Inner Demons

Chapter 72: Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll

Just like that, the morning passed. Around noon, the manager came to deliver the guest list for the evening's assembly.

He found his master standing in the courtyard, looking towards the northwest. "Looking" wasn't quite the right word—his eyes darted around, startling the old manager so much that he stamped his foot and felt a pain in his chest.

—It was as if he were possessed.

But upon closer inspection, he saw that his master was perfectly fine, just continuously rubbing his hands as if afraid of getting wrinkles.

When he handed over the guest list and asked about it, his master barely looked. He just glanced at it and said, "Good, good, very good. Go on, go on."

This was not the usual dignified demeanor of Master Pei Juezi, a prominent Jinghua noble. But the old manager merely assumed that his master knew the immortal Lingkongzi was coming and was losing his composure due to anxiety.

So, he held the guest list and slowly withdrew.

Only the Great Ghost, in the Human Skin Bag of Pei Juezi, suddenly looked up at a thin cloud line in the sky and chuckled eerily twice.

...

...At this moment, Li Yunxin was changing into a Daoist robe.

He didn't particularly favor luxurious clothing, but he also wouldn't force himself to wear coarse cloth. The textile technology of this era wasn't very advanced; ordinary cotton cloth bought in shops was still a bit rough, let alone coarse linen.

But for the evening banquet, his identity was "Daoist child of Hunyuanzi," one of the "five great Intent Realm Artificers of Weicheng," so he couldn't wear luxurious silks.

The old Daoist wanted to broaden his horizons and see the world.

Li Yunxin, on the other hand, was there for the "Painting of the Old Fisherman Angling."

For cultivators transcending tribulation, "reading paintings" was a clean shortcut. Li Yunxin, as a Manifestation Realm Artificer, was essentially like those "alchemists"—a provider.

But the problem was, he couldn't create something that could help overcome the Delusion Heart Tribulation—he hadn't transcended tribulation himself yet.

His previous life had experienced many extreme emotional states, but after thinking it over and over... sorry. It really didn't include this kind of experience—peaceful and tranquil, without desires or attachments.

As for these paintings and artworks, they also had different grades.

Ordinary secular people who learned to paint, and then created works with deep insights, no matter how much emotion they poured into them, would still result in only ordinary paintings.

Because they didn't cultivate Spiritual Power.

But Artificers, having acquired various rudimentary cultivation methods remaining in the world, cultivated Spiritual Power. When they painted, their works were no longer ordinary paintings. They could imbue their insights and emotions into the paintings using Spiritual Power.

An Intent Realm pinnacle Artificer, if by chance inspired and experiencing strong insights, and also at the peak of their essence, qi, and spirit, could create "masterpiece scrolls"—that is, "Master Scrolls."

Master Scrolls were the highest achievement an Artificer at or below the Intent Realm pinnacle could attain.

Below Master Scrolls were fine works, and then those that weren't even fine works, only selling for a few silver coins and hung in ordinary homes.

If an Artificer broke through the Intent Realm and reached the Illusory Realm, then an Illusory Realm pinnacle Artificer, if by chance inspired and experiencing strong insights, and also at the peak of their essence, qi, and spirit, could create "precious scrolls"—that is, "Treasure Scrolls."

That "Painting of the Old Fisherman Angling" was a Treasure Scroll.

This was the highest achievement a secular Artificer could attain.

Nowadays, secular Artificers knew almost nothing about events from two thousand years ago; under deliberate guidance, they were even unaware that a Painting Saint had once existed. Therefore, although they knew that "Precious Scrolls" existed in this world, they merely thought...

Perhaps a great ancient master, blessed by Heaven, created the "Precious Scrolls."

But in reality, a Manifestation Realm pinnacle Artificer could create "Precious Scrolls."

And above Precious Scrolls, after the Painting Daoists of old broke through the Manifestation Realm and entered the True Realm, they could create "Spirit Paintings." Even for the ancient Painting Daoists, "Spirit Paintings" were their limit.

Existing "Spirit Paintings" were extremely rare; only three names were occasionally mentioned by cultivators. These types of items were carefully guarded even by Grotto-heaven Daoist priests, and ordinary mortals had no way of knowing about them.

But while they didn't know about "Spirit Paintings," there was something even higher than Spirit Paintings that was known to almost all Artificers in the world.

The Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll.

Artificers across the land knew that "a truly brilliant master created eight works, each far surpassing a Precious Scroll and beyond any grade. Thus, these eight works by that master are collectively known as the 'Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll.'"

And some others, only a select few cultivators who knew of the "Painting Saint's" existence, knew that the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll was created by that Painting Saint.

It was just unknown whether the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll was currently lost or had been taken by the Two Saints.

Only the first volume of the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll was known, titled "Wu Song Nu Da Kai Di Mao."

Li Yunxin's reaction when he first heard this name from his parents was a bit bewildered. So, he asked his parents to write down the characters.

It was indeed those characters.

He asked his parents about the meaning of the name and what was depicted in the painting.

But his parents said they had never seen the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll and could not understand the Painting Saint's profound meaning.

But at this point...

Li Yunxin thought "could not understand" was correct. As for "profound meaning"... that might need some consideration.

Thus, the scrolls created by Painting Daoists were divided into Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll, Spirit Painting, Precious Scroll, Treasure Scroll, Master Scroll, and Fine Work.

Excluding the Eight Treasures Ancient Scroll, the remaining paintings were divided into five grades, precisely corresponding to the five realms of cultivators: "Mysterious- True- Transformation- Illusory- Conceptual."

If an Intent Realm cultivator wished to transcend tribulation, they could find a Fine Work and study it carefully. However, Fine Works lacked sufficient insight, and one was generally not enough—they would need to find several more to compare and contrast in order to gain a thorough understanding.

But first, similar types of paintings might not be easily found, and second, Fine Works were of mixed quality. An Artificer's insights might be biased, or mixed with other emotions, which could in turn negatively affect the one comprehending.

Therefore, most cultivators did not use these types of items for transcending tribulation—these were often collected by wealthy merchants and high-ranking officials in the secular world.

Cultivators of lower realms often used Master Scrolls. Illusory Realm cultivators slowly began to consider the problem of transcending tribulation, so they collected these types of paintings. However, Painting Daoists were originally few in number, and their output was limited. After the great catastrophe of a thousand years, they became even scarcer. Thus, only Grotto-heaven disciples were likely to have the opportunity to comprehend superior and rare Master Scrolls.

As for School disciples—even a sect master's chief disciple like Huainanzi, when facing a Killing Tribulation, couldn't find a suitable Master Scroll in time and had to resort to the path of slaughter.

As a cultivator's realm grew higher and fewer tribulations remained... the remaining Passion Tribulations would become increasingly powerful. This is why many people felt that cultivators of lower realms still seemed human. But the higher a cultivator's realm, the less they resembled ordinary people.

Since the tribulations became stronger, the effect that Master Scrolls could achieve was limited... so one had to seek Treasure Scrolls and Precious Scrolls.

And this was why Li Yunxin absolutely had to go to the "Treasure Blossom Assembly."

Yin Pingzhi thought he had played a cunning trick on Li Yunxin, posing a difficult problem.

Little did he know, he was delivering a great benefit to him!