He first carved out a rough human shape from a large block of stone, then gradually refined it.
The deep lines on the forehead, the sunken eye sockets, the shriveled corners of the mouth, the hunched shoulders and back... Every stroke was slow and steady.
This time, Qin Ming spent three days on it.
Just as the statue of the old man was finished, several children happened to pass by the shop. One of them pointed at the stone statue and blurted out, "Ah, it's that old beggar by the southern wall!"
Qin Ming placed the statue in a corner, then picked up another stone and began a new carving.
A bird in flight, a flower yet to bloom, a running child, a leaf gnawed through by insects...
As time passed, Qin Ming's carving skills slowly improved.
However, none of that was particularly important. What mattered most was that Qin Ming enjoyed that state of "nothing beyond the heart."
All thoughts of cultivation, laws, identity, and responsibility were temporarily shut out.
Qin Ming's shop never had a signboard, nor did it ever open for business.
Now and then, passersby would curiously peer inside. But when they saw a young man intently carving away at stones, they merely took him for an eccentric craftsman and left after a few glances.
Spring passed into autumn, and more and more completed stone carvings filled the corners of the shop and the small courtyard behind it.
From initial awkwardness to later fluency; from pursuing mere physical likeness to gradually capturing motion and spirit.
Qin Ming discovered that whenever he completely immersed himself in carving, the perception belonging to his Jin World avatar deep within his consciousness became exceptionally clear.
It was not synchronized thought between their minds, but a wondrous resonance.
That day,