A life of clearness

Chapter 66: Fantasy in the Painting

"This porridge smells good." Dugu Zhi woke up faster than Zhong Xiu. He woke up with a rumbling sound in his stomach. He didn't have any burden to save face, and his face was not embarrassed. He took the porridge and sipped it. He praised in a low voice, "It tastes good too."

Rong Qing nodded in agreement. She tasted the porridge after it came out of the pot, and only after confirming it did she let the Su family father and daughter divide it into two portions. The spiritual energy contained in the ingredients was very little, but the person who made the porridge was obviously skilled.

The warm porridge turned into a warm current that flowed down the esophagus into the stomach. Dugu Zhi obviously needed this energy supplement. After finishing a bowl of porridge, he breathed a sigh of relief. In addition, he had just had a good sleep and rest, so he felt much more relaxed at this moment.

Turning his head, he saw Rong Qing's thoughtful face and raised an eyebrow, "What's going on?"

"Hmm... there is one thing that I am a little confused about."

"Tell me about it?" Dugu Zhi became interested.

"About this porridge, actually..." Rong Qing spoke slowly.

At that time, she looked at the ingredients in the kitchen one by one. They were indeed very common with little spiritual energy, but they were fresh. Seeing that Rong Qing had no objection, Su Er immediately asked her to go to the study and wait. Xing'er lit the fire and started the pot with ease, and moved a small stool to stand on it to cut the vegetables. Except for the spiritual energy of the ingredients, the rest was no different from cooking in the secular world. After all, proper spiritual food was not something that ordinary cultivators could afford. It was not something that could be made by anyone other than a specialized food cultivator.

"Fellow Daoist Yu, please wait for a moment. I'll go see Xing'er." Su Er welcomed Rong Qing into the study. The rooms here were very small, with only two or three rooms. Only the study room could be used to entertain guests.

"Thank you for your trouble, Fellow Daoist Su." Rong Qing said politely. She also didn't like seeing a little girl cooking alone, so since Su Er said so, she naturally agreed.

"Thank you for your understanding, Brother Yu." Su Er bowed again, then closed the door and walked out.

The small, dimly lit study room suddenly became extremely quiet.

It was so quiet...even a little strange.

Rong Qing could see the entire study room at a glance. Among them, the most attractive thing was a painting hanging on the wall behind the desk.

This painting is extremely large. It is hard not to be attracted by it.

The content of the painting is also very interesting.

There is a lot of white space, a peach tree stretches out its branches, extremely luxuriant. A white figure hangs in the air under the tree.

Next to the peach tree, there seemed to be a flowing stream. An old man wearing a bamboo hat caught a jumping red carp from the water.

Rong Qing frowned, feeling a little unhappy.

"The painting style is simple, and the imagery in the painting is very clear." Rong Qing thought, "It's just that the meaning of the painting is not good."

She stroked her fingers and turned her head to look elsewhere. But there was nothing else. After a while, Rong Qing couldn't help but look back again.

This glance was just fixed on the red carp that was fished out.

A very strange feeling of empathy suddenly emerged, as if she and the red carp had become one.

In front of her was an enlarged dark face, covered with wrinkles. A cold light flashed in the cloudy old eyes. Rong Qing struggled hard, but her whole body felt light and she was powerless. She even felt suffocated.

The old man looked at Rong Qing, revealing his huge mouth. There were no teeth in his mouth, like a dark hole...

——“Squeak.”

Su Er and Su Xing'er pushed open the door and walked in.

Rong Qing seemed to be awakened and looked over with a dazed look.

"Sister Yu. The porridge is ready."

Su Xing'er's cheerful voice sounded like a deep layer of water in Rong Qing's ears. Rong Qing was pulled to the surface, while Su Er and Su Xing'er were still hiding under the water. Those words sounded vague and distant.

"Fellow Daoist Yu, why don't you try it?" Su Er diligently served her a small bowl.

Rong Qing looked at him blankly, as if she just understood what he said, and whispered "thank you".

The porridge was steaming hot, mixed with the aroma of rice and vegetables. After drinking it, it felt even warmer. Rong Qing felt much more comfortable. "Your cooking skills are very good. Divide this pot of porridge into two boxes. I wonder how many spirit stones it will cost?"

