Griseo's Painting

"The people from Shrek Academy are so slow..."

Lang Lei sat listlessly atop a large tree, looking in the direction of Suotuo City.

Beneath the tree, Little Griseo was sketching the Star Dou Great Forest. Xuan Bing and Li Huo stood on either side of her.

"Is Brother Lang Lei waiting for someone?"

Little Griseo set down her brush and looked up at Lang Lei, who sat on a tree branch.

"Miss, Young Master must have his reasons for doing this," Xuan Bing replied.

"Is that so?" Little Griseo looked thoughtful.

"Little Griseo, don't listen to Xuan Bing's nonsense. I'm just waiting for someone." Lang Lei's voice came from above.

Then Lang Lei jumped down from the tree.

"Sometimes, debts of gratitude are much harder to repay than material debts." Lang Lei stretched his body, which had grown stiff from sitting. "It's not like you can't leave them unpaid, but it always feels like something is weighing on your mind. It's a strange feeling."

"So I'll take this chance to repay the debt of gratitude I owe. After that, I can live without any burdens." Lang Lei patiently explained it to Little Griseo.

"A debt of gratitude... I don't understand..."

Little Griseo shook her head, indicating that she did not understand.

"Little Griseo doesn't need to understand that." Lang Lei stroked Little Griseo's hair. "You just need to be happy every day."

"Mm, I understand." Little Griseo nodded. "Then has Brother Lang Lei found the person he was waiting for?"

"Aren't they here already?" Lang Lei pointed into the distance. "Otherwise, why would I have come down now?"

"Is that so~"

"Little Griseo, what are you...?"

"I'm painting Brother Lang Lei." Little Griseo tugged on Lang Lei's hand. "Brother Lang Lei, sit back up there for a little while longer. I'll be done soon."

"Alright, alright, I'll go sit back up there." Lang Lei could not resist Little Griseo's pleading and immediately agreed.

With a leap, he returned to the branch where he had been sitting.

Ten minutes later—

"It's done. Thank you, Brother Lang Lei."

As Lang Lei stared aimlessly into the distance, Little Griseo's voice reached him.

"Is it finished?" Lang Lei flipped down from the tree. "Can I have a look?"

"Mm, here, Brother Lang Lei."

Lang Lei took the painting Little Griseo handed him and examined it.

In the painting, he sat on a tree. Unlike reality, however, the tree was incredibly tall, as could be seen from the background.

Little Griseo truly lived up to her reputation as the internationally renowned little painter of the Previous Civilization. Even using paints similar to gouache, she had painted Lang Lei with remarkable accuracy.

Anyone who knew Lang Lei would recognize him in the painting at first glance.

Yet unlike reality, the Lang Lei in the painting was wrapped from head to toe in dense chains. Some looped around his neck, while others bound his shoulders and back.

Several chains extended toward the bottom of the painting, while even more descended from the sky. One more came from afar.

There was no need to guess about the chain extending from beneath the tree. It most likely came from Little Griseo. After all, Little Griseo could now be considered Lang Lei's killing-intent suppressor.

The chain coming from afar should have represented that life-saving favor. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be severed after this incident.

As for the chains coming from the sky...

Lang Lei did not know, nor could he guess.

"Little Griseo, these chains..."

"Why did you want to paint them?"

"I don't know. I just painted them according to how I felt." Little Griseo did not know either. Perhaps only Miss Knight could explain it clearly.

Yet she had reached this level simply by painting according to her feelings, without any instruction...

It had to be said that talent could truly make people envious sometimes.

That was getting off topic.

In any case, he would not get any answers from Little Griseo. He would have to ask Miss Knight later.

Lang Lei returned the painting to Little Griseo and watched as she carefully put it away before storing it in the Storage Soul Tool he had bought for her.

"Alright, Brother Lang Lei."

"Come here."

Lang Lei crouched down and opened his arms. Little Griseo climbed up with practiced ease, then sat on Lang Lei's forearm.

After making sure he held her securely, Lang Lei stood and looked at Xuan Bing and Li Huo.

"Let's go."

"Yes, Master." ×2

Lang Lei did not immediately take Little Griseo and the others back to the inn. Instead, they wandered around outside for a while before he leisurely headed toward his final destination—a restaurant.

"That girl is pretty good-looking, Boss Dai. Those showy people should be from Canghui Academy, right?" Ma Hongjun stared at a mature woman in a Soul Master team with an extremely rude and lecherous gaze.

If this were modern society, well...

Still, the recovery abilities and healing methods of Soul Masters truly deserved praise. Dai Mubai had been beaten so badly by Lang Lei that day, yet he could actually move around now.

However, although he looked normal on the surface, one of Dai Mubai's eyes and his male reproductive organ were completely useless now. Even one of his arms still seemed somewhat uncoordinated.

Dai Mubai was already full of anger over what had happened a few days ago. Coupled with Flender's teachings and his own personality, he said without hesitation, "They're just a tiny Canghui Academy. What the hell are they showing off for? What right do they have to act so arrogantly?"

Neither Ma Hongjun nor Dai Mubai had any intention of lowering their voices, and Soul Masters had much sharper hearing than ordinary people.

Although the restaurant was crowded and noisy with all kinds of sounds, the oldest middle-aged man among the eight still turned his gaze toward the Shrek group.

Ye Zhi Qiu frowned slightly. When he saw that the table from Shrek Academy was occupied by nothing more than a group of young, unremarkable children, his expression immediately darkened further.

Sitting beside Tang San, Oscar chuckled softly. "This is going to be good."

Tang San gave Oscar a puzzled look. "What's going to be good?"

Seeing that Tang San still did not know, Oscar explained in a low voice, "This is also part of the training our dean taught us. Dean Flender once said: A Soul Master who doesn't dare cause trouble isn't a good Soul Master. As they say, those who don't dare cause trouble are mediocrities. Besides, provoking people from a Soul Master Academy is the safest option. At most, it'll just turn into a fight. There won't be any major consequences."

Tang San smiled in agreement after hearing this. "If we put together all our dean's sayings, we could make a monster anthology. Judging by their ages... this Canghui Academy should be an advanced Soul Master Academy, right?"

It could only be said that birds of a feather flocked together.

Being able to make bullying the weak and fearing the strong sound so refined was truly astonishing.

What they did not know was that, at this very moment, Lang Lei's group of four had silently appeared in a corner of the restaurant. After Lang Lei ordered several dishes that Little Griseo and the others liked, they quietly watched this famous scene unfold.