771 A Black Screen! A Black Screen!

The 'conversion' effect of the Sovereign (Stage) was completely out of his expectations.

Xu Xiaoshou was ecstatic.

However, he took a look at the information bar.

"Passive Points: 599,462."

The appearance of this thing directly consumed about a third of his Passive Points...

"Damn it."

"'Conversion' is powerful, but it's too expensive!"

Xu Xiaoshou calmed down and ignored Xu Xiaoji, who was limping over. He turned around and returned to the site of his experiment.

He had to pull the spatial barrier properly. Otherwise, the spectacle of him digging a hole and burying himself in it would be seen by others.

"Do I still smoke?"

To be honest, Xu Xiaoshou did not dare to smoke any more.

He still wanted to awaken.

Now that the awakening stone was selling for 30,000 Passive Points per stone, which meant ten consecutive awakenings would cost 300,000... it was simply a scam!

The effects of awakening were usually greater than those offered by Extended Passive Skills.

Xu Xiaoshou placed the greatest emphasis on awakening.

"I still have six Passive Keys left..."

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes suddenly lit up. He exchanged for four more Passive Keys, giving him enough to draw another ten times.

These Passive Keys were his reward for patronising the lottery. It was not much of a gift, but beggars can't be choosers. Although he could not bear to use them, he had to for the greater good, or so he convinced himself.

If he mixed them, perhaps the system would be caught off guard, giving him a free pass to the abysmal lottery.

"Should I, or should I not; should I, or should I not...?" Xu Xiaoshou, the crazy Demon King, murmured. Soon, he pushed ten keys into the keyhole.

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"You got a Passive Key!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"You got a Passive Key!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

"Thank you for your patronage!"

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

He punched the ground in frustration, creating a large crater in the earth. The resulting explosion nearly scared Xu Xiaoshou to death.

"Damn it! I have the Sovereign Physique and the divine skill 'Transformation' but nothing else. These two skills have eaten all my luck..."

"No more!"

Xu Xiaoshou suppressed his impulse. Nothing good would come from spending his points so freely.

Yet, he could not stop thinking how it would be a waste if he did not get his money's worth. He had spent a massive sum of Passive Points, after all.

It would not hurt if he tried his hand a few more times, would it?

"There are still two left..."

Eyeing his last two Passive Keys, Xu Xiaoshou wanted to cry but had no tears.

Freebies were indeed the worst!

Only the ones redeemed with his hard-earned points were the best!

If he were to weigh everything on a scale, there could be no doubt he had made a loss.

There were still two left... two tempting little vessels whispering sweet promises in his ears.

"Heavenly spirits, deliver me from suffering! The decision is too much for this pitiful one!"

He inserted another one.

"Thank you for your patronage!"

Xu Xiaoshou's devout face instantly turned black as ink.

If the dog system had a physical body, he would tear it in two!

The last one...

"Please, please, please! Give me something good!"

Xu Xiaoshou covered his eyes with both hands, forming a black screen over them. Using his spiritual sense, he stabbed his last key into the hateful hole of the lottery wheel.

Buzz...

A strange sound hummed in his mind.

Though it was sudden, Xu Xiaoshou managed to react.

Normally, something like that would not have occurred...

He opened his eyes in shock, but his vision was still dark.

He took his hand away, and it was still dark!

Excitement!

Madness!

Xu Xiaoshou held his head; his lips were so wide he could kiss his ears.

"It's dark! It's dark! Everything is dark!"

His heart pounded wildly.

Soon, the world around him returned to normal, and a familiar fantasy realm came into view.

It was a stainless world, unblemished like a blank sheet of paper. It was a canvas, and Xu Xiaoshou was the painter. Even the earth, the sky, and the primordial chaos which birthed them had not yet been born.

"What kind of passive skill is this?"

Xu Xiaoshou suppressed his excitement. He knew that the realm had its own rules.

There was no need for him to move. The realm would move on its own.

Sure enough, while he lingered on the precipice of doubt, spiritual energy converged in the Nine Heavens, taking the shape of a brush.

