Chapter 210: Elixir in the Moon, Purgatory on Earth
Just the slightest movement had already involved the tendons, bones, flesh and blood, and blood seeped out from the clothes, staining the red cloak even darker.
The Immortal Beilai was already trying to locate the Painting Saint, but he quickly flew back, shook his head, and said, "He's already escaped. I can't catch his presence. He's like one of those ink monsters, silent, invisible, and formless."
Gong Mengbi frowned, his face pale, and said, "If we escape this beast, who knows how much trouble it will cause."
The Great Immortal Beilai also felt it was a pity, but she straightened her face and said, "We have already injured this beast and recovered the Hundred Beauties Picture, so it can't be considered a complete failure."
Gong Mengbi looked at the three pictures that fell on the ground and said, "Wait a moment, I'll go get these pictures."
It wasn't that the Great Immortal Beilai didn't want to take it, but the wooden house was also a painting. If she went to take it, she would be trapped in the painting.
Even though the Painting Saint had already escaped, she didn't want to go through any more trouble.
Gong Mengbi calmly regulated his breathing, his magical power surged, driving his qi and blood, allowing his wounds to gradually heal.
He quietly practiced the Moon-Running Technique, and the moonlight illuminated his body completely. The body, formed from the Taiyin Yuantai, became as transparent as glass in the moonlight, revealing his wounds.
Fortunately, although the wound is deep, it is indeed as Taoist Luo said, it was caused by a straight sword, just a simple penetrating wound, without any other complications.
Whether it was a flying sword or other sword weapon, most of them were imbued with magical properties or clung to sharp sword energy. Once wounded by a sword, whether it was sword energy or magical power, it would always subdue the person on the spot, making it difficult to resist.
But the sword in the picture of the goddess drawing the sword is too upright. Unless it is beheaded by the sword, there is still a chance to save it.
Gong Mengbi closed his eyes and looked at the moon, and saw a long-eared, round-faced god kneeling on the ground in the moon and gently pounding medicine. The endless aura of this elixir stimulated Gong Mengbi's Taiyin Yuantai, which inhaled and exhaled some of the aura of the elixir and cultivated its own magic power.
The essence of the moon is also the elixir of the moon.
Not long after, Gong Mengbi slowly opened his eyes. The long-eared god was still pounding medicine, but his figure was no longer visible.
Gong Mengbi checked the wound and found that it had healed.
The Immortal Beilai was helping Taoist Luo heal his wounds. Taoist Luo was old, and even though he had white hair and a youthful face, his blood and energy were not strong. He relied on the Immortal Beilai's magic power to heal his wounds.
Seeing that Gong Mengbi had woken up, the Great Immortal Beilai smiled and said, "As expected of Gong Mingfu."
Gong Mengbi said embarrassedly, "If it weren't for Senior's rescue, I would have died under the painting. Why did you tease me?"
The Immortal Beilai said, "I'm not joking. You've mastered the art of cultivation and have grasped the essence of the divine. What does a momentary victory or defeat, or a temporary gain or loss, really matter?"
Gong Mengbi laughed and said, "I'll go get the painting."
When Gong Mengbi walked into the wooden house, the Immortal Beilai saw that the wooden house suddenly turned into a scroll hanging high in the sky, rolling Gong Mengbi into it.
Gong Mengbi felt his eyes darken, and a study appeared before him. Gong Mengbi picked up the three paintings on the ground, held them in his arms, and walked into the room.
What is placed on the bookshelf is not books, but pigments made from various minerals, flowers and plants, and drawing paper made of various materials.
Scrolls of paintings were rolled up and neatly stacked. On the walls hung various paintings of people, flowers, gods and ghosts, and immortals and Buddhas.
The pen holder on the desk was empty, but the residual ink in the inkstone exuded the fragrance of ink, and was also stained with the subtle fragrance from Gong Mengbi's incense burner.
