Martial Saint through Reading

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Five Eyes Map

”Brother Chu, look over there,” Liang Yuan leaned close to Chu Ming, pointed at a wall ahead, and whispered, ”That’s the challenge, and the painting beside it is the County Magistrate’s challenge work.”

Chu Ming followed his finger and saw there were two scrolls hanging on that wall, two paintings vastly different from each other.

The scroll on the left depicted a terrifying ferocious wolf, its body as huge as a pavilion, its limbs thick as house pillars, the bristling fur all over its body like steel needles.

But that was not the most striking part—the truly horrifying thing about this wolf was those five eyes, looking extremely incongruous.

Each eye emanated its own chilling glint, scattered disorderly across the wolf’s head, giving Chu Ming a feeling... as though they had been forcibly pieced together.

This feeling was not without basis.

Because beside this painting, there was another scroll with only five black spheres.

On the large scroll, apart from the five black spheres, there was nothing else.

Comparing the two paintings, one would realize that the eyeballs of the five eyes of the ferocious wolf on the left were exactly the five black spheres on the right scroll.

The size, the shape, the malevolent glint, the position—all were exactly alike.

Chu Ming stood where he was, activated the Sword Gourd Spirit, and looked intently.

But very quickly, his brows knitted slightly, a look of astonishment and doubt flashing through his eyes.

Under the fine observation of the Sword Gourd Spirit, aided by the ’Integration’ and ’Inference’ effects of Reading, a third painting automatically took shape in his mind.

The Five Kui Oxen Painting?!

Those five black spheres were in fact the right eyes from the Five Kui Oxen Painting he had seen earlier in the gallery.

But the positions outlined by these five eyes differed from those in the Five Kui Oxen Painting.

In other words, the five black spheres on the current scroll were taken from the right eyes in the Five Kui Oxen Painting, then rearranged and recomposed on a new scroll.

”Brother Chu,” the scholar Liang Yuan saw Chu Ming dazed in place, leaned closer and lowered his voice with a laugh, ”What do you think? Surprised? The challenge is those five eyes.”

”The first time I saw those five eyes, I was just like Brother Chu—completely baffled.”

”In fact, at first, I didn’t even dare believe that those were eyes.”

”And not just me—later challengers also realized those five black spheres were eyes only after seeing the County Magistrate’s Five-Eyed Ferocious Wolf.”

”The challenge is very simple: using those five eyes as the basis, paint a picture.”

The scholar-like Liang Yuan’s gaze flickered as he pointed at Su Zhe, Yann Xuan and the others who were painting: ”The real difficulty of this challenge lies in imagining suitable content from those five eyes.”

”For example, the County Magistrate’s Five-Eyed Ferocious Wolf integrates those five eyes quite well.”

Quite a good integration?

”After the painting is completed, the gallery will have evaluators. If the challenge succeeds, not only do you get three hundred taels of silver, but you also gain great fame!”

Three hundred taels of silver?

Chu Ming’s heart stirred slightly. He asked in a low voice, ”How do I challenge?”

On hearing this, Liang Yuan immediately smiled and replied, ”Just do like the others—sit there and start painting.”

”But Brother Chu, since it’s your first time and you’ve only just seen these five eyes, I doubt you’ve thought about what to paint. How about we go back and think it over, then return another time?”

There was a sly glint in his eyes, and his tone seemed to have a hint of goading in it.

Why did Liang Yuan say so much?

Wasn’t it just to make this junior, so highly talented in painting, suffer a small setback—to heal his own battered heart a little?

In his view, no matter how talented Chu Ming was, it was impossible to create something on the first try, let alone succeed at the challenge.

Yet when Chu Ming nodded in response and found a table to sit down at, Liang Yuan’s wounded heart at once began to recover.

If no one can succeed at the challenge, then our painting skills and talents are still the same.

This is what Liang Yuan told himself.

Ning Hao exchanged glances with him, and both saw something strange in each other’s eyes.

