Dual Talents in Painting and Calligraphy

"It got out of hand and the higher-ups started asking about the situation."

"Thus, the deaths stopped."

"However, from the looks of it, they probably thought that the matter had already passed. That's why they began to seek 'help' once again."

Ah Yong said blankly.

He could guarantee that he would be able to live a peaceful life in Appraisal Room No. 10.

However, he wasn't confident that he could survive a day in the Third Master's Water Cloud Room and the Second Master's Gold Treasure Room.

"Doesn't the government care?" Chen Shaojun asked curiously.

"The government?"

"Don't forget who we are."

"The authorities can't protect people like us."

"On the other hand, if we were to escape, the authorities would immediately help them to capture us."

"If not for this, do you really think that we would stay during those times?"

"The one who ran the furthest only reached the city gate before being killed."

"You definitely don't want to know what happens to those who are caught." Ah Yong sighed.

When Chen Shaojun heard this, he felt a little uncomfortable. However, he also knew that this world was like this. This world was ruthless. This was something that Chen Shaojun had already accepted a long time ago.

…

"This place is truly not a normal world. Human lives are inferior to dogs."

Chen Shaojun returned to Appraisal Room No. 7 and sighed.

If it was really as Ah Yong said, then besides those servants and apprentices, which one of them was innocent?

Ticketing Manager Shen alone could determine the life and death of the apprentice with a single thought. As for Xu Hongtao, although he was usually kind, he had come from a cruel gang. Even if he was not completely evil, he was definitely a ruthless person.

After all, if he wasn't ruthless, he would've been dead a long time ago.

Today, Chen Shaojun was going to appraise a Weasel Hair Brush. The body of the brush was made of a light yellow jade, while the tip of the brush was covered in weasel fur. It was red and white and was moderately soft.

The Weasel Hair Brush had three wisps of baleful aura. Thus, it was naturally not difficult for Chen Shaojun to appraise it.

The Divine Vision technique was cast.

Before the baleful aura could rush out, it turned into smoke.

Then, the Psychic Treasure Mirror appeared and the brush was reflected in the mirror.

It was a Low-Grade Mortal item.

He received dual talents in painting and calligraphy as his reward.

When Chen Shaojun received this message, he instantly mastered countless knowledge about calligraphy and painting. Based on his intuition, he should be able to reach the level of a normal person who had trained hard in these fields for decades.

Unfortunately, there were not many opportunities to hold a pen in the pawnshop. He had amazing skills, but they were useless.

Of course, he always remembered that this was a world where martial arts flourished. Thus, the positions of scholars and officials were much inferior here compared to the dynasties in his previous life.

After appraising the treasure, Chen Shaojun did not leave immediately.

Instead, he took out the Imperial Notes that Dai Ming had given him previously.

He flipped through it and found that it contained the insights from the growth of an official pawnbroker named Zhou Chen. Most of the notes contained descriptions of the problems and solutions that Zhou Chen had encountered while cultivating the Divine Vision technique.

However, what really attracted Chen Shaojun were a few special cases.

For example, when Zhou Chen was appraising a bronze mirror, he got distracted. As a result, he was dragged into an ancient residence and was about to marry a woman named Xiu Er.

The two of them performed the marriage ceremony, performed the salutations, and even entered the bridal chamber.

After a night of dreams, he woke up and realized that everything was an illusion. He was depressed for a period of time.

"Is this like the story where Zhuang Zhou dreams of being a butterfly1?"

"Or was he haunted by the ghost from the bronze mirror?"

Chen Shaojun was more convinced by the latter.

However, the fact that the ghost didn't attack Zhou Chen and even sent him out surprised Chen Shaojun.

There were very few special cases in the notes, and Chen Shaojun summarized them briefly. What was worth mentioning were those dangerous and wonderful cases. Among them, there were three cases where the author encountered ghosts. Most of them were scary but not dangerous, and they expanded his horizons.

