"Master..."
At this moment, a young girl in a blue and cyan Taoist robe ran over. She bowed to the woman who was squatting by the dirt wall, gazing intently at a small blade of grass in a crack of the wall. Her crisp voice, like cheerful mountain birds, called out, "Master, what are you doing squatting there?"
The woman, still lost in thought, did not reply, apparently having not heard her disciple's voice.
The young girl's eyes darted around. Seeing this, she went forward and bent down behind her master. Only then did she discover that her master was mesmerized by the small grass in the wall's crack. She immediately giggled, "Master, it's just a blade of grass, why not pull it out..."
As she spoke, the lass reached out to pull out the grass from the wall's crack. Instantly, she was stopped by the woman's slender jade-like hand. Coming back to her senses, she shook her head slightly and said in a soft, melodious voice, "It has a reason to exist!"
The young girl's rosy cheeks, chilled by the words, froze. Her bright eyes looked at her and she said, "Master, are you being weird again?"
The woman slowly stood up and turned around. Only then was her appearance fully revealed: tall, though somewhat slender. Her skin was not very fair. Her exquisitely sculpted features were refined and stunningly beautiful. She wore no makeup, her skin smooth and dewy. A pair of phoenix eyes conveyed a pure aura, with a hint of natural absentmindedness. She looked to be only in her twenties or thirties. Her voice was soft and melodious as she asked, "You came up the mountain today, what is it you need from me?"
"Master, didn't you tell me not to go down the mountain and participate in the calligraphy competition?"
This young girl, who looked no older than seventeen or eighteen, was named Lan Xin. She was a disciple of the Wudang Sect's inner disciples. Her master was Kong Yijin, the seventh-ranked female disciple under Zhong Yulong, the Sect Leader of Wudang. Her Taoist name was Ziqing.
"En, you went down the mountain?"
Ziqing turned her head slightly, her phoenix eyes glancing at her disciple Lan Xin. She immediately shook her head and waved her hands, "No, no, Master, you forbade me to go down the mountain, how dare I go down on my own accord."
Ziqing nodded slightly, then went to the vegetable garden and slowly squatted down. Unfazed by the cold, she brushed the accumulated snow off the leaves of the vegetables. With her hands, she pulled out the frozen vegetables from the soil and then tapped them, shaking off the dirt from the roots. It seemed these vegetables were destined for their dinner tonight...
"But Master, something strange happened at the Lanting Award calligraphy competition today!"
As Lan Xin spoke, she took out her phone and squatted down, opening a video. It was from the Lanting Award calligraphy competition that afternoon, showing Wan Yunting writing that piece. It had startled the cameraman, Huangfu Hongfang, the judges Shen He and Liu Shuhai, and Yuan Deyou, who was almost scared to death. "Master, look, this person wrote a piece of calligraphy that startled everyone and almost scared this old man to death."
Ziqing, who was pulling up green vegetables, also glanced at the video playing on the phone. Lan Xin continued, "Now there are rumors online that this person used evil arts in the calligraphy, making people feel terrified just by looking at it. Others say those people did it intentionally for publicity. I was curious, so I brought it to you, Master, to see if it's real?"
Ziqing's phoenix eyes watched the edited video of Wan Yunting drinking and writing. It seemed she could feel the powerful vital energy he employed as he wrote. His brush transformed into a sword, releasing a potent sword intent, causing Ziqing's vegetable-pulling action to pause. She murmured, "Sword intent!"
"Sword intent?"
Lan Xin's eyes widened in excitement. "Master, has someone really incorporated sword intent into calligraphy, just like that 'Sword' character on our back mountain's Sword Cliff?"
On the inner mountain of the Wudang Sect, there was a place called Sword Cliff. On a stone wall, a colossal 'Sword' character had been inscribed with a sword!
This 'Sword' contained the lifetime of sword intent learned by the Wudang ancestor at that time. Therefore, all Wudang inner disciples who practiced swordsmanship would go to Sword Cliff to observe the 'Sword' character, hoping to comprehend the sword intent left behind by the ancestor, who was known as the Sword Immortal of Wudang!
Ziqing cultivated the sword. She had even comprehended the sword intent left by the Sword Immortal ancestor when she observed the 'Sword' character on Sword Cliff. Although she had not fully grasped it, Ziqing had understood the true essence of sword intent. Thus, her swordsmanship was known as the best among Wudang disciples!
"Using internal energy to transform ink, the brush becomes a sword, capable of writing with sword intent, transcending the mundane!"
Looking at the piece written by the person in the video, Ziqing's calm and placid heart felt as if a stone had been dropped into it, creating ripples. She immediately put down the green vegetables and stood up. Her usually absentminded phoenix eyes instantly flashed with sharp sword light. She slowly said, "I should go down the mountain!"
Meanwhile, on the second floor of the Dongchang Art Museum in Shaoxing City, in a spacious conference hall, one hundred calligraphy works were neatly laid out on the floor. After an entire afternoon of deliberation by forty-eight judges, and after considering the voting results from netizens across the country on the official website, the top ten works among the top one hundred were selected!
