Chapter 354: The World Outside the Painting

“Man follows the laws of Heaven and Earth, and Heaven and Earth possess a spirit.”

This sentence was the core tenet of the Cultivation Chapter. Everything was derived from it, and it ran through the entire Daoist Scripture.

Based on this, Duan Fei realized the author of the scripture saw Heaven and Earth as a kind of Divine Spirit, only one with greater power and far more miraculous qualities.

From the scripture’s contents, Duan Fei confirmed it: the Heaven and Earth of this world was the third NPC—one that existed but had yet to appear.

He reached this conclusion because he couldn’t see the Magic cast by either the Little Daoist or the Evil Corpse. This had to be because Heaven and Earth itself couldn’t perceive his existence.

Having figured this out, Duan Fei gazed into the distance, wondering how he could find this final NPC.

Staring at the distant mountain range, Duan Fei decided to head out and take a look.

The Little Daoist had claimed the path to the outside world was an endless loop, but Duan Fei suspected there might be an exit there.

He summoned his drone, attached himself to it with the Spider Suit, and shot through the air, speeding toward the mountains.

As he drew closer to the edge, Duan Fei noticed the mountains beyond became clearer, yet also more simplistic.

When he reached the edge, he was shocked to find that the mountains weren’t real—they were painted on a canvas.

The artist must have been a true master. The mountains on the canvas were rendered in a classical, freehand style; with just a few strokes, they captured both form and spirit. From a distance, you could only appreciate the artistic atmosphere, forgetting any incongruities.

He reached out to touch the canvas and felt as if he had brushed against the Void.

It was as if nothing existed behind the canvas, yet it also formed an impassable barrier to the real world. The world where Water Town was located was bound by this canvas, completely unable to break through.

And just as Duan Fei was pondering this, he was shocked to discover that the canvas was also moving.

The process was incredibly slow but as steady and unyielding as a planet in orbit. After a set period, the entire canvas would contract a certain distance toward the center, absorbing everything it touched.

At this rate, the entire world would be consumed by the painting in a few decades, flattened into two dimensions.

‘No wonder Old Dao resorted to such desperate measures. If this world is just left alone, it’s finished.’

Pulling out his Character Card, Duan Fei summoned Anna and had her stand against the canvas.

He didn’t have to wait long. He watched as Anna slowly merged into the canvas, her whole body becoming a part of the painting.

He tried to communicate with Anna and found that the Anna in the painting seemed to disappear in an instant. A faint sensation from the other side indicated she was still alive, only dissipating when her time was up.

Reflecting on the scene, Duan Fei once again fell deep into thought.

‘Entering the canvas doesn’t seem dangerous, but coming back is another question.’

He turned and flew back, grabbed Little Fatty, and took to the skies again. He flew with him all the way back to the boundary, heading toward the mountains.

However, unlike him—a player undetectable by the Heavenly Dao—he couldn’t reach the canvas’s edge while carrying Little Fatty. Every time they got close, a thick Mist would appear and teleport them onto another path.

“Just as I thought.” Duan Fei nodded and set Little Fatty down. “You go back and keep cooking with Cuihua. I’m going to take a look inside the canvas.”

“What canvas?” Little Fatty exclaimed in surprise. “Are we even playing the same game?”

“No more nonsense, time is short. I’m going. Right, hand me your phone. I’m going to record my analysis. If I don’t come back, you follow my instructions.”

After finishing his preparations, Duan Fei said goodbye to Little Fatty, then flew directly beside the canvas. He pressed himself against it, allowing the slowly contracting painting to swallow him whole.

The process itself wasn’t painful, but it looked incredibly unnerving.

The canvas slowly pressed closer, and his body seemed to become like watercolor in front of it, bleeding into the painting little by little.

From the moment part of him sank into the canvas, he found he could no longer leave. The entire painting was like a trap, slowly enveloping him.

Once his body was completely submerged in the canvas, Duan Fei felt himself transcend the entire world in an instant, floating in the space outside it.

His surroundings felt exceptionally familiar, letting him know he had arrived in the Void and was beginning to suffer its corrosive effects.

He let go of the restraint on his Glasses. The Eye of the Void sensed the Void’s presence and resonated with it, shielding him from its corrosive influence.

‘So, the outside of the world is the Void.’

Looking back, Duan Fei found a painted scroll before him.

On the scroll were mountains, a town, the back hills, the Daoist School, and even Zero, who was wandering around with a massive Divine Spirit, along with the Evil Corpse, who was controlling a Divine Spirit with a kitchen knife.

Looking at the scroll before him, Duan Fei found the scene quite interesting.

He had thought the world outside was the painting, but it turned out the world they had been in was the painting all along.

Looking out at his surroundings, Duan Fei discovered the world outside was equally magnificent.

Countless painted scrolls floated in mid-air. They varied in size, with the larger ones floating above and the smaller ones sinking below.

Occasionally, splashes of water would fall from high above, landing on the scrolls. Because of this, some scrolls would lose a portion of their color, which would then travel downward with the water, ultimately falling onto the scrolls in the lower layers.

Looking down, he could see that the space below was composed of countless scrolls, the lowest of which were being slowly eroded by the Void.

However, for every scroll that disappeared, the ones at the very top would grow a bit larger, only to shatter for some reason, breaking into smaller worlds.

Watching the endless birth and death of the scrolls, Duan Fei sensed a kind of Zen in it all.

Birth and death, prosperity and decline—this is the law of nature.

The scroll containing the Little Daoist’s world had once been glorious, but with the passage of time, it too would slowly crumble and ultimately head for ruin.

But from a perspective beyond their world, one could see that this destruction was merely a part of the universe’s natural cycle, nothing worth mourning.

Just as Duan Fei was lamenting the fate of these worlds, he suddenly heard someone cry out in surprise, “Who are you? How did you get here?”

Duan Fei whipped his head around to see a familiar old face and, without a second thought, struck with his Crowbar.

The Crowbar was in its longsword form at that moment, and the ten-meter-long blade nearly cut Old Dao in half at the waist.

If the man hadn’t dodged so quickly, the Old Dao would have died a violent death right then and there.

Dodging clumsily to the side, Old Dao shouted in exasperation, “Take it easy! What would you do if I died? What if the Heavenly Dao discovered us?”

Seeing the perfectly normal-looking Old Dao, Duan Fei lowered his longsword. “You’re not the Evil Corpse?”

“Of course not. Hmm, I know who you are now.”

“Mm, and I know who you are, too.”