Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2676: Chapter 2677: Pastoral Afternoon

Angel indeed saw oil paintings in the Nightmare Realm’s Hanging Jail Stairway. However, all these paintings were concentrated at the topmost floor, which is the Warden’s residence.

The Warden of the Hanging Jail Stairway seems to be a person who greatly loves oil paintings, as every corridor in his residence is lined with numerous artworks. Each of these artworks is an exquisite masterpiece.

Initially, when Angel left the Hanging Jail Stairway, he even took two paintings from the Warden’s gallery to bring back to reality.

To this day, those two paintings still lie inside Angel’s bracelet.

The oil painting on the wall of this ruin is naturally not one of those two that Angel brought out, but he had seen similar paintings in the Warden’s gallery.

In other words, this painting very likely originated from the top of the Hanging Jail Stairway, the Warden’s gallery.

However, how did it come here from the Warden’s gallery? Was it due to a Spatial Tempest that scattered the oil paintings inside, coincidentally landing here? Or perhaps, this entire wall was originally part of the Warden’s gallery?

Angel pondered for a moment and approached the location of the painting.

Before he even reached the painting, Angel ascertained that this wall did not come from the Warden’s gallery, but rather originally belonged to the wall of a cell on the second floor. This is because the Warden’s gallery walls and frames are made of the same material, both are expensive lacquer wood, with the only difference being that the walls are covered with deep purple matte wallpaper.

But the wall in this ruin is made of a mixed material of stone and wood, considered relatively cheap, even cheaper than previous deep-sea wood, with the only benefit being its strong conductivity, capable of carrying the energy channels of a Mana-bearing Array.

Although the wall isn’t from the highest floor gallery walls, the painting is indeed part of the Warden’s collection.

It is a pastoral leisure-themed oil painting, with golden-hued ripe grain stretching into the distance, and many farmwomen working hard. In the foreground is a farmwoman, but she is not working, instead resting by a tree, judging by the sweat at her temples and the work gloves set aside, she could be in the midst of labor or just resting afterward. Golden curls tumble from one side of her headscarf, her young and vibrant, beautiful profile gazes at the distant mountains with a lingering sentiment, as if her beloved is among those mountains.

The background is a warm hue of early autumn harvest, mid-afternoon light in a hazy blur, the whole scene rich with layers despite minimal use of colors.

Angel remembers this painting due to its rarity among the Warden’s collection of leisure-themed paintings.

Other artworks are either deeply philosophical, abstract in meaning, realistic, or portraits.

Leisure-themed paintings are very few.

Precisely because leisure-themed paintings are scarce, among the two oil paintings Angel chose to bring out, he picked one called ”The Shepherd’s Milking Scene.”

This ”Pastoral Afternoon Painting” was also among Angel’s considerations at the time, hence the deep impression.

”Is there a problem with this painting?” At this moment, the Black Earl also flew over.

The Black Earl’s voice carried obvious doubt, as Angel should have heard the previous dialogue between the Wise Sovereign and himself. The Wise Sovereign clearly stated that the Wood Spirit wasn’t here, so why would Angel linger before this painting?

Others also curiously looked at Angel. Angel seldom engages in things without purpose; by standing in front of this painting, did he make another discovery?

Angel: ”I’m just curious, why is this painting hung here?”

Although Angel was answering the Black Earl, his gaze was fixed on the Wise Sovereign.

The Wise Sovereign raised an eyebrow: ”Why can’t it be hung here?”

Angel: ”I think such artwork should be displayed in a beautiful gallery, not within ruins. It was probably someone who hung it here, right?”

The Wise Sovereign merely smiled without answering.

He thought Angel had actually discovered something, but it seems Angel was just curious about the painting’s presence here.

It’s reasonable, how could a descendant recognize an unknown artwork from ages ago.

Angel turned his head, looking at the Wise Sovereign: ”Did the Wise Sovereign place this painting here?”

The Wise Sovereign shook his head: ”No.”

After a pause, the Wise Sovereign further said: ”If you wish to know a more detailed answer, feel free to exchange questions with me.”

The Wise Sovereign bringing up the exchange surprised even the Black Earl slightly. This meant the Wise Sovereign deemed the question worthy of Angel’s exchange.

In other words, the person who hung this painting must have a significant identity.

