Chapter 1056: Such Outstanding

Yu Yanluo watched him silently. Only when she saw no disrespectful gestures did she reply, "You are indeed identical to Jian Yanyou in both appearance and voice, but you have only his form, not his spirit."

Zu An frowned. "What do you mean?"

Yu Yanluo replied, "Let me put it this way: if you use this disguise to deceive others, they would likely find it very difficult to spot any flaws. However, to me, the flaws are quite obvious."

"I know a thing or two about painting. When it comes to art, outsiders often assume that the more realistic a painter's work, the more skilled they are. This is not true. Any trained artist can accurately reproduce a subject. In the realm of painting, such artists are merely beginners."

Zu An's old face flushed. Recently, to practice the 'Thousand Faces' technique, he had delved into painting. After perfectly replicating his subjects, he had even thought himself a genius, a master painter in such a short time.

Little did he know, in her eyes, he was just a beginner.

Yu Yanluo continued, "Other aspiring artists focus more on the 'spirit' or 'essence' rather than mere realism. Consequently, some ordinary people might find their paintings unconvincing, even believing street vendors have better skills. This is a huge misconception. It's because these artists infuse their own understanding and perception of the subject into their work, creating a unique 'essence' that is difficult for others to imitate."

"However, these are still not the most skilled painters. The most accomplished artists often return to simplicity, valuing both realism and artistic expression. When ordinary people see their works, they find them remarkably similar to the subject and can appreciate their beauty. Connoisseurs, however, can perceive the 'essence' within the painting – not just a complete reproduction of the subject's vigor and spirit, but also the artist's own insights."

After saying this, Yu Yanluo's gaze fell on Zu An's face. "Your disguise as Jian Yanyou, one could say, has only his form, but not his spirit. Ordinary people wouldn't notice, but in my eyes, it's naturally full of flaws."

Zu An was speechless. It seemed that in her estimation, he was merely at the level of a street artist.

"Alright, I've answered your question. Can you tell me who you are now?" After Yu Yanluo finished speaking, her eyes gazed silently at him. They were like bright stars in the night sky, beautiful and enchanting.

Zu An, however, was pensive. "No wonder your attack method earlier was to trap me with paintings. It seems you've achieved enlightenment through art. Among your contemporaries, where do you rank in the field of painting?"

Seeing him evade her question again, Yu Yanluo was initially displeased. But as he spoke of art, she couldn't help but blink, seemingly intrigued.

She pondered seriously for a moment, only then did she reply, "I should be able to rank second."

"The world is vast; ranking second is already incredibly impressive," Zu An exclaimed with admiration, comforting her as he spoke. "So, who ranks first?"

"I don't know." Yu Yanluo's voice was soft and charming, as if she didn't realize she was in a dangerous situation.

"You don't know?" Zu An was puzzled. "Then how do you know you rank second?"

"So far, I haven't met anyone whose painting skills surpass mine. However, there's always someone better out there. Perhaps there's someone in the world more skilled than me, but certainly not many. After much consideration, I think ranking second is still quite objective." Yu Yanluo spoke with a solemn tone, as if presenting a very rigorous argument.

Zu An: "???"

He was completely caught off guard by her display of arrogance.

This woman, with her innocent-looking expression, was incredibly hard to guard against when showing off.

A thought suddenly struck him. Looking into her eyes, he said, "To my knowledge, Chancellor Chen of the Imperial Academy has several personal disciples. Each disciple specializes in a particular art, such as music, chess, calligraphy, or painting. Among them, there's a highly mysterious disciple codenamed 'Painting.' The public doesn't even know their name, or even their gender. If I'm not mistaken, that must be you, right?"

A hint of hesitation flickered across Yu Yanluo's face. She finally nodded and said, "Yes, that's me. The reason I concealed my identity is because it's quite unique. Neither my teacher nor I wanted to attract unnecessary trouble, which is why it wasn't publicly disclosed."

Zu An was stunned. He had never imagined that Yu Yanluo was the Chancellor's disciple.

Judging from his previous interactions with the Chancellor's disciples in the academy's back mountain, they were essentially individuals with pure, childlike hearts. They possessed an inexplicable obsession and fervor for their chosen art form.

"Since you are a personal disciple of the Chancellor, a lady of such grace, why engage in thievery?" Zu An couldn't help but sigh.

Yu Yanluo scoffed. "Someone snuck into my bedroom in the middle of the night, disguised as my husband. Who's the thief here?"

Zu An's face reddened. "Don't change the subject. I'm referring to Jian Yanyou's death."

Yu Yanluo's tone was somewhat melancholic. "Is he really dead?"

"Don't tell me you don't know." A hint of sarcasm was unavoidable in Zu An's voice.

"I only knew something had likely happened to him; I wasn't certain he was dead," Yu Yanluo paused, then asked, "From what you just said, it seems Jian Tai was responsible?"

Zu An frowned. Was this woman truly innocent, or was she merely feigning ignorance? If she was faking it, she was terrifyingly good.

Just then, a pale arm darted out from beneath the covers.

Zu An was greatly alarmed. He instinctively reached out to block. But a strange glint suddenly appeared in her eyes.

He immediately felt his body become exceptionally heavy. This made his movements a fraction slower than usual.

It was during this brief window that the pale arm broke through his defense, directly striking a vital acupoint on his chest.

