Reincarnated As God 34 The Dao Of Painting

The view from the cliff was scenic, and it seemed to be filled with a certain otherwordly charm. From the cliff, Meng Li could see the small stream at the bottom of the valley, which pooled there, creating a small, shallow lake. The mountain to the right of the cliff seemed to stretch to the heavens, and the trees growing practically at the edge obscured the top of the mountain. There was also a slightly smaller mountain to the left, but the top of it could be seen. The top was flat and barren, and seemed like it was cut off by a sword strike.

The valley was covered by trees, with only a few clearings being spots of bright green in the sea of dark green trees. The cliff Meng Li was standing on was one of the clearings.

Meng Li set up a few meters away from the edge, but after studying the view, he brought it forward. He wouldn't be able to capture the beauty of the valley without painting the stream and the small lake, so he had to be able to see them from where he painted.

After a few minutes, Meng Li started. He had extremely limited experience with drawing and painting, so he didn't really know how to start, but instead of worrying about it, he simply started painting. He used a few strokes of brown paint to represent a tree which was growing to the left of him. It slightly obscured the rest of the valley, but Meng Li felt that it was important to the overall feeling of the composition, so he didn't leave it out.

Unfortunately, immediately after finis.h.i.+ng it, Meng Li could sense something off. Comparing the tree which he had drawn and the one which he was trying to draw, he could see differences at the first glance - thus, it wasn't perfect. Normally, people would ignore it and move on, but for some reason, the difference was extremely vexing Meng Li, so he stored the canvas in his bag of holding and summoned another, blank one. With a blank canvas, he tried to represent the tree once more. This time, he paid more attention to the details, taking care to notice all of the small details the tree had.

There was a stump of a branch on it - a branch had fallen off of the tree a long time ago. There was also a line of ants running on the main trunk before disappearing into a crack in the bark. All of those small details were what made the tree itself - without them on the canvas, the tree Meng Li had drawn wouldn't be the one he was observing.
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Meng Li seemed to fall into a sort of a trance, and the tree, which was originally meant to cover a small part of the canvas, eventually became the main focus. With every brush stroke, more detail was added. A few dots on the trunk to represent the ants, a thin stroke of dark brown formed a crack in the bark. The green spots on the ends of the branches were the leaves - all of them the same as on the tree Meng Li was studying.

However, without drawing the surroundings, an object couldn't be fully represented - for example, the ants weren't a part of the tree, yet were something which made the tree itself. The same could be said about the rock the tree was growing on, as well as its' surroundings. In his trance, Meng Li didn't even notice that he had drawn those parts of the landscape - he was entirely focused on the small tree. On what made it what it was, on what defined its' existence.

The trance lasted for about an hour - when Meng Li had woken up, the sun was already setting behind the mountains. However, Meng Li was far more focused on what was on the canvas before him. The tree was practically indistinguishable from the one growing on the cliff. It was like a photo, with the smallest of details represented in the painting.

Meng Li couldn't help but become astounded.

'Did I really paint that?' he asked himself. In his confusion, he noticed that the sun had already disappeared. He suddenly remembered something and asked the system.

he asked worriedly.

[About an hour.] the system replied quickly.

'Okay, that's not that bad.' Meng Li sighed in relief. He still unconsciously kept track of time and worried if time pa.s.sed when he wasn't paying attention...

With that out of the way, Meng Li paid more attention to the painting. It was practically perfect - Meng Li couldn't find any flaws in the depiction. He also had a faint sense that the tree he had drawn... Was the tree he observed. It was something obvious, but normally, the painting could be described as a depiction, but Meng Li had a feeling that it was more than that.

He had to ask someone.

he asked the system.

[You have touched on the threshold of the Dao of Painting. Congratulations.] the system's emotionless voice answered.

Meng Li asked, confused. He had a faint feeling that what happened was beneficial to him, so he wanted to know more.

[Like all of the professions which involve the creation of something, painting also has a Dao. However, it's one of the more esoteric Daos and is hard to achieve any success in it, unlike the more popular professions like alchemy or formations.] the system replied.

There is an art to everything involving creating something - however, achieving success in any Dao is hard. The thing is, even among other Daos, the Dao of painting was a rare one. The reason for that is simply because not many cultivators practiced painting, unlike other professions like alchemy or formations. After all, painting didn't have any obvious benefits to cultivators, unlike alchemy or formations - alchemy referred to the art of refining pills from herbs. Doing so could strengthen herbs' effects, combine them, or even create other, wonderous effects from ordinary ingredients. On the other hand, formations were extremely useful too - gathering Qi, creating barriers, storing attacks - all of those things could be done using formations. Both of those arts had tangible benefits, so practicing them was much more common.

