Chapter 146 Painting Ghosts

The white-clothed woman's hand holding the brush paused slightly: "You want to add strokes to my painting? If your additions displease me, do you know the consequences?"

In any profession, criticizing a peer is a major taboo.

Among peers, unless genuinely invited, one should not point out mistakes, especially in public. That is an insult to the peer, and could lead to a deadly feud.

This is especially true in the realm of calligraphy and painting. Calligraphy and paintings embody the author's heart and soul, and no one wants to be told what to do. If the commentator is the author's teacher or elder, or if their words have substance, the outcome might be better.

However, if the person criticizing produces utter garbage themselves, or hasn't even created anything before grandstanding and pointing fingers, then they're either psychologically twisted or haven't been slapped enough.

My standing out to say I would add strokes to her painting immediately triggered her killing intent.

Mo Caiwei paced anxiously, but I said calmly, "At worst, I'll just be turned into ink."

The white-clothed woman smiled coldly, "More than that. I'll paint you into the picture and hang it at the entrance for all to see."

From this single sentence, I could tell that the white-clothed woman's paintings could imprison ghosts. No wonder the paper figures she painted were not only lifelike, but also had changes in expression.

So, each paper figure contained a ghost.

The white-clothed woman turned around and offered the blood-dipped brush: "Do you still want to try?"

"How would I know if I don't try?" I stepped forward and took the brush.

Mo Caiwei immediately panicked, "Li Po, don't take it! You..."

"Trust me!" Holding the brush, I stood in front of the easel, focusing on the half-finished ghost street.

If Ye Yang and the others were here, they would be shocked! I'd never even touched a brush in Liangjie Tang. Suddenly competing with a painter would make anyone think I was crazy.

But in reality!

If you say I can't paint, I really can!

If you say I can paint, I really can't!

Because Ghost Eight, one of the Nine Ghosts, was the renowned assassin of the sorcery world, Hua Yao (Painting Demon). Hua Yao didn't kill with paintings, but sent a painting he had personally painted to his target before each assignment.

The painting always depicted a faceless dead person.

Once Hua Yao's target died in the manner depicted in the painting, the dead person in the painting would automatically display facial features, mirroring the target's death exactly.

I asked Hua Yao if there was some secret technique in his paintings!

He told me that if it weren't for fate, he would just be a scholar who loved painting, running a small calligraphy and painting shop, living a simple life. Sadly, fate made him an assassin.

As for his paintings, they were worthless, just something he drew to create psychological pressure for his target. The target's death mirroring the scene in the painting was because he deliberately arranged it that way after killing them.

In other words, Hua Yao was actually a staging expert.

However, he did teach me his skills in painting ghosts. I'm not good at painting anything else, but I'm definitely a top expert at painting ghosts.

Holding the brush in front of the easel, I constantly replayed everything that had happened from the village entrance to the end of the street in my mind. Soon, I raised the brush and lightly touched the corner of the meat shop wall a few times, and a ferocious ghost appeared on the paper.

I said calmly, "Ever since I walked into the paper figure village, there have been dead people following me."

"The first one was on the eaves of the house at the village entrance. It was like a cat, half-crouching on the roof, watching me and Mo Caiwei enter. However, you didn't paint that house, so I won't paint it either."

"The second one is the ghost I just painted. She was lying on her side on the ground, with half her head sticking out from the corner of the meat shop, watching Mo Caiwei."

"The third one was outside the carpenter's shop, hiding under the window, listening to me and He Carpenter chat."

"The fourth one was hiding behind the signboard of the tailor shop. Although he only showed one eye, I could still see him. Just fill in an eye in this place."

I stopped holding the brush: "Do you need me to paint further?"

The white-clothed woman said softly, "If you want to paint more, you can continue."

I removed the first painting and placed a blank sheet of paper on the easel: "Every shop on this street hides a ghost. Your shop is no exception."

As soon as I finished speaking, Mo Caiwei moved a step closer to me: "Are you mistaken? Paper Figure Village doesn't allow ghosts to enter the village! Unless they are ghosts that already exist in the village."

I raised the brush and sketched a few times on the white paper, and a bloody figure immediately appeared on the paper: "I really don't know how to paint you. Should I paint the skin? Or the bones?"

Mo Caiwei glanced at the easel and then turned to look at the white-clothed woman: "You... you're saying Jiu Ci is a ghost?"

"That's right!" I nodded: "The ghosts in other places are hiding in the dark, but the ghost in this painting shop is standing right in front of us. She wasn't ready when we first entered the village. That's why He Carpenter chatted with us for a while longer, to give us a surprise."

I turned to look at the white-clothed woman: "Am I right?"