Mythical Scroll Artist: Starting with the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming

Chapter 193 The Underworld, Where the Living Must Not Enter

After seeing off several bigwigs from the alliance, Wu Xian couldn't help but feel curious.

"Second brother, why do I feel like these people are a bit different from normal spirit tamers? Is it just my imagination?"

“The Spirit Masters who have fought their way up in the Alliance are naturally not comparable to ordinary Spirit Masters,” Xue Zhengying explained. “Otherwise, what makes you think the Alliance can be compared to the Nine Great Academies?”

"It can't be better than a scroll painter, can it?" Wu Xian asked curiously.

“Ordinary scroll painters are really no match for them,” Xue Zhengying said noncommittally. “The elites selected by the alliance through layers of screening are all those who have fought their way out of various otherworldly battlefields. In many otherworldly areas, only they have the experience and ability to go there.”

Even the scroll painters of the Nine Great Academies still need to rely on the Alliance's top spirit tamers to collect materials.

Wu Xian clicked his tongue and nodded.

It can only be said that any profession, once you reach the top level, will undergo a qualitative change.

Ordinary spirit tamers are like ants in front of scroll painters, but top spirit tamers are beings that scroll painters must be wary of.

……

After his master's sister finished her seclusion, Wu Xian was finally completely free.

We drove all the way back to the small villa in the North Street area.

One can vaguely sense the power of many day and night wandering gods patrolling every corner of Yaoyang City.

According to Du Yifan, the defense team is now equipped with day and night patrol officers, which greatly reduces their workload.

Previously difficult-to-handle mysterious abyss leaks can now be easily resolved.

Recently, there has been very little news about dimensional leaks.

However, this does not mean that dimensional leaks have decreased; it simply means that the defense forces are often able to resolve problems in the first instance.

Moreover, according to Du Yifan, the number of dimensional leaks in the city has been increasing recently, leading him to suspect that evil gods' servants are secretly causing trouble.

The association's temporary command center for exterminating evil.

They are now equipped with day and night patrol gods, but they rarely manage to find any trace of the evil god's servants.

It's unclear whether the evil god's servants are hiding very well, or if they have indeed become much more restrained recently.

However, traces of evil god servants can be found from time to time outside the various dimensional defense lines.

I stopped by to visit Master Xue next door and found that Tattoo Guy was there too.

During a casual chat, I learned that Tattoo Guy's problem had been solved. Recently, Zhang Mazi's gang had been transformed into a powerful weapon, capturing evil god servants outside the various dimensional defense lines.

Wu Xian took a special look at the tattoo guy's advanced "tattoo designs".

They are mostly mysterious and peculiar patterns.

"Have you ever thought about getting some portrait designs tattooed on you?" Wu Xian asked tentatively.

"This..." The tattoo artist scratched his head awkwardly, "You know my skill level, I really can't come up with any usable character designs, or even animal designs."

"Why don't Sister Xu Lu and the association provide you with similar scroll designs?"

“Yes,” the tattooed man said, “but none of them have been successful. It seems difficult to construct the spiritual structure and laws of the figures and animals on human skin.”

According to Chairman Cui's thoughts and feelings, it seems that any scroll painting with a background concept will have a serious conflict with the human body.

However, some of the scroll paintings have less of a conflict with the human body.

"Will the power of the scroll's conception conflict with the human body?" Wu Xian pondered.

That makes sense when you think about it. The essence of a painting scroll is to condense a special "soul" like the spirit of the painting. To achieve a "human body painting scroll" is equivalent to injecting an external soul into the human body.

In contrast, the tattoo designs by the tattoo artist, which are based solely on power, lack this sense of conflict.

Clearly, tattoo scrolls cannot be done using the same approach as regular scrolls; a different approach is needed.

"What if we set aside the background of the characters and only focus on the power aspect, or change the way a normal scroll is conceived?" Wu Xian suggested.

"That's something we can give it a try." The tattooed man's eyes flickered slightly.

