The Fifth and Sixth Panels: The Landscape of Time and Space [Second Update]

"Wouldn't the child's father be angry if he found out?" Sang Sang's mouth fell open. She hadn't expected such a peculiar ability. More importantly, just as she was about to search for rules related to conception, one appeared before her eyes.

Her luck was extraordinary.

However, the difficulty lay in how to steal the rule of conception from the Holy Maiden of Hundred Flowers.

Senna's expression darkened slightly. "The existence of the child will accelerate the father's cultivation."

Sang Sang opened her mouth, uttered a dry "oh," and fell silent. Her mind was still confused, uncertain if directly challenging the Holy Maiden of Hundred Flowers would end up with her being killed or crippled.

Senna said, "She thinks your 'Early Lotus' work is a veiled reference to her conception source."

"That's overthinking it. I just wanted to catch her off guard," Sang Sang twitched her lips, suddenly recalling that Senna used to be the Holy Maiden's boyfriend... No wonder Senna's hair always seemed to have a greenish glow under the light.

If only there were a way for the Holy Maiden to instruct her in battle techniques, but she would have to restrain herself from hurting her with any big moves.

Now that she knew the truth, Sang Sang still wanted to learn from the Holy Maiden, but whenever she painted her favorite flower-and-bird scrolls, an inexplicable nausea prevented her from looking directly at them.

Senna's words were vague, but Sang Sang was no naive girl. She understood the meaning of dual cultivation, and that conceiving a child wasn't simply a matter of merging energy. Hundred Flowers... did it mean she had borne children from a hundred races? How many of her own children had she killed? Was it possible that Senna once had a child too, but the Holy Maiden "consumed" it, leading to his hatred for her? Why did someone so irresponsible with life dare to accuse others of playing with life?

Sang Sang admired the title granted by the main brain, and at the same time mourned for the Holy Maiden—everything had been exposed!

When Yastlan returned, Sang Sang already had more than a dozen landscape fan paintings displayed before her. There was "A thousand mountains devoid of birds, ten thousand paths without a trace of men; a solitary boat, a fisherman in a straw raincoat, fishing alone in the cold river snow." There was "Sunlight shines on the incense burner, producing purple smoke, from afar you see the waterfall hanging across the front stream." There was "The Yellow River flows from the heavens, rushing to the sea, never to return." There was "The light boat has already passed through ten thousand mountains." There were spectacular scenes of clouds and stars shifting unpredictably, primeval rainforests of Blue Star, and even the mining beast park at Yastlan's residence...

The third realm's time-space law could be infused into the medium. Sang Sang incorporated time-space projection into all her landscape works; within the tiny confines of each scroll, waters surged, forests changed through the four seasons, every moment a different scene. Though not world paintings, they already bore the shadow of such art. Compared to fully realistic world paintings, the ink-and-wash movement conveyed a deeper, more poetic flavor.

Aside from time-space, purification was still the main theme. Beyond purification, Sang Sang experimented with various combinations; the most used was the rule of reality and illusion, such as the desire illusion for tempering one's mind, the beast park illusion for skill practice... Then came the spatial law, used in the drifting clouds and mist scrolls for storing internal energy and soul force. Her original talent for synchronizing wasn't abandoned either. In the landscape time-space, spring invigorated the soul and fostered creativity, summer activated internal energy for efficient physical training, autumn stabilized emotions and cleansed distractions to enter deep meditation for maximum law comprehension, winter's light energy covered mountains and rivers like snow, purifying impurities and enhancing energy purity.

"This painting..." Yastlan held Sang Sang's favorite time-space landscape, "Yellow River Into the Sea."

Sang Sang hurriedly asked, "Is there something wrong? There's no mind force or internal energy in it."

"If you had submitted this piece to the creative exhibition, you wouldn't be facing today's troubles," Yastlan replied. "The idea is excellent—no one has ever tried using time-space to stabilize multiple attribute stacking; everyone usually relies on star energy for stability."

Sang Sang smiled and lowered her head, as if shy. "I didn't expect time-space could balance multiple effects so well. Because spring, summer, autumn, and winter change so quickly, I set it so the user could choose a season, and the time-space in the painting would forever pause at that moment. Unfortunately, time-space stopping in the painting doesn't mean real time stops. If it did, it would be even more popular for cultivation. Even a double-speed cultivation space costs four to five times more than works of the same level."

Once the time-space law reached the fourth realm, one could create double-speed spaces. Returning to origins could reach ten times; more than ten, or spaces where no matter how much time passes inside, only an instant passes outside, were divine artifacts. Sang Sang didn't even know whether such things existed.

Yastlan asked, "Are you short of money?"

Sang Sang tucked her dangling hair behind her ear. "Preparing for the future, with money in hand, I won't panic."

Yastlan returned "Yellow River Into the Sea" to her. "Even if you're short of money, don't release works that expose your current level right now. After you redraw 'Early Lotus,' release it in a few days, and the price will be double the main brain's suggested value—someone will fight to buy it. Before releasing it, remember to apply for the patent for time-space stabilized attribute stacking through the main brain. That patent hasn't existed before; after this, anyone who uses time-space to stabilize attribute stacking will automatically pay you one-thousandth of their faith energy as a patent fee."

Sang Sang came to star energy late, and although she knew it was the most stable, time-space commanded all laws and could naturally balance the stacked effects of others—a feature of time-space. She hadn't expected to use it directly and be able to register a patent, collecting patent fees for free. What a happy surprise.

But...

"Redraw 'Early Lotus'?" Sang Sang was puzzled, then remembered what Little Jin said about the cheating incident. She hadn't gone online, but it must have broken out by now. She frowned, "Someone suspects I cheated?"

"Those jealous types, thinking that since they couldn't achieve this at your age, you, coming from a low-level civilization and staying in the temple for barely a year, couldn't possibly do it either. Unfortunately, their suspicions aren't accepted by the main brain," Yastlan lowered his gaze, hiding the coldness in his eyes. "The election committee issued a commendation: anyone willing to recreate their exhibition piece under video recording during the internship can independently choose an advanced training small world."

Sang Sang asked, "Is that choice important?"

"Very," Yastlan explained. "The temple's affiliated small worlds outnumber all the stars in your home galaxy. The main brain's random assignment only selects from the mysterious-level worlds; independent choice defaults to a higher level, allowing you to pick from the origin-level. There's an origin-level world left behind by a time-space source expert's demise, which can help you condense the time-space myriad law star core."

Sang Sang nodded immediately. "I still have some of the elf seeds Teacher Boya gave me; I can start painting anytime." Although she hadn't wanted to touch plant reproductive organs recently, for the sake of future benefit, she could endure a little disgust.

"Wait for Senna's notice. You need to gather and paint under the supervision of a third-party authentication instructor. The materials you gave him have been used cleverly; since you've taken leave, don't stay cooped up in the cultivation room. Go online and see their results when you have time—those negative comments can't shake your determination anyway."

PS: Third update at 8:30 p.m. Sisters, don't forget to recommend and bookmark after reading~~