MOF Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Painting within a Painting, Entering the Painting, Seeing the Painting Woman

“Xie Ci,” Nangong Ci said hoarsely…

Gu Huanzhi finished his story, and they happened to arrive in front of the Jianchun Pavilion.

“Junior Brother Gu, have you ever seen the contents of that painting?” Xie Yiling turned around and glanced at the bustling restaurant in front of them.

Gu Huanzhi shook his head, “I haven’t been inside. These rumors were all heard from some junior disciples in the Immortal Sect.”

As dusk fell, night descended. Xie Yiling’s gaze towards the restaurant was unfathomable, “Since that’s the case, why don’t we stay at this restaurant for the time being, so we can also witness that rare and wondrous painting.”

As soon as A Si heard that they were staying at the restaurant, he excitedly ran inside. Xie Yiling was worried that his brute strength would bump into others, so he quickly followed.

From the outside, Xie Yiling felt that this restaurant was too extravagant, with intricate carvings everywhere, like a palace of orchids. After entering, it was indeed as magnificent as he had expected.

As soon as Xie Yiling caught A Si, a waiter greeted them. Seeing their attire, he respectfully bowed before asking, “It’s an honor for our humble shop to have several Immortal Lords grace us with their presence. May I ask if the Immortal Lords are here for a meal or to stay the night?”

Nangong Ci took out his money bag, “To stay the night.” He looked at A Si and, under the other’s awkward and expectant gaze, added, “And prepare a table of food.”

A Si cheered softly.

The waiter took the money and led them to the second floor, choosing an elegant room for dining and tea. As soon as the door closed, the noise outside immediately faded away.

As soon as Xie Yiling entered, he began searching for the painting in the room. To his disappointment, there were no paintings hanging in the dining room. When the waiter came in to serve the dishes, he specifically asked, “Why are there no paintings in this room?”

The waiter said, “Immortal Lord, don’t be anxious. It’s our Manager Fan, the owner, who decides which rooms have paintings. When the Immortal Lords arrive at their rooms for resting, you will naturally see them.”

The dishes were served, and the waiter closed the door and left.

“Strange,” Xie Yiling looked at the table full of delicacies, feeling little appetite. He felt that the waiter’s words didn’t make sense, “Paintings are meant to be appreciated and viewed. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to hang them in rooms for dining and tea? Why must they be hung in the sleeping rooms?”

A Si’s posture with the chopsticks was very awkward, and he couldn’t pick up the dishes. He simply took one in each hand and forcefully stabbed them into the meat, lifting them up to eat.

“Eating manners, eating manners,” Xie Yiling’s thoughts were disrupted by A Si’s appearance, “Why do you still not know how to use chopsticks?”

A Si wiped a circle of oil around his mouth and, hearing Xie Yiling’s words, obediently put down the chopsticks and directly picked up a braised chicken leg with his hand and started gnawing on it.

“Don’t rush to sleep tonight.” Nangong Ci continued Xie Yiling’s words, “See if there’s anything strange about that painting.”

A Si ate the table of food clean. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and happily asked, “Xie Ci, are we sleeping together tonight?”

Nangong Ci glanced at him, the corners of his lips slightly raised, but he looked cold, “Do you want to eat tomorrow?”

A Si looked at Xie Yiling for help. Xie Yiling lowered his head, using his finger to touch the tip of his nose, guiltily shifting his gaze away.

“Hmph, then I want to eat this much tomorrow too!” A Si gave up hoping for Xie Yiling, turned around and tugged at Gu Huanzhi’s sleeve, “Also, let’s sleep together tonight.”

Gu Huanzhi couldn’t help but laugh, touching his head and saying, “Okay.”

The sky was completely dark. Xie Yiling and the others went to their respective rooms, two people per room.

This restaurant was decorated with extreme elegance. The first thing you saw when you pushed open the door was a painting hanging on the wall directly opposite the entrance.

Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci exchanged a glance, closed the door, and walked towards it.

Xie Yiling looked for a while, frowning, suppressing the discomfort in his heart, and said, “This painting, how is it so eerie?”

In the upper right corner of the painting, it was written “The Matter of Dwelling in Upside Down Spring Mountain.” The style of the writing was similar to the painting, so it should have been written by the painter.

Nangong Ci looked at the name of the painting and remembered, “What’s painted on this is a mountain in Wei City.”

“Upside Down Spring Mountain?” Xie Yiling hadn’t heard of this place name. He placed his gaze on the painting again, pointing his finger, “Nangong Ci, look. Not a single tree on this mountain is complete. All the leaves have fallen, and the branches are broken. From a distance, they look like thin, shapeless people standing there. Not even a blade of grass or a flower, and there are only some strange stones and blurry yellow soil on the ground.”

Hearing Xie Yiling say this, Nangong Ci also felt very strange. The painter seemed to want to express some kind of emotion through this painting.

He examined the painting, analyzing, “And this soil, the color is very deep, it seems to be wet, but it’s not raining in the painting. Although the sky is gray, there are strands of clouds, it’s obviously a sunny day.”

“Looking at the whole picture, this painting is desolate and lonely. A solitary mountain and yellow earth, empty of people.” After he finished speaking, a flash of inspiration came to him, and he realized what was strange about this painting.

“It’s the word ‘dwelling’!”

The two said almost at the same time.

“Dwelling” generally means “to live.” And there was indeed a thatched cottage in the painting, vaguely revealing half a roof from the dense, sparse forest of withered trees.

“This place doesn’t look like anyone would live in at all.” Xie Yiling said, yawning, and looking at Nangong Ci, “Then why is it called ‘The Matter of Dwelling in Upside Down Spring Mountain’? Who lives there, and what happened?”

