He obtained the God of All Laws from human skin.

Chapter 66 The Woman in the Painting

In the days that followed,

Qin Chuan's life also became more regular.

In the morning, he went to the school; at noon, he practiced martial arts with Liu Ding; and in the afternoon, he went to the Heaven and Earth Club.

Meanwhile, Qin Chuan's thug profession also escalated once again.

[Thug experience maxed out, level up]

Occupation: Thug

[Level: lv2→lv3(0/300)]

[Professional Skill: Bullying]

However, this upgrade didn't grant an additional skill like the Scholar class.

However, the "bullying" seemed to be slightly more effective than before.

Qin Chuan didn't bother to think about it too much. Being a thug wasn't his main focus anyway, so he might as well consider it a freebie.

Two days passed in this manner.

In the evening,

A man entered the Heaven and Earth Palace; it was Zheng Ding.

He looked around the hall, and upon seeing Qin Chuan, he eagerly went over and asked, "Has the painting been finished?"

"Alright," Qin Chuan nodded and said, "Young Master Zheng, come upstairs with me."

The two went up to the second floor one after the other. Qin Chuan pushed open the door of the small room at the end, walked to the cabinet, and took out a scroll that was wrapped tightly in silk cloth and tied with a red silk ribbon. It looked very exquisite.

After all, it cost ten taels of silver, so we still had to put on a good show.

Qin Chuan handed over the scroll and said, "Young Master Zheng, this is what Xiaoxiaosheng asked me to give you. He said he didn't sleep for days and nights because of this painting."

Zheng Ding carefully took the scroll, one hand protecting both ends of the scroll as if afraid of bumping or damaging it. He looked less like he was holding a roll of paper and more like he was holding some priceless porcelain. He kept muttering to himself.

"My darling, my darling, I've waited so long, and I've finally waited for you..."

Qin Chuan stood aside, somewhat surprised to see Zheng Ding so obsessed with his appearance.

He originally thought Zheng Ding was just a rich young master with some spare money.

The painting of a beautiful woman was merely a pastime, but no one expected that this person would be so obsessed with it.

With this display of power, anyone who didn't know better would think he was holding some rare treasure.

Oh well, what a loss. I should have asked for more.

He tactfully moved half a step towards the door and lowered his voice, saying, "Young Master Zheng, I'll go out first. Would you like to stay here and look around?"

"No need." Zheng Ding carefully held the scroll in his arms, raised his head, and said with a confident look on his face, "I believe in Xiaoxiaosheng's painting skills."

He paused, a slightly embarrassed blush suddenly rising on his face, and said in a low voice, "Besides, such a beautiful painting, I need to go back, close the door, turn on the lights, and look at it quietly by myself. I can't fully enjoy it here."

Qin Chuan smiled upon hearing this, and without lingering, cupped his hands and said, "Then, Young Master Zheng, please take your leave. If there is anything you find unsatisfactory about the painting, please come and find me anytime, and I will pass on your message."

Zheng Ding nodded repeatedly, took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and stuffed it into Qin Chuan's hand. Then, holding the scroll as if it were some rare treasure, he carefully went downstairs.

......

Back in his room,

Zheng Ding also made a point of closing the windows, locking the door, lighting candles, and then carefully wiping the desk clean.

Even that wasn't enough for him, so he found a piece of plain white silk and spread it on the table.

After doing all this, he took a deep breath and carefully unveiled the red silk covering the scroll.

The paper slowly unfolded under the candlelight, and the figures in the painting gradually emerged.

The first thing that catches the eye is a pair of bare feet, with slender ankles, slightly arched feet, and several toes as round as jade. They are standing on the edge of a bamboo couch, with their toes slightly curled, exuding a lazy and comfortable feeling.

Above that are two sections of fair, smooth calves, one bent and the other extended. The light, thin gauze skirt slips down from the knees and piles up at the base of the legs, with every curve of the folds drawn with exquisite detail.

The woman wore only a thin, gossamer-like gauze dress over her upper body, which had been pulled down to her chest, just enough to cover the most important part of her breasts. Although the view was covered, the curves that were vaguely revealed under the gauze were even more alluring than if she were completely exposed.

What's most striking is her face. Her eyebrows and eyes are relaxed like the first ripples of spring water, and her eyes are filled with a mix of languor and a smile. The corners of her mouth are slightly upturned, as if she is looking at someone outside the painting through the paper, or as if she has just woken up from an afternoon nap and is still whispering to someone in her dream.

Zheng Ding's breath hitched for a moment. He stared blankly at the woman's half-closed eyes in the painting, feeling as if that gaze had circled his heart, gently tugging at it, and then half of his body went limp.

This was the measure Qin Chuan set for this painting: although it stipulated no clothing, it certainly couldn't be completely devoid of clothing.

After all, for a man, a woman is most beautiful and alluring not when she is completely exposed and revealed.

Instead, they stripped down to just a tiny bit of clothing, and it was precisely that tiny bit of covering that made people's blood boil more than any amount of exposure.

Zheng Ding leaned over the table, his eyes almost touching the paper. His gaze followed the woman's hair down to her chin, neck, collarbone, waist, and toes, scrutinizing every detail and every stroke.

He read it over and over again until he could faintly hear the sound of the night watchman's clapper in the street outside. It was already past midnight when he straightened up as if waking from a dream and rubbed his sore eyes.

"It's worth it. Let alone ten taels, it would be worth a hundred taels."

Zheng Ding muttered to himself as he carefully put the scroll away again, this time wrapping it even more carefully than before. After placing it on the top layer of the camphor wood box, he even put a soft cloth next to the scroll to prevent the edges from being scratched by the old paintings next to it.

After doing all this, he reluctantly blew out the lamp, climbed into bed, and tossed and turned for a long time before finally falling into a deep sleep.

"Young Master Zheng... Young Master Zheng..."

In a half-dream, half-awake state, Zheng Ding suddenly heard someone calling him.

The voice was soft and gentle, as if it were drifting from a very, very far place, or as if it were whispering in his ear.

He groggily turned over, only to find that the moonlight was exceptionally bright tonight.

The sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a thin layer of silver frost over half the room.

In a daze, Zheng Ding saw a woman sitting in front of the bed.

The woman sat sideways, her figure graceful, her long hair cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall. Moonlight fell on her smooth shoulders and neck, giving them a soft glow.

She wore a gossamer-thin gauze dress, the fabric almost transparent in the moonlight, faintly revealing her exquisite curves underneath.

Zheng Ding felt a strange sense of familiarity with the figure; the slight tilt of his head, the languid and casual posture—it seemed like he had seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Who are you?"

Upon hearing the sound, the woman slowly turned around.

The moonlight fell perfectly on her face, her eyebrows and eyes were like spring water just beginning to flow, her eyes were filled with a mix of languor and a smile, and the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, a smile that was not quite a smile. It was the face in the painting that had kept him looking at it for most of the night, tossing and turning and unable to sleep.

Zheng Ding's mind went blank, and he was frozen in place on the bed, unable to move.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

Before he could speak, the woman leaned forward slightly and moved closer to him.

With her movement, the already precarious gauze dress on her shoulder slipped off and hung on her chest, revealing a whole expanse of snow-white skin.

As she drew closer, Zheng Ding could already smell her faint, delicate fragrance.

His heart was pounding like a drum, his eyelids were uncontrollably shut, and his hands were gripping the corner of the blanket so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Then, a warm and soft touch came from his lips, spreading from the corner of his mouth all the way to the tip of his heart.

Zheng Ding shuddered, the last shred of clarity in his mind turning to mush by the sensation.

My whole body felt like it had been ripped out of its bones, and I went completely limp...