Was this... the pathway legacy of the Fine Arts Society?
A faint scent of blood seemed to drift from the parchment scroll. Warm to the touch, the parchment did not feel like dead matter, but rather as though it were still growing on a living sheep.
The text in traditional script was quite obscure, though fortunately still decipherable.
Bai Zhou and Crow held their breath in unison, their eyes converging as they slowly read the lines below:
"Forget your name. From this day forward, you shall be the instinctive line of Raphael, the magnificent vitality of Michelangelo, the unfinished smile under Da Vinci's brush—until you become the next portrayed legend!"
"We firmly believe that by borrowing the names of formidable Extraordinaries, an acting ritual allows one to steal their fortune, their power, and even fragments of the pathway traits they once walked, ultimately achieving identity theft and soul resonance—until the forgery becomes a masterpiece!"
"Initiation Ritual:
Step one: Choose your mask, and from that moment on, become one with it.
Step two: Obtain spiritual blood. Using spiritual materials tied to the painter as a medium, extract spiritual blood through a ritual and ingest it.
Step three: In a quiet chamber completely sealed from light, finish a portrait of said painter and burn your own self-portrait, burying the 'old self' to clear room in your soul for the arrival of the 'new self.'"
"Once the ritual succeeds, the initiate will see the portrait briefly come alive. Thereafter, their hands will become remarkably nimble, their perception of light, shadow, and color will skyrocket, and they may even occasionally 'hear' guidance from the painter across the depths of history."
"Yet as a price—"
"In the early stages, the initiate will frequently fall into confusion over 'who am I,' inheriting the target painter's fixations and agony, such as intermittent mental torment and auditory hallucinations, though these are all normal phenomena."
"At the same time, one must complete a 'deep enactment' at least once a week, immersing oneself in creating a painting with the colors of life. Otherwise, soul rejection will occur, leading to spiritual loss of control!"
At the very end of this section was a warning marked in red:
[—Remember! The crux of the acting ritual is that you are only acting.]
[...Now, Mr. Painter, or Ms. Painter, choose your first 'mask,' and plunge into this vibrant, perilous abyss of art!]
...What followed was a detailed record of the advancement methods, strengths, and drawbacks of the Painter pathway across different stages.
Regrettably, it went up only to Rank 4 Painter.
The text below cut off abruptly, as though severed with a blade.
Yet right at the start, the parchment scroll had explicitly stated that this pathway could at most reach Rank 6 Master Painter, accompanied by lamentations that the road ahead was severed and hopes that future generations might complete it.
"..."
Having read through it, Bai Zhou and Crow looked at each other.
"Acting, stealing... What a sinister pathway!"
"It seems this 'Anguissola' served as something like a head instructor within the Fine Arts Society."
Crow wore a thoughtful look.
"In a sense, if this ancient parchment scroll recording the Painter pathway is truly the original text written by its creator, it can already be considered a fragment of a forbidden tome."
"Carrying it on her person, Anguissola naturally bore the duty of passing on knowledge, training newcomers, and expanding the Fine Arts Society."
Crow weighed the parchment scroll in her hand.
"And in the end, it fell right into your lap!"
"...I have a question. Is this thing really of any use to an Adventurer like me?"
Hearing that, Bai Zhou blinked, suddenly feeling the parchment scroll burn hot in his hand.
"If the Fine Arts Society finds out I have this, won't they hunt me to the bitter end?"
"To the bitter end?"
Crow had a different take on the matter.
"Aren't they already after your life anyway?"
"—As for what it's good for, there are plenty of uses."
Resting a slender fingertip on a line of text, Crow signaled for Bai Zhou to look closer.
"The strengths and weaknesses of the Painter pathway are recorded right here."
"Whenever you face assassins from the Fine Arts Society in the future, you'll know how to counter them."
"And from an occult perspective..."
Crow paused briefly.
"Divination, reconnaissance, and even curses!"
"As long as you hold this scroll, casting curses against any Extraordinary initiated through it will be twice as effective!"
At this point, Crow's expression took on a tinge of complex contemplation.
"Although the Painter pathway isn't counted among the Twelve Destinies, it holds distinct advantages over official standard pathways when it comes to killing and tracking."
