Chapter 12: The Realm of Painting

  Yan Jing University has been in session for over a decade, and during this time, after going through the traditional military training, Wu Xiaoai hasn't come to cause any trouble. The so-called "Four Princes of Yan Da" that Ding Yun mentioned haven't appeared either. Chu Zifeng's daily life is still quite comfortable, except for having to face three live treasures every day and finding a quiet and secluded place to cultivate.

  Since there is no other technique to practice, Chu Zi Feng can only delve deeper into the study of "Qing Mu Emperor's Secret". This "Qing Mu Emperor's Secret" does not have any moves or routines to speak of, relying on the flow of true energy within the body to attack the enemy, but it is an attack that hurts the soul without harming the body. For example, if Chu Zi Feng uses the "Qing Mu Emperor's Secret" to hit someone, there will be no signs of injury on the surface, but the person's soul will be shattered, which is also the most unique aspect of the "Qing Mu Emperor's Secret".

  But Chu Zi Feng after all lives in an ordinary world, and doesn't know if there are other cultivators besides himself. At least he hasn't met any other cultivators yet, so even when faced with a crisis, Chu Zi Feng can't easily use the "Qing Mu Emperor's Decree". To avoid revealing his identity as a cultivator and being treated like a monster, Chu Zi Feng used these few days to excerpt some moves from martial arts books. Combining them with certain breathing techniques from the "Qing Mu Emperor's Decree", he created the "Assassination Eight Styles" that can be used in combat against ordinary people without being too exaggerated.

  Chu Zi Feng was originally a genius in learning, as long as he had a foundation and understood the underlying principles, he could grasp everything at once. This self-created style wouldn't be too difficult for him. The "Assassinating God Eight Styles" was created by Chu Zi Feng combining China's ancient martial arts "Clothing Eighteen Falls" and "Iron Wire Fist", with body methods and fist methods, plus the method of cultivating internal energy, even ordinary people could cultivate it. However, this "Assassinating God Eight Styles" had no use for Chu Zi Feng at all.

  "It seems like I still need to find another way as soon as possible!"

  Sitting on the bed in his bedroom, Chu Zi Feng also understood that some things can't be rushed, and for something like cultivating the True Essence Technique, it's even more of a case of being able to encounter but not seek. He thought that at that time he was also able to become a cultivator because of an unexpected encounter, hoping that his luck would be as good as it was back then, and have a few more unexpected encounters, allowing him to obtain even more things.

  Spent the whole morning in the dormitory because there were no classes to attend this morning, and Chu Zi Feng had no interest in those miscellaneous courses.

  It's two o'clock in the afternoon, and Qi Bai and the other three don't know where they went either. It's estimated that it's impossible to stay in the classroom. Chu Zifeng came alone to the bottom of the school gymnasium. This place was also discovered by Chu Zifeng five days ago. Under the gymnasium is a vacant lot, with only a dozen stone pillars supporting the gymnasium. Normally, no students would come to this godforsaken place. These past few nights, Chu Zifeng has been cultivating here as well.

  But today was different, when Chu Zi Feng just arrived at the bottom of the gym, he actually saw a girl here, a girl in a white skirt, holding a brush and painting on a rock.

  Chu Zi was very curious, why would students run to this place to paint, isn't there a special painting room in school? He walked towards the girl.

  The girl was so absorbed in painting that she didn't even notice someone had appeared behind her, and Chu Zifeng didn't make a sound or look at the girl's face, but instead looked at what she was painting.

  The girl was painting a watercolor painting, one of China's oldest art forms. The painting was only half finished and depicted a landscape that seemed to come alive.

  "Your handwriting is still pretty good."

  Suddenly, Chu Zifeng subconsciously said a sentence that scared the girl, her hand holding the brush slipped, and the whole painting was ruined.

  But the girl didn't get angry, she slowly stood up, turned around to face Chu Zifeng and asked: "Classmate, do you also understand ink wash painting?"

  The sound is very soft and beautiful, just like a parrot singing.

  Chu Zi Wind saw the girl's appearance clearly at this moment, with long black hair, willow-leaf-like eyebrows, a melon-seed-shaped face, and a height of about 1.7 meters, giving off an extremely pure feeling.

  Chu Zifeng felt that the girl looked a bit familiar, but at this moment, Chu Zifeng's attention was focused on the painting drawn by the girl, and he didn't pay much attention to her appearance.