Liang Yuan swiftly set up paper, ink, and pens for Chu Ming, then quietly stood next to Ning Hao, who looked like a tough fellow.

The commotion of the three sitting at the table naturally drew the attention of the others, including those painting—Su Zhe, Yann Xuan, and the rest, as well as Chu Yu, Su Qian, and those who had been studying the True Map of Mountains and Rivers earlier.

Su Zhe merely glanced over and continued to bend over his work.

His younger sister Su Qian instantly understood her brother’s expression—it was the same look he gave when seeing those imitation paintings she’d purchased.

In short: disdain, indifference.

However, thinking of her brother’s talent and his assessment of that scholar’s copy, Su Qian found it understandable.

Chu Yu looked at the scholar Chu Ming, then shifted her gaze to the scholar boy beside him, her eyes showing a flicker of interest.

As for the others, their expressions of disdain were all much the same.

For they clearly remembered, when copying the True Map of Mountains and Rivers earlier, Master Yuan from the gallery had been about to shake his head at that scholar’s painting.

Shaking his head meant the painting was poor.

Why didn’t he shake it in the end? Perhaps just to spare the scholar’s feelings.

Meanwhile, in a secluded courtyard at the side of the gallery, two men sat sipping tea on stone benches.

Standing respectfully beside them was Yuan Zhong, the gallery manager: ”Lord Liuu, Lord Feng, today there are five challengers.”

”Five? More than usual...” The County Magistrate, Liu Sitong, said with a gentle smile.

The other picked up the teapot and refilled Liu Sitong’s cup, speaking in a flat tone: ”It is quite a few. Tell us, who are the five?”

This was Feng Yuan, Eighth-Grade Scripture official of Baiyuan County.

”Reporting to Lord Liuu, Lord Feng, three of the five are painters from the workshop. But except for that Yann Xuan of Cyan Sun Pavilion, who is decent, the other two are just making up the numbers.”

As he spoke, Yuan Zhong bowed his head and looked at Feng Yuan and Liu Sitong: ”Aside from those three, the rest are Su Zhe from the Upper Academy of Baiyuan Academy.”

”Su Zhe, yes, I had him come here,” Liu Sitong sipped his tea and said mildly, ”That lad is highly gifted in painting. Recently, after observing my Five-Eyed Ferocious Wolf Painting, he’s had some new insights; that’s why I sent him to challenge this.”

”Oh?” Feng Yuan raised his brows, looking at Liu Sitong with some surprise. ”Hearing you say so, Lord Liuu, it seems Su Zhe is quite confident this time.”

”Confident?” Liu Sitong suddenly fixed Feng Yuan with a strange gaze. ”Lord Feng, you know the answer already, don’t you?”

”Haha...” Feng Yuan reached out, picked up his teacup, and said, ”Lord Liuu, have some tea.”

Their exchange was full of subtext, only held back in Yuan Zhong’s presence.

”The last one I have never met. He should not be from Baiyuan County. However, earlier he copied the True Map of Mountains and Rivers...”

Yuan Zhong seemed hesitant to continue.

”What, did it look authentic?” Liu Sitong asked.

Yuan Zhong replied softly, ”Not just authentic. The way he copied the painting was very unusual—he first sketched out the entire outline of the landscape, then filled in a few trees and rocks here and there...”

”Moreover, his speed was very fast, as though he already had the landscape map thoroughly memorized.”

A normal painter would start with a single point, extend to a line, then from lines to surfaces, following that sequence to paint.

”Started with the outline...” Liu Sitong mused,

”Everyone’s painting habits differ, but very few start with the outline. Such an approach means one must thoroughly understand the overall composition and be very confident in one’s skills.”

”But...” Liu Sitong slowly set his teacup on the stone table and turned it, ”for the Five Eyes Map challenge, painting skills are just one aspect. The true difficulty lies in one’s ability to associate ideas.”