All-rounder Artist
Chapter 1358 - 1133: Preparing for Shadow’s Solo Art Exhibition

Chapter 1358: Chapter 1133: Preparing for Shadow’s Solo Art Exhibition

Everyone says Shadow is a nobody.

Lin Yuan knows better.

Shadow’s current standing can hardly be considered "transparent."

Shadow is a painter with master-level skills, a rarity on Blue Star with fewer than five such individuals across the entire planet.

And let’s not forget Shadow’s almost mythical "Paintfection" ability.

Using this skill as the foundation, Shadow created seven Painting Soul series works, which are sought after by elite circles and impossible to acquire for most.

From this perspective—

Ranking twenty-first is far below Shadow’s actual abilities.

If we were to compare all the painters across the continents based on pure skill, even without using the Paintfection ability, Shadow would be ranked at least in the top five.

However, the rankings take many different factors into account.

What hurts Shadow the most is the lack of public influence.

The Painting Soul series is highly impressive, yet netizens across the continents are barely aware of its existence—it’s practically exclusive to the ultra-wealthy.

It makes sense, though.

After all, there are only seven works in the Painting Soul series.

Two of them are privately held and rarely shown.

The remaining five are displayed in the top-tier suites of the Yu Dynasty Hotel, where a single night costs half a million, and bookings are perpetually full.

Ordinary people can’t even dream of seeing these paintings.

Even wealthy individuals who don’t quite reach the top tiers have no chance.

It’s like walking in magnificent clothes in the dead of night—how could public influence possibly arise from that?

Rich people don’t bother promoting these works to the masses.

For example, would billionaires like Pony Ma or Jack Ma talk to you about such things?

Art enjoyment is private—a personal indulgence shared solely among like-minded, qualified friends.

And yet—

Public influence is precisely one of the key criteria for these rankings.

In other words—

Shadow’s traditional paintings are barely known.

But that’s also Lin Yuan’s own decision.

Back when the Painting Soul series was created to boost the Yu Dynasty Hotel’s prestige, it was always meant to take the most exclusive path, with no consideration given to public influence.

Now that Lin Yuan has accepted a System task—

Shadow needs to compete with Xian Yu and Chu Kuang.

Lin Yuan understands that he must adjust his strategy.

With the recent global consolidation of Blue Star, perhaps it’s time to participate in high-level Blue Star art exhibitions or to host a personal art exhibition.

Such steps would be the best way to establish Shadow’s public influence.

A personal art exhibition might be the starting point.

The impact of one or two works alone wouldn’t be enough—it would require a large-scale, high-level solo exhibition.

However—

The creation of Painting Soul pieces must still be approached with extreme caution.

The principle of rarity equals value never goes out of date.

The fewer there are, the higher their worth, to the point of being beyond Lin Yuan’s control.

If Lin Yuan were to mass-produce the Painting Soul series, the works would no doubt attract countless wealthy collectors, but their caliber would inevitably decline.

Lin Yuan has no intention of draining the pond to catch the fish.

The good thing is, master-level painting skills are more than enough to support Lin Yuan in hosting exhibitions of any scale.

All it takes is one or two Painting Soul works at the exhibition to elevate it.

Display too many, and they lose their impact.

Anyhow, Lin Yuan tends to paint in his free time.

His study is filled with the masterful works Shadow has accumulated over the years, including those from the Painting Soul series.

These pieces are more than enough to sustain an exhibition.

Once the exhibition joins forces with animation and comic efforts, surpassing Chu Kuang in rankings shouldn’t be too difficult.

After all, Chu Kuang needs time to write books.

Meanwhile, many of Shadow’s works are already prepared.

With that thought—

Lin Yuan picked up the phone to call Sun Yaohuo.

Three seconds?

Sun Yaohuo’s speed in answering calls is always a step quicker than anyone else’s.

This never fails to amaze Lin Yuan. He strongly suspects his senior spends all day glued to his phone.

"Hey, junior!"

"I have a friend looking to host a personal art exhibition."

"By ’friend,’ are you talking about Teacher Shadow?"

"Yes."

"It’s about rankings, isn’t it?"

Sun Yaohuo immediately grasped Lin Yuan’s intention. His previously enthusiastic tone turned solemn, and he suddenly became indignant:

"I’ve been saying Teacher Shadow’s ranking is way too low. The level of the Painting Soul series deserves to be first on the painters’ list, but who knows what those people at the Literature and Art Association are thinking?"

"There’s a bit of a public influence gap."

Lin Yuan could understand why the Literature and Art Association structured the rankings that way.

The lists were clearly designed to drive intense competition across all fields.

