Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 83 - 4: The Celestial in the Painting

Chapter 83: Chapter 4: The Celestial in the Painting

Sitting in the teahouse and looking at the green bamboo outside, enjoying the refreshing breeze, and then sipping a cup of hot tea, Tang Qianqian suddenly felt that this was the ideal retirement life.

The only downside was that the tea and snacks were supplied in unlimited quantities in a way that defied the laws of physics, and if she stayed a few more days, she would inevitably gain about two and a half pounds.

But potato chips are precisely that kind of snack.

You know eating them will make you gain weight, but you can’t help but eat one after the other.

To make matters worse, Jiuyue had also torn open a bag of marinated chicken and placed it on a plate.

So she had said in high school that fat is a dangerous thing, but the moment she thought of Duan Mingyuan’s ability, she felt the future was full of hope, "Senior, can you reconstruct the excess fat on my body into something else? Or maybe a super-effective diet pill would do."

"I wouldn’t recommend that, um—"

In the midst of speaking, Jiuyue tore off a piece of chicken leg with skin and popped it into his mouth.

Ever since he had entered the teahouse, he had been studying the objects inside.

Mahogany tables and chairs, exquisite porcelain—with a touch indistinguishable from objects that truly exist. The current headmaster of Yunhai Academy had created a space within the painting that did not exist, and everything in the space was no different from reality, with snacks and bitter tea refilling automatically, defying the laws of the physical world.

"It seems to be an ability of the same type as mine."

This discovery made Duan Mingyuan look forward to his trip to Yunhai Academy even more. He felt he should have a lot in common with the revered headmaster of the academy and might even engage in an all-night academic seminar.

More importantly, he could sense a peaceful and serene mindset from the way the other used his ability.

Ability is not a weapon for fighting and killing, but a tool for constructing the world.

Duan Mingyuan had always believed this.

Upon hearing this, intelligence officer Jiuyue emerged from retirement once more, "This ability is known as ’Immortal in the Painting,’ a skill passed down through generations at Yunhai Academy’s Painting Institute."

"Painting Institute?"

Tang Qianqian and Yang Ping joined the discussion out of curiosity too, as they hadn’t had a chance to thoroughly understand the main courses of Yunhai Academy due to the hasty nature of their trip.

"Has Bai Yu not told you? Yunhai Academy is divided into Four Great Institutes, each one perpetuating a uniquely exquisite craft."

It was rare for Jiuyue to praise others so highly, but the Four Great Institutes of Yunhai Academy merited such an evaluation.

"I know!"

Tang Qianqian excitedly raised her hand and said, "When new books enter the academy, they undergo a grand sorting ceremony, where students with different personalities are allocated into different institutes based on courage, integrity, wisdom, and ambition."

She felt she was a loyal Hufflepuff, honest and kind, and most importantly, she could eat a lot.

Ever since she discovered that the chips in the teahouse could be refreshed indefinitely, she had been planning to pack a suitcase full of them before leaving.

As for the quiet and reserved Yang Ping, Slytherin would suit him very well.

As for the senior...

Her gaze shifted towards Duan Mingyuan, and for some reason, the words "Azkaban" suddenly sprang to mind.

"Wrong," Jiuyue said, ruthlessly dousing Tang Qianqian’s fantasies, "and don’t even think about flying around in the sky on a broomstick. Yunhai Academy was originally founded by several highly respected individuals with extraordinary abilities, among whom were four individuals particularly adept in the arts of the zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting. The first four heads of the academy were they, who passed their arts on to others, and it continues to this day. The current headmaster of the academy is the steward of the Painting Institute and is already 121 years old."

Even among monsters, such an age was considered long-lived.

Jiuyue knew this because one of her hobbies before coming to Yunlong City was to collect stories of groups that dared to rebel against their corporations.

She concluded, "Therefore, which institute you enter is determined by your talent."

Tang Qianqian felt as if she had been struck by lightning and stared wide-eyed in disbelief, her words faltering, "Then, then... what should someone who is an all-rounder like me do?"

?

Question marks simultaneously appeared over everyone’s heads, including Duan Mingyuan, who stopped his inspection of the mahogany tea table and turned to look at Tang Qianqian, who had made such a bold claim.

"Really!"

Tang Qianqian argued, "I can play the guitar, manage auto chess, drew shoujo manga in high school, and my penmanship is also quite good."

For the first time in her life, she faced the troubles of being a genius. Could it be that the stewards of the Four Great Institutes would quarrel over her when the time came?

That would be so embarrassing.

"Once you get to the academy, there will be a ceremony to assign you to an institute."

Jiuyue looked at Tang Qianqian with a sympathetic gaze, not having the heart to crush the dreams of her fellow student any further. She turned the conversation to Duan Mingyuan, saying, "However, this is probably also why they want to hire Mr. Mingyuan as the ’Defense Against Evil Spirits’ teacher, as far as I know. The academy’s students are not very good at fighting, and evil spirit incidents have been on the rise recently. It seems that a few students from the academy have been attacked on their way home during vacations."

Respect is one thing, but the abilities passed down from the four institutes are really not suitable for combat.

Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting are indeed high arts, often requiring the aid of specific tools to execute, which makes them quite distinct from the crude brute force of monsters.

The crude brutes won’t wait for you to set up the canvas or the chessboard, nor will they exchange poetry or song with you. They’ll just think you look tasty, and increasingly so.

The problem with scholars is exactly that, once they come to blows, they all turn out to be pushovers.

Jiuyue had already discussed this issue with Duan Mingyuan at home.

When necessary, the heirs of the Red-eyed Demon and Congyun Hotel could always serve as sparring partners.

"Looks like everything still comes down to ability,"

Tang Qianqian sighed, resting her chin on the bag of chips as she lay sprawled across the table, lost in thought.

So far, she had established a preliminary understanding of the industry, but ability still seemed out of reach, and her Life Energy remained stuck at the number 2, which felt almost like mockery. Meanwhile, her next-door neighbor, Yang Ping, had crossed the initial threshold, becoming an excellent Official Hunter with some insight into constructing abilities.

So, what would be the ability suitable for her, Tang Qianqian?

Senior members had said that ability is related to desire, an extension of one’s obsessions.

Her desire...

Seemed to be just to lie comfortably and live out the rest of her life in peace.

It appeared she still needed to deepen her understanding and knowledge of abilities. She was willing to believe that there were abilities out there suitable even for a salted fish.

Tang Qianqian’s gaze drifted from the chips to focus on the braised chicken in the dish. There, staring at the skeletal remains of the braised chicken, her vision for the future came to a halt because she suddenly realized a problem.

"I remember you once mentioned that the distribution of luck in this world is equal, when someone is fortunate, someone else is unfortunate."

Faced with Tang Qianqian’s question, Jiuyue was noncommittal.

"We’ve been feasting on braised chicken all along, our luck should be at its peak by now. So, here comes the question."

A sense of foreboding suddenly surged in Tang Qianqian’s heart, "Whose luck have we taken away?"

That was a good question.

She looked at Jiuyue, and Jiuyue looked back at her.

After a long pause, both of them shouted in unison, "Huh?"

Answering their question, the ground started shaking violently. The entire tea house jolted like a roller coaster, with the sense of weightlessness one feels when plummeting from high in the sky.

"Yun Lin—!"

Tang Qianqian screamed out, not needing any explanation to infer the cause of their spinning world.

While they were enjoying their time in the tea house...

Outside...

A crane had fallen upon a chicken.