It’s more like a fairy tale, where a warrior goes through many trials, defeats the dragon, rescues the princess, and finds a glittering treasure chest in the dragon’s hoard.
Because only a fairy tale chest would be so extravagant.
"A very quirky style, with a bit of Feng’s flavor." Angel muttered to himself as he extended a spirit tentacle, wanting to observe the chest more deeply.
When the spirit tentacle touched the chest, there was no dangerous feedback. However, since the chest was made of pure magic gold and highly integrated, it was impossible to penetrate it. The keyhole had to be opened to see inside the chest.
Thinking of the keyhole, Angel’s mind unconsciously recalled the appearance of the ornate key of Oga Pattern.
Does this keyhole require the ornate key of Oga Pattern?
If it does, then it means this place should...
Angel was still pondering the issue of the keyhole, lost in thought, when he suddenly heard a "clicking" sound.
It turned out that Angel, unconsciously, had slightly increased the intensity of his spirit tentacle.
Coincidentally, the spirit tentacle was wrapped around the lid of the chest, and with the added pressure, the lid popped open, creating a gap.
Looking at the opened chest, Angel was speechless.
The chest didn’t even have a lock, so why put a keyhole in it?!
Previously, Angel had thought that if this keyhole required the ornate key of Oga Pattern, it would indicate that this chest was indeed the treasure left by Feng. After all, Nami Midori had confirmed that the ornate key of Oga Pattern was the key to unlocking the treasure.
Since this chest didn’t require the ornate key of Oga Pattern, Angel had reason to speculate that this might not be the treasure left by Feng.
Angel raised his head and looked up at the shining light sphere above: "Could the real treasure be inside the light sphere?"
Angel sighed and looked down at the ostentatious chest.
No matter where the treasure is, let’s first see what exactly is inside this chest.
"If it’s not Feng’s treasure, then perhaps this chest is just a prank box?" Given Angel’s understanding of Feng’s personality, it’s very likely that this chest is like a circus joker’s prank box, and when opened, a spring-loaded joker would pop out with a mischievous flavor.
With a mindset ready for a prank, Angel gently opened the lid along the gap.
The expected spring-loaded joker did not appear, and there was no scare as Angel imagined. Inside, there was an item placed in a regular manner.
An oil painting set in an antique bronze engraved frame.
With the light from above, Angel vaguely saw the colorful hues in the painting, but to know exactly what’s depicted, he would need to take it out of the chest.
Angel extended four spirit tentacles, placing them on each side of the oil painting, and slowly lifted it out of the chest.
Before seeing the contents of the painting, Angel had speculated, given Feng’s personality, if the chest wasn’t a prank box, could he have intended to use the painting for mischief?
But when the painting appeared in front of Angel, he was stunned for a moment.
The content of this painting looked very proper, with no hint of mischief.
In the painting, the largest backdrop is a starry sky within a deep blue nightfall.
Beneath the brilliant starry sky is a black shadow without detail. Judging from the undulations, it seems like an endless wilderness, with a single tree amidst it.
If named in straightforward language, it would be "Stars and Trees."
If named abstractly, Angel would call it "Insignificance and Loneliness." Although the tree occupies a significant portion of the painting, compared to the vast starry sky, it seems minuscule; in the boundless wilderness, it’s the only tree, adding a touch of loneliness.
Angel appreciated the painting for a while; it’s still nice in terms of composition.
"Did Feng paint this?" Angel wondered, "If Feng painted it, why would he put this painting in the chest?"
Judging purely by the painting, apart from personal resonances, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy, is there?
Angel examined it closely again, attempting to uncover hidden elements in the painting.
After a while, his gaze fixed below the tree. Although the tree’s shadow was depicted clearly, for some unknown reason, he felt as though there was a silhouette standing beneath the tree, but due to the perspective, the scenery behind the tree wasn’t visible.
Angel found this thought a bit absurd, but once it emerged, it couldn’t be dismissed.
As Angel envisioned "someone possibly standing behind the tree," the painting’s scene suddenly began to change.
The perspective of the painting started to slowly shift.
It only took a second for the scene to shift 90 degrees.
The starry sky remained equally brilliant, the wilderness equally vast and empty, and the tree seemed unchanged overall. The only change was that beneath the tree, there indeed appeared a human silhouette.
The shifted 90-degree view indeed revealed the tree’s backside, and there was a human figure leaning against the tree, gazing at the starry sky...
The sudden change of the painting was already astonishing; more surprising was that the transition happened exactly as Angel envisioned.
Angel could hardly believe his eyes. He stared hard at the painting, his mind filled with one question: was the shadow hinted at by the painting first, or did the scene change because of his thoughts?
While Angel was caught in doubt, the painting underwent another transformation.
The once-flat surface started to ripple, resembling droplets falling on a calm water surface.
Ripples radiated outwards from the center of the painting.
In the end, a pitch-black point formed at the center of the ripples. An irresistible force emanated from that black point.
The process was rapid, and this force seemed to carry an attribute of unstoppable power. Even though Angel quickly activated various defensive measures and even opened The Gate of Void, he was still caught by the force.
He was directly sucked into the black point.
With Angel’s figure drawn into the black point, the stone platform returned to calm, as if everything had reset to its original state, as though nothing had happened at all...