"This painting doesn't have much Intent actually, your Majesty," the headmaster explained. "if you want to see ones with better Intent in them, I can take you to our hall of fame where the best of the best paintings are kept."
Alex slowly moved away from the painting still quite surprised. "That painting had quite the intent too," he said.
"Yes, but you have to spend some time concentrating on it to feel it," the headmaster said. "You can actually feel the intent from the good ones by just glancing at them."
Alex nodded and walked away.
"I wasn't aware that such a thing was possible," Alex said. "So you can train Intent with paintings too huh?"
Was that why the room for painting was on the highest of floors in the Sundering Sanctum? Were the immortals aware of how useful paintings could be?
Now that he thought about it? Was his paintings back then just bad or had he just not put any intent into what he was making?
Alex stopped thinking about the playground for now. He had other questions he wanted the answers to now.
"So the students can train their intent with their painting, huh? But is there a reason why they are being placed openly for others to see? You mentioned something about them trying to learn from the painting."
"Yes," the headmaster said. "Well, they're actually trying to learn from the Intent more precisely. Given that the intent comes from a cultivator, usually what they understand about a topic can also be learned from their intent."
"It's mostly impressions, but it's a lot more helpful than one might think," the headmaster said. "After all, with impressions one is not taught about the topic, but is considered to learn on his own."
The elders were a little puzzled as to what the man was talking about. Alex was the same for the first few seconds, but quickly a piece of information floated into his mind that he mostly didn't care about.
One could not learn a Dao if they were taught about it entirely. One had to search for the answers on their own if they wanted to learn the dao.
"Teaching is bad, but with impressions… one is still searching for the answer," Alex spoke softly. "Are you saying… most of these students are trying to learn a Dao right now?"
The headmaster smiled. "Haha, I don't even have to explain anything. Your majesty understands everything I'm trying to say before I even say it," he said.
The elders behind him were quite surprised as well. "You can learn Dao from paintings?" they asked.
"Oh yes," the headmaster said. "As long as the person who paints knows of that dao or has some ideas about it, they can put it into the painting with their intent which the other person can look at and read from."
"Of course, not all paintings have those, but even then there is a chance to learn from it," the headmaster said.
Alex frowned a little. Why were the other continents not aware of this?
He could understand the Western Continent losing every bit of knowledge about it in the last 5 thousand years. Hell, they didn't even know much about Dao.
However, what about the other two continents?
"Is this information a secret? It hasn't spread to the other continents yet," Alex said.
"Hmm, I wouldn't say they are a secret exactly, but I can see why the information isn't widespread," the headmaster said. "Even most of the people in the eastern continent don't believe this to be a good way to learn about Dao, especially because in the end, what we are doing is just an imitation of the actual thing."
"Imitation?" Alex asked. "Of what?"
"The Boundless Enlightenment Domain, of course," the headmaster said. "You must have heard about it by now, haven't you your majesty?"
"The Boundless Enlightenment Domain? The place that's supposed to teach you about Dao but people use it now as a tourist site?" he asked.
"Haha, yes, that's it," the headmaster laughed at the description. "The secret realm is actually filled with various paintings and other objects created with an intent to help people learn about the various Dao. As such, people would rather go there than try and learn here if they can."
"Oh! That realm has paintings too?" Alex asked.
"Amongst other things, yes. Paintings are actually the majority of what is there," the headmaster said.
"I see," Alex mused to himself. "Then I must visit that place soon. But then why are there students trying to learn Dao here?"
"Umm… " the headmaster hesitated a bit. "It's actually quite expensive to go there. They charge based on the days you want to stay inside and trying to learn Dao in a short time is not exactly a very easy task."
"So most of them spend what they can there, and then try to come here to follow through to learn whatever else they missed," the headmaster said.
"It's the same as going to a fancy restaurant to eat an expensive meal, only to then go to another cheaper restaurant to fill yourself up because you are still hungry by the end."
Alex chuckled a bit at the explanation. "I understand now," he said. "So the painting can help the painter hone their Intent, and it can help others learn Dao from it, huh? Honestly, I never imagined the paintings to be this good. Had I not come, I would have thought it to be a complete waste, this and the cooking school."
"I can assure you, they are not," the headmaster smiled. "If it was useless, this place would have been shut down ages ago."
Alex nodded.
"Also, painting is not just a way to hone your Intent, but it can also help in learning the dao for the painter themselves," the headmaster said. "It can be a form of meditation where you lose yourself in the paintings for hours and hours on end."
"While your hand and brush wander on the canvas, your mind can wander on the concept of what you are trying to learn. Honestly, it is one of the best ways to try and learn a Dao. Even more so than looking at paintings from others themselves I would say."
Alex gave a surprised look. That sounded quite good now that he thought about it. He had the Dao pills, but this wouldn't hurt to do either.
Learning Dao and honing Intent at the same time sounded quite good to him.
"I'm assuming one needs to have a talent in painting before they can start honing their intent," Alex said.
"They don't exactly need the talent to hone their intent," the Headmaster said. "While it can help, there have been objectively bad paintings with great intents to them. However, it does make it hard for the person looking at the painting to get a clear picture of what is going on, and as such the intent that comes through the painting can be a little confusing at times."
"I see," Alex said, thinking of learning some painting skills soon.
A building appeared in the distance just then, one that was more of a tower than anything.
"That is our Hall of Fame, your majesty," the man introduced the building. "That is where we keep the best of the best paintings that have been made throughout the entirety of our school's existence."
