Two Hundred Sixty-six Essence Vessels

Luculent light fell from the heavens above, as a carriage drifted through a forest shrouded in fog. Its outer body was brown, and almost unrecognizable from civilian carriages, unless you ignore the bestial stallions carrying it forward.

Their dark muscles bulged, as they let out howling neighs and dashed into the forest. Sitting atop, and driving the carriage, was an elderly man in a black changshan.

Sitting inside the main compartment of the carriage was Shi Yuanfe, who was drinking tea from a cup that Ruo'er had handed to him.

A perplexed expression hung over his face as he handed the cup back to Ruo'er, and watched her bow and wipe his mouth with a handkerchief.

The tender maid curtly opened the windows, and asked with her lithe back faced to him, "Young master, why did you want to leave so quickly? I'm sure that girl wouldn't blame you for the assassin, so why? "

She was very confused.

Shi Yuanfe however, had different things in his mind as he blankly stared at the window behind her. Rou'er on the other hand, got nervous and began shuddering, "A-ah, um, master for-forget it! I don't want to know, I'm sorry! "

Hearing this, Shi Yuanfe coughed and returned to reality.

"Oh? Don't worry, Rou'er, I was just thinking about something. "

"Uhm, okay…but why did you want to leave so early, master? " As expected, she couldn't control her curiosity.

"That. You see, " he took a brief paused, and sighed, "Princess Shan Yuan doesn't like me. Neither does her new husband, my brother, like me. He knows that I used to love his wife, so I'll be his first suspect. Maybe I've hired someone to, I don't know, kill his wife ? And the assassin failed? "

Unexpectedly, Rou'ers dollish eyes began to shimmer as she tugged on Shi Yuanfe's robes, "Is-is that true, master?! Did you hire someone to assassinate her? Wow, master…someone like her totally deserves it! "

…what the…?

Seeing the overly enthusiastic Rou'er made him smile a bit. Nonetheless, he was tired and weary and wished her away, "Maybe I did it. Who knows? Regardless, Ruo'er, the journey will be long and tiring; why don't you go and sleep for a bit? "

Ruo'er shook her head, and tightly hung onto his sleeves, "No, master! I want to stay here, it's too boring with mama alone. "

As soon as she said that however, from atop the carriage, a deep voice boomed and ordered her, "Little Ruo, behave! "

Ruo'er pouted and left the compartment. Once again Shi Yuanfe was left alone. But this time, an odd flush of excitement was visible on his face.

"That…that painting…! I painted that fire, and it really happened!... "

The dream he saw was very, very strange, but it was different in the sense that he saw real-time events through it!

Maybe…maybe his talent in painting was… a talent given to him by the deities . But he wasn't too sure…

Shi Yuanfe thus, stood up from the bed and walked over to the window. Sitting on the floor there were bags filled with tools, and a tall canvas.

"The only way to confirm my theory is to draw something…and watch it become real. "

Shi Yuanfe opened the bag, and pulled out a brush, and a box filled with an assortment of vibrant colors.

He walked in front of the canvas, and stood still for a while. There, from the window, he saw a brown woodpecker flying from one tree to another.

Quickly, as if he would lose the impression of the bird he saw, he dabbed his brush into various colors and started drawing. Using light, and minimalistic strokes and brushes, he drew up the outline of a bird, and then colored it further using his brush.

Shi Yuanfe was a rather eccentric being among literature circles; especially if it was about painting. Rather than using the traditional method of drawing, where one would dip a brush in black ink and draw colorless images, he would use his own method. Even the outlines he drew were all created with color.

After half an hour of diligently sketching, an image of the dark-brown feathered woodpecker staring at the painter had finally been rendered on the canvas.

Shi Yuanfe backed down and waited with bated breaths.

"BAM! "

At that moment, something from the outside hit the reinforced window in his compartment, and made it bounce due to the immense force behind it.

"BAM BAM BAM! "

"Young master, are you alright?! "

From a latch above, Elder Wang swooped down and carefully began to inspect the window. The carriage had been stopped, as the horses in the front violently neighed.

"Yes…I don't really think it's something threatening though… "

Shi Yuanfe forced out a smile as he pointed to the window, and through it, Elder Wang saw a bloody woodpecker with a mangled body trying, and trying to get into the compartment by repeatedly bashing onto it.

"What…what the hell?! "

"Uh, Uncle Wang, why don't you catch that bird and roast it or something. I'm sure…it'll be tasty."

Elder Wang stood silently for a while, before nodding and returning to the area above the latch.

A few moments later, the horses began moving once again, as silence returned to the compartment.

A burning sense of excitement began to swirl in Shi Yuanfe's chest, as he exhaled and thought of his new ability.

The dream…in it, he clearly saw that he became God. Could it be, that now, he was capable of creating life, twisting fate with simple strokes of his brush?

"It can't be…it's not that simple. If I was a God, I wouldn't be this feeble…"

Shi Yuanfe looked at his body, and remarked with hatred. From the very moment he saw his beloved writhing under someone that used power to steal her, something he never felt before; hatred, began to swell in his body.

