The hour of Xu.
Qingyun Dao Sect.
As the last trace of the setting sun vanished, Ye Ping slowly let out a breath.
“Eldest Senior Brother, it’s finished.”
Ye Ping spoke, then revealed a faint smile.
He was rather confident in his own skill with brush and ink. Moreover, ever since entering an immortal sect, Ye Ping had always felt that he had been elevated in every aspect, so he was very satisfied with this painting.
Upon hearing Ye Ping’s words, Su Changyu finally moved, turning his gaze toward the xuan paper before Ye Ping.
This was superior-quality xuan paper. It could be divided into three sheets without affecting its quality. If preserved properly, such paper could be passed down for thousands of years and more.
A sheet of xuan paper like this was valued by the chi—one chi, one tael of gold.
And because this portrait had to depict both a person and scenery, it was four and a half chi long and two and a half chi wide.
In other words, this sheet of xuan paper was worth eight taels of gold.
It was just that Su Changyu did not understand this.
He looked at the painting.
Within the scroll,
the sunset glow veiled the sky, and the Qingyun mountain range looked like an immortal realm on earth. The flowers, grass, trees, and woods were vivid and lifelike; in certain details especially, they appeared all the more real.
But the most eye-catching thing was still the man within the portrait.
The man’s face had not been fully painted, only a side profile, yet Ye Ping had portrayed that aloof, indifferent bearing of a sword immortal.
This man was naturally Su Changyu.
In the portrait, he stood tall upon a cliff, gazing at the evening clouds. There was an indescribable artistic conception to it, breathtakingly beautiful.
“This painting is not bad.”
Though Su Changyu was not particularly cultured, at least he would not go against his conscience.
Ye Ping’s painting was indeed good. The only flaw was that it had not captured his handsomeness, only one ten-thousandth of it. But this was not because Ye Ping’s skill was lacking; rather, it was because he himself was too handsome. Thus, Su Changyu did not really mind.
Thinking that, in terms of handsomeness, he could surpass Ye Ping, Su Changyu’s mood inexplicably became cheerful.
“As long as Senior Brother is satisfied.”
Ye Ping smiled faintly, then took out a square seal and stamped it onto the upper right corner of the painting.
This was his personal seal.
On it were impressively written the four characters: “Qinglian Jushi.”
“Senior Brother, take it.”
Ye Ping rolled up the painting and handed it to Su Changyu.
“Thank you for the trouble, Junior Brother.”
Su Changyu nodded. But before Ye Ping could speak, a voice rang out.
“Changyu, come at once.”
The voice sounded. It was Daoist Taihua’s voice.
“Little Junior Brother, continue comprehending the sword scar. Senior Brother will take his leave first.”
Su Changyu left behind these words, then quickly departed, heading toward Daoist Taihua.
Very soon, Su Changyu arrived before Daoist Taihua.
“Master, what is it? Did you borrow the money?”
Su Changyu was somewhat curious, not understanding why Daoist Taihua had suddenly called for him.
Could it be that he had borrowed the money?
“I didn’t borrow any, but your master has thought of a good method.”
Daoist Taihua said with a face full of joy.
“You thought of one? What method?”
Su Changyu was rather surprised. He truly found it hard to imagine that, with his master’s wisdom, aside from borrowing money, he could think of any other good method.
“Changyu, on this trip down the mountain, although your master didn’t borrow any money, I passed by a pawnshop. Didn’t our sect’s ancestors leave behind quite a few things? Why don’t we pawn them all?”
“Although it’ll be hard to sell them for a hundred taels of gold, we can at least exchange them for some silver. Once we have startup funds, we can think of another way when the time comes. With two months, anything is possible.”
Daoist Taihua’s smile bloomed.
“Pawn them?”
Su Changyu looked somewhat helpless.
He had thought his master had come up with some good idea, but he had not expected it to be such a rotten one.
