Chapter 380 - 364: In the Mortal World, Someone’s Heart Blossoms

A quick scan confirmed it: they were both mortals.

Song Ciwan couldn’t help but laugh at her own reaction. ’Human psychology really is a funny thing,’ she thought. ’With my current Cultivation, I can easily tell a human from a phantom even without a Magical Treasure. Huijiang City is, without a doubt, a normal city, and the mortals here are just normal mortals.’

But Song Ciwan had encountered so many strange and bizarre things that she now found herself inexplicably suspicious of anything normal.

’It feels like something being too normal is, in itself, abnormal!’

It just went to show how one’s subconscious could train itself. After facing so many crises, the absence of one actually felt unsettling.

In reality, however, the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty’s rule was still strong. If things had truly reached a point where phantoms lurked around every corner, wouldn’t the Great Zhou have collapsed long ago?

Song Ciwan didn’t follow the little girl under the boat’s canopy. Instead, she stood outside, her expression one of astonishment as she gazed at the interior.

Inside the canopy were two reed-grass Pillows and a small table. The table was wiped spotless, while the Pillows were so well-used their edges had begun to fray.

But none of that was what truly astonished Song Ciwan. Hanging from the sides of the canopy were several sheets of coarse, homespun linen. Each sheet was a patchwork of scrap fabric, and on them, a series of vivid, lifelike flying Female Immortals had been drawn!

Some of the Female Immortals were soaring through the clouds, others gazed at their reflections in the water among flowers, and some played chess in a bamboo grove...

Each had her own unique charm—some graceful, some coquettish, some dignified. Their varied poses were too numerous to list.

The lines were a uniform black. It wasn’t ink, she could tell, but rather looked as if a dried, carbonized twig had been sharpened to a fine point and used to draw these beauties in all their different forms.

The artist’s technique was exquisite. The charcoal lines varied in thickness and weight, sketching out depth and distance to create these lively portraits of beauties.

To see such portraits in any other setting—be it a wealthy estate, a shop on the street, or even at a destitute Scholar’s bookstall—would have been entirely unremarkable.

But here she was, on a small boat she had boarded at random. It clearly belonged to a family of common fishers. The woman rowing the boat had kind eyes, but her face was a roadmap of deep lines, each wrinkle seeming to tell a story of a life of hardship.

The little girl who emerged from the cabin wore clothes that were laundered and clean, but the cuffs were frayed and her shoes were too small for her feet. Seeing that Song Ciwan wasn’t coming under the canopy, she picked up a small kettle from the other side of the cabin.

The kettle was being warmed on a simple clay stove. The girl took out a cup, poured some warm water into it, and presented it to Song Ciwan with both hands. "Miss, have some water."

She was clearly a well-behaved and sensible child from a good home.

Song Ciwan accepted the cup, her gaze falling once more on the paintings hanging from the sides of the canopy.

Such works of art seemed utterly out of place on this humble boat. It was hard to imagine how they had ended up here.

In particular, the beauties in the paintings looked incredibly familiar to Song Ciwan!

Their forms and faces were clearly very similar to the beauties in the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map she had acquired!

Noticing Song Ciwan’s gaze fixed on the hanging paintings, the little girl under the canopy couldn’t help but ask cautiously, "Miss, you’re looking at the paintings. They... they’re pretty good, aren’t they?"

Song Ciwan nodded, offering her praise. "They are indeed pretty good... No, not just good. They’re very good. They’re excellent!"

The Lankao Spring and Autumn Map was a Magical Treasure imbued with spirituality, and the original had been painted by Su Baiyi, who had placed third in the imperial examination.

Of course, Su Baiyi himself had based his work on the Great Scholar Yu Chunqiu’s "Landscapes and Beauties."

But setting aside that history, there were the paintings on this boat.

In Song Ciwan’s eyes, the beauties in these paintings were already incredibly lifelike.

