As the sun sank in the west.
The trainees gradually left the Training Ground.
Chen Yan yawned innocently, rubbing his eyes.
Then, clutching his little drawing board, he slowly waddled off toward his nursery.
The other trainees paid no attention to Chen Yan's movements.
However, if Wang Anguo had been there, he would have been shocked to discover that the moment Chen Yan took a step, his presence had completely blended into his surroundings.
With [Shadow Concealment] operating at full power, he had become more than just visually inconspicuous.
His aura, body heat, and even his very presence had been reduced to a minimum.
Ordinary martial artists wouldn't have noticed him. Even the surveillance cameras in the Training Ground would have shown nothing but an almost motionless, ordinary corner, unable to capture his true movements.
It was only thanks to this concealment skill that Chen Yan could confidently carry out his extraordinary "training" right under everyone's noses.
Back in his private nursery, Chen Yan closed the door behind him, and the lazy look vanished from his face.
He picked up a brush, dipped it in special paint, and swept it across a blank sheet in one fluid motion.
With just a few strokes, he had painted a scene nearly identical to the training area at Zhenwei Martial Arts Hall downstairs, but simpler and more compact in its details.
Then his eyes narrowed slightly, and a thread of pure mental power flowed into the painting.
Buzz—
The paper lifted into the air without a breeze.
Then came a faint pop.
It quietly burst like a bubble, dissolving into glittering specks of light.
Yet at the very moment the paper shattered, the scenery around Chen Yan had been transformed!
The cozy nursery disappeared, replaced by a spacious, bright training area with familiar padded flooring.
Its size, layout, and even the training equipment in the corners were identical to the main training area downstairs.
It was simply cleaner, more private, and completely empty.
[Drawing Ground as Prison]!
This was a new application Chen Yan had just realized after raising [Image Projection Scroll] to the Greater Mastery Realm.
It was no longer merely a matter of making something in a painting "move" or imbuing it with a hint of spirit.
Instead, he used a painting as a conduit and mental power as its foundation to briefly open a miniature mental space separate from reality!
It couldn't be maintained for long, and he couldn't bring other living beings in or out, but it was a divine skill for training without interruption, practicing techniques, or even avoiding danger!
It might even be used to trap enemies!
"So this is the true meaning of 'Image Projection' after reaching Greater Mastery!"
As Chen Yan sensed the space he had complete control over, a surge of pride welled up in him.
Here, he could let loose without any reservations.
Without hesitation, he began practicing the Mountain-Suppressing Yellow Fist in the mental training area.
He strove to make every punch and stance perfect.
His blood surged, and his fists cut through the air.
Compared with the trainees downstairs, he was at least ten times as serious.
[You are practicing a fist technique! Arrow Barrage proficiency +1!]
Before learning the Mountain-Suppressing Yellow Fist, [Arrow Barrage] had been fast, but at its core, it was just a flurry of blows thrown with instinct and speed.
At best, it was an enhanced version of rapid-fire [Turtle Fist].
It had plenty of force, but no substance.
Now, things were entirely different.
Standing in the mental space he had painted into existence, Chen Yan's punches were already beginning to take on form.
His fists still seemed to fall like dense rain, but their underlying nature had quietly changed.
Each punch carried a hint of the Mountain-Suppressing Yellow Fist's steady force, drawing on the power of the earth veins.
Unfortunately...
Perhaps because he was inside the painting, his attempt to draw on the power of the earth veins had failed.
Even so...
[Arrow Barrage] was no longer a flimsy, empty technique.
As his arms alternated, their movements also drew on the solid foundation of the Yellow-Black Fist's stances.
This gave the furious barrage of blows firm support, making it far more difficult to disrupt with outside force.
At last, his practice had begun to feel like real training.
He was no longer a child flailing about in play. He was infusing a high-level fist technique's "intent" into the "form" of a basic skill, breathing life into it.
That was why [Arrow Barrage] proficiency was increasing far faster than before!
Each punch felt like it was refining a piece of steel through a hundred forges, stripping away its impurities. The process was far more efficient than it had been in the past.
