Chapter 57: Fifty-Seven Cuts "Attending an Artistic Feast"...
"What are you doing?" Luo Mingshu stared at Xie Changming's face and said, "You don't actually think of yourself as my husband, do you?"
Xie Changming bent down to pick up the hairpin that Luo Mingshu had dropped. As he leaned over, his pure white robe fell onto Luo Mingshu's head.
Luo Mingshu gently blew a breath upwards; her breath was cool and moist, and Xie Changming's Adam's apple bobbed slightly, which had a somewhat alluring quality.
Xie Changming's fingers trembled slightly as he bent down to pick up the hairpin.
He thought to himself that she was tormenting him again.
Xie Changming quickly picked up the hairpin. He had originally intended to gather Luo Mingshu's long hair, but her hair was cool and smooth, and it slipped through his fingers like flowing water, with the slightly curled ends hooking into his palm.
He gathered some, while the rest escaped.
Xie Changming thought to himself, "It was easier to manage when there was only a dragon the size of a palm."
Luo Mingshu looked at him with a contemptuous smile: "You can't do that, can you?"
Xie Changming shoved the hairpin back into her hand: "Do it yourself."
Luo Mingshu tossed the hairpin to the side of her dressing case, and the plain silver hairpin made a "clanging" sound.
"Why tie your hair up in bed?" she said.
Luo Mingshu's head was still resting on Xie Changming's lap, his hands lying helplessly at his sides, unsure of what to do.
As long as Xie Changming doesn't move, and Luo Mingshu doesn't move either, she doesn't believe Xie Changming can resist going out.
Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly awkward, a knock sounded at the door. It was Han Yu's voice: "Supreme Immortal Lord, is the beautiful goddess's injury healed? The healer outside is waiting."
"Alright." Before Xie Changming could answer, Luo Mingshu said loudly.
So Han Yu pushed open the door and came in, holding some healing pills in her hands. As soon as she entered, she was stunned by the scene in front of her.
Did she interrupt something?
"I won't take pills," Luo Mingshu said to Han Yu as she sat up. Strands of her hair brushed against Xie Changming's hand. "Han Yu, quickly take the Supreme Immortal Lord away. I need to rest."
"Ah..." Han Yu scratched his head and said, "A stunningly beautiful goddess, you can have the Supreme Immortal Lord accompany you."
“How can I sleep when he’s here?” Luo Mingshu said.
She nudged Xie Changming's waist: "Get out of here."
Xie Changming was ticklish, and his waist muscles suddenly contracted, but he still didn't move.
Han Yu was completely stunned. She felt like a dog walking down the street when someone suddenly kicked her.
"You're such a beautiful goddess, I won't bother you any longer," Han Yu quickly said.
"Call Miss Love to Eat and Young Master Can Fight in, I want to play Dou Dizhu," Luo Mingshu said.
"I want to play too," Xie Changming said. He was still wearing a disguise, so he decided to just be shameless.
“I won’t deal you any cards,” Luo Mingshu said.
Luo Mingshu soon started playing Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game), with the loser taking turns playing, and the four of them taking turns.
While playing cards, they also discussed their next steps.
"If your injuries have healed, Goddess Chao Mei, then you will be going to Xuan Tian Mansion tomorrow to participate in the fourth round of the competition," Xu Qian said to Luo Mingshu.
Injuries are inevitable during competitions, but most people didn't see the tricks of the trade between Luo Mingshu and Xie Changming. Xu Qian herself also suffered a minor injury during her fight with Shui Qingnian.
“We could have won.” Luo Mingshu quickly played her cards, saying to herself, “But none of us expected that the fairy would be even more powerful than the fighter.”
These words implied that Meng Weifang had dragged the team down, but he simply lowered his head, touched his nose sheepishly, and did not refute Luo Mingshu's words.
Even Xu Qian could fight the Cold Fairy to a draw, so how did he lose to the Oh Fairy?
"Now there are two draws. The result of the first match will be announced on the last day of the competition. The latter two matches are not things that can be won by brute force." Luo Mingshu still remembered what they were going to compete in the fourth round. The content of this round was really absurd. They had to create works of art for the opposing team's cultivators.
