Chapter 10: The Old Soldier
Along the way, he chatted idly with Zhao He and the others, gradually getting familiar.
Zhao He and the others also sold the “trash” they had on hand to Wu Xian, grinning from ear to ear.
“Little Boss, can you tell us which master’s work your scroll painting is?” Zhao He and the others were also full of curiosity about Wu Xian’s God of Wealth scroll painting.
“What, you want it?” Wu Xian raised an eyebrow, his gaze slightly playful.
“Such a powerful character scroll painting—who wouldn’t want it?” Blondie didn’t hide the envy in his eyes. “If I had a scroll painting like that, I’d have joined the army to earn merits long ago. Why would I still be picking up trash here?”
Scarred Man Zhao He hesitated before saying, “To be honest, I’ve been saving up for a follow-up main scroll painting. I wonder if Little Boss could make an introduction?”
“Forget it. You can’t afford it.”
Wu Xian shook his head, pretending to be mysterious.
“You’re right,” Zhao He sighed dejectedly. “A exclusive scroll painting of this level—even a rubbing—is something ordinary people can’t afford.”
The so-called exclusive scroll painting refers to original scroll paintings like the God of Wealth that are “copyrighted.”
One of a kind, nowhere else to find.
The ones on the market today are basically “public copyright” scroll paintings, which are cultural heritage left by scroll painters through the generations.
Of course, among the cultural heritage left by scroll painters through the generations, there are naturally many powerful scroll paintings, but those powerful “inheritances” are basically controlled by various families and forces. Ordinary scroll painters can’t even access them.
Ordinary spirit tamers do have ways to obtain exclusive scroll paintings.
The first way is naturally to spend money—as long as the price is high enough, you can buy it.
Unfortunately, even if bottom-level spirit tamers save their whole lives, they may not be able to afford those top-tier exclusive scroll paintings.
The next is to join the army.
The military also has some excellent scroll painting inheritances, as well as exclusive scroll paintings. After joining the army and accumulating enough military merit, you can access them.
Finally, there’s a rather special path: become a follower of a certain scroll painter or join a scroll painting club.
But this path depends a lot on fate and luck.
Moreover, scroll painters aren’t fools—not just anyone qualifies to be their follower.
Generally speaking, betting on a scroll painter before they become famous is the easiest way. Once the scroll painter becomes famous and establishes a club, it’s not so easy anymore.
A scroll painting club is a very special kind of force group.
Followers and the scroll painter mutually benefit and depend on each other.
The scroll painter provides powerful scroll paintings to boost the followers’ strength, while the followers take the scroll painter’s works to competitions, challenge high-difficulty instances, and such, helping the scroll painter build fame and reputation—similar to advertising and sales promotion.
Additionally, when the instance scroll paintings in the followers’ hands are upgraded, they can feedback to the original in the scroll painter’s hands.
This is also the main reason why scroll painters establish clubs after becoming famous.
When a club develops to its final form, it becomes a dojo.
The powerful dojos in the world today all originated from clubs, and the former followers in those clubs are the founders of today’s prestigious families.
Wu Xian naturally had no plans to create a club at this stage, nor did he have the qualifications—after all, he didn’t even have a scroll painter certificate.
But in the future, he would definitely create his own club.
When he returned to the shantytown, it was already noon.
Grandfather Wu Mingchang, who was preparing lunch, was beaming with joy. Ever since his grandson could support himself, the old master had clearly relaxed a lot and was cheerful all day.
“Lunch is almost ready. Oh, right, a delivery package for you just arrived.”
The old master pointed to the delivery package on the table.
“So fast?”
Wu Xian was both surprised and delighted. He had placed the order just this morning, and it arrived at noon?
He had to say, expensive items were different—the delivery efficiency was impressive.
“Grandpa, hold on a second.”
Wu Xian excitedly pulled the old master out, then opened the package under the old master’s bewildered gaze.
It was a exquisitely and securely packaged spiritual potion. Inside the test tube was a golden-yellow viscous potion. “Here~ Grandpa, drink it. Drink it and you’ll be as nimble as a young man.”
That’s right—this was an expensive potion that could heal Grandpa’s leg injury and all the hidden injuries throughout his body.
From the time Wu Xian could remember, he had set his sights on this potion called Spiritual Recovery Liquid. As soon as the two million fortune arrived that morning, he bought it immediately.
“…” The old master finally understood, falling silent with emotion. “No, no, it’s too expensive… And I’m already this old.”
“No matter how expensive, it’s worth it.”
With those simple five words, Wu Xian’s eyes inexplicably reddened.
A mere 480,000—what could be more worthwhile in his eyes?
The old master’s eyes were red, tears glistening, a thousand words turning into a sigh. “My Xian’er has grown up.”