These included the works of ten contestants: Wan Yunting (Wild Cursive Calligraphy), Gu Luotang (Regular Script Calligraphy), Huangfu Hongfang (Wild Cursive Calligraphy), Ning Yuqing (Running Script Calligraphy), Huang Yaodong (Clerical Script Calligraphy), Zhang Yuan (Seal Script Calligraphy), Zhuo Herui (Regular Script Calligraphy), Tong Wenbin (Running Script Calligraphy), Zhang Yongwang (Clerical Script Calligraphy), and Chen Zilou (Cursive Script Calligraphy).
After an afternoon of voting on the official website, Huangfu Hongfang had the highest number of votes for first place, with over 128,000 votes!
The second place was Ning Yuqing, with over 105,000 votes!
Third place was Wan Yunting, with only 77,000-plus votes!
Then came Gu Luotang in fourth place, with over 71,000 votes!
Finally, Huang Yaodong and the others had votes ranging from around 54,000, significantly lower than Huangfu Hongfang's over 120,000 votes for first place. Even Wan Yunting was more than 50,000 votes behind him!
"Damn, could these votes be fabricated?"
At this moment, Wan Yunting, Gu Luotang, and Qi Miaomiao were having dinner at a small restaurant. Huang Yaodong, Zhao Yushi, Lin Yushu, and Hou Xuesong were also there. They were browsing their phones, looking at the voting rankings on the official competition website. Seeing the incredibly high number of votes for Huangfu Hongfang and Ning Yuqing, with a difference of over 50,000 votes from the third-place Wan Yunting, it was clearly a case of vote manipulation and fraud.
"With this kind of official website voting, fabricating votes is simply too easy," Lin Yushu said, shaking his head, holding his folding fan.
He seemed disappointed with this year's Lanting Award calligraphy competition.
Wan Yunting, on the other hand, was sipping his yellow wine from his cup, a smile on his lips. He seemed indifferent to these matters...
In the conference room on the second floor of the art museum.
"I believe Huangfu Hongfang's wild cursive work is superior!"
"Yes, I think so too. Look at his work; whether it's the brushwork or technique, it would take at least ten years of practice to write such good characters. Therefore, I also believe Huangfu Hongfang should be ranked first!"
"Exactly..."
The forty-seven judges were viewing the ten calligraphy works, selected from the top one hundred and ranked within the top ten, which were hung on the wall. They were pointing at Huangfu Hongfang's wild cursive calligraphy work and commenting, believing his work deserved first place. Most of the judges present nodded in agreement.
"Furthermore, our online netizen votes also show Huangfu Hongfang leading by a wide margin. It indicates that everyone greatly recognizes his work," another middle-aged judge said, turning to Shen He, the Chairman of the Art Association, and Liu Shuhai, the Vice Chairman.
"I just checked. His votes have already reached 150,000, far surpassing the third-place Wan Yunting's over 70,000 votes," one judge said, looking at his phone at the voting ranking for Huangfu Hongfang on the official website.
For a moment, everyone also agreed that the ranking of the top ten works should be determined according to the voting order on the official website. After all, these were votes cast by netizens, and it would not cause controversy.
Hearing their conclusion, Fang Guowen and Hu Tianchi frowned. They exchanged glances. Fang Guowen pointed at Wan Yunting's work and said, "Esteemed colleagues, I still believe Wan Yunting's wild cursive work truly embodies the essence of calligraphy. It is wild yet restrained, demonstrating his superb skill. It is obvious to the eye that his work is superior to Huangfu Hongfang's!"
"Oh."
This statement displeased the other judges who supported Huangfu Hongfang. Chen Yun, a middle-aged judge, turned to Fang Guowen and said, "President Fang, are you implying that we are all blind?"
"I recall this Wan Yunting was recommended to participate in the competition by President Fang himself!" another judge said, glancing at Fang Guowen with a cold smile.
"I also heard that President Fang's daughter is his girlfriend. President Fang, are you perhaps biased in your support for this Wan Yunting?" Chen Yun sneered.
"Heh heh..."
Immediately, the judges who supported Huangfu Hongfang exchanged glances and chuckled.
Fang Guowen's eyes widened. He turned to Shen He and Liu Shuhai and quickly explained, "Chairman Shen, I have no personal bias. I am merely expressing my personal opinion that Wan Yunting's work is superior to Huangfu Hongfang's. I do not care what others think."
"Then I say Huangfu Hongfang's work is better than his," Chen Yun retorted with a cold snort.
"Exactly..."
Others chimed in, looking at Fang Guowen and Hu Tianchi with cold eyes...
"Alright, stop arguing!"
Liu Shuhai had no choice but to raise his hand to stop them. He glanced at the expressionless Shen He and said to everyone, "There's no use arguing about this. Let's wait for Mr. Yuan to return before making a final decision."
Chen Yun and the others nodded. However, they had already made up their minds, as Huangfu Hongfang was indeed Yuan Deyou's closed-door disciple.