Leaving aside the reunion, questioning, and other matters involving the fallen woman's family, Lu Zheng no longer paid them any mind and threw himself back into his painting.
Ordinary oil paintings varied in difficulty depending on their size and level of detail, ranging from the simplest taking an hour to the most complex taking several months.
Logically speaking, the "Lotus Peak Amid the Sea of Clouds" that Lu Zheng intended to paint was so rich in detail and so intricate in execution that its difficulty was in no way inferior to the finest large-scale oil paintings.
But...
Who told Lu Zheng to be an immortal cultivator?
With the composition forming in his mind, his brush moved as though possessed by a god. Paintbrushes took the field in turn, palette knives swept one after another, and even the oil paints that needed time to dry were swiftly dealt with by Lu Zheng's spells.
By noon, the painting was largely complete, its artistic conception beginning to emerge.
By the afternoon, with Lu Zheng's final stroke and a puff of breath, the painting was completely finished.
"Lotus Peak Amid the Sea of Clouds," complete! The sea of clouds billowed and flowed; Lotus Peak stood lush and verdant, its rocks white as snow, its ridges rising layer upon layer. Like a lotus on the verge of blooming, it stood tall amid the boundless sea of clouds, proudly piercing the heavens.
Lu Zheng looked over the painting from side to side, nodding with satisfaction. When he turned around, he discovered that Si Lingxi was sitting nearby, watching his painting with rapt attention and eyes full of admiration.
"You're finished too?" Lu Zheng asked.
"I finished too. Not long ago, either." Si Lingxi smiled.
Lu Zheng could not help looking at Si Lingxi's painting.
Where Lu