Chapter 386: A Single Work Suppresses Ten Thousand Others

Duan Rong stood in the shadows of the veranda; for some reason, the words "sexual bribery" flashed through his mind.

In that remote room at the other end of the veranda, there was clearly a county magistrate from somewhere under the jurisdiction of Ruyang Prefecture.

For Shen Yanliu to entertain him like this in the secret Inner Courtyard of Shen Garden—if one were to say there were no other sordid dealings between these two, Duan Rong would absolutely not believe it.

Shen Yanliu was the Surveillance Commissioner of Ruyang Prefecture, in charge of the prefecture's criminal justice. As long as you were sufficiently black-hearted and ruthless, the criminal justice sector had always been the fattest piece of meat.

Looking at the vast Shen Garden in the pitch-black night, Duan Rong could not help but sigh with emotion; Shen Yanliu had been Surveillance Commissioner for only three years, yet he had already built such a massive estate on the outskirts of the city.

Just in this garden, who knew how many officials he had dragged into the water...

Just as Duan Rong was thinking this, Guan Kui, carrying a lantern a few paces ahead of him, turned his head and said, "My Lord, this way."

Duan Rong snapped back to reality and followed Guan Kui, continuing along the veranda for another half-zhang before Guan Kui stopped in front of a room glowing with bright yellow light.

Guan Kui knocked on the door three times with a light "tap, tap, tap," and then called out softly, "Lord Duan has arrived!"

Following this, a rustle of footsteps was heard inside the room, and then the door suddenly opened; Tang Wanhong, dressed in fine robes, was already standing there.

Three years had passed, and Tang Wanhong seemed slightly fatter and was beaming with health. As soon as he saw Duan Rong, he immediately laughed heartily, bowed deeply, and said, "Tang pays his respects to the Imperial Envoy!"

Seeing Tang Wanhong bowing, Duan Rong grabbed his hand and said, "Master Tang, you are being too formal. It has been three years; are you no longer acknowledging me as a friend?"

Tang Wanhong said quite nervously, "My Lord, it is not that Tang is being formal, but etiquette cannot be neglected..."

Duan Rong laughed, "Etiquette cannot be neglected, so you are going to keep me standing at the door drinking the wind?"

"How could I dare? My Lord, please!" Tang Wanhong stepped aside, and Duan Rong stepped into the room.

Guan Kui immediately closed the door, picked up his lantern, and walked off along the pitch-black veranda toward the other end.

He was also responsible for arranging the reception for those two county magistrates; these fellows had more and more strange and difficult demands, and he had to find ways to satisfy them all. In fact, he could not get away at all; if it weren't for the fact that he was an old acquaintance of Duan Rong, Tang Wanhong would never have arranged for him to go over there.

However, fortunately, it was not far, just a single trip; it wouldn't take up much time, he thought, only hoping those fellows wouldn't be too quick.

Duan Rong walked in and saw that the shelves were filled with porcelain, lacquerware, and bronze vessels, the walls were covered with calligraphy and paintings, and a large painting jar in the corner was also stuffed with scrolls.

Duan Rong sat down in a grand armchair in front of a desk, looked around the room, and said to Tang Wanhong with a smile, "Master Tang, you have moved the Guyue Studio right into Shen Garden!"

Tang Wanhong smiled slightly and said, "I won't hide it from you, Lord Duan, I am working for Lord Shen now. Guyue Studio is no longer in business."

Duan Rong looked at Tang Wanhong with a smile, his expression unchanged.

He had already known this, but he had not pointed it out; Tang Wanhong, however, had laid it out directly from the start. But this matter was nothing that needed to be hidden or tucked away; since this Shen Garden was Shen Yanliu's place, and he was in Shen Garden, he was naturally one of Shen Yanliu's people.

Tang Wanhong held a purple clay teapot and poured a small cup of tea for both Duan Rong and himself.

"Top-grade Pu'er Tea, My Lord, please have a taste."

Duan Rong raised his hand and drank a cup; sure enough, it left a fragrance on his teeth and tongue, and he praised lightly, "Not bad."

