Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 3 Two Secret Techniques
Although it was just a benefit for every "expired outer disciple", in Zhao Yifu's eyes, seeking scriptures in the stone pavilion was a second chance to change his life.

The first time was naturally when he passed the examination for a student at the age of fifteen and was unexpectedly introduced to spiritual practice.

So he cherishes it very much.

There were quite a few scriptures on the eighth bookshelf, but he had no time to count them exactly. He just quickly looked through them to find a pattern.

Some of them involve wonderful methods such as music, sound attack, assistance, and sound illusion, which should all belong to those who learn the piano. He skipped all of them.

There were also some that involved simple formations, hidden weapon techniques, or divination and astrology, which should belong to the scriptures of chess players, but he skipped them all.

The rest include techniques of using the pen as a weapon, methods of using painting as a carrier of illusion, and some talismans and sealing techniques, which are the skills of writers and painters.

Zhao Yifu majored in painting, but his calligraphy was also decent, so he could try to learn both.

Even after narrowing down his choices, he still faced many options. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and quickly choose a secret scripture that could improve his calligraphy and painting skills, called: Ink Splashing Technique.

The essence of this 'ink splashing technique' is that one can use one's own inner energy and thoughts to control where the ink is applied. He feels that this may greatly improve his brushstrokes.

When he held the scripture in his hands, he felt a sense of loss.

Because he knew that this might not be the best choice for him, but he had no time to change it.

With his current level of cultivation, he could probably use his single-eye spiritual eye for six more times. He had to quickly make the second choice within these six opportunities.

In fact, he could continue screening in this eighth bookshelf, which would obviously save time and effort.

But he thought that he would have to go down the mountain to explore the world, and he didn't know when he would have the chance to come back, so he thought of finding a way to protect himself.

Although the secret techniques on the eighth row of bookshelves are good, most of them are auxiliary skills closely related to music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and cannot provide him with help in critical moments.

Zhao Yi Fu took a break, then used his spiritual eyes to quickly scan the bookshelves and roughly figured out what categories the scriptures on the shelves belonged to.

Generally speaking, they include the secret techniques of the five elements, thunder techniques, illusion techniques, as well as weapons techniques such as swords and spears, and even the categories of boxing and kicking kung fu.

Zhao Yifu was a little surprised. He didn't expect that weapons and boxing skills could be found here. This made him hesitate.

He felt that if he was simply considering self-defense, weapons and boxing skills seemed to be the best choices. After all, he had a foundation in this area.

But he was unwilling to give up so many magical spells...

But when I think about how tired he is at this moment even using a spiritual eye, I feel that it is better to be pragmatic.

Zhao Yifu pondered for a long time alone in the darkness, and finally gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, stuck the willow leaves on his eyes again, and then walked towards the two bookshelves of weapons, fists and feet.

He decided to be pragmatic. Since it was said to be for self-protection, he would not think about it. There would always be a chance to get spells, but at this stage, no matter how good the secret technique was, it would be redundant for his level of cultivation.

He also had his own ideas about the choice of weapons and fists and kicks. Among the weapons, he only considered swordsmanship. After all, he was a scholar now and was not suitable to use anything else.

If he just wanted to learn swordsmanship, he would have to start from scratch, which would be time-consuming.

In the end, he decided to focus more pragmatically on boxing and kicking.

After going through so many rounds of screening, his eyes could hardly bear it anymore.

He already had two alternatives, but neither was very exciting.

When he was hesitating whether to open his spiritual eyes for the last time, his eyes suddenly lit up and he discovered a book called "Lingxu Zhijin".

He only had time to glance at the introduction to the scroll, learning that it was a method of increasing finger strength by mobilizing zhenqi. He couldn't discern what was so profound about it, but what intrigued him was that finger strength was a crucial quality required for both calligraphy and painting... no, it was also necessary for playing the qin or playing chess.

It can be said that this is one of the basic requirements within the Danqing Sect.

And it just so happened that he had learned many tricks for practicing fingers and palms from his family's martial arts since he was a child. Perhaps he could achieve twice the result with half the effort by practicing the "Lingxu Finger Force".

He was suddenly moved and didn't want to force himself to use up his spiritual eye for the last time. After all, it was a very dangerous thing to consume all the true energy. He also felt very tired at this time.

Zhao Yifu held two scriptures in his hands, namely: "Lingxu Finger Strength" and "Ink Splashing Technique".

Then, in the darkness, he stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Senior Shi Ling, I have already made my selection."

At this moment, Shi Ling's voice came from the other direction: "I'm here."

Zhao Yi Fu looked quickly and saw a human-shaped black ball with a faint blue light in that direction, and the faint light also illuminated the vague outline of the stone chamber in the darkness.

He was not embarrassed and immediately said, "Thank you, Senior Shi Ling, for your guidance."

As he said this, he walked out in the dark.

At this time, his hands and feet were weak and he was sweating profusely. He looked like a frail scholar. Excessive consumption of true energy would indeed affect his physical condition.

Shi Ling waited until he came closer before saying, "Rest for a while. You can recite these two volumes of scriptures silently in the outer hall. You can't take the originals with you."

Zhao Yifu bowed again and said, "Senior, may I copy it?"

Shi Ling said, "No, our sect's secrets must not be passed on to outsiders. Therefore, you can only recite them here and not write them down on paper."

"Of course, I can't control you if you leave here, but no matter what you do, it's best not to let anyone catch you."

Zhao Yifu bowed again and said, "Don't worry, Senior. I will strictly abide by the sect's rules and will never let anyone know about our secrets."

The way he bowed every time he spoke a few words seemed a bit pedantic.

But he actually saw through one essence, that is, the senior masters of Danqing Sect may be unrestrained and uninhibited, but they prefer the younger generations who are polite and courteous.

Shi Ling said, "Okay, hurry up."

After speaking, he disappeared in place.

However, he didn't know if it was an illusion, but the dim blue oil lamp in the outer hall seemed to be brighter, making Zhao Yifu's eyes feel much more comfortable when he was flipping through the scriptures.

It seemed his politeness was effective.

Zhao Yifu rubbed his brows to focus his attention, then opened "The Art of Splashing Ink" and read it carefully before reciting it silently...

In about a quarter of an hour, he had almost memorized the volume of "The Art of Splashing Ink", and then he recited it over and over again to make sure he had remembered it correctly.

In fact, there would be no mistakes. After all, the "Ink Splashing Technique" was not complicated. It mainly involved memorizing several meridian pathways to guide the true qi.

Then he opened the "Lingxu Finger Power" again, but after reading it for the first time, he found that the Lingxu Finger Power did not even have a single move. It was purely the circulation of true energy at the fingertips, and many of the meridians running through it overlapped with the "Splashing Ink Technique".

He felt that these two secret techniques might actually complement each other.

Of course, he didn't know exactly how to complement each other, and he would have to practice it to know for sure. But one thing was certain: he was quite lucky.

　Three chapters were released on the first day. If you read carefully, it will definitely be enough to invest.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)