Chapter 846 - What Benefits?

“Me? Lying? Hoho,” Wu Hai was like a child. The moment he heard people questioning him, he started unleashing his temper. His “hoho” was completely laced with contempt.

“Explain then. Why are they clouds?” questioned the customer when he saw Wu Hai falling for reverse psychology.

One could not blame the customers for doubting Wu Hai. After all, Yuan Zhou was using his kitchen knife to sculpt curved lines again and again, and they did not look like clouds at all.

At times, Yuan Zhou would finish a curved line in one go, and at times, he would pause in between.

If one claimed that he was sculpting a continuous mountain range, it would be more believable. Since when had clouds existed in lines?

“Isn’t that easy?” Wu Hai said, seemingly trying to ask if the customers were blind.

“Look at that line, the way it shifts, isn’t it similar to the tiny clumps of clouds during spring? The curve in the middle part of it is smoother, looking like the thick curtain of clouds during winter, and the thin lines hiding amidst the thick lines, aren’t those the commonly seen layers upon layers of clouds?” Wu Hai pointed at the lines Yuan Zhou was sculpting and said.

“My personal favorite is the second ice block. The lines seemed to resemble something yet do not resemble something at the same time, like both a dog and a cat, but unfortunately, the artistic conception is somewhat lacking from this piece as it feels like he tried too hard,” Wu Hai continued.

When everyone gazed at the ice blocks while listening to Wu Hai, they reached the same conclusion.

Perhaps what they saw was completely different than what Wu Hai saw? What in the world was this? Dog? Cat? If a dog or a cat was reduced into a line, how was it still a dog or a cat?

“You are bluffing. It’s just a line. How is it as graceful as a cloud?” questioned a customer.

“Shameless Wu is now a liar as well?”

Ling Hong would never give up on a chance to berate Wu Hai, “You trust him? How naive.”

“All of you are too lacking in terms of art,” Wu Hai said with contempt.

“It will look like a cloud if you imagine it,” Wu Hai said righteously. “Painting and sculpting are the same where one’s imagination is extremely important. I remember you come from an art school, right? Without an ounce of imagination within you, what are you doing attending art school?”

That’s right, Wu Hai was talking about that customer who had learned painting before. He immediately felt lacking in confidence when he heard Wu Hai’s words.

“Oh, now that you mentioned it, they do look like clouds. Look, for example, this particular line is disordered and in a mess, looking like the clouds hovering freely up in the sky.”

“Yes, that seems about right. If this is a mountain, it would have some sort of consistency to it. But if they are clouds, then it makes sense to be such a mess. They are even giving off the feeling of clouds,” said a different customer who had learned painting before as well.

And with more and more people agreeing to this, the other customers started agreeing as well. More importantly, Wu Hai was definitely an authority in terms of painting. And it was the habit of humans everywhere to trust in a person of authority.

“Shameless Wu is indeed worthy of being a painter. His skills are proven,” the customers started praising Wu Hai.

“That is only natural,” Wu Hai accepted the praise.

It did not matter that Wu Hai was feeling rather smug there. To the side, Yuan Zhou had just finished sculpting on an ice block. This practice session had still failed to satisfy him as well. he seemed distressed as if he kept failing, he would not be able to use this trump card during the competition.

The customers that were still doubting Wu Hai started asking Yuan Zhou the moment they saw him stopping.

“Boss Yuan, are you sculpting clouds, clouds that looked like cat and dog?” asked a customer.

“You can actually see that I’m sculpting clouds?” Yuan Zhou looked at his knife doubtfully before looking at the ice block before him.

On the completely square ice block, numerous lines were sculpted. Some were thin and some were thick. Some were curved while some were straight. At a single glance, it looked like a kid scrawling. But when one studied it in detail, one would be able to see that it seemed to follow a certain rule, emitting a sense of beauty in a disorderly fashion.

“They can even see that? They are surprisingly good,” Yuan Zhou muttered.

This ice block and the ice blocks yesterday had indeed been used to sculpt clouds. This was the trump card Yuan Zhou had prepared against Yang Shuxin.

Yuan Zhou’s trump card was the cloud dragon. If the Nine Dragon Sculpture was some sort of symbol for ice sculptors, the Nine Cloud Dragon Lines was a sculpture of legendary status.

In this sculpture, the clouds were extremely important. In fact, the clouds would decide if the sculpture was a failure or a success.

If Yang Shuxin found out what Yuan Zhou was trying to do, he would probably be extremely shocked. At present age, most ice sculptors were only able to reach the level of sculpting soaring dragon or ascending dragon.

Cloud dragon was a mixture of those two, seemingly soaring yet ascending at the same time. Of course, there were still people sculpting clouds and dragons nowadays, but those were merely dragons on clouds, instead of the cloud dragon that was a combination of two.

In the Book of Changes, it was mentioned that the cloud was akin to a dragon, while the wind was akin to a tiger. From this, one could see the subtle connection between a cloud and a dragon.

And to achieve the feeling of clouds, these lines were crucial. This was also why Yuan Zhou had been sculpting the lines non stop.

Unfortunately, Yuan Zhou was extremely dissatisfied with these lines. As far as he was concerned, these lines were too try-hard, and was not as natural and graceful as the clouds in the sky.

“How did you find out?” Yuan Zhou asked.

“They are really clouds?” The man looked at Wu Hai before looking at Yuan Zhou again, “So the cloud that looks both like a cat and a dog really exists?”

Yuan Zhou did not answer, but the look in his eyes was sufficient to convey the answer.

In stupefaction, the man answered, “Shameless Wu was the one who told me. He saw through it with a single glance.”

“Recognizing clouds are way too simple. After all, I am a painter,” Wu Hai interrupted smugly.

“Painting? Yes! Painting!” Yuan Zhou seemed to have figured something out. In terms of natural arts, Wu Hai had a deep understanding. It would be a waste for him to not make use of Wu Hai.

Yuan Zhou started putting his stuff away, clearly not intending to continue.

“Huh? Is it time to prepare lunch?” The customers were paying attention to everything Yuan Zhou was doing.

“I doubt so? It’s only ten in the morning,” said someone after looking at his watch.

“Yeah, I haven’t even filmed anything yet today,” said the mischievous child resentfully. If this continued, he would not have sufficient funds to conquer the “homework-for-hire” market of the grade two students.

“I don’t know. But I suppose he is done sculpting for the day and will continue tomorrow,” said a customer who was leaving.

“I have never seen people sculpting clouds like this. I wonder if I can see a complete cloud tomorrow,” said the customer who questioned Wu Hai earlier.

Some customers prepared to leave, while some continued waiting, scared that Yuan Zhou would continue sculpting again. The child was among those staying.

However, Yuan Zhou moved quickly and in a short while, the area was emptied. And thus, everyone left.

The spectators left, but Wu Hai stayed. Lazily, he stood there, perhaps still reveling in the feeling of having been praised earlier.

After all, this was the first time Wu Hai had been praised for his intelligence. This was very rare.