“This time, all four of us will be on stage. Since the security captain of No. 19 is not here, the Supreme Immortal Lord will impersonate him. Anyway, they won’t be able to tell the difference.” Luo Mingshu said this with a straight face.
Xie Changming had just pushed Meng Weifang down, and he played a card that beat Luo Mingshu's newly played deck. He nodded and said, "Okay."
He was already on their team, so this doesn't count as cheating.
"The Supreme Immortal Lord was indeed ruthless." Speaking of this, Xu Qian couldn't help but pat her chest with lingering fear, "He almost killed the cultivator that day."
"Not dead?" Xie Changming's tone was rather regretful.
"It was just a hair's breadth away." Xu Qian sighed and said, "The Misty Star Sea protected us, but that cultivator really didn't hold back, and his strength is so great that I can't even see through his moves."
It was fortunate that Luo Mingshu went up; Xu Qian had no doubt that she would have been killed by the cultivators if she had gone up herself.
They were discussing how to create artwork for each other the next day when the one who had been hiding in the cage slowly crawled out. He actually knew a little about what was happening outside, but no one knew what he had been doing hiding there.
Slowly poking Luo Mingshu's hand with its paw, it handed Luo Mingshu a small letter.
"What is this? Can I look at it?" Luo Mingshu asked curiously, looking at the letter in her hand.
"Gugua—" came a slow reply.
“He said I could see it.” Luo Mingshu opened the letter and saw that it was filled with densely packed “Gugua” characters, with even the intonation and syllable length marked.
Just read along and you'll know what's written on it.
Luo Mingshu read the words on the letter aloud and finally managed to translate the meaning of "slowly".
He wrote Wei Qing a letter severing ties. The content was very childish, roughly saying things like "I will never play with you again." At the end of the letter, he even dipped his paw in ink and made a handprint.
"Are you really not going to play with him anymore?" Luo Mingshu asked slowly, looking down.
He slowly lowered his head and mumbled a "gurgle".
"Okay." Luo Mingshu put the letter away. "I will give it to him for you."
At this moment, Xie Changming lost and was pushed off. He stood up, as if he had something to do.
"Want to kill him?" Luo Mingshu asked Xie Changming, raising her eyes.
"Mm," Xie Changming replied.
"I still need to take him back to the sect." Luo Mingshu hadn't forgotten her mission. Once they returned to the sect, she would deal with him according to the rules of the Yuling Sect.
However, what awaits Wei Qing is probably expulsion from his sect. Once he loses his identity as a member of the Yu Ling Sect, there will be no force that can protect him anymore.
“His behavior is too abnormal.” Xie Changming sat down again.
"I also feel that he really wants to kill me." Luo Mingshu's tone was calm. To be honest, given her reputation in the Four Directions Water Mirror, there were quite a few cultivators who threatened to beat her up every day, but this was the first time Luo Mingshu had felt such a murderous aura coming at her.
"Then kill him first," Xie Changming said casually.
Xu Qian was dumbfounded: "What exactly did this... cultivator do?"
"He... actually has more than the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator." Luo Mingshu didn't mind saying this, and even had a hint of pride in her tone. That's just how she is, she loves to show off. Being stronger than an ascended cultivator is something she can brag about for a hundred years.
"Then how did he get into the Misty Star Sea?" Xu Qian asked in shock.
“He used a spell to seal his cultivation, suppressing it to the Nascent Soul stage, and that’s how he got in,” Luo Mingshu replied. “He’s my fellow disciple, and I don’t know why he did that.”
Luo Mingshu had previously only disliked Wei Qing for being too lazy and causing trouble for those around him, but now she had a serious grudge against Wei Qing and felt it was necessary to investigate the forces behind him.
"Is that so..." Xu Qian sighed softly, "If you need help, the beautiful goddess, you can come to me after you leave the Misty Star Sea. Perhaps my sect can help you."
Luo Mingshu pondered that since her sect was the Yuling Sect, there shouldn't be any other sect that could help her.
