Great Accomplishment Supreme Most Sacred Profound Wonder Numinous Treasure Crown Prince

Two days passed without incident. Life was so peaceful that Li Yunxin could not help but marvel—how long had it been since he had lived with such ease and leisure?

Over those two days, Liu Laodao truly treated Li Yunxin as his "master," serving him fine tea and water, fawning over him with every care, never even stepping outside.

So Li Yunxin taught him "Watercloud Force."

According to his parents, Watercloud Force was merely the introductory section of an entire cultivation art, and it too belonged to the Heavenly Heart Orthodox Law. They had not had time to pass on the more profound methods to him. Yet this art alone could already be called vast and profound—it tempered both the body and spiritual power. For painters, it was an extremely useful method.

And for the "painters" of the mortal world, it was simply an "unrivaled divine art."

Thus Liu Laodao went to the side room to ponder the mnemonic formula Li Yunxin had taught him, while Li Yunxin reopened the Tongming Jade Slip. At present, all he could read were some broad, general things—the sort considered "common goods" within the jade slip. But even common goods were the common goods of a former Painting Saint, an enemy of all under Heaven.

Within it, he found a way to unlock the restriction on the Snow Mountain Qi Sea. This matter cost him quite a bit of effort. A Painting Saint was like a university professor; a professor's scientific notes would never say, "According to the Pythagorean theorem, we can infer..." They preferred the style of "the proof is immediate."

Thus, many things that Painting Saint had casually skipped over had to be painstakingly considered and worked out by Li Yunxin himself. He guessed Liu Laodao in the side room was in much the same situation.

For instance, the Painting Saint's attitude toward the Snow Mountain Qi Sea being sealed was simply: "Just undo it."

Li Yunxin spent a day and a half swiping until his thumb ached before he barely learned that the power of a restriction sealing the qi sea could be countered with another kind of power. For example, demon power.

He had naturally wondered before whether great demons like Ninth Young Master and Bai Yunxin could easily undo the restriction. But unless one had lost one's mind, who would let such beings come into contact with their qi sea? Once the Snow Mountain Qi Sea was ruined, cultivation would be impossible for the rest of one's life.

The little cat demon had demon power... but even when her entire spirit body had possessed him that day, she had been unable to do anything. Clearly, her paltry demon power was useless.

But there was another kind of power—wish power. Demons and monsters could absorb wish power and transform it into their own cultivation. Perhaps wish power would work.

Li Yunxin set his sights on the Dragon King Temple out front.

Thus, at noon that day, as the two sat by a stone table amid the bamboo grove, Li Yunxin answered several of Liu Laodao's questions before saying, "I want to replace the Dragon King statue out front."

Liu Laodao said, "Yes, yes, yes... huh?"

"The paint has peeled off that statue, and its form isn't even beautiful. You and I are both in the arts—can you stand it?"

By now, Liu Laodao had grown used to the way Li Yunxin spoke and knew that he was dissatisfied with the Dragon King statue. Still, he gave an awkward laugh. "Well, Xin'er, that statue truly isn't beautiful. But it holds the seat of a true god... that's why it has never been moved. It isn't like some temples, where the statues are splendid in gold and jade but are nothing more than clay figures."

"It is said that more than a hundred years ago, the Wei River Dragon King was riding the clouds and spreading rain one year. He became tired halfway through and came to this temple to rest his feet. Somehow, he took a liking to this statue and left behind a trace of spiritual energy upon it. From then on, when people came here to pray for rain, their prayers were often answered. This poor Daoist's learning is shallow, so I do not know whether it is true. But it is said that masters of other schools came here in the past and said there truly was spiritual energy on the statue..."

"Are there any other temples in the city?" Li Yunxin asked. "Your temple doesn't get much incense offering, and few people come. There must be other, larger temples elsewhere, right?"

