Chapter 1459: Submission and Forced Marriage?

"Wu Daojing, did you say... I lost?" Zhang Ziqing asked, unable to believe it and no longer able to hold back.

"That's right. His work used the simplest painting method, yet it directly conveyed the true essence. Even an ordinary nine-star calligrapher and painter couldn't achieve that. Although your work is good, it's far inferior..." Wu Daojing responded. Weapons of this caliber already possessed their own spiritual intelligence and could communicate with people.

"He just drew a few strokes on it with his sword, and didn't even leave a single mark... How could a nine-star calligrapher and painter not be able to do that?" Zhang Ziqing almost tore her hair out. Even if you were speaking nonsense with your eyes open, you couldn't say something like that, could you?

"If you observe it closely, you'll definitely discover something special..." Seeing that she didn't understand, Wu Daojing swayed slightly and said no more, seemingly still immersed in the beautiful work, unable to extricate himself.

After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Ziqing walked a few steps to the table and looked down at the stone slab in front of her. The surface of the slab still had the dust from when it was pulled from the ground, and the marks carved by the stonemason were still visible, with patterns identical to the stones on the ground—nothing special about it.

"There's no painting on it..." She examined it closely but found no traces left by sword energy. The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. With a thought, her spiritual sense spread out. Her eyes couldn't see it, but perhaps her spiritual sense could detect the issue.

"Hmm?" As soon as her spiritual sense enveloped the stone in front of her, Zhang Ziqing's body stiffened instantly, and her delicate frame trembled continuously. "This, this..." Her lips quivered incessantly, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Wuchen and the others also frowned, unable to resist letting their spiritual senses spread out to examine the front. Upon seeing it, they too stood frozen in place.

"That's right, this stone was painted by me using sword energy; it's not actually real. The original stone had already shattered into dust and was collected into my storage ring..." Seeing that they had realized the truth, Zhang Xuan smiled faintly.

Just now, when the sword energy swept across, it seemed to outsiders that nothing was left on the stone. In reality, he used sword energy to redraw an identical stone, using the original one as a template. Even as a seven-star calligrapher and painter, he had mastered "void calligraphy," the ability to paint in mid-air, making it difficult to distinguish between real and fake. Now, having reached the peak of eight-star, it was naturally even easier. Although it was formed from sword energy, without using spiritual sense, even a nine-star calligrapher and painter would find it hard to distinguish.

This was why neither Zhang Ziqing nor Elders Wuchen and Wuzhen had detected anything unusual. They never dreamed that the stone casually picked up from the ground had vanished, and what stood before them was a "painting"!

"We didn't even realize that was a painted stone..." "Ziqing only made the bamboo appear lifelike and spiritual, but he has transcended that level, creating something so real that no one could distinguish it from the genuine article..." Realizing this, Elders Zhang Wuchen and Zhang Wuzhen found it hard to believe. True nine-star calligraphers and painters could create works that were indistinguishable from reality, making it hard to tell genuine from fake. They hadn't expected this young man to be capable of such a feat. Could it be that he was already a nine-star artist? If so, that would be terrifying!

"I... I lost!" Gently stroking the "rock" in front of her, Zhang Ziqing found that it was indistinguishable from a real one; without spiritual sense, it was impossible to detect the difference. Her face was pale as she murmured to herself.

She had assumed the opponent was just wildly thrusting sword energy, never imagining that he was actually painting, and doing so with such spiritual essence that no one could distinguish it. No wonder Wu Daojing said she lost... indeed, she had lost completely, disastrously, and was not even on the same level.

"To create a work of this caliber with just a sword... how strong would you be with a brush?" Unable to restrain herself any longer, she looked at the young man before her.

When he said he was serious, she had thought he would unleash his full abilities. She never expected that by using only his sword, he had created a work she couldn't surpass. How much stronger would he be if he used a brush?

"I wasn't lying to you; I really was painting seriously!" Seeing her filled with astonishment, Zhang Xuan nodded with a smile. "To be honest, your understanding of calligraphy and painting is indeed very strong. If it weren't to surpass you, I might have just picked up a random weed and painted with that, not a sword! Actually, if you truly put your heart into painting, there isn't much difference between a sword and a brush."

"A weed?" Zhang Ziqing's face twitched. "How can you paint with that?"

"It's simple..." Zhang Xuan looked around, then pointed his finger. A weed from a nearby garden flew over, landing in his palm. With a gentle flick, water from the pond flew up and settled on the weed. Zhang Xuan held the root of the weed between two fingers and slowly moved it through the air. Instantly, the surrounding air grew thick. In a flash, a vast river appeared before everyone, roaring and surging, seemingly ready to overflow at any moment and inundate the entire courtyard.

"Painting in the void, without ink, using water to draw a river?" Zhang Ziqing swallowed hard.

When she painted, she used the most precious brushes and the finest ink, always believing that this was how she could push her work to its peak. But seeing him, she realized that wasn't the case at all. Creating art effortlessly, where anything could be a painting tool and anything could be a subject... This was the mark of a true Grandmaster of Calligraphy and Painting, a super genius who had truly studied the art to its core.

"This painting... its artistic conception is also higher than my Bamboo Mountain painting!" After observing for a while, Zhang Ziqing, though reluctant to admit it, had to concede that the river he had casually painted with a weed and pond water was still significantly more exquisite than her previous Bamboo Mountain painting.

"Oh... when I painted that stone earlier, my understanding of calligraphy and painting improved a bit, so now I can paint well even with a weed..." Zhang Xuan explained. After mastering the abilities of an eight-star calligrapher and painter, he rarely painted. The stone earlier was his first serious attempt, and as a result... he gained a lot of valuable experience from it, thus... deepening his understanding of the art of painting. Therefore, even a casual painting with a weed surpassed her in artistic conception.

"Improved again?" Her body swayed once more, and Zhang Ziqing's vision went dark. She considered herself to possess unparalleled talent in calligraphy and painting, but compared to the person before her, she was still miles behind, simply incomparable!

"Fairy Ziqing, I recall you once said that if anyone from the younger generation could surpass you in zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting, you would marry them, no matter who they were... I wonder if that's true?" Suddenly, a young man in the crowd called out.

"This..." Zhang Ziqing was startled, then looked back at Zhang Xuan, her brows slightly furrowed.