The brush angled towards the bottom of the world, and earth sprang up from nothingness. Cresting an arch over the top of the world and fluffy white clouds drifted across a blue sky.

Xu Xiaoshou watched with his mouth agape.

How could nothing give birth to something?

What type of passive skill had he obtained this time? A Master-type, a State-type? Or was it a brand new model altogether?

Although the earth and sky had come into existence, the world itself held no life.

Just as the thought passed through Xu Xiaoshou's mind, the brush suspended in the Nine Heavens whirled into motion once again, sprinkling the earth in a rain of spiritual ink.

Mountains, basins, and grasslands formed.

Rivers, lakes, and oceans surged.

The world was dyed green for the first time, and life burgeoned in the realm's cradle.

Xu Xiaoshou realised the world had evolved from the small fragment it once was. Yuan Mansion was its base, while the brush provided the building blocks to refurbish it.

Although the methods were different, the results marked that they had come from the same direction.

After experiencing the baptism of the Dao of 'Cooking Expert' and 'Weaving Expertise,' Xu Xiaoshou knew that this was the fantasy realm of Passive Skills, broadening his horizons.

Using a brush, he sketched the outline of a new world.

It was not over yet!

Once the lands and rivers took shape, the world stilled. The world had no notion of sound; it was a concept that did not yet exist.

Xu Xiaoshou watched helplessly as the brush hovering over the Nine Heavens shook.

"Rumble--"

The wind howled, and the sea rumbled.

The summer rain pattered, and the winter snow whistled.

The world came alive in a cacophony of sounds.

As if sensing a need for urgency, the brush twirled and danced, painting various shapes and sounds with ever-increasing fervour.

A swish and a flick!

A titanic beast with the head of a lion and the body of a dragon appeared on the ground. It arched its back and roared at the sky, suppressing the four corners of the universe and swallowing everything in its path.

Out from the void, an emerald bird with evergreen feathers and a flaming tail of a phoenix tore through the skies, heralding its arrival with loud chirps.

The wind howled over the seas.

A monstrous shadow ten thousand miles long broke out of its watery prison in the churning depths.

"It is a fish!"

Scales morphed in feathers, while fins became wings. The fish had transformed into an enormous bird whose wings blotted out the sky, dwarfing the emerald bird and swallowing it whole. The green bird was no better than a toothpick in the bird's gaping maw.

It was massive...

Xu Xiaoshou only reacted at this moment.

"Kun Peng!"

He felt abashed for calling such a majestic specimen a 'fish'. It demeaned the noble status a Kun Peng possessed.

The brush continued its work high in the sky.

Ancient creatures of yore sprouted in innumerable droves.

Xu Xiaoshou felt like he was witnessing an evolutionary map detailing the world's birth from the Desolate Era to the present. Humans appeared only after the brush tapped the air, creating ripples in the sky.

The law of the jungle collapsed; Or rather, it was pushed to a new extreme.

Humans began to reproduce. They grew from weak, helpless, pitiful creatures to tool-wielding cultivators embarking on the road to discovery and the Grand Dao.

They became as powerful as gods and fought back the desolate tides of beasts, carving out a path of civilisation.

Ancient behemoths were devoured, and the very structure of the continent changed...

Tectonic plates moved, and sea levels rose.

Life vanished, new civilisations appeared, and then were overthrown...

Xu Xiaoshou's scalp went numb as he watched.

In the end, he discovered a white mark on the previously blank scroll when he arrived at the edge of the world. He was an outsider not born from the painting.

Meanwhile...

"Whoosh!"

The painting of the desolate world shook, turning into a stream of light that poured into the head of the unsuspecting bystander nearby.

Xu Xiaoshou opened his eyes and noticed he had returned to Yuan Mansion.

"Unbelievable..."

It took him a while to recover from the disorientating experience; the magnificence of the ancient world branded in his mind's eye. It was something he could not allow himself to forget. With great effort, he solidified the image of the past he remembered, and only after did he have the heart to look at the information bar.

"Expertise Passive Skill acquired: Painting Mastery!"

"Yay!" Xu Xiaoshou waved his fist in excitement.

