Painting Ice Chunks

"Junior Brother, you mustn’t do something so reckless."

Hearing Li Mo say he wanted to learn painting to create his own works, Ouyang leaned back slightly, his expression shifting dramatically.

"Is there a problem?"

Li Mo didn’t understand why his reaction was so intense.

"Encouraging someone to learn painting is like sentencing them to a thousand cuts—it’s pure suffering!"

Ouyang spoke with grave seriousness, listing the drawbacks of learning painting as if pouring beans from a bamboo tube:

"First, mastering the art of painting requires innate talent. Having the right aptitude for it is even rarer than possessing top-tier martial roots."

"I don’t need to worry about talent."

Li Mo thought to himself that his painting talent couldn’t possibly be worse than his swordsmanship.

He could just rely on accumulated insights.

Besides, he wasn’t aiming to become a grandmaster of painting—just being able to roughly sketch the form would suffice.

The rest could be left to the Creation Seal!

Ouyang twitched his lips and couldn’t help but advise further:

"Painting is also incredibly expensive."

"When I first started learning, my family thought I’d gotten involved in something illegal."

"Honestly, illegal activities aren’t even as costly as high-quality brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones."

At this, Li Mo gave a modest smile:

"I’ve acquired a few sets of scholar’s treasures. They should be enough for practice... right?"

He laid out the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones he’d obtained from investments.

"You’re using these... for practice?"

Ouyang’s mouth hung open.

Li Mo waved his hand. "They’re just sitting there. Might as well use them."

Ouyang: "..."

Are you even hearing yourself?

Jade slips from the Azure Vein... Dustless Brushes... Pine-Grain Purple Smoke Beast Ink... Qilin Incense Inkstone...

Even the greatest scholars of this era couldn’t assemble such an extravagant set.

Take that Beast Ink, for example.

His own teacher had waited over a decade at an auction just to get a single piece, spending nearly half his life savings to acquire it.

His fists clenched. At this moment, he really wanted to punch someone—too bad he couldn’t win.

When he bid farewell to Li Mo, his expression was complicated.

"Oh, Junior Brother."

"Hmm?"

"Next time you come looking for me, just walk in. Don’t shout about Elder Shang Wu arriving—you scared me so much today I didn’t even dare paint."

"Understood."

With polite courtesy, Li Mo handed Ouyang a thousand taels in silver notes, soothing his senior brother’s wounded heart.

"Take care, Young Master! If you have any questions about painting, don’t hesitate to ask me!"

Beaming, Ouyang escorted him down the mountain.

......

Autumn Water Pavilion.

On the stone table lay a shattered statue and a ruined Divine Contemplation Painting.

After returning, Li Mo had attempted contemplation once more.

And then...

Both the Night Ghost Statue and the Flesh Buddha Visualization Painting were ruined.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled out the Golden Crow Transforms into the Sun Painting.

The painting itself was fine.

But he gained no improvement in his spiritual will, let alone condensing form and intent to break through to the Mystic Core realm.

"Where exactly did I go wrong?"

"Is my foundation at the Mystic Core realm still insufficient?"

"Or is it... because of my Immortal Body?"

Li Mo’s thoughts wandered.

The first possibility seemed unlikely.

That left only the latter.

Even the elders couldn’t fully comprehend his Immortal Body—he’d have to feel his way forward alone.

"For now, I’ll just have to experiment step by step."

"Divine Contemplation Paintings aren’t easy to come by. If you want something done right, do it yourself."

Li Mo took out the book "Marvelous Brushwork: Ink Cleansing Records" and began studying it intently.

Who would’ve thought?

Painting truly wasn’t a simple craft.

Composition, form, and artistic conception had to merge seamlessly.

And to paint a Divine Contemplation Painting, one even had to channel their spiritual will into the brush tip, letting it flow with every stroke.

This undoubtedly multiplied the difficulty exponentially.

A single misstep, and the entire painting would be ruined.

"I suspect my talent in painting isn’t much better than my swordsmanship..."

Li Mo shook his head.

After barely finishing the book, he tried infusing martial insights.

[Thirty years of martial insights successfully infused.]

Good news.

Martial insights could actually be applied here.

This was likely because the "Ink Cleansing Records" itself aimed at painting Divine Contemplation works, classifying it as part of martial arts.

Bad news...

[Thirty years of martial insights fully consumed.]

[Your "Marvelous Brushwork: Ink Cleansing Records" has reached the Beginner level.]

Li Mo: "..."

His mind flashed back to Ouyang’s pained expression as he earnestly advised against learning painting.

"Encouraging someone to learn painting is like sentencing them to a thousand cuts."

Turns out, that saying was absolutely right!

Clearly, the Beginner level only allowed for ordinary ink paintings. To create Divine Contemplation Paintings, he’d need at least Mastery.

[Thirty years of martial insights successfully infused.]

[First year: You recall every scene you’ve ever witnessed, practicing with all your might.]

......

[Thirtieth year: You feel you’ve reached the limit of what technique alone can achieve, yet you still struggle to paint Divine Contemplation works. You realize this is likely your ceiling in the art of painting.]

[In art, if you don’t have it, you just don’t have it.]

[You haven’t even found what you truly wish to paint—how can you pour your soul into it?]

[Thirty years of martial insights fully consumed.]

Countless realizations flooded his mind.

"I was just deducing painting techniques—why the sarcasm?!"

Li Mo slammed his fist on the stone table, sending the scholar’s treasures floating into the air.

Another thirty years wasted, and he hadn’t even reached Intermediate!

Is there no justice?

Is there no law?!

"What’s wrong with you?"

A certain ice block’s puzzled voice sounded by his ear.

Looking up, he saw a girl standing alone under the sunset, her sword in her arms, as if bathed in a layer of soft light.

The evening wind was restless.

It rustled the leaves and lifted the hem of her dress, sending her long hair dancing.

Li Mo froze.

Fresh from learning to paint, he suddenly felt an urge to pick up his brush.

"Ice Block."

"Hmm?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Not the hot springs."

"Well..."

......

Dinner.

The table was set with delicious dishes.

Shang Wu glanced curiously at Li Mo, who sat before an easel, meticulously wielding his brush with fluid strokes.

"What’s he doing?"

"He said he wanted me to help him practice painting."

Ying Bing averted her gaze, feeling a faint sense of strangeness.

Li Mo was unusually focused.

Being carefully rendered on paper gave her an indescribable feeling.

"Painting?"

"You went to Joy Peak and got hooked on that stuff?"

Shang Wu’s almond eyes widened as she rolled up her sleeves, ready to storm over to Joy Peak.

The beautiful master was furious.

Someone was trying to lead her precious disciple astray!

"Master, I wanted to learn it myself."

Li Mo spoke helplessly.

"That’s even worse!"

Shang Wu walked over to him.

Her eyes inadvertently swept over the jade slip, where a painting lay, and her expression froze.

Instantly, her outrage died down.

"Hmm?"

Ying Bing, curious, stepped closer as well.

On the paper, the figure of a girl seemed to leap to life.

Her face wasn’t depicted.

Yet...

It was unmistakably her.