249: Chapter 248 Good lad! You've got a quick mind!

He slowly walked forward, gently pulling Mu Qingxue and Chu Weiwei, who were blocking his way, behind him.

"When you attack it with Spiritual Qi, brute force, or even poison, it's like using a knife to cut water, or using water to wash ink. It will only make this ink stain spread wider and become denser."

"Since we are in a painting, we must defeat it using the rules of the painting."

Su Lin pointed at the Nine-Clawed Ink Dragon rolling and roaring in mid-air, seemingly mocking everyone's powerlessness.

"Look at its body."

"Although massive and lifelike, in the end, it is composed of brushstrokes."

"Beginning stroke, moving stroke, pausing stroke, closing stroke."

"This Ink Dragon appears as a single entity, but in reality, it has three thousand six hundred turning points of brushwork.

As long as it's a painting, there must be a starting point for the ink and an ending point for the brush."

"As long as you sever its brush Concept and cut off the Veins of its ink flow, it will naturally turn into stagnant water, unable to coalesce again."

Among the Loose Cultivators in the distance.

Mo Chen, the young Sword Cultivator, had been frowning in deep thought. The moment he heard Su Lin's words, his body trembled violently!

"Sever the brush Concept... cut off the Veins..."

An unprecedentedly bright sword light suddenly burst forth from Mo Chen's sharp eyes.

It was as if the clouds had parted to reveal a clear sky; his Sword Dao Bottleneck, which had troubled him for so long, showed signs of loosening at this very moment!

"So that's it! I understand!"

Mo Chen trembled with excitement. He strode out from the crowd without hesitation and came to a spot not far behind Su Lin.

He bowed deeply to Su Lin's seemingly thin but towering back, like a majestic mountain.

"Senior's words have awakened me from a dream; this Junior has learned a great deal!"

Mo Chen raised his head. The ordinary iron sword in his hand, which had appeared dull due to the suppression of the Law, now emitted a high-pitched sword hum.

His Battle Intent burned in his eyes as he looked at the arrogant Ink Dragon in mid-air.

"Senior! This Junior dares to ask to use this brute to hone my Sword Heart!"

"Let me try!"

Su Lin slightly turned his head, glanced at this Sword Cultivator with extremely high Comprehension Ability, and a hint of appreciation flashed in his eyes.

"Go."

"As long as your aim is true, this painted creature is the best whetstone."

"Thank you, Senior, for your generosity!"

Mo Chen took a deep breath. He didn't blindly unleash his power like Su Hongling, nor did he try to resist the assimilation of this world.

He closed his eyes.

He imagined himself as a brush, and the sword in his hand was the brush tip.

A clear sword hum resonated through the sky.

Mo Chen moved.

He transformed into a sharp streak of white, completely blending into the style of this ink wash painting.

"Swish!"

He thrust his sword, producing only an extremely thin, blank line that precisely cut into a gap between scales on the Ink Dragon's neck!

That was precisely one of the 'pausing stroke' nodes Su Lin had mentioned!

"Awoo!!!"

The Ink Dragon let out an extremely mournful shriek.

This time, no ink flowed out from its cut wound to re-coalesce. Instead, it was like a torn piece of paper, revealing the void of blankness beneath!

It worked!

By severing the brush Concept, the Ink Dragon lost its ability to regenerate!

"Good kid! Your mind works pretty fast!" Su Hongling's eyes lit up below, and she immediately understood the trick.

After successfully landing a blow, Mo Chen didn't get greedy. His figure moved like a swimming ink Dragon, frantically darting around the Ink Dragon's massive body.

"Swish swish swish!"

His sword became faster and faster, each strike precisely hitting the Ink Dragon's turning points and the junctions of its brushstrokes.

Under Mo Chen's 'butchering an ox' sword technique, the arrogant Nine-Clawed Ink Dragon's body actually began to peel off in chunks.

"This Sword Cultivator... such strong Comprehension Ability."

Cold Moon couldn't help but nod slightly.

However, the Ink Dragon was, after all, a formation spirit formed from the obsession of an ancient mighty figure.

"Roar!"

After having a small portion of its body carved away by Mo Chen, the Ink Dragon completely went berserk.

It no longer simply used physical attacks. Instead, it suddenly opened its huge mouth and let out a Soul roar that shook the entire painting world.

"Buzz!!!"

The surrounding thick ink instantly became violent, transforming into countless black whirlpools that tightly trapped Mo Chen in the center from all directions.

Innumerable ink hands stretched out from those whirlpools, pulling at his Sword Intent.