"What is your online name, beautiful goddess?" Xu Qian asked.
Luo Mingshu opened her lips, finding it difficult to speak; it was all Lu Yaoyao's fault for giving her such a soulful name.
“Uh… that… Shushu is so beautiful.” Luo Mingshu said her spiritual network name with difficulty.
Meng Weifang bluntly said, "The name of this 'spiritual network' sounds like it could be used to scam people out of five million through online dating."
Xu Qian secretly memorized it and exchanged the name of the spirit network with Luo Mingshu.
Xie Changming really wanted to join in the fun, but as he was now in charge of the Supreme Immortal Lord, he could only sit aside and remain silent.
They decided on a strategy for tomorrow's competition and then left. After resting for a long time, Luo Mingshu was finally allowed to get out of bed by Xie Changming.
She stood up and put on her outer robe. Fortunately, the dragon scales protected her, and her injuries left no scars.
Just as they were preparing for the competition the next day, news came from Dongzhi Wonderland that Wei Qing was seriously injured and unable to move, so he would be unable to participate in the "Beauty" mutual art creation competition.
The Dongzhi Wonderland found a way to solve the problem, and as for the creations at the Wuji Palace, they could naturally create works for him while he was unconscious and seriously injured. Suo'ai would take his place in creating the artworks for the Wuji Palace.
This seemed fair enough. Luo Mingshu thought to herself that they also had a native of the Misty Star Sea participating, so she agreed to the Misty Star Sea's conditions.
As for the Dongzhi Wonderland, the atmosphere became somewhat heavy. Lu Yaoyao rushed to Wei Qing's side and lamented, "Why is my senior brother so miserable?" Amo and Shui Qingnian, who saw through everything, pulled her back: "This cultivator's actions this time were indeed problematic. There is no reason to take someone's life in the arena, especially since... his cultivation level is far beyond the Nascent Soul stage. Using cultivation to suppress others is an unfair competition."
"Senior brother... is he really that powerful?" Lu Yaoyao said blankly, "But... he shouldn't be this good."
Amo's figure outlined a silhouette in the peach grove: "I didn't expect Brother Bai to be like this. After all, I suppressed my cultivation to match the Misty Star Sea so that I could match him. I know his strength. Oh, fairy, if you were in the arena yesterday, you should have been killed by him."
“No wonder the Supreme Immortal Lord was furious; after all, the stunningly beautiful goddess is his nominal Daoist partner,” Shui Qingnian nodded and said.
As her exploration of the Misty Star Sea progressed, she had grown considerably and gained a clearer understanding of certain issues.
She's found Luo Mingshu much more agreeable lately, mainly because Luo Mingshu persuaded Suo Ai to come back, which could be considered a decent thing.
Lu Yaoyao was still feigning sympathy for Wei Qing, but after hearing Amo and Shui Qingnian reveal the truth, she stopped looking at Wei Qing.
So the team at Dongzhi Wonderland continued to operate as usual, except that Suo'ai replaced Wei Qing.
The next day, they arrived at Xuantian Mansion, intending to create their artwork over a seven-day period. After completion, their works would be exhibited at Xuantian Mansion, where all celestial cultivators could come and appreciate them. Each celestial cultivator participating in the exhibition would receive one vote per day to cast their vote for the artwork they admired. Finally, on the last day of the five competitions, the total number of votes received by both sides would be calculated.
In conclusion, the competition format is fair and transparent; it all comes down to the aesthetic judgment of both sides. After all, finding something to shine in your opponent is quite difficult.
Because of the unexpected situation in the third round of the competition, Xuan Tianfu added a new rule: the cultivators who create in pairs will be determined by drawing lots, and it is not necessarily that two people will be bound together to create for each other.
Luo Mingshu felt that her luck was pretty bad, because she was assigned to create an artwork for Wei Qing, while Xie Changming was assigned to create an artwork for Amo, who was nowhere to be seen. Xu Qian and Meng Weifang were assigned to create artworks for Shui Qingnian and Lu Yaoyao respectively. Judging from their Wuji Hall side, the pairings were not much different from the third round of the competition.
