This made her inexplicably think of that terrifying woman with the surname Long.
And on the high rooftop of Silver Creek Square, a black bird crouched silently.
Li Yuan didn’t want to alert the snake, so he planned to first check for any abnormalities himself. It’s tough, but it’s better to nip the problem in the bud rather than scramble to deal with it after it erupts.
He sat in the study of the inner hall, lifted his pen, and began writing down poems he had seen before his time travel.
Visualization Image requires a mental realm.
The essence comes from poetry, the realm is drawn from painting.
"Have you not seen the youth ranger of Huainan, who hunts by day and wields arms by night?"
"Spending millions without hesitation, revenge across a thousand miles as if within reach."
"Killing a person every ten steps, traveling a thousand miles without stopping.
When the deed is done, he brushes his clothes and leaves, hiding his achievements and fame."
"In the morning, he brandishes his sword and departs for the heavens, returning by dusk in a drunken state."
These are verses by Taibai. Li Yuan thought he might find the ’essence’ from the lines of this fellow-surnamed Poetry Immortal, then connect it to his Life Atlas to form a Visualization Image.
As for "painting", he had previously sought some simple brush techniques from Liu Changchong. Since the Sixth Grade enhances memory, the five senses, emotions, and bodily coordination, by the time he left Tian Nan County, he was already able to simply sketch what he had in mind. Later, during his solitary days by Silver Creek Lake, he used his spare time to draw with tree branches, so completing a painting was no problem for him now.
At this moment, after writing poetry for a while, he closed his eyes to experience it. When he got tired, he silently observed the bustling night market in the county.
Time passed, and night fell.
At nightfall, first, the restaurants get busy, then the brothels come alive.
The black bird flew back and forth.
Li Yuan patiently observed, when he heard the familiar "tap tap" of a cane approaching, followed by a knock on the lower part of the door.
He smiled, got up, and opened the door to see an angry Little Cotton Pajamas, with Lady Yan chasing behind.
Lady Yan had just reached the door, looking a bit helpless as she met her husband’s eyes, and said, "Your daughter insists on finding you."
"Daddy!"
Little Cotton Pajamas had a crow perched on her shoulder, reaching out for a hug.
Li Yuan glanced at the crow and discovered its overall strength had astonishingly increased to "9~11". He picked up the little girl and said, "Daddy is busy, go back to sleep with mom first, okay?"
Little Cotton Pajamas pouted, looking aggrieved and unwilling.
Lady Yan smiled helplessly.
Behind her, the night wind remained chilly, and the shadows of the trees danced.
Li Yuan said, "Come in, both of you."
Lady Yan asked, "Will we disturb you?"
Li Yuan replied, "Not really, I’m monitoring Silver Creek Square. There was a Ghost Servant in the Fulin Commerce Association before. Although they’ve left, I’m worried they left something behind."
Lady Yan was already involved in these matters, and Xiaozhao was naturally peculiar, as if inherently part of this circle, so Li Yuan had no secrets from them.
Lady Yan suddenly realized, "You’re afraid of startling the snake."
As she spoke, she walked into the room and closed the door behind her.
Li Yuan held Little Cotton Pajamas in his arms and returned to his desk.
Lady Yan leaned over, glanced at the poems on the table, paused for a moment, then savored them before saying, "These are really good."
After another look, she said, "I couldn’t write like this..."
Li Yuan couldn’t explain and didn’t want to deceive her, so he just smiled and continued observing Shanbao County.
He held Little Cotton Pajamas.
Little Cotton Pajamas was very happy.
When she was happy, besides the crow inside the house, there was another crow standing beside Hai Dongqing, and four more crows flew out into the night, starting a game of "hide and seek" with Li Yuan.
Even if Li Yuan wasn’t actively engaged in this game, Little Cotton Pajamas was enthusiastically playing alone.
Her crows had not only increased in strength from "8~9" to "9~11", but their number had also grown from 4 to 6.
The crows flew, finding a black bird, and descended with a "caw".
Li Yuan noticed the crows, patted Little Cotton Pajamas in his arms with some helplessness, and said, "Don’t make a sound, daddy is working."
Little Cotton Pajamas obediently nodded, and the crows respectfully stood on the roof ridge, blending into the darkness, not making a sound.
The eyes of the crows were wild, their feathers turning hard, the tips of their wings exhibiting a strange sharpness, which, if used to swipe across a person’s neck, might cause it to be severed.
Lady Yan sat for a while, then got up with a smile and said, "I’ve brewed some Eight Treasure Porridge with plenty of red dates, I’ll bring some over for you."
...
And so...
Three days passed in a blink.
On the third day, after midnight, a strange scene unfolded in a room of the Celestial Fragrance Building.
A singing prostitute took out a small incense burner, lit three sticks of incense, prostrated to the air, kowtowed devoutly, her expression sincere yet her lips curled into an eerie smile, her cheeks faintly flushed with rouge.
But clearly, there was nothing in the air.
The singing prostitute’s devout worship was like lunacy, as if possessed.
The black bird watched from afar, its vision actually Li Yuan’s vision, able to clearly discern everything in the distance.
The singing prostitute quickly finished her bows, put away the incense burner, and someone seemed to be calling her name from outside, so she ran out.
The black bird swooshed to the window.
The crow followed.
The black bird wanted to open the window and fly in, but it was difficult, after all, the black bird had no hands.
The crow kicked gently, then deftly grasped the window, directly opening it, then flew into the room with the black bird, hiding in the rafters.