Painting Scroll

Tu Shan Jun awoke from his boxing practice within the Soul Banner.

He had had enough of sitting in prison these past three months. Fortunately, this fellow had finally succeeded in sensing qi.

As for talent...

Tu Shan Jun no longer asked for such a thing as talent. Being able to sense qi was enough.

If he had to keep squatting in solitary confinement inside the Soul Banner, he did not know whether he would go mad.

"Hahaha, I finally succeeded! Three months!"

Li Qingfeng leaped up from the bed in delight. He had finally comprehended qi.

"Young Master, you succeeded." Wubao knew what his young master had been doing.

After all, the two of them had discovered the immortal together.

It was just that Wubao could not even recognize all the characters. The moment he looked at a book, he grew sleepy, so he truly had no way to cultivate.

Now, seeing Li Qingfeng so delighted he looked almost crazed, he immediately understood why.

Wubao was delighted from the bottom of his heart as well. From now on, his young master would be an immortal. He would no longer be a bookboy, but an immortal boy.

"Young Master, this is wonderful news!"

"I succeeded!"

"Wubao, I succeeded."

This thread of qi was no thicker than a hair. It darted wildly through his body before finally settling into his dantian.

Li Qingfeng stood barefoot on the floor and slammed the door open.

Ignoring the short clothes he wore, he ran about in joy.

He looked exactly like someone who had placed first in the imperial examinations. Perhaps even placing first would not have made him as happy as he was now.

After three months of hard work, he himself had nearly given up, wondering whether he truly did not have spiritual roots.

Yet today...

Today!

"Surely he won't go mad with joy like Fan Jin after passing the provincial examination?" Tu Shan Jun frowned inside the Soul Banner.

Li Qingfeng being able to sense qi made him very happy, but it would be bad if extreme joy gave way to sorrow.

What if Li Qingfeng simply went stupid? Would that not bring them straight back to square one?

Fortunately, after running madly around a few times and exhausting much of his strength, Li Qingfeng returned to his room and picked up the Soul Banner, examining it carefully.

From the Blood Fiend Art, he had obtained two spells. One was called the Spirit Official Dharma Eye.

It could distinguish those who possessed spiritual light, recognize ghosts, demons, and strange aberrations. It was a basic spell.

The other was called "Banner Control."

It was used to command the Soul Banner.

Originally, he would have needed to refine a Soul Banner of his own, but now he had a ready-made one in his hands.

The moment Li Qingfeng picked up the Soul Banner, words appeared on Tu Shan Jun's scarlet panel.

Bind new banner master?

"Bind."

He had finally obtained a new banner master. How could he possibly let him go?

No matter what talent the banner master possessed, even if his aptitude was the absolute worst of the worst, with Tu Shan Jun's support, he would certainly go farther than ordinary people.

Fortunately, although Li Qingfeng's aptitude was rather poor, he did not need to use the backup plan Tu Shan Jun had prepared.

That backup plan was not something that could be accomplished in a few months.

At the least, it would take several years. At most, more than ten years, perhaps even decades.

Even though Tu Shan Jun had ample patience, he did not wish to wait that long.

After Tu Shan Jun selected the banner master, Li Qingfeng immediately felt many inexplicable connections forming between himself and the Soul Banner.

It was as though it had always been his possession, intimately familiar.

Li Qingfeng set the Soul Banner down again.

He had only just sensed qi. From now on, he needed to refine essence into qi while supplementing it by absorbing the qi of heaven and earth, reaching Qi Refining First Layer as quickly as possible.

As for why he did not reverse the order, it was naturally because in the early stages of cultivation, the internal refinement method of refining essence into qi was faster and more efficient. Only when one's cultivation became profound would it reverse.

The first step in refining essence into qi was eating one's fill.

Meat was best.

Li Qingfeng's family controlled several rice, flour, and silk shops in Eight Directions City, and they had enclosed vast tracts of land outside the city.

They looked every inch the great landlords, so eating meat every day was hardly difficult.

Moreover, Li Qingfeng's parents felt that he should not ruin his health through hard study. They bought meat daily and sent him nourishing foods every few days.

This further hastened Li Qingfeng's path of refining essence into qi.

After a little over a month, Li Qingfeng had already reached Qi Refining First Layer.

It truly made Tu Shan Jun sigh over the saying: poor scholars, rich warriors.

Li Qingfeng's aptitude was poor. Relying on perseverance, he had spent three months sensing qi day and night before gaining Qi Sense and stepping through cultivation's gate.

Who would have thought that now, after bitterness came sweetness, he would enter Qi Refining First Layer in just one month?

