The half-finished drawing that Cheng Ying pulled out instantly stunned the boy. Honestly, Cheng Ying's self-taught amateur drawing skills weren't anything to brag about—the resemblance came mostly from how abstract traditional Douluo illustrations were.
"What kind of soul skill is this? You can project soul beasts onto paper?" the boy looked at Cheng Ying warily, as if seeing a photo for the first time something too lifelike could be unnerving.
It was like walking through a school hallway in the dead of night, with black-and-white portraits of historical figures lining the walls—enough to make your skin crawl. Of course, Jue-ge wouldn't count...
Seeing Cheng Ying's drawing, the boy's first thought was that this "soul skill" could extract the soul of a soul beast and trap it on paper!
"Huh? Soul skill? This is just a drawing! See? I've got a pencil right here!" Cheng Ying pulled out his pencil to show him. Nothing technical—he even brought a sharpener, since his two disciples did a lot of drawing and sharpening by hand took too long...
"Stop lying! I've learned drawing before—drawn women never made me feel anything! But yours? Show it to a cat, it'll probably go into heat!" the boy shot back, his reasoning anything but normal.
Cheng Ying didn't know how to respond. What was he supposed to do—draw that kind of picture in front of him just to prove a point? Definitely not worth it.
Just then, a white-haired figure dropped from the sky and landed next to Cheng Ying. "Teacher, what happened? I heard gunfire just now."
"It's nothing major," Cheng Ying waved his hand dismissively. "This kid scared off my target. I was just teaching him about sustainable development."
"Huh? You're a teacher? But you barely look older than him! And you're already a teacher?" The boy clearly had no self-preservation instincts. Seeing that Dugu Bo was younger than Cheng Ying and still called him "teacher" only made him even more defiant.
"Watch your tone!" Dugu Bo released his spirit, and the appearance of two yellow and one purple soul rings startled the boy. Even though they were just the first three rings, white rings were still common at the time. A full-set spirit ring combo showed solid talent.
"Teacher is the famed Grand Sage of Heaven Dou City—how dare you speak to him like that?" Dugu Bo's statement left Cheng Ying mortified.
Quickly covering his mouth, Cheng Ying hissed, "How many times have I told you—stop calling me that! It's embarrassing! Ahem, there's a misunderstanding here. I'm just an artist, I draw soul beasts for money. That's all! Farewell!"
This was one of the main reasons Cheng Ying rarely left the house. No one could handle being called Grand Sage all the time...
Ironically, Cheng Ying's reaction only made the boy more suspicious. There were countless people trying to impersonate a figure like that, but this guy seemed desperate to avoid the title. That made it even more likely he was the real deal.
Not to mention, his drawings were too lifelike. If the Grand Sage had invented a new style of illustration, it was entirely possible. The only mystery was—why did he hate that title so much?
"Wait... Can I see more of your drawings?" The boy suddenly looked interested, perhaps because of his previous experience sketching women.
Cheng Ying had no intention of exposing his identity in front of others. He also gave up on the idea of teaching the kid a lesson. He casually pulled out a few soul beast sketches to hand over and be on his way.
But just as he opened the board, a black shadow swooped down from the sky. Boom! A gust of wind swept across the clearing, sending Cheng Ying's drawings flying everywhere.
Tang Chen, holding a defeated-looking Mandala Snake in one hand, scratched his head apologetically. "Sorry to cause more trouble, teacher. I'll help you pick them up." He knocked out the snake with one hand and began gathering the scattered pages.
He had rushed over after hearing gunshots, only to end up causing even more chaos. Meanwhile, the boy noticed Tang Chen's two yellow and two purple soul rings—four in total.
A Soul Ancestor of his age already ranked among the stronger soul masters. More importantly, a young and extremely talented Soul Ancestor willingly calling someone only slightly older "teacher"? That guy had to be the real Grand Sage. No one else could earn that kind of respect from two genius disciples. Of course, the boy also thought of himself as a genius.
At that moment, a drawing landed right in front of him. He bent down to pick it up—and froze.
It was one of the rare colored drawings. Compared to the black-and-white sketches, this one was even more vivid and realistic. But that wasn't the shocking part.
The drawing depicted a girl a youthful and stunningly beautiful girl.
She had golden hair, emerald eyes, and a stubborn expression. Her eyes were larger than average, and her head was proportionally oversized yet it didn't feel unnatural at all. In fact, the proportions made her seem strangely cute. The boy couldn't explain it, but though it was clearly stylized rather than realistic, it felt more beautiful than a real person. It was like magic especially the one lock of hair standing up like it defied gravity: the perfect finishing touch.
This kind of thing had a well-known name: lewd drawing.
What the boy had picked up was exactly that—a lewd drawing that Cheng Ying had made… though its quality was honestly mediocre. Done entirely by hand without digital tools, the coloring was uneven and the shading lacked polish. At best, it was amateur work. In his previous life, Cheng Ying wouldn't have dared post it to Pixiv.
Yet for the boy, it delivered a visual shock far beyond anything the black-and-white sketches ever could.
"Master! I want to learn this! My name is Meng Shu—please teach me how to draw!"
Cheng Ying looked at the boy who suddenly lunged toward him, quickly dodged, and snatched back the drawing. When he saw it was that "Saber" illustration, his face turned green, and a vein on his forehead throbbed. He felt his reputation crumbling to dust...
He seriously considered whether to silence the kid for good. But then—
"Wait... What did he say his name was? Meng Shu?" Cheng Ying paused, frowning. "Why does that name sound... familiar?"