Five Great Mountains Stand Alone

At the proprietress's words, Ling Ju, who had been curiously looking around, instantly blushed.

Jing Pu hurriedly said with an awkward smile, "No, we're just good friends."

After Jing Pu spoke, the proprietress looked between him and Ling Ju, nodding and smiling behind her hand.

"I know, I know~"

At the sight of the proprietress's expression, Ling Ju was so embarrassed she didn't know where to look.

Before Jing Pu could say anything, the proprietress smiled and ushered them in.

"All right, all right, I'll stop teasing you. Come on in."

Jing Pu and Ling Ju found an empty table and sat down. The proprietress soon brought them two baskets of buns, two bowls of porridge, and a plate of pickled vegetables.

After setting everything down, the proprietress stood beside them and smiled at Jing Pu.

"Young master, the same as last time?"

Jing Pu nodded repeatedly. The proprietress nodded back, then smiled and picked up a large paper bag to pack his order.

Ling Ju sat opposite him, the little rabbit still in her arms. Her face was flushed, and she seemed lost in thought.

Jing Pu knew cultivators didn't eat, but he didn't ask. He simply started eating.

Soon, the proprietress had packed two large bags and set them aside. Then she looked at Jing Pu with a smile.

"Don't immortals only break their fast once every ten days or half a month? It seems like you buy enough to eat every day."

As Jing Pu took out his money, he smiled and said, "I'm no immortal. I'm just an ordinary worker at the Divine Sword Sect."

Then he handed over the money. Seeing it in his hand, the proprietress waved it away with a smile.

"No need. Ever since you wrote that calligraphy for me last time, my business has been absolutely booming. Most of my customers are immortals, and they're very generous—they pay directly in spirit stones. How could I take your money?"

Jing Pu was puzzled. Did his calligraphy have the power to attract wealth and prosperity?

As he pondered this, the proprietress turned to look in one direction. She stared for a moment, then in the next instant the smile vanished from her face.

In the blink of an eye, the charming, alluring proprietress had become a fierce landlady.

She spun around and roared at the shop, "Who stole my calligraphy while I wasn't looking?!"

The entire shop fell silent. Everyone stared at the proprietress in bewilderment, then immediately looked at the wall behind her.

There hung a beautifully framed... blank sheet of paper.

It was completely empty.

The proprietress was on the verge of losing her mind, but Jing Pu, sitting nearby, hurriedly said, "Sis, it's fine. I'll write you another one."

Only then did the proprietress's expression improve a little. Still, she gritted her teeth and muttered, "I wonder which bastard stole it when I wasn't looking!"

Jing Pu just smiled and shook his head, saying nothing more.

After they finished eating, the proprietress had someone bring over a fresh table and prepared the brush and ink. The people in the shop ate as they watched with curious expressions.

Holding the brush, Jing Pu looked at the delighted proprietress and asked, "Sis, should I write 'Good Weather and Bountiful Harvests' again?"

The proprietress smiled at him. "I'll leave it to you, young master."

Jing Pu considered it, then finally swept his brush across the paper and wrote the four characters for "Good Weather and Bountiful Harvests."

When he finished, Ling Ju's face filled with astonishment. She wasn't surprised that Jing Pu's calligraphy possessed the power to defy heaven and change fate; after all, she had seen him paint before.

And there was nothing particularly unusual about changing fate through calligraphy. A mighty cultivator at the Tribulation Crossing Stage could do that.

What astonished Ling Ju was that as soon as Jing Pu finished writing those four characters, a familiar Auspicious Qi suddenly flooded the entire area!

It was the very Auspicious Qi the Demonic Beast had devoured.

At once, Ling Ju understood everything. The Demonic Beast had devoured the calligraphy the senior had left behind, gaining insight into the heavenly secrets contained within. That was how it had advanced from the peak of the Spirit Transformation Stage to the Tribulation Crossing Stage.

As for the previous piece of calligraphy, Ling Ju now believed the Demonic Beast must have absorbed all the Auspicious Qi in the area, causing the senior's writing to disappear. It hadn't been stolen at all.

Ling Ju found it truly unbelievable. She had already thought it outrageous when the senior had guided them before: in just seven days, he had taken Lie Chun from the peak of Core Formation to the early Golden Core Stage, and Ling Jing from the early Golden Core Stage to the middle stage.

That was unheard of, something no one had ever seen. And now, the opportunity contained in a single piece of calligraphy had enabled someone at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Stage to break through to the Tribulation Crossing Stage.

How many mighty cultivators had spent their entire lives at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Stage without comprehending that sliver of heavenly insight, dying without ever taking that final step?

Yet the senior's four characters had such power...

Ling Ju felt that the senior had once again shattered her understanding of what was possible.

After finishing the new "Good Weather and Bountiful Harvests," Jing Pu didn't put his brush down. What had happened today had genuinely frightened him. Even a major cultivation sect like the Divine Sword Sect had been attacked by a Demonic Beast. It was terrifying.

After thinking for a moment, Jing Pu suddenly moved his brush again and wrote five large characters: "Taishan Stone God."

This was a custom back on Earth. Whenever someone built a new house, they would place a stone carved with "Taishan Stone God" on the roof beam or somewhere inside, praying for protection from evil and for blessings.

There were no stones here, so Jing Pu wrote the words on paper instead. Either way, it meant the same thing: warding off evil and offering protection. That was what mattered.

As soon as Jing Pu finished writing those five characters, Ling Ju's vision suddenly flashed.

Before her appeared a towering mountain, majestic and magnificent, its grandeur soaring into the heavens. Ling Ju had never seen or even heard of it before. On its main peak, four large characters were carved: "Five Great Mountains Stand Alone!"

The moment Ling Ju saw those four characters, a boundless, majestic aura swept over her.

On the peak bearing the words "Five Great Mountains Stand Alone" stood a figure. The style of his clothing was unlike anything Ling Ju had ever seen. Atop the summit, he cultivated the sword and refined his qi. His presence swallowed mountains and rivers, carrying the force of thunder that shook the heavens!

It was as though every evil thing would be shattered with ease before him.

When Ling Ju came back to herself, she turned and saw that more than half the people in the shop still wore dazed expressions. They seemed unable to emerge from the calligraphy's artistic realm.

Ling Ju stared at them in surprise. Earlier, the proprietress's teasing had left her flustered and distracted. Now that she had come to her senses and looked carefully, she realized that all the customers—everyone with a dazed expression—were cultivators!

That made sense. A single line of the senior's calligraphy could let someone at the Spirit Transformation Stage comprehend the Dao and advance directly to the Tribulation Crossing Stage. And this piece hung casually on the wall. Ordinary people couldn't see anything special in it, but cultivators could tell at a glance.

They didn't even need to look at it. They could sense it from afar. The Divine Sword Sect was about to hold the Myriad Sect Grand Ceremony, and immortals were already arriving from all over. Naturally, those who sensed the calligraphy had gathered here.

These people probably knew there had to be a reason such an astonishing masterpiece was displayed so openly, without fear of theft or a raid. So they didn't try anything underhanded. Instead, they pretended to be ordinary people who came to eat buns every day, hoping to gain a sliver of insight from the calligraphy.

As Ling Ju stared blankly at the people in the shop, Jing Pu suddenly spoke beside her.

"I wasn't sure if you liked calligraphy, but I wrote something for you, too. I thought it suited you. See if you like it."

When Ling Ju turned curiously to look, she saw four large characters on Jing Pu's table.

"Elegant Virtue and Leisurely Grace."