"Six low-grade spirit stones are enough." Su Er smiled, and he and Xing'er divided the vegetable porridge neatly.

Rong Qing took out six low-grade spirit stones from her storage bag, but the lustrous light emitted by those spirit stones became unusually dazzling.

Huh?
Before Rong Qing could investigate further, a strangely shaped sword suddenly stabbed into her heart.

Rong Qing stared at the long sword blankly. "It must be Taozhi's doing." Rong Qing reacted very slowly to the murderous intent, and instead his thoughts were scattered to strange places.

Rong Qing's dull look was obviously what the father and daughter had expected. Su Er's eyes flashed with a hint of satisfaction, and with a push of his spiritual power, the peach wood sword could cut gold like mud. In fact, this peach branch was not an ordinary material.

The tip of the sword easily pierced Rong Qing's outer robe.

Su Er suddenly stopped. No, it wasn't that he wanted to stop, but he had to stop. There was a huge resistance in front of the advancing wooden sword.

A black flower bloomed at Rong Qing's heart.

Su Er suddenly opened his eyes wide, and saw that the flower turned into strands of black silk threads flying along the sword. However, due to its attack, he could not avoid it at such a close distance.

Xing'er, who noticed something was wrong, pushed him away.

But even this alone is too late.

The black talisman pierced through his chest. At first, there were only a few fine blood spots. Then, the wound suddenly expanded and a blood mist exploded.

Rong Qing's originally dim eyes suddenly became clear.

"Robbery?" Rong Qing had no idea at this moment, "So it was a trap set by you and your daughter." Xing'er saw a delicate snow-white long sword suddenly appear in the hands of the female cultivator. "Sword Intentions!" Her heart was shaken.

Su Xing'er's current cultivation level was very low, but she had a lot of experience. A sword cultivator who could possess the sword spirit would be treated as a treasure in any sect. "I've hit a wall." She gritted her teeth.

Rong Qing's first reaction was to pick up the sword and kill Su Er, who had a higher level of cultivation, first, even though the other party was already seriously injured. This way, it would be easier to kill him.

"Don't kill my father!" Su Xing'er screamed, and regardless of the difference in cultivation, she pounced in front of Rong Qing and blocked her view.

Rong Qing's mind moved, and a word "trapped" appeared. Su Xing'er was fixed in front of Rong Qing in the posture of rushing over.

This sudden change gave Su Er an opportunity. The tremendous power that erupted between life and death made him jump up from the ground and crash out of the window next to him. In an instant, there was a slight fluctuation of spiritual energy, and he completely disappeared.

"Your father ran away without you." Rong Qing looked coldly at Su Xing'er in front of her. This time, they were able to look at each other at eye level.

"So what!" Su Xing'er cried fiercely while speaking. "Just kill me."

Those big eyes are full of water.

Rong Qing suddenly felt very upset.

"If you keep talking nonsense, I will really kill you." Rong Qing lifted the ban, picked up the food box on the table and left.

Su Xing'er opened her mouth and was about to say something, but she heard Rong Qing's impatient words: "Also, I'm not interested in your difficulties."

Xing Er bit her lip.

"I walked out of the study and felt like I was in another world." Rong Qing frowned and said, "I came back here and the more I think about it, the more weird it seems."

Illusions are rare. With Rong Qing's strength, she would not be easily taken in by illusions. However, she happened to have damaged her soul in the previous battle. So, she was caught off guard and was taken advantage of.

Rong Qing knew this was the reason, but she still had a hunch that something was missing, so she felt something was wrong.

A bystander sees things more clearly, and she wanted to know what Dugu Zhi thought.

"Your strange feeling is not wrong." Dugu Zhi chuckled. "Since you are willing to kill Su Er, why don't you kill Su Xing'er? In my opinion, although she is young, she is also a little villain. You should know that you are not the first case. Before you, they have cooperated in this way and killed many people."

"This child." Rong Qing frowned. "It really makes me feel sorry for her. I think her father instigated her, and I'm afraid he is even more guilty."

