Chapter 119: Three Dark Clouds (Part 2/2) (1/2)

Chapter 119: Three Dark Clouds (Part 2/2)

Translator: Strivon

To know the whole, one must first see. One must simply see.

His old methods of clairvoyance were unable to break free from the stereotypes of the old interpretations of the world. He had followed the old conventions obediently as he expanded his domain. He had taken into account the endurance and processing power of his body when it came to receiving large quantities of information.

However, after switching to new interpretations, all he had to do was draw! These drawings were casual whole impressions reproduced from his senses and memory. All he needed was to grasp one or two characteristics of living movement so it was fine to synthesize them through concise strokes.

This was the difference between sketching and speed-sketching. This was the difference between meticulous brushwork and freehand brushwork.

Luo Nan generalized his Life Sketches into two components, speed-sketching, and configuration. Speed-sketching should be done first and foremost. This was the core where the whole of his ideas resided. This was the true direction of application.

Before the whole composition could be confirmed, carved details, no matter how true, would likely be warped and absurd when looked at with the whole. Just like with the out-of-place disorder with his star atlas.

”The whole! The whole!”

Luo Nan emphasized to himself in a hypnotic manner. He closed his eyes then reopened them. Then he closed them again. By doing this, he was able to forget his old observational methods. His thoughts and consciousness were able to expand outward and reach new heights. He was able to go further beyond and to broaden magnificently.

Right now, the range of his clairvoyance was like the contraction and expansion of a heart, like the rise and fall of a tide. It contracted. It expanded. It swelled. It receded. The changing frequency was growing faster and faster. The changing spectrum was growing larger and larger. It was truly like a great river bursting through a dam; it flooded all around, flowing freely. It was like the shattering of an iron mold; stereotypes and conventions no longer existed.

There was an instant when Luo Nan felt his body and soul about to be scattered into the void. It lasted until his dark chains trembled. The power of his ‘My heart’s a prison’ format appeared and only then was he able to draw himself in.

At the same time, the range of Luo Nan's mental senses was restored to the apex value of when he was in his out-of-body state. It reached eight hundred meters and after a few breaths of time, the radius exceeded one kilometer. It was expanding endlessly. The entirety of Frost River Reality, including the three buildings supporting this indoor amusement center, and even the surrounding area was within the range of his mental clairvoyance.

Fuzzy constellations appeared one after another. They represented everyone in Frost River Reality. It was not just the few who were near Luo Nan. It included Frost River Reality, Baze, seven Oblatum Knights, nearly a hundred trapped civilians. They represented people outside of Frost River Reality. It included the police officers above the three buildings supporting Frost River Reality. It included the thousands of civilians crowded around and watching. They were all totally integrated into Luo Nan's star atlas.

Stars bright like diamonds formed this constellation system. There were also shadows that were hard to see with the naked eye and there were also hazy and turbid dark clouds.

The shadows were the building construction, furniture, equipment, decorations, and other useless dead ends. The dark clouds were living outlines of people who were hard to analyze within a short period of time.

Though Luo Nan lacked the ability to depict them, the contrast between motion and static, inanimate objects and living beings, awareness and unawareness evoked a marvelous and exquisitely consistent relationship.

Brightness and shadows interweaved. Light and darkness matched together. Emptiness and substance alternated... Under each other's influences, each and every constellation, shadow, and dark cloud had their boundaries with each other be gradually blurred. They weaved amongst each other, strewn at random. However, their trajectories were clear with rules and laws behind them. In the end, they formed an endlessly snaking star river of splendor. The river unfurled itself.

It was without a doubt that this was the most profound and magnificent scene Luo Nan had ever drawn in his life. It possessed a nearly inexhaustible amount of layers and marvels.

If he had the chance, Luo Nan really wanted to mesmerize himself within these layers to ponder and savor over every detail. But today, he would not immerse himself within. He just used an independent, separated, detached, and wonderful point of view to capture and draw the compositional outline of this star river scene.

As a whole, it was quite appropriate to describe what he perceived as a ‘star river’.

It was as if Luo Nan was standing at the dead center of an enormous galaxy. The starlight was sparse in the area he occupied but surrounding him were three enormous and bright spiral arms unfolding out. They accurately represented the number of living beings in Frost River Reality and the three buildings it was connected to.

However, there was also a hazy dark cloud entrenched at the end of each of the three spiral arms. The three dark clouds obstructed the starlight. They even interlinked channels between the dark clouds. The channels drew out a region of turbid darkness that pressed heavily atop the star river. The darkness even permeated within. It was hard to see their true identities.