Chapter 219 Journey to the South

Yuan Ming carefully looked at the person in front of him and recognized him.

This Commander Fu, named Fu Qing, is one of his father's personal guards. He not only leads the military, but is also an immortal cultivator.

As for the people behind him, Yuan Ming didn't recognize them, they all had unfamiliar faces.

However, it is not difficult to guess that in order to prevent people around him from leaking secrets, General Yuan chose new people for this mission except for selecting his close confidant Fu Qing.

"Brother Fu." Yuan Ming chuckled and stepped forward to help Fu Qing up.

"Young Master, I have finally found you." Fu Qing said with red eyes.

"I didn't expect that father would send you to pick me up. Thank you for your hard work all the way here." Yuan Ming said.

"As long as the young master can be found, I will not hesitate to die." Fu Qing clasped his hands in fists.

Only then did Lord Bayin step forward and asked, "Do you know each other?"

"This is the person we asked the lord to help find, the young master of our general's mansion." Fu Qing said.

"Oh... the Inu God bless you and allow you to reunite. This is really the best arrangement." Bayin said in a long tone.

After that, he called over the stout man who was beaten half to death. After giving him some decoction to revive him, he asked about the cause and effect.

"In the words of the Central Plains people, this is called 'the flood has washed away the Dragon King Temple, and one family does not know the other'. Mr. Yuan... please don't blame us for our recklessness." Bayin quickly changed his name. Said with a warm smile.

"It's okay. I heard that Lord Bayin is looking for a painter. I happen to be good at sketching with pen and ink. If you don't mind, you can let me try." Yuan Ming glanced at him and realized that he was also a monk in the Qi Refining Stage, smiling. said.

"Young Master Yuan is an honored guest, so there is no reason to trouble an honored guest. Come on, come on, our banquet has just begun. Mr. Yuan and Commander Fu, please take a seat." With that, Lord Bayin led Yuan Ming and his entourage back to the banquet. living room.

After several people sat down one by one, they began to have a banquet.

After a while of pushing cups and changing cups, Lord Bayin was still a little angry when he talked about being cheated.

Wu Liao, a man with a sharp tongue, convinced everyone in just a few words that he was a court painter and the direct descendant of Wu Daozi. After cheating and drinking at the house for two days, he stole some gold and silver jewelry from the house and went out to look for inspiration. Under the guise, he swaggered out of the lord's mansion.

It was his "above and aboveboard" behavior that deceived everyone, so much so that they all relaxed their vigilance. When they found out, they could no longer find him.

"Lord Bayin, the master of Ming'en Tower is also confused by him. Please don't blame him again. I am an old acquaintance with him, and I came here just to help him understand this matter. I don't know Bayin. What does the lord want to draw?" Yuan Ming asked.

"This..." Bayin hesitated for a moment.

"Lord Bayin, to tell you the truth, our young master is a young genius in the Jin Dynasty. He knows everything about music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and he is especially good at calligraphy and painting. If you have such a need, you can just let our young master show off his talents. That's right." Fu Qing also agreed.

Yuan Ming smiled and nodded.

"If that's the case, then I'll trouble Mr. Yuan." Lord Bayin paused and then said with a smile.

After eating, Lord Bayin led Yuan Ming and Fu Qing towards the inner courtyard of the Lord's Mansion, and did not stop until they came to the door of a house with a huge copper lock.

"This is our family's worship hall. It's similar to the ancestral hall of your Central Plains people, but we don't have as many rules as you, and the things inside are more messy." Bayin said as he opened the door.

The three of them walked into the room one after another. After Yuan Ming took a look at the situation inside, he realized why Lord Bayin said that. The things inside were quite messy.

It turns out that the worship hall is divided into two rooms, inside and outside. There are three shelves outside, with all kinds of miscellaneous furnishings on them, including exquisitely crafted bronzes and porcelain, some bows and arrows, weapons, and some ancient books.

"These are the favorite things of the ancestors of the past generations. After everyone enters the worship hall, they will leave a personal thing here. It may not be a valuable thing, but most of them are their favorites. There are also some of the ancestors' own things. Autobiographies are also stored here," Lord Bayin explained with a smile.

The three of them walked into the inner hall, where there was a large altar table with memorial tablets for the ancestors of the Bayin family. On the wall behind the altar, there was a large ancient painting.

On top of the ancient painting, there is a tall man wearing the costume of the Kasi tribe. His appearance is not similar to Bayin, and his temperament is completely different. His phoenix eyes are bright and lively, and he looks quite heroic.

However, after all, the ancient paintings were very old and were often exposed to incense. The paper surface was severely yellowed and covered with tiny cracks. Even though it had been framed many times, it still looked damaged.

"Master Yuan, take a look, are you sure you can copy this painting?" Bayin said.

Yuan Ming heard the words, but did not answer. He was speechless for a long time.

He was looking at this ancient painting now, and the scene he saw was completely different from others. He only felt that there was a thin layer of smoke on the ancient painting, making it unreal.

This smoke-like thing is not something that can be seen with the naked eye, but is perceived by his spiritual consciousness. It is a kind of special spiritual power that is difficult to describe.

"Lord Bayin, how long has this portrait been enshrined here?" Yuan Ming asked.

"I haven't calculated it carefully, but it has been around for at least three to four hundred years." Bayin said.

