Zeng's studio in Beijing's Songzhuang Art Zone is adorned with paintings and the paraphernalia of a literati. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In one of the paintings, the woman sleeps on a sliver of a leaf floating on the water. The man sits on a plant above holding a rope tied to the leaf, preventing it from drifting away.

The two also go on an adventure, each carrying a sword that protects them from attacks by giant insects along the way.

In his latest book, Life Between Words (Zijian Fusheng), he merges language and landscape, using Chinese hieroglyph characters to form scenes from nature and everyday life.

Skimming through the paintings he posts on his social networking account, the comments generally express their amazement at his ingenious imagination and people's yearning to inhabit in the world he portrays.

However, Zeng says that the stories are not simply plucked out of thin air, but an accumulation of constant observation and reflection of natural objects.

A typical working day actually begins the night before, when he conceives the subjects of his next paintings, and calculates the amount of work required to finish them the next day. The next morning, he will immerse himself in completing the work, no matter how long it takes.

In 2015 alone, he completed over 1,000 paintings, a persistent endeavor to say the least.