He had to think about Zhou Chen's response and learn from him.

After five minutes, Chen Shaojun put down the notes. However, his thoughts were no longer on the notes.

Instead, he focused his attention on the Tiger Demon Body Tempering Fist that he had obtained from the treasure appraisal earlier.

It was a martial arts technique.

It was an actual martial arts technique.

Furthermore, this martial art technique was the body-tempering fist technique that martial artists used to build their foundation.

With this martial art technique, ordinary people could embark on the road of martial arts.

"The Tiger Demon Body Tempering Fist is a fist technique, and also a cultivation technique."

In the past few days, he had obtained some information about martial arts.

Thus, he learned that in the early stages of practicing martial arts, the most fundamental thing was the training method used to increase their strength.

It was said that if one practiced martial arts techniques but not their strength, it would be a waste of effort.

As for where one's strength would come from? It would be from their training method.

This was because only by cultivating one's strength would a martial artist be able to temper their entire body.

In particular, the Body Tempering realm was divided into nine stages. The nine stages were flesh training, tendon training, bone training, skin training, marrow training, blood changing, internal organ training, hollow organ training, and internal inspection respectively.

Furthermore, each of these stages required one's strength to be repeatedly tempered and forged.

It was said that when one mastered martial arts, this meant that the strength of their martial arts had entered the depths of their body and that they had trained their strength to their limits.

In fact, whether or not one could nurture their strength was more of a basis for determining whether one was a martial artist.

Only those who had nurtured their strength could be considered as martial artists.

However, if one did not nurture their strength, then no matter how powerful they were, even if they could lift vessels and shatter rocks, they would at most be a boor.

Then, Chen Shaojun began to practice martial arts.

The appraisal room was sealed all around. Although the space was small, it was the most suitable place for him to practice martial arts in a short period of time.

In any case, as long as he did not cause a huge commotion in the room, no one would enter.

What if he practiced martial arts in the backyard of the pawnshop?

He had never considered it.

Standing in the room, Chen Shaojun took a deep breath and started gesturing.

In the beginning, he could still maintain the correct and coherent movements. However, not long after, he felt that his breathing had become erratic. Even his movements began to change as his body started to sway left and right.

"Sure enough, memories are just memories. It's completely different when you actually practice them."

Even though he had already comprehended all of the key points of the fist technique in his memories, it was not the same when he truly practiced it.

The change in his movements was only one of the reasons.

The huge consumption of stamina was the primary reason why he could not continue.

Before he could finish the entire set of actions, he was already sweating profusely as he panted to try and catch his breath.

His body was not weak.

After all, the Essence Augmenting Pill and the nourishment of the Blood Qi Pill had long since allowed his physical fitness to reach the peak of his current level of fitness. Thus, he was confident that he would be able to move as fast as he wanted, even if he was carrying an object that weighed 100 kilograms.

"It would appear that this Tiger Demon Body Tempering Fist is even more extraordinary than I imagined."

As Chen Shaojun thought about this, his eyes lit up.

Previously, he had been longing to practice martial arts. Now that he had possessed a "true technique", and having realized that he was about to embark on the path of martial arts to strengthen his body, he naturally treasured this opportunity even more. He would not back down because of a moment of difficulty.

He quickly started again and continued practicing.

Once, twice, thrice…

Even though it was difficult at the start.

His movements were deformed, his breathing was erratic, and his stamina was constantly depleted…

However, he persisted.

At the very least, he persisted because he could feel his own progress.

In addition, he discovered that when he practiced the fist technique, it was extremely effective when combined with the Eternal Spring breathing technique.

Not only did his recovery speed increase greatly, but the two techniques also seemed to perfectly complement each other, making his movements even smoother.

He practiced, again and again, correcting his movements every time he practiced.

Finally, at a certain point in time, Chen Shaojun had finally executed the entire Tiger Demon Body Tempering Fist technique successfully.