by Dragon King
The five elements in Hao Ren’s body took turns as Su Han issued instructions and lightly ground the ink.
The audience watched Hao Ren move with smooth strokes while Su Han stood beside him elegantly.
“What a perfect couple in the spotlight!” This thought appeared in everyone’s mind.
“Su Han, I can’t do it anymore!” Hao Ren said, feeling that the five elemental essences in his body were depleting.
The continuous transitions and conversions of the five elements were quite energy consuming. Besides, he had to infuse the five elemental sword energies into the brush before each stroke, which was exhausting on its own.
After all, he now only had a cultivation value of 0.35, and he had been continuously releasing sword energies with the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll for more than ten minutes!
Big drops of sweat flowed down his face, and his arm that was holding the brush was shaking slightly.
“Water, seven!” Abruptly, Su Han put down the ink stick and stood behind Hao Ren. With her right hand holding onto Hao Ren’s right hand, she whispered into Hao Ren’s ear.
Hao Ren felt a surge of pure water elemental essence entering his body through his arm, and he immediately absorbed it with the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll before releasing it.
He splashed three big drops of ink, and they formed three weirdly-shaped rocks on the mountain.
“Wood, five! Convert it by yourself!” Su Han injected a surge of pure metal and water elemental essences into Hao Ren’s arm.
Hao Ren took a deep breath and circulated the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll at a great speed, converting these essences into the wood elements. The light ink gave the painting a sense of liveliness.
Hook, crack, rub, point, dye! The techniques of the landscape painting were demonstrated through the five elemental essences.
Meanwhile, people gasped at the scene! Su Han was holding onto Hao Ren’s hand intimately while they painted together!
Feeling Su Han’s warmth beside him and hearing the whisper in his ear, Hao Ren took another deep breath, and several sailing boats appeared on the big river.
“Hao Ren and Su Han are indeed intimate.” Xie Yujia looked at them sadly.
Swoosh! Hao Ren and Su Han both lifted their arms with the brush, and a streak of rainbow appeared at the top of the painting. It was finished.
The two pretty girls stepped forward and gently lifted the rice paper up.
“Looking up at the high mountain and walking on the wide road! Excellent! Excellent!” The white-haired Vice President of the Chinese Artists Association applauded.
After his comments, other people began to understand the spirits expressed in the painting.
The highest level of landscape paintings valued not the techniques but the spirit and meaning! They were the most critical in landscape paintings.
Compared with Qin Shaoyang’s painting and calligraphy, the landscape painting drawn together by Su Han and Hao Ren was better in its portrayal of the spirit.
The surging river and rolling clouds depicted the spirits of valley and mountains.
High mountains were there for one to look up and admire, and the wide road was there for one to explore.
The spirit expressed in this landscape painting was Su Han’s response to Qin Shaoyang.
“The road ahead is long, and I won’t stop exploring and searching.”
Qin Shaoyang’s face turned pale, and his body shook all over. The sharp rejection Su Han gave him through the painting was one reason for his reaction, but the more important reason was that Su Han and Hao Ren painted together with their bodies touching!
“I didn’t know that Hao Ren is such a great painter,” standing beside Xie Yujia, Ma Lina said in surprise.
Zhou Liren and his buddies who were standing in the crowd were all stupefied, thinking that Hao Ren had disguised himself so well that they thought he could only draw something like chicken pecking rice.
Zhao Yanzi put her fingers on her lips while she studied the great landscape painting. She turned to ask Zhao Hongyu, “Did… Hao Ren really paint it?”
“Yeah.” Zhao Hongyu smiled. “Now you think he’s quite dashing, right?”
“Humph! Not at all!” After a moment of consideration, Zhao Yanzi turned her head away.
156 The True Master
“This is for you!” Su Han placed it into Qin Shaoyang’s hands.
Qin Shaoyang’s face turned red then livid. He wanted to burn it into ashes right now, but he forced himself to control his rage considering his public image. Then, he rolled up the painting before handing it to his assistant beside him.
