I Can Devour Spirits-Chapter 69: Hundred Birds Phoenix Spear

"Xue Qing, go fetch my Hundred Birds Phoenix Spear!" Xia Shuangshuang smiled serenely towards Xue Qing in the pavilion, and said.

Xue Qing bowed and left the pavilion!

Before long, Xue Qing returned, carrying a spear wrapped in a moon-white sheath. The spear seemed heavy, and Xue Qing held it horizontally in her arms, walking with apparent effort!

When Xue Qing reached Xia Shuangshuang, Xia Shuangshuang grabbed the spear with the sheath, pulled it abruptly, and handed the sheath back to Xue Qing!

As soon as Xia Shuangshuang held the spear in her right hand, her entire aura seemed to transform suddenly!

The spear was a head taller than she was, with a blade like a phoenix’s feather, curved and sharp. The shaft was engraved with various bird motifs, and a snowy white tassel floated beside the phoenix-feather-like blade.

Duan Rong sat in the pavilion, and his eyes lit up! What a fine weapon!

"Shuangshuang practices a technique called Green Water Spear. Would you please offer some guidance, sir?" With the long spear in her hand, Xia Shuangshuang shed her girlish demeanor and exuded heroic vigor, with a fierce aura!

As soon as Xia Shuangshuang finished speaking, she brandished her spear, thrusting and slashing, her skirt flowing like waves, while the spear moved like a boat!

Xia Shuangshuang suddenly somersaulted and leapt, executing a move called "White Rainbow Piercing the Sun," thrusting swiftly in mid-air, making Duan Rong momentarily hold his breath!

Xia Shuangshuang’s Green Water Spear Technique has reached the Third Level of the Inner Breath Realm!

Once deployed, the spear intent builds layer upon layer, with each move more fierce than the last!

After completing a routine, Xia Shuangshuang stood sideways, collected her spear, and smiled briskly, composed and calm!

After watching, Duan Rong felt considerable pressure. Are all the children of noble families so formidable?

Duan Rong hesitated slightly, not immediately starting to paint, but instead stood up, moving to the pavilion’s edge, staring at the pond in front and contemplating silently.

Xue Qing’s eyes showed a hint of confusion, and she looked inquiringly at Xia Shuangshuang. Xia Shuangshuang raised her hand gently, indicating that she need not say more!

She knew Duan Rong was conceptualizing!

Nonetheless, intellectual ideas do not lie in ornamental prose, and overthinking can sometimes backfire, making it hard to create a masterpiece!

"This gentleman is indeed young; I’m afraid the realm is ordinary!" Xia Shuangshuang’s disappointment deepened a bit more in her heart.

After standing for a long time, Duan Rong suddenly turned around and walked to the stone table, bent down, picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and painted while standing!

He splashed ink in a freehand style, the brushstrokes were sparse!

In just a few breaths’ time, the painting was completed!

Duan Rong stood inside the pavilion, smiled slightly, and said, "Please have a look, miss!"

"This is done already?" Xue Qing murmured in slight surprise.

Xia Shuangshuang, however, remained calm and nonchalant, walking slowly into the pavilion, standing before the stone table, and leaning over to look.

On the pure white xuan paper, a large area was left blank, with only a purple-clad woman in the center of the painting, dancing with a spear!

Her sleeves like clouds, the long spear like a streamer!

Apart from this woman, the painting was almost empty, with only a stark corner in the lower right drawing a cluster of weeds, with a single ink chrysanthemum poking its head out, swaying gently with the wind...

At first glance, Xia Shuangshuang slightly shook her head.

Though the painting’s brushwork had some power, the composition was overly simplistic and felt unbalanced, hardly a fine piece!

Xia Shuangshuang then saw the painting’s title: Heaven and Earth Dance Gun Painting!

"Heaven and Earth Dance Gun Painting?" For some reason, seeing this title made Xia Shuangshuang’s heart quiver slightly.

She instinctively gazed again at the woman in the painting and suddenly felt a chill run through her body.

"Heaven and Earth?"

The ink chrysanthemum among the weeds represented the earth, while the vast blank space in the painting signified the endless sky!

The woman danced between heaven and earth!

When she wielded the spear, apart from heaven and earth, everything else seemed to vanish from her mind!

The realm within this painting was an external manifestation of the woman’s current mental state!

"To represent the earth with an ink chrysanthemum and the sky with infinite blank space, the gentleman’s painting exhibits great grandeur and vision!" Xia Shuangshuang looked up again at Duan Rong, already filled with admiration.