Cultivation, cultivation, cultivation. All of it depended on one's talent, and to a lesser extent, essence vessels.

Throughout the world, and the universe, existed different, and anomalous energies called 'essence'. The Human Emperor of thousand worlds before, became the first human to discover and absorb it in his body, and transcended to the heavens. Following his ascension, billions followed, and his method of essence absorption became widespread.

The Human Emperor's method of cultivation didn't rely on hard-work, nor did it rely on one's persistence. It relied on two different innate talents all humans were naturally born with.

Essence Vessels, and Fate Wheel. One's Essence Vessels directly affected one's physical strength and longevity; and the Fate Palace showed one's innate talent for cultivation. Although the length of one's journey in the cultivation world relied on the latter concept, the more important one was the Spirit Vessel. The more Spirit Vessels you have, the more essence you'd be able to absorb from your surroundings, and if you had none, you wouldn't be able cultivate.

Shi Yuanfe was born with no spirit vessels, and a Mortal Fate Wheel. Such a combination was truly rare even among the commoners of the continent; much less of the famed Shi Dynasty. Countless elders and sages had tried to cure his problem, but in the end, all were for naught.

But now, Shi Yuanfe had a plan in his mind. That would be able to cure his body.

Shi Yuanfe's face wrinkled, as he appeared as if he had aged a hundred years in a few moments. Truth be told, if this situation had come to light a few months, or heck, a few hours before, he wouldn't have thought of modifying his body for the sake of cultivation. He was someone that didn't like violence, and furthermore, he concept of cultivation itself was flawed in his eyes.

Rebel against heaven and ascend to godhood…but what if you fail to become God and become a resident of hell instead?

But…but the scene of watching his unrequited love writhe under someone else's body lit up the fire of hatred in his chest. He no longer wanted to stay inferior.

Shi Yuanfe exhaled, and ripped apart the painting of the bird, and closed the canvas. This time, instead of a page, he took a silk roll from his bag, that was roughly four feet long, and latched it on the wall of the carriage using a few simple mechanisms.

Since he had no essence vessels in his body…he would create them! If he doesn't have talent, he'd create it!

Since this was a rather delicate matter , Shi Yuanfe took out a feather quill and dabbed it in ink, and started to draw a rough outline of his body.

Slowly, he immaculately drew his body and outlined his face, but of course, just like any artist, he couldn't realistically depict his own face. In the end, he scrapped the scroll and began drawing on another one.

This time, he strapped a mirror in front of him and watched his facial features while painting.

Gently, he tapped the feather quill against his face time and time again, and drew a sharp and innocent face. Once he looked at his own face on the painting, his mouth opened wide.

"How…vibrant. It's as if this…is me? But trapped in a silk mirror. " He inhaled, and continued drawing his body.

After a few hours of grueling; and tortuously slow strokes and brushes; Shi Yuanfe's hand had turned red and started to shake, his painting was complete.

Dawn cracked once again, as the sun showered the carriage with light. Shi Yuanfe however, appeared as if he hadn't slept for a year and languidly stared at the scroll.

Shi Yuanfe had finished drawing the image of his body. But he was unsure if it was medically correct or not. If he made any mistakes, such as not drawing a certain muscle ligament, did it mean that they would vanish?

Throwing away such thoughts in the corner of his mind, he looked towards the scroll. There, he could see himself, or in other words, an anatomical figure that had muscle, ligaments, tendons, and organs visible.

On the average, a normal human has twelve Mortal Essence Vessels in his body — of which all of them are the connected to the Governing Vessel located in the heart. On the other hand, a minimum of twenty Mortal Essence Vessels are needed to become even the servant of a lower-grade sect.

Shi Yuanfe had heard of many geniuses and talents in the Shi Dynasty, of which some were born with a hundred vessels, two hundred vessels. His own brother, Shi Xiaofei, a thousand-year talent had three hundred and fifty-five Sacred Essence Vessels.

Shi Yuanfe took out the smallest brush he could find, and immediately drew the Governing Vessel; a looped ring-like vein centered in the heart.

After that, he moved to another part of the painting and started to draw vein-shaped vessels centered around each of his organs.

…

…

…

As an ordinary mortal, there was much Shi Yuanfe could do. After he finished drawing a few essence vessels in his body, his hands had started to cramp while his face had turned pale. He felt as if his life was being sucked out by his brush.

With shaking hands, he threw the brush in his bag and fell on the bed. His face was pale, sweaty and lacked any expression; but happiness was visible in the depths of his eyes.

"…Two…two hundred sixty-six. So…so tiring. "

Shi Yuanfe sighed. Now all he needed to do was wait; wait for the essence vessels to appear in his body.

"But is it that simple? "

Shi Xiaofei stood up and stared at the painting. Even after a few minutes had passed, nothing happened. On the other hand, when he drew the bird it instantly appeared and started banging on the window of his carriage.

Hmm…