Tang Wanhong also drank a cup in his company, and while picking up the purple clay pot to refill Duan Rong's tea, he laughed, "My Lord, three years ago, you and I met in Xiangu County because of a painting; thinking back, it was truly a pleasure. The antiques in this room were all collected over these past few years, and there is no lack of fine pieces among them. It is also your good fortune, My Lord; just two days ago, I suddenly obtained a peerless masterpiece!"

"A peerless masterpiece?!"

"Yes. This painting, a single work that suppresses ten thousand others. A genuine, peerless masterpiece." Tang Wanhong teased, "Does my Lord have any interest in taking a look?"

Duan Rong laughed, "You've said this much; if you don't show it to me today, I'm going to flip the table!"

Tang Wanhong laughed heartily and brought out a long wooden box from the depths of a Wooden Frame.

Tang Wanhong placed the wooden box on the desk, gently slid it open, and took out a yellowed, aged scroll.

He carefully spread the painting out on the rosewood desk, looked at Duan Rong with a smile, and said, "My Lord, please look! This is Ni Yunlin's 'Autumn Clearing Picture'!"

Duan Rong stood up and stared at it.

Tang Wanhong stroked his goat-like beard and said faintly, "The foreground of this picture shows a stretch of slopes, with five or six miscellaneous trees standing tall like scholars and gentlemen, noble and pure. The middle ground features a lake, light and rippling, empty and clear. In the distance, several layers of low slopes rise and fall gracefully, with light ink and faint mist. There is not a trace of human presence, not a sound of birds. The stillness resonates with the Dao, silent as withered Zen, the Artistic Conception is desolate, simple, and distant."

Duan Rong looked at the aged and ancient brushwork; although he did not understand painting, he could feel an ethereal and distant Artistic Conception rushing toward him.

However, at this moment, Duan Rong's hand was already resting lightly on the edge of the scroll, and he said to himself, "Spirit Reader!"

Immediately, a set of data appeared before his eyes.

Artifact: Fishing Village Autumn Clearing Picture

Spirit Artifact Tier: 12th Tier

Devour Requirement: Host Mental Power Level 12 (Satisfied)

Devour Effect: Masterful Brushwork Level 11, Force Through Paper Level 11, Communing with Heaven and Man Level 2.

Duan Rong looked at the data before him and could not help but click his tongue.

The Spirit Artifact Tier of a single painting had actually reached the 12th Tier; this was the realm of True Qi Realm martial arts!

He had achieved the 11th layer of the Womb Treasury Sutra, and at this moment, he was only just barely able to devour the Spirit Tool of this painting.

Based on this alone, Duan Rong dared to conclude that what Tang Wanhong had said just now—that this painting suppressed ten thousand others—was by no means an empty boast.

At first, seeing Duan Rong's calm expression as he looked at the painting, Tang Wanhong was slightly surprised. The Artistic Conception of this painting could be said to exist in harmony with the spirit of heaven and earth; anyone with an eye for it would surely be moved, but Duan Rong's face appeared too calm.

But just at this moment, Duan Rong's eyelids twitched, and his expression as he looked at the painting clearly changed.

Tang Wanhong smiled slightly, thinking that Duan Rong was an expert and must have been doing a technical appraisal at first, and only now had he begun to truly appreciate the Artistic Conception of the painting.

Tang Wanhong smiled without a word; such a peerless piece, once one looked into it, one would not be able to take their eyes off it. When he first obtained this painting, he had spent half a day in his room looking at it intermittently before reluctantly putting it away.

Thinking of this, Tang Wanhong sat to the side to sip tea, not disturbing Duan Rong.

Although the painting had an extraordinary Artistic Conception, Duan Rong would not normally be so focused; furthermore, in his heart, he did not actually care much for calligraphy and painting.

The reason Duan Rong pretended to be focused on the painting was actually to cover up the fact that his mind had already drifted to the inner garden outside the room.

After Duan Rong released his Divine Sense on the veranda, he had not retracted it.

