Chapter 1167 - The Ink Slab Won’t Grind Itself (1/2)

Chapter 1167: The Ink Slab Won’t Grind Itself

Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric

“assu thehave to do with deciphering the seal?” the copper- Xuan

“There’s indeed no direct relation between them, but such analysis allows us to deduce the reason why Sorrowless Old Man has decided to leave behind a seal on the painting, as well as to deter Xuan replied with a smile

“To claim that you are able to deterh just the age of the painting itself, aren’t you being a little too conceited over there?” Zhang Jiuxiao tilted his head upward and harru too forcefully, the durians on his head shook violently, seeround at any h the crowd had rereed with Zhang Jiuxiao’s point of view Being able to accurately deter appraiser, but that piece of knowledge had nothing to do with the seal at all

“Don’t i Xuan replied nonchalantly He took a sweeping glance across the rooure “If I’ht?”

“Indeed My na stood up and clasped his fist politely

“Guild Leader Meng, pardon for troubling you, but yuan Eo? What kind of brush stroke was preferred then?” Zhang Xuan asked

“This…” Guild Leader Meng conteo, the painting style that was popular within Qingyuan E Style]! This style consists of deter the specific size and outline of the objects within the painting before slowly painting them over a layer after a layer Usually, one would first spread a layer of ink over the entire paper before slowly painting it on a layer after a layer Every single layer in of allowed errors is minimal It is an extremely intensive process, but it allows for the creation of extres!”

Just like anything else, painting styles would also gradually change over the years Each era had their unique reatly from the other

It was based on such differences that allowed appraisers to be able to identify the era which a certain artifact was produced

The Anchored Painting Style was in trend two thousand years ago, andOf theure was definitely the Sorrowless Old Man

It was for this reason that everyone iuessed that it was the work of the Sorrowless Old Man when they first saw the painting

“Indeed, it’s the Anchored Painting Style” Zhang Xuan nodded “While the Anchored Painting Style allows for extree downside to it as well The ink used in the paintingremains flat as the sides of a knife Otherwise, the painter would beXuan gestured to the painting, “However, this painting is of the equal thickness throughout, be it the sky, greenery, mountains, or clouds”

Everyone swiftly extended their Spiritual Perception towards the painting in order to perceive it with greater clarity, and a reement

That was indeed the case

If the other party hadn’t spoken about it, they ht not have noticed this ano is of equal thickness?” the copper-ure harrumphed impatiently “What I need is for the seal to be deciphered, not an analysis of the painting!”

“Calm down and listen tothe seal in the painting” Zhang Xuan turned to the copper- on, “Like what I have said earlier, the Sorrowless Old Man had worked on the painting on two separate occasions, and there was an interval of thirty years for those two occasions In other words, the painting was already complete the first time that he had worked on it Based on the standards of the Anchored Painting Style, the painting must have already been flat then… Thirty years later, in order to conceal some kind of secret, the Sorrowless Old Man intentionally added white clouds onto theover his work then, there should have been a difference in the thickness of the painting between the clouds and the re those words, the crowd turned their attention back to the clouds once o, bewilder is of equal thickness throughout even for the portions with the clouds…”

“How could this be?”

Such voices could be heard throughout the hall

As spoken by the voices in the hall, the clouds were of equal thickness with the rest of the painting Just looking at the painting by itself, there was nothing that suggested the painting had been worked on twice

“I believe everyone should be able to tell that the painting is of equal thickness throughout What thisprior to adding on the clouds!” Zhang Xuan nodded

“This…”

The croidened their eyes in disbelief

“To shave off the original work and add so different to it? Is this even feasible in practice?” The head of the Painter Guild, Meng Chong, expressed his skepticism towards the matter

As a 7-star pinnacle painter, he fully understood the difficulty in pulling such a thing off in practice

Since the Sorrowless Old Man orking with ink, as most painters did, theover the previous layer Ink that had seeped into the canvas fro the previous layers would affect the new layer that had been painted over, causing unpredictable distortions in the painting over ti before him showed no distortions of that sort… Theoretically, by careful calculation and fine control of one’s brush stroke, itas cohtest understanding of painting would understand that it was nigh iht, but what if he were to use Suspended I Xuan asked

“Suspended Iery? But that would !” Guild Leader Meng Chong replied

Suspended I insuspended i In other words, if one were to just move the canvas, the tould separate fro itself that the clouds had fused in with the rest of the painting

“That would indeed be an issue, but just like what Zhang Jiuxiao had said, a spirit had been infused into the painting If I were to justand the clouds are two different sheets of paper, the spirit would be the binding factor between the with one another!” Zhang Xuan nodded