"Are you here to receive incense and offerings every day?" Yuan Ming spoke again.

"It's not like this every day. There is a small sacrifice on the first and fifteenth day of each month, and a big sacrifice on the Shangyuan and Zhongyuan festivals every year. The small sacrifice is nothing, but the big sacrifice requires all family members to be present to pray together." Although Bayin didn't understand why Yuan Ming asked these questions, he still told the truth.

"No wonder this painting is already in a dilapidated state, but the spirit of the ancestor is not damaged at all. I dare not say that I can copy the spirit of 100%, but it should not be difficult to keep 70% or 80%." Yuan Ming heard this and said that his guess was confirmed.

"That's great, I dare not force too much." Bayin was happy to hear this.

He had also found several painters in southern Xinjiang before, but no one dared to boast.

"I need seven days to observe the charm of the portrait carefully here. It's best to stay indoors during this period without being disturbed by the outside world, is it okay?" Yuan Ming asked.

"Of course, I will ask the servants to move the bed and table in a while." Bayin responded.

After that, Bayin left first to arrange matters, leaving only Yuan Ming and Fu Qing in the room.

"Young Master, you have suffered." Fu Qing said this only at this moment.

"It's not a big deal. It's also a blessing and a curse that have led to the current situation." Yuan Ming said with a smile.

"After the general learned about you, he immediately sent me to pick you up. If we delay, something will happen. We should actually return as soon as possible." Fu Qing hesitated and said.

"It's okay. I have my own plans." Yuan Ming shook his head and didn't explain too much.

Fu Qing was about to say something but stopped.

"Does my father have any words for you to bring to me?" Yuan Ming asked.

"The general just said that if we can find the young master, let us swear to protect your safety. There is nothing for me to say on his behalf." Fu Qing said.

"It's my father's style." Yuan Ming said with a smile.

Not long after, the servants of the lord's mansion brought a small couch and a desk.

Later, Lord Bayin personally brought pens, ink, paper and inkstone, all of which were the best stationery items in the Central Plains.

After everyone left, Yuan Ming closed the door and first collected the ashes piled up in the incense burner on the altar.

Then he came to the table, looked at the thick stack of ribbed rice paper on the table, and used his fingers like a knife to cut it vertically and horizontally, and soon cut it apart.

Looking at the cut rice paper, Yuan Ming smiled knowingly, ground the ink by himself, and began to draw on the paper.

With a few simple strokes, a large ship sailing in the waves appeared on the paper. On the bow of the ship, there was a young man with an angry face, looking behind him.

Behind him, there was a group of robbers with ferocious faces, holding knives, axes, bows and crossbows, as if they were going to rob him.

After drawing one picture, Yuan Ming uncovered it and put it aside to dry the ink, and then started to draw the second one.

The second picture showed the boy being shot by an arrow and falling into the water, and the pursuers holding knives and revelling.

Then came the third picture, in which the boy was lying on the bank of the water and was robbed by a corpse picker, and his clothes were all stripped off.

…

Yuan Ming painted very quickly, and his meticulous sketching was very smooth. He was as if he had divine help when he started writing. He almost didn't need to think about it, as if he had already made up his mind. In just half a day, he drew dozens of line drawings.

The shelves in the entire worship hall, where illustrations could be placed, were almost all filled with drawings.

Then, Yuan Ming continued to write without stopping, and the small characters with hairpins were arranged neatly on the paper, which was pleasing to the eye.

"It is said that the son of the Sheng family in Jiangnan traveled south, and then he arrived in the southern border and northern region..."

Just like painting, when Yuan Ming wrote this "Sheng Gongzi's Journey to the South", which he had already prepared in his mind, he was also in a state of writing like a god, with his thoughts flowing and his writing flourishing.

He refined and adapted his various experiences in southern Xinjiang, and mixed various regional customs in southern Xinjiang and northern regions into it, writing very vividly, making people feel as if they had experienced it personally.

However, three days later, Yuan Ming had finished all the manuscripts and illustrations, and after checking them as a whole, he sorted out the layout and put them away.

Then, he really began to copy the portrait of Bayin Yuanzu.

This time, after picking up the brush to paint, after a few strokes, Yuan Ming's brush tip stagnated and he couldn't paint anymore.

It wasn't that there was something wrong with his painting skills, but that he felt wrong.

He could draw the shape of the painting, but he couldn't draw the meaning of the painting, that is, the kind of charm that he had discovered before that was difficult to see with the naked eye.

Even if he managed to draw it, it lacked spirit.

Others might not see anything, but he felt uncomfortable in his heart. He had boasted before that he could depict 70% to 80% of the charm, but now it seems that 30% to 40% is already good.

After several attempts, all failed, Yuan Ming did not insist on it. After getting up and observing for a while, he walked to the outer hall.

Bayin had said before that the biographies of ancestors were stored here, so Yuan Ming wanted to find that ancestor's biography and read his life experience, which might help him in painting.

After searching on the shelf, he indeed found a book at the bottom.

The book was placed in a square sandalwood box with camphor to kill insects, so the book was well preserved. Except for the yellowing of the pages, there was no sign of insects or decay.

Yuan Ming took it out immediately and began to read it.

At this glance, he found that Bayin's ancestor was also a cultivator, and a cultivator who studied talismans.