He had considered the possibility long ago, but it exceeded his wildest imagination.

Expertise Passive Skills...

He had lived for so long, but he had only managed to acquire three.

Almost every one of those three changed his fighting style and opened up a new world of possibilities for him.

'Painting Mastery' would probably send him to the heights of the Magic Brush, Ma Liang.

"But, where's my brush?"

Xu Xiaoshou fumbled around for a long time, but he could not find the brush of the Nine Heavens.

His face darkened.

How on earth was he supposed to paint without a brush or ink?

However, on second thought, using a real brush to change the world was not feasible.

Xu Xiaoshou pondered for a moment and drew upon his spiritual source as a brush to draw a four-not-alike on the ground.

"What the hell!"

It was so ugly! His drawing ability had not improved, it seemed.

Still, he felt that the four unlikenesses on the ground were very lifelike.

"Is it an illusion?" Xu Xiaoshou wondered. He could not help but doubt himself.

It was a strange feeling. Even though Xu Xiaoshou could not even decipher what kind of bird he drew, it was still vivid and lifelike, as if it were a real, living creature.

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly remembered that his 'Painting Mastery' had not levelled up yet.

He would have to raise 'Painting Mastery's' rank with Passive Points like any other Mastery-type passive if he hoped to attain proficiency in the art.

10,000, 50,000, 100,000 Passive Points vanished in a puff of smoke.

It took Xu Xiaoshou several hours to recover from the influx of experience.

"Painting Mastery, Innate (Stage)."

"..."

"Painting Mastery, Sovereign (Stage)."

The benefits of raising one's cultivation level were obvious.

Xu Xiaoshou used his inventory of Passive Points to raise his 'Painting Mastery' to the highest rank.

He tried using his spiritual source as a brush again...

"Wait!"

Xu Xiaoshou paused as if he had understood something.

The brush in the fantasy realm was intangible and could only be 'felt' using his mind.

It was much stronger than a physical manifestation.

A spiritual source might seem intangible, but it had its limitations.

If disturbed, it would fragment easily. A brush conjured from Xu Siaoshou's spiritual source would be too fragile to meet his needs.

Xu Xiaoshou mulled over the issue, but his mind always returned to the problem of using his spiritual source as a brush.

That was when inspiration sparked!

"It's the mind!"

His eyes lit up. If he used his mind as a brush, then it meant that he could do whatever he wanted!

It was too terrifying.

It was completely beyond the scope of 'painting'.

It was the realm of godhood!

Xu Xiaoshou had never followed the rules for Expertise Passive Skills, so why was he fretting now?

"Let's give it a shot."

'Painting Mastery' was currently at the Sovereign (Stage). According to the insights bestowed upon him by the heavens, Xu Xiaoshou employed his mind to the task of creating an intangible brush.

A brush of will!

He controlled the brush no one but him could see and bent creation to his will. He felt like a philosopher of old.

"I believe in my existence."

With a sense of humour and experimentation, Xu Xiaoshou looked at the ground.

Where could he paint?

There had to be a medium for him to paint.

Wait. Did the void not count as something?

Xu Xiaoshou skipped the ability of 'painting with real objects', which was necessary for those who had not reached the Innate (Stage) or the Master (Stage) of 'Painting Mastery', and used the void as his canvas. He could perceive the world in its entirety with a glance.

It looked like he was not doing anything, merely staring into blank space.

However, in Xu Xiaoshou's mind, he used his brush and painted the sky with his imagination.

Instantly, the sky changed!

Spiritual sources gathered in the void, and lines appeared, quickly sketching out the appearance of a living creature.

Then... A chicken appeared!

"Cluck Cluck Cluck..."

It even sounded like one!

The chicken cried out in alarm because it fell to the ground and died the moment it appeared!

It shattered into a pile of spiritual energy.

Xu Xiaoshou looked at this scene, and his eyebrows jumped as he fell into deep thought.

This painting was just an attempt. Xu Xiaoshou felt his mental strength had diminished a little, but his spiritual source, Qi, and blood quickly filled in the gap by replenishing what he had used.

