Chapter 352

"We haven’t even competed yet!"

The Second Senior Brother glared at Yin Tian, grinding his teeth.

"Your eldest senior brother has already lost, do you really think there’s any need for us to continue the competition?"

Yin Tian waved his hand dismissively, "As a person, one must learn to take defeat gracefully."

"Utter nonsense!"

Second Senior Brother, still gritting his teeth, glared at Yin Tian, "My senior brother excels in the art of the guqin while my specialty is calligraphy. You and I have never faced off; how can you be so sure that I will certainly lose?"

"Honestly, you might as well save it, there’s no need for all four of you to get a lesson from me just to see the reality of things."

Yin Tian glanced at Second Senior Brother, "Why do you think your senior brother wanted to compete with me before you? Wasn’t it to spare you some dignity? By acting this way, you’re really letting down your senior brother’s kind intentions."

"I don’t care!"

Second Senior Brother spoke without hesitation, "You think you’re worthy of an apology from me?"

"Second brother, stop talking."

The eldest senior brother frowned deeply, attempting to intervene.

However, Second Senior Brother, looking as unperturbed as a pig facing scalding water, stared at Yin Tian and challenged, "Just say it, do you dare or not? If I win, you’ll have to kowtow and apologize to my senior brother. If you win, I will give up calligraphy and never write again!"

"Are you really sure about this?"

Yin Tian raised an eyebrow, "Giving up calligraphy is not necessary. How about this, if you lose, you must first kowtow and apologize to your senior brother, then apologize to me. Is that acceptable?"

"Fine! It’s a deal!"

Second Senior Brother agreed without any hesitation.

Yin Tian shook his head helplessly.

The approach of the eldest senior brother was the correct one.

If he lost, he would still apologize, but at least he saved face for the Second among The Four Sages and prevented all of their reputations from being tarnished.

If he won, then naturally there was no need to say anymore.

The trouble was that Second Senior Brother was not the brightest, completely unaware of the eldest senior brother’s earnest intentions, he stepped forward, eager to contend with Yin Tian.

"Just you wait."

As he spoke, Second Senior Brother quickly tossed something outside.

Soon enough, he came back holding a brush and paper.

"I might not match you in other areas, but when it comes to calligraphy, you’re no match."

As Second Senior Brother spoke, he spread out the paper, then dipped the brush in ink. Without waiting for Yin Tian to speak, he began writing on the paper.

Second Senior Brother wrote swiftly, producing authentic regular script.

In ancient times, many calligraphers were fond of regular script, a style that evolved gradually from clerical script, moving towards simplification and erect straight lines.

The calligraphy Second Senior Brother was writing turned out to be one of the ’Zhao scripts’ from Zhao Mengfu, one of the four great masters of the regular script.

"Slave of minor status, child still reeking of mother’s milk..."

Wu Xiaosi peered closer to Second Senior Brother, craning to see, and then read out the words from the paper, "Learning to hold the brush in the morning, by evening already boasting of his ability, the shallow customs are detestable! Detestable..."

"Why is this guy insulting people?"

Su Qinwei frowned and asked.

"Those aren’t his own words."

Yin Tian chuckled lightly, explaining to Su Qinwei, "That is from Zhao Mengfu’s ’Orchid Pavilion Thirteen Postscripts’, the eleventh postscript."

"He’s deliberately mocking me, implying that I don’t understand calligraphy, and that my level is low, my insights shallow, and yet I boast and am quite conceited."

Seeing Yin Tian precisely articulate the meaning of what he had written, Second Senior Brother also huffed coldly, finally finishing the last few characters.

"Excellent writing!"

Sun Wuya exclaimed in admiration.

Even after Second Senior Brother finished writing and put down the brush, his face revealed an expression of smug satisfaction.

His calligraphy wasn’t actually that good, but right now, fueled by raging anger, he could only express it through his writing. Coupled with the fact that this particular piece of writing matched well, he managed to outdo himself and produce such excellent work.

Second Senior Brother put down the brush, looking triumphantly at Yin Tian, "Your turn!"

"You really want me to go?"

Yin Tian looked at Second Senior Brother with a strange expression.

"Of course."

Second Senior Brother, confident that Yin Tian could never surpass him, spoke with pride.

Yin Tian nodded, stepped forward, picked up Second Senior Brother’s brush, walked over to another piece of paper, and began to write.

Yin Tian wrote quickly, and since there were only four characters, the crowd all craned their necks to look.

"Go...to...your...mom..."

Jiang Qingge slowly read out the characters written by Yin Tian, her face flushing as she spoke, "Yin Tian, why are you cursing?"

The eldest senior brother glanced at Jiang Qingge, "What this brother has written are not the four words you just uttered, but ’Spring Pond Graceful Rhythm’. Moreover, these four characters are actually borrowed from the handwriting of four famous cursive script masters."

"It just appears to be those four words, but they’re actually other characters."

"Second brother, you’ve lost."

The eldest senior brother also possessed considerable discernment and saw at a glance that Yin Tian’s calligraphy was far superior to that of Second Senior Brother.

Second Senior Brother’s face turned ashen, unable to believe that his best work, the culmination of his dedication to calligraphy, had still been bested by Yin Tian!

Yin Tian, meanwhile, grinned, "I’m glad to hear you admit that my calligraphy has won; after all, you’re fairly just."

"However, I need to correct one thing: what I wrote was not ’Spring Pond Graceful Rhythm’."

"I wrote exactly ’go to hell’."