Touching upon a Dao was also something extremely beneficial. Although alchemy could be practiced without touching the true Dao, higher levels of alchemy couldn't be achieved without sensing the Dao. With a Dao, cultivators could use their comprehension of said Dao to imbue wonderous effects into their creations. Extracting all of the medicinal strength of herbs was ten times easier with the Dao of alchemy, and the Dao of formation could imbue a spirit into the originally lifeless formation. Similarly, the Dao of Painting allowed for many possibilities. With a high comprehension of it, cultivators could paint a beast and have it fight for them, or paint an image of their opponent and use it as a curse. The possibilities were endless.

However, Meng Li had only touched upon the Dao, and hadn't comprehended it yet. He needed much more practice.

With all of the information the system had pa.s.sed to him, Meng Li was confused.

Meng Li asked confusedly. With the limited knowledge he had of laws, he couldn't tell the difference between them and a Dao.

[A law and a Dao are two different things - laws are limited by the world, but a Dao is limitless.] the system vaguely replied. Meng Li didn't really understand, but he could tell that with his current understanding of laws, he wouldn't be able to comprehend anything more.

What the system didn't tell Meng Li was that usually, Daos were even harder to comprehend than laws - a high cultivation didn't guarantee that a cultivator would be able to even sense the existence of a Dao. In fact, the fact that Meng Li was able to even sense the existence of the Dao of Painting was nothing short of a miracle - no one in the entire world had done something like it, even the grandmasters of their professions.

While a low cultivation could stop someone from sensing the existence of laws, Daos transcended laws - they could be comprehended by even mortals, though something like that was unheard of. It was fitting to say that it didn't happen in the millions of years that Meng Li's master had lived.

If Meng Li had sensed the Dao before he had broken free of his normal path of cultivation, the system would've been shocked, but right now, sensing a Dao was nothing in comparison to what he did previously. Thus, the system had given Meng Li the false impression that a Dao was something common, and someone with some knowledge of a profession would be able to comprehend it. Thus, Meng Li became determined to comprehend the Dao of painting.

However, as it was currently night, Meng Li wasn't able to see well even with his eyesight. As such, he gathered his equipment and returned home.

The fireplace was dim, but still gave out heat. The house was a comfortable temperature. Meng Li calmly sat on the cus.h.i.+on and thought about what he did.

He took out the painting of the tree he had created - it felt... Alive. Something like this, which was his biggest achievement thus far, shouldn't sit in the dark s.p.a.ce of the bag of holding. After a bit of thought, Meng Li hung it on one of the walls of his small house. It was in such a place that a person who would enter the house would be able to see the painting when they sat at the small table.

After doing so, Meng Li waited calmly for the morning to arrive. He wanted to return to the valley and try to draw such a vivid painting of another object. A small herb, perhaps? He abandoned the thought of painting a panorama of the entire valley, as he had a faint feeling that no matter how he tried, he wouldn't be able to capture the valley's essence. That's right, essence - it was a good word to describe what was the thing which the painting contained which made it so different. It contained the essence of that particular small tree, hanging precariously off the side of a cliff.

When the morning came, Meng Li teleported to the valley once again. This time, he didn't jump into painting as soon as he arrived, and instead sat on a nearby rock. He wanted to prepare a cup of the from the Heaven Connecting Tea Tree. Since it could increase a person's comprehension, it would probably help with trying to comprehend the Dao of Painting.

This time, when Meng Li drank the tea, he didn't focus on the taste, and instead studied its' effects on his mind and if he could better comprehend... something. And indeed, when drinking it, he could sense a small increase. He didn't feel it previously since he wasn't trying to cultivate or understand anything and simply appreciated the taste. However, the increase was disappointingly small - despite being unable to exactly quantify it, Meng Li felt that it barely managed to double his comprehension.

'Wasn't it described as a wonderous herb which could connect the person drinking it to the heavens and unveil the secrets of existence? Why is the increase so slight?' Meng Li thought in confusion. He couldn't think of a good reason, so he asked the system.

[Your talent for comprehension is simply that good.] The system's reply was concise, and stopped Meng Li in his tracks. It was simply because his talent was that good? He didn't know whether he should be happy or disappointed. On one hand, he learned that his talent was really good, but on the other, a heavenly resource which could reportedly unveil heavenly secrets had such a small effect on him.

'Whatever, it's not like I was relying on it. I'll simply check the summoning tab for other items which can increase comprehension...' Meng Li thought, and started setting up the painting equipment. After all, the tea's effects wouldn't last forever.