Zu An's body stiffened. He then sat rigidly, unable to move. "How can you move?"

He was certain he had just sealed her acupoints. How could she have recovered so quickly?

"Was I supposed to just lie here motionlessly and let you keep bullying me?" Yu Yanluo scoffed softly, a hint of triumph flashing in her eyes.

She sat up from the bed. Just as she was about to grab the clothes nearby to put them on, she realized that what she was wearing was far too revealing.

She glared at Zu An, annoyed. Then, she tossed the quilt from her body over Zu An's head.

The brocade quilt still retained the warmth of her body, along with a refreshing, faint fragrance. He suddenly found his mind wandering. He wondered about the perverts on forums in his past life who would specifically buy used stockings from beautiful women. How much would the personal quilt of the world's most beautiful woman fetch?

Not long after, his eyes brightened. The quilt had been pulled from his head. By then, Yu Yanluo had already dressed.

"How were you able to unseal your acupoints?" Zu An recalled that his technique just now was flawless. If she were a Grandmaster or above, he might not have been able to restrain her, but she clearly wasn't.

"Now I'm asking you; you're not asking me." Yu Yanluo felt a sudden sense of satisfaction after saying this. He had just used the same words to mock her, and she had managed to get her revenge so quickly.

"Who exactly are you?" Yu Yanluo said, circling him and examining him. "So similar, truly similar. Perhaps only someone like me, who understands the way of painting and is familiar with Jian Yanyou, could spot the flaws."

Seeing that he didn't reply, Yu Yanluo didn't mind. "If you won't tell me, I'll find out myself."

With that, she reached out and began to feel his face, attempting to peel off the disguise mask.

"Hmm?" To her surprise, after searching for a long time, she still couldn't find the seam between the mask and his skin.

"Could you please stop touching... ow!" Her fingers were cool. To be honest, countless men in the world would gladly let Yu Yanluo touch them like this. But Zu An was clearly not one of them, because this woman, unable to find the mask, kept tugging at his face.

Eventually, she even used both hands. Although there was no mirror, Zu An could still imagine his face being stretched into all sorts of bizarre shapes by her.

"There's no mask?" Yu Yanluo's red lips were agape, wide enough to fit an egg.

"I told you I'm your husband." Zu An tried to salvage the situation.

Yu Yanluo's expression turned cold. "Through our recent contact, I sensed a demonic aura on you. Are you from the Peacock Royal Family? But I've never heard of the Peacock Royal Family having this illusionary ability."

Her voice grew softer on the latter part of the sentence, as she muttered to herself in confusion.

Zu An was startled. He wondered if the demonic aura she spoke of was from the feather Kong Nanwu had given him.

"Yes, I am Kong Qing's companion. As for this disguise, it's a skill I happened to learn by chance." Zu An went along with the pretense, hoping to seize the opportunity to find out if she had any ties to the demon race.

Yu Yanluo looked at him coldly. "The Peacock Clan and I have always kept to ourselves, never interfering with each other. Why are you crossing the line now?"

Zu An was inwardly surprised. From her tone, it seemed she truly had no connection to the Kong Qing he knew earlier.

He thought for a moment, then replied smoothly, "I merely wished to verify some matters with you, Madam. If I have offended you, I hope you will be magnanimous."

"Magnanimous? Breaking into my bedroom in the middle of the night, impersonating my husband—weren't you harboring some indecent thoughts?" Yu Yanluo sneered repeatedly.

"That's truly unfair," Zu An couldn't bear this accusation, he explained. "My purpose here was merely to confirm Jian Yanyou's death, with no intention of offending you, Madam."

"If not for the fact that you covered me with the quilt earlier and made no untoward moves, you'd be a dead man right now." Yu Yanluo's expression was cold, as if the man's life or death rested on her whim. "Was Jian Yanyou truly killed by his brother?"

"I have indeed received reliable intelligence, but unfortunately, no concrete evidence." Zu An replied ambiguously.

Yu Yanluo immediately fell silent. A hint of sadness appeared between her brows.

"Madam seems quite sad. Yet, according to our intelligence, you and Jian Yanyou did not live together, and your affections seemed limited." Zu An cautiously observed the changes in her expression.

"He was my husband in name after all. He had always taken good care of me over the years. Naturally, I couldn't be happy to confirm his death." Yu Yanluo sighed.

Zu An asked, "Madam, could you answer one question for me: How did you break free from my control just now?"

"My body is different from ordinary people's," Yu Yanluo replied casually. "But I'm more curious: Why would your Peacock Clan investigate his affairs?"

As she spoke, Yu Yanluo's expression suddenly changed. "No, that's not right. You can't be from the Peacock Clan. Who exactly are you? Revert to your original appearance!"

At this moment, Zu An suddenly moved. At such close range, she had no time to react.

Zu An successively sealed several vital acupoints on her body. Learning from his previous lesson, he specifically took out the sinews of the Azure Moon Dragon and bound her tightly.

Yu Yanluo was both mortified and enraged. "How can you be so vulgar!"

Zu An's old face flushed, because he had never tied anyone up before. Only after instinctively finishing the binding did he realize it was identical to the rope artistry he'd learned from "teachers" in Japanese adult films in his previous life.

"Ahem, it's just to prevent you from ambushing me again." He awkwardly averted his gaze. After all, being tied up in such a fancy way made certain parts of her body quite prominent.