The Nine Sacred Lands

"Look, Lily! Do you like it?" Lia spiritedly asks. Then she notices Lily was standing still while glaring at someone. Following her glare, Lia notices that Lin Ke was also awake. "Oh, Lin Ke! You're awake." She said softly. "I was drawing Lily while you were asleep."

Looking back at Lily, Lia was extremely confused. Why was she standing still, desperately trying not to move? She looked as if she was going through some sort of ancient torture.

"Lily? You know you didn't have to stand still for all that time right?" Lia asked cautiously, as if she wasn't sure if this was the reason or not. "I don't need you to be standing still to make a good portrait of you." In fact, if Lia was to be brutally honest, she didn't even look back at Lily after glancing the first few times. She was able to commit Lily's figure to mind, as she had higher than a Mind Tempering Subrealm Cultivation.

Lily looks at Lia, dumbfounded. "Wh-what? Are you saying I stood here for this long for nothing?" She pauses for a second to think. "Ah! How stupid of me! I forgot that I don't need to stand still! I've been watching too many shows and reading up about street art, I forgot this isn't the same world!"

Lin Ke, who was watching the conversation with an amused expression, bursted out in laughter. He was laughing so hard he almost kneeled over. He was laughing at Lily's misfortune and her idiocy.

Then, Lily turns toward Lin Ke with a murderous expression. "But you! You'll pay!" Lily pounces, leaping from the table and straight towards Lin Ke. Rolling quickly to the side, Lin Ke dodges Lily's devilish paws. "Meow!" After landing on the mattress, she quickly springboards off of it and leap at Lin Ke again, causing him to scramble to his feet to avoid her. With a cat chasing and Lin Ke fleeing, they ran in circles around the cave.

Lia watches on, looking extremely amused at the scene unfolding, and smiles. She stares at the painting she had created. It was a picture of Lily looking extremely valiant. It was an extremely detailed portrait of Lily, up and close. Lia drew everything perfectly, and one could feel the awe-inspiring nature of the portrait. It was as if the image was alive, and could strike fear into the hearts of many. This was a characteristic of a B-class artist, able to inscribe emotion into their artwork.

After a while, Lin Ke and Lily both got tired of running, or more like Lin Ke got tired of running, and Lily just got bored and went to admire her portrait. She stared at it intently, her eyes shining like supernovas.

"Woahh!!!! Just what I'd expect! I look simply amazing!" Lily exclaimed to herself. "Of course its because the painting is just a reflection of my real self, otherwise no matter how much you photoshop it, there will always be inconsistencies!" Lily boasts to herself. Lia's painting had inflated Lily's ego beyond all possible measures. Lin Ke helplessly shook his head.

Sighing, Lin Ke meets Lia's eyes and shakes his head sadly, as if to say, 'Why did you do that? Now she's never going to let go of that painting. In fact, she'll probably hug it to sleep at night.'

Lia gives him a shrug in return and, wearing a helpless expression, she seems to be trying to say that Lily didn't give her much of a choice. Without any other options, Lin Ke could only distract Lily to try and stop her from being obnoxious.

"Lily, what's next? What are we supposed to do now? Am I supposed to continue traveling? If so, where are we going next?" Lin Ke asked in his head.

However, contrary to Lin Ke's belief, Lily continued boasting out loud and shouting random praises to herself, all while also answering Lin Ke's question in his head. "Yup! You chose the option to travel, to venture around, and that's what you're going to do. The next place you're going to head to is a Sacred Land. If you will, the mission I gave you today could just be considered the beginning of your long journey… I guess now I should tell you in detail about the quests." She says.

"First of all, there are nine different Sacred Lands in this Lower realm. They are, The Spirit Skylakes, The Ruins of Sora, The Mystic Great Tree, The Forest of Mists, The Endless Ocean, The Cavern of Fire, The Mountain of Creation, The Crater of Fallen Stars, and The Midnight Graveyard." Lily lists. "Each of them have their own mysteries, and some of them even have people who reside there. Of the nine Sacred Lands, there are three that are considered Forbidden Sacred Lands, because of how dangerous and violent the world energy is in them. They are The Ruins of Sora, The Mountain of Creation, and The Midnight Graveyard. That's why those will be the last place you will head to, and you will only head there once you have become an S-class Artist."

Lin Ke listens intently, extremely fascinated by this. All of the names of the Sacred Realms sound so powerful and awe-inspiring that he couldn't help but feel excited about all the different things that he will see there.

Lily continues, "However! I will not be transporting you to these places. You must get there yourself! However, let me provide you with some hints. There are quite a few major teleportation arrays that were laid down in the past. As long as you have enough money, or have enough connections, you can use it to take you anywhere. There was one in Origin City, and it is under the jurisdiction of the City Lord. However, I don't think it would be safe for you to go there. So that's why… I will be giving you a side mission! Fix the errors with the teleportation array… that lies in this forest!"