"So, you like anyone, your majesty?" the crown prince asked. He looked quite excited to hear Alex's response to the ladies he was presenting to him.
Alex smiled a bit and shook his head. "I can't tell from these talismans alone. I must visit them all and meet them in person before I make any judgment. They all might be who I am looking for, and so can none of them be it. Only time will tell," he said.
"Oh, right," the Crown Prince nodded. "When do you plan of going to meet with them?"
Alex looked at the talisman again and thought about the information he had gathered in the past 3 months regarding various things in the Eastern Continent.
One of that information was on when and where the various events were going to take place.
The next one was in the Emerald City.
"I'll go meet this Talia girl first," Alex said. "The Endless Shadow Abyss opens up in 6 months, right?"
"Yes, I believe so," the prince said. "Do you wish to meet her and then go to the abyss at the same time?"
"Why not? It sounds like it'll be fun," Alex said. He could also search for Hannah there.
The prince nodded. "I had thought you would be visiting the Azure Lake first, and maybe going to the Boundless Enlightenment domain to gather up some dao knowledge."
"I had thought of that, but I realized I could do that whenever I wanted to, but I need to take the chance with the Abyss right now to see what I'm capable of," Alex said.
"Hmm, when do you plan on leaving? I'll let King Jin know that you'll be visiting him soon," the prince said.
"No need," Alex replied. "There's still 6 months remaining. I can go at the last moment. I have quite a few things to do here anyway."
"Oh, uh… then please let me know when you plan to leave. I'll let King Jin know about it then," the prince said.
Alex nodded and thanked the prince.
The crown prince left the room after that, leaving Alex and the rest alone for the time being.
"Your Majesty, can we see those talismans?" Elder Yao asked.
"Why? So you can see if there's a suitable queen for the continent?" Alex asked.
The elders gulped, not saying anything. "It would be great if you could get an heir, your majesty," Elder Liang said. "Even if there is little to no chance you will leave them behind."
Alex sighed. "Would that even matter?" he asked. "What if the next phoenix just dissolves the human royal family after they come?"
"Umm… " the elders had no answer for that. They simply hoped that such a case wouldn't happen. They had spent the past 5 thousand years trying to fix a mistake that they thought they did, and as a result, they had come to greatly care about the Southern Continent.
Now, they wanted to do whatever it was in their power to keep it prosper, even if they wouldn't be here to see it happen.
Alex sent the elders away and went through the talismans once again before putting them away. He called Whisker and Pearl back out and continued cultivating along with the two of them.
He spent quite a lot of time cultivating, going well into the day before he finally got up to leave. He wanted to go and join the artifact school to learn there as soon as he could, so he decided to get done with the other remaining school that he had yet to go to.
The Royal School of Painting.
Alex arrived along with the elders who were curious about the school as well. Someone notified the headmaster of his arrival, and soon an older man in a graceful white robe walked out to welcome him.
He bowed to Alex, greeting him.
"It has been a while, your majesty," the old man said. "I had heard that you were going around the other schools, and I have been hoping you would come by this place eventually."
Alex smiled. The old man had been there that day during the alchemist competition along with many other people. While he hadn't talked to Alex, they had still greeted each other.
"I had planned to visit all the schools. This just took a while longer to get to," Alex said. "I was hoping you will give me a tour of the school, and help me understand the purpose of this place."
"Absolutely, your majesty," the man said. "Please come with me."
Alex walked in with the man.
The Royal School of Painting was mostly full of buildings all around. There weren't just many buildings but they were also quite tall.
Alex looked around as he entered the first building. There were a lot of different cultivators that were staring at the wall, looking at the paintings that hung by them.
He was quite surprised by the number of people that were there. "Where would you rank your school in terms of the number of students you have amongst the 10?" he asked.
"Amongst the other Royal Schools? Hmm, we certainly have more students than puppetry and beast taming, and given how few there are in the cooking school, I would say we come around 5th or 6th."
"The others are a bit more attractive to the students, so they end up going there," the headmaster said.
"I see," Alex said and walked around, looking at the paintings that the students were looking at. The paintings were quite beautiful from what Alex could tell, but… they weren't that great.
Alex didn't see the point of staring at them for so long. Were the students trying to learn from it?
"Does the school not teach their students how to paint?" Alex asked. "Or are they just looking at those paintings to try and get inspiration for their own work?"
"Them? No, they aren't doing either of those things," the headmaster explained. "They are actually trying to absorb whatever Intent is in the paintings to try and understand them in hopes that they learn something from them."
Alex paused for a moment when he heard that. "I'm sorry… Intent?" he asked looking around at the paintings on the wall. "Those paintings have intent?"
"Yes," the headmaster nodded. "The Intent of the painter is carved into those paintings, allowing the viewers to experience what the painter might be thinking or feeling, giving them a better understanding of the painting."
Alex was quite surprised. He slowly walked toward one of the paintings and looked at it for a while.
The painting on the wall was of a man sitting on top of a tree with a flute in his hand. The painting was okay at best in terms of quality, but the longer Alex stared at it, the more beautiful it seemed to become in his eyes.
The green leaves became luscious, the man's clothes fluttering in the wind. And soon enough, Alex felt like he could hear the sweet melody from the flute that the man in the painting played.
Alex's eyes widened in shock.
It was only now that he realized that paintings were one of the best ways to hone one's Intent.
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