Mo Chen was, after all, only an Early Stage Body Integration Cultivator. Facing such a desperate counterattack, his Sword Intent began to falter, and his movements slowed by a beat.

"Bang!"

A massive Dragon tail swept over with immense force, heavily striking Mo Chen's chest.

Mo Chen was struck by lightning, violently spitting out a mouthful of blood. He flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the shore.

"Cough cough..."

He struggled to get up, but several bones in his chest were broken, and the iron sword in his hand had snapped into two, clearly indicating he had lost the power to fight again.

"This Junior... is incompetent..." Mo Chen's face was filled with bitterness and unwillingness.

"You did very well."

Su Lin's voice sounded in his ear.

A gentle wind supported Mo Chen's body, sending him back into the crowd of Loose Cultivators.

"That you could, with your own strength, sever three hundred of its brush Concepts, is enough to prove the clarity of your Sword Heart."

Su Lin slowly turned around, once again facing the Ink Dragon, which, though battered, was growing increasingly violent.

"The rest, leave to me."

The Ink Dragon lost Mo Chen as its target, and its two massive ink eyes instantly locked onto Su Lin.

It seemed to sense the aura on this man that could threaten its very foundation, and it let out an earth-shattering roar.

"Revered Master!"

All four disciples exclaimed simultaneously, wanting to step forward and help.

"All of you, stand back."

Su Lin stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze calm without a ripple.

"What I just taught you was breaking the form."

"Now, I, your Revered Master, will teach you what true breaking of the situation is."

The rampaging Nine-Clawed Ink Dragon let out an earth-shattering roar. It abandoned all probing, absorbing all the resentment and Death Qi accumulated over tens of thousands of years on Ink Mountain into its belly at this moment.

Its body swelled again. The gap Mo Chen had cut not only instantly recovered but became even more solid and heavy.

The sky of the entire black and white world completely darkened at this moment.

Ink rain no longer fell from the sky; instead, thick, viscous ink waterfalls, capable of devouring all life, poured down like a broken celestial river.

"It wants to destroy this painting and perish with us!"

Heavenly Calculation Granny looked at the crazily spinning compass in her hand, her face pale, and screamed in terror.

If the paper was completely blacked out, it meant everyone would be assimilated by this absolute ink Concept, becoming resentful spirits forever unable to transcend in this painting!

"Revered Master!"

Although the four disciples had blind faith in Su Lin, looking at the overwhelming and unavoidable ocean of ink, they couldn't help but clench their fists.

"Don't panic."

Su Lin slowly raised his right hand.

As he moved, the golden light between his brows suddenly shone brightly.

That was the half-step Immortal Artifact, destiny, which had just been reforged!

A clear and exceptionally resonant sword hum.

The moment the ancient sword destiny appeared in Su Lin's hand, the entire painting world seemed to freeze for an instant.

In this monotonous world of only black and white, the light flowing from the destiny sword appeared so dazzling, so out of place!

Six-colored divine patterns wildly circulated on the dark golden sword body—those were true colors transcending the dimension of this painting world!

"A painter uses five colors of ink."

Su Lin held the sword in one hand, its tip pointing diagonally towards the ground. He looked at the Nine-Clawed Ink Dragon, which carried thick ink across the sky and opened its abyssal mouth to pounce on him, a calm smile gracing his lips.

"Since this painting of yours is only left with the resentment and dead silence of black and white..."

"Then I, your Revered Master, shall add some color to this painting."

The moment his words fell.

Su Lin moved.

He didn't use his sword to slash, nor did he employ any earth-shattering sword techniques.

He treated the ancient sword destiny in his hand as a brush heavily laden with vibrant, multi-colored paint, and with a mid-air flick, he swung it at the oppressive, inky black sea!

"Splashed Colors!"

Five-colored sword light, like a breaching flood, poured out from the sword's edge!

This was not just an explosion of power, but a forceful override of lower-dimensional Laws by higher-dimensional Laws!

Red, purple, ice-blue, black and white, dark green... five colors intertwined, as if someone had violently splashed a large basin of extremely vibrant oil paint onto this black and white ink wash painting!

"Sizzle!!!"

A miraculous scene appeared.

The thick ink waterfall, which seemed capable of devouring everything, was actually unable to assimilate the five-colored sword light upon contact!

On the contrary, the dull black was forcefully washed away, diluted, and stained by the five-colored sword light!

"Awooo!!!"

The Nine-Clawed Ink Dragon, leading the charge, crashed into this multi-colored sea of light.

