Mythical Scroll Artist: Starting with the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming

Chapter 33 Spirituality and Distortion
"Yes, but it is not the environmental pollution that the public perceives it to be."

"What do you mean?" Wu Xian asked, puzzled.

Tang Beng pondered as he organized his thoughts, “It’s roughly like when the spiritual structure collapses, it produces an invisible and intangible pollution, which the scroll painters call ‘distortion.’ This pollution subtly affects everything and also exacerbates the chaos of dimensional fluctuations.”

"Contamination resulting from spiritual collapse?"

Wu Xian couldn't help but recall the scene of the remaining spiritual matter collapsing along with the materials every time he extracted spiritual matter from the materials.

“That’s right,” Tang Beng nodded. “The production of spiritual paper and paint, including the process of converting spirituality into spiritual energy, will produce distortions.”

"Isn't there a solution?"

Tang Beng helplessly shrugged.

Wu Xian fell silent; it was like a paradoxical dead end.

The desire for development inevitably leads to pollution, which in turn affects human survival.

"You just said that distortion will subtly affect everything, what else?" Wu Xian asked seriously.

Tang Beng said, "Everything you can see and think, including you and me, will inevitably be affected by the [distortion], only to varying degrees."

"People can be affected too?" Wu Xian was shocked.

“Of course,” Tang Beng said noncommittally, “but we humans are still very resistant to [Twisted] pollution. We can metabolize mild and small amounts of pollution in our daily lives, but once there is too much, all sorts of problems will arise.”

You're certainly no stranger to this.

Wu Xian fell silent again.

Having grown up in a shantytown, he was naturally familiar with the living conditions of the people there. Various diseases he had never heard of in his previous life were rampant, and there were even many cases of mental instability.

I initially thought it was due to the poor living environment, but now it seems that the poor living environment is indeed the cause.

“Generally speaking, the higher one’s spiritual power cultivation, the greater one’s resistance to distortion and contamination,” Tang Beng added.

No wonder the garbage disposal plant only hires employees with spiritual cultivation, and these employees generally have short lifespans.

"Ugh~ Why worry about such useless things?" Tang Tiaotiao was naturally optimistic and obviously didn't care about the distortion and pollution. "Let's go, let's kill monsters!"

Wu Xian and Tang Beng exchanged a glance and silently followed.

Since it's unavoidable, what's the point of worrying about it so much?
Near the waste treatment plant, people from all walks of life gathered, and many had already entered the plant area.

Wu Xian, controlling the Chicken King and the Divine Tiger, silently followed behind the Tang siblings, paddling along.

It's worth mentioning that Tang Beng's main painting scroll is actually a silver-axis four-star plant-type painting spirit, surrounded by vines and lush foliage.

"Brother Tang, are you the [Melancholy Tree Man]?"

I remember there was a period last year when advertisements for this set of botanical picture scrolls were everywhere, and it was said to have even topped the sales charts.

“Well, it’s the latest flagship series from the Grass and Tree Dojo,” Tang Beng said, sounding somewhat complaining, “I regretted buying it not long after.”

Is it very weak?

"Not really, it's quite resilient, but it's a bit less than I expected."

Amidst laughter and banter, the Melancholy Tree Man, under Tang Beng's control, swung its vines, occasionally releasing a cloud of emerald-green poisonous mist, which was quite powerful.

Compared to the Moon God's celestial rider next to it, it was a little awkward.

"What about Brother Tang's own works?" Wu Xian asked, puzzled.

"My Tang family's mechanical heritage leans towards mechanical instruments."

Tang Beng didn't hide anything, and took out another silver scroll to activate it.

Click!Click!Click!
As the scroll shimmered with light, it transformed into a cool mechanical arm, wrapping around Tang Beng's right arm. At the wrist, two cannon barrels appeared side by side with a series of clicks.

boom!
The spiritual energy was compressed into an energy projectile, instantly blasting a second-tier insect monster not far away to the head.

"Awesome!" Wu Xian clicked his tongue and gave a thumbs up.

"It's alright~ just so-so." Tang Beng laughed heartily, and the brother and sister worked together to enter the factory area.

Inside the factory area, the anomalies in dimensional fluctuations were indeed more severe, and the area was completely covered by dimensional mirages, exuding an eerie and unsettling atmosphere, with chilling wails echoing in the air.

Not far ahead, two teams that had stormed into the factory area could be heard shouting and screaming.

"Look, Brother Zhou seems to have succeeded!"

"Is that the Soul Divine Diagram? Such powerful mental pressure!"

"A scroll system combining Zerg and the bizarre? That's something."

"Hmph! If he can succeed, why can't we?"

Wu Xian and his two companions naturally sensed this powerful fluctuation of mental energy. Looking up, they saw a young man in white, riding a motorized skateboard, laughing excitedly to the sky.

It turns out to be the guy who bought the "Mother Insect" before, I think his name is Zhou Qi.

At this moment, a ghostly green soul map unfolded above Zhou Qi's head. The scroll contained bizarre patterns, with ferocious and terrifying poisonous insects intertwined together.

"As expected of senior Zhou Qi, he is indeed outstanding!" Tang Tiaotiao exclaimed in surprise.

Tang Beng had just graduated from the art studio last year, so he naturally knew this outstanding junior, and couldn't hide the envy in his eyes.

Comparisons are odious; perhaps this is simply a difference in talent.

At that moment, a familiar mahogany coffin came rushing in from afar and hovered near Zhou Qi; it was none other than the legendary Xue Lingling.

"Not bad, young man. You're just my type. Are you interested in developing your career at my club?" Xue Lingling looked at Zhou Qi's soul image with great appreciation.

That eerie and sinister feeling was exactly her favorite style.

"You are... Senior Xue Lingling?"

Zhou Qi was surprised and doubtful when he recognized this legendary figure from Yaoyang City.

Xue Lingling remained noncommittal, then looked around the factory area and used her spiritual power to speak: "I am preparing to create my own club, and I welcome talented young people and ambitious individuals from all walks of life to sign up."

I hope everyone will perform well and let me see your strengths.

The sound echoed throughout the entire waste treatment plant, causing many spirit masters to light up their eyes.

“Oh right, some people may not know me,” Xue Lingling continued, “but that’s not important. Let’s show you something real.”

As he spoke, a surge of powerful spiritual energy erupted, and a divine soul diagram, gleaming with dark golden light, slowly unfolded above his head.

Several ferocious demons, led by a giant fanged monster, appeared one after another, each displaying a powerful aura that made the spirit masters present drool with envy.

"Has Xue Lingling already reached the point of creating a club?" Tang Beng exclaimed in shock.

Is creating a club impressive?

Tang Tiaotiao pouted, not entirely convinced.

“That’s for sure,” Tang Beng said. “A club isn’t something any scroll painter can create. Even if they could, they’d need to have that kind of influence.”

Tang Tiaotiao said with great interest, "Then I'll create one and play around with it after I graduate."

"..." Tang Beng was somewhat speechless, but he had to admit that with the talent his little sister had shown so far, it didn't seem like there was no chance at all. "Let's talk about it after you condense the divine diagram first."

Wu Xian curiously observed the soul diagrams of the two, lost in thought.

Everyone's amazing pictures are all the same color, a dark gold.

However, Xue Lingling's "divine painting" was significantly brighter and more imposing than the other two.

As they were talking, Zhou Qi had already left with Xue Lingling, making all the students in the art studio extremely envious.

After all, Xue Lingling is not only powerful herself, but also has the support of the Xue family behind her.

If a spark of love were to fly during their time together, they could at least save themselves twenty years of hard work.

(End of this chapter)