A dimly lit room, illuminated only by an oil lamp.

"It has begun."

Li Jiatu stands beside the woman, looking at the scroll spread out on her table.

A handsome young man has already appeared on this landscape painting, holding a brush with closed eyes, seemingly immersed in his inner world.

So it was.

The door Lin Guang pushed open was actually this room.

But before he could react, he was thrown into another world within the painting.

——A painting within a painting.

The size of space and objects does not hold much meaning for a being of Li Jiatu's level.

The room that appears cramped, if needed, the woman next to him can expand to infinity, or hide within a mustard seed, appearing ordinary but able to contain endless small worlds within paintings.

The real masters, those at Beast King Level, are like this.

Therefore, in their eyes, what truly represents strength, high or low, real or fake, are only those essential things.

Whether it is real enough.

Whether it contains enough rules.

At this moment, in his eyes, the brush in the young man's hand is undoubtedly more eye-catching than the entire painting, as if it is [heavy] to the extreme, compressing countless precious insights and power, seemingly hiding a soaring Ink Dragon.

And at this moment, this Ink Dragon is diving into Lin Guang's mind, roaring and painting wantonly.

"You've invested so much, it's almost comparable to the entire True Intent Inheritance left by a Seven-Star True Master, and without dividing it, you're forcing it all in…"

Li Jiatu looks at the scroll, a bit helplessly: "Should I say you're really generous, or should I ask how much you really don't want him to pass your test?"

An inheritance isn't necessarily better just because it's more advanced or stronger.

Especially those Seven-Star, Eight-Star infusion-type inheritances, most are gradually infused, starting with an outline and then piling up bit by bit… How can it be directly forcefully unlocked and infused all at once?

If infused all at once and unable to digest it, big problems can actually occur.

Right now, the Painting Dao Inheritance that Lin Guang is receiving, its vastness and profundity far exceed what a Spirit Master below Six-Star can completely absorb at once.

Never mind Three-Star, even if Four-Star or Five-Star receives it, it's merely one of several possibilities.

If unable to digest it, they would be mentally infected, trapped in a state of madness, painting incessantly.

Some better ones might exhaust their Spiritual Power to the point of barely escaping, but if too deeply immersed, there might even be life-threatening situations, painting until they die.

Even those newly arriving at the Six-Star True Master level could indeed protect themselves with True Intent and Spiritual Power, but it would still be tough to grasp the key and digest the inheritance.

Undoubtedly, rather than a gift, it's a strong intimidation.

"Forceful infusion? Whether he wants to look or not, it's none of my concern."

The woman's voice remains calm, seemingly ruthless, yet her words seem to have a pointed intention, faintly harboring unknown resentment, making Li Jiatu show a somewhat inexplicable expression.

——Could it be this kid has offended you somehow?

She thought for a moment and decided to explain again: "If he were truly ordinary, I wouldn't even give this chance."

"Moreover, I didn't stipulate that he must accept it all."

"Even if he can learn just a trick or two from my inheritance, whatever he paints would suffice for him until Seven-Star, and he would pass."

"If even then he fails, he can only blame himself for not being driven enough, wasting his teacher's favor… After all, wanting to become my disciple, ordinary people simply don't qualify."

But at this moment, Li Jiatu smiled.

"Don't underestimate him."

"At such a young age, he independently condensed True Intent and mastered an Otherworldly Calamity… that cannot simply be described with the word prodigy."

"Look."

The next moment, a change began in the young man within the painting.

The Ink Dragon's movements seemed to slow down.

...…

Time within the scroll began to accelerate.

Sunrise, moonset.

Lin Guang found it hard to feel specific time, only sensing his consciousness and soul being enveloped by an ink-black torrent.

The torrent seemed endless, washing over Lin Guang's Sea of Spirit, as if making his [Inner Universe] glimmer with a layer of ink.

The endless brushstrokes, knowledge intertwined, seemed to coalesce into a shadow of a dragon.

Dry brush like rugged mountain bones, woven into dark dragon scales on the surface, while wet brush like vast cloudy mist, forming the body churning and stirring beneath the scales, and those ink-black eyes were deep as wells, sparkling with agile brilliance.

This is inheritance.

Equally, it is a seemingly genuinely living, near-living Ink Dragon.

It emerges from that brush, with the vast Sea of Spirit as its canvas, the dark golden seawater as its ink, and it paints wantonly with its body, saturating with its traces.

Endless insights and knowledge are scattered by it, yet like an antelope hanging its horns, hard to capture, paying no heed to the creator's emotions, it flies and dances freely.

However…

Just as it dances joyously.

Something suddenly sounded within the Sea of Spirit.

——Thump.

The Ink Dragon's body paused imperceptibly.

——Thump.

Something faintly glimmering dark gold began to flicker in the gaps between brushstrokes.