Sealing Spirits into Paintings, Killing by Tearing the Canvas

The eyes of Scroll Fairy were filled with shock and fury.

She found it impossible to comprehend.

Even that group from the Demon Suppression Bureau back in the day had feared and dreaded her, treating her like a formidable enemy.

For hundreds of years, no one had ever dared to look at her with such eyes.

She was a god!

Though she was merely a Wild God, she had still received incense offerings and gathered power of vows.

Yet, the person before her actually wanted to kill her!

Who gave him the audacity?

"If I don't kill you, should I worship you instead?"

As he spoke, Crystal Spikes poured out like a torrential rain, blanketing the sky as they shot toward Scroll Fairy in mid-air.

The fairy let out a cold snort and flicked her sleeve, causing a tattered Ancient Painting to unfurl from the void.

The mountains and rivers within the painting were like living things, blocking her path; the Crystal Spikes vanished without a trace upon impact, like pebbles tossed into a deep pool, leaving only ripples behind.

The next instant, a few Crystal Spikes appeared amidst the mountains and rivers of the painting, looking like brushstrokes added on a whim.

"How dare an ant blaspheme a god?"

Scroll Fairy's voice descended from above, laced with mockery.

With a casual flick of her finger, an Ink Peak from the Ancient Painting plummeted from the sky, whistling as it crashed down.

Wherever the Ink Peak passed, the air became thick and sluggish, as if unable to bear the weight of its crushing pressure.

Lu Yuan looked up, watching the Ink Peak descend. He suddenly spread his right arm, clenched his five fingers into a fist, and punched out to meet the mountain.

The punch shattered the mountain rock like a thunderous roar.

The Ink Peak shattered instantly at the point of impact, cracks spreading rapidly across its surface.

The next moment, the entire Ink Peak crumbled, dissolving into a rain of ink that scattered below.

Scroll Fairy's pupils contracted; she had not expected Lu Yuan to be able to withstand her Ink Peak with his physical body alone.

Even though her foundation had been destroyed and seven or eight-tenths of her cultivation were gone, there was no reason for an Initial Realm Martial Artist to break her technique.

"This physical body of yours..." Her tone betrayed her uncertainty and shock.

"Enough talk!"

Lu Yuan stomped his foot, launching himself like a cannonball as he lunged toward Scroll Fairy in mid-air.

His speed was so great that he left only a blur behind.

Scroll Fairy snorted coldly and flicked her sleeve again; the mountains, rivers, and pavilions within the Ancient Painting began to writhe like living creatures.

Rocks crashed down, trees flew out, and pavilions rose from the ground.

Lu Yuan's expression remained cold as he fired Crystal Spikes to meet the falling rocks.

The sharp tips collided with the stone, producing a deafening roar.

The rocks exploded, sending debris flying in all directions, yet they could not harm him in the slightest.

Scroll Fairy performed a series of hand seals, and the pavilions from the painting flew out one after another—carved beams, painted rafters, flying eaves, and winding corridors...

Under the reinforcement of the power of vows, each one weighed over ten thousand catties, crashing down to blanket the sky.

Lu Yuan did not flinch; he charged through like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. The objects flying from the painting were fragile before him, shattering one after another.

"You—"

Scroll Fairy's expression finally changed.

She performed a frantic hand seal, waving both hands repeatedly as the mountains and pavilions in the painting transformed into countless arrows, raining down upon Lu Yuan.

The arrows were as dense as a downpour, capable of piercing metal and shattering stone under the influence of the power of vows.

Lu Yuan let out a loud shout. Without dodging or weaving, he lunged toward Scroll Fairy.

The arrows struck his body with a crisp clatter, like raindrops hitting an iron plate, only to shatter into ink droplets the next second.

Lu Yuan's momentum did not falter; like a war chariot charging into battle, he reached the fairy in the blink of an eye.

Scroll Fairy finally panicked.

She tried to activate the Ancient Painting, but a large hand had already seized her wrist.

Accompanied by a cracking sound, her arm was crushed instantly, ink seeping from the fractures and dripping onto the ground.

"Let go!"

She shrieked, her other hand unleashing a mass of ink that exploded into countless ink threads, wrapping around Lu Yuan's body in an attempt to drag him into the painting.

The ink threads tightened, yet Lu Yuan remained unmoved.

He grabbed Scroll Fairy's other hand and twisted it with force.

Snap!

