Chapter : 54 : A Familiar Painting :
" How is this possible ? "
At this moment Xiao Ming was truly out of words as he looked at the picture infront of him in shock .
In front of him there was a portrait hanging in the wall surrounded by various other pictures .
It was the size of approximately 77cm*53cm which was also similar to a very famous painting from his previous life .
The painting showed a stone dungeon like image which was lit by multiple fire torches at each corner making the path visible .
At the end of long and dark hallway there was a pyramid shaped high platform made of some kind of blue stone or crystal which was glowing due to a source of light coming from what seemed like a crack on the ceiling above .
And to top at all there was a glowing fire that was burning like a centre of all creation at the top of the high platform .
To any ordinary people this painting would be a simr creation of masterpiece .
Although not made from high quality materials and certainly not made by any well known craftsman this painting had a certain attraction to it .
The colours in the painting - from the shadows created to efficiently replicate the darkness that one would expect from a long lost dungeon to the detailing done on broken curves of the stone floor all of was high prise worthy .
But what was even more outstanding was the high platform that was glowing like a crystal under the light coming from the crack on the ceiling .
And the flame was like a cherry on top of the cake making the entire picture look both majestic and in more than one ways intimidating .
But to Xiao Ming right now all this colours and artistic measures did not matter .
Because at this moment his focus was entirely on a different matter .
" This is the same place I saw in my meditation when I was finding my Alchemist flame . "
Yes ! for those who well remembered this is exactly the same place where Xiao Ming found his alchemist flame during his meditation in the Alchemist hall of the Xiao clan .
If it were just a little resemblance then perhaps Xiao Ming would have been called a coincidence .
But the picture in front of him matched entirely with what he remembered in his memory .
He remembers the same dark dungeon hallway where he opened his eyes .
He also remembers the long path that led him to the blue glowing high platform .
The picture even had the crack on the ceiling from where the light was coming .
When such details matched it was hard to just dismiss this as mare coincidence.
But the final nail in the wood was the presence of the flame on the top of the platform .
" This is my alchemist flame . "
As the user of The Alchemist flame how could he not recognise his own Alchemist flame even if it is just a picture .
When someone finds and get's attached with their alchemist flame it creates a bond that is hard to describe .
So when he saw the picture of the flame it naturally came to him that this was somehow related to his own Alchemist flame .
But all of this brings a major question .
' What in the name of nine hell is this picture doing here? '
Xiao Ming was right now truly losing his mind .
What happened in his meditation that day was something only he knew .
He did not tell anything about what he saw or anything else to anyone else - not even the second elder .
Then how is it that suddenly he finds a picture that perfectly captures everything he saw that day .
And that too in a public art hall like this .
What happened ?
Did someone scan his brain without him noticing or was someone dreaming the same thing as him .
At this moment Xiao Ming suddenly remembered the strange and rough voice he heard in that dungeon .
" Go and get your Alchemist flame - if you becomes strong enough we will meet again in the future . "
These last words that the strange voice said to him that day echoed it is mind .
And no matter what he couldn't shake off the feeling that whatever happening right now including the picture in front of him is some way related to that voice .
In fact after that day he had gone to the library and done everything he can find any clue that might be related to this mystery .
He went took much risk to indirectly ask the second elder about it using various kinds of indirect questions.
But the result was that he got nothing .
Although he learned a lot about souls related matter in this process like how ancient souls of strong cultivator's can take over ordinary items to stay dormant for a long time or how various soul related cultivation techniques worked .
However he never found anything related to that voice .
One possibility was that perhaps there was another soul living in his body .
But he clearly felt that it was not the case because if it were true then the possibility of him knowing it through the life simulation system would be a lot higher .
Further more he had seen many cultivation novels in his previous life where the concept of having two souls in one body was explained .
And his situation was nothing like that .
So while he did not have any concrete evidence but he felt that this theory did not apply to him .
And this only made the situation even more complicated .
' Alright no time to think too much , right now I need to buy this picture first . '
Although it was not necessary to buy the picture after all accept him knew what it meant Xiao Ming .
But he did not wish to simply leave any loose ends behind .
Fortunately for him the picture was actually up for sale .
So he quickly went over to the sales person over there and asked about it .
" Excuse me sir ! May I how much is for that painting over there ."
Hearing Xiao Ming's voice the man who was looking at the other side turned his head around .
The moment his eyes fell at Xiao Ming he gave a polite smile just like he does for every customer .
But the moment the he closely looked at a badge on Xiao Ming's cloth his eyes went wide in an instant .
This badge had the official emblem of the Xiao clan marked on it Special sealing technique .
Ever since Xiao Ming started going out with the Silver arrow group he decided not to wear clothes that were either too fancy or made his identity stand out too much .
This was to properly mix with the rest of the group and not to let his family background come in the way .
This included the clothes which had his clan symbol on it .
But while he did not wear these clothes whenever he was on the mission or with the group , he still made sure to always keep an official clan seal in form of a badge with him .
Whenever he came back to the glory City after their training or hunting sessions he quickly put on the badge on his clothes .
This was because within the city the emblem of the Xiao clan had multiple advantages .
People immediately notices his idemt when they come close .
And if they had any ill intentions towards him in most cases it will be resolved without much trouble .
After all at least within the glory city there were not many foolish enough to make unnecessary trouble with a member of the Xiao clan .
And even most of those who came from outside the city knew enough as to not make trouble with the supreme lords of the Glory city .
" Oh my ! it seems it is a Young Master from the Xiao clan - please do tell me what can I do for you today . "
The sales person who recognised the clan emblem of the Xiao clan quickly came over with a big smile on his face .
Right now he wanted to do his best to please the young man in front of him.
After all he was just a small sales person in the city he could not afford to offend anyone from the Xiao clan .
And while did work at the auction hall there was no way the authority will protect him if he were to offend anyone from the Xiao clan.
Xiao Ming on the other hand did not give much attention to this matter .
Also one thing that Xiao Ming came to understand in past few days is that the trope that all the workers and sales person in the auction hall or Alchemist hall are beautiful women wearing dresses that highlighted their curves was not true .
Well ... not entirely !
The Auction hall had a lot of people including many people working.
And these included those whose looks were average but are still working as salesperson or guide .
Because here what matter is where you are working .
Most of the beautiful women's that you would expect to see in a typical cultivation novel all worked in high valued areas of the auction hall .
These places included the areas and halls where different kinds of alchemist pills , medicinal herb , storage rings etc . are kept .
These certain areas are the most money making places of the auction hall as most of the customers - the especially cultivators and rich nobles visited here .
So most of the beautiful woman and other professional sales people were kept for this type of area.
And for other less visited areas or less profitable areas like the art hall there are mostly normal people working there .
In fact write outside the gates of the auction hall from where people entering you would find a number of beautiful women wearing somewhat revealing and elegant etire .
This was a business tactic to attract more and more high paying customers using their beauty .
And in a manner the tactic worked to some extent as many young noble and powerful elites would get attracted to this beautiful womens.
They would then be accompanied by the saleswomen who would then use their beauty , charm and other techniques that they are tought before hand to encourage the customer to increase his or her spending .
In fact just when Xiao Ming was going around the shopping area he saw many young nobles surrounded by beautiful women .
One in perticular stood out as he was surrounded by group of four beautiful women in esthetic dresses
Whenever they introduced a new item to him one of them would make sure to deliberately make physical contact pressing a softness against him that made him immediately decide to buy that item .
After seeing this Xiao Ming was relieved that it was not him in that man's position .
While he had more self control than most of this people he still did not believe that he could have kept his composure if that amount of softness pressed against his hand .
He was even more grateful to the sisters of the silver arrow group whose presence seemed l to have discouraged many who wanted to come towards him after seeing his somewhat handsome face.
Yes ! Handsome face .... And definitely.... Not.... Cute.... face .
Cough... cough leaving that aside he also knew that in future he will have to face this situation by himself .
' It's better if I start training more with my mental strength from now onwards . '
While he was thinking about his future training ground plan he kept talking to the salesperson in front of him .
" Yes I would like to buy this painting here . "
Without wasting anytime Xiao Ming quickly pointed towards the painting on the wall .
" You truly have a great taste in art sir , no wonder you are from the prestigious Xiao clan, I.... "
" Stop ! "
Seeing that the person in front of him was about to start a long line of flattering words Xiao Ming quickly stopped him .
Although he rarely interpreted someone like this but right now he really wasn't interested in such talks at this moment .
Right now what he was really interested was in the history of this painting .
If he could know who painted this painting and find that person then perhaps finding the answer to the mystery behind all this can become very easy .
However the next word that the salesperson in front of him spoke quickly dashed all his hopes all at once .
" I am sorry young master but we do not know much about this paintings history .
To Be Continued .