Chapter 385 - 367: From the Ordinary, To the Ordinary

Celestial Spiritual Light descended, and Aunt Wen had entered the Dao through her painting!

On this little boat, a poor, weather-beaten woman—one who seemed to have been ground down by the hardships of life—had used a piece of coarse linen, a charcoal pencil, and a pair of calloused hands to sketch a figure unlike any other in the world.

Her supreme devotion to her art led to her supremacy in the Dao.

Specks of Spiritual Light scattered in the sunshine, seeming to coat the morning sun itself in a layer of pure, cool brilliance.

The light fell upon Aunt Wen’s brow, her chest, the Shanzhong point, her Dantian... A small portion also landed on her hands and the canvas beneath her pencil.

The beauty on the canvas grew ever more lifelike, a wondrous halo of light flowing around her.

Faintly, it seemed a storm was brewing, and waves were gathering in the unseen.

Meanwhile, Song Ciwan, who was standing nearby, received a continuous stream of feedback.

[Human Desires: A mortal’s joy, sudden realization, and understanding. Seven catties and seven taels. Exchangeable.]

[Human Desires: A mortal’s joy, delight, and release. Eight catties and two taels. Exchangeable.]

...

These were Aunt Wen’s emotions from before she entered the Dao.

Delayed until now, they were finally released and collected by the Heaven and Earth Scale’s Balance Plate.

[Enlightenment: A Qi Nourishing Realm Painter’s moment of clarity. Three catties and six taels. Exchangeable.]

This instance of Enlightenment was the emotional aura Aunt Wen produced after entering the Dao—

’Perhaps it shouldn’t be called an emotional aura.’

"Enlightenment" was likely a more wondrous, pure, and elusive form of qi. Compared to the commonly seen human desires, Enlightenment was far too rare.

Song Ciwan had collected so many different kinds of qi with the Heaven and Earth Scale, but this was the first time she had ever obtained the "Enlightenment" type.

She hadn’t obtained "Enlightenment" when she personally witnessed Wang Yi enter the Dao. Nor had she obtained it later when, as the Divine Venerable, she remotely guided Yan Hanzhang into the Dao through some unseen spatial connection.

Although Wang Yi and Yan Hanzhang had both been down-on-their-luck Scholars, they were still proper, traditional Scholars who had formally studied. It was just that entering the Dao was difficult, and generating Talent was even harder.

Aunt Wen, however, was different. Though she also seemed to be generating Talent through the descent of Celestial Spiritual Light, she had entered the Dao through painting.

She had never studied books before—or to be more precise, she was barely literate!

A middle-aged woman who had never studied, relying solely on her innate spiritual talent for painting, her ultimate passion, and decades of unceasing persistence with her brush, had accomplished something many Scholars could not.

’This "Enlightenment" is what she deserves!’

The Celestial Spiritual Light continued to descend, showing no signs of stopping.

In the sky, the bright morning sun shone brilliantly. In the unseen realm, behind that dazzling sunlight, beyond the clouds in the distant starry expanse, countless stars surged like a thundering tsunami, like colossal, overlapping waves.

Gush after gush of Spiritual Light poured ceaselessly into Aunt Wen on the small boat. This caused the Spirit Platform in her Sea of Consciousness to form rapidly, and atop that Spirit Platform, her Talent began to shine.

From an initial inch, it grew to three inches, to a foot, to three feet, and then to ten feet!

Her Talent was still growing. Decades of singular passion and persistence were now erupting forth—how could it possibly stop so easily?

Aunt Wen’s pencil simply could not stop.

The length of coarse linen Song Ciwan had unrolled for her was quite long. On it, she drew Song Ciwan’s current form, the Big White Goose, and then her own daughter, Xiaoni.

Xiaoni was drawn with two small topknots in her hair, leaning against the side of the boat’s black canopy. With innocent and yearning eyes, she faced the rippling water, gazing into the distance.

No one knew what she was looking at, or what she longed for, as she gazed so far away.

The rest of the scene was left blank, with only this single, vivid figure on the canvas, filled with infinite possibility.

The real Xiaoni was also standing by the edge of the boat’s canopy. She had her mouth covered, her eyes wide, standing on her tiptoes and craning her neck to watch her mother paint.

She didn’t understand what the descent of Talent was, nor did she grasp why her mother seemed to be glowing at this very moment—

Xiaoni even thought the glow was a trick of the eyes, an illusion brought on by her own excitement.

But she also felt that her glowing mother was just so beautiful—so beautiful that Xiaoni, witnessing this scene up close, couldn’t help but feel a scorching heat surge through her chest.

She couldn’t say why she was so emotional. Maybe it was because her mother’s painting had just sold for the enormous sum of one hundred and eighty taels of silver?

No, Xiaoni knew in her heart that wasn’t it. Or rather, it was far more than just that!

What was it then? She couldn’t say, couldn’t explain it. All she could do was stare with wide, tear-filled eyes.

[Human Desires: A mortal’s joy, confusion, and sorrow. Five catties and one tael. Exchangeable.]

’Strange, she’s also feeling sorrow?’

’What’s the reason for that?’

Xiaoni stood on her toes, her hand over her mouth, looking at the canvas beneath her mother’s hand, the pencil in her grasp, and the image of herself on the linen. Overwhelmed with emotion, tears streamed down her face.

After finishing Xiaoni, Aunt Wen continued to paint.

Her Talent was still growing, showing no signs of decline.

This time, Aunt Wen was drawing another little girl.

This girl was short and small, looking even a few years younger than Xiaoni—perhaps only three or four years old.

She was squatting by a stove, one hand absently fanning the flames in the firebox, while the other clutched a half-charred twig, using it to doodle on the stove’s side!