During the reign of Emperor Tiansheng of Great Zhou, the imperial court gradually falls into disarray, and those born to humble families have little chance of success. Xiao Yansheng enters the world of a book and becomes the Xiao family’s castoff. Frail and obscure, he is skilled at painting, but dismissed as “useless.” His clan looks down on him, the imperial exams are riddled with corruption, refugees fill the northern frontier, and the people suffer.
By chance, he gains a golden finger: with a brush and paper, he can acquire the skills of the ancients. Paint a woodcutter and gain carpentry skills; paint a fierce tiger and gain swordsmanship. He turns ink into martial arts, his fists shaking mountains and rivers.
Others train for ten years and still cannot match the insights he gains from a single painting. Beneath his copyist’s desk, he hides mechanisms; in his disaster-relief paintings, he finds brilliant ways to govern. While candidates from humble families are trapped in their books, he has already forged a path through painting, excelling in both civil and martial arts.
From then on, he defies fate, exposes corruption in the imperial exams, revitalizes farming and waterworks, and saves countless people from suffering. In the end, he earns the rank of Presented Scholar, takes his place at the imperial court, lays the foundations of a lasting legacy, and paints a peaceful, prosperous age into being.