“Tired?” Nangong Ci frowned, raising his hand to stroke his face, “Why are you so tired so quickly today?”

“I don’t know.” Xie Yiling yawned again. After this one, an unstoppable wave of sleepinessInfluence out, and he asked with some doubt, “Nangong Ci, why am I suddenly so sleepy?”

Nangong Ci’s expression tightened, feeling a trace of something wrong. He suddenly clenched Xie Yiling’s wrist, carefully staring at his face, “Xie Ci, what’s wrong with you?”

“Sleepy.” Xie Yiling originally wanted to shake his head to wake himself up, but as soon as he shook his head, he felt dizzy, and the world turned upside down.

Nangong Ci hugged Xie Yiling, retreating to the bedside to sit down, away from the painting on the wall, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t wake the person in his arms.

This sleepiness came suspiciously, so Nangong Ci naturally didn’t think it was normal. He hardened his heart, his palm clasping the back of Xie Yiling’s neck, pressing his head down, and biting the close-at-hand lips.

Xie Yiling’s lips were full, especially the lower lip, which was extremely easy to bite. Nangong Ci’s bite had considerable force, directly breaking the skin on his lips. For a moment, both of their lips were stained with blood.

Xie Yiling was awakened by the pain, inhaling sharply, regaining consciousness. He felt the pain coming from his lips, subconsciously licking it, his saliva stimulating the wound, making the pain even worse.

“You bit me?” Xie Yiling touched his lower lip, and when he saw his fingerDip stained with blood, he looked up at Nangong Ci in surprise.

Nangong Ci wiped the blood from his lips, softly saying, “Awake?”

Understanding Nangong Ci’s intention, Xie Yiling frowned, “Just now, I seemed to suddenly fall into an uncontrollable coma, is it because of that painting?”

The blood on Xie Yiling’s lips had already been wiped clean, but Nangong Ci didn’t stop, only gently stroking that area again and again, “It should be. But I don’t know why only you were affected, but I was fine. Could it be that it can choose a specific person?”

“This is a bit bullying, right?” Xie Yiling’s legs were a little sore from the coma. He grabbed Nangong Ci’s arm and stood up, staring at the painting.

“Nangong Ci, if it’s really this painting that’s causing trouble, then what does it want me to fall asleep for?”

Nangong Ci thought about it in his heart and said at the same time, “Dreams.”

This made sense. No wonder the painting was only hung in the sleeping rooms.

Xie Yiling said, “To figure out the mysteries, it seems we have to follow its intentions and fall asleep.”

Nangong Ci frowned, his tone disapproving, “What if we enter different dreams? Or, only you go in, but I can’t.”

Xie Yiling smiled at him, saying, “This restaurant’s business is so prosperous, it’s crowded every day. If all the guests who come to stay the night enter the dream because of the painting and all have accidents, it will inevitably attract attention.”

Nangong Ci understood his meaning, “There are conditions in the dream.”

“Right.” Xie Yiling turned around, simply lay down on the bed, and looked up at Nangong Ci, “So, going in doesn’t necessarily mean something will happen. Let’s try to enter the painting first and see who is causing trouble inside.”

Hearing this, Nangong Ci also lay down, close to Xie Yiling. In just a few breaths, sleepiness overwhelmed them both.

It was less like sleepiness and more like suffocation.

After a sense of weightlessness, Xie Yiling felt something wet and a little rough blocking his mouth and nose. With each breath, the thing burrowed into his nose. An uncomfortable and painful sensation of being squeezed came from under his neck. He tried hard to open his eyes to see what was going on, but his eyes seemed to be cast together, tightly connected and unable to open.

Unable to use his eyes, Xie Yiling wanted to use his hands to remove the thing from his mouth and nose, but his hands were also unable to move.

Thus, with each breath, the next breath became increasingly difficult. This state of being unable to see and unable to move caused Xie Yiling to panic for a moment. He thought of Nangong Ci, and subconsciously called out.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his mouth, the thing blocking his mouth slid into it. Xie Yiling felt a burst of nausea, then hardened his heart, thinking that since the thing was already in his mouth, he might as well taste what it was. He tasted it and found that what was in his mouth should be soil, and this soil also had a fishy smell.

It was blood.

Xie Yiling wanted to spit out the soil, but he was worried that more soil would pour in, so he could only hold it in. Combining his current state and the information he knew, Xie Yiling thought that he was probably being “buried alive.”

In fact, it was indeed so.

His body was sealed in the soil. Although his arms couldn’t move, his fingers could barely stretch. After his eyes couldn’t see, his other senses became more sensitive. For example, from the beginning, there was a warm breath belonging to another person, appearing and disappearing on his face from time to time.

Was it Nangong Ci?

Xie Yiling eagerly wanted to know who this person was. Just as he couldn’t help but risk being filled with soil to ask, the other side suddenly spoke, “Xie Ci?”

Hearing the familiar voice, Xie Yiling’s heart relaxed, but he could only make two muffled sounds, indicating his identity to Nangong Ci.

“I can’t see, can you?” Nangong Ci’s voice was almostPosted his ear, the two should be sealed together face to face, very close.

“Can’t you speak?” Nangong Ci continued to ask about his situation, “Is it blocked by soil?”

“Mmm!” Xie Yiling responded, tilting his neck forcefully, so that the soil at his mouth and nose slowly rolled down as much as possible.

If the two could see, they would find that there was only a thin layer of soil between them, and they could touch each other as long as they stretched their heads forward.

However, even if he couldn’t see with his eyes, Nangong Ci quickly noticed this. Listening to Xie Yiling’s gradually slow and difficult breathing, his heart hung tightly.

“Xie Ci,” Nangong Ci called him hoarsely, “Get closer.”