He's finished? Impossible! Only half an hour has passed. He must have messed up and is redrawing. But if that's the case, there won't be enough time.

The camera moved to Luo Yu's head, and on the big screen, Luo Yu was already one-third of the way through his calligraphy. The audience's eyes widened. He wasn't going to start over, but was actually writing his calligraphy entry. Could it be that he had already finished it?

Perhaps to leave a suspense, the picture on the big screen switched to the picture taken by another camera, which was the picture of the calligraphy area. Then the audience was dissatisfied. What's going on? They didn't want to see those people. What they wanted to know most was whether the boy had finished painting the entry!

If Luo Yu, painting traditional Chinese paintings, is an elegant and aloof young man, then when practicing calligraphy, he instantly transforms into a rebellious and free-spirited young man. The rapid change in temperament left the audience watching him in the audience stunned again and again. How can a person change so quickly?

However, these changes are invisible to those who are participating in the competition, just like the old man next to Luo Yu, who is concentrating on painting his own picture and is not affected by the outside world at all.

With one final, elegant stroke, Luo Yu glanced at the calligraphy on the table and nodded with satisfaction. He then put down his brush. His carefree and uninhibited demeanor vanished in an instant, returning to his normal self.

To avoid affecting other contestants, even if someone finished their entry early, they were not allowed to submit it early. When Luo Yu's eyes fell on the completed painting, the expression on his face softened. When the portrait was drawn, his own image was the first to come to his mind.

The competition time is up. The competition staff collected each participant's work and handed it to the judges. The qualifying round is different from the preliminary round. The preliminary round has a larger number of participants and the workload is heavier, so the list of qualified candidates will not be announced until the afternoon. Due to the large number of participants in the qualifying round, the results will be announced in half an hour. The participants will wait for the results.

As an internationally renowned calligrapher, Zhao Kunming is known for his meticulous approach. He has served as a judge for numerous calligraphy competitions, not only for his international fame but also for his rigor and fairness. Once, while judging a calligraphy competition, one of his new and beloved apprentices also entered the competition. However, instead of protecting his apprentice, Zhao Kunming ruthlessly eliminated her from the competition for a minor mistake, without hesitation. Since then, Zhao Kunming has earned a nickname in the calligraphy world: "The Iron-Faced King of Hell."

This time, the Chinese painting judge was Lin Dongliang, a figure no less prominent than Zhao Kunming. If Zhao Kunming was the ruling class of Chinese calligraphy, then this judge was the ruling class of Chinese painting. In China, one was the Vice President of the Chinese Calligraphy Association, and the other was the Vice President of the Chinese Painting Association. Lin Dongliang and Zhao Kunming were very similar in that they were both selfless, which is why such an important competition had both of them as judges.

Perhaps because their personalities are very similar, they have become close friends regardless of age. Now they are discussing the entries while looking through them.

"I didn't expect that there were three people participating in the competition on both sides today. Look at these notes, they look really familiar!" Zhao Kunming smiled as he looked at a work in his hand.

"Haha, that's right. We are all acquaintances. I can tell by the handwriting. However, it seems that he has improved a lot compared to before." Lin Dongliang also held a competition entry. The same person's name was marked in the lower right corner of the entries in the hands of both of them.

"I have made a lot of progress. Let's put it on hold and make a decision later." Zhao Kunming put the work in his hand aside and went to look at the next work. As a result, when he saw the next work, he was suddenly stunned.

"This... these words..." Zhao Kunming's eyes widened, as if he wanted to stare a hole in the paper.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Zhao Kunming's look of having seen a ghost, Lin Dongliang leaned over to try to figure out what kind of work could have so surprised his old friend. When he saw it, he was also stunned like Zhao Kunming.

This carefree and unrestrained cursive script is so familiar, yet upon closer inspection, it seems different. The characters are staggered, large and small, opening and closing, with distinct variations in line thickness and a rhythmic flow. The last line is tilted, almost to the point of toppling, but this tilt is not abrupt, but rather free, reflecting his unbridled and uninhibited nature, creating a unique style. Chen Rong's style is steep and rugged, his character shapes sometimes leaning and sometimes upright, sometimes heavy and sometimes light, evoking the beauty of "coming like thunder and ending in fury." His strokes are swift, his brushwork powerful, and his force heavy.

There is less of the familiar boldness and unruliness between the characters, but more of a calm and elegant feeling.

Zhao Kunming's hands began to tremble. He wanted to pick up the calligraphy work on the table, but he was afraid that he would accidentally break it because of his excitement, so he finally controlled himself and took his hands back.

