Chapter 492: The Reward

Chapter 492: Chapter 492: The Reward

For someone used to being frugal, everything unnecessary is "not needed," and any price higher than expected is "too expensive."

Frugality is a good thing, so Shen Hao never interfered with Xia Nu’s habit, but he still kept his own opinion.

"You can paint murals?" The tangy flavor of the sour noodle soup completely relaxed Shen Hao, as if the taste buds were soothing away all the tension in his body. Plus, since the Black Beast Tattoo incident had temporarily been resolved, he finally had the leisure to chat with Xia Nu for a bit. Besides, he was quite interested to hear someone else’s view on the tracings of the murals they’d brought back.

"Of course, Master! I was a talented painter in my tribe, lots of the clan murals were done by me. My dad was a mural artist, too—passed down all his skills to me. Hehe."

"That amazing? Then go ahead, tell me something."

"Sure! Which part does Master want to hear about?"

"Just say whatever comes to mind, as long as it has to do with murals, it’s fair game."

"Alright, then I’ll start with mural prep. First, you have to pick the right pigments based on the texture of the wall—choose the wrong ones and the colors fade or won’t last after painting. Next, you pick out the key points from the event you want to portray, then sketch them out with a charcoal pencil..."

Shen Hao finished his noodles and sipped his herbal tea while listening carefully. He had to admit, Xia Nu actually surprised him—he didn’t expect his silly slave to know so much about murals.

"Have you ever painted anyone’s life story before?"

"Yep! When elders in the tribe passed away and were buried, sometimes we’d paint parts of their lives on the stone coffin. I’ve helped with that twice."

"Oh? So are there any rules for these kinds of paintings on coffins?"

"Sure there are, but mostly it’s the same as usual murals, only you have to plan out a continuous storyline ahead of time..."

"A story?"

"Yeah! Even though a person’s life is short from birth to death, so much happens—it’s all unique. Pick out some of the important stories to paint, and isn’t that basically a tribute to their whole life?"

Shen Hao was a little dumbfounded. Xia Nu just suddenly blurted something so philosophical that it dazed him a bit. Was this really his silly slave? Or maybe she got possessed?

He pulled the silly slave into his arms, then tugged her ear, and lifted her chin for a closer look—other than her cheeks flushing red, nothing seemed different. Once he let go of her ear, the silly slave didn’t try to escape, instead clung onto him even tighter, squirming restlessly in his arms.

He picked up one of the mural tracings from the tomb on the table, patted Xia Nu’s thick shoulder, and asked: "Can you make sense of this one?"

Pressed in his arms and smelling Shen Hao’s scent, the silly slave went all weak and fuzzy, not wanting to get up at all. But when asked, she reluctantly lifted her heavy eyelids and looked over, studying it for a while before saying, "Master, is this a mural too? But it looks pretty different from my tribe’s style. Is it a Human Race mural?"

"That’s right, it’s a Human Race mural—over a thousand years old. Can you spot anything?"

She squirmed around to get into a comfy position in her master’s arms, then turned to take the painting and studied it some more before Xia Nu said, "It looks incomplete, but it should be a whole story about someone. See, this person’s colors really stand out compared to the other patterns, and his body is drawn way larger, and the details are more elaborate too. He must be the main character in the mural."

She actually figured it out?!

Earlier, while waiting for his noodles, Shen Hao had flipped through a few sheets and realized that, lacking extra context, it was really hard to figure out all the information just from the paintings alone—at least, with what he knew about murals, it would be tough.

Who would’ve thought he had such a helpful assistant right beside him?

"Then take a look through these and try to pull out a general storyline," Shen Hao pointed at the thick pile of sketches on the table—at least a foot high.

"Today?"

"No rush, just sometime in the next few days. That okay?"

Xia Nu instantly perked up. Shen Hao had said these paintings were a "case" before, but now that he was actually asking for help, didn’t that count as trust? Being needed? Maybe she really did have some value here?

"Mm-hmm! I’ll do it! I’ll complete the mission!" Xia Nu mimicked Wang Jian’s Xiaoqi she’d once heard at home, parroting words completely out of context, looking adorably dumb and earnest.

"Mission? Hahaha..." Shen Hao burst out laughing. After a good long moment he added, "Should I give you a reward, then?"

"Should I get a reward too?" Xia Nu didn’t know what a "reward" was but understood enough from the word "reward" itself, and shyly looked surprised, cheeks turning red.

"Yup, if you do a good job, you’ll get a reward." A silly slave, after all—Shen Hao figured he could easily afford any reward she’d want, so he promised generously.

"I... I want to..."

"Go on, what do you want?"

"I want... tonight, can I sleep with you, Master?" Xia Nu’s voice was soft as a mosquito, but still audible—shy but determined. She really wanted this.

Since there was no reply for a while, Xia Nu started pouting, feeling down and thinking her master was upset, just about to beg for forgiveness when she suddenly found herself swept up—startled, she realized Shen Hao had scooped her up and thrown her onto the Puduan on the other side of the study. Right after that, she felt a sudden chill...

In the end, the silly slave got her reward—sleeping with her master. Though it was a late night, and pretty exhausting, she finally curled up and drifted off on the Puduan, grinning in her sleep. Luckily it was summer, so they didn’t need blankets.

As for Shen Hao, after some exercise, he didn’t go to sleep. He let Xia Nu have the Puduan and instead just sat cross-legged on the floor, using cultivation to replace rest.

And there was a surprise, too.

"Faster again?!"

If the Black Beast Tattoo had given him ten units of pure energy before, this time—after sneaking into the Sword Emperor’s Tomb and coming back loaded—he got fifteen units! That was a fifty percent increase! And Shen Hao could feel this wasn’t even the limit for the Black Beast Tattoo; it was just that his current meridians and soul strength could only handle so much. Otherwise, the feedback would have been even higher.

But now, Shen Hao had to revise his original plan again. After one night’s cultivation, he realized he couldn’t keep lingering at Gathering Spirit Realm Sixth Layer anymore; at this rate, by mid-July, he’d definitely reach the limit and start breaking through.

Isn’t this all happening a bit too fast?

Shen Hao was a little troubled—because he was starting to notice the word "genius" was getting stuck on him by more and more people.

Can’t he just keep a low profile? It’s really not easy for him.