Her body shattered, and ink-like fluid gushed from the fractures.

Her form grew blurred, resembling a crumpled piece of drawing paper, with faint golden light constantly radiating from her edges.

Seeing this, Su Ding'an poked his head out from behind a pillar.

"My lord, she is gathering wish power to condense a golden body! You cannot let her continue!"

Scroll Fairy's expression shifted, her cold pupils locking onto Su Ding'an below.

"You meddlesome ant!"

Before the words had even faded, a barrage of ink arrows flew from the Ancient Painting, shooting toward him with lethal speed.

Terrified out of his wits, Su Ding'an hugged the pillar and shrank back.

The arrows struck the pillar, sending stone fragments flying and leaving several gashes on his body.

A golden glint flashed in Lu Yuan's eyes. As expected, even though Scroll Fairy was being held by him, countless threads of wish power were extending from the dojo below, pouring into her body in an endless stream.

She was recovering; though slow, she was becoming more powerful with every passing moment.

Lu Yuan would not give his opponent the chance to brew a finishing move.

He was no martial arts fanatic, and he had no interest in a hearty, drawn-out duel.

His goal was singular: to execute her on the spot.

He exerted sudden force with both arms, dragging Scroll Fairy down from mid-air and slamming her violently into the ground.

The bluestone floor shattered, creating a large crater, and ink-like fluid surged from beneath her, spreading out like a pool of foul blood.

She struggled, trying to crawl up, but Lu Yuan already had a foot planted firmly on her body.

"Get down!"

Her voice had lost its lofty composure, turning shrill with fear.

"I am a god! You cannot—"

He stomped down, landing squarely on her face.

Scroll Fairy's head shattered like a smashed clay sculpture; cracks exploded outward, and black ink sprayed across the floor.

Lu Yuan said nothing, stomping down again and again. No matter how she struggled, she remained pinned and unable to move.

From her head to her torso, and then to her limbs, Scroll Fairy's body shattered and peeled away piece by piece, eventually turning into tattered silk scraps scattered across the ground.

[Killed Mystic Realm Scroll Fairy, obtained Gold Trait [Painting Burial]]

Lu Yuan stopped his movements, a look of surprise appearing in his eyes.

A Gold Trait?

Killing a Mystic Realm Corpse Demon had yielded a Purple Trait.

Killing a Mystic Realm Lady had yielded a Blue Trait.

Now, killing a Mystic Realm Scroll Fairy had actually yielded a Gold Trait.

The three Mystic Realm demons had dropped traits of completely different quality?

It seemed the drop rules had little to do with the demon's realm.

The reason it dropped a Gold Trait was not because he had killed a Mystic Realm demon, but because he had killed a Wild God.

Although a Wild God was not a god in the strict sense, and her foundational orthodoxy had been destroyed and her cultivation plummeted, she was still fundamentally far superior to ordinary demons.

Lu Yuan didn't dwell on it and checked the trait.

[Painting Burial: Seal spirits into paintings; tearing the painting kills the target]

One could feel how overbearing the trait's effect was just by reading the literal meaning.

Sealing spirits into paintings was a cage, and tearing the painting was an execution. Binding life and death to a thin sheet of paper was undoubtedly the most ruthless killing technique in the art of painting.

If the surrounding demons hadn't already been cleared out, Lu Yuan would have caught one to test it out, regardless of the cost.

With the demon infestation at the Shen Family resolved, the two did not linger, returning directly to the Demon Suppression Bureau Garrison Station under the cover of night.

After dawn, the entrance to the garrison station became lively.

Hearing the commotion, Lu Yuan walked into the main hall and saw Wang Wende standing at the entrance, his face wrinkled in a smile like a chrysanthemum, directing several bailiffs to move items inside.

Red wooden chests, silk bundles, and sandalwood boxes were spread across the floor in various sizes, occupying most of the open space in the main hall.

"Lord Lu!"

Wang Wende hurried over to greet him with a bow, then pointed to the floor and said with a chuckle, "These are congratulatory gifts from the various gentry of Linchuan for your appointment. Your subordinate has already inventoried them for you and recorded them one by one in the ledger."

He opened the ledger in his hand and read, "The Zhao Family of the South City, twenty bolts of silk and a pair of jade ruyi; the Sun Family of the East City, antiques and paintings—"

"No need to read them. I have no interest in these. Send them all back."

Lu Yuan waved his hand and asked indifferently, "Who hasn't sent anything?"