“Now that you"ve got the foundation of painting, I don"t have to teach you the basic skills of painting. What you need to learn now is how to combine spirit patterns with painting skills. The first half of this alb.u.m is about how to combine painting skills and spirit patterns together. The middle is about some local examples broken down, and the last part is some of the simplest finished paintings. You finish reading the first part, and then I will explain it to you, if you don"t understand you can also ask me.”

Zhen Zining places the alb.u.m on Qin Shuang"s table, and walks towards the next student. Qin Shuang immediately opens the first page of the book and reads carefully.

This part is only a dozen pages long. Qin Shuang read it and found that the integration of painting skills and spirit painting is actually very simple. In fact, it is necessary to make an outline before painting and then draw some spirit patterns on the drawing paper first. And then paint on top of these spirit patterns, the final picture will look real.

It"s just that these spirit patterns belong to one of the spirit pattern techniques, it is the illusion spirit pattern. And because this is with a spirit brush, rather than with a carving knife, so in some areas the use of the power of the soul is somewhat different. Qin Shuang carefully recalls her own painting of a paper-cutout man, there are really some differences. Originally she ignored this aspect, because she was using the power of her Sea of Knowledge, rather than the power of her soul, now reading the book she suddenly understands.

Qin Shuang quickly finishes reading these dozen pages, then closes her eyes and carefully recalls her understanding of it, and then she reads it again from the beginning, this time she reads very slowly. While reading slowly, carefully understanding, and at the same time, writing down what she does not understand, wait until Zhen Zining comes over to ask.

Zhen Zining does not look at Qin Shuang again, in her opinion, it is enough to learn these dozen pages of content today. Don"t a.s.sume that just because Qin Shuang has a foundation in painting skills, and is an eighth-level spirit pattern teacher, she will thoroughly understand those dozen pages. It"s impossible to understand it in just a few days. She knows that Qin Shuang has not been exposed to this kind of spirit pattern painting, however she doesn"t know that Qin Shuang has learned the paper cut-out method. The two methods are basically the same, except that one uses the power of the Sea of Knowledge, and one uses the power of the soul, the remaining methods are the same.

After reading it carefully for the second time, she closes her eyes, comparing the knowledge learned with her knowledge in daoism. She is surprised to find that the art of spirit patterns is strikingly similar to that of the dao.

Daoism is divided into spells and laws, and Qin Shuang now understands spells. It"s using the power of the Sea of Knowledge. And the law is the method of releasing magic power, through hand seals or by speaking incantations. So the law is intrinsic. And spells are achieved by thought.

This makes Qin Shuang think, what is intrinsic of martial artist?

Is it the spiritual force within the body, or the power of the soul?

The external purpose ought be martial skills. But is spiritual power and soul power really intrinsic?

Or…Can spiritual power and soul power be combined?

Qin Shuang is taken aback by her own thoughts, shaking her head, she leaves the question alone for now. She knows that with her current cultivation she can"t think about it, if she thinks about it, her mental state might deviate. So she puts her energy back into spirit pattern painting.

Opening the booklet again, from the beginning, it seems that there is a mutual reference with daoism. This time, she has a deeper understanding of spirit pattern painting, and some things that she did not understand just now are resolved. But there is still some confusion.

And at this time, Zhen Zining walks in front of Qin Shuang, asking softly:

“Have you finished it?”

“En!” Qin Shuang gently nods: “Reading it for the third time.”

Zhen Zining looks at Qin Shuang in surprise, she didn"t expect Qin Shuang to read so fast. But she doesn"t say anything, just nodding:

“Well, I"ll explain it to you now, you listen carefully.”

“Yes, Ms. Zhen!” She says respectfully.

Zhen Zining whispers to Qin Shuang about the first page. With Zhen Zining"s explanation, Qin Shuang has a deeper understanding of the spirit pattern paintings, and many things she did not understand are now understood one by one. When Zhen Zining finishes speaking, she asks softly:

“What do you not understand?”

In fact, Zhen Zining didn"t think that Qin Shuang would have a question after asking this sentence. She a.s.sumed, that Qin Shuang would need at least three days to digest the knowledge she had spoken about, and then she would find questions. However, she didn"t expect after speaking, she heard Qin Shuang whisper:

“Ms. Zhen, student doesn"t understand this part here…”

Zhen Zining looks at Qin Shuang in surprise. The question Qin Shuang asked is not a beginners question, but a question asked by students who have studied for at least a week. But she just gives her a strange look and explains to Qin Shuang in detail. After that, Qin Shuang asks questions one by one with some confusion. Until the last question is asked, Qin Shuang says respectfully:

“Thank you!”

Zhen Zining, however, waves her hand and asks, “Have you learned spirit pattern painting before?”

Zhen Zining sat in front of Qin Shuang for so long, it has already made other students feel surprised, because when they first took this cla.s.s, Zhen Zining had never spent so much time on them. So they can"t help paying attention to Qin Shuang.

“No!” Qin Shuang shakes her head gently.

Zhen Zining nods, not too concerned, but she still gives a sentence of praise to Qin Shuang:

“Your comprehension is great, and now you can try to read the second part.”

“Yes, thank you, Teacher Zhen!”

Zhen Zining nods and walks away, all the students in the cla.s.s unanimously agree, casually curling their lips, in their view, Qin Shuang must have learned spirit pattern painting before, the reason she did not confess to learning, is just to gain a favorable impression from Zhen Zining.

As everyone knows, its not far from the time of the Confucian Academy"s Grand Celebration, and Zhen Zining is one of the most popular teachers in the Painting Inst.i.tute. But Zhen Zining can"t be alone when performing, she needs an a.s.sistant. And that a.s.sistant will be chosen from among them. Presumably, Qin Shuang wants to compete for this opportunity to make a splash.

This makes the students in the cla.s.s even more disgusted toward Qin Shuang, everyone wants this opportunity. After glancing at Qin Shuang in disdain, they begin studying attentively.

Qin Shuang ignores them, now her energy is fully concentrated on the second part.