Angel indeed saw oil paintings in the Nightmare Realm’s Hanging Jail Stairway. However, all these paintings were concentrated at the topmost floor, which is the Warden’s residence.
The Warden of the Hanging Jail Stairway seems to be a person who greatly loves oil paintings, as every corridor in his residence is lined with numerous artworks. Each of these artworks is an exquisite masterpiece.
Initially, when Angel left the Hanging Jail Stairway, he even took two paintings from the Warden’s gallery to bring back to reality.
To this day, those two paintings still lie inside Angel’s bracelet.
The oil painting on the wall of this ruin is naturally not one of those two that Angel brought out, but he had seen similar paintings in the Warden’s gallery.
In other words, this painting very likely originated from the top of the Hanging Jail Stairway, the Warden’s gallery.
However, how did it come here from the Warden’s gallery? Was it due to a Spatial Tempest that scattered the oil paintings inside, coincidentally landing here? Or perhaps, this entire wall was originally part of the Warden’s gallery?
Angel pondered for a moment and approached the location of the painting.
Before he even reached the painting, Angel ascertained that this wall did not come from the Warden’s gallery, but rather originally belonged to the wall of a cell on the second floor. This is because the Warden’s gallery walls and frames are made of the same material, both are expensive lacquer wood, with the only difference being that the walls are covered with deep purple matte wallpaper.
But the wall in this ruin is made of a mixed material of stone and wood, considered relatively cheap, even cheaper than previous deep-sea wood, with the only benefit being its strong conductivity, capable of carrying the energy channels of a Mana-bearing Array.
Although the wall isn’t from the highest floor gallery walls, the painting is indeed part of the Warden’s collection.
It is a pastoral leisure-themed oil painting, with golden-hued ripe grain stretching into the distance, and many farmwomen working hard. In the foreground is a farmwoman, but she is not working, instead resting by a tree, judging by the sweat at her temples and the work gloves set aside, she could be in the midst of labor or just resting afterward. Golden curls tumble from one side of her headscarf, her young and vibrant, beautiful profile gazes at the distant mountains with a lingering sentiment, as if her beloved is among those mountains.
The background is a warm hue of early autumn harvest, mid-afternoon light in a hazy blur, the whole scene rich with layers despite minimal use of colors.
Angel remembers this painting due to its rarity among the Warden’s collection of leisure-themed paintings.
Other artworks are either deeply philosophical, abstract in meaning, realistic, or portraits.
Leisure-themed paintings are very few.
Precisely because leisure-themed paintings are scarce, among the two oil paintings Angel chose to bring out, he picked one called "The Shepherd’s Milking Scene."
This "Pastoral Afternoon Painting" was also among Angel’s considerations at the time, hence the deep impression.
"Is there a problem with this painting?" At this moment, the Black Earl also flew over.
The Black Earl’s voice carried obvious doubt, as Angel should have heard the previous dialogue between the Wise Sovereign and himself. The Wise Sovereign clearly stated that the Wood Spirit wasn’t here, so why would Angel linger before this painting?
Others also curiously looked at Angel. Angel seldom engages in things without purpose; by standing in front of this painting, did he make another discovery?
Angel: "I’m just curious, why is this painting hung here?"
Although Angel was answering the Black Earl, his gaze was fixed on the Wise Sovereign.
The Wise Sovereign raised an eyebrow: "Why can’t it be hung here?"
Angel: "I think such artwork should be displayed in a beautiful gallery, not within ruins. It was probably someone who hung it here, right?"
The Wise Sovereign merely smiled without answering.
He thought Angel had actually discovered something, but it seems Angel was just curious about the painting’s presence here.
It’s reasonable, how could a descendant recognize an unknown artwork from ages ago.
Angel turned his head, looking at the Wise Sovereign: "Did the Wise Sovereign place this painting here?"
The Wise Sovereign shook his head: "No."
After a pause, the Wise Sovereign further said: "If you wish to know a more detailed answer, feel free to exchange questions with me."
The Wise Sovereign bringing up the exchange surprised even the Black Earl slightly. This meant the Wise Sovereign deemed the question worthy of Angel’s exchange.
In other words, the person who hung this painting must have a significant identity.
Angel caught the underlying meaning from the Wise Sovereign’s tone but still shook his head: "Never mind, we came searching for the Wood Spirit this time, other matters can wait."
The Wise Sovereign didn’t mind Angel’s choice, chuckling before stepping aside.
Just as the Wise Sovereign prepared to return to the path of the Void, he suddenly noticed Vay, directly facing him, suddenly widen his eyes in shock while staring behind him.
Simultaneously, Dox exclaimed aloud: "What is this, a Wood Spirit?"
The Wise Sovereign froze upon hearing this, immediately turning back to look.
He saw Angel’s hand, at some point, had reached into the painting, slowly pulling out a blackish-brown round wood.
As Angel gradually extracted the round wood, the painting’s scene seemed to change into lake water, rippling with undulating waves.
Everyone stared agape at Angel’s actions, including the Wise Sovereign, whose face showed a hint of astonishment.
How... did he know?
Under the gaze of everyone, Angel pulled out a blackish-brown round wood about two meters long and ten centimeters thick from the painting.
Once the round wood completely came out of the oil painting, the tree against which the farmwoman rested appeared as if it had died, its leaves withering until only a barren trunk remained.
Such transformation was already astonishing, but the changes hadn’t concluded.
The farmwoman in the painting, who originally showed a sidelong face gazing lovingly towards the distant mountains, now turned her face directly forward, revealing the other side of her face as a pitch-black hollow, with resentment replacing the affectionate gaze.
The farmwoman glared angrily at Angel before turning into a thin layer of black smoke, vanishing.
At this moment, the painting’s scenery transformed again.
The withered tree grew leaves anew, and the vanished farmwoman reappeared, but now she was no longer a beautiful young blonde woman, instead a freckled, brown-haired ponytail girl.
This scene lasted only for a moment before transforming again.