The Path of the Sage

The people of Qing Nation and Tong Li have left, but the celebration banquet at Jinghai Tower continues.

After accumulating seventeen years of grievances, everyone can no longer control their emotions.

The people inside Jinghai Tower are drunk, and half of the people in Yuhai City are also drunk.

Fang Yun can no longer distinguish whether this is a celebration banquet or a drinking feast. He is constantly being toasted and drinking. If it weren't for his talent, he would have already fallen under the table.

When the celebration banquet is about to end, Prefect Dong presents the rewards for this dragon boat literary event: two Presented Scholar Treasures, a Dragon Blood Ink Ingot, and a Mountain and River Chessboard.

The two treasures are the Canglang Pen, which transforms talent into war poetry "Canglang Journey" and forms a big wave, and the Mountain and River Inkstone, which carries the power of "Mountain and River Ode" and can transform into the power of mountains and rivers to protect oneself.

The Mountain and River Chessboard is more precious than the other three items combined.

There were a total of six participants in the dragon boat race, and Fang Yun made the greatest contribution. He chose the Mountain and River Chessboard without hesitation.

However, the other five people refused to take the other three items no matter what. They said that Fang Yun had washed away the shame of the entire city, and if they took the rewards, they would not only be criticized by the entire city, but also be splashed with ink and smashed with inkstones by those old scholars before they even left Jinghai Tower.

Fang Yun was not blinded by greed and insisted that he couldn't win the competition alone, and that the other five people had also contributed, so he couldn't take all the rewards for himself.

After some back and forth, the six of them had to ask Prefect Dong to make a judgment. Prefect Dong decided to distribute the rewards according to their contributions, giving the Mountain and River Chessboard and the Dragon Blood Ink Ingot to Fang Yun, and letting Fang Yun choose one item from the Canglang Pen and the Mountain and River Inkstone, and the remaining item would be shared by the other five people.

Fang Yun had no choice but to accept this distribution method that was favorable to him and chose the Mountain and River Inkstone with strong protective abilities. He ended up with three rewards.

Prefect Dong instructed Fang Yun to keep the Mountain and River Chessboard well. Although the chessboard did not carry any war poetry, it was still considered a raw material and could be exchanged for an Imperial Scholar Treasure. After all, only a few items were produced in the entire Holy Origin Continent in a year. It was a top-quality chessboard in the eyes of Go masters.

After the celebration banquet, Fang Yun returned home with a full load. This dragon boat literary event not only obtained treasures that could not be bought with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but also established a solid foundation of literary fame in Yuhai City.

When he returned home, the gatekeeper handed him many visiting cards and invitations, as well as the holy pages sent by Tong Li. Combined with the holy pages rewarded by the Holy Academy before, he now had seven holy pages in his hand. Fang Yun believed that Li Wenying's personal holy pages were not as many, and even if he had any, most of them had been used up.

By June, the rewards for "The Path of the Saints" in May would be issued, and another eight holy pages would be added at that time.

After experiencing the benefits of carrying holy pages with him last time, Fang Yun decided to carry two holy pages with him in the future to prevent unexpected situations.

On the night of the Dragon Boat Festival, Feng Zimo, the Lord of Jinghai Prefecture, came to Li Wenying's study in Yuhai Prefecture, accompanied by his servants.

Explore the extended edition on pawread dot com.

"I pay my respects to Lord Li." Feng Zimo bowed respectfully.

"Zimo, what brings you here in person?" Li Wenying asked kindly.

"Reporting to Lord, Shi Dehong, a disciple of the Poet, is acting out of personal desires. He intends to use the power of the Hsun Tzu Family to influence the Holy Academy's inspection of the imperial examination in Yuhai. He wants to obstruct Fang Yun's competition for the Presented Scholar title, disturb his mind, and hinder his journey to the Book Mountain. Shi Dehong is a disciple of the Poet and is also connected to the Semi-Saint Family. I am unable to handle this matter and have come to seek Lord's judgment."

"Bold!" Li Wenying shouted in a low voice, and the sound echoed throughout the room. There were no mosquitoes or flies where Li Wenying lived, but the neighboring houses did. Now, with his low shout, all the pests within half a mile were frightened and fled in panic.

The people nearby looked at the insects scattered in the sky and migrating on the ground, marveling at what had happened.

"You tell me the details of the matter." Li Wenying said.

"Yes!"

Feng Zimo explained the whole story in detail. After he finished, he secretly looked at Li Wenying, guessing that he would be furious as before, and might even go to Yuhai Prefecture.

Although Shi Dehong was a disciple of the current generation's Poet, and the talent of the current generation's Poