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

Chapter 5 The Three Elements of a Picture Scroll

Mechanical scrolls are arguably the most approachable and down-to-earth type of scrolls.

It targets the general public and permeates all aspects of people's lives.

The only drawback is its lower potential; in terms of high-end combat power, mechanical scrolls are generally weaker.

"You plan to provide Jade Rabbit with a vehicle and mechanical armor. How exactly will you do that?" Wu Xian asked, full of curiosity.

"Naturally, it's about creating a wonderful encounter between the Jade Rabbit and the great god of machinery."

Tang Tiaotiao's eyes sparkled with hearts, clearly immersed in her own melodramatic idea.

"Is this all it takes?" Wu Xian was deeply skeptical.

Tang Tiaotiao chuckled, "It's just a preliminary background setting. Whether it will be successful in the end depends on the paint mixing and drawing skills."

"Pigment mixing?" Wu Xian was surprised. "You even know how to make pigments?"

“Of course,” Tang Tiaotiao replied without hesitation, “The core of mechanical engineering scroll painting is pigment mixing, which can even be considered an independent discipline. Unfortunately, I never thought of becoming a scroll painter before, so I haven’t studied it much. I’m currently catching up on it.”

"Speaking of which, how exactly are spiritual pigments mixed?"

"It's actually quite simple. It involves using psionic energy to extract various spiritual substances from the materials and then blending them to create various spiritual characteristics. However, the formulation of mechanical pigments also involves the spiritual construction of mechanical principles, which makes it more complicated."

"Thank you for your guidance, Tang."

Wu Xian took a deep breath and expressed his gratitude.

"Jump Sister! Jump Sister! Jump Sister!"

"Okay, Sister Jump."

After ending the video call, Wu Xian was still unable to calm down for a long time.

Tang Tiaotiao's seemingly simple words of popular science and guidance directly enlightened him.

The core of mechanical scrolls lies in the mixing of pigments and the spiritual construction at the level of mechanical principles. Aren't other types of scrolls the same?

To put it simply, for the "Extraordinary Scroll," the concept of the scroll and the mixing of the paints are equally important.

Pigments are used to construct the body, and the conception of a painting gives it a soul.

The drawing process is like the installation and fusion of body and soul.

The conception of the scroll, the preparation of the pigments, and the painting skills are all complementary and indispensable.

Due to their unique nature, mechanical scrolls tend to focus more on the construction of the "body" aspect, but Wu Xian has reservations about this view.

In his view, although machines are cold, their "soul" is equally important.

"No wonder the Mechanical Scroll has always been at a disadvantage in the high-end combat power level."

The mechanical scroll painters of this world have clearly gone astray.

Of course, the current focus is not on the mechanical scroll, but on the paint mixing.

This is the only thing he currently lacks.

These "garbage" items from the North District are perfect for research and exploration.

"Use psychic energy to penetrate and extract spiritual substances from materials?"

Try picking up a scrap piece, like the edge of an insectoid shell, and channeling your spiritual energy into it. The complex material structure is both chaotic and orderly, and you can feel clear spiritual fluctuations. This is spiritual matter.

Because they were scraps, the spiritual energy emitted by these spiritual substances was rather mixed.

By further using one's mental power to perceive, one can sense a series of complex spiritual elements such as insectoids, keratin, toxicity, proliferation, and resilience.

I attempted to extract several spiritual substances using psychic energy.

Wisps of multicolored light emanated from the material and, enveloped by psionic energy, coalesced into a mass of multicolored energy matter.

The entire Zerg shell then collapsed into a pile of debris.

"I see."

While pondering, Wu Xian roughly understood the production principle of the spiritual pigment.

Different spiritual substances have different colors, luster, and textures. To mix a suitable pigment, you need to add some other spiritual substances to adjust the color.

Next, try to incorporate this clump of mixed-color energy into the bottle of light blue custom-made paint.

From a spiritual perspective, this light blue pigment is primarily water-based, energy-based, and plant-based, with some "impurity" characteristics mixed in.

The moment it is incorporated into the mixed-color energy matter, its color, texture, and luster change at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Then, accompanied by a burst of psychic energy that seemed to "crash," it completely lost its spirituality.

"It's really not that simple."

Clearly, mixing spiritual pigments is not just a simple matter of color mixing; it also requires taking into account the overall spiritual stability.

In terms of balancing color mixing and spiritual stability, these leftover pigments are undoubtedly a good reference.

Continue to try to extract various spiritual substances from the scraps, and experience the characteristics and mysteries of different spiritual substances.

"Um?!"

While extracting spiritual substances from a bone fragment, the scroll depicting [True Lord of the Mysterious Altar - Zhao Gongming] beside me suddenly glowed faintly, as if it had sensed something.

He picked up the scroll, then hesitantly brought it close to the bone fragments.

The next second, from the multicolored light emanating from the shattered bones, a few strands of spiritual matter were absorbed into the blood-red life axis of the scroll.

It is mainly composed of spiritual substances related to lightning, along with some faint and unidentifiable chaotic spiritual substances.

"Could it be that……?!"

I quickly unfolded the scroll to examine it, and noticed that some of the lines and colors on the God of Wealth's body had undergone subtle changes.

Most importantly, my spirituality increased from 13 points to 14 points.

Ancient scroll paintings seem to be able to directly absorb spiritual substances for growth and improvement, while modern scroll paintings clearly do not have this ability.

As far as he knew, the spirituality and grade of painted scrolls could only be improved through repainting or polishing.

Simply put, repainting means redrawing the artwork while keeping the spirit's level, using better paper and paint.

Refining involves replacing, modifying, or adding colors to the original painting.

