Chapter 32: Various Aspects of Life (Part 2)

Chapter 9: The Faces of Humanity, Part 2

Meng Chuan walked, observing the street vendors calling out for business, and Daoist academy disciples walking in twos and threes, chatting animatedly.

“Look, it’s Senior Brother Meng.”

“Senior Brother Meng.”

Disciples from Mirror Lake Daoist Academy immediately called out respectfully.

What Meng Chuan saw along the way brought a smile to his face. Suddenly, he noticed a disabled old man by the roadside, sitting leisurely by the river, watching passersby. A fishing rod lay beside him, and he watched with a smile, occasionally taking a puff from a large pipe.

Meng Chuan was a highly skilled painter, meticulously observant of everything. He could sense the old man's enjoyment and contentment, an overflowing sense of satisfaction. Yet, the old man's disability was severe; he had lost a leg and an arm.

“With such severe disabilities, how can he be so comfortable and enjoy himself so much? He looks the most unfortunate on the entire street, yet he seems to be enjoying himself the most?” Meng Chuan, filled with curiosity, walked over.

“Elder,” Meng Chuan approached, speaking politely.

“Hmm?” The disabled old man, holding his large pipe with his single arm, looked over and exclaimed with delight, "Isn't this Young Master Meng Chuan? Young Master Meng Chuan is actually speaking to an old man like me! I must tell my wife when I get home.”

The old man's smile was infectious.

Meng Chuan asked, “Elder, may I ask what makes you so happy? Is there some great joyful event?”

“Look, young people are practicing martial arts, and adults are bustling about for their livelihoods,” the disabled old man said, pointing at the street. “Watching all this makes an old man like me happy.”

Meng Chuan was slightly taken aback.

“Back then, at Qinyang Pass, the demon race gathered a large army, led by a group of demon kings, intent on breaking through,” the disabled old man recounted. “If they had succeeded, the entire Dongning Prefecture and its surroundings would have been reduced to scorched earth, with no one surviving. At that time, I was serving at Qinyang Pass. From the Godfiends down to every single soldier... we all fought desperately to resist.”

“The Godfiends fought fiercely with the demon kings.”

“We also resisted every demon. Bodies lay everywhere, and comrade after comrade fell. We were laughing together last night, and today they were gone. As long as we had a breath left, we dragged demons down with us to die.” The old man's eyes were slightly moist as he smiled, "We fought until our eyes were red. When you finally realized there were no more demons around, there were hardly any comrades left standing either.”

“We held out until support from other Godfiends arrived, and finally defended Qinyang Pass,” the disabled old man said with a smile. “We saved the lives of tens of millions of people in and around Dongning Prefecture. That time, out of twenty thousand soldiers stationed there, only one thousand six hundred and thirty-three survived. Of the five Godfiends defending Qinyang Pass, only two remained alive.”

“Why did we all fight so desperately, unwilling to flee even in despair? It was because we didn't want to be slaughtered, didn't want our families, our children to be massacred... We hoped they could cultivate in peace, drink heartily, brag a little. We hoped they could also find wives and have children in the future...” The disabled old man smiled, "As for me, I come out every day to look. Seeing the people of my hometown on this street, I think of all those comrades who fell. Their deaths were worth it.”

“I'm very lucky. Out of twenty thousand brothers and sisters, only one thousand six hundred and thirty-three survived. I'm alive, I can eat meat buns, drink wine, fish, and smoke a pipe... Haha... how happy I am!” The disabled old man chuckled.

Meng Chuan listened in silence.

All the confusion he had in his heart vanished.

Compared to the old man, some so-called miserable families seemed truly ridiculous.

Take, for instance, the Hongyu siblings' family. Hongyu worked as a maid in a wealthy household and could earn money to support her family. Who was to blame for her father's gambling debts? Claiming he was deceived? Even if such talk was just to appease his son, who was to blame if he couldn't even read the debt notes clearly?

“There are thousands of kinds of people.”

“Some people willingly degrade themselves.”

“Some people, even in the depths of despair, still smile brightly.”

“And the vast majority of people...” Meng Chuan looked at the vendors and pedestrians on the street. “They are all full of hope, bustling about for their lives.”

Meng Chuan returned home, had lunch, and went to his study.

Unfurling a scroll, Meng Chuan began to paint.

There was so much in his heart that he wanted to paint.

He first painted a scene from Dongning Prefecture...

From that day on, Meng Chuan spent all his time painting, apart from his regular cultivation.

He painted day after day.

From summer to autumn, he continued painting for over four months. When the autumn leaves turned yellow and began to fall, the painting was finally nearing completion.

This was a massive handscroll painting, eight point three meters long.

The entire left half of the handscroll depicted an ancient city — Dongning Prefecture City.

Most prominently featured was a luxurious mansion, the 'Meng Family Ancestral Home'. Inside, an old woman stood, leaning on a cane, radiating a terrifying aura of power. Beside her were the clan head, the Third Elder, Meng Dajiang, and many other clan members. Meng Chuan meticulously drew dozens of them, while other clan members were depicted as vague outlines.

