Stone Carving, Love

"Look, Third Brother is moving." Reynolds said, pleasantly surprised.

George and Yale heard this and immediately looked toward Lin Feng. They saw Lin Feng suddenly stand up and gaze at the giant boulder before him. This boulder was over two meters tall and three to four meters long.

Staring at the lines and patterns on the boulder itself, the natural stone grain was extremely chaotic. However, as Lin Feng gazed at it for a long time, certain patterns seemed to be extracted, naturally gathering in Lin Feng's mind.

These patterns, in a blur, resembled five human figures.

In a trance, these five figures transformed into five Delias. Various scenes continuously surged into Lin Feng's mind, and the giant boulder in his mind was naturally carved and peeled away, eventually turning into five stone statues of a woman.

In fact, Doehring Cowart was also by his side at this moment. It was just that the three of them, including Reynolds, could not see him. Doehring Cowart watched Lin Feng, secretly shocked in his heart: This Lin Feng seems to have entered a new realm. As a master-level figure in stone carving, Doehring Cowart could guess Lin Feng's current state.

Lin Feng took the Flat Blade from his pack. Holding the Flat Blade in his right hand, he stared at the giant boulder. Then, his entire body moved. The Flat Blade transformed into a flurry of blade shadows, and stone chips from the boulder immediately flew into the air.

His heart merged with the earth, merged with the wind, and merged with the light.

Lin Feng's heart could clearly feel the internal grain of the entire boulder. The swinging Flat Blade carved into the boulder like the drifting wind. Every stroke seemed to have been strictly measured, neither more nor less, precise to the peak.

The Flat Blade moved quickly at times, carefully touched slowly at others, left an elegant mark with a flourish, or heavily cleaved off a chunk of stone.

"I still remember the first time we met, your curious and probing gaze toward me."

Lin Feng's mind was entirely filled with the scene of his first meeting with Delia. The emotion in his heart was completely poured into the Flat Blade. Snowflakes around Lin Feng began to swirl around him. His heart merged with the seven elemental essences like never before, causing the various elements to continuously surge into Lin Feng's body.

Lin Feng had no other thoughts; he was currently pouring out that emotion to his heart's content.

Gradually, the leftmost one-fifth of the boulder was carved into the human form of a woman, and the rough embryo of the stone sculpture emerged. Lin Feng did not eat or drink, continuing to carve without stopping for a moment. At times, he would swing the blade dozens of times in an instant, while at other times, he would spend several minutes carefully carving a single graceful line.

Lin Feng, who had completely poured his feelings for Delia into the Flat Blade, did not realize that his current state was the most focused he had ever been since he began learning stone carving.

However, this time was different. Now, Lin Feng was completely immersed in pouring out his past emotions and immersed in the passion of carving. He was completely unaware of the need to stop, unaware of the need to eat or drink. This state of absolute immersion also caused Lin Feng to merge with nature like never before.

In that state of absolute fusion with nature, Lin Feng's spiritual power grew at a terrifying speed never seen before.

The speed at which Lin Feng's spiritual power was growing now was a thousand times faster than that of an ordinary person.

"Perfectly in tune with nature, reaching the level of 'self-forgetfulness'—it is truly surprising." Doehring Cowart's eyes brightened.

Day after day passed. Lin Feng was completely immersed in it, and the various elements continuously poured into his body, replenishing his physical energy consumption.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Feng had been carving for ten full days and nights.

"Boom!"

Snowflakes centered on Lin Feng splashed in all directions. Holding the Flat Blade, Lin Feng looked calmly at the giant stone sculpture before him. This piece was the stone sculpture Lin Feng had spent the most effort on; it was also the largest stone sculpture Lin Feng had ever carved, and his most successful one.

This sculpture was composed of five female figures. The appearance was modeled after Delia: there was her lovable, pitiable look when in danger; her cute look while whispering in class; her shy look during their first love; her moving look when they were deeply in love; and her reluctant look when they parted.

"Seven years, Delia. I never realized before that I loved you so much, but at this moment, I find that my love for you has become too intense to express. Your beautiful silhouette was carved into my heart long ago." Looking at this sculpture, Lin Feng felt his heart was lighter than ever before. It was as if six months of longing had been entrusted to this stone sculpture.

Reynolds, George, and Yale stared blankly at the sculpture. They were completely stunned by it. In their eyes, the five human figures in the sculpture seemed to have souls. The leftmost human figure possessed a gentleness and fragility that was so pitiable.

The second human figure contained a cuteness and liveliness that was so heart-stirring.

The third human figure was just like a girl blushing in front of him.

The five people in this sculpture possessed independent charm.

"Lin Feng." Doehring Cowart walked over, his moon-white robe still spotless.

Lin Feng looked at Doehring Cowart.

There was a hint of gratification on Doehring Cowart's face: "In terms of stone carving technique, you have already reached the height of a master. This sculpture of yours can completely be considered a representative work of our Flat Blade School. After this time, I believe you have an even deeper understanding of stone carving."

Lin Feng nodded slightly.

