The Painter had encountered, perhaps ten times across all forty-three previous Existences, a moment in which a cultivator at the table had managed a small move the Painter had not anticipated.
It was rare the first few times, and the last time it had been surprised was thirty of the forty-three Existences ago.
The Painter had absorbed those moments, refined the moves into flavors, and used them in subsequent Existences to enrich the meal.
However, none of those moves had been a move on the Tower. None of those moves had been made during a feast where it was feeding the audience.
The game was never fair. For any of the participants to even beat the Painter at the board and threaten its Eternal Tower was impossible… it could stretch out the game for countless eternities, and they would always be playing according to its rules.