“The Art Program in East Ocean University is indeed full of talented students. Are there any other students or teachers who want to come up and show their talent?” The host walked up with a microphone and tried to smooth things over.
At the same time, the Director, Vice Directors and Professors of the Art Program looked at each other in mortification since none of them knew a talented student named Hao Ren in their program.
At the moment, even students in the Art Program didn’t dare to be so audacious in front of the world-famous artists.
This small painting event was over, and the students began to scatter around to see the exhibition. The influential figures the art circle went to a pre-arranged quiet corner to have tea and chat with Qin Shaoyang and the officials of the Art Program.
In the chaos, Hao Ren slipped back into the crowd before joining Zhao Yanzi and the others.
Meanwhile, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili approached the painting desk that was now in the shadows. They pulled out a blank piece of rice paper and began to mess around with the brush and ink while giggling.
Hao Ren couldn’t find Lu Linlin and Lu Lili.
Seeing that Zhao Hongyu was about to take Zhao Yanzi home, he offered to walk them out.
Zhao Hongyu’s red Ferrari was parked in front of the stairs leading up to the library. The sports car was quite eye-catching in the night.
“Auntie, have a safe trip home,” Hao Ren said with a wave after Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Yanzi got in the car.
“Thank you. Please get prepared for tomorrow’s exams yourself!” Zhao Hongyu said with a smile.
Zhao Yanzi kept quiet and looked unhappy.
The car started and drove toward the main gate of the school.
Hao Ren turned around and was about to return to his dorm for the exam preparation when he suddenly saw Lu Linlin and Lu Lili stand right behind him.
Startled, Hao Ren jumped back subconsciously.
“Gongzi, the exams are tomorrow!” Lu Linlin said while covering the prankster-like smile with her hand.
Hao Ren knew it was her idea to scare him.
“Gongzi, you did good with the use of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll,” Lu Lili said while blushing. Obviously, she was a bit embarrassed for giving Hao Ren such a big ‘surprise’.
“Thanks.” Hao Ren nodded. In fact, he had tried his best tonight. He didn’t expect that it would be so exhausting to transfer the five elemental essences continuously while controlling the strength of the sword energies.
“Gongzi, what are your plans for tonight?” they asked.
“What plans?” confused, Hao Ren asked.
“Are they planning to go out and play?” he thought.
“Prepare for the exams!” The sisters answered at the same time.
Like in a magic trick, they dug out two small bags that contained books and notebooks.
“You don’t have to go back home?” Hao Ren asked.
“Elder Lu has arranged for us, and we could live on-campus,” they explained with smiles on their faces.
Hao Ren sighed and gave in, “Ok, I’ll study with you.”
Lu Linlin and Lu Lili smiled at each other and said, “Then, we’ll walk you to the dorm for your study materials!”
Feeling like a hostage, Hao Ren smiled powerlessly before leading them to the dorm area.
&nbs
p; They crossed the campus and arrived at the Hao Ren’s dorm building.
Hao Ren asked them to wait outside while he went in to get his materials.
It was very quiet in the dorm tonight since everyone was cramming for tomorrow’s exams.
The same was true for Hao Ren’s dorm. Zhou Liren and Cao Ronghua had come back from the exhibition and were sitting at their desks busy reading Xie Yujia’s notes.
Seeing that Hao Ren was back, they all looked at him as if they were observing a strange beast since they had not yet recovered from the shock they got from his performance in the library.
Hao Ren didn’t want to explain anything since he needed to put every minute he had on preparing for tomorrow’s mid-term exams. Picking up the photocopied notes that Xie Yujia had given him, Hao Ren grabbed three jackets before hurrying out of the dorm.
The study rooms were very cold during the night. Although he knew that Lu Linlin and Lu Lili could withstand the cold since they lived in the Ice Palace for more than 200 years, he felt it was not gentleman-like to only get a jacket for himself.
“Ren, where are you going at this late hour?” Seeing Hao Ren rushing out, Zhou Liren yelled after him.