Angel caught the underlying meaning from the Wise Sovereign’s tone but still shook his head: ”Never mind, we came searching for the Wood Spirit this time, other matters can wait.”

The Wise Sovereign didn’t mind Angel’s choice, chuckling before stepping aside.

Just as the Wise Sovereign prepared to return to the path of the Void, he suddenly noticed Vay, directly facing him, suddenly widen his eyes in shock while staring behind him.

Simultaneously, Dox exclaimed aloud: ”What is this, a Wood Spirit?”

The Wise Sovereign froze upon hearing this, immediately turning back to look.

He saw Angel’s hand, at some point, had reached into the painting, slowly pulling out a blackish-brown round wood.

As Angel gradually extracted the round wood, the painting’s scene seemed to change into lake water, rippling with undulating waves.

Everyone stared agape at Angel’s actions, including the Wise Sovereign, whose face showed a hint of astonishment.

How... did he know?

Under the gaze of everyone, Angel pulled out a blackish-brown round wood about two meters long and ten centimeters thick from the painting.

Once the round wood completely came out of the oil painting, the tree against which the farmwoman rested appeared as if it had died, its leaves withering until only a barren trunk remained.

Such transformation was already astonishing, but the changes hadn’t concluded.

The farmwoman in the painting, who originally showed a sidelong face gazing lovingly towards the distant mountains, now turned her face directly forward, revealing the other side of her face as a pitch-black hollow, with resentment replacing the affectionate gaze.

The farmwoman glared angrily at Angel before turning into a thin layer of black smoke, vanishing.

At this moment, the painting’s scenery transformed again.

The withered tree grew leaves anew, and the vanished farmwoman reappeared, but now she was no longer a beautiful young blonde woman, instead a freckled, brown-haired ponytail girl.

This scene lasted only for a moment before transforming again.

The picture visibly aged rapidly.

From pristine beginnings, it became yellowed and mottled, until the painting finally fractured into fine dust, disappearing, leaving only an empty frame.

”Just what is happening here? Why did the painting change? Why did the half-black-hole-faced woman become a freckled girl? What is this wood? And why did the painting ultimately turn into ashes?”

Dox’s questions burst out one after another.

Normally, Dox’s machine-gun barrage of inquiries would certainly draw Black Earl’s ridicule. But this time, the Black Earl didn’t stop Dox, for these were the questions he wanted answers to as well.

Angel, however, paid no attention to Dox, and instead carefully examined the round wood in his hand, which was not light in weight.

There was no response for a long time, so Black Earl couldn’t help but ask, ”Is this the Wood Spirit?”

Concealed so secretly, everyone’s first thought was the Wood Spirit. However, Black Earl was somewhat puzzled: if it was the Wood Spirit, why did the Wise Sovereign deceive him earlier, saying there was a trap here and the Wood Spirit was definitely not here?

Since the Wise Sovereign let them search for the Wood Spirit, there was no need to deceive him on purpose.

Furthermore, Black Earl had examined this painting before and found nothing unusual, so how did Angel discover it?

Angel: ”It’s not the Wood Spirit, but it should be somewhat related to it.”

As Angel said this, he glanced at the Wise Sovereign.

This time, the Wise Sovereign didn’t remain silent but softly said, ”The first time I saw the Wood Spirit here, it performed this shell-escape trick to avoid me. This should be something it created or an offshoot of its main body.”

After the Wise Sovereign finished speaking, he directly asked, ”How did you discover it?”

”Are we swapping answers now?” Angel replied offhandedly.

The Sage said nothing, but his three eyes quietly stared at Angel, seemingly trying to see through him. However, this was just an illusion; the Sage’s gaze was merely Angel using illusion techniques to portray it, without any intimidating force.

Nevertheless, Angel did not attempt to provoke the Sage at this time; he avoided his gaze, then casually said, ”I’ve happened to see this painting.”

”You’ve seen this painting?” The Sage questioned, confused: ”Impossible, how could you have seen it?”

Angel: ”Skarob.”

The Sage Sovereign asked skeptically: ”He is...?”

Angel: ”Doesn’t the Wise Sovereign know? Skarob Wright is the author of this painting.”

The Sage indeed didn’t know who the author of this painting was. Although, as an Alchemist, he had some understanding of aesthetics, he primarily focused on Potionology; appreciation and aesthetics were more aligned with the study of Metallography.