"The various faction societies across Tinghai City generally revere and fear the secretive Fine Arts Society precisely because this pathway is so bizarre and sinister, while their public identities are nearly impossible to trace."
"Even if its ceiling is capped at Rank Six, whoever created this pathway... must have been an extraordinary figure!"
"Only—"
Frowning slightly, Crow sounded puzzled.
"I didn't realize it before, but reading the full details on this parchment scroll now, I find this pathway oddly unsettling."
"Is this so-called Painter pathway meant to act as a painter, or..."
"—Is it meant to summon the souls of past painters back into the world?"
"Even though there's a warning on the scroll stating that 'you are only acting,' I still feel that this ritual called 'acting' is permeated with a strange wrongness!"
Hearing that, Bai Zhou felt a chill run through him. He took the scroll back and scrutinized it carefully.
Yet as he looked, something caught his eye.
Bai Zhou gave the parchment a couple of uncertain second glances.
"Crow..."
"What is it?"
Bai Zhou blinked, his fingertip lightly brushing over the parchment.
"We were both so focused on the text just now."
"But tell me, don't you feel the contents of this parchment scroll..."
"Might not have been written by a single author?"
"What do you mean?"
Crow quickly leaned in close, bringing with her the scorched aroma of coffee.
Accustomed to the bitterness on the surface, Bai Zhou now caught a hint of sweetness in the scent.
"It's true!"
Examining it carefully, Crow indeed noticed the incongruity on the scroll.
The three lines of notes that read like a preface were written above the heading "Painter Pathway."
—Yet why would a heading sit below a preface?
Although the handwriting of those three lines was quite similar in style to the text detailing the Painter pathway that followed,
a closer look revealed subtle differences, like the gap between a forgery and the genuine article...
The former flowed freely with effortless mastery, while the latter felt stiff and mechanical.
The former carried the heavy weathering of history, as if it had endured countless ages,
while the latter, simply by referencing numerous Renaissance painters, clearly belonged to a much more recent era.
Even the fading of the ink showed a delicate variance!
"The Painter pathway is an imitation of extraordinary historical painters."
"Could the knowledge of this pathway itself also be... an imitation and extension of the notes on the scroll?"
"Perhaps a successor who obtained the parchment drew inspiration from the notes to create the Painter pathway, subsequently recording it onto the scroll."
"—Which means the person who wrote down the pathway and the original author of the notes were likely not the same person at all!"
Crow's hypothesis was bold.
Yet even she could decipher nothing more from those initial three lines of notes.
As for Bai Zhou, he was even more at a loss.
He simply recognized that a massive secret he could not yet unravel was likely hidden within this ancient parchment scroll.
Yet this secret was a hot potato. Bai Zhou could only hope the Fine Arts Society would assume the scroll had burned to ashes in the fire...
Compared to all that, what truly interested Bai Zhou right now was the tangible object that had dropped to the ground earlier.
—The scroll had unrolled, revealing the brush!
Stored alongside such an ancient parchment scroll, how bad could it be?
Bai Zhou picked up the paintbrush and inspected it closely before his eyes.
The aged shaft felt warm to the touch, yet possessed a supple elasticity akin to living flesh. It was weathered and faded, marked by several indelible scratches.
At first glance, it appeared to be carved from some dark, purplish-black wood.
Upon closer inspection, however, it was not wood at all, but rather composed of countless mysterious, deep-purple flocculent crystals.
The bristles were not made of animal hair either, but of an inexplicable, translucent substance that seemed half-real, half-ethereal.
It resembled a cluster of living "color," possessing no fixed hue and appearing only as a translucent grayish-white.
Yet the moment Bai Zhou attempted to channel his spirituality into it—
Hum!
A faint glow welled from the wavering tip, looking moist and plump as if dipped in fresh paint.
The colors shifted and flowed in response to Bai Zhou's thoughts, rainbow light rippling across it and illuminating his face beneath the dark moon.
"Though its origin is unknown, I'd wager it's closely tied to the legacy of the Painter pathway—a genuine Extraordinary item!"
Crow looked at the brush in Bai Zhou's hand, her expression tinged with surprise.
