Chapter 407: Perfect Brushwork
The divine texture for meditation was among the first that Zen had learned under the cyan dragon's instruction. It was a kind of meditation rune.
This particular rune was usually placed in a practice room or on a furnace. Its energy could reinforce the meditative state of its cultivator.
Practice necessitated much concentration. Akin to an artist refining his craft, a cultivator required great reserves of concentration. The meditation rune would be of much use in calming nerves and eliminating distractions.
According to the cyan dragon's words, the divine texture for meditation was one of the simplest among the one-star divine textures. Its lines were definite and uncomplicated.
However, this feat was very easy only for the cyan dragon himself.
At the first stroke of Zen's pen, a dull, grey line marred the smooth surface of the paper. The edges were messy, an insult itself to the brush. It was an obvious failure. Zen had only begun familiarizing himself with the weight of the brush and the consistency of the ink.
“Beginnings are the hardest part,” the cyan dragon said in good-natured jest.
Zen shrugged his teasing aside, the ribbing not particularly wounding him. He didn't think that he could succeed on the first try either. There was much work to be done, and he knew perfectly well that it would not be easy. According to the art of painting divine textures that the cyan dragon had taught him, he needed to meld his being with the pen, distinguishing the ingredients in the ink with subtle perception. Only after arranging the materials in their proper order with his spiritual energy would the stroke follow his hand and create a sleek, polished line.
Taking a new sheet of paper, he focused in silence for a while before continuing his attempts. He could turn his soul into a thorn and enter the state of forgetting himself, but it appeared that perception was not his strong suit. He was not good at feeling things with his soul.
The Spiritual Thorn required nothing more than a rough shooting at his enemy's direction. It was the first time that Zen had to maintain control of his soul power in such a painstaking and meticulous manner.
After collecting his thoughts, Zen raised his hand and touched its tip to the paper. At the contact with the sheet, the tip shone with a cyan light.
'I made it!'
Zen thought in excitement. But the cyan light disappeared as soon as it arrived, dying down at the small movement of Zen's hand. Zen took a closer inspection of the stroke: its first half contained a cyan color, and the rest of the line still in a dull grey hue.
“I guess this is another failure,”
the cyan dragon laughed at him again.
The sound of the dragon's laughter was starting to tug at Zen's nerves. Turning to the source of the offending sound, Zen said irritated, “Stop your wisecrack now! Why don't you show me and do something useful instead?”
The cyan dragon appeared taken aback by the demand. “You want a demonstration? Of a one-star divine texture?” the dragon asked in disbelief. A one-star divine texture was an insult to his divinity.
The cyan dragon's expertise lay on the art of divine textures. He paled to the other eight dragons on the furnace in measures of strength or martial techniques, but he would not be bested with the brush. Even the Grand Marvelous Array, the shielding array of their race, was arranged by his own hand.
And here was this mortal, asking a creature of his rank to paint a one-star texture. The dragon was wide-eyed at the ridiculous request.
Nonetheless, he eventually deigned to give a demonstration. He had given his word to teach the boy, and so he should keep it.
The cyan dragon didn't have a real body, but he could teach Zen with his spiritual power. He instructed, “Hold your pen higher!”
After following the dragon's words, a small streak of light burst from Zen's forehead to the pen. The cyan dragon projected a part of his soul into the brush. After it had combined with the brush, the dragon spoke once again, “Try once more now.”
Zen moved his pen on the paper with a gentle stroke. A beautiful cyan line appeared on the paper. It was nothing short of perfection. The masterful way of handling the ingredients in the ink was evident in the clear, refined line on the sheet.
Zen was unable to take his eyes off his handiwork. He sat silently and marveled at the utter perfection of the brushwork.
“How do you like it, boy?” The cyan dragon's voice came from Zen's mind.
“It's amazing!” Zen praised sincerely.
“Of course it is! What do you take me for?” the dragon scoffed, then his voice turned serious. “You don't have to push yourself to get everything right immediately.” The dragon paused thoughtfully before adding, “Your second attempt was incomplete, but you have actually grasped the technique. Even runic experts cannot achieve that in such a short amount of time. For many, it takes months.”
Despite laughing at the mortal's earlier failures, the cyan dragon was surprised at how quickly Zen had comprehended the key to the strokes. It had come so naturally to him.
“Months? That long! Is it so difficult?” Zen's shoulders slumped in dejection at first upon seeing the disparity of his skill next to the dragon's but after learning that he was doing better than most people, his motivation returned. The fact that he seemingly had a natural aptitude for the skill brought his determination back.
His lips curled into a confident smile. He changed the sheet once again and held his brush again.