Lin Yuan had good reason to suspect that the higher-ups were hoping he’d use something like an exhibition to boost Shadow’s influence in the painting world and outshine competitors entirely.

"Don’t worry about it!"

Sun Yaohuo patted his chest:

"Leave the personal exhibition to me—I’ll make sure it’s a spectacular event! Rank twenty-one is an insult; I’ll let the entire world witness Teacher Shadow’s genius!"

"The entire world?"

"Of course, the entire world! If we’re doing an exhibition, we should tour all eight continents. Ideally, we’d start in Zhong Continent. Whether we admit it or not, Zhong Continent is the global hub and focal point. Hosting the first exhibition there guarantees maximum impact and sets the stage for the most effective tours across other continents. Most of the world’s top wealthy elites gather here or have industries here, so rallying them to attend will be easier."

Truthfully—

Ever since seeing Shadow’s ranking, Sun Yaohuo had been unable to suppress his frustration. He knew all too well the power behind the Painting Soul series!

Not to mention—

Just look at how the Yu Dynasty Hotel’s elite suites are booked solid through the end of the year!

For this reason, Sun Yaohuo even terminated all previous bookings.

Once those reservations ended, the Yu Dynasty Hotel would stop accepting new ones. Guests trying to book the suites would have to secure their reservation on the day itself.

No shortage of customers was expected.

Which modern painter on Blue Star could achieve this level of attraction?

"Alright."

Lin Yuan approved. His senior had thought things through more thoroughly than he had; the idea of a global tour was indeed the best way to maximize influence.

At that moment—

Sun Yaohuo added:

"By the way, I was thinking about discussing something with you. Aren’t all five Painting Soul works currently placed in Qin Continent? Might we be concentrating them too much?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"I haven’t been idle these past two years. I’ve invested in hotels across Zhong Continent, Qi Continent, Chu Continent, and Yan Continent. Should we consider distributing the five paintings to these hotels instead? Same as before—equity shares distributed among us. You take forty percent this time; I’ll take thirty percent. After all, the backbone of our hotel chain remains Shadow’s Painting Soul series."

"A chain?"

Lin Yuan was a bit surprised to hear this. His senior’s commercial ventures seemed to expand every couple of years.

"Something like that."

Sun Yaohuo chuckled somewhat sheepishly:

"I don’t understand much about business planning; the idea’s pretty straightforward. With eight continents on Blue Star, why not aim for one Yu Dynasty Hotel in each continent? Eight continents mean eight hotels—no more, no less. This way, if anyone from the Yu Dynasty needs to travel to another continent for work, they’ll always have a place to stay. We’ll also make some money to maintain operations, rather than relying on others for accommodations."

Building hotels?

Convenient resting places?

Such a simple and unpretentious idea.

Lin Yuan had no objections and even said, "You should still keep forty percent; I haven’t put up any money. But I don’t want you to take a loss. When there’s an opportunity later, we can release three more Painting Soul works—that way, all eight hotels can have one on display."

The Yu Dynasty Hotels were Sun Yaohuo’s enterprise.

However, Sun Yaohuo himself only owned forty percent of the shares.

Lin Yuan hadn’t invested any money, yet by contributing the Painting Soul series, he held thirty percent of the shares. This made him feel a bit guilty, so there was no way he’d claim more than his senior.

The remaining thirty percent had already been divided among other members of the Yu Dynasty.

This made the hotels a collective project of the Yu Dynasty. While Lin Yuan intended to maintain strict control over the quantity of Painting Soul works, he also had to ensure that each hotel could sustain its appeal to wealthy clients.

That said, the timeline had to be pushed back.

The release cycle for Painting Soul works had to be stretched as much as possible.

"Great!"

With Lin Yuan’s approval, Sun Yaohuo gladly remarked:

"Then I’ll start preparing for the exhibition. For a rough schedule—junior..."

Sun Yaohuo paused before saying, "I mean, what does Teacher Shadow think? Since the preliminary preparations may take some time, like figuring out the venue, Teacher Shadow’s first exhibition needs to be held in the most prestigious location to reflect its significance."

Lin Yuan’s heart skipped a beat.

Every time Sun Yaohuo mentioned Shadow, Lin Yuan couldn’t shake the feeling that his senior was indirectly speaking about him.

Has he figured it out?

Whatever.

Even if Sun Yaohuo had realized the truth, he wasn’t the type to reveal it publicly. A tacit understanding between them would suffice.

Not dwelling on this further—

Lin Yuan thought for a moment before saying, "Let’s aim for sometime between September and December."

"Before the end of the year? That’ll give me plenty of time to prepare."

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