"Just as they say, a towering building rises from the ground!"
"The way high-level martial arts can improve and elevate basic skills is incredible."
Just as high-quality materials could speed up [Image Projection Scroll]'s progress bar, high-level martial arts could speed up [Arrow Barrage]'s progress!
Chen Yan understood, and his grasp of his own path in martial arts deepened.
He settled down and focused even more intently on this dull but deeply rewarding work of grinding out progress.
Suddenly, a clear ding rang in his mind, snapping Chen Yan out of his training.
[ Ding! The limited-time hidden mission 'Blue Star Defense War' has been completed! ]
Chen Yan froze, his little face full of astonishment.
"Completed? But... I haven't even done anything!"
For the past month, he had done nothing but train in secret and play the part of a well-behaved baby.
At most, he had secretly devoured a few low-level members of the Spirit Race who had wandered into his path for a snack...
How had he completed the limited-time mission already?
"Did devouring that Spirit Race member, 'Recon-734,' scare them off? Did they run away on their own?"
He was suspicious. The Spirit Race seemed awfully timid.
Just then, the system's emotionless voice sounded again, providing a detailed explanation of the results:
[Mission Completion Analysis:]
[Because the host's early devouring of members of the Spirit Race indirectly prompted Wang Jian to report the anomalies, and set off a chain of events that included Grandmaster Wang's arrival in Jiang City, the East Continent Alliance's highest council had already designated Jiang City as an area of high concern.]
[Having learned from the bitter lessons of past beast invasions, the Alliance leadership had resolved to uphold the principle that prevention was better than cure and eliminate any potential threats before they could take root.]
[Over the past month, the Jiang City Special Investigation Team (led by Chen Kefa), under the personal command and guidance of Grandmaster Wang Anguo, had used the highest level of authorization to conduct an unprecedented, sweeping search of Jiang City and its surrounding areas under the codename 'Scavenger.']
[In the end, deep inside the abandoned 'No. 3 Underground Ecological Experimental Base' on the outskirts of the city, they had located and completely destroyed an unstable 'Spirit Realm Rift'—an incursion route that had already begun to form and was on the verge of activation.]
[This operation had fundamentally dismantled the Spirit Race's initial invasion plan targeting the Jiang City area.]
[The threat of a large-scale Spirit Race invasion in the Jiang City area had been temporarily eliminated!]
[Host's overall contribution rating: Excellent (Although the host did not directly participate in the final operation, he was the original catalyst and a key driving force behind the events. His contribution was outstanding.)]
[Mission reward: Growth-type divine weapon—'Myriad Phenomena Painting Brush'!]
[Reward description: This brush appears to be connected to the legacy of the 'Painting Saint.' Its shaft was carved from 'Boundless Wood,' born from primordial chaos, and its bristles were taken from the newborn down of a 'Conceptual Beast.']
[It is not a weapon of slaughter in the traditional sense, but an instrument of 'creation' and 'definition.']
[As the host's cultivation improves and the [Image Projection Scroll] skill advances, it will continue to unlock new forms and abilities.]
[Current form: A seemingly ordinary wooden paintbrush.]
As the system's announcement faded, Chen Yan sensed that an ancient-looking wooden paintbrush had quietly appeared in his system space.
"So that's how it is..."
Chen Yan understood, and couldn't help feeling a little moved.
The wings of the tiny butterfly he had become had truly stirred up a storm behind the scenes, prompting the authorities to act early and avert a catastrophe.
"Good. That saves me from taking the risk myself."
"But this reward... the 'Myriad Phenomena Painting Brush'?"
Chen Yan's attention was immediately drawn to the divine weapon he had just received.
"Creation... and... definition?"
It looked utterly unremarkable, but when he reached out to it with his mind, he could sense a vast, fluid power capable of sketching out the very foundations of the world.
"Sounds insanely powerful! And it can grow, too. Now my painting... No, my path of 'Image Projection' finally has a proper piece of equipment!"
"Great! My next goal is to become the greatest painter in the entire universe!"
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