Painting mountains and rivers with random strokes

“With this, we can at least somewhat recover our losses.” Huangfu Song breathed a slight sigh of relief, putting away one of the Exemption Talismans. He distributed the other two to Li Fan and Dongfang Yao.

“Just this broken thing?” Dongfang Yao held the colorful Talisman up to his eyes, scrutinizing it, a little disbelieving.

“I have heard of this item,” Li Fan said, narrowing his eyes slightly in recollection. “It seems that when the Immortal Alliance issues mandatory missions, Cultivators can use this Exemption Talisman to directly ignore the mission requirements.”

“Exactly!” Huangfu Song nodded contentedly, his earlier frustration completely gone.

“What’s the use of this?” Dongfang Yao muttered softly, still somewhat puzzled.

Huangfu Song rolled his eyes at him: “It’s not very useful normally, but at crucial moments, it can save lives! For example, once a major war with the Five Old Men Association breaks out, and Cultivators are conscripted to the battlefield. Others can either beg and plead to find connections, or they can honestly go to the front lines. But with this, we can calmly avoid disaster.”

“In a sense, this is a death-exemption token!” Dongfang Yao instantly understood the preciousness of the item and carefully put it away.

“That’s right, and more importantly, this Exemption Talisman is unregistered. Any Cultivator holding it is its owner. If others offer a high enough price, we can also trade it away,” Huangfu Song added. “To prevent covetous individuals, you two brothers should not carry this with you normally. Just keep it in the tianxuan mirror space.”

Dongfang Yao nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Li Fan, meanwhile, checked the map in the liangtian mirror: “Although we have the Exemption Talisman as compensation, our qingxuan points are back to zero, so it was all for nothing. What are your plans next? Are you going to brave the White Mist again, or give up now?”

“The curtain has just risen; how can we give up so easily? We now have a thoroughly explored map in hand, and we can directly advance into unknown areas. The exploration efficiency has increased by who knows how many times.” Huangfu Song’s choice was obvious, his eyes seemingly shining with endless greed.

Dongfang Yao naturally agreed with Huangfu Song.

Li Fan clapped his hands and praised, “The more setbacks, the braver the hero! In that case, after I resupply, we will depart immediately.”

“However…” Li Fan looked troubled. “I’m afraid it will be difficult to find such a cheap and effective longevity item like the Longevity Pill again.”

Huangfu Song and Dongfang Yao immediately nodded, indicating their understanding.

“I can’t always let you suffer losses, brother. I also need to think of a way,” Dongfang Yao even offered to share the burden with Li Fan.

The three agreed to meet two days later and then departed separately.

—

Beast Seed Realm.

Xu Bai’s eyes were tightly closed, as if he were asleep, floating horizontally in the sky.

A seventeen-petaled tianling flower hung quietly above his forehead, emitting a faint milky white glow.

Around Xu Bai, some mysterious power seemed to be brewing, distorting the air. Layer upon layer of colorful halos spread outwards from him as the center.

Looking up from the ground of the Beast Seed Realm, it was as if a colorful sun had appeared in the sky.

Facing this strange phenomenon, countless strange beasts felt awe and knelt in worship.

The Medicine King Sect Disciples, however, had strange expressions and discussed amongst themselves.

Of course, with Liu San protecting Xu Bai nearby, they dared not say anything excessive.

More than ten days ago, Liu San had already found Jiao Xiuyuan.

Jiao Xiuyuan was very interested in the transaction Li Fan had mentioned.

However, he proposed to first see with his own eyes whether the tianling flower in Li Fan’s possession was as miraculous as rumored.

Li Fan’s main body was not present and could not be contacted. So, after rushing back with Jiao Xiuyuan’s communication Talisman, Liu San intended to report the matter directly to the Clone.

But upon arriving in the Beast Seed Realm, Liu San discovered that Xu Bai was in some kind of Epiphany state.

He dared not disturb him and instead guarded him.

“Old Liu, the Sect Master’s current comprehension seems quite powerful,” Fang Zaiji’s voice sounded in Liu San’s ear.

Fang Zaiji himself did not appear; the voice came from a golden eyeball.

This was his experimental work after gaining insights from studying the Medicine King True Cauldron. Inspired by the [Great Dream of Early Autumn Array] in the Medicine King Cauldron, which connected everyone’s consciousness, he created a set of eighty-one [Eyes of Shared Vision]. Holders of this item could not only communicate with each other but also synchronize and share what they saw and heard. They could even empathize with and experience changes in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi as if they were there themselves.

“You could have communicated directly in my Sea of Consciousness, but you insisted on speaking in my ear,” Liu San’s expression was somewhat displeased.

“What do you know? This is called a sense of ritual,” Fang Zaiji retorted disdainfully.

Liu San turned his head and glanced at the golden eyeball.

The golden eyeball immediately flew to the side: “Old Liu, let’s talk nicely. This thing wasn’t easy to refine…”

Liu San was not one to indulge him and was about to act, but a sudden sensation arose in his heart, and he looked up at the sky.

He saw Xu Bai, still in his sleep, suddenly raise his right hand. Using his finger as a brush, he swiftly sketched in the air.

Countless light points converged in the sky. Moments later, a vivid depiction of a roaring river appeared in the sky.

“Go!”

Xu Bai pointed downwards.

The painting transformed into a stream of light and plummeted towards the Beast Seed Realm.

And then…

“Boom!”

A surging river appeared out of thin air, descending from the sky and crashing onto the land.

Xu Bai’s hands did not stop.

Towering mountains, ancient pines, fractured canyons…

One beautiful painting after another appeared in succession, then like falling meteors, flew to various parts of the Beast Seed Realm.

Thus, the earth continuously rumbled.

Ancient Trees broke through the soil, mountains rose from the ground, and plains roared and tore apart.

Like a Creator God, Xu Bai, from the sky, created things out of thin air, transforming the Beast Seed Realm according to his will.

Liu San and Fang Zaiji watched this scene, lost in stunned silence.

“This…” Fang Zaiji was somewhat uncertain.

“It’s not a change made through契合 (fitting in) with the Heavenly Dao of this Small World, but a forceful distortion and rewriting by some miraculous external force,” Liu San, however, understood clearly.

“To do it so effortlessly, this is certainly partly because the Young Lord’s Clone is fighting on home ground here. But that only enhanced the power the Young Lord could use.”

“It didn’t affect the essence of this Divine Ability.”

A glint flashed in Fang Zaiji’s eyes: “So, if this move were used in the outside world, the Xuanhuang World, if one’s strength were great enough, one could also modify mountains and rivers at will, like painting?”

Liu San’s expression was solemn as he slowly nodded.

“Issue a gag order to the Sect Disciples. This matter needs to be strictly confidential,” Liu San said in a deep voice.

With their knowledge, even in the Ancient Cultivation World, this was an extremely extraordinary Divine Ability.