Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 5 The Difficult Road
That afternoon, Zhao Yifu practiced hard at home.

First, he pondered over the 'ink splashing technique' which was the foundation of his Danqing Sect practice. He found that this technique was obviously not what he should practice now.

Because it purely relies on true energy and thoughts to complete the casting, its function is to allow Mo Shui to be controlled to a certain extent according to his wishes.

This move was too demanding for Zhao Yifu's current level of cultivation and had no practical value.

In other words, this wonderful method can only be practiced and used after his cultivation reaches a deeper level.

As for the other 'Lingxu Finger Power', he could learn it now, but this technique was entirely a method of moving Qi through the finger meridians, without any moves or techniques. Given Zhao Yifu's limited cultivation, it also seemed of little use.

After practicing Lingxu Finger Power for a while with little effect, Zhao Yifu stopped and began to think about what to do next.

He is an expired outer disciple of Danqing Sect, which in itself explains a lot of things.

The fact that he was able to enter the outer sect showed that he had a certain talent for cultivation, but the fact that he had not yet achieved anything remarkable showed that his talent was limited. Otherwise, even if one was mediocre in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, he could still enter the inner sect through practicing Qi.

His skills in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting were limited to calligraphy, with painting being slightly better, but this only made him slightly better than the average person. The unique cultivation method of the Danqing Sect meant that the skills of the "Four Friends of Literature" could greatly aid his cultivation, and Zhao Yifu didn't seem to have any good solutions for this...

Liang Zhongzhi's evaluation of Zhao Yifu is "limited potential", which is absolutely correct. He is not good at practicing Qi and the four literary friends are not good either. This is tantamount to a death sentence in the Danqing School.

It was only then that Zhao Yifu realized that if he continued to stay on the mountain under such circumstances, he would probably just be wasting his time.

This made Zhao Yifu a little depressed, and then he thought of the scholar title that Liang Zhongzhi arranged for him, which might be the greatest and last kindness from the senior of Danqingmen before he went down the mountain.

If he wanted to continue practicing, perhaps taking the imperial examination and becoming an official in the court would be his last chance.

The key point still lies in the "Four Friends of Literature".

Once he gets a high position, there will naturally be a lot of people flattering him.

At that time, any piece of calligraphy or painting brought outside would probably be carefully savored and pondered over for its essence...and this kind of appreciation and pondering is the key to Danqingmen practice.

Zhao Yifu now feels that if he wants to succeed in his cultivation, he will probably have to grow old.

He felt helpless when he thought about it, and finally stopped his useless practice and decided to write for a while.

Back in the study, he ground and spread out the paper, thought for a while and then began to write.

To be honest, both calligraphy and painting are about polishing the brushstrokes, and there are many similarities between the two.

In comparison, calligraphy is more difficult, so Zhao Yifu likes to write some more rare and complex characters to practice his brushwork and control of structure.

It is very important to have a good structure and layout when writing a character, and this is also common to painting skills.

Moreover, small characters are much more difficult to write than large characters, so he usually likes to write small characters to practice his techniques.

He pondered and wrote so carefully that he gradually calmed down.

I don’t know how long it was before I was suddenly awakened by the noise outside the yard.

Before he knew it, he had filled a page with small characters.

Looking up, I saw Wu Zhong leading three people carrying shoulder poles.

Wow, these shoulder poles are full of dishes, right?

Zhao Yifu quickly put down his pen, walked over and said, "Why are you so extravagant?"

Wu Zhong said, "The Second Young Master is the Zhao family's literary star, so how can we not celebrate lavishly?"

"Besides, Second Young Master, your life in the mountains is hard, so you must take good care of yourself from now on."

Zhao Yifu felt a little headache after hearing this, but he didn't know what to say.

He said, "Okay, you go ahead and prepare it. I'll write a letter home to my father." Wu Zhong quickly said, "That's right, that's right. I have to tell the master the good news first."

So I didn't dare to disturb him anymore.