"This is the grandeur of your spear dance, miss. I merely saw it and was delighted, recording it on paper," Duan Rong smiled slightly and said nonchalantly.

"A great reputation does not come from nothing! The gentleman is indeed superior!" Xia Shuangshuang’s praise at this moment was genuinely from the heart.

When she danced with her spear, how could she achieve only seeing heaven and earth without noticing the mundane?

The brilliance of Duan Rong’s painting lay in his freehand style!

But for Duan Rong to create this painting, it could be said he exerted his utmost and nearly exhausted his wits.

The skill of brush usage, lately honed daily, may have seen slight progress but was fundamentally negligible; only hand familiarity indeed.

This painting’s triumph lay in its concept.

However, the concept of the Heaven and Earth Realm was indeed unexpectedly obtained by the pavilion!

Yet the painting as a reflection of the mind, isn’t the grand and vast atmosphere at the brush tip derived from a broad and expansive mental state?

Duan Rong, having lived two lives, indeed possessed a mentality different from ordinary people!

While the two conversed in the pavilion, a young maid suddenly ran towards them, hurriedly, her skirt lifted, and said anxiously, "Miss, Miss Shen is here! She’s almost at the rockery!"

Hearing this, Xia Shuangshuang’s expression changed immediately, she turned to Xue Qing and said, "Xue Qing, quick! Lead the gentleman out through the side door over there!"

She herself immediately dashed out of the pavilion, heading towards the rockery to intercept Shen Mizi.

Xia Shuangshuang rushed to the rockery, nearly bumping into Shen Mizi, grabbing her with a smile, "Dear sister, the steward has just bought a few birds from the Prefecture City! Let’s go and check out the new birds over there..."

Xia Shuangshuang dragged Shen Mizi to the other side...

Shen Mizi, with her clothes shifted by Xia Shuangshuang’s tugging, glared at her and scolded, "You girl, why are you so rough?"

While pulling Shen Mizi, Xia Shuangshuang glanced over her shoulder in the other direction, seeing from a distance that Xue Qing had already led Duan Rong into a cloister, hiding them from view, and her heart calmed as she released her grip, "You blame me for being rough? Who was it? A few days ago, suddenly got angry for no reason. I went eagerly looking for you, but wasn’t even allowed in the door!"

Shen Mizi paused slightly, realizing her excessive behavior over the past few days, and laughed, "Look at you, still holding a grudge, aren’t you? Isn’t this my way of making amends for you?"

"Alright, come here," Xia Shuangshuang suddenly sat on a rock on the fake mountain, "Make amends! Call me auntie!"

"Oh, you shameless Xia Shuangshuang, watch me tear your mouth!" Shen Mizi’s face turned red at Xia Shuangshuang’s words. She laughed and scolded, jumping on her, and they started playfully wrestling.

Duan Rong emerged from the side door of the Xia Mansion’s backyard. The midday sun cast dappled shadows of trees onto the alley at his feet. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He unfolded the silver notes in his hand, raising an eyebrow slightly.

These silver notes were hastily shoved into his hand by Xue Qing as he left earlier.

"Five hundred taels!"

"Small Wealth God indeed is Small Wealth God! Worth all my meticulous planning!"

Duan Rong, in high spirits, decided to have a good feast on the street, improving his diet.

Although Duan Rong practiced diligently every day, the food in the courtyard cafeteria of Yuan Shun Escort Agency was quite rich, and he hadn’t properly dined in a restaurant for a long time now.

"Oh, my stomach, you’re in for a treat today!"

With this thought, Duan Rong turned onto another alley.

The restaurants on West Main Street are too expensive. Although Duan Rong now had some assets, his frugal habits from a past life remained unchanged!

As the saying goes, going to a bar by bicycle, spend where necessary, save where you can!

It’s just a matter of satisfying his hunger; there’s no need to insist on going to those expensive and ostentatiously decorated big restaurants on West Main Street, which are extravagantly pricey and showy. Who are you trying to impress?

Duan Rong arrived at a small street near West Main Street and found a shabby, greasy tavern.

He ordered two solid dishes, three pieces of sesame cake, and a pot of yellow wine!

As he took a sip of the yellow wine, he swallowed a large piece of juicy pork belly with the sesame cake, and a sense of satisfaction from the delicious food instantly filled him...

Chewing eagerly, Duan Rong felt every taste bud in his mouth singing in pleasure...