“Come… take a look at the Southsea Huanghuali in Hell.”

Qin Ye walked over and took a look, and he was completely stunned.

There was a knot right in the center of the stump. And this knot… actually formed a beautiful, perfect pattern!

It wasn’t like one of those intricately designed carvings. Instead, it resembled the most quintessential of landscape paintings, almost as though an expert had splashed ink on a canvas before improvising from there.

Freestyle.

It was like a freestyle masterpiece of a female artist, hazy yet graceful, distinct yet illusory. It was a mesmerizing piece of art.

In fact, it was so enrapturing that it was difficult to fathom how something like that was simply growing out of a tree. To this end, it even looked somewhat artificial.

“This is what we call the ghost face.” Gu Qing explained excitedly, “It’s actually formed out of the nodules and bumps, otherwise known as knots, that arise naturally during a tree’s growth. The Southsea Huanghuali generally grows in a harsh environment. Therefore, it’s known to grow slowly, and it develops many branches. It’s also because of this that the grains tend to be twisted and somewhat irregular. This generally lends to a greater propensity to develop a ghost face, and a denser and richer one at that. That said… this is still the first time I’ve seen a naturally occurring ghost face as vivid and lifelike as that.”

Everyone grew silent. Arthis and Qin Ye stared at Gu Qing, eagerly awaiting his final conclusion on the matt...