Most importantly, what valuable things did Qingyun Dao Sect even have?
“Sect Leader, will that work?”
Su Changyu remained doubtful.
“It has to work even if it doesn’t. If there really is no other way, your master can only go find my distant female cousin. Her family is quite wealthy. A hundred taels of gold probably won’t count for much in her eyes.”
Daoist Taihua said seriously.
“You still have a distant female cousin? Why didn’t you say so earlier? Then why are we pawning anything? Let’s go find her right now.”
Su Changyu had not expected that his master actually had a distant female cousin.
“You don’t understand. This cousin of mine has a bit of a peculiar hobby.”
When he mentioned his cousin, Daoist Taihua looked somewhat embarrassed.
“A bit of a peculiar hobby? That’s normal, isn’t it? What rich landlord doesn’t have some peculiar hobby?”
Su Changyu said, unconcerned.
“No. This hobby of hers is very strange. She has a taste for men.”
Daoist Taihua said with a serious expression.
“A taste for men?” Su Changyu frowned slightly. Wasn’t that very normal?
“Sigh, it’s not the kind of taste for men you understand. In short, unless there is truly no other choice, your master absolutely will not go to her. Enough. Stop talking nonsense. Come down the mountain with me. Go, go, go. Don’t waste time.”
Daoist Taihua did not elaborate.
He directly pulled Su Changyu down the mountain, paying no mind to anything else.
Meanwhile, at the rear cliff,
Ye Ping knew nothing of all this.
After Su Changyu left, Ye Ping continued his comprehension.
He wanted to comprehend sword force as soon as possible. However, after mastering the complete sword technique, Ye Ping vaguely felt that it would not take long before he might be able to comprehend sword force.
Thinking this, Ye Ping turned his gaze to the sword scar on the ground and once again entered a state of enlightenment.
Perhaps it was because he had mastered the complete sword path.
When Ye Ping looked at the sword scar again, it actually underwent a different change.
In his mind, four figures continuously evolved the Four Thunder Sword Technique.
A surge of sword force suddenly spread around Ye Ping.
Withered grass and leaves rose into the air, circling around Ye Ping.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Muffled thunder sounded at the rear cliff. Ye Ping’s speed of comprehension was several times faster than before.
All the way until early morning.
Ye Ping opened his eyes.
He raised his hand, and in an instant, a terrifying sword force spread out from his body.
Whoosh!
A formless sword qi appeared, sweeping up the withered grass and fallen leaves on the ground, then struck a piece of broken stone. At once, a faint sword scar was left behind.
If Su Changyu were here, he would probably abandon the sword on the spot, because Ye Ping had actually completed the condensation of sword force overnight. Although it was only the initial stage, it was still heaven-defying.
At the same time,
within the borders of Qingzhou,
Taiyue Sword Sect.
In Qingzhou, three great sects stood in a tripartite balance, and Taiyue Sword Sect was one of the three great sects, a first-rank immortal sect.
Under its banner were three thousand elite disciples. It could be considered renowned far and wide.
And at this very moment,
within Taiyue Sword Sect, upon Sword Comprehension Cliff,
several young talents were sitting cross-legged beneath the cliff, comprehending sword moves.
On Sword Comprehension Cliff, there was an incomparably sharp sword scar.
This sword scar had been left behind by Qingzhou’s number one sword path expert, Daoist Siji.
That was right, Daoist Siji.
In years past, Daoist Siji had owed Taiyue Sword Sect a favor. Now, Sect Leader Taiyue had asked Daoist Siji to leave behind a sword scar, in the hope that the younger generation’s sword path talents could properly comprehend it.
And this sword scar had been left on Sword Comprehension Cliff.
This sword scar was terrifying.
There was even the sound of thunder within it.
This was a true scar of sword intent.
Compared with Su Changyu’s, it was simply an insult to Daoist Siji.
And just then,
all of a sudden, a faint clap of thunder rang out.