Painter Wu Ming

"Let me take a look at your eyes." The painter's voice was slightly hoarse, his fingers gently brushing the corner of Hua Rongyue's eye.

This was the owner of the shop, named Wu Ming. His health wasn't great, and one of his legs was slightly lame. Hua Rongyue found it a bit odd. Wu Ming had been staring at her eyes for quite a while, and his fingers were touching the corner of her eye.

This made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. However, after a moment, Wu Ming lowered his head and resumed his writing and drawing, leaving Hua Rongyue unsure of what to say.

This small shop nestled in a rundown alley wasn't as dilapidated as its exterior suggested. In fact, stepping inside felt like entering a whole new world— the interior was clean and tidy.

Hua Rongyue's hallucinations continued to intertwine with reality. A series of contrasting images gradually helped her understand more about this place.

It wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface. In Yi Linglong's memories, this place had a certain presence. Holding the cup of tea the shop owner had given her, Hua Rongyue slowly closed her eyes and began to recall.

On the surface, this shop sold paintings. In reality... It really did sell paintings. However, the things depicted in the paintings were far from ordinary.

The shop owner, Wu Ming, was a man who appeared frail and pale. His nails were entirely black, matching the color of his hair. To someone like Doctor Qi, who had never ventured into the martial world, Wu Ming could easily deceive him by claiming his nails were painted with ink.

But Hua Rongyue knew that his nails were naturally that color. People who had succumbed to [deviation] often experienced physical changes. Some would turn white-haired overnight, while others' eyes would become blood-red, as if stained with crimson.

The shop owner's black nails were one such manifestation. Rounded and smooth, they looked as though they had been coated with nail polish. Wu Ming didn't even bother to conceal the truth, explaining to Doctor Qi that he had simply applied black "paint."

When Hua Rongyue first saw him, she was stunned. This man had quite the audacity.

The shop sold various "paints" that could be used to cover the traces of [deviation]. In her previous life, Yi Linglong had visited this place after succumbing to [deviation].

There were many paints here that could be applied to the human body. Hua Rongyue looked at the shelves lined with bottles and jars in every color imaginable.

The man before her was indeed an exceptional painter— or perhaps more accurately, a body artist? Wu Ming offered to paint a picture for them as payment for his services.

Doctor Qi declined, saying Wu Ming had painted for him many times before and it wasn't necessary this time. Wu Ming glanced at Hua Rongyue and said, "How about I paint one for the person beside you this time?"

Hua Rongyue waved her hands repeatedly, saying it wasn't necessary, but Wu Ming insisted in a strangely persistent manner. Wu Ming's paintings couldn't be completed in a short time.

He told them to come back later to pick it up. His thin arms and legs, along with his pale complexion, made even simple movements around the shop seem exhausting.

He looked into Hua Rongyue's eyes and suddenly said something inexplicable: "Do you like red?"

"Red? It's alright," Hua Rongyue replied.

"What do you think of this kind of red?" As Wu Ming spoke, he pulled out a somewhat tattered book from the shelf. Inside were several dehydrated but intact dried flowers. The flowers were red, and due to the dehydration, their color appeared deeper.

Suddenly, the scene before her eyes shifted. Hua Rongyue saw the same location, the same perspective, and Wu Ming dressed almost identically to now. The only difference was the arrangement of items in the room.

He rummaged through the shelf behind him, searching for a long time. Finally, he pulled out a small red jade bottle from the depths of the shelf. Back then, although Wu Ming's attire was the same as now, when he turned to look at Yi Linglong, the color of the bottle was reflected in his eyes, making them appear as though they were glowing red.

This made the hallucination of him seem even more dangerous than the real-life version.

"I thought you wouldn't end up like this, but you're worse than I imagined," he said slowly.

"Seeing you like this makes me feel a bit sad."

Before Hua Rongyue could analyze Wu Ming's words, she involuntarily raised her arm. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the clothes "she" was wearing. With just one glance, her head began to ache.

An outfit... With an extremely high saturation... This must have been the outfit Yi Linglong wore when she visited Wu Ming back then. Hua Rongyue could see it because the outfit was so large and flamboyant.

In the hallucination, Yi Linglong casually waved a sleeve, and Hua Rongyue noticed that the predominantly red sleeve was adorned with large purple flowers, large blue flowers, large green leaves, and butterflies in every color of the rainbow— red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet...

Ugh... If she came to see Wu Ming dressed like this, she must have already succumbed to [deviation]. This outfit indeed didn't look like something a normal person would wear.

"Enough nonsense."