Its proud ink-colored scales instantly shattered upon contact with the red Law of Force, its bones were frozen by the ice-blue Cold Qi, and then ignited by the black and white Demonic Fire.

Its ink wash body, composed of resentment, was like a piece of waste paper thrown into a dye vat under the flushing of this five-colored light, instantly losing its original shape.

It turned into a chaotic mass of red, purple, blue, green, and black and white.

The Ink Dragon let out a desperate and mournful shriek. It tried to re-coalesce its brush Concept, but these five colors had completely destroyed the structure of this painting!

Its existence had been erased!

"The key to breaking the situation is not whether you can cut down the things in the painting."

Su Lin looked at the Ink Dragon struggling painfully and rapidly dissolving in the five-colored sea of light, his voice clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"It's about... you stepping out of the painting and becoming the one holding the brush!"

He flipped his wrist, and the ancient sword destiny drew a perfect circle in mid-air.

"The painting is too ugly."

"Tear it... for me!"

Su Lin thrust his sword straight into the Void Realm before him.

He wasn't stabbing the Ink Dragon, but this world, this 'canvas' that held everyone!

"Rip!!!"

An extremely crisp, extremely real tearing sound echoed.

Centered on Su Lin's sword tip, the entire black and white world developed a huge crack.

Then the cracks spread wildly like a spiderweb. The sky, the earth, the Ink River, everything began to peel away like shattered glass.

A strong sense of three-dimensional space, mixed with the real Spiritual Qi from the outside world, poured madly in through the cracks.

"Rumble!!!"

The remnant world of the Ancient Landscape Painting completely collapsed!

...

"Whoosh!"

The sea wind howled.

When everyone opened their eyes again, they found themselves having escaped that oppressive two-dimensional world, standing once more in the true Void Realm.

Beneath their feet was no longer the flowing Ink River, but a solid azure jade plaza.

Behind them, the massive painting that spanned heaven and earth was now split down the middle, transforming into countless fragmented points of light, slowly dissipating into the air.

And at the center of those dissipating light points, an ancient brush, with only half its shaft remaining and made of white bone, clattered to the ground at Su Lin's feet.

"We're out! We're out!"

"My Physical Body has recovered! My Spiritual Qi is back!"

The surviving Cultivators behind felt the Spiritual Qi surging through their bodies again, tears welling up in their eyes with excitement. Some even knelt on the spot to kiss the ground.

Mo Chen's face was pale, but his eyes were brighter than ever before.

He looked at Su Lin's tall back, his reverence reaching an unparalleled degree.

"Stepping out of the painting, becoming the one holding the brush..."

He savored these words, and the Sword Intent around him subtly showed signs of transformation.

"Old Man, you're too handsome!!!"

The first thing Su Hongling did after regaining her three-dimensional body was to pounce on him excitedly, wrapping her arms around Su Lin's neck, almost choking her Revered Master, who had just finished showing off, until he lost his breath.

"That 'Splashed Colors' move was absolutely brilliant! I almost died laughing when you dyed that black Dragon into a calico cat!"

"Let go! What impropriety!"

Luo Ximei pulled Su Hongling away, but then very naturally took her place, linking her arm with Su Lin's, her platinum-colored heterochromatic eyes filled with adoration.

"Revered Master's sword-wielding posture just now, I really wish I could engrave it with a recording stone and watch it a hundred times every night."

Chu Weiwei also had stars in her eyes. She ran over and picked up the half-broken white bone brush from the ground.

"Revered Master, this is a good item! This brush handle still retains a trace of an ancient painter's Concept. If used for pounding medicine, it might refine a poisonous pill that could directly turn people into paper-thin figures!"

Although Mu Qingxue didn't speak, she silently walked behind Su Lin and, with extremely cold eyes, scanned the Cultivators behind who were looking at Su Lin with awe.

The meaning was clear: Look again, and I'll freeze your eyeballs until they burst.

"Alright, stop messing around, all of you."

Su Lin took a deep breath, calming the Spiritual Qi surging within him from forcefully activating the half-step Immortal Artifact.

Chu Weiwei handed the brush to Su Lin.

"Revered Master, let me play with it! Using it for pounding medicine will definitely double the toxicity!" Chu Weiwei eagerly leaned in, drooling as she stared at the brush.

"Play with what? This thing has too much Evil Qi; it's not suitable for you."

Su Lin unceremoniously tapped her head with the brush handle. With a thought, he directly threw the white bone brush into the Myriad Heavens Star Chart between his brows, to be a toy for the world spirit he had previously subdued.

"This is merely an appetizer from the Ethereal Immortal Mansion, just the array core of the first stage."