Ordinary observers in fast time travel

Shi Jia has a good memory, and the carriage quickly returned to the main street of the dark alley by following the route they had come from.

"Wait a minute!" Suddenly, a panting voice came from behind.

Shi Jia turned around in confusion—it was the same person she'd seen in the bank! What did he want?
"Are you alone?" A hint of joy flashed in the fierce-looking man's eyes.

"What do you want?" Did you want to rob me? Shi Jia's eyes lit up.

The man chuckled, "It's nothing, I'm just a little short on cash lately, so I wanted to borrow some crystals from you, little brother."

Shi Jia smiled. "Borrowing it here? But I have to go home."

"Going home? No problem, I can go back with you, little brother." The man looked around; this was indeed not the place to fight.

"Okay, then you can sit in the back." Shi Jia pointed to the seat behind him.

Without hesitation, the man got into the carriage.

Shi Jia cracked his whip, and the horse started running again, gradually heading towards the residential area with a "tap-tap" sound.

Amidst the clattering sounds, the man gradually calmed down. "Young man? Weren't you with someone else just now?"

He seemed to see that man quite often; he appeared to be somewhat well-known in the underworld. He usually liked to drive his carriage around the underworld.

Hmm, it looks a lot like the carriage he's sitting in. But that horse is much taller than this one, and it's said to be a manifestation of that person. By the way, he used to be a painter, but for some reason he lost that profession.

"Oh, him? He was ruined by greed," Shi Jia said casually, in a good mood, as if his prank was about to succeed.

"Damaged by greed? What do you mean?" The man suddenly felt uneasy, and he saw the exit of the dark alley. "And young man, where are you going?"

"What do you mean? Just the literal meaning." Glancing at the man's expression, her smile widened. "As for where I'm going? Didn't I just say? Home."

"Go home, oh yes, you want to go home!" The man frowned, his tone suddenly changing. "Young man, I have some things to attend to. Lend me the crystal first!"

Before he finished speaking, the man lunged at Shi Jia with all his might—"What's going on! Let me go!"

That's right, before the man's buttocks even left his seat, he was completely enveloped by the aerial roots of the sapling and unable to move.

"Uncle, so you didn't actually want to borrow crystals from me." Shi Jia grinned. "Greed can kill you."

"You, you are a Spirit Painter!" The man exclaimed in terror, begging for mercy, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Spirit Painter, please be magnanimous and pretend I don't exist, please let me go."

Shi Jia shook her head, "No, you were clearly trying to harm me just now, and you even tried to steal my crystals from the bank!"

He frowned as he spoke, "This is so annoying, I don't know what to do again." Suddenly, his gaze fell on the five-meter-high gate in the dark alley, he narrowed his eyes, and suddenly had an idea.

Ten minutes later, at the entrance to the dark alley, a rope was hanging in the middle of the door frame, with a humanoid creature bound like a caterpillar at the end of the rope.

"Put me down, boohoo, Master Spirit Painter, I'll never do it again."

However, the carriage had long since disappeared, and his cries only attracted a group of homeless people in the dark streets.

Shi Jia leaned back in the driver's seat, looking completely at ease. "Hmph, let's see if you dare to have any more greedy thoughts."

Suddenly, he felt an unprecedented hunger coming from... his paintbrush.

He quickly took out a handful of crystals, and energy instantly surged into his body, immediately flowing into his paintbrush. In less than a minute, the crystals turned to powder. He immediately took out another handful of crystals, which also turned to powder in the blink of an eye. Over the next twenty minutes, handfuls of crystals appeared in his hand, only to turn into handfuls of powder and fall through his fingers. "Whoosh~" Shi Jia summoned the paintbrush, but the red and green colors on it remained unchanged, as if it had simply replenished the energy he had previously consumed.

He frowned; the energy consumption seemed excessive. He glanced at the storage pouch; only a little over a hundred yellow crystals remained, with only a few red crystals scattered around.

He suddenly realized that the red crystal had so little energy just now.

No, it's not that the red crystal has little energy, but rather that its energy is negligible to him.

It seems that if we go hunting tomorrow, we'll have to venture deep into the area inhabited by orange-tier beasts.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt the carriage beneath him startle. He quickly sat up straight, and then the horse in front of him disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

"Oh!"

"Ouch~"

Shi Jia rubbed his sore bottom and stared at the empty air in front of the carriage. "Where's the horse? Where's my horse?" How could it have disappeared so quickly?
He tried hard to recall Sun Yu's memories, but there was no mention of a material object suddenly disappearing in Sun Yu's memory. However, that made sense, as Sun Yu's knowledge about painters was limited to materializing steamed buns, noodles, and everyday items like water cups and towels.

There is absolutely no information about the manifestation of animals.

……

"Huh? Brother Wang? This direction seems to be the opposite of last time?" Shi Jia was sitting at the front of the bus.

"Yes, that place was occupied by a powerful force before, supposedly because they discovered mineral pigments," Wang Quan said softly.

"Oh, oh." So it's Madam Lan Xin's faction. They acted so quickly? He remembered it had only been a little over half a month, right?

"Alas, I used to hunt in that area often, but I never found any mineral pigments. It's such a pity." Wang Quan looked somewhat dejected. If he had found the mineral pigments, why would he have needed to go hunting?

He might have already advanced to the orange-rank spirit martial artist, and soon he might be able to advance to the yellow-rank spirit martial artist. He also has a chance to climb to the green and blue ranks!
Wang Quan felt increasingly regretful and indignant, wishing he had been the one to discover it.

Sitting next to him, Shi Jia quickly lowered his eyes, feeling inexplicably guilty.
"Cough cough, Brother Wang, this black area is so big, there might be mineral pigments somewhere. Don't be too disappointed. Just pay more attention to the ground when you go hunting in the future, and you might find some," Shi Jia comforted him.

"Sigh, you're right." Wang Quan sighed and drove off silently.

Soon they arrived at a new hunting ground, a mountain forest. The trees here were exceptionally lush, and thorns grew everywhere, making it difficult for people to walk through.

"Ayu, beyond this forest lies the territory of orange-tier turbid beasts. Since this is your first time here, please be careful," Wang Quan said with some concern. This person had become a spirit painter in just one month, and an orange-tier one at that. It was always better for him to be alive than dead.

"Thank you, Brother Wang."

With the sapling present, Shi Jia wasn't afraid to roam the dark zone. In fact, once inside the forest, he felt completely at ease. He believed that with the sapling's cooperation, hunting turbid beasts and obtaining crystals would be a piece of cake.

But will things really be as simple as they seem?

In the dense jungle, several vines sprang out and bound the goat that was running for its life, causing the goat to let out a pitiful "baa" sound.

Just then, a gray figure emerged from the dense forest and came to the goat's side. Holding a paintbrush, the figure touched the goat's head. The next second, the goat's skull cracked open, and a yellow crystal fell out.

Shi Jia quickly picked up the crystal. "Phew~ After spending most of the day, I finally got a crystal." (End of Chapter)