A single stroke was left on the canvas with a golden color. The moment the brush left the paper, Tian Honglui drew another stroke on the other side, creating the initial sketch of the golden mountain.
While only partly into the Saint Core realm, the young man was certainly not the strongest person Alex had met, but the intent he was putting out was certainly something.
Alex could feel the stress each stroke took for the young man to make. He could feel the Intent of the young man to now draw a golden mountain, but rather a mountain of gold.
He was putting his all to make a painting that anyone could look at and tell that it was a painting of a mountain of gold.
Alex didn't just watch how the young man drew his painting. He consumed it.
He watched every stroke, every flick, and every little detail that went into drawing a painting.
A fast motion of hand, and a slow one. One where the brush merely touched on the canvas. One where the brush was pressed onto the canvas.
Alex looked at all of it.
And through it all, the young man produced as much Intent as he could.
The golden mountain slowly came to be. Once the base of the painting was made, the young man added details into it, showing not just the mountain but its shine and its shadows.
He added texture to the mountain, showing that the mountain wasn't a single piece of gold, but a large body with smaller golden rocks and stones scattered all around it.
He added clouds in the sky, showed where the sun was shining from. He added a river by the golden mountain and a forest at its base.
However, no matter what he added, all of them only added to the magnificence that was the golden mountain that stood tall at the center.
The young man added a few flying birds in the sky and stepped back with his arms spread to the side.
"I did it!" he said in absolute glee. "I made the Golden Mountain."
Alex felt the strong Metal aura coming from the golden mountain on the painting and was surprised just how much the young man had managed to learn without actually learning the Dao itself.
He took step back as well and saw the painting in its entirety and could feel the awe that came from the painting. He was more surprised than anything at how well the painting come to be.
"This… this is a masterpiece," he said.
"It is, isn't it?" the young man asked before quickly running back to the painting and activating some sort of formation that was on the back of the painting.
"What are you doing?" Alex asked.
"Activating a protective shield so that something doesn't accidentally destroys the painting," he said.
"Ah!" Alex thought and nodded. He watched as the young man packed up the painting and started trying to understand what he had just watched.
He hadn't been taught how to paint a painting at all. However, just now, he had been taught on how to make a masterpiece with Intent.
'Should I try?' he thought. He didn't think it would be too difficult to make a painting with a strong intent. Although, since he had already asked for a lesson, it would be better if he learned something before trying it out first.
"I am done, brother," the young man said. "I can leave now."
Alex nodded. It was still 2 days before it was time for him to leave, but there was nothing for him to do here anymore.
"Let us leave," Alex said and started walking out along with the young man.
They left the section of the mine and made it to the outside.
Tian Honglui took a deep breath of the fresh air. "Nothing like a breath that isn't filled with dusty smell or gold particles," he said. He walked toward the guards that were responsible for the storage bags and asked for his back.
After a few seconds, he was given back his storage bags and turned around toward Alex. "Did you get your bags, brother?" he asked.
Alex shook his head. "I didn't give them any to start with," he said and started walking away.
The young man looked at the guards who saw and heard everything and was surprised to see them no act at all when Alex walked away without taking anything.
The young man quickly ran up to Alex and whispered into his ears. "Did you give them the gold you got at least?" he asked.
"Why?" Alex asked. "Those are my gold now."
"Huh? No, I'm pretty sure that's not how it works," he said. "You need to give those gold back to them. Or else…"
"Or else what?" Alex asked, turning to look at the young man.
"Or else… I don't really know actually," he said. "I haven't ever seen anyone walk out of the mine without giving half of what they mined."
"First time for anything I guess," Alex said with a grin. It was fun teasing this young man, making him think he had seen someone do something illegal and yet completely fail to comprehend how he got away with it.
Alex had let the guard know that he was leaving on his own and to send his elders directly to the palace when they came out 2 days later.
"What do you even plan on doing with that much gold?" the young man continued.
"Whatever I want," Alex said. "Anyway, are you going to stop talking about it any time soon?"
"Oh, should I?" the young man asked. "Okay, I'll stop talking. Do you have anything you want to talk about?"
"Yes," Alex said. "About that painting of yours actually. It turned out great, but… is it Hall of Fame material?"
"I don't know," the young man said. "I will have to go and find out right now."
Alex smiled. "Mind if I come with you?"