They immediately returned to the association with great interest to conduct research and experimentation.

Wu Xian turned his gaze to Third Master Xue, "Third Master, have you made any progress recently?" Third Master Xue smiled without saying a word, his eyes revealing a hint of confidence and pride.

He immediately pulled out a divine power factor and asked with a smile, "Take a look at this [Death] divine power factor, is there anything special about it?"

"Don't tell me you synthesized this?" Wu Xian asked incredulously after carefully examining it.

Because this Death God Power Factor shows no signs of synthesis, it's like a "natural" God Power Factor produced in a domain instance, even purer than the one produced in Dead Mountain Town.

Master Xue smiled slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"Wow, Third Master is amazing!" Wu Xian couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

At this rate, it seems like synthesizing a [Divine Power Fragment] is just a matter of time.

Back to my little villa.

Wu Xian also began his long-planned project of creating a scroll painting.

The ancient-style scroll paintings from Dead Mountain Town are not yet a safe bet. Let's start with normal scroll paintings and learn from our experience.

Judging from what my master said, it seems that she is preparing to depict a special world where the dead and spirits live, which is basically the underworld.

Meanwhile, he also planned to first create a decent scroll depicting the underworld.

As for Fengdu City, it's definitely not feasible to create one right now, since the materials and resources needed to depict Fengdu City alone would be astronomical.

I don't have much material in this field right now, so starting from the basics and gradually moving to more advanced topics is the best option.

The underworld, of course, begins at the Gates of Hell.

The thirteen basic stations that connect the souls of the dead to the underworld are also the core of the entire underworld system.

As for how many stations he can eventually draw, that depends on how many stations he has on hand.

Close your eyes and rest for a while, organize the ideas in your mind, and adjust your state of mind.

Immediately, according to the design of each step, the corresponding pigments were prepared. Just the two divine power factors of life and death alone required a lot of them.

The moment I put pen to paper, a magnificent pass stretching across the boundary between Yin and Yang appeared in my mind. Above the eerie city gate hung a giant plaque with the seven characters "Gate of the Underworld Ghost Gate".

The area inside the pass was desolate, shrouded in a dark, eerie atmosphere, with mournful winds and rain, and a foul, fishy wind howling.

After passing through customs, the next stop is the road to the underworld.

The sky was dark and gloomy, with no sun, moon, or stars.

The road, filled with skeletons and strange rocks, seemed to have no end in sight.

Along the roadside, a sinister yellow mist hangs in the air, where countless lonely ghosts wander. On the banks of the Yellow Springs, where wails and cries echo, large swathes of fiery red spider lilies quietly bloom.

Next stop, Wangxiangtai (Viewing Hometown Terrace).

On the eerie and magnificent tower, the departed souls look back at the mortal world, bidding farewell to the world forever.

Then they arrived at the legendary Evil Dog Ridge, where vicious dogs were said to have torn each other apart, and Golden Rooster Mountain, where the evil deeds and desires of their previous lives were settled, and countless ghosts howled and screamed in agony once again.

Ultimately, the scene stopped at Golden Rooster Mountain, as the available materials were insufficient to support the drawing of the next stop, Wild Ghost Village.

Unfortunately, the matter had to be dropped.

A unique set of laws, distinct from those in figure paintings, converged on the paper, as if a force from heaven and earth were being poured into it, bringing the depiction on the paper to life.

Soon, a silver scroll materialized, and with the infusion of the power of heaven and earth, it rolled up the painting.

The aura of the laws of heaven and earth that gathered from all around also presented a special state of being unfinished, before slowly dissipating and disappearing.

[The Underworld (To be continued)]

Version: Original (with gold embroidered border)

Grade: Silver switch

Domain Level: ★★★
Domain Characteristics: The underworld, where the living are forbidden, a desolate and forbidden place, a ghostly palace, a haunted spring with howling winds, a place to cleanse sins.

(End of this chapter)