Outside the Meng Family Ancestral Home was Liu Chang, the leader of the Black Wolf Gang, bowing respectfully. Meng Chuan had never met Liu Chang, but there was a portrait of him in the records. Meng Chuan exaggerated his features, making him appear bulkier and fiercer, yet in front of the Meng Family Ancestral Home, Liu Chang was depicted as incredibly respectful and obsequious.

Behind Liu Chang was 'Zhou He', bowing even more deeply. Zhou He even showed a fawning smile towards Liu Chang, that smiling face meticulously rendered.

Behind Zhou He were the siblings Hongyu and Tiesheng, timid and full of trepidation.

Next were group portraits from various parts of Dongning Prefecture City.

Several pitiful women, forced into prostitution by their families, walked weeping towards Xian Stone Garden.

There were also dozens of hardworking laborers, some even disabled with broken arms, working with only one hand.

There were diverse customers in restaurants, tea houses, and noodle shops, street vendors, pedestrians, as well as gamblers and local ruffians... And of course, the disabled old man by the river with a broken arm and leg, a fishing rod beside him, smoking his pipe, smiling cheerfully at the adjacent street, and seemingly gazing towards the far right of the entire scroll.

Meng Chuan depicted hundreds of ordinary people from throughout Dongning City.

The focus was on the Daoist academy.

Inside a Daoist academy depicted by Meng Chuan, children, teenagers, and young adults were diligently cultivating, while Dean Ge Yu was drinking and giving pointers. The academy was situated on the far left of Dongning City, with the sun rising beside it. These Daoist academy disciples represented the rising sun of Dongning City, its hope.

However, on the far right of Dongning City, outside the city walls, a group of young people dressed in Daoist academy attire... left Dongning City, bound for another place, seen off by their parents and families.

On the far right of the entire painting was a blood-stained border pass.

Godfiends and demon kings were battling. The Godfiend was 'Meng Xiangu', and the demon king was a flying serpent demon king.

On the border pass, countless soldiers were fighting against demons.

Most of these soldiers were drawn simply, but some had meticulously detailed faces.

Among the soldiers, for instance, were his father Meng Dajiang, Dean Ge Yu, the clan head, the Third Elder, Yun Fu'an, Liu Chang, Zhou He... Although these individuals held different statuses in Dongning Prefecture City, they all once shared a common identity — human soldiers fighting demons!

“Done.” Meng Chuan completed the last figure: a warrior with a severed arm, still plunging his sharp sword into a demon's head. This fallen warrior represented the disabled old man in his youth, his gaze fixed on the demon, yet also seemingly looking towards the far left of the entire scroll, at the peaceful Dongning City.

The entire scroll conveyed much of what Meng Chuan wanted to express.

For example, Liu Chang, the leader of the Black Wolf Gang, feared Godfiend families, yet he instilled fear in wealthy merchants.

Zhou He swaggered about, commanding numerous servants, yet he also had many fears.

Meng Dajiang and others held high status, but they too had once fought bloody battles for ten years at the border pass.

Godfiends, high above, were the backbone of humanity.

They needed to protect all of humanity.

On the entire map, ordinary people came in all shapes and sizes; the women of Xian Stone Garden were just a tiny fraction of countless commoners. Though these ordinary people were weak, they were the most numerous figures on the scroll. They were protected by Godfiends, yet they were also the very foundation of humanity. It was through countless ordinary people that Godfiends could be born generation after generation, ensuring humanity's continuous existence.

The entire painting depicted people from all walks of life.

It showed but the tip of the iceberg of humanity, yet it also revealed the reasons for humanity's continued survival.

In the upper right corner of the entire scroll, Meng Chuan wrote three characters: "The Faces of Humanity."

The myriad faces.

It included many people: Meng Xiangu, Meng Dajiang, the Third Elder, Liu Chang, Zhou He, the disabled old man, Ge Yu, and so on... These figures were them, yet they were also more than just themselves.

“It's finished,” Meng Chuan said, sitting in his chair, feeling immensely satisfied in his spirit.

He had loved painting since he was a child because he enjoyed observing the world and recording what he saw with his brush. Early on, he painted external appearances with lifelike precision. Later, with works like the 'Galloping Horse Painting', he gradually began to capture the essence and spirit of his subjects, making them appear alive. Thus, even those who didn't understand painting were awestruck by such works and willing to pay high prices for them. At that time, he was considered the foremost painter in Dongning Prefecture.

But today... he had reached another level.

He was painting his own 'heart'!

He poured his intense emotions into the painting, embedding them within the artwork. The moment it was finished, an immense sense of accomplishment and satisfaction filled his heart.

“The Myriad Faces of Life.” Meng Chuan closed his eyes, a smile on his face.

The immense satisfaction in his soul made his head spin slightly.

He didn't know.

A vague human-shaped soul was gradually coalescing in the sea of consciousness within his glabella. Throughout the four-plus months he spent painting 'The Faces of Humanity,' this human-shaped soul had been slowly radiating spiritual light, causing it to continuously condense. When the painting was completed, an immense sense of fulfillment arose within his mind. This human-shaped soul finally accumulated to its peak, and with a 'boom,' it completely solidified, revealing its true form.

At that moment, Meng Chuan also felt his head spin. Then, he 'saw' it, as if performing internal observation during Qi cultivation. His consciousness 'saw' a vast, ethereal space within his glabella, and in this space stood a figure that was precisely his own likeness.