Li Shuzhan once met a person from Mount Fan and invited him to his home. He was able to see into the future. The good luck and misfortune predicted by him was later validated one by one. He was also able to understand and use an astronomical calendar, do fortune telling and use his skills to avert misfortunes.
The person from Mount Fan lived in Li’s home for half a year. One day, he suddenly said to Li Shuzhan: “I am going to leave this place now. I have a kind of skill and would like to use it to leave to you as a farewell gift. The gift is water painting.” He then asked Li Shuzhan to have someone dig a hole in the ground at the rear hall of Li’s home.
The hole’s dimensions were about twelve feet long, twelve feet wide and more than one foot deep. The hole was then lined with hemp-fibred plaster, and completely filled with water every day. When the water level was stable and no long oozed out, the person from Mount Fan gathered the materials for painting. He gathered paint pigments, ink stick and prepared an ink-stone.
The painting was accomplished by the following process: After holding the brush and chewing on it for quite a while, the person from Mount Fan started. He dipped the brush with paint and then stirred the brush around in the water. The water became murky. Two days later, the person from Mount Fan immersed four pieces of pure white silk in the water. About half an hour later, the artist took out the four pieces of silk and lifted them over his head to observe. On the silk, there were ancient pines, unearthly rocks, characters, houses and trees as if they were real.
Li Shuzhan was so amazed and asked the person from Mount Fan over and over again how he was able to do that. The person from Mount Fan finally gave up and told him, “I can control the pigments of paint and not let them randomly sink and disperse.”
Reference: You Yang Za Zu
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