  "Just knowing some of it, dare not say I understand!"

  The girl asked: "What's your opinion on the landscape painting I just drew?"

  Chu Zi Feng smiled and said, "I'm just an outsider, what opinion do I have? However, this classmate, I saw that you seemed a bit anxious when drawing earlier, and also didn't seem to find the right feeling, but instead relied on your deep brushwork to draw!"

  "Feeling? The feeling you're talking about, is it inspiration or some other kind of feeling?"

  "Actually, painting is like people. If a woman's temperament can make everyone ignore her appearance, then this woman is absolutely the public enemy of all men in the world. In other words, if you can find the feeling of what you are painting when you paint, your brushwork becomes your assistant, which is what people often call 'mood'."

  That kind of artistic conception is something that only a master would have, how could a girl at this age possibly possess it!

  "I want to too, but no matter what I do, I just can't find that feeling of drawing something!"

  "The heaven and earth complement each other, if you want to paint ancient landscape paintings, I suggest you learn more about ancient history and civilization, as well as the thoughts of people back then. Think of our country's famous painters, poets, and writers, which one didn't like traveling around the world? Li Bai, Du Fu, Tang Bohu, they all traveled extensively throughout China, and only then did they create masterpieces that have been passed down for centuries. However, their travels weren't just for fun, but to find inspiration, to accumulate feelings bit by bit, which naturally transformed into a kind of artistic realm."

  After listening to Chu Zifeng's words, the girl couldn't quite digest them and said: "What you're saying is so profound! However, I can be certain that someone who can say such things is absolutely not an outsider. Classmate, I don't think I've seen you before, are you a freshman this year?"

  "Right," Chu Zifeng smiled and said, "I'm Chu Zifeng, a freshman in the Economics Department of Class One."

  "Chu Zi Feng? That's a nice name. Hi, I'm Xiao Jing, a senior in the Fine Arts Department."

  What's wrong?

  Okay, so Chu Zifeng felt that this girl looked familiar, and it turned out she was the number one beauty on the school flower list! However, Xiao Jing, this number one beauty, seemed to have been forcibly taken by Chu Zifeng. If judging by appearance alone, Xiao Jing and Wu Xiaoyi should be about the same!

  "It's actually Jing Xue sister, who has been famous for a long time."

  Xiao Jing's face turned red as she said: "You found out from that school beauty ranking, right? Actually, that school beauty ranking is just a joke, I don't like it!"

  I'm going to pass out. I said you're a great beauty, and you won't even acknowledge it? On that day, I used all my strength to help you get to the top, and now you tell me you don't like it?!

  However, Chu Zi Feng felt that Xiao Jing was quite special. Take Wu Xiao Ai for example, she came to his dormitory just to fight for the number one beauty spot, but Xiao Jing said that the school flower ranking was a joke and didn't care about it at all!

  "Hehe, occasionally took a look, Jing Xue's popularity is so high, even without that school flower ranking, you are still the undisputed number one beauty of Yanda!"

  Xiao Jing didn't say much on that school beauty ranking, but instead turned to painting and said: "Zi Feng, junior brother... can I call you that?"

  "Of course."

  "What you just said makes no sense to me and I don't have time to find that feeling, but my painting is due next month, can you help me?"

  To be honest, painting is Chu Zifeng's strong suit, but four years ago, he made a vow that for the rest of his life, he would never pick up a brush again. The reason was...

  "Sorry, Jing Xue sister, I'm really embarrassed, I can only talk about it, but when it comes to actual drawing, I'm afraid I won't even be able to draw a decent egg!"

  "Well, in that case, I guess there's no other way. I'll just have to try again another way! By the way, Zǐ Fēng, isn't today the day for club sign-ups? Which club did you end up joining?"

  Xiao Jing didn't say that Chu Zi Feng had really forgotten about this matter, Ding Yun reminded himself yesterday, but he spent the whole day cultivating in his dormitory and didn't think about other things. Now thinking back, it's been a day since he saw Qi Bai and the others, they must have gone to sign up for a club with beautiful women.

  "Oh no! Jing Xue sister, I won't chat with you for now, my classmate might be looking for me everywhere."

  After finishing speaking, Chu Zifeng mounted his horse and galloped away.

  Vote for me!