Madam, please ascend.

Chapter 155: Master Digs a Hole, Apprentice Fills It

The scenery in the painting is exquisitely crafted and quite extraordinary.

Hidden among the misty peaks, a quiet courtyard stands peacefully. The gate is half-closed, surrounded by towering ancient trees, entwined green vines, and the fragrance of birdsong and flowers.

The courtyard is simple, consisting of only two wooden huts, a stone table, and a few stone benches. While seemingly casually arranged, it holds a hidden meaning. A pot of freshly brewed tea sits on the table, its fragrance mingling beautifully with the scent of flowers and the gentle breeze from the forest.

When Yun Yi came to his senses, he found himself inexplicably in this small courtyard. Song Xinci was lying on the bed in the room, covered with a quilt, his face pale and sick.

Seeing that Song Xinci had her eyes closed and seemed still asleep, he took the initiative to walk out of the house and take a look at the situation.

As the sun sets, its afterglow casts a shadow over the courtyard, its golden glow intertwined with the mountain mist, creating a dreamlike scene. The surroundings are serene, with only the sounds of nature to hear, and every blade of grass and tree seems to exude an air of wonder.

Yun Yi mobilized the spiritual energy in his body and found that he was a cultivator in the Spirit Transformation Realm, so he took the initiative to fly high on his sword.

In this way, the view passes over the mountains and forests, and you can vaguely see a town at the foot of the mountain in the distance, and not far behind the town, there is a "Sky Island" standing in the air.

There is a giant sword on the island that reaches the sky and shakes the earth. If Yun Yi guessed correctly, that should be the "Sword Casting Villa" mentioned by his master.

When I heard the name before, I thought it was just a small villa, but I didn’t expect it to be so large. It was really unexpected.

However, Yun Yi still had many doubts in his mind, that is, where he was now and why he was here.

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard some noise coming from the house and hurried back.

I saw that Song Xinci had struggled to sit up, but her face was sick and her brows were furrowed. It seemed that such a slight movement had exhausted all her strength.

Seeing this, Yun Yi hurriedly helped her sit up, put a pillow against her waist, and asked with concern: "How are you?"

Song Xinci shook her head slightly: "All my cultivation is gone, and my body is plagued by illness... It seems that my time is running out."

"How could this happen..."

"Don't be alarmed. In my opinion, if the internal Qi is properly maintained, it can last for up to three years at most, which is exactly in line with the time limit set by you, sir."

Yun Yi breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems that your illness was caused by Master."

The world within the painting is independent of the Three Realms and possesses its own unique charms. This place was created by Wang Shenlai, and all the contents within were painted by him. Therefore, anyone who enters the painting will become a part of it as long as he adds a little embellishment.

However, the identities in the painting are all determined by the King God based on his mood. Whether good or bad, the people in the painting have no choice but to accept it.

Song Xinci said, "Master must be worried that I would disturb this place with my Hedao realm cultivation, so he turned me into this."

Yun Yi, however, had a different opinion: "I'm afraid it's more than that. I never thought that Master, who has already reached the Immortal Realm, would still have such a bad taste. He deliberately set you and me up in a similar situation to Nangong Feitian and Qingqing to help me comprehend the sword intent of the Fangyuan Sword."

Song Xinci followed this line of thought and said, "Perhaps there is a deeper meaning, which is to let you see through human love as soon as possible, let go of these unimportant things, and focus on sword cultivation."

Yun Yi thought about how Wang Shen had mentioned Nangong Feitian before he came, and how he had often gnashed his teeth in hatred for Nangong Feitian's lack of fighting spirit. He then agreed, "It's hard to say."

"So what are you going to do? Leave me here to die?"

"Master said that he doesn't bother to care about my affairs, so I certainly won't listen to him about matters of the heart. Besides, I'm not Nangong Feitian after all, and you're not Qingqing."

Song Xinci coughed repeatedly, and finally recovered a little before asking, "Where are we now?"

Yun Yi explained, "It seems to be a state of seclusion in the mountains. At the foot of the mountain is a town on earth, and not far to the north is the Sword Casting Villa."

"I want to go out and have a look."

"Okay." Yun Yi carefully put on Song Xinci's coat and shoes, then helped her walk out.

The mountain breeze in the evening was a little chilly, and she had not yet adapted to this body, so she couldn't help shivering. Seeing this, Yun Yi immediately took her into his arms and used his spiritual power to prop up a windless and rainless barrier to protect her from the wind and cold.

Song Xinci looked at it for a while, then suddenly sighed, "It seems like dying here wouldn't be bad either."

Yun Yi asked, "If you like it here, why don't we stay a little longer? Three years isn't too long, but it's not too short either."

"Won't it delay the important work?"

"I might go down the mountain occasionally to get information. After all, we know very little about the world in the painting."

"Well, I'll listen to you then."

Yun Yi helped his wife sit down on the stone bench and used his spiritual power to explore the condition of her body, and found that it was indeed strange.

"Bujie possesses the rarest and most precious gift among Zen practitioners, the 'Unleaked Seed'. Its advantage lies in the fact that no matter how much spiritual energy it absorbs, it can be fully utilized, without wasting a single bit. However, your current condition is the exact opposite of that of an Unleaked Seed, leaking energy everywhere."

"I can feel it myself. This disease isn't caused by congenital bone damage or acquired illness. If we can't find the root cause, there's absolutely no hope of a cure."

Yun Yi smiled bitterly and said, "I finally cured Nianyi, but now you've contracted another strange disease."

Song Xinci was quite carefree: "After all, you and I in the painting are not real. This disease will naturally disappear when I recover to the Hedao realm, so you don't have to worry about it."

This is true. The world in the painting was arranged by Wang Shenlai himself. Logically speaking, there is absolutely no way that there could be anything here that could actually harm the lives of Yun Yi and the others.

And he must have a deep meaning behind this arrangement.

Unfortunately, it is not so easy to guess the thoughts of an immortal. Yun Yi pondered for a long time but could not come up with any result. He could only continue to use his spiritual power to explore the condition of Song Xinci's body.

Unexpectedly, there was another unexpected gain.

He said excitedly, "I think I've found the root of your illness. There's a sword energy at your Lingtai acupoint. It seems it's what caused you to be like this."

"Sword Qi?"

"Strange, the power contained in this sword energy is quite complex, it doesn't seem like it was left by one person..."

Yun Yi was suddenly surprised and said, "This sword energy seems to contain hundreds of different powers!"

A glimmer of understanding flashed in Song Xinci's eyes, "It seems that this is the problem that the master has posed for you."

"Master asked me to carefully unravel all the sword energy for you, otherwise your strange illness will not be cured in a day."

"Then can you do it?"

"Not at the moment. I only recognize a very small number of the components of this sword energy. If I want to completely separate it, I must recognize all of them."

"The only way to solve this problem is to go to the Sword Forging Villa."

Yun Yi couldn't help but complain, "Alas, if Master had any difficult problems, he could just assign them directly. Why did he have to make you suffer in vain?"

Song Xinci disagreed: "Although my body is suffering, my heart is much better. I just want to relax and enjoy life. As for the troubles, I'll leave them all to you."

(End of this chapter)