“Here~ Let me feed it to you.”
Wu Xian smiled brightly and personally fed the potion to Grandpa.
The powerful spiritual potency took effect instantly. The old master was enveloped in a golden spiritual glow, with golden mist rising continuously from his entire body.
The disabled right leg, once bitten by an otherworldly monster, shed its skin and regenerated at a visible speed, restoring to perfect condition.
The scars all over his body, as well as the hidden injuries inside, were also constantly healing.
His complexion improved at a visible speed. In the blink of an eye, he transformed from a withered old man into a ruddy-faced, spirited healthy old man who looked at least ten years younger.
Or rather, this was the state a seventy-something-year-old should be in.
This 480,000 was spent so damn worth it.
“How do you feel? Get up and walk a few steps.” Wu Xian had never been this happy today.
The old master stood up nimbly and walked back and forth a few steps, feeling more comfortable than ever. But behind that excited expression was a hint of daze. He then frowned, his gaze and demeanor suddenly sharpening.
“What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the potion?” Wu Xian couldn’t help but feel nervous.
But he saw the old master silent for a long time, the sharpness in his eyes gradually receding. Bewildered, he raised his palm, spiritual energy slowly gathering in his palm.
“?! ” Wu Xian was stunned. “This is… spiritual energy cultivation. You have spiritual energy cultivation aptitude?”
He had always thought Grandpa was just an ordinary bottom-level person. He never expected Grandpa to have spiritual energy cultivation aptitude.
And from the spiritual power fluctuation Grandpa was emitting now, it wasn’t a fresh awakening—it was recovering former cultivation.
“I seem to have remembered something just now,” the old master said with furrowed brows. “I think I was a soldier in the past, severely injured and unconscious in a brutal battle. I can’t remember many things clearly…”
“A soldier?” Wu Xian was surprised and suspicious. “Anything else?”
“Not for now,” the old master said, as if straining to recall. “Severe head trauma—even spiritual recovery potion can’t fully fix it. I can only try to remember slowly.”
With that, the old master smiled contentedly. “This old bag of bones still has some use after all, doesn’t it?”
“No~ You just rest and enjoy your retirement. Leave the rest to your grandson.”
Although Grandpa suddenly recovering some memories surprised him a bit, for him, the old master living one more year was his greatest happiness.
The old master’s eyes were full of relief as he went to the kitchen energetically to continue cooking.
At lunch, the grandfather and grandson enjoyed it happily.
“By the way, Grandpa, what was your cultivation level before?” Wu Xian couldn’t help but ask curiously.
“I can’t remember clearly. I’ll recover through cultivation slowly.” The old master shook his head bitterly.
“No problem, take it slow,” Wu Xian said nonchalantly. “I’ll get you a scroll painting later to help you recall your youthful glory.”
Hearing this, the old master seemed to remember something else and pondered, “Xian’er’s axis scroll painting seems to be an ancient scroll painting. That kind of scroll painting… isn’t simple.”
“Oh? You know about ancient scroll paintings too.”
“I suddenly remembered some fragmented info,” the old master said, straining to recall again. “It seems like I’ve seen this kind of ancient scroll painting somewhere.”
Seeing this, Wu Xian didn’t press further.
After the meal, the old master went back to his room to rest and recover.
Wu Xian also began his self-study journey, holding the basic knowledge of mechanical scroll paintings on his phone, his eyes full of desire for knowledge.
But before that, there was something more important: upgrading the God of Wealth.
He took out the procured lightning attribute materials, extracted spirituality from each one, and let God of Wealth absorb the needed spiritual substances.
After absorbing all the materials in one go, the God of Wealth’s improvement was quite obvious, especially the power and effect of Thunder Control.
Xuantan True Lord – Zhao Gongming
Version: Original Gold Embroidery Border
Rank: Blood-Colored Life Scroll
Painted Spirit: 2 stars
Spirituality: 43
Talent Traits: Wealth Summoning, Aura of Wealth Protection, Thunder Control
Not only did spirituality soar directly to 43 points, but faint dark red patterns also faintly emerged inside the blood-colored life scroll, very peculiar.
Clearly, the blood-colored life scroll’s level had also improved, though the level divisions for blood-colored life scrolls weren’t clear yet.
Only then did he satisfactorily start studying the information sent by Sister Tiao.
He had to say, the mechanical principles constructed on the spiritual level were quite unique. Various mechanical system spiritual substances combined and spliced together could produce different functions and effects, with endlessly varied combinations.
But at its core, it was still spiritual trait construction, providing considerable inspiration for other spiritual trait constructions.
For two straight days, Wu Xian immersed himself in learning, occasionally practicing with “trash” scrap materials. His understanding of pigment mixing gradually got on track.