The only difference was that the artist was perhaps a mortal, and so the finished works couldn’t generate phenomena like the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map. But if judging purely by the spirituality of the artwork, Song Ciwan felt that these few paintings on the boat were in no way inferior to Su Shun’s work!

This was simply incredible.

One had to remember that Su Baiyi wasn’t just the third-place scholar in the imperial examination; he was also the fourth-ranked top Celestial Pride on the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List!

A figure like that possessed enough talent to commune with heaven and earth. If he infused his paintings with his Talent, they would surely spring to life in the real world, just like in the legend of Ma Liang and his magic brush.

To compare Su Baiyi with some unknown folk artist... if she hadn’t been seeing it with her own eyes, Song Ciwan would have thought someone was talking in their sleep.

Just then, the little girl across from her suddenly beamed with joy. She tilted her head up slightly, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Song Ciwan, and said in a bright, clear voice, "Miss, do you really think the paintings are excellent?"

At the same time, the Heaven and Earth Scale materialized beside Song Ciwan, having collected a wisp of energy from the little girl.

[Human Desires: A mortal’s elation, joy, and excitement. One catty and one tael. Exchangeable.]

Song Ciwan was speechless.

’She’s just a child,’ she thought, ’so easily excited.’

She smiled. "They’re painted beautifully. Who’s the artist? Is it you? Or someone close to you?"

Song Ciwan asked with a casual smile. When she asked the three words, "Is it you?" her tone was one of good-natured teasing. Subconsciously, she didn’t believe the little girl before her could have drawn them. She was, after all, too young.

But the little girl’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. "Miss, my mother painted these! My mother painted them, and she’s a really, really good painter!"

As she spoke, the little girl put her hands out in front of her, making an exaggerated gesture.

The Big White Goose raised its head and honked in agreement: "HONK HONK HONK!"

Song Ciwan was stunned. She immediately turned her head to look at Aunt Wen, who was standing at the prow, rowing the boat.

This Aunt Wen wore a gray headscarf and gray clothes. Her skin was dark and sallow, and she had the sturdy build of a laborer. When she turned her head, her smile was kind, but the hardships etched upon her face were impossible to hide.

No matter where one might see such a middle-aged woman, it was unlikely anyone would ever associate her with the title of "Painter."

Not even an ordinary Painter, let alone a master capable of creating such vivid works in imitation of the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map.

Seeing Song Ciwan looking at her, Aunt Wen looked embarrassed and smiled. "Miss, don’t listen to my little girl’s nonsense. My paintings... I just mess around and draw whatever. I wouldn’t dare say they’re any good."

But her words were an admission that the paintings were indeed her own.

For a moment, Song Ciwan didn’t know how to respond. She simply blurted out, "Auntie, why do you draw paintings like these?"

The question was mainly prompted by the surprising similarity between the beauties in Aunt Wen’s paintings and those in the Lankao Spring and Autumn Map.

Aunt Wen answered honestly, "Oh, it’s just that I’ve loved pretty things since I was a little girl, and I’ve always liked drawing beautiful women. When I was young, I used to love picking up twigs and scribbling in the dirt, though I couldn’t draw anything that looked good."

She chuckled as she rowed. "I don’t draw anything else, just beautiful women. A while back, there were rumors all over the city that many Scholars were imitating Su Tanhua’s portraits and creating beauties who could walk right out of the paintings!"

Aunt Wen said with amazement, "That’s really something, isn’t it? I saw one from a distance when I was ferrying someone into the city, and my hands were just itching to try. So I came back and tried to copy what I saw, and ended up with these few."

The moment the topic turned to painting, Aunt Wen became quite talkative.

The Heaven and Earth Scale appeared again, collecting a wisp of energy from Aunt Wen: [Human Desires: A mortal’s joy, obsession, and love. Three catties and nine taels. Exchangeable.]

Aunt Wen was still talking animatedly. "I always do it in secret from my family, only when I’m out on the boat with my girl. Otherwise, they’d scold me for being idle."

She smiled again. "Miss, getting a compliment from you today makes it all worthwhile!"