Only after truly completing such a work did Lin Feng truly understand why some stone carving masters only had one or two works that would be remembered for generations. It was not that those masters lacked the ability, but that works truly worthy of being called masterpieces were rare and could not be forced.

When a masterpiece of stone carving is born, it requires exquisite technique, brilliant inspiration, and poured-out passion. Only by possessing absolute passion and pouring in one hundred percent, unreserved emotion, can one complete a work that shakes the heart.

If it were not for the fact that Lin Feng's love for Delia had accumulated to an intensity that could not be expressed over these seven years, and if it were not for Delia suddenly leaving Lin Feng for half a year, causing him to suffer the torture of longing, Lin Feng would not have had this outburst and created such a world-shaking work.

Lin Feng had now completed this sculpture, but as for when he would complete another work comparable to it, he did not know.

However, after ten days and nights of dedicated carving, Lin Feng's heart had clearly remembered that wonderful realm. In terms of the realm of carving, Lin Feng had actually improved. If Lin Feng were to carve another piece now, although it might not be as good as this one, it would still be much better than sculptures worth five or six thousand gold coins.

"Lin Feng, do you feel the change in your spiritual power?" Doehring Cowart laughed triumphantly.

Lin Feng was startled.

Spiritual power?

That surging spiritual power was far more vast than in the past. Its intensity was far, far stronger than before. If Lin Feng's spiritual power ten days ago was a small tree, then today, his spiritual power was a lush, towering tree.

"How did it increase so much?" Lin Feng's heart was shocked.

Doehring Cowart smiled triumphantly, his white beard twitching: "Ten times! Your spiritual power has gained a terrifying increase in just ten days, suddenly reaching ten times what it was ten days ago! In just ten days, you've caught up to decades of cultivation by others. Your spiritual power has leaped directly from the peak of a Level 8 mage to the peak of a Level 9 mage."

Lin Feng also found it somewhat unbelievable.

The increase was simply too much—ten times!

"The effect is great, isn't it? Hmph, the Flat Blade School of carving that I, Doehring Cowart, founded, the effect is beyond doubt. But I really envy you." Doehring Cowart's eyes narrowed with a smile. "Lin Feng, you should know that the state of integrating absolute emotion and having the soul completely in tune with nature is extremely rare, extremely rare."

Lin Feng nodded in agreement.

If that state were easy to enter, masterpieces would hardly be a rarity.

"In the original book, Lin Feng achieved enlightenment in a single stroke and carved the world-shaking masterpiece Dream Awakening only after learning that Alice had deceived him, suffering a massive emotional blow. Yet, I carved this giant stone sculpture because my love for Delia is intense to the extreme."

"Moreover, these two stone sculptures are so similar; both feature five figures and were both created for a woman. The only difference is that Dream Awakening was a work born of hatred, while this sculpture was born of love."

"I have lived for nearly thirteen hundred years, yet I have only entered that state three times to complete the three works I am most proud of." Doehring Cowart wore a look of pride on his face, then added, "However, the time I spent carving those three works was two days, four days, and three days, respectively. Added together, that is only nine days—not even as long as your single session."

Lin Feng had just heard Doehring Cowart mention that he had spent ten full days and nights carving.

"This state is the fastest way to increase spiritual energy through Flat Blade School carving. In that state, the rate of increase is likely over a thousand times that of an ordinary person! This is the state we dream of. The longer you can maintain it, the better; therefore, the larger the stone sculpture you carve, the more benefits you gain."

Lin Feng acknowledged this in his heart.

Both the stone sculpture Dream Awakening and the one he had carved were giant sculptures featuring five figures, which were exceptionally rare. In the original book, Lin Feng's spiritual energy had surged because of this, jumping directly from a novice level 6 mage to a level 7 mage, crossing the first major hurdle in a mage's cultivation. He himself had also jumped from the peak of a level 8 mage to the peak of a level 9 mage.

Doehring Cowart sighed, "However, when inspiration and passion arrive, the model for the carving is already in your mind; there is simply no choice in the matter."

Lin Feng understood this in his heart as well.

It was just like when he saw that giant boulder and its natural markings; combined with his own emotions, five human figures had naturally taken shape in his mind. When that passion arrived, he forgot the world, forgot himself, and knew only the stone sculpture!

All his spirit and all his emotions were poured into the stone.

When entering that state, there was simply no mental capacity left to think, "I want to create a giant stone sculpture." It was impossible to be distracted; once distracted, that state would be broken.

"Lin Feng, I would like to ask, what is the name of this work of yours?" Doehring Cowart inquired.

"What name?" Lin Feng began to ponder. In the original book, Lin Feng's work was named Dream Awakening because a dream—a beautiful dream—had been shattered. But his own work certainly could not bear that name, as the underlying meaning was different.

"Let's call it Love!" After considering many names, Lin Feng felt none were suitable or worthy of the sculpture. In the end, he decided to keep it simple and named it Love.

Doehring Cowart savored the name for a moment, then nodded slightly, "Not bad, a good name. This stone sculpture perfectly expresses the simple yet intense love between you and your little girlfriend. These five figures connected in a line represent a perfect love."