end, he poured this madness of his into the painting, conceiving this Hellscape Rhapsody. He painted countless fiends in the limited space of the painting.
Li Qingshan, you asked for it!
Li Qingshan’s smile remained. He said, “Oh right, I forgot to state the name of my book.” Suddenly, he grew serious and waved his hand, calling out, “Come out, Magic Brush Ma Liang!”
The Divine Talisman of Great Creation suddenly erupted with extremely resplendent light. As Li Qingshan waved his hand, the faith, the power of belief of millions of people, gathered and condensed.
A teenager with a wide-brimmed straw hat and a brush in his hand appeared in the Main Martial Arts stadium. He had a pair of thick eyebrows and large eyes, radiating with solemn righteousness. He stood before the fiends flawlessly.
Han Qiongzhi called out in surprise, “This is!”
The surroundings fell silent. Chu Tian laughed madly. “Li Qingshan, are you trying to achieve victory through a kid? Don’t tell me this kid was you from the past? I heard you came from a village.”
Ever since Chu Tian suffered a defeat at Li Qingshan’s hands, he had persevered and bided his time, undertaking self-imposed hardships and preparing for revenge at all times. The only reason why he decided to keep suffering in silence was out of consideration for how he could not reveal that item to the public. Now that he saw Li Qingshan failing, he was having the time of his life.
The other disciples would never mock Li Qingshan so openly, but they thought the same thing as Chu Tian. How could this regular teenager possess the strength to contend against fiends?
Compared to the terrors of Hellscape Rhapsody, what was Magic Brush Ma Liang supposed to be? It was truly a joke.
“Oh no, he’s in trouble now!” Liu Chuanfeng paced around out of worry.
Sun Fubai said with composure, “Junior brother, you shouldn’t worry. Qingshan knows what he’s doing. Though recently, I heard about a rumor.” A rumor regarding Magic Brush Ma Liang.
“Li Qingshan, you really are wretched!” Chu Danqing looked at the impoverished, half-grown Ma Liang and seemed to see his past self. He really was a little unwilling to get the fiends to slaughter him now.
“Wretched?” Li Qingshan was surprised, but he did not think about it too much.
With absolute focus, Ma Liang raised his magic brush and quickly drew in the air. The power of belief in the Divine Talisman of Great Creation was rapidly converted into his own power.
Under everyone’s astonished gazes, a golden shoe landed on the ground with a thump.
A deity clad in golden armour with a golden dagger-axe in his hand emerged from nowhere. He pointed his golden dagger-axe at the fiends.
The design of the armoured deity was simple and childish. He even had a pair of golden wings on his back, like some kind of divine soldier from heaven that a child had imagined. However, the aura he gave off was no less than the fiends. Chu Tian, who had been laughing aloud, suddenly shut his mouth.
Chu Danqing’s mouth hung agape instead. Wasn’t this the ability of their school of Painting? Why would a character conjured by a novelist possess this kind of ability?
Chu Shidao called out, “Danqing, what’re you waiting for?”
The armoured deity suddenly unfurled its wings and rushed into the sky, flying towards the sun that had just risen in the east. He dove back down as a golden streak of light and stabbed through a fiend with his golden dagger-axe. The fiend trembled as it dispersed.
Chu Danqing immediately returned to his senses. The fiends roared as they lunged towards the armoured deity, but the deity took off into the air once more. He circled around with the dagger-axe in his hand.
Liu Chuanfeng’s despair was immediately converted to joy. Han Qiongzhi called out, “Nice!”
On the other hand, Li Qingshan was rather pained by the power of belief he was depleting. This was not true qi. It was a consumable, where it would vanish with use. However, he could not care about that anymore. Before his girlfriend, he had to triumph in this match!
Ma Liang used the magic brush in his hand to draw a second armoured deity, who emerged from thin air.
“Chu Danqing, today I will use the ability of the school of Painting to defeat you. I’ll show you the power of our school of Novels!”
PS: Please gather your power of belief in my hands. Come out, monthly tickets!
