Within the Feather God Sect, having Divine Venerable Tianyun as a patron would absolutely save one from quite a few troubles...
It wasn't that Divine Venerable Tianyun held some supremely exalted position, but rather that his identity was far too special — none of the great families wanted to offend such a powerhouse.
In his previous life,
"Venerable, please wait a moment. I'll go write a few characters and be right back!"
Nie Li returned to his room. This time, he was much more careful and earnest, writing a full five characters. The Dao insight contained within these five characters was far deeper than what he had infused into the characters he'd written for
After finishing, Nie Li brought them out and handed them to Venerable Chimu.
"Then I thank you," Venerable Chimu said with a smile.
"You're too kind, Venerable!" Nie Li smiled and replied humbly.
After receiving Nie Li's calligraphy, Venerable Chimu took his leave.
Following Venerable Chimu, several more people came to request characters. Naturally, Nie Li wouldn't refuse. Based on his impressions from his previous life, he wrote carefully for some, while for others he merely went through the motions with ordinary penmanship.
Dragon Seal Family.
Long Tianming slowly unfurled the scroll in his hands. Three characters were written on it, and he was quite satisfied — that kid Nie Li really did know his place. He'd only given Yan Yang and Mingyue Wushuang two characters each, but for Long Tianming he'd written three.
His gaze settled on the center of the scroll, where a single character appeared, powerful and vigorous — the character for "sword."
The form of this sword character was identical to the one he had seen before.
Previously, both Yan Yang and Mingyue Wushuang had discerned some profound mystery within this sword character, while he alone had failed to see it. This had left Long Tianming extremely displeased. Could his talent really be that far inferior to the two of them?
It must have been because he hadn't concentrated hard enough before.
Long Tianming focused his mind and gazed intently at the sword character on the scroll, feeling for the Dao insight within. Suddenly, he sensed wisps of it — the warmth of light and the cold of darkness. Though it was merely fleeting, he managed to catch it.
Sure enough, he could easily perceive the Dao insight within this sword character. It seemed he wasn't that much inferior to Yan Yang and Mingyue Wushuang after all. The reason he hadn't sensed it before was simply because he hadn't been focused! Long Tianming smiled faintly and continued probing deeper, only to discover that this sword character contained nothing more than those few wisps of Dao insight. Could such a small amount of insight really have moved Yan Yang and Mingyue Wushuang to such an extent?
Could it be that what he'd sensed was only a single thread within the sword intent? Was there another layer of mystery hidden within this sword character?
Long Tianming continued to probe deeper, trying to uncover the true essence of this sword character. But soon, he found that beyond that single thread of Dao insight, there was nothing more to be found.
Impossible!
Could I really be that far behind Yan Yang and Mingyue Wushuang?
He kept trying, over and over, but still couldn't succeed.
Long Tianming was furious. He considered the possibility that Nie Li might have tampered with it somehow, but the characters were identical in form — there was no sign of any tampering. And he had clearly just sensed a wisp of Dao insight. But it had vanished in an instant, and he could no longer catch it.
Time passed. One hour. Two hours.
No matter how carefully Long Tianming probed, he simply could not perceive any of the deeper mysteries within.
Damn it!
Long Tianming clenched his fist and slammed it hard against the desk. That sense of inadequacy — of being lesser than Yan Yang and Mingyue Wushuang — surged up within him. As the foremost genius of the Dragon Seal Family, Long Tianming was exceedingly proud at heart. He had always regarded Yan Yang as one of his chief rivals.
Yet being unable to perceive any Dao insight from this piece of calligraphy dealt a heavy blow to his pride.
"Did that kid actually tamper with it or not?" Long Tianming's brow furrowed deeply, unable to be certain.
Nie Li had written three characters, all powerful and vigorous, looking very carefully done. It didn't seem like perfunctory work at all — if anything, it seemed as though he had been deliberately trying to curry favor. Long Tianming figured that as a newcomer, Nie Li logically wouldn't dare to offend him, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with these three characters.
That left only one possible explanation: he simply couldn't perceive the Dao insight contained within.