Chapter 182: 175 Painting

Specialized skills have their own fields of expertise; this is true for a Sword Guest, and it is equally true for a Talisman Sword Master.

The purple-clad girl's combat ability was quite average, even inferior to Chengyu's. After being grabbed by the skull-headed man, she lay completely flat the whole time, struggling even to save herself, but she had her own unique specialty.

Extending her fair hand, she wore three rings on her fingers, all of which were exquisitely crafted Dharma Artifacts.

At this moment, Tang Zhao had already lifted the skull mask, revealing a plain, middle-aged face with eyes rolled back; the purple-clad girl used her finger to tap on his Glasses.

"Shuttle—Gate of Will."

Pfft—

The purple-clad girl's hand did not move, but Tang Zhao clearly saw a finger, white to the point of glowing, suddenly extend and pierce into the skull man's eyeball, like breaking through window paper. Just watching it made his own eyes ache.

The skull man's entire body shuddered as if he had been electrocuted again, his facial features twitching as if he were having a nightmare.

The purple-clad girl kept her finger still and said, "You can ask now."

As she said this, she was full of confidence, as if she had already brought this demon, who had just been controlling her life and death, into the palm of her hand.

Tang Zhao woke the skull man up and found his eyes dull and unfocused; he tried asking a few questions, and sure enough, like a marionette, he answered every question asked.

"What is your name?"

"Zhui."

"What sect are you from?"

"Huagu Tower."

"Hmm... why did you kill people?"

"I didn't kill anyone."

"Didn't kill anyone? How dare you spout nonsense. You were just attacking them earlier."

"I don't kill them; I only bring them to the Young Master to be turned into the Young Master's masterpieces."

"Who is the Young Master?"

"The Young Tower Master of our Huagu Tower—Yi Zhixin."

Tang Zhao had already grasped the general situation after a brief interrogation, and he felt quite displeased: this murderer was actually from Huagu Tower, which was a sect from Yunzhou!

Yunzhou only had two Sword Smith factions in total, and for one of them to produce such a specimen—wasn't this a disgrace to Yunzhou?

As a native of Yunzhou, Tang Zhao felt a bit ashamed, and a sense of responsibility to clean up the sect grew in his heart; he said fiercely, "Take us to find him!"

Both girls changed color simultaneously. Tang Zhao realized that his use of "us" was ill-advised; not to mention that neither of them wanted to go, there was no need for him to take two non-combatants to take risks. He immediately said, "I will go settle the score with that scoundrel; you two should go back first. Be careful on the way, and if it doesn't work out, find a house to hide in."

The purple-clad girl hesitated for a moment and said, "Chengyu can go back first, but I will go with you. I can control his will; otherwise, if his will recovers in a while, I fear he won't cooperate with you. If you force him, you might cause a commotion and alert that villain, which would be bad. At worst, I will hide and not go inside once we reach the place."

Chengyu said, "I'll go too. Actually, I have a knack for escaping. Although I can't help you fight, if you lose the upper hand, I can still give you a hand."

Tang Zhao smiled slightly, appreciating their courage, and said, "Alright, let's go together. I am Tang Zhao of Zhuoyu Villa. May I ask how you two young ladies are called?"

Chengyu said, "I am Jian Chengyu of the Senluo Gate."

The purple-clad girl said, "Senluo Gate, Ouyang Luoxia."

Tang Zhao had heard of this sect. Senluo Gate was a Sword Smith sect in Yu State; it wasn't considered large, but it was stronger than Zhuoyu Villa, and their philosophy was very interesting: the myriad phenomena of the world all have gates. By mastering their gates, one can hold them in the palm of one's hand. The two girls were clearly each proficient in one path—one in space, one in will—and although their studies were still shallow, their potential was boundless, and they would surely achieve something in time.

Tang Zhao remembered this sect not only because their theory was interesting, but also because the sect's name had great momentum; it was the cool, stylish type he liked.

The three of them controlled the skull man to lead the way, sneaking toward Huagu Tower. Tang Zhao chatted idly, "How many days have you been here? Are you already familiar with Maze City?"

Ouyang Luoxia said, "We came early, about two days ago. These past two days, we've been decorating houses on one hand and stealing questions on the other. Stealing questions is really not easy; everyone is too smart, and we haven't succeeded many times. As for being familiar with Maze City, we certainly aren't; Maze City changes every day, there's no way to get familiar with it. Oh, right, we must hurry and get back before midnight, otherwise we won't be able to find the way."

Tang Zhao was startled, and Jian Chengyu explained, "Every day at the third watch, the roads of Maze City change, and all the buildings shift positions. At that time, it's best to find a house to hide in; if you walk on the street, you don't know where you'll be thrown."

Tang Zhao suddenly understood, and he felt even more that Maze City was magnificent—not only could every house be modified into an Art Tool at any time, but the streets, the city walls, and even the entire city could be seen as one complete Art Tool.

No, this vast city was likely not just at the level of an Art Tool; it was probably a creation at the level of a Dharma Artifact or even a Force Array.

It was worthy of being Longyuan; even though it had declined over the years, its foundation was still unfathomable.

However, he had heard there was also the legacy of a Sword Immortal from Jianzhou?

He confirmed, "Do you know if there are people from Longyuan in the city? Responsible for maintaining order?"

