Chapter 352: Display of Skill

“What was the Heavenly Tribulation like that night? How did you survive?”

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“What’s the situation like in Jinling City now? I heard there is still a number of people alive in the city, right?”

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“How did you handle the goods delivered by the Four Seas Escort Agency?”

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“You said in your letter that you’ve already hidden the goods somewhere in Jinling City. How did you come up with that plan?”

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“Did you all encounter any White Lotus Society members on your way back here?”

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“How is the combat effectiveness of the White Lotus Society’s army in your opinion?”

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“What is the situation on the provinces that you passed through on your way? Did you witness a riot arise in any province or prefecture?”

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“Are there any insurgencies within the various garrison troops that you saw during your journey? How about the wealthy families and the populace across the area?”

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Within the span of an hour, Yan Liqiang earnestly answered each and every question from Luqiu Mingyue and the elders that were present for the interrogation. He had practically disclosed the details and particulars of the two-month excursion following the group’s departure from Jinling to their arrival in Lai Province, including his own observations and reflections.

Yan Liqiang felt like he was participating in a public hearing with him as the person being cross-examined. As the person with firsthand experience on the situation, Yan Liqiang was qualified to answer these questions.

Liqiu Mingyue and the elders were mostly interested in three matters. Firstly, Yan Liqiang’s handling of the goods that Four Seas Escort Agency did not manage to deliver; secondly, the rebellion by the White Lotus Society; and thirdly — the meticulous ones were the various situations that Yan Liqiang and the others had seen and experienced en route back to the Divine Sword Sect.

Yan Liqiang was already an eloquent speaker. Even the way he spoke was both logical and methodical too. When Luqiu Mingyue and the elders presented their inquiries, Yan Liqiang would know the specific thing they were concerned about and gave detailed and focused responses. As Luqiu Mingyue and the elders listened to the descriptions of those plentiful scenarios and experiences, they felt like they were simply viewing them with their own eyes.

In the middle of answering the elders’ questions, Yan Liqiang was also secretly watching their expressions. He noticed that his master, Liu Guiyuan, had not asked any questions from the beginning until now. Instead, his master was listening intently to the conversation with a calm expression while occasionally nodding his head or looking as if he was deep in his thoughts.

His acting seemed so real!

Yan Liqiang muttered in his heart.

“… The situation in Hui Province is as follows. When we passed through Hui Province, various cities within the province were in chaos. Many residents of the cities caused a lot of trouble because of the plunder of food. Even the troops based in those areas could not quell the hostilities of the citizens. Also, when we were crossing Yanhui Prefecture, the two influential families — the Hui Clan and the Lu Clan — organized their family members to attack each other during the chaos due to their long-standing family feud to seize control of Yanhui City. A lot of people were lost on both sides, casting additional disarray to the growing chaos. When we were at Hui Province, we deliberately avoided those cities to rush through our journey in fear of being involved. All sort of crimes were committed in the areas we passed by on the way, for the sake of food. Animals like oxen and horses were most likely killed on sight and shared for their meat. For most of the time, we rested during day time and resumed our journey at night…”

In the period of more than an hour, Yan Liqiang’s mouth had gone dry from talking, yet he could only continue standing without the courage to admit his thirst for water.

After he was done reporting about the events he had witnessed in Hui Province, the hall was filled with silence. The elders did not ask any more questions because after crossing Hui Province, they would reach Wen Province, which was adjacent to Lai Province. In regards to the situation in Lai Province, the elders of the Divine Sword Sect naturally had a clear idea of what had happened there as well.

After ten minutes passed, Luqiu Mingyue quickly scanned the surroundings before he spoke up when he saw the silent elders, “Dear elders, do you all have any further questions?”

“I still have one more thing that needs verification!” A beautiful, almond-eyed middle-aged elder clad in a light yellow dress, who was seated on Yan Liqiang’s left, began to speak. Her voice sounded sweet as she looked at Yan Liqiang with her lustrous almond eyes, “I heard you said that you learned your unique drawing skills when you were young just now. How did you sketch the drawing you delivered to the sect back then? We have never seen anything like this before, so I am very curious. With that, I want you to demonstrate to the Sect Lord and the other elders exactly how you did it. If you have such a capability, it shouldn’t be difficult to make a drawing in front of an audience…”

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Most of the elders inside the hall nodded after hearing such a statement by this beautiful elder. Everyone even became curious and wished to see how Yan Liqiang sketched such a drawing that actually seemed realistic and lifelike. It was nothing like they’d ever seen before — it was certainly unique…

“If Elder Lin wishes to see my drawing, then by all means!” Yan Liqiang smiled at the beautiful elder and continued, “However, I just need to prepare some tools for my drawing!”

“Just request whatever tools you need. I also want to observe how this one-of-a-kind painting is drawn after hearing what Elder Lin said!” Luqiu Mingyue chimed in.

“I will need a piece of hard white paper that is about two feet square in size, several embroidery needles, and a thin, flat wood board that is about two inches bigger than the piece of paper. Also, a few black carbon cores that are about the length of a finger, a small knife, and a baked bread will be sufficient for me!”