"I really didn't realize you were so tolerant of children." Dugu Zhi glanced sideways. He had originally planned to tell Rong Qing about something about Zhong Xiu, but he had completely buried it in his heart.

"Maybe he was thinking of Jiajia." Rong Qing said somewhat unnaturally.

"I heard your retelling." Dugu Zhi tapped the wheelchair armrest with his finger, "I have some other opinions on this matter."

"I'd like to hear more about it." Humble.

"Your experience in the study should be closely related to that painting. You were captured by the illusion in the painting and were attacked by Su Er. Through the illusion in the painting, they should have ambushed and killed many cultivators. Seeing that you have some money and don't look like a casual cultivator, Su Xing'er took you as her target. None of the other cultivators in the market dared to stop her, because they knew that the father and daughter of the Su family were not easy to mess with. Otherwise, if Su Xing'er was really a weak little girl, how could she make other cultivators dare not move or speak?" Dugu Zhi snorted.

"Also, I think the most powerful person is not Su Er, but Su Xing'er. She can actually make you feel so helpless. In such a situation, she is really capable."

"Hey. I'm not a bad person." Although she said that, Rong Qing knew that Dugu Zhi was right. She would not hurt others on her own initiative, but that didn't mean that she would forgive her enemy the next moment after escaping from an ambush.

The fact is, she did let Su Xing'er off lightly.

"Have you really escaped from the influence of the illusion?" Dugu Zhi asked doubtfully.

Really? I even used the sword intent. Under Dugu Zhi's gaze, Rong Qing still hesitated and didn't say it out loud.

"...What do you think of her eyes?" Dugu Zhi suddenly asked. "I remember you mentioned her eyes several times."

"The eyes... are very good." Hesitantly, "It makes me feel a little sorry for her. It's true that looking into her eyes makes me feel sorry for her."

"That's it." Dugu Zhi closed his eyes.

Dugu Zhi's words were like a revelation. Rong Qing had more experience than Dugu Zhi, and after this reminder, she understood everything in an instant.

"Those involved are confused. Thanks for reminding me."

It's pupil technique.

Pupil skills are rare. Their abilities are strange and numerous. Rong Qing never expected to see them on a little girl who had just started practicing Qi. And she was so proficient and without any abnormalities.

From the first time Rong Qing saw Su Xing'er and her eyes met, there was a hint that was deeply planted in Rong Qing's heart, and even Rong Qing did not realize it. Su Xing'er showed a positive image of being gentle on the outside and strong on the inside. Even if her cultivation was low, she would try her best to help her father at home, and she was fearless even if she was abandoned by her father. She could easily arouse people's pity. Perhaps this is the characteristic of the pupil technique that Su Xing'er practiced. Su Xing'er integrated it into her words and deeds, and it did not seem abrupt. This is why she was able to protect both herself and her father under Rong Qing with such a low cultivation.

Dugu Zhi could think of this because Yun Tong also had a pupil technique as a unique skill. However, Yun Tong's pupil technique was more inclined towards shocking attacks.

Thinking of this, Rong Qing couldn't help but wonder if Yun Tong's pupil technique was preserved in Baishi Temple. If she could find a complete record of the technique, that would be the best. And Su Xing'er's pupil technique... She was even more interested!

"Su Xing'er's actual cultivation level may not be what I thought." Rong Qing recalled some knowledge about pupil skills. "She is young and her strength is only at the level of just entering the Qi training stage, but she can use the pupil skills so well. This is not normal. If it is true, then her pupil skills are too terrifying."

"You mean, the age and cultivation she displayed are just a disguise?" Dugu Zhi interjected.

"Well...why not ask in person?"

"Where can I find her?" Dugu Zhi smiled and shook his head. "I'm afraid that once you left, she packed up all her belongings and fled."

"Didn't she leave something here with us?" Rong Qing raised her eyebrows and pointed at the food box on the table. "Besides, as long as she didn't blow up the whole yard, we can always find her traces."

Explosion, Rong Qing was sure that the Su family father and daughter would not dare to do so. In Cangliuzhou, where the inspectors were constantly watching, how could they dare to make a big noise?

(End of this chapter)