The background is definitely AI, it's not just this but a lot of other manhwa too using AI for backgrounds, some even for npc and it pmo a lot
It just an image with filters/gradient map/photo manipulation and simply paint over if needed, it's call photo bashing. A common technique in illustration. It's more easy do that than writing a prompt.
It same as using 3d elements and painting over it. All these are just photo bashing. It cuts down time.
Seconding this, although I am even pretty sure I know how it was done, or a way to get the same result. I'm not sure which program Old Xian uses, but in Clip Studio Paint, you can achieve a similar-looking background by taking a real-life photo and applying the "artistic" filter over it. Play around with the sliders, and it will give you that look. I know because I've done it in the past (more so to fck around and test out the filter than anything else, I usually use it for other stuff).
It's also very possible that 3D assets are used at other times in the manhua, it's really common to help out, you see them a lot in manhwa too actually (some are very noticeable).
No AI, just an artist trying to make their life easier by using common art tricks, because background are a pain in the ass to make
It's not old xian using AI, but rather the person uploading it here is using a tool to enhance (sorry if it's not the right word, couldn't find a better one) the pictures after making them bigger. Like I mentioned in a reply, Clip Studio Paint has a filter tool called "artistic" that can sometimes make a lower-res picture more bearable (I've used it a couple of times to edit some low-res pictures I wanted to print). But it can also ends up making the picture too smooth and blur the lines, especially when the starting quality was a little bad.
Just saw another tsl on tumblr where the picture is 645x1573 (likely the original res, seeing how it doesn't seem to have been touched) while the one posted on here is 1300x3159 (so roughly twice the size). I tested it out myself on CSP and yeah, I feel pretty certain that's what happened, because when you double it size it doesn't look great (as do most picture when you do that really), but using the "artistic" filter I get similar result to what is posted on here (can't have the excat same look, but that's because I don't have the value for all 8 sliders).
talked about it with some moots elsewhere, but there's also other app that can up the size of a picture, but the filter they have makes the art look more AI (since it enhances like shit). So yeah, point still stands, poster just fucked around with the resolution instead of leaving it be the size it originally was, not AI
If artists start using ai on their OWN stuff its truly over like thats so lame
Why is the last few chapers giving ai