Immediately, Zhou Liren ran to the balcony and yelled indignantly when he found that Lu Linlin and Lu Lili were waiting downstairs for Hao Ren like two little flowers, “You totally forget your friends when you’re with beauties…”
Back downstairs, Hao Ren handed the sisters the jackets before putting on his.
“Thank you, Gongzi!” After putting on Hao Ren’s jackets, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili looked especially happy.
Hao Ren smiled; his mind on tomorrow’s exams. In the past month, he had focused his attention on cultivation and tutoring Zhao Yanzi. Thus, he missed many key concepts in class. If he had not borrowed Xie Yujia’s notes, he suspected that he would fail the exams miserably.
Crossing the quiet campus, Hao Ren led them to Academic Building D.
Academic Building D was mostly comprised of study rooms that were usually open until ten o’clock, but these rooms were open 24 hours a day during the exam seasons.
It was his first time going to a study room; he usually preferred to do the reading and reviewing in his dorm. Seeing the couples in the rooms, he realized that these study rooms were places where student couples came to prepare for exams.
While they were all couples of two, Hao Ren attracted attention when he brought two beauties there.
Spotting a big room that was relatively less crowded, Hao Ren forced himself to walk inside with Lu Linlin and Lu Lili.
The guys who had been busy reading looked quite angry when they saw Hao Ren come in with the two beautiful girls, which was a blatant show-off during this intense time before the exams.
“Ok. Let’s sit here!” Hao Ren found a corner and sat down. He took the study materials out of his bag and spread them on the desk.
Meanwhile, in the temporary tea room in the library, a staff member came over with a piece of rice paper and asked carefully, “Mr. Qin, did you forget to mount and display this painting?”
“This…” Qin Shaoyang hesitated and replied, “Doesn’t look like mine. Where did you find it?”
“It was left on the painting desk,” the staff member answered.
Curious, the art masters who had been having tea and chatting with Qin Shaoyang leaned over to look.
The moment they saw what was on the rice paper, they froze as if they had been electrocuted by lightning.
There were three bamboos, and they looked so lively that it seemed like they were swaying out of the paper!
This was a realm that even the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou couldn’t reach!
It should belong to Heaven instead of appearing in the mortal world!
What was more, the artistic masters saw a painting of chicken pecking rice beside the bamboos!
There was no inscriptions or signatures on it, so no one knew who drew them!
“East Ocean University is full of talented people!” The art masters who had been studying traditional Chinese paintings for many years were all stunned into silence!
157 You Opponent Is Me
Just when the great artists were stunned by the three bamboos in the painting, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili, the pranksters, were preparing for their exams with Hao Ren in a study room in Academic Building D.
What they wanted to draw was the picture of chicken pecking rice, and the three bamboos were a result of their casual brushings. However, the staff panicked, thinking that the bamboos were Qin Shaoyang’s work and the picture of chicken pecking rice was someone’s prank which ruined the masterpiece.
Now, wearing Hao Ren’s jacket, the sisters were sitting together and talking about the notes while comparing them to the content in the textbooks.
They were serious with their preparations. They were sitting close together, and their confused expressions and earnestly attitudes created a cute scene.
Hao Ren glanced at their textbooks and found that these books were mostly liberal arts subjects; he didn’t think that the exams would be challenging to the smart sisters.
Occasionally, they were puzzled by some technical terms. However, they would soon understand them after discussing it among themselves. As to the difficult ones, they would ask Hao Ren for an explanation.
Hao Ren found it funny that the sisters would be taking exams in the mortal world.
Time ticked by, and Hao Ren had almost finished preparing for tomorrow’s exams with the photocopied notes that Xie Yujia gave him.
He had mastered cramming for exams; he could cover a half-term’s content in one night and get passable scores. This time with Xie Yujia’s notes, it was much easier for him to prepare.