"...There is one at Three Rivers Crossing outside the city. It also enshrines the Wei River Dragon King. Hmph, that temple was only built a few decades ago. It is splendid in gold and jade, certainly pretty to look at." Liu Laodao sounded resentful. "That is what stole away the incense offerings. Back when Master was still alive..."

"That temple has a true god's seat too?"

"Uh... it does..."

"Then that's fine. There is another one that can be used anyway.

It's settled, then. This afternoon, find someone to dismantle the statue. I'll put something else up there. Honestly, your location is poor, and your product never gets upgraded or replaced—where do you expect incense money to come from? That place is also a Dragon King Temple, while this place is still only a Dragon King Temple. Of course they won't come worship here."

Had it been anyone else, Liu Laodao would certainly have ignored them. But Li Yunxin had taught him Watercloud Force, and now he was calmly talking about tearing down the seat of a true god. Liu Laodao could only feel that this was the manner of a Grotto Heaven school master—clearly, Li Yunxin had seen such things often and did not take them to heart at all.

After gritting his teeth, stamping his feet, and sighing again and again, he said, "Fine, fine, fine. I'll listen to you, Xin'er. It's just that with the temple here, there was originally at least some income every month. If we really tear it down..."

Li Yunxin smiled. "Who said it would no longer be a temple after tearing it down? I'll put something else up there."

Fortunately, Yu Meng had previously left behind one hundred taels of silver, and Liu Laodao had pocketed two taels for himself. So he spent some money to hire people, and the statue was dismantled that afternoon.

Then Li Yunxin called him over to perform the eye-opening.

When Liu Laodao entered the room that had once belonged to him, he saw an eight-foot hanging scroll, already mounted, laid out on the table. It used Cloudborne Paper, treasured by mortal painters, and feared neither smoke nor flame. Two people were painted upon it.

In the center stood a man in a golden helmet and golden armor, holding a grotesquely shaped long spear. Liu Laodao felt that the man's face looked somewhat like Li Yunxin's, though perhaps it was only an illusion. Beside the golden-armored man stood a woman in a red helmet and red armor, attending him, though her complexion was somewhat dim.

The painting itself needed no comment—it was lifelike and vividly rendered, as though the figures might leap from the paper the next instant.

It was only that Liu Laodao had no idea which gods the two figures in the painting were.

Li Yunxin handed him the brush and smiled. "This man's surname is Jia, his given name Wen. He is the Great Accomplishment Supreme Most Sacred Profound Wonder Numinous Treasure Crown Prince of the divine kingdom established by the Heavenly Ones. This woman is called Xiwana. The prince once saved her, and afterward she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the Dao, cultivating the true body of a Dragon Maiden."

"This Prince Jia Wen can protect a household and keep it safe. Escort agencies setting up their banners, people building houses or digging foundations—all may come worship him. Look at that golden helmet and golden armor; his wealth fortune is abundant too, so praying for riches is not wrong either. As for Xiwana the Dragon Maiden, there is no need to say more—she can summon wind and rain. Put a single stroke here, and the painting spirit will be complete."

It was Liu Laodao's first time hearing of these two exalted gods. He scarcely dared breathe too loudly. He only accepted the brush, focused his mind and held his breath, summoned the tiny bit of spiritual power he possessed, and placed that stroke upon the spear of the Great Accomplishment Supreme Most Sacred Profound Wonder Numinous Treasure Crown Prince, whose taboo name was Jia Wen.

At once, he felt the painting tremble faintly. A stream of incomparably wondrous spiritual power extended toward some distant place beyond knowing.

Liu Laodao was startled. First, he had thought Li Yunxin was merely using this painting to make up the numbers, while harboring some other purpose. Who could have expected that after the eye-opening, there truly was a flow of spiritual power from the painting—connecting it to some existence? And so tightly, so firmly... If those two exalted gods truly dwelled in the Nine Heavens, what kind of divine power would they possess? Li Yunxin had actually invited them here!

Second... he could actually sense everything that had just astonished him!