Chapter 1106: Mottian’s Painted Skin — He Said He Would Let Her Go, But He Never Said He Wouldn’t Take Her Things

The girl surnamed Pei sized up the Mottian in front of her. There was a time when she had thought she was about to die.

When she faced the fiend, about to be swallowed alive, a man dressed in finery stepped out of the darkness, asked her name, and after confirming it, brought her here.

It was not for food, not for play.

He only wanted to teach this half-ghost, half-human Mottian to paint.

One could say, if not for Mottian, she might have died long ago.

But living in this hellish ghost den, every day was full of fear.

Still, she knew this Mottian was different from other ghosts.

He could communicate.

The girl swallowed. “Mottian sir, I can offer you constructive suggestions, and I can help you, but I...”

She did not dare say she wanted to leave.

But Mottian saw through her true intention.

“A pupil who learns becomes a teacher. Mottian thanks Miss Pei for teaching me painting these past days. If you can help me, I will safely send you away afterward, whether to the other half of Nanshan Kingdom or abroad, it will be fine.”

Mottian had killed people, consumed people, harmed people — half the tragedy in Nanshan Kingdom began with him; that much the girl knew.

She could not believe that after seeing the words she didn’t dare speak, Mottian would agree to her terms.

Logically, such a ferocious being, even if rational, shouldn’t let her go so easily.

A lock of soft hair slid down across her brow, half-concealing a smile on Mottian’s face. “Miss Pei, you need not be surprised.”

Mottian turned with his hands behind his back and looked out at the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows toward the human hell below, black smoke billowing everywhere, monsters scurrying through the night.

“I have always thought that being human is a disposition, not merely a species. I kill, I eat, I harm — that is my instinct, my nature. I embrace my nature, I accept my instinct. But who I do not kill, who I spare, is governed by my reason and my decision.”

“So sometimes, I actually feel I am quite like a human.”

“Though we have no formal master-and-pupil name between us, we have the reality of such a relationship. You have given, so I must repay. During this period, I could hear and see that perhaps you do not want to remain a ghost.”

“Although I find it a pity, I respect your wish. That is that, plain and simple.”

The girl’s face went deathly pale in an instant.

He could read minds.

Mottian: “Miss Pei is very clever.”

“You thought those thoughts before. I know them all.”

The girl was bewildered. She had cursed the Mottian many times in her head, but he had heard it all, and he actually...

Mottian still faced away from her. “People malign me, slander me, curse me — it’s merely that different viewpoints see different darknesses. I do not care much.”

“Rather, I care more about you, Miss Pei. After you leave, painting must be continued, but studying should also be put back on your schedule.”

“You once, in your mind, complained more than once about why I call you ‘sir’ when you are clearly a girl.”

“That is because in the days when I was free, the education I received taught that whether male or female, old or young, even plants and trees — anyone who imparts knowledge can be called ‘sir’.”

“Although times have changed and many things differ now, with powerful nations like Great Han exporting cultural thought abroad, forgive my unwillingness to change.”

The girl bowed her head, embarrassed.

She had even been judged for being educated.

“I... I understand, Mottian sir. If you can disguise yourself as a human without changing your essence and not be discovered by someone like Lu Ding...”

“I can use my family heirloom to help you.”

Mottian finally turned. “Oh? A family heirloom?”

The girl nodded. With a lift of her hand, spiritual energy coalesced into a jade-handled brush, held in her palm.

“This is my Pei family’s heirloom. It has few other wondrous uses, only this: paint mountains as mountains, with towering, solid presence; paint water as water, with the sound of flowing streams.”

“Paint people, and it can pass for the real thing.”

“If I use it and paint you as my canvas, it should make you indistinguishable from a real person.”

Mottian’s eyes lit up.

“Then I will trouble Miss Pei.”

As he stripped his clothes and stood naked before the girl, the usually emotionally volatile girl became calm as still water.

This was the professionalism of an artist.

With each stroke and line, her spiritual energy rapidly drained, her complexion growing pale. Driven by the hope of regaining freedom, she painted vivid, lifelike false details on Mottian.

Until the final stroke landed.

The girl collapsed from exhaustion.

Mottian reached out and supported her. “Are you all right, Miss Pei?”

She shook her head. Looking at Mottian standing so close, she felt a stir of Stockholm syndrome.

Her tone unconsciously softened. “I’m fine, just a little faint. Mottian sir, as long as this skin is not excessively damaged, it should hold for a long time.”

Mottian helped her to her feet. “Then thank you, Miss Pei.”

After he said it, he snatched the brush from her hand, holding it himself, and repeated, “Thank you, Miss Pei.”

In that instant, the girl was brought crashing back to reality.

“Mottian sir, what... do you mean by that?”

Mottian’s smile remained fixed. “I told you I embrace my nature and accept my instinct. Survival of the fittest is the underlying logic of all instinctual branches.”

“Please, Miss Pei, rest well. After I speak with Lu Ding, I will send you out.”

On that point, he did not trick her — he had promised — but he had not promised not to take the girl’s family heirloom; one promise did not equal another.

Mottian’s voice trailed off as his figure blurred and shrank away, until after he finished speaking, he completely vanished from the room.

The girl could no longer hold herself together. “Mottian, you beast!!!”

“Liar!!!”

“Thief!!!!”

“You shameless!!!”

“That is my family heirloom, give it back to me, give it back, wahhhh...........”

The routine had been too deep; she couldn’t handle it.

Mottian left the room and stood alone on the roof, looking into the distance — the direction Lu Ding had been recklessly flying across national borders.

He spoke, “Next, it will be our encounter.”

Mottian raised his hand, ghostly energy spreading and gathering into countless blood-eyed crows, swarming, blotting out the sky as they rose.

Inside the tall building, two figures took to the air. One wore a great cloak with the character six on the back, the other held a human skull and a meteor hammer, sucking on a lollipop with the character nine on it.

To create an encounter, sacrifices must be made. The sight of blood makes it feel more real.