Lu Linlin and Lu Lili had also finished reviewing all the textbooks of the Film Program. In fact, equipped with their photographic memories, they could even rewrite the books if they wanted to. The problem for them was that they didn’t know how to approach and answer the questions that might be asked on the exams since it was their first time taking them.
Since they wanted to keep Hao Ren company, they had to stay in school. Therefore, they had to pass the exams not to get kicked out.
“It’s 12 o’clock now. Are you done with your preparations?” after flipping through Xie Yujia’s notes one more time, Hao Ren checked his watch before asking them.
“Yeah!” Lu Linlin and Lu Lili both nodded. In fact, they didn’t want to go back home and would rather stay the night with Hao Ren. However, they also didn’t want to exhaust him.
“Let’s go!” Hao Ren packed up his stuff and stood up.
With dark circles under their eyes, the guys in the huge room looked at Hao Ren with jealousy again. Seeing Hao Ren coming and going with two beauties trailing behind him was too much for them to accept.
The campus was quiet, illuminated by the dim light of the street lamps.
Lu Qing had specially arranged a two-bed dorm for Lu Linlin and Lu Lili in the postgraduate residence area located next to Yixin Cafeteria.
While Hao Ren walked them back to their dorm, it suddenly occurred to him that since the sisters were both mid-tier Kun-level Master and he was only at Half Kan-level, he was not qualified to walk them to their dorm as a bodyguard.
However, he was a guy, and it was his duty to walk the girls to their dorm.
“Gongzi, good night! Thank you for your tutoring!” Standing at the door to the Dorm Building, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili waved at Hao Ren.
“Good night!” Hao Ren smiled at them before turning to leave.
Even though there was dim light coming from the street lamps, most of the campus was dark. Hao Ren kept alert while walking back to his dorm.
“What? Are you afraid of my attacks?” Qin Shaoyang, dressed in a suit, suddenly appeared in the darkness.
Hao Ren took half a step back, and a grey sword energy appeared in his palm.
Qin Shaoyang took half a step forward and said, “Now, as an Inspector…”
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br /> Before he finished his sentence, Hao Ren abruptly threw out the sword energy with full force.
Startled, Qin Shaoyang immediately put up a golden light shield in front of him.
Hiss! Hao Ren’s grey sword energy penetrated the light shield and hit Qin Shaoyang on his chest, burning a hole in his black suit jacket.
With a grunt, he backed off half a step and looked at Hao Ren incredulously.
“How is this possible? His strength is beneath Kan-level! How could he hurt me?” he thought.
In fact, Hao Ren’s full force attack could even burn several hairs off of Zhao Kuo, the No. 1 Cultivator in the mortal world. The golden light shield Qin Shaoyang had hastily created was nothing.
Hundun Lightning could break the five elements in nature.
“This strike certainly doesn’t belong to the Dragon Tribe!” Qin Shaoyang suddenly remembered the girl who appeared by Hao Ren’s side during the day. He hesitated for a moment before lowering his hands.
“Today, I’ll let you go. I’ll settle the accounts with you at Zhao Yanzi’s birthday party!” Qin Shaoyang threatened.
After all, no outsiders would interfere in a small gathering of the Dragon Tribe.
Ignoring him, Hao Ren walked around Qin Shaoyang and headed for the gate of the school.
Qin Shaoyang turned and looked at Hao Ren until he disappeared around the corner.
He didn’t want to offend people before he understood the situation, so he had to clench his fists and control himself.
Suddenly, Su Han appeared in the darkness.
“Your opponent is me,” she said coldly.
Hiss… A white sword appeared in her hand.
A huge surge of chilly energy instantly swept over the ground.
Swoosh! Like a reversing shooting star, Qin Shaoyang flew into the sky. He had been oblivious to Su Han’s presence; if she had launched a sneak attack…
He started to sweat.
The long sword in Su Han’s hand turned into a sheet of white light when she struck it toward Qin Shaoyang!
A golden weaving shuttle appeared in Qin Shaoyang’s hand, and it blocked Su Han’s sword.
Bang! The huge noise woke up half of the students on campus!