Although Lin Dongliang is a great figure in the world of Chinese painting, he also has some research on calligraphy. He asked Zhao Kunming in a trembling voice: "Is there any meaning in this competition?" I believe that everyone who sees this calligraphy will be shocked.

Zhao Kunming let out a hint of self-mockery. "Yeah, after seeing this calligraphy and painting, I feel like my role as a judge isn't very meaningful anymore. Is there really any need for a competition?"

Fortunately, the microphones in front of the two judges were muted, otherwise, if their conversation were heard, it would shock countless people. However, even if they couldn't hear the conversation, the audience and contestants saw that the two judges looked so surprised that their jaws almost dropped, and they began to speculate. What kind of work could have so astonished the two judges?

"Luo Yu? Isn't that the boy?" Zhao Kunming had noticed Luo Yu during the preliminary rounds, after all, he had caused quite a stir. He had even chosen the boy's work from among the crowd to examine. While his handwriting was indeed good during the preliminary rounds, it wasn't this good! Clearly, there were two different levels of skill. But this piece of calligraphy was clearly marked as the boy's, and it was completed under the supervision of so many people, making cheating impossible. But how could someone's handwriting change so drastically in just one day? There was only one possibility: the boy had been hiding his flaws.

Thinking of this, Zhao Kunming anxiously shouted to Lin Dongliang: "Hurry up and take a look at the Chinese painting he drew."

"Oh." Lin Dongliang reacted immediately and pulled out the painting by Luo Yu from behind. After the two saw Luo Yu's painting, they were shocked by the emperor-like domineering and arrogant look of the person in the painting.

The bright yellow robe was embroidered with a pattern of a soaring dragon over the sea, with surging golden waves at the corners of the robe, black and shiny vertical hair, slanted and handsome sword-like eyebrows, slender and sharp black eyes, thin and lightly pursed lips, angular outlines, and a tall but not rough figure. He was like an eagle in the night, cold, lonely and yet domineering, and exuded a domineering aura that looked down on the world when he was alone.

The lifelike aura of dominance that was revealed seemed to have penetrated the painting and truly impacted the two people, making them forget to even breathe.

It took a long time for the two to come back to their senses and remember their current responsibilities. They looked at each other and smiled bitterly at the same time.

"It's true that the Yangtze River's waves behind push forward the waves ahead. Our Chinese quintessence has truly found a successor." After reading this, Lin Dongliang was at a loss for words. Not only was the calligraphy excellent, but the Chinese painting was also masterful. And this note, like the one before, carried that vague sense of familiarity. If it weren't so absurd, he would have thought the boy was the reincarnation of that person. No, I have to talk to him later. I have to try to get him admitted to the National Chinese Painting Association.

Zhao Kunming had the same idea as Lin Dongliang.

After the shock wore off, they both carefully set the boy's work aside and began to evaluate the others'. Perhaps it was because the boy's work was so shocking and outstanding, so when they looked at the other entries, they unconsciously became picky, magnifying even the slightest flaw.

"What the hell is this? The words are so weak that you can't even make them out. And this, it ruins such a good poem."

"It's the same with me. I've seen that old man before too. He's clearly a very kind old man, so why is he painted with such a sarcastic look? Can he draw?"

"This word is too meaningless..."

"This painting still lacks a little feeling..."

…

Finally, after the two masters had finished their selection, they concluded that only Luo Yu's calligraphy and painting were the most satisfactory. However, according to the competition rules, only one person had to be selected from the twenty candidates to enter the finals. Therefore, Zhao Kunming and Lin Dongliang had to choose nine people each, excluding Luo Yu, with complicated expressions.

After the list of qualifiers was announced, those who made it were overjoyed, while those who were eliminated were all in tears. Old Master Xie, like Luo Yu, had also made it to the finals, which made him extremely happy.

"Host, that's great! If you advance to the finals, you will easily win the championship in calligraphy and painting." The system felt that its host was so strong that it only took one night to upgrade both the intermediate calligraphy skills and the intermediate painting skills to the advanced level. Even the system itself was surprised!

"It's not enough..." Luo Yu looked at his published works, raised his eyebrows and said to the system: "It's still a long way off." Perhaps in the eyes of others, his calligraphy and painting have surpassed many modern masters, but Luo Yu himself knows that it is only on the surface. If you really compare his calligraphy and painting with that of the "Saint of Calligraphy and Painting", you will find that his calligraphy and painting are always a distance away in terms of artistic conception.

Sure enough, it is easy to upgrade each skill to a high level, but it is difficult to upgrade it to a perfect level.