Gong Mengbi intuitively felt that this was the place where the painting master Xue Daoqing painted, and traces of Xue Daoqing's paintings could be seen in it.
The paintings on the wall have different brushstrokes, which should be the paintings made by Xue Daoqing in different periods. Most of them have lost their spirituality now, but the essence of the paintings is still there. If they are taken out, I am afraid that people in this field will fight over them.
What is truly precious are the things on the desk, the remaining ink and the three remaining scrolls.
Gong Mengbi placed the scroll in his hand on the table and slowly opened the rest of the scroll.
One of them is a picture of a blue dragon, with dark and light black clouds. The dragon can only be seen from the head but not the tail. The dragon's mighty and sacredness made Gong Mengbi feel pressured.
Gong Mengbi immediately rolled up the Canglong painting, and the next painting was a beauty emerging from the bath. Only halfway through, Gong Mengbi let out a soft exclamation. The beauty in the painting bathed in a mountain spring, revealing skin as white as jade. As if aware of someone watching her from behind, she turned slightly and smiled. This was a beauty rarely found in the world, but what caught Gong Mengbi's attention was not the beauty, but the foxy aura within it.
Gong Mengbi unfolded the painting in its entirety, and Xue Daoqing wrote in the inscription on the right that it was painted on a moonlit night when he saw a jade-faced fox bathing in Yuquan Mountain.
Gong Mengbi guessed in his heart that it might be Xue Daoqing's old lover.
When the last picture was revealed, Gong Mengbi's heart sank. The picture depicted a purgatory on earth, where people were hanging by a thread, trapped between water and fire, bones exposed in the wilderness, and people cannibalizing their own children.
The misery in this painting almost suffocated Gong Mengbi. He looked carefully at the caption and realized that it was a picture of the great famine he witnessed when he was an official. He painted this picture of purgatory on earth in the hope of persuading the emperor to implement benevolent policies.
But unfortunately, "the emperor was angry and refused to accept it". After hearing him talk about the disaster, he was unwilling to listen anymore, let alone look at the painting.
The so-called impatience with the constraints of officialdom and resignation to travel around the world actually meant that he realized that there was no hope left in this officialdom.
Gong Mengbi carefully rolled up the painting and carefully put away this work that carried the compassion of the painting saint.
He used the Vimalakirti technique again and was able to see through the illusion in the painting and emerge from it.
When the Great Immortal Beilai saw Gong Mengbi reappear, he took down the picture of the wooden house behind him and asked, "How is it?"
Gong Mengbi said, "The painting shows the study where the Saint of Painting painted. Many of his authentic works are preserved there. Now, only these few paintings are left."
Gong Mengbi took out the Picture of Hundred Beauties, the Picture of Goddess Drawing the Sword, the Picture of Giant Ghost, the Picture of Azure Dragon, the Picture of Beauty Emerging from the Bath, and the Picture of Purgatory on Earth for the Immortal Beilai and Taoist Luo to appreciate.
The Great Immortal Beilai only took out the Hundred Beauties Painting and said, "You can keep the others for yourself. Only this Hundred Beauties Painting was created by... the 'Painting Saint' using a living soul. The soul within it needs to be rescued."
Gong Mengbi smiled and said, "This is easy."
He formed the Taiyue Seal with his hand, mobilized the power of the Taiyue Talisman, and gently pressed it against the Hundred Beauties Picture. All the souls within the Hundred Beauties Picture were forced out. Gong Mengbi chanted the soul-calling spell, opened the Haoli Gate, and sent all the souls into Haoli.
He did it so casually and effortlessly that Immortal Beilai and Taoist Luo looked envious.
Not everyone has the ability to open the gate of Haoli. Even when Gong Mengbi was extraditing ghosts before, he had to set up a Taoist temple and invite the three main gods to take charge before he could extradite the ghosts into the ghost country of Haoli.
The reason why it is so easy now is all because of the favor of the Lord of the Mansion, who has given his Taiyue Divine Talisman greater authority.
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