However, the [Ancient Scroll Painting] method seems to eliminate these troubles; as long as the appropriate spiritual substances are absorbed, one can improve.

"It really is a growth-themed picture book, huh?"

This discovery thrilled Wu Xian. Unfortunately, he didn't encounter any suitable spiritual substances for the God of Wealth afterward.

By the end of the night, he had completely cleaned up the "garbage" in his hands.

Although there was little progress, I was still eager to learn more and vaguely figured out some tricks of the trade.

"It seems I need to spend more time in the North District."

After telling my grandfather Wu Changming, I set off directly for the North District.

The North Street area is frequented by a diverse mix of people.

I wanted to buy some otherworldly materials to practice, but after visiting several material shops, I was deterred by the exorbitant prices of various materials. The 20,000 silver dollars I had were simply not enough.

Even the cheapest Zerg materials made Wu Xian hesitate.

It's important to know that Zerg materials are known for their large production volume and generally lower prices. They are the most widely used raw materials by paint manufacturers and are also the best practice materials for paint mixing.

"Forget it, it's more practical to go down into the other-dimensional dungeon myself."

Turning to the equipment shop, I spent 12800 spirit coins to get a relatively cost-effective [Subspace Bracelet].

A storage device essential for most spirit masters, it also belongs to the category of mechanical scroll products.

Upon opening the exquisite packaging, a scroll with a copper axis and white border comes into view.

Subspace Bracelet

Type of edition: Rubbing (with white border)

Grade: Bronze Axis

Equipment rating: ★★

Features: Subspace storage

At this price, getting a two-star copper-axis wristband is already a great deal.

If you were to get a high-end smart bracelet, it would cost at least 20,000 yuan.

If it's an upgradeable [Dungeon] bracelet, then you'd have to add another zero.

By leaving a spiritual imprint with one's intention and activating spiritual energy, the scroll slowly unfolds in soft light, transforming into a technologically advanced silver-black bracelet.

By probing with one's mental energy, one can see that the interior contains a storage space the size of a house.

"I'll make do with this for now, and when I have more money in the future, I'll just get a Qiankun Bag to play with."

As long as the pigments and materials are available, all sorts of awesome artifacts and magical treasures await him.

In short: The future is promising!
And today is also a day full of hope.

Emerging from the appliance store, I was full of energy, my sights set on the trash can on the corner of the street.

Under the influence of the God of Wealth's "Bringing in Wealth and Treasure" property, Wu Xian can sense the value of different kinds of trash at a glance. After picking up trash, he can even generate a little bit of wealth. Although it is very little, it adds up.

I had just picked up a few pieces of trash when I stumbled upon a fight between two groups of garbage collectors.

One of them was the same group of scarred men from yesterday. The poor scarred man, whose old wounds hadn't healed, was now covered in new ones. His group was beaten badly and forced to retreat in a sorry state.

"The competition is so fierce!" Wu Xian exclaimed.

Although the pile of garbage smelled strongly of "wealth," they did not step forward to compete for it.

It's just picking up trash; there's no need to make a scene.

I walked on quietly, picking up some trash along the way to contribute to the city's cleanliness and civility, until I reached the vicinity of the dimensional gate.

The vast dimensional plaza was bustling with people.

There were vendors selling goods at stalls, middlemen buying and selling materials, groups of people running dungeons together, and rows of food and drink vendors on the side, making it look like a market.

Among them were some young spirit tamers, full of longing for their experiences in other dimensions, completely unaware of the dangers lurking there.

Take, for example, the group of college students who chattered as they passed by Wu Xian.

There were about a dozen men and women, all radiating youthful energy and dressed smartly; you'd think they were on a picnic.

The leading male teacher, who looked to be in his thirties, had a stern face. "Be serious, everyone. You're here for a training camp, not a picnic!"

Upon hearing this, the students quieted down, but judging from their nonchalant attitude, they clearly didn't take it seriously.

They are full of confidence in the picture books that their parents spent a lot of money to provide for them.

"Training team?"

Wu Xian couldn't help but take a few more glances.

Judging by the timing, the training camp for this year's university freshmen should indeed have started. Those who can participate in the training camp are basically children from well-off families.

The new student training camp, also known as the Spirit Master training camp, requires participants to possess at least one battle scroll.

"I advise you to straighten out your attitude. Don't think you're something special just because you have a few scrolls. You're still a long way from becoming excellent spirit masters!"

The teacher in charge reprimanded them coldly, but knew that lecturing was useless.

Only through personal experience can they realize the horror of the otherworldly monsters and the significance of being a Spirit Master.

This is also the main reason why he chose to lead the team to the [Strange Abyss].

The most distinctive feature of the eerie abyss is its eeriness and terror, making it undoubtedly the perfect choice for newcomers to undergo a baptism and transformation.

Looking at the students who still didn't seem to care, the teacher in charge secretly chuckled to himself.

Laugh, and hopefully you'll still be able to laugh after you've entered the bizarre abyss.

At the foot of the magnificent dimensional gate, there are numerous interdimensional nodes of varying sizes, each corresponding to a different area of ​​the [Mysterious Abyss], and each node is marked with a different level of danger.

For his first time "entering a dungeon," Wu Xian naturally chose the dimensional node with the lowest difficulty to be on the safe side.

"Admission fee is 100, but a 20% discount is available with special credentials."

The staff member at the entrance pointed to the notice board next to him, his voice tinged with a hint of numbness and boredom.

Wu Xian silently paid the money, feeling a little pained but understanding.

After all, dimensional gates, as seals between dimensions, also require regular maintenance and inspection.

One hundred yuan isn't expensive; you can easily find some valuable materials there and make a profit without losing money.

(End of this chapter)