The pheasant was tied to another tree more than 30 meters away from Xia Pingan's treehouse. It was surrounded by grassland, and nothing could block Xia Pingan's sight.
The pheasant chirped and paced back and forth on the grassland uneasily. It even flapped its wings, wanting to fly away.
After the old hunter and his son left, the forest became noisy and quiet. Xia Pingan sat cross-legged in the tree house with his eyes closed, waiting patiently. He really treated himself as a person who had returned to the origin. He had made up his mind to train his painting skills to the extreme.
Back then, Li Guizhen had sacrificed so much to draw the tiger. The determination he had made was truly amazing.
Tigers weren't good at climbing trees, but in this forest, there were too many poisonous insects and ferocious beasts that could climb trees. Leopards could climb trees, poisonous snakes could climb trees, and poisonous insects could climb trees. Settling down in this forest to watch tigers in this environment was equivalent to disregarding life and death.
This spirit was the foundation of a person's success.
There were a few biscuits and two water bottles in the treehouse. These were Xia Pingan's food.
There was a clear stream nearby, which could solve the water problem. If he wanted to relieve himself, he could only come down from the tree and go to the nearby grassland to relieve himself. Compared to the Cho Clan, this life was not much different. He had completely become a primitive man.
For the first two days, the pheasant was chirping, and Xia Pingan did not even see a single hair of the tiger.
On the morning of the third day, Xia Pingan was sitting in the treehouse with concentration. Suddenly, he felt that the forest outside suddenly became quiet. A dense killing intent faintly reverberated in the forest. The pheasant that was chirping on the grassland suddenly stopped chirping.
Xia Pingan suddenly opened his eyes.
On a tree not far away, a flock of birds suddenly flew up in fright. The grass shook, and with a tiger's roar, an incomparably majestic white tiger rushed down from the nearby hillside. It was not an exaggeration to say that a tiger followed the wind with its imposing manner.
It pounced down with a gust of fierce wind.
The pheasant was so scared that it curled up into a ball. When it saw the tiger pouncing over, it flapped its wings and wanted to fly away. However, just as the pheasant jumped up, the tiger leaped into the air and opened its bloody mouth. It directly bit down and pounced down.
That ferocious tiger was fierce and domineering, carrying with it a wild and boundless life force and the aura of the king of beasts. Its eyes were filled with killing intent, and its movements were firm and powerful. Every pore on its body exuded a bloody, masculine, and powerful aura that was difficult to describe.
It was not a tiger kept in a zoo, nor was it a tiger kept in a cage. It was a living beast that could tear apart all prey and enemies at any time.
When you see that tiger, you will know what it means to have the temperament of a true king of beasts.
After the tiger pounced on the pheasant, it immediately got into the grass and disappeared. However, the moment when it pounced on the pheasant had been deeply imprinted in Xia Pingan's mind.
Xia Pingan felt that a certain nerve in the depths of his heart had been touched, but he was unable to say what he wanted to say. In the end, he only took out a drawing paper and a pen, grasping the feeling in his heart in the wooden house. He drew several pictures in a row, wanting to show that feeling on paper.
However, no matter how he drew, Xia Pingan always felt that the tiger he drew could not express that feeling in his heart. It always lacked something.
Xia Pingan used to think that his paintings were good enough. However, after drawing a few pictures of tigers, he realized that the tiger he drew still lacked something. That something might be what Li Guizhen was looking for.
The next day, the old hunter and his son came again. They brought Xia Pingan a rabbit and some pancakes. The rabbit was still tied near the tree. The old hunter and his son sprinkled some sheep's blood near the tree.
That night, a wild wolf came. Xia Pingan threw a stone from the tree and shouted. Finally, the wolf was scared away.
The next day, the tiger came again and quickly took the rabbit away.
Xia Pingan memorized every movement of the tiger as it hunted. He kept drawing on the paper over and over again, trying to draw out the little thing that touched his heart.
Two days later, the old hunter and his son came again. Xia Pingan asked the old hunter and his son to bring him some ink and paper. He had used up all the ink and paper he brought.
Xia Pingan had been drawing the tiger every day. He was learning from the tiger and pondering over the ferocious tiger. Even when he was dreaming or sleeping, he was thinking about the ferocious tiger's every move as it pounced on its prey. He was completely immersed in that state. He had completely forgotten that he was in the world inside the Realm Pearl. He had completely forgotten that he was in the Realm Pearl. He had completely forgotten that he was in the Realm Pearl. He had completely forgotten that he was in the Realm Pearl. He had completely forgotten that he was in the Realm Pearl.
What shocked Xia Pingan was not only the image of the fierce tiger, but also the spirit of the king of beasts and the most primitive and surging "Strength of Beasts" in all living creatures. It was a kind of rhyme, a kind of comprehension, a kind of Dao, which was hard to put into words.
Xia Pingan was completely immersed in it.
The old hunter and his son would send something to Xia Pingan every three or four days. They would also check on Xia Pingan. Every time they came, they would see that Xia Pingan was either crazy or silent.
In the beginning, the old hunter and his son felt that Xia Pingan's tiger drawings were more and more similar. Later on, when they saw the things that Xia Pingan drew, the old hunter and his son could not understand them at all. Because the things that Xia Pingan drew became stranger and stranger. There were all kinds of messy lines. Sometimes, there were mountains and flowing clouds. Sometimes, there were swaying leaves or flowing streams. Sometimes, there were even stripes on the tiger's body, a fierce light in its eyes, sunrise and sunset …
The old hunter and his son even suspected that Xia Pingan was crazy.
Xia Pingan stayed in the treehouse for two years.