Though it had benefited from the Blood Fiend Art's ability to forcibly break through barriers, this was already quite good.

The blood fiend qi hidden within his flesh was entirely sufficient.

He had finally set foot on the path of cultivation.

"Young Master, Young Master Liu has come again." Wubao hurried in.

"Brother Qingfeng, I understand your feelings about studying diligently, but there are still two years until the provincial examination. There is no need to rush at this moment. It would be no good to wear out your health."

"Uncle and Auntie also asked me to invite Brother Qingfeng out for a walk more often."

"By happy coincidence, it is time for another literary gathering. Brother Qingfeng has declined three times already, so this little brother will shamelessly invite you once more."

Wubao had barely entered when Young Master Liu, dressed in a blue scholar's robe and holding a folding fan, walked in and greeted him with cupped hands.

Li Qingfeng thought it over. Cultivation was not something to rush either.

He had already entered the path and needed to balance work and rest.

Moreover, he had already declined three times, and Liu Chuang had even invoked his parents, so it would not be good to refuse again. "All right, all right. We'll go today, today."

He took a parasol, tucked the foot-long Soul Banner into his clothes, hung a silver pouch at his waist, brought Wubao along, and headed straight out for Music Bureau Tower.

Music Bureau Tower was filled mostly with courtesans who sold their arts but not their bodies. Most were eventually taken home as concubines by the wealthy gentry and young masters of Eight Directions City.

Where there were places that did not sell the body, there were naturally places that did.

The hidden brothels nearby were countless as well.

Whether they were truly elegant or merely affecting elegance, this group of scholar candidates and xiucai always chose Music Bureau Tower as the site of their literary gatherings. It had always been so.

"Gentlemen, look who I invited today."

"Oh, Brother Qingfeng."

"A rare guest indeed. I heard Brother Qingfeng secluded himself to study for four months. Who would have thought Brother Liu would manage to invite you out today?"

"It seems Brother Qingfeng is determined to win the provincial examination. This little brother shall congratulate Brother Qingfeng in advance on passing the examination."

Li Qingfeng accepted their words with a smiling face. He could hardly tell them that he had been pondering immortal cultivation. "I merely gained a little."

Now that he looked at these friends again, he found it difficult to be candid with them, and an inexplicable sense of superiority had arisen within him.

"Then let us compete in poetry today. I have never gotten over losing to Brother Qingfeng last time."

"Ah, today's theme was decided long ago. We are here to appreciate the masterpiece Brother Liu acquired at great expense. How can we change it so casually?"

"This little brother was wrong. I shall punish myself with a cup."

"Brother Liu, since you have invited everyone here, surely you should let us admire this great master's work." Beside the speaker sat a birdcage. Inside was not some precious bird, but a pigeon with white feathers and a red beak.

Liu Chuang was brimming with satisfaction, his face glowing. "Come, bring over that one-of-a-kind piece your young master acquired."

A square sandalwood box was placed upon the table.

Five people sat around it.

Li Qingfeng was still thinking about the cultivation formula and was somewhat distracted.

Liu Chuang was already unable to wait any longer. He opened the box, revealing a painting scroll lying quietly within.

Though the other three praised it highly, they were only five or six parts serious and did not truly take it to heart.

Still, Liu Chuang was usually generous with his spending, so they could not embarrass him.

Besides, appreciating a painting would not take long, and they would still have plenty of time to listen to music.

They had heard that Music Bureau Tower had gained another top courtesan, and everyone was quite curious.

As the scroll unfurled, until the entire painting was revealed and hung upon the blank wall beside them.

The laxness vanished from everyone's eyes. All of them stared at the figure in the painting with blazing gazes.

The person in the painting was simply too beautiful.

Beautiful enough to shake the heart and stir the soul.

A naked beauty, striking seductive poses.

A pool of spring water lay between her brows and eyes, enough to melt a person away.

Tu Shan Jun immediately noticed that something was wrong. He sensed an intensely stimulating scent.

It was not the smell of blood, but an indescribable scent.

Moreover, the painting was steeped in yin qi. It did not seem like a good thing.

Li Qingfeng also felt that something was wrong with the scroll. Just now, he seemed to have seen the painted woman's eyeball move.

He thought he had seen wrongly, but when he looked at the expressions and gazes of the other four, he immediately felt that things were amiss. "Something evil."

Although he was already at Qi Refining First Layer, faced with such an evil scene, his calves still trembled.

His legs shook against one another, and he nearly fled.

The wicked fire that had risen in his heart was extinguished in an instant.

His spine turned icy, the chill shooting straight to the back of his head.