Chapter 1440: Willingly Marry Down?

"Wu Daojing, you're saying... I lost?"

Unable to believe it, Zhang Ziqing could no longer hold back and asked.

"Correct. His work uses the simplest painting method yet directly captures the essence. Even an ordinary nine-star calligrapher-painter couldn't achieve this. Your work, though good, falls far short..."

Wu Daojing responded.

Weapons of this level already possess their own spirit and can converse with people.

"He just drew a few strokes with his sword, leaving not even a trace... How could it be that even a nine-star calligrapher-painter can't do it..."

Zhang Ziqing was tearing her hair out.

Even if you're lying through your teeth, you can't say that, can you?

So many people saw him paint with their own eyes—he casually picked up a stone slab from the ground and carved it with his sword... There were no patterns on it at all. Where was the painting?

"If you look closely up close, you're sure to find something special..."

Seeing her lack of understanding, Wu Daojing shook his head and said no more, as if still immersed in the beautiful work, unable to extricate himself.

Hesitating for a moment, Zhang Ziqing stepped to the table and lowered her head to look at the stone slab before her.

The surface of the slab still bore the dust from when it was pulled out of the ground, and the marks left by the stonemason were still there, the lines identical to those on the ground stones, nothing special.

"There's no painting on this..."

After a careful look, she found no traces of sword energy left behind. The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. She moved her spiritual sense and extended it outward.

If the eyes couldn't see it, perhaps spiritual sense could detect the problem.

"Huh?"

As soon as her spiritual sense enveloped the stone before her, Zhang Ziqing's body stiffened, and her delicate frame trembled uncontrollably: "This... this..."

Her lips quivered, as if she couldn't believe what she saw.

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Wuchen and the others frowned, unable to resist extending their spiritual sense to look ahead.

After a glance, they too stood frozen in place.

"Correct. This stone was painted by me with sword energy; it's not real. The previous stone had already shattered into powder, which I collected into my storage ring..."

Seeing they had figured it out, Zhang Xuan smiled lightly.

Earlier, when his sword energy crisscrossed, it seemed to outsiders that nothing was left on the stone. In reality, he used sword energy to paint an identical stone using the previous one as a sample.

Even when he was a seven-star calligrapher-painter, he had already comprehended void painting, allowing him to paint in the air and make it hard to distinguish truth from falsehood. Now that he had reached the peak of eight stars, it was naturally even easier.

Although it was composed of sword energy, without using spiritual sense to examine it, even a nine-star calligrapher-painter would find it hard to tell the difference.

For this reason, neither Zhang Ziqing nor the two elders, Wuchen and Wuzhen, noticed anything unusual. They never dreamed that the stone he had casually picked up from the ground had vanished, and the one before them was a 'painting'!

"A painted stone, and none of us could tell..."

"Ziqing only made the bamboo seem spirited and lifelike, but he has transcended that realm, making the fake seem real so that no one can distinguish it..."

Realizing this, the two elders Zhang Wuchen and Zhang Wuzhen found it hard to believe.

A true nine-star calligrapher-painter could make paintings so lifelike that they were indistinguishable from reality. They never expected this young man could do the same.

Could it be that he was already a nine-star?

If so, that would be too terrifying!

"I... lost!"

Gently stroking the 'rock' before her, finding it no different from a real one—undetectable without spiritual sense—Zhang Ziqing's face turned pale as she murmured to herself.

She had thought his sword energy was random thrusts, never imagining he was truly painting, and with such spirit that no one could tell the difference.

No wonder Wu Daojing said she lost... She had indeed lost, utterly, not even on the same level.

"Using only a sword to paint a work of this level... how strong would you be with a brush?"

Unable to hold back, she looked at the young man before her.

When he said he was serious, she thought he would use all his abilities. She never expected that with just a sword, he had created a work she couldn't surpass... If he used a brush, how strong would he be?

"I didn't lie to you; I was truly serious about painting!"

Seeing her shock, Zhang Xuan smiled and nodded: "To be honest, your understanding of painting and calligraphy is indeed very strong. If not for needing to surpass you, I might have just picked a random weed to paint with, not used a sword. In truth, when painting with true intent, there's not much difference between a sword and a brush."

"A weed?"

Her face twitched, Zhang Ziqing: "How do you paint with that?"

"It's simple..."

Looking around, Zhang Xuan pointed, and a weed from a nearby garden flew into his palm. He gently hooked it.

Swish!

Water from the pond flew over, landing on the weed. Zhang Xuan pinched the root with two fingers and slowly waved it in the air.

Sizzle sizzle!

The air around them instantly thickened, and in a moment, a wide river appeared before everyone, roaring and surging, as if it might flow out at any moment and flood the entire courtyard.

"Painting in the void, using water instead of ink to paint a river?"

Zhang Ziqing swallowed hard.

When she painted, she used the most precious brushes and ink, always believing that was the only way to push her work to its peak. Seeing him, she realized it wasn't like that at all.

Picking up anything at hand, nothing cannot be used to paint, nothing cannot enter a painting... This was a true grandmaster of painting and calligraphy, a super genius who had studied the art to its very core.

"This painting... also surpasses the artistic conception of my Mountain Bamboo Painting!"

After watching for a while, though unwilling to admit it, Zhang Ziqing had to concede that the river he had casually painted with a weed and pond water was still far superior to her Mountain Bamboo Painting.

"Oh... after painting that stone earlier, my understanding of painting and calligraphy improved a bit, so now even with a weed, I can paint decently..."

Zhang Xuan explained.

After learning the abilities of an eight-star calligrapher-painter, he rarely painted. That stone was his first serious attempt, and he gained a lot of valuable experience from it, deepening his understanding of the art of painting.

Thus, even the weed painting surpassed hers in artistic conception.

"Improved again?"

Her body swayed again, and Zhang Ziqing's vision went dark.

She had always believed she had unparalleled talent in painting and calligraphy, but compared to the man before her, she was still far behind—incomparable!

"Fairy Ziqing, I recall you once said that if any member of the younger generation could surpass you in music, chess, calligraphy, or painting, you would willingly marry down to him, regardless of who he is... Is that true?"

Suddenly, a young man in the crowd called out.

"This..."

Zhang Ziqing was startled, then looked again at Zhang Xuan not far away, her brow slightly furrowed.