On this day, the old hunter and his son came to deliver something to Xia Pingan again. Then, the old hunter suddenly said, "Oh right, when I came out today, I heard that a few hunters in the neighboring village hunted a tiger on another mountain and are about to sell it …"
Xia Pingan heard this and his heart skipped a beat. "Uncle, can you take me to see it? I want to buy that tiger …"
"Ah, you're leaving here …"
"I'm going down the mountain temporarily …"
"It's not cheap to buy a whole tiger. The most expensive part of that tiger is its skin, then its bones, and then its meat …"
When the old hunter said that it was not cheap, it was actually only relative to the people of this era. For Xia Pingan, the price of these wild beasts that were hunted in this era was not that expensive. If it was not a rare breed like the white tiger, a hunting tiger with a few holes or arrow holes on its body and most of its fur ruined was not much more valuable than a live cow.
Of course, if there was a complete tiger skin that was not damaged, the price would be different. If one wanted a complete tiger skin, the difficulty of hunting a tiger would increase by more than ten times, and the price of the tiger skin would be higher.
"It's okay, I still have some savings. I should be able to buy it …"
Seeing Xia Pingan being so straightforward, the old hunter nodded. "Okay, I'll take you to ask how much it costs!"
"Thank you, uncle …"
…
Xia Pingan followed the old hunter down the mountain. It didn't take him much effort to buy the tiger that was hunted.
After buying the tiger, Xia Pingan stayed at the old hunter's house for a few days. During these days, Xia Pingan personally dissected the tiger bit by bit. After dissecting the tiger, Xia Pingan gave the tiger meat to the old hunter, and took the tiger bone and tiger skin back up the mountain.
Xia Pingan continued to draw in the treehouse. This time, he drew a skinless tiger, and only the muscles on the tiger's body …
Just the muscles alone took him half a year to draw. After that, he began to piece the tiger's bones together bit by bit, and began to draw tigers with only bones on the painting.
During this period, Xia Pingan did not stop observing the tigers on the mountain.
After drawing the bones for a year, Xia Pingan came down from the tree wearing the tiger skin. He dressed himself up as a tiger, and every day, he would walk with his hands and feet like a tiger, fluttering, jumping, and imitating the tiger's every move.
In this way, more than a year passed unknowingly …
After more than a year, Xia Pingan took off the tiger skin and started to practice martial arts in the forest. He was like a dragon leaping and a tiger leaping in the forest, walking as if he was flying.
Xia Pingan began to draw again. He used stones, branches, trees, on the ground, in the flowing water, in his mind, and in the sky. He drew whatever he saw. It was no longer limited to tigers. Everything in the world was in his painting …
This day, Xia Pingan was drinking water by the stream wearing the tiger skin. When he was drinking water, the bushes beside him moved. A two-meter-long tiger suddenly drilled out of the bushes, as if it did not see Xia Pingan. It also came to Xia Pingan's side to drink water.
Xia Pingan turned his head to look at the tiger, and the tiger also turned its head to look at him.
The tiger bared its teeth and growled at Xia Pingan in a low voice. Xia Pingan stood up and kicked the tiger, causing it to flip over.
The ferocious tiger roared and pounced over. Xia Pingan stretched out his hand and grabbed the skin of the ferocious tiger's neck as if he was pinching a cat. Then, he threw the tiger away.
Xia Pingan stared at the tiger. The tiger was thrown to the ground a few meters away. It did not dare to look at Xia Pingan. Its body lay on the ground, and it slowly retreated. Then, it rolled over and exposed its belly to Xia Pingan.
At this moment, the silver bottle in Xia Pingan's mind broke, and the sun shone brightly.
Xia Pingan laughed heartily and went down the mountain. When he passed by a county yamen at the foot of the mountain, he saw the yamen runners building a staircase to clean up the bird droppings on the yamen gate. They complained as they cleaned up. Those birds liked to land on the eaves above the gate and defecate here every day. Cleaning up the bird droppings on the yamen gate had become a chore for these yamen runners.
Even when the bailiffs were cleaning up the bird droppings, some pigeons flew over and landed on the eaves above the door. The bailiffs below shouted twice, and the pigeons flew away. Without shouting, the pigeons flew back.
"Hahaha, it's not difficult. I have a way to solve it!" Xia Pingan said directly when he heard the yamen runners' complaints.
"Ah, what method do you have?" A yamen runner asked when he saw Xia Pingan's disheveled hair. He looked like a mad scholar and had a special temperament.
"Go get me a brush, ink, and ladder. I'll show you!"
The brush, ink, and ladder were simple. They were available in the yamen. The yamen runners also wanted to see Xia Pingan's ability. Out of curiosity, they really found the brush, ink, and ladder.
Xia Pingan placed the ladder on the wall under the eaves next to the county yamen. He took the brush and ink and climbed up the ladder. On the snow-white wall under the eaves, his brush flew like it was flying. In the blink of an eye, he had drawn an eagle owl.
The condor owl that Xia Pingan drew looked as if it was going to fly out of the wall. It was beyond vivid and lifelike.
When the last stroke was drawn, it landed on the eyes of the Eagle Owl. The pigeons that were previously standing on the walls and eaves were all startled and flew away as if they were fleeing for their lives. The surrounding sky became clear.
Xia Pingan came down from the ladder and laughed. He threw the brush and ink to the yamen runners and left.
The yamen runners looked at the condor owl that was going to jump out of the wall and the birds that flew away in the blink of an eye. They were all shocked.
Even the onlookers on the street were shocked.
"Why does that man look familiar …"
"Right, that man is Li Guizhen, a painter. I haven't heard about him for many years …"
The county magistrate came out of the yamen when he heard the news. He looked up at the condor owl on the wall and then at the sky where there were no birds. He was stunned and hurriedly asked the yamen runners to chase Xia Pingan.
Before Xia Pingan returned home and the yamen runners were still on the way, the world of the Boundary Pearl had been broken.
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