“Alright!” Luqiu Mingyue gave a nod and proceeded to clap two times. An elder clad in black then came forward from the screen behind him with brisk steps before bowing to Luqiu Mingyue, “What orders does the Sect Lord have for me?”

“Bring the items Yan Liqiang requested!”

“Understood!”

The elder bowed and left. In just less than two minutes, the items Yan Liqiang required were already displayed in front of him.

“What does Elder Lin want me to draw?”

“What can you draw?”

“I can draw anything as long as there are in my line of sight!”

The beautiful elder suddenly chuckled and said, “Then draw me and I will see if it looks like me!”

“Alright!” Yan Liqiang nodded and began moving into action.

Firstly, he laid the paper on a thin wood board and proceeded to insert the embroidery needle into the corners of the paper before he turned the needle over to secure the paper onto the board. He then picked a carbon core and used the small knife to shave it. Afterward, he faced the beautiful elder and sat down on his knees as he said, “I will need a bit of time for my drawing. In the meantime, I will have to ask Elder Lin to sit on the chair like this and direct your gaze to me. Don’t move, just a moment!”

“Alright!” Elder Lin nodded and sat on the chair in a demure manner, watching Yan Liqiang in silence.

Yan Liqiang placed the wood board on his knees, which instantaneously placed him back in a state where he used to set up a stall on the streets for portrait paintings in his previous life. He only took a glimpse at Elder Lin before he began to focus on his drawing.

Of course, Luqiu Mingyue and the other elders inside the hall were said to be the best in terms of their martial cultivation and knowledge base. Even so, their eyes grew wider because they had never seen someone draw the way Yan Liqiang did. Moreover, it was also due to the things that Yan Liqiang used. To the elders, those tools all seemed inconceivable. Did he really need the baked bread, let alone the carbon core and paper? Perhaps Yan Liqiang wanted to eat while he was drawing? This was all too strange.

“That’s odd. Other painters use brushes and ink for their work, and their papers are always placed flat on the table. How come the paper Yan Liqiang is drawing on is vertically placed instead?” Some elders began muttering under their breaths.

While watching Yan Liqiang drawing something on the paper with a serious demeanor, an extremely curious Luqiu Mingyue was the first to rise and he immediately stood behind Yan Liqiang to see how he would be drawing his painting.

Gradually, the expression on Luqiu Mingyue’s face turned into that of surprise.

With the Sect Lord taking the lead, the remaining elders then went behind Yan Liqiang one by one and watched him draw. Their expressions were the same as Luqiu Mingyue’s — they started getting excited after only taking a few glances at the painting.

Slowly, it seemed like everyone except Elder Lin, who was still sitting on the chair, was already standing behind Yan Liqiang in the great hall. They remained silent as they watched the carbon core on Yan Liqiang’s hand unfold a never-before-seen world in front of their eyes.

The baked bread had long gone cold, yet Luqiu Mingyue and the other elders were able to discover the usage of the bread for the painting. When Yan Liqiang gently tore a piece of bread that the elders initially thought he would consume, he softly rubbed it on the paper instead, amending the stroke that he had drawn with the carbon core in an instant.

To Yan Liqiang, the baked bread had an equivalent function to an eraser due to the fact that the first eraser was actually a piece of bread. But from the bystanders’ point of view, the usage of the bread shocked them to the core, which corroborated with Yan Liqiang’s previous statement. Everyone was now completely convinced regarding Yan Liqiang’s previous statement of his drawing capability being the product of trial and error.

Yan Liqiang was an expert in sketching people’s faces in his previous life. And in his current life, this skill did not decline. It instead became stronger than before through his hand-eye coordination, his motor control, his observation, and his heightened memory ability.

Under the hands of Yan Liqiang, Elder Lin’s face gradually became more vivid. On the other hand, the expression on the faces of the elders standing behind him became more surprised. Some of them even slowly dropped their jaws…

Ink paintings had a certain line drawing technique to it too. Even so, in comparison to Yan Liqiang’s sketching ability right now, ink paintings were inferior in the aspect of realism on the human subject. The drawing technique Yan Liqiang mastered had perspective, especially with the changes in the light and shadows, as well as the presence of a three-dimensional model. These were things that a simple brush stroke technique could not be compared to. Such a technique in this era was considered to be the drawing skills of Nine Swords Dugu, especially to those observing from behind Yan Liqiang as they had never seen someone possessing this sort of skill. It was like an ethereal prowess.

Yan Liqiang drew wholeheartedly and gave it his best. He had also thoroughly presented the attainable level of drawing in black and white colors.

Under the guidance of his charcoal piece, the traces of hair on the temples in Elder Lin’s portraiture seemed as if they could be counted by the strand. Every crease on the dress became more three-dimensional, especially the radiance from Elder Lin’s eyes and the superior charm that emanated from this mature woman. That unique temperament was more visible, which was translated well on the paper.

The entire portrait was like a photograph that had been taken and artistically modified thereafter. If this were uploaded on the net in Yan Liqiang’s previous life, it would still astonish a lot of people. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to successfully enter the China Central Academy of Fine Arts at all!