The voice that came from her mouth was sharp and piercing, but not in a feminine way— it was more like the voice of a eunuch. "I want that stuff again this time. Give me more of it. I probably won't be coming back for a long time."

"You have a unique scent, like the tuberose flower. I don't want to see such a rare color slowly wither away," Wu Ming said as he sealed the jade bottle.

"Although this has nothing to do with me as a painter, and I usually wouldn't meddle, this time, let's make an exception."

Suddenly, the scene shifted again, and Hua Rongyue returned to reality. The abruptness of the transition made it feel jarring, and the contrast was particularly stark.

In reality, Wu Ming was still holding the dried flowers in front of her. His expression was softer compared to the hallucination, perhaps due to the warmer hue of the candlelight.

Hua Rongyue wasn't particularly interested in flowers and couldn't identify them at all.

However, Doctor Qi glanced at them. "Tuberose flowers? This red? They're quite rare," Doctor Qi remarked.

"A friend brought them to me. I can't go out easily, or I'd love to see them myself."

"We have a tuberose tree at the entrance too, but it hasn't bloomed yet. The one at our entrance only produces white flowers," Doctor Qi said to Hua Rongyue.

Only then did Hua Rongyue realize that the half-dead tree at their entrance was a tuberose tree. When they stepped outside, the sky was almost completely dark, with only a faint glimmer of light remaining.

Wu Ming handed them a lantern, advising them to watch their step and be careful not to fall. Although Wu Ming had a red lantern hanging at his door that looked eerie, the one he gave them was an ordinary paper lantern."

Its snow-white surface was about the size of a palm and had a simple yet vivid red flower painted on it. The flower's branches extended in a way that felt oddly unsettling.

In a sense, Wu Ming was indeed an excellent painter. Both his living space and his works exuded an artistic atmosphere. Even he himself... Well, he did seem like an eccentric artist.

By the time they left, the sky was completely dark. In ancient times, streets would usually become deserted after nightfall. Yet, Hua Rongyue could hear the sounds of many people walking around— more than during the day.

Hua Rongyue listened to the sounds with a peculiar mix of curiosity and amusement, observing the bustling activity. She glanced at Doctor Qi beside her, who, as expected, appeared completely oblivious.

"Does Wu Ming always lend you this lantern when you're late returning?" Hua Rongyue asked.

"Yes, isn't this lantern light and convenient?" Doctor Qi turned to Hua Rongyue and said, "This lantern was made by Wu Ming, and the flower on it was painted by him."

Although Hua Rongyue had transmigrated into Yi Linglong's body, that didn’t mean she was skilled in combat. In reality, her combat ability was at a rather puzzling level— sometimes she was fierce, other times she was weak.

This was likely because she was still in the process of adapting to this body. Over time, her state should gradually stabilize, but for now, whether she was a weakling, a warrior, or prone to berserk outbursts depended entirely on her current condition and luck.

Under such circumstances, it was naturally better to keep a low profile. Hua Rongyue pretended she hadn’t heard the whispers around her.

“A regular person without martial arts?”

“Haha, showing up here at this time— truly courting death.”

Low voices and hushed whispers filled the air, brimming with curiosity and a desire to pry into the two of them.

Just a few days ago, a woman had died here, and she had been tortured to death. Wu Ming, the artist, had chosen to open his shop in this small area for a reason.

A shop could only survive if there were customers to support it, and it seemed that these people who only emerged at night were likely his biggest patrons.

Hua Rongyue silently moved closer to Doctor Qi and slightly raised her hand, revealing the small lantern she was holding. Its appearance became clearer— a white base with red flowers, emitting a faint and cold light.

The palm-sized lantern looked almost pitiful, yet its effect was astonishingly terrifying. The whispers around them fell silent the moment the lantern in Hua Rongyue’s hand came into view, as if they had been strangled.

She glanced at the people around her and thought to herself, "Just as I expected. It seems Wu Ming’s status is far higher than I imagined."

Hua Rongyue sighed and suddenly said to Doctor Qi, who was still carefully watching the road, “You should try to avoid coming here in the future.”

“Hm? Why?” Doctor Qi raised his head, blinked, and asked in confusion.

How should she explain this to him? Hua Rongyue pondered. The most reasonable explanation would be to consider the importance of preserving the nation’s medical resources. After all, it wasn’t easy to train a doctor who was both skilled and ethical, so it was crucial to protect his life. Besides, this place… it really wasn’t suitable for innocent and simple-minded individuals to wander around casually.

Moreover, unless something unexpected happened, she felt this would likely be the last time she ever came to this place in her lifetime.