This round was indeed a contest between traitors. Xie Changming stared at the air for a long time. Although he knew exactly where Amo was, and even if he wanted to, he could see Amo's true form, he had no interest in it.
Xie Changming considered himself to have some artistic talent, so he laid out paper, ground ink, and wrote the words "Wu" (无) directly on the blank paper, meaning that nothing can be seen, which has a sense of emptiness.
He may seem to be giving up, but in reality, he created this work after careful consideration so that Luo Mingshu could win.
Meanwhile, Luo Mingshu began creating her own performance art.
It must be said that Luo Mingshu has such a refined appreciation ability, and her artistic taste is also very avant-garde.
A few days ago, she competed with Wei Qing. In the end, she used her red-tasseled spear to knock him away. His body crashed to the ground, smashing the white jade floor tiles to pieces and creating a large crater.
The Xuantian Palace hasn't repaired this pit yet, saying they don't have the money. They asked the Wuji Palace for money, but the Wuji Palace didn't give them any, so the Xuantian Palace actually stopped repairing it.
Now this thing has benefited Luo Mingshu. She summoned the little fairies of Wuji Palace to build an exquisite fence around the pit, turning it into a work of art.
"This...will this work?" Han Yu wiped the sweat from her brow and asked hesitantly, "Stunning Goddess, isn't this just setting a trap for cultivators?"
“Yes, isn’t he the subject of my artwork?” Luo Mingshu said, hands on her hips, quite proud of her creation.
Xie Changming had finished slacking off and came to find Luo Mingshu. As soon as he arrived at the square in front of Xuantian Mansion, he saw the large pit that Luo Mingshu had surrounded. Seeing that pit always reminded him of the day Luo Mingshu was injured.
"Didn't I say I'd give Xuantian Mansion spirit stones so they could repair it?" Xie Changming walked to Luo Mingshu's side and asked in a low voice.
He guessed that this was the case; he had created half of the crater, and Misty Star Sea was unable to repair it, so they could only use the excuse of "not having the money to repair it" to cover it up.
“I won’t fix it,” Luo Mingshu said, arms crossed. “I need works of art that are natural and need no embellishment.”
She bent down and took Manman out of the cage, then took out the letter of severance he had originally prepared for Wei Qing, and asked Manman's opinion: "Can this letter be shown to everyone?"
Slowly, it made two "clucking" sounds, indicating its agreement; he had no objections.
Luo Mingshu placed the letter of severance on the ruins created by Wei Qing, and cast a simple array to magnify the contents of the small letter. She even thoughtfully provided a translated version.
"How about calling this work 'Public Execution'?" Luo Mingshu came up with a name herself, and she turned to Xie Changming for his opinion.
Xie Changming took out his blank scroll and introduced himself, "My work is called 'Emptiness'."
Luo Mingshu looked at the painting without any ink and was shocked. How come she hadn't thought of such a way to slack off?
“You can also choose a single-character name, so that it can be as meaningful as mine,” Xie Changming said.
Luo Mingshu: "?" What kind of meaning does this empty space have? You just want to give my artwork a matching name, right?
But then she thought about it again and realized that Xie Changming's suggestion was not bad. Her idea of "public execution" did indeed lack some room for deeper consideration.
So she stroked her chin, thought for a long time, and then clapped her hands, saying, "How about calling it 'Bai'? It subtly matches the name of the cultivator Bai, and also fully reflects his mentality and fate. It's a clever and ingenious name!"
Xie Changming didn't care what Luo Mingshu named the artwork, as long as his and Luo Mingshu's artwork names were both well-matched single characters.
However, they came up with a name first because they were so quick to create, and this unique naming method quickly became known to others.
The first person to show symptoms was Suo Ai, who took Wei Qing's place to create artwork for Xie Changming. The artwork he created was quite baffling; it was basically just engraving his flattery of Xie Changming onto a stone tablet. Luo Mingshu glanced at the contents and saw words like "Your Excellency must be 192" and "Your Excellency is the most handsome man in the entire Demon Realm."