"A specialized paintbrush is a treasure sought by every ritualist."
"Drawing a ritual with this brush might imbue it with entirely new effects. It's an absolute treasure every ritualist dreams of!"
An Extraordinary paintbrush!
Hearing this, Bai Zhou perked up at once.
Anguissola, who had mocked him for being too poor as a ritualist, had ended up delivering such an invaluable Extraordinary brush straight to his hands?
That woman really was quite generous, wasn't she...
Bai Zhou tried flicking the brush, sketching a stroke on the ground beside him.
A wisp of spirituality, guided by the brush, flowed into the mark.
Then, as if springing to life, the line turned vivid and seemed to connect directly with Bai Zhou's mind.
Like a little pet, it responded to his thoughts—it could conceal its color at any moment to hide, or even quietly shift its position on its own...
When Bai Zhou withdrew the spirituality infused within it, the stroke reverted back into lifeless ink.
"It can actually... do this!"
Bai Zhou's heart thumped.
In that instant, a thousand different uses for the brush flashed through his mind.
It reminded him of a short tale he had heard back in Wancheng.
In that story, a man named Liangzi obtained a forbidden item known as the "Magic Brush." Whatever he painted came to life, vivid and remarkably true to form.
So Liangzi used the Magic Brush to paint large-denomination banknotes of Wancheng, forging them so perfectly that nobody could tell the difference.
Had the Black Robe Law Enforcement Team not struck with an iron fist to bring this "Magic-Brush Liangzi" to justice in time...
He likely would have surpassed the Black Robe Grand Elder to become the richest man in Wancheng.
—Naturally, such a thing could never be permitted.
When Bai Zhou recounted the story to Crow,
she looked at him as if she had seen a ghost.
"You're already a Class-A wanted criminal designated by the Special Control Bureau."
"—If you start counterfeiting federal currency on top of that, you can forget about ever clearing your name!"
Crow had always known Bai Zhou was framed, but she truly had not realized...
Bai Zhou seemed to have genuine raw talent as an outlaw!
"No, no... I was just telling a story."
Bai Zhou gave a sheepish laugh, then continued:
"Still, when I channeled spirituality into the brush... I got a certain feeling."
"What feeling?"
"It feels incomplete."
Bai Zhou looked down at the brush with an uncertain expression.
"I can faintly sense that similar brushes..."
"There are two more!"
"Three in total...?"
Crow found it surprising, yet it made sense.
"I imagine they're in the hands of the Fine Arts Society."
"Perhaps gathering them all will bring unexpected rewards."
"...Of course, that's provided you grow stronger and survive the Fine Arts Society's incoming retaliation first."
Grow stronger.
At that reminder, Bai Zhou quickly checked his wristwatch.
23:48.
With the help of the Tears of the Moon Goddess, the spirituality within him was mostly restored.
In twelve minutes, it would be time to set out for the Deep Ruin Realm!
"Crow, there's something I need to tell you..."
With that in mind, Bai Zhou gave Crow a brief explanation.
His excuse was that he needed to scout Tinghai Middle School in the Reflected Ruin Realm to prepare for fishing in troubled waters during the official subjugation tomorrow.
"You're right. A hunter's victory is always decided before the shot is fired."
Crow admired Bai Zhou's prudence.
—In the blink of an eye, midnight arrived.
24:00.
Bai Zhou performed a simple ritual, pretending he was heading into the Reflected Ruin Realm.
In secret, however, he activated the Zhuluoji Pass.
Buzz!
The golden pass vibrated incessantly, unfolding a golden avenue visible only to Bai Zhou and drawing him forward.
The scenery before him began to recede. The neon lights atop the skyscrapers turned into flowing rainbows, and the starry sky and bright moon above transformed into a high-hanging blood moon in an instant.
Beneath a sky that seemed to burn, atop shattered wasteland ruins,
a gigantic inverted city and a thousand ruined clock towers came into view.
All was deathly quiet, save for the weary wind howling past his ears.
The place where Laia of Light and Ale of Soothe had once bestowed gifts upon Bai Zhou—
The Deep Ruin Realm of "Zhuluoji."
"Long time no see."
Bai Zhou had arrived once more.
Chapter 96