It was not that he was lingering on the beautiful scenery on the other side of the veranda; he just wanted to see what other tricks were being played in Shen Yanliu's inner garden.

But just a moment ago, a masked figure in night-traveling clothes suddenly leaped in from outside the high courtyard wall, landing lightly in the shadows of a tree like a ghost.

The black-clad person's movement technique was extraordinary, and Duan Rong immediately used his Divine Sense to pierce through the person's dantian.

It was actually the First Stage of the True Qi Realm.

Another expert!

In the secular world, a powerhouse of the True Qi Realm was already a top-tier existence.

That man in black, hiding in the pitch-black tree shadows, looked around once, then suddenly darted into the Corridor.

Inside the Corridor, he stood sideways before a paper window, and only then did he suddenly pinch a hairpin in his hand, poked a hole in the window paper, and stared intently inside.

That room was precisely the room filled with enchanting spring scenery and incessant soft, whimpering sounds.

At this moment, Tang Wanhong had already stood up, looked at Duan Rong with a smile, and said, "What does the Lord think of this painting?"

Duan Rong's Divine Sense remained locked onto the man in black at the outer door, and he only echoed, "A peerless masterpiece, a peerless masterpiece!"

Duan Rong's somewhat absent-minded and distracted appearance made Tang Wanhong believe that he was shocked by the profound and far-reaching Artistic Conception of this "Autumn Clearing Picture."

Tang Wanhong chuckled twice and said, "This painting is something to be encountered by chance, not sought. Since the Lord likes it so much and has quite a connection with it, as the saying goes, a fine horse should be gifted to a hero. Such a peerless work is only worthy of being in the hands of an expert like the Lord; otherwise, it would be a waste."

"Ah!" Duan Rong was slightly stunned after hearing Tang Wanhong's words.

Because under his Divine Sense Envelopment, he saw that the man in black only lingered outside that room of enchanting spring scenery for a moment, then traversed the pitch-black Corridor, seemingly heading toward the room where he was.

In the entire inner garden, only that side had faint sounds coming from it, and only the room where Duan Rong was had bright yellow lights on. Naturally, it attracted that person's attention.

Seeing that Duan Rong did not object, Tang Wanhong assumed he had already accepted, so he rolled up the painting on the desk, put it back into the wooden box, and handed the wooden box to Duan Rong.

Just at this moment, that black shadow had already poked a small hole in the window paper.

Thoughts churned within Duan Rong's mind.

This person was clearly not one of Tang Wanhong's men; Tang Wanhong was sitting right there, so why would he go through the trouble of finding someone else to keep watch outside?

Then why did this person come?

In the Corridor outside the room, just as the man in black was about to stare into the room, suddenly, in the darkness, a figure darted out from behind the shrubs outside the Corridor.

A long Sword, flashing with cold light, stabbed toward the back of the person peeking at the outer door.

Cold light in the dark night, swift as lightning!

That man in black also had keen senses; he immediately sensed the crisis behind him, drew his Sword, and met the cold light stabbing at him.

Instantly, the clanging sounds of weapons clashing rang out outside the door.

"Who is it?!" Tang Wanhong was just handing the wooden box to Duan Rong when he suddenly heard the sound of weapons.

In his anxiety, Tang Wanhong clutched the wooden box, pushed the door open, stepped out into the Corridor at the entrance, and looked toward the place where the weapons were clashing.

Duan Rong also stood by his side.

At this time, he saw two figures entangled in the pitch-black inner garden, the cold light of blades and Swords flickering in the night like water ripples.

The person fighting the man in black was precisely the one in the Corridor wearing a felt hat, the one Guan Kui had scolded as a drunkard. It seemed that this person, though never without wine in hand, was a man of inner clarity.

The man in black had only just arrived at the door when he was discovered by him.

Duan Rong watched the two fighting in the garden for only two rounds, and his heart was greatly shocked.

Orchid Inverted Chaotic Sword?

Is it Shen Mizhi?!

Duan Rong had not used his Divine Sense to penetrate the black cloth on the man in black's face earlier, because this was Ruyang Prefecture, and he felt he would absolutely not know that person.