Both girls shook their heads, and Jian Chengyu said, "Never heard of it. In just these few days, there's no need to specifically maintain order, right? If you're talking about supervision, everyone's Spirit Envoy is a pair of eyes, all watching us on behalf of Longyuan. Generally, everyone cares about their reputation and will naturally be self-disciplined. Even if one encounters some injustice, one can file a complaint at the Talisman Assembly. Except for a lunatic, who would use this time to kill people? There's absolutely no benefit; it's just perverted!"

Tang Zhao nodded. Actually, Jian Chengyu was right; competing according to the rules really didn't require a referee to be present, and Spirit Envoys could replace part of a referee's function. And except for a small group like Gui Ye, the other Spirit Envoys had no hearts and were extremely impartial.

Huagu Tower causing trouble was likely beyond everyone's expectations.

Not far away, a small building stood quietly in the dark night.

In the darkness, every small building was reduced to mere shapes, and the more bizarre the building, the more terrifying it was; this small building's shape was not particularly strange, but it carried a faint white reflection, and this bit of white made it stand out.

"Bone... no, it's a tooth."

This small building was built from the teeth of some Fierce Beast. Teeth, like bone, were all this ghastly white.

Tang Zhao knocked the skull man unconscious and gestured for the two to go back. He himself wanted to climb this Tooth Building while it was dark and no one knew. The two girls nodded, and Ouyang Luoxia mouthed, "Be careful," though in the dark night, it was originally invisible.

In the dark night, a pale-faced youth was holding a Lamp and looking at his work.

There were lamps in the house, and the Artifice Lamp shone brightly, capable of illuminating the whole room in white, but he did not light them. He held a dim Lamp, the light of which was green within white, flickering and jumping like phosphorus fire in bones.

This was his favorite Lamp; the color of the flame was perfect, and under this kind of light, his work could bloom with the most gorgeous luster.

In front of him was a painting.

On the painting was a dignified woman; although she could not be considered beautiful, she did not lack grace, and her brows were full of wisdom and kindness.

It was just that this painting was incomplete; the woman's head and hair were already finished, but only the left chest was blank. That was the position of the heart.

Generally, the most difficult thing to paint in a picture is the eyes, which is why there is the saying about "painting a dragon and dotting the eyes." But the youth believed that the most difficult thing to paint was the heart.

Painting a tiger is easy to paint the skin but hard to paint the bones; knowing a person and knowing their face is not knowing their heart. Painting a tiger's bones is hard, and painting a person's heart is hard.

He was Yi Zhixin; since he was called "Knowing Heart," he could paint the heart.

"Actually, I already have a plan in mind, but I just can't find the materials. No one's bones can match your heart." He stroked from the position of the hair all the way down, stopping at the position of the heart. Along the way, he had stroked bead after bead of bone, each one round and smooth, coming from several young and promising Talisman Sword Masters.

Yes, this lifelike, dignified, gentle woman with the bearing of a kind mother was actually pieced together from beads carved from white bones.

"Today I ordered Vertebra Bone to take a young girl as material to paint your heart. You must be very happy, right? Because you once said your heart would always be that of a young girl," he muttered to himself.

"Are you satisfied with me... Mother?"

He carefully admired his own work, and after a long while, he picked up the Lamp and walked silently to the window.

Outside the window, it was extremely quiet.

Vertebra Bone has been gone for a bit too long today.

Could it be... that he failed?

Yi Zhixin shook his head slightly; it was not impossible. Although Vertebra Bone was a good Bone Servant, he was neither a Talisman Sword Master nor a Sword Guest; he only possessed brute strength and a refined Vertebra Bone. It was still possible for him to fail when encountering tricky Sword Arts or Rune Formulas. However, he did not care; even if he failed, Vertebra Bone could not expose him, because everything about a Bone Servant belonged to him, and he could make that bone shatter into powder at any time.

Besides, even if he were exposed, so what?

This house made of teeth was truly perfect for him; everything seemed prepared for him, and in three days, he had already built it into a fortress in his hands. Any incoming enemies would merely be turned into bone materials.

Or, even if they found Longyuan, so what? Would they hold him accountable? He had his own methods of escape.

Hold Huagu Tower accountable?

Then let them hold it accountable.

"As long as that painting can be completed, what does it matter if Huagu Tower is destroyed? You are no longer here anyway."

He stood by the window observing the scenery, his reflection cast upon the glazed window, and said softly, "What a truly fine night view, perfect for extracting bones—"

"Hey! I say, the one who caused all those disgusting things is indeed you, kid, right?"

An abrupt voice rang out from outside the window, and Yi Zhixin's expression changed drastically.

A figure descended upside down from the window, clinging to the glaze like a spider.

"It is you—"

"Snap!"

The glaze shattered in one blow!

Yi Zhixin wanted to turn and run, but a person had already crawled in from outside the window with lightning speed; in the blink of an eye, they had grabbed his neck and slapped him across the face.

"So it was you doing this to annoy me? Everyone else is doing questions, but you're doing people; are you sick in the head? You little punk, you've got some nerve! Disgusting trash, you deserve a good slap in the mouth!"

Slap, another blow to the face.

Yi Zhixin, beaten until his head was spinning, could not even speak; only one thought crossed his mind: Who is this crazy woman?

The sound of shattering glass traveled far, and the entire street could hear it.

The two young girls lurking nearby were excited and nervous, whispering, "Ah, it's started! Tang Zhao should be fine, right?"

Tang Zhao, who was just about to approach the door: "..."

I haven't even made a move yet, how did the fighting already start? It sounds like a very intense battle, slap after slap.

I might as well just go up there too.