Zhao Yi Fu smiled bitterly and shook his head, then he took away the paper he had just practiced calligraphy on, took a pen, dipped it in ink, and continued writing the letter home.

The Zhao family is located in the east of Mozhou, close to Hudong Prefecture, and is quite famous in the martial arts world.

His father, Zhao Yunhe, is the head of the Zhao family of this generation. Unfortunately, he has an older brother who inherited the family business and a younger brother who is the most favored. As the second child, he has always been ignored.

Zhao Yifu had memories of his past life after all, and he couldn't do such a thing as competing for favor with a little brat. So when he was twelve years old, he saw the opportunity and personally found Zhao Yunhe and asked to leave home to study.

Zhao Yunhe also realized that he had neglected his second son. After thinking about it, he agreed to spend money to send Zhao Yifu to Moyang City to study.

Unexpectedly, by some coincidence, Zhao Yifu got the opportunity to get in touch with the world of cultivation.

Therefore, Zhao Yifu did not have much affection for his father, but he was very grateful.

A letter home was filled with thousands of words. Zhao Yifu only felt that it was getting dark and someone was holding a lamp nearby. Then he saw Wu Zhong standing beside him with a lamp in his hand, his eyes red.

The loyal servant said, "The Second Young Master is so filial. The Master will surely be very happy after receiving the letter from home."

Zhao Yifu asked curiously, "Can Uncle Wu read?"

Wu Zhong shook his head and said, "I don't know, but I know the Second Young Master writes well!"

Zhao Yi Fu laughed in silence and was about to fold the letter and seal it... Suddenly, he had an idea and took out the only magical weapon he brought down from the mountain: the Soul-Suppressing Seal.

This is actually one of his private seals, but it is carved from jade and refined and nurtured with special techniques. It is connected with his aura and has unique magical effects.

He then took out a specially made ink pad and left a seal on the letter, which was the word "信", as a personal mark.

Originally, he just did it casually, but after he stamped it, he unexpectedly felt a warm breeze blowing across the "letter seal" in his hand, as if some power was gathering.

He was stunned, and heard in his ears: "Second Young Master's handwriting is really good, worthy of being a husband, it's different..."

Wu Zhong couldn't read a single character, but he thought Zhao Yifu's handwriting was good.

So the Zhenling Chapter, which rarely reacted, reacted...

This was something Zhao Yifu had never experienced before. After all, when he was in Molu Calligraphy Hall, his calligraphy was below average and his painting skills were only above average, so he didn't receive any praise at all.

The sincere praise and careful appreciation of others are the key to the Danqing School's reliance on the "Four Friends of Literature" to accelerate its practice.

This kind of praise, especially the sincere praise after careful savoring, will be transformed into a very pure blessing power. When it is collected through the Soul-Suppressing Chapter, it is the "Yang and Spiritual Energy" that is very precious to cultivators.

This 'yang and spiritual energy' hardly needs to be refined, and can be directly increased by guiding it into the body. This is also the real uniqueness of the Danqing Sect's inheritance.

If one truly possesses unique talent in the "Four Friends of Literature" and creates stunning works, then his cultivation will naturally advance by leaps and bounds.

In fact, considering Wu Zhong's artistic accomplishment, his praise should not be of much use, but his strength lies in his sincerity.

This made Zhao Yifu particularly moved.

He couldn't help but pick up the paper he had been practicing calligraphy on that had been thrown aside, then stamped it with his official seal and handed it to Wu Zhong, saying, "Uncle Wu, if you like my calligraphy, this piece of calligraphy is a gift to you."

Wu Zhong clapped his hands and cheered, then excitedly took the calligraphy in his hands, his expression as pious as a pilgrim.

Zhao Yifu immediately felt a faint yang and spiritual energy flowing into his "letter seal". He felt a little excited and couldn't help but want to write a few more...

Well, he is a bit of a dog. Is he treating a good and loyal servant as a cauldron?

(End of this chapter)