"That's disgusting!" Xu Xiaoshou muttered in shock.

"How is this a painting?" In the eyes of outsiders, this ability was no different from the skill 'Materialise'!

"The most important thing is that drawing this chicken doesn't consume much mental strength. It's something I can recover almost instantly."

Xu Xiaoshou recalled the sight of the Kun Peng in the fantasy realm. His eyes widened, and the corners of his lips curled up.

Tilting his head, he looked to the other side.

"Chi Chi Chi"

Spiritual energy rapidly gathered in the air while his mental strength rapidly depleted.

Bean-sized beads of sweat dappled Xu Xiaoshou's forehead. It had taken him almost all of his mental energy to draw just the head of a giant roc, but if he did not finish the drawing, the roc would not come to life.

"Yeah, there's no such thing as half a bird. There's only one, two..."

He fell into deep thought.

Xu Xiaoshou drew the spatial barrier open and shouted to the other end, "Xiaoji!"

Xu Xiaoji, who was still counting, immediately tensed up and turned around stiffly.

He saw the confident figure of the Great Demon King Xu walking over.

"Cluck Cluck Cluck!"

The Great Demon King Xu rushed over, and at his feet was... a chicken?!

Xu Xiaoji blinked, dumbfounded.

He stared blankly at the black and white coloured chicken, feeling a sense of incongruence. It was as if the chicken was incompatible with the world like it did not belong...

"Something like this shouldn't be 'felt', should it? It's not possible!"

"Which world was this chicken born in? Is it a new ghost beast?"

"Demon King Xu, what are you up to now?"

Xu Xiaoji's heart pounded crazily. It did not matter what was going on. He was only concerned with ugly his chicken looked!

The ugly black-and-white chicken rushed to his feet. Its feathers stood on end while it held its head up high.

"Peck him!" Xu Xiaoshou ordered excitedly.

Xu Xiaoji: ? ? ?

What was going on? He did not even bother to side-step the charging avian whose beak looked ready to peck him.

"Cluck!"

His toes hurt.

All he registered was pain. Xu Xiaoji watched, stupefied, as this ugly chicken pecked his feet viciously with its curved beak. His lips twitched as he sent a questioning look Demon King Xu's way.

???

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

It was so weak!

He had drawn this chicken without considering its combat ability. It was mortifying!

Xu Xiaoshou immediately added a few more strokes to the chicken and infused more than half of his strength into it. Only when weakness overcame him, and his face paled did he stop.

The chicken's beak hardened.

"Jiji, Jiji! (I did it again!)"

Its black and white chicken feathers bristled and seemed ready for round two with its head raised arrogantly.

"Peck him," Xu Xiaoshou said weakly. Though he was excited, he had trouble mustering enough energy to express it since he had channelled it all into the chicken.

"Keke!"

The chicken chopped down with its head a second time, leaving an afterimage in its wake.

Xu Xiaoji was so scared he nearly wet himself, retracting his feet almost immediately.

"Boom!"

A small black hole opened where the chicken's beak collided with the earth.

This single point explosion reminded Xu Xiaoshou of Gu Qingsan's 'Point of the Path'.

"How terrifying!"

He never expected his strength, gathered in the body of this chicken, could bring about such a terrifying effect. A chicken had no right to be so strong! It was simply ridiculous.

Xu Xiaoshou felt that his battle style seemed to be going astray again.

He was very strong!

Wasn't it a little too random?

He could already see himself as the future chicken king, leading a group of inconspicuous chickens to battle! The thought of which nearly sent him into a giggling fit.

Wait a minute.

Why did it have to be chickens?

Xu Xiaoshou entertained the thought of strangling himself for a moment. How dumb could he get?

He was now an expert. How could he lead a group of chickens to fight? He would be throwing his dignity into the gutter!

Now, a Kung Peng, on the other hand...

Still...

"Hehehe..."

When Xu Xiaoshou thought of his enemies cowering before a majestic Kun Peng, it did not seem as spectacular or as humiliating as being defeated by a chicken.

Laughing with an utterly sinister look on his face, Xu Xiaoshou giggled, "What an interesting look!"