By now, after careful observation, Yi Shuyuan could confirm that although the hundred ghosts in the painting were all different, their uncanny quality was not truly the aura of evil spirits. They would certainly be sensitive to evil influences outside, but there was still a fundamental distinction.
By analogy, it was somewhat like the fate woven from a person's temperament, mood, fortune, and all manner of other factors at different stages of life. The difference was that people changed and were easily influenced.
Though the qualities within the painting could also change, their foundations were more like symbols left behind by the painter's imagination and brushwork-elements of their very composition, difficult to alter afterward.
If all hundred ghosts in the picture emerged, quite a few might become great evil spirits.
But viewed another way, they were also a group of beings with extraordinary qualities. With the right guidance, they might well become a force for good.
Most importantly, the painter who painted these pictures was himself a very pure-hearted person. Especially when painting the Hundred Ghosts Picture, he had harbored neither resentment nor evil, so the grotesqueness and uncanny nature of the ghosts beneath his brush were purely features of the image.
When painting the True Lord's likeness, however, the painter had indeed held a fairly strong emotional inclination: he had wished for divine protection.
At this moment, Yi Shuyuan stood before the Hundred Ghosts Picture. The divine light around him gradually grew distinct, emerging before the painting from its previously elusive state.
Yi Shuyuan raised his golden-lit arm, extended a finger, and lightly touched the scroll.
A golden radiance spread across the entire Hundred Ghosts Picture. Then, with its painted surface facing upward, the scroll slowly rose into the air, flying above the surrounding treetops to face the stars