Furrowing his brows in concentration, he spoke to himself. 'Try to feel the ingredients in the ink with my soul…'
Focusing his energy, he sifted through the particles of the ink, envisioning the proper strokes. 'There are four ingredients in the ink. The Potent Kudzu Root has the largest quantity, while the Gelid Herb is the smallest. I need to put the Gelid Herb particles to the bottom. Only in this way can I make full use of the Potent Kudzu Root.
The Potent Kudzu Root is cyan in color, in the same shade of the glinting light of the cyan dragon's work. If this is so, then the most important material of this divine texture must be the Potent Kudzu Root.' Zen analyzed in his mind, breaking down the materials into their smallest particles.
'Now!'
Fixing all his concentration on the tip of the brush, he pressed it against the paper. He could almost feel the contact in his skin. All of a sudden, a strong cyan light, similar to the one he saw earlier came off from where the brush was in contact with the paper.
'What? How did he do it?' The cyan dragon was shocked at the flawlessness of Zen's brushwork. When he regained his composure, his thoughts were accompanied with complex emotions. 'It seems that I have underestimated this boy!'
At Zen's third attempt, he was able to make full use of the materials in the ink and fulfilled their functions perfectly.
This was the so-called “perfect brushwork”, by runic experts.
A perfect brushwork of a one-star texture was a paltry feat for the cyan dragon to achieve. However, it was unimaginable for Zen to be able to do it only at the third attempt.
'There could only be one possible explanation for this, ' the cyan dragon thought to himself as he looked at Zen. 'The boy was born with the gift for painting divine textures.'
Such genius was impressive even to the cyan dragon's eyes. If other runic experts in Central Region knew about this, they might fall unconscious from shock.
The cyan dragon's knowledge and experience enabled him to quickly understand and accept Zen's incredible achievement.
But runic experts were a different matter altogether. For them, the perfect brushwork was something of similar nature to a miracle, the perfect blade to a blacksmith. Most runic experts were not able to achieve it in their lifetime. At most, they would arrive at seventy to eighty percent of the materials' functions. One who could achieve ninety percent would be upon the ranks of a master.
But here was Zen, achieving it at his third attempt. What did this mean?
It was like a blacksmith creating the perfect blade after a third trial. It was, quite simply, unbelievable.
The most important part of painting divine textures was the ability to control the materials in the ink. After Zen's successful attempt, there were no other difficulties for him. The only thing left was for him to pay attention to the intersections of different lines.
The structure of a one-star divine texture was not at all complicated. Zen moved his pen according to the cyan dragon's instructions, and lines started to stretch and cross on the paper.
It was not long before Zen finished the last line and connected it with the first line. Gradually, the cyan light in the lines paled until they disappeared, and a complete divine texture of twenty-four lines appeared on the paper.
“It's finished!” Zen's face lit up in excitement as he traced the strokes on the paper with his eyes.
The cyan dragon fell silent as he watched Zen's first accomplished piece of work—a one-star divine texture for meditation.
With Zen's perfect brushwork, this one-star texture could be as powerful as an ordinary two-star texture.
After a long while, the cyan dragon opened his mouth, “You did a fine job. A little more, and it will be as if I had made it myself.”
The cyan dragon praised in half-truth. Now that Zen had achieved the perfect brushwork, the effect of his texture should be the same as the cyan dragon's. But the dragon could not admit this. After all, he had to save face after teasing Zen's failure some moments ago.
Besides, Zen had a long way to go. Divine textures of higher ranks required much more materials and had more complicated steps. Accomplishing a one-star texture was a far cry from the more complex textures. There was a greater control needed for materials. As of the moment, it was something beyond Zen's current skill.
“How can I use this meditation rune?” Zen asked as he picked up the paper with divine texture and observed it carefully.
The cyan dragon decided to pause his musings and focus on the matters at hand. “Runes are usually used in an array. Since you don't need to arrange an array now, you can activate the rune directly with your life vitality,” he answered.
The magic-array experts in Eastern Region were also runic experts. Mack, the disciple of Ninety-foot Peak who had fought Zen during the All Peaks Competition, was one such expert. His runes were painted in his array flag and were activated through his magic-array plate. For those magic-array experts in Eastern Region, they usually employed the use of cubic crystals as energy sources. In the Central Region, the life vitality crystals were used instead.
Zen nodded after hearing the cyan dragon's words. He put up the paper on a wall and then transferred some life vitality into it.
The divine texture shone as Zen's energy flowed through it. Cyan rays broke out from the symbol and Zen immediately felt refreshed at the touch of the warm light. It was the same feeling that one had after waking up from a restful sleep. He felt the tense knots of his muscles relax, and his exhaustion dissipated like the night being forgotten at dawn.
'This divine texture is very effective! I wonder how much I can sell this for, ' He thought to himself.
At first, Zen had thought himself to be a rich man, but he found out that his 100, 000 cubic crystals was not even worthy to be considered a fortune after he came to Central Region. He decided to inquire about the price of this divine texture the next day.