What Are You Looking At?

Xu Yan drew his brush to a stop, finishing the final stroke. A painting of Calabash Brothers Save Grandpa was complete.

In the painting, seven Calabash Brothers were going to rescue Grandpa, who had been captured by the Snake Demon and the Scorpion Spirit.

But the brothers went in one at a time, and five had already been captured. They were on the verge of a total wipeout.

They looked just like those awful teammates who kept feeding kills to the enemy.

In terms of Painting Dao, this work had already reached the supreme realm, as if it contained the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

Anyone with a keen eye for cultivation could feel the Dao charm with a single glance. It would be of tremendous benefit to their practice, and might even help them break through their realm on the spot.

A painting of this caliber was a Peerless Treasure.

But what the painting was actually supposed to depict was anyone's guess to an ordinary person.

The walls of this little shop were hung with quite a few paintings and calligraphy works of the same caliber.

There was a chuunibyou boy in a straw hat, a yellow mouse crackling with electricity, a Caped Bald Man, and even a wolf fighting five sheep.

It was a tiny shop, tucked away in an inconspicuous spot at the end of the street. Its name was "What Are You Looking At?"

Xu Yan gazed at his painting and sighed. "A top-tier work, and yet it's worthless in this world. In my previous life, just the meaning behind Calabash Brothers Save Grandpa would've made it worth seven or eight hundred million at auction."

Xu Yan glanced at the System Panel in his mind, his face full of disappointment.

Host: Xu Yan

Age: 20

Cultivation: Mortal

Abilities: Carving (Supreme of All Heavens), Painting (Supreme of All Heavens), Tea Ceremony (Supreme of All Heavens), Calligraphy (Supreme of All Heavens), Zither Art (Supreme of All Heavens), Sword Art (Supreme of All Heavens)...

These days, practically every transmigrator had a Golden Finger. Xu Yan was no exception.

Unfortunately, he was a mortal who couldn't cultivate. Even though he'd maxed out every skill, from music to chess, calligraphy, and painting, none of it was worth a damn.

In this world, the strongest reigned supreme. Everyone yearned to become a cultivator, while mortals held little status. Few cultivators cared about worldly pursuits like calligraphy and painting.

Only the occasional mortal came in to buy a few paintings or calligraphy works, and they never paid much. It was barely enough to keep Xu Yan afloat.

Setting down the painting, Xu Yan left the shop and headed toward the osmanthus tree outside.

Every day, he stood before the tree and contemplated life—in other words, he went off to mope by himself.

He'd hung a small wooden sign on the osmanthus tree. In bold, flourishing script, it read: No Credit.

Xu Yan had just hung up the sign when he spotted a stream of light after another flying toward Tianren Mountain. He frowned in confusion. "Huh? What's going on? Why are so many cultivators flying up the mountain?"

The little city stood beside Tianren Mountain, which was how it got its name: Tianren City.

As for Tianren Mountain, it was home to the mountain gate of Tianren Sect, a top-tier power.

Today was a day of great celebration: Tianren Sect's Sect Master had successfully opened his Sea of Consciousness and entered the first of the Sea of Consciousness Triple Heaven.

So Tianren Sect was holding a celebratory banquet and had invited cultivators from far and wide. Important figures from every sect and lineage in the region, great and small, were coming to attend.

The realms of cultivation were divided into the Spirit Transformation Realm, Spiritual Consciousness Realm, Spiritual Roaming Realm, Spirit Form Realm, Spirit Refining Realm, and the Sea of Consciousness Triple Heaven, among others.

In Tianren City,

a young woman and a beautiful girl walked side by side. Both wore the tokens of True Disciples of Tianren Sect, and they chatted as they went.

The girl asked, "Senior Sister, we need to bring a gift to Master's banquet today, don't we?"

It was her first time attending a celebratory banquet like this. Experts from all over were coming to Tianren Sect, so she felt a little nervous.

The young woman smiled. "We're disciples of the sect. We only need to offer a token of our regard; there's no need for anything too valuable."

She was the granddaughter of Tianren Sect's Sect Master, who had just broken through. She wasn't particularly nervous about her own grandfather's banquet.

"All right..." Hearing Senior Sister Qin Yudie's answer, Mu'er relaxed. Then she looked up and realized they'd somehow reached the end of a little street in Tianren City.

That was when she noticed a shop at the end of the street.

Three vigorous, forceful characters were written on the shop's sign: "What Are You Looking At?"

An ordinary person might not have noticed anything special, but as a cultivator, Mu'er felt that the three characters seemed to contain some kind of Dao charm from the Sword Dao.

She wasn't particularly skilled in Sword Dao, though, and couldn't quite make sense of it. With a puzzled look, she asked Qin Yudie, "Senior Sister, look at that 'What Are You Looking At?' Does the writing on the sign contain Dao charm?"

It was Qin Yudie's first time on this street. Tianren City was mostly populated by mortals, so cultivators rarely came here, let alone to an inconspicuous little street in the city.

Only after hearing Mu'er's question did she look toward the shop with the strange name, her gaze settling on its sign.

The next moment, disbelief filled her eyes.

She was a Sword Cultivator, and a prodigy among Tianren Sect's Sword Cultivators at that. Yet at that moment, she seemed to see a Supreme Sword Dao, vast beyond the edge of sight.

After gazing at it for only a moment, Qin Yudie's understanding of the Sword Dao deepened. She quickly looked away.

With her current cultivation and understanding of the Sword Dao, she couldn't withstand the power of that Sword Dao for long.

Mu'er noticed tiny beads of sweat on Qin Yudie's face and asked curiously, "Senior Sister, what's wrong?"

Since she wasn't a Sword Cultivator, she couldn't sense that Sword Dao. So even if she stared at it for a long time, nothing would happen to her.

Astonishment showed on Qin Yudie's pretty face. "Those three characters on the sign contain the Dao charm of the Supreme Sword Dao. I only took one look, and my understanding of the Sword Dao deepened."

This Sword Dao was stronger than anything she had ever seen. Even her grandfather couldn't hold a candle to it.

"Really? It's that amazing?" Mu'er didn't know much about the Sword Dao, but she knew that was a good thing. "Then take a few more looks, Senior Sister."

Qin Yudie gently shook her head. "This Sword Dao is boundless and vast. I can't withstand it in my current state. Even a brief look will take me a long time to comprehend."

She couldn't begin to describe how she felt. As a Sword Cultivator, the benefits of encountering a Supreme Sword Dao like this were beyond imagination.

Mu'er nodded, only half understanding. She couldn't fathom how a sign containing Dao charm had ended up here. "Senior Sister, this must just be a mortal's shop, right? How could its sign be so powerful? Could some Sword Dao expert have passed by and written those characters?"

In the cultivation world, there were experts who had no interest in fame or wealth. Some traveled the world, others lived in seclusion. Meeting one could mean an unimaginable stroke of fortune.

Qin Yudie also thought it was possible some expert had passed by and written the characters, but there could be other explanations.

She spotted Xu Yan standing by the osmanthus tree and said, "That man should belong to this shop. Let's go ask him."

Xu Yan had just finished lamenting his lot and was about to head back inside when two pretty girls, one tall and one short, came over.

He immediately put on a smile. "Ladies, would you like to come in and have a look? We've got all kinds of calligraphy and paintings. You won't be disappointed."

Meanwhile, he thought, Those two are dressed so well, and they have such refined bearing. They must be loaded. If I can sell them a single painting, it might bring in as much as a month's income. He couldn't help feeling hopeful.