I Can See Your Combat Power

Xiao Ziyu was undoubtedly a deep thinker, and as such, he understood how challenging it was to depict clouds in such a manner.

Thousands of clouds, each one unique and constructed with thoughtful details, conjuring up numerous new images as they combined and transformed. Though it was nothing more than a painting of a cloud sea, each gaze would evoke the surprise once felt at first sight.

It would take an unknown length of time to exhaust each possible combination, but it didn’t matter. He could simply bring the painting home, hang it up in his practice room, and admire it after daily training. What could be more delightful?

The newly risen first person of Xiling had made up his mind, no matter the meaning inscribed in the painting, he must acquire it. It would be more than just casting pearls before swine if this groundbreaking work were to fall into the hands of those ignorant nobles. It would be an insult to the master artist who created it.

With difficulty, Xiao Ziyu shifted his gaze from the endless red clouds, intending to find the title of the painting scroll so that he could have the attendant fetch it. But as soon as he looked up, he found himself unable to look away.

If one were to appraise visual artworks, perhaps there would be a handful of people in Xiling with sharper eyes than him. But in the realm of calligraphy, he was comparable to the likes of Xiao Zheng and Mi Hou. He believed that given another twenty years of practice, his works would be recognized by masters, though admittedly still not on par with the Huang Ting School, they would still be highly regarded.

Yet the calligraphy skill demonstrated in the painting before him was not only equivalent to, but also surpasses the Huang Ting School. It possessed a transcendent elegance that had him captivated. A mere six characters of ‘Gazing at the Peaks, Chanting for the Cloudy Sea¹, encompassed the majestic essence of the endless cloud sea.

In the art of calligraphy, coordinating thin and thick strokes — the harmony of Yin and Yang, the balance of strength and flexibility — to show that a heavy character must have bone, a light character must have flesh. Only thus can one truly captivate the reader’s eyes, create a unique style, and win an exaggerated commendation. The calligraphy before him, although not as heavy as Huang Ting, contained an elevated elegance that immediately aroused youthful aspiration upon sight.

If Huang Ting’s characters embodied the majesty of the main path, then these words were like mournful predecessors, containing aloofness amidst the tranquillity.

“What wonderful characters!” Xiao Ziyu praised inwardly. With such a painting and such strokes, it was no exaggeration to claim excellence in both calligraphy and painting. He was eager to read the poem which was described as rare on earth and seldom seen in heaven.

By now, he had completely forgotten his initial disdain for those ignorant nobles. Even if he were to become one of those brainless fans, it would be a worthy sacrifice. Because this painting before him deserved all of that honor. If martial arts were used as a comparison, this would be a sacred technique refined over thousands of years, presented in front of him, where every word and sentence contained infinite mysteries. The essence of martial arts was utterly enthralling.

Young Master Xiao focused on the opening line, his brows slightly furrowed. “How fares Mount Dai? The beauty of Qi and Lu remains.”

The first line left him somewhat disappointed. What was Mount Dai? What were Qi and Lu? Why wasn’t he familiar with these names? Though he would not presume to know everything about the world’s major mountains, he had a good understanding of most of them, for something he had never heard of, they were likely remote and rarely visited places. Just thinking about this made him somewhat regretful.

The opening line had always been crucial in a poem. From ancient times, poets would lament that they could not grip readers with just two or three characters. In truth, there were many poems of ‘tiger heads and snake tails’, and few that began as rooster heads and ended as phoenix tails.

Starting with a scarcely known mountain area was less striking than directly addressing the Red Cloud peak being merely grand and not as remarkable as the two divine mountains, Kun and Zhou. There was a hint of regret in his sighing, so he continued to read.

“Nature carves incredible beauty, Yin and Yang mark dusk and dawn.”

Like a Combined Attack Technique resonating in his mind, the two lines immediately washed away Xiao Ziyu’ s initial disparaging views of Mount Dai. The words brought the mountain’s majestic beauty and towering grandeur to life on paper. With just one character, the poet breathed life into all things in nature, as if resenting the world’s most extraordinary and beautiful creations for being too generous to Mount Dai. The line about Yin and Yang cutting through dusk and dawn even made Xiao Ziyu wonder if there truly was such an unprecedented divine mountain that remained undiscovered in the world, and only became known when a wandering poet found it and wrote these lines.

All mountains have Yin and Yang sides; the side facing the sun is ‘Yang’, the side facing away from the sun is ‘Yin’. It’s also said that mountains in the south and water in the north are Yang, and mountains in the north and water in the south are Yin. But what monumental mountain could have so magnificent a peak that it would cleave the Yin and Yang sides asunder, rather than passively facing the blazing sun? It is as if this Mount Dai declared that it alone ruled the world’s fortune: if I tell you to separate, you separate!

The sun, moon and stars, no! They are but a backdrop!

This kind of unrivalled, heaven-defying dominance was unheard of and unseen by Xiao Ziyu. Just for this line, the poem could be ranked among the top tier. He could hardly wait to read the next line because he had no idea what words could follow “Yin and Yang mark dusk and dawn” without losing momentum.

“Breathing deeply, layers of clouds are born, eyes widen at the sight of returning birds.”

Like receiving enlightenment, Xiao Ziyu felt suddenly enlightened, as if tearing through the clouds to see the blue sky. With such divine and beautiful scenery in front of him, why think of anything else?

You just look, just look!

Take in all the picturesque sights before your eyes, like birds returning to the forest, like moths flying towards a flame. Even if you had to tear open your eyes, you should remember everything in front of you.

What kind of divine mountain could make a master of painting and calligraphy, ready to sacrifice his eyes just to keep a firm memory of everything in front of him? Even when it was already late, and the weary birds had returned to their nests, the poet was still gazing, completely absorbed, and didn’t want to leave.

Xiao Ziyu could almost feel the poet’s pain of spending an unknown amount of time climbing to the summit, only to find that it was near dusk. He only wished he could swap places with him. The divine mountain stood tall in his heart with just three lines of poem. He deeply appreciated the skill required to craft such a poem and made a passionate decision: “If I travel, I must see Mount Dai!”

He seemed to understand the poet’s wish: to sacrifice his eyes to forever remember the mysteries of this divine mountain and spread the word to the world!

There was only the last line left to read. He couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful. After all, the poet still had to descend the mountain. Regardless of how divine or charming the mountain was, ordinary people eventually had to return to their daily lives. Therefore, only martial arts last forever!

Just like a Taoist priest preaching, Xiao Ziyu’s martial spirit was subtly tempered by the three-line poem. He had been plagued by the elder son Xu Sheng, but he seemed to be suddenly wiped away. The target in his eyes was clear again: All the world’s kings had their failures. But reaching the peak was never a smooth journey. Even if he reached the peak at dusk, even if he might fall halfway, he still wanted to see the grandeur at the top of the martial arts world!

Xiao Ziyu, full of fighting spirit, looked at the last sentence:

“Aim to stand on the peak, look down, all mountains are small!”

BOOM!

After quite a while, Xiao Ziyu was still in shock. Who would have thought that the number one transcendent of Xiling could be rendered speechless by a single line of poetry?

“Masterpiece! This is a true masterpiece!”

The shock faded, and he could only formulate this one sentence in his mind.