Moreover, although this painting was quite well-done, it was ultimately the work of mortals, mounted in a transcendent material frame. The Sage considered it a waste, let alone appreciating and studying it.

The one truly interested in paintings was Franklin, the Warden of the Hanging Jail Stairway and one of the core Dominators of Naraku City.

Now hearing Angel mention a painter’s name, the Wise Sovereign really couldn’t determine whether he was telling the truth.

”Although I’ve never seen the original painting, I had the fortune to see some synopsis of this painter’s works collected by an Alchemist who loves paintings. The synopses contain imitations of this artist’s works, seemingly compiled by later generations.” Angel, upon realizing the Sage didn’t know the painter’s name, began to fabricate details.

”Besides this ’Pastoral Afternoon Painting,’ there are other works like ’The Milking Shepherd,’ ’The Homecoming Fisher,’ ’Towards the Evening Glow’...”

Angel spoke as he used illusion techniques to simulate paintings one by one.

To others, the style did indeed match closely with the previous painting.

But to the Wise Sovereign, several of these images felt familiar, as if Franklin had collected the originals.

Could he be telling the truth, actually knowing the original appearance of the painting?

The Sage previously entirely disbelieved Angel had seen this oil painting, since it was a work of a mortal painter who has been gone for ten thousand years.

Even if the painter was famous at the time, ten thousand years would suffice for everyone to forget him.

But now someone claimed to have seen his works, which the Sage found hard to believe.

Yet Angel’s examples did strike a familiar chord with the Sage, so he couldn’t come up with any argument to refute him.

Also, upon careful thought, it seemed indeed somewhat plausible.

Mortals cannot preserve a painter’s work for ten thousand years, but Wizards can. Franklin likes the painter’s works; surely other Wizards could like them too?

Angel also mentioned a key point. It was an ’Alchemist’ who collected the works.

The vast majority of Alchemists, due to the necessity of crafting blueprints, have a preference for art that cultivates aesthetics. Thus, it’s not uncommon for Alchemists to collect mortal paintings.

Wizard collections, once properly maintained, can persist for ten thousand years without issue. Moreover, many Witcher Organizations and Wizard Families often recreate ancient books to prevent the loss of singular copies.

If Angel indeed saw the works in some Alchemist collection, it seemed, that wasn’t entirely impossible.

However, the Wise Sovereign still felt it odd. Could it really be such a coincidence that Angel just happened to see this author’s collection and also coincidentally came here?

If it’s the first coincidence, the Sage might accept it. But Angel is always surrounded by a shroud of Mist.

This led the Sage to suspect Angel came prepared. Or perhaps he is the descendant of a Wizard somehow affiliated with Naraku City?

By affiliated, it doesn’t only mean Wizards who are friendly with Naraku City but also those who are adversarial.

Thus, the Wise Sovereign is increasingly curious about Angel’s identity.

While the Sage observed Angel, Angel continued, ”Oh, the ’Pastoral Afternoon Painting’ original is like this.”

Angel waved again, and an illusion appeared before everyone.

The so-called original of ’Pastoral Afternoon Painting’ was exactly the scene that appeared last; the farmer’s wife was not a blonde woman but a freckled girl with a ponytail.

”Also because the original differed, I noticed something amiss and tried to solve the puzzle of the painting.”

”The final result is as you’ve seen.”

”What sustains the painting’s freshness is the lifeforce within the wood, and this wood is hidden in the space of the painting... more accurately, not within the painting, but in a reflective membrane layer on the surface.”

Angel said this and meaningfully added, ”This membrane is somewhat like a mirror.”

Mirror?

Upon hearing this term, everyone frowned because they had thought of a suspected non-existent Demon God: Mirror Demon God.

They later found a suspected ”Mirror Demon God’s” Mark, with half featuring the profile of a long-haired woman and the other half a man in a hat.

And previously the ”farmer’s wife” profile in the painting seemed vaguely similar to the long-haired woman in the Mark.

Could this painting also be related to the Mirror Demon God?

Black Earl considered this, ”glancing” at the Wise Sovereign. The Sage had previously hinted that the person displaying this painting here was worth Angel conducting an exchange of questions with.

So, was the Mirror Demon God related to the Wise Sovereign?