Luo Mingshu pondered the word "Your Excellency," thinking that Xie Changming seemed to hold a fairly high position in the Demon Realm, which explained his arrogant demeanor.
Suo Ai brought the stone tablet he had personally carved to Xie Changming for his inspection, and asked expectantly, "Your Excellency, what do you think of this work? Is it very meaningful?"
Xie Changming: "..." Please stop talking.
"I originally planned to name this artwork 'Ode to the Most Wise and Powerful One in the Entire Demon Realm'," Suo Ai read the name of her work, but was interrupted by Xie Changming.
"Be careful what you say," he told Suo Ai, afraid that if he revealed that he was the so-called Demon Lord, Luo Ming Shu would punch him right now.
"My esteemed one, I offer him my highest respect." Suo Ai cleverly changed the title on the spot.
Xie Changming said, "It can be shorter."
Luo Mingshu boasted about the name of her newly chosen artwork: "My piece is called 'Place,' isn't it nice?"
Suo Ai noticed that outside the fence of Luo Mingshu's installation art, the title of her work had been posted, and it was indeed called "Place". Next to her work was Xie Changming's, who placed a blank painting entitled "Emptiness".
He felt that this naming method was very appealing, so after thinking for a moment, he asked Xie Changming, "Your Excellency, after much consideration, I have decided to rename my work."
"What?" Xie Changming asked, a bad feeling creeping over him.
"How about calling it 'Above'?" Suo Ai waved her hand and filled in the title for her work.
Xie Changming: "?" Are you a copycat?
Luo Mingshu: "?" Your naming skills are on par with Misty Starry Sea.
Suo Ai submitted the title of her work. The next day, Xu Qian and Meng Weifang, who had no creative inspiration, went to Xuantian Mansion to look at other people's works for some ideas. So they also learned this naming method.
Meng Weifang wrote a storybook with the fairy as the main character. The plot revolves around the love and hate between her and Master Ye Nan. Many of the inspirations came from what Lu Yaoyao herself had said to Master Ye Nan.
He named this storybook "Oh," and it was also exhibited at Xuantianfu.
Xu Qian, on the other hand, lacked creativity. She planned to sculpt a statue based on Shui Qingnian, who had been pinned down under a tree in Dongzhi Wonderland and unable to move. This made Shui Qingnian feel that Xu Qian was taking revenge on her.
Furthermore, Xu Qian had no artistic talent, so her dolls were very ugly, which made Shui Qingnian even angrier. In the end, the ugly dolls she made had nothing to do with Shui Qingnian's half-piece of spirit stone and were named "Cold".
Luo Mingshu became Amo's subject of creation. It was a touching moment. Amo was the only good person in Dongzhi Wonderland. Perhaps it was because Luo Mingshu was too beautiful that Amo dared not ruin this subject of creation. Thus, a portrait of a beauty was freshly made. In the painting, Luo Mingshu was yawning because she was sitting upright as a model and was about to fall asleep.
On the side of the picture, there is another figure in the picture, Xie Changming. He is standing not too far away from Luo Mingshu, and he just wants to join in.
When Amo was naming the painting, he kept praising Luo Mingshu for being beautiful. So Luo Mingshu asked him, "So this painting should be called 'Beauty'? I think it suits my temperament very well."
“No! You are an extraordinary goddess with a unique and refined aura, so I’ve decided to name it ‘Super’.” Amo said reverently, holding up her painting.
At Luo Mingshu's behest, Xie Changming's painting "Emptiness" was renamed "Touch," and the only proper literary title in Xuantian Mansion disappeared.
Ultimately, their prized work was successfully exhibited at Xuantianfu. On the first day of the exhibition, Luo Mingshu enthusiastically invited Xie Changming over.
They could rest today, so she planned to disguise herself and go see the exhibition at Xuantian Mansion. The reason she asked Xie Changming to come along was because Xu Qian and Meng Weifang had secretly gone and left her behind, and she thought she couldn't be alone.
So this morning, he knocked on Xie Changming's door.
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