He truly did not expect that the person who came would be Shen Mizhi.

And at this moment, the two were fighting in the garden, evenly matched. The crisp clashing of weapons in the cold night had already alarmed the Guards hiding all around.

People jumped out from many tree shadows.

On both sides of the Corridor, people were also carrying lanterns and heading into the garden.

Shen Mizhi's eyes were filled with panic! But the person before her had difficult martial arts and strange movement techniques, and she found it hard to break away for a moment.

Just at this moment, Duan Rong suddenly frowned.

Then, the person in the garden wearing the felt hat suddenly saw that when his blade and Shen Mizhi's Sword crossed, a point of firefly light strangely flashed out. That firefly light, like a firefly, flickered on and off in the dark night.

At this time of year, there were indeed many fireflies in the grass!

That person did not pay much attention, but the next moment, that firefly light suddenly flashed and darted into the center of his brow.

Then, the scenery before his eyes became a blur.

Seeing that person's figure suddenly stall, Shen Mizhi saw that he suddenly stopped moving.

She was slightly surprised, but seeing shadows flickering all around and people closing in on her, she dared not delay; her figure flashed, fast as a ghost, and she disappeared into the night.

After Shen Mizhi retreated safely, Duan Rong breathed a slight sigh of relief.

This girl is truly reckless! Even spying on her own father's secrets.

The moment Shen Mizhi retreated, Duan Rong's mind stirred, and the Divine Soul Illusion on the person wearing the felt hat instantly dissipated.

He had only been trapped for a single breath!

That person's face was filled with horror; the moment he woke from the Divine Soul Illusion, he happened to see Shen Mizhi jumping over the high wall in the distance.

He looked toward where Shen Mizhi had disappeared with lingering fear. Just a moment ago, if the opponent had not retreated but instead given him a sword strike, he would likely have been dead.

"What kind of sorcery was that?!"

Just now, his whole person seemed to have entered a different dimension.

The Womb Treasury Sutra and the Soul Technique were extremely confidential even within the Taiyi Sect, with very few knowing of them. How much more so for a Martial Artist in the secular world?

He had never known of any Soul Technique. It was precisely because he did not know that he was even more terrified!

While he was still shaken, a group of Guards and people carrying lanterns surrounded him.

Master Guan Kui stood among the crowd, carrying a lantern.

Guan Kui looked at the person wearing the felt hat and asked, "Xiong Yi, what happened?"

Shen Mizhi's figure was like a ghost; before they arrived, Shen Mizhi had already retreated from the garden. Many of them had only heard the sound of weapons clashing but had not seen Shen Mizhi's figure.

On the Corridor side, Tang Wanhong looked at Duan Rong and said, "Lord, I may have some urgent matters to attend to. Please do not take offense at my neglect."

As Tang Wanhong spoke, he glanced at the long wooden box in his hand, handed it to Duan Rong again, lowered his voice, and said, "This painting was entrusted by Lord Shen to be gifted to you. This is a token of Lord Shen's heart; I hope the Lord will not refuse."

Duan Rong looked at the garden, where the lanterns were swaying and everything was in chaos, took the wooden box, and said, "Thank Lord Shen for me!"

After Duan Rong finished speaking, he took the wooden box and turned to leave into the night.

Tang Wanhong took one look at Duan Rong's back, lowered his cupped fists, and walked quickly toward the swaying lanterns in the garden.

Just as he walked over with a dark expression, he caught sight of Xiong Yi's face illuminated by the lanterns; in Xiong Yi's eyes, there still remained the terror that had not yet faded away...

"Xiong Yi is already an expert of the True Qi Realm; for someone to be able to make Xiong Yi this afraid, then that person just now..." Tang Wanhong's gaze tightened, and he was immediately lost in a thousand thoughts.

Shen Garden was secluded, and in the beginning, it operated only in the shadows. But three years had passed, and the number of officials from all walks of life who had been entertained within this garden was countless.

In truth, he had long been worried in his heart. This Shen Garden would, one day, be targeted by others.

(End of this chapter)