Chapter 3: A dao child?

At the central village square, the head of the village 'Edgar Weinberg' was currently talking to the three ladies. All the villagers were surrounding them, too curious to see what was going on.

"My name is Edgar Weinberg and I am the person in charge of our village. Esteemed guests, if I may ask, to what do we owe the honor of your presence?" he asked them humbly.

"Our apologies for visiting your town unannounced all of a sudden, please forgive us. Rest assured, we have come with good intentions and mean you no harm." The middle-aged woman standing in the middle of the three said.

"The reason for our visit is that we heard rumors about a child prodigy living here, a boy blessed by the heavens they said. About all his famous creations and in particular the painting of a tree that is able to cure all forms of sickness just by looking at it. Our curiosity got the best of us and wondered if it might be possible for us to meet the boy who made the painting?" The kind-looking middle-aged woman asked politely. The other two girls didn't say a word and stood there without expression. It was clear they had no intention of giving these villagers any attention and were only here because they were told to do so.

"Meet him you say? Well uhm... That might be a bit of a problem actually. He usually doesn't like to meet with other people and isn't very fond of conversations either." Seeing the stern look appear on the woman's face he began to stress a little and tried to quickly mediate the situation.

"But do not worry please, I'm sure if we ask him and explain the situation he would be more than willing to meet with you. In the meantime, why don't we show you the exhibition hall where we have stored most of his works?" He asked, hoping they wouldn't be offended.

Thankfully they weren't as the beautiful woman showed a rare smile and nodded. "That would be great, thank you". She said.

Seeing Elkana standing among the crowd, Edgar quickly approached him and whispered in his ear. "I'm sure you know our troubles, please do your best in convincing him to meet with these people." He said in a pleading tone.

'Great... I just came back from clearing my mind and now this' Elkana thought. "Rest assured, I'll make sure he meets with them and will explicitly mention he needs to behave himself this time."

"Thank you Elkana, and don't worry, I don't feel any malice from them and if they do, we will, of course, do our utmost to protect him," Edgar said before he accompanied their guests to the exhibition hall.

After a short walk, they arrived at a big and newly built hall with lots of glass panels and two big iron doors in the middle. Standing outside, you could already feel the vague aura radiating from the art inside.

"This..." The three ladies said simultaneously.

"Please, feel free to enter and stay inside for as long as you wish. We will make sure not to disturb you in the meantime and will tell Samuel to meet you as quickly as possible." Edgar told them while he was unable to hide the pride on his face. 'Now even the rich and mighty cultivators from far away started visiting his village.' He thought.

"Thank you for the hospitality, we will make sure not to touch anything inside." They answered before quickly entering the building, clearly unable to hold their curiosity any longer.

Back in Samuel's home, Elkana just finished explaining everything that happened to his wife and son.

"You're certain they don't hold any hostile intentions?" Samuel asked suspiciously.

"For as far as we can tell they seem to have come with no ulterior motives. Besides, I don't see any other choice than for you to go and meet them. I'm sure we don't have to explain to you why Samuel." Elkana said while feeling slightly sorry. Strong as he is, he isn't capable of protecting his son if these people wanted to do something to harm him, he couldn't help but feel helpless.

Seeing his father looking like that he already understood what he was thinking. "It's ok father, such is life. No need to worry about things we can't do anything about." He told Elkana while patting on his back. Then he left the house and walked toward the exhibition hall.

When he arrived he saw Edgar standing outside, probably wanting to give him instructions before he entered. Sparing himself from a conversation of which he already knew what was going to be said, he put his hand up in the air making clear he didn't want to talk. He walked past the dumbfounded man and opened the two big iron doors, entering the building.

When he came inside he saw one woman and two younger girls who were probably a little older than himself. Their colorful silken dresses clearly gave away they came from rich upbringings, maybe even noble ones, but he lacked the knowledge to make that distinction. With their backs facing him and currently deep in a trance looking at his works, they didn't even seem to notice he was there. He couldn't deny that it felt good to see these ladies admiring his work, and decided not to disturb them with his presence.

"Incredible." A petite girl with long and fine blond hair exclaimed.

"I know right, I have never seen anything like it, everything is so beautiful... Now I'm really curious about this boy. What if he's handsome as well? Wouldn't that be perfect? Just looking at his paintings already makes my heart beat faster, if he's handsome as well I'm afraid I fall in love." The other slightly taller girl said as she ran one of her hands through her long and shiny caramel-colored hair.

"Why does he have to be this young? There is no way someone so gifted looks bad, just his paintings alone can steal my heart" The woman said, not noticing she was thinking out loud. Watching her from behind Samuel already knew this woman had to be gorgeous. Her curly, vanilla blond hair reached all the way to the middle of her back. A little below you could see that round and perfectly curved butt of her being accentuated by the soft silk of her dress, smoothly gliding over it. Seeing her standing on those long and slender legs, he couldn't help but keep staring from behind.

'Worthy of a painting.' He thought.

"Master, what did I just hear you say? Don't tell me you're planning on conquering this young boy all for yourself now do you? Can you imagine the reaction from all your suitors when they hear their goddess is smitten with a fourteen-year-old boy nobody ever heard about? Hahaha, that would be so funny!" The petite blond girl said all teasingly.

"Y-You...! You didn't hear anything you hear me! If you spread word about this I will strip you naked and tie you up in the middle of the academy!" The woman said with her face flushed red.

"Ahh don't worry master, this disciple won't tell a single soul. Besides, this is what girls do, do they not? Gossiping about handsome boys in secret hehe. What makes you so sure that he is good-looking anyway?" She asked curiously.

Her master couldn't help but sigh, these disciples sure loved to tease her. "Let me ask you first, have you ever wondered why his art gives you that unique feeling?"

The older girl who was still fiddling her hair looked at her master with her eyes wide open. "Y-you mean that feeling that makes my heart beat faster?" She asked looking all innocent.

"Hahaha... you're so hopeless!" The tiny blond giggled. "No what master means is the water that you feel flowing around you when you look at the lake, the coldness you feel when you look at the moon on that painting over there, and that absurdly amazing feeling you get when you look at the tree! That beating maiden's heart of yours is nothing more than a premonition you're about to lose your virginity! Hahahaha."

"Hehe, she's right though, about the paintings that is. You're both in the golden core realms and haven't opened your mind's eye yet so it's impossible for you to know this but, I'm afraid things aren't as simple as they seem. These paintings are far, far more special than you imagine them to be! I can't believe it to be true but I can't come to any other conclusion, his art contains traces of the dao!" The woman said with great enthusiasm.

"And since he's presumably only fourteen years old and hasn't started cultivating yet it can only mean one thing..."

He has to be a dao child!