Canvas of the Peaceful Scholar
By @john1208
I never wanted to be a cultivator. While the rest of Azure Scroll Manor obsessed over martial dominance, I just wanted to paint the morning mist. My greatest ambition was simply presenting a landscape scroll at the grand engagement banquet connecting our sect to Kuang Zongtu, a fiery body-refining tyrant who terrifies the mortal realm. But when Kuang Zongtu’s legendary mythical beast, the Crimson-Scaled Hou, threatened to trample the banquet guests, my pacifist heart couldn't just watch. I casually tossed a folded paper crane from my sketchpad. To everyone’s sheer disbelief, my little crane effortlessly outmaneuvered the roaring behemoth, and my spilled ink dragged the tyrant and his beast straight into my canvas, trapping them as permanent scenery. Now, I am the reluctant protector of a sect that reveres me. Yet, my extreme kindness blinds me to a darker truth. My wise, kindly master, Yue Fengmian, has been smiling a little too warmly at my newfound abilities. If my brush can create pocket dimensions, what happens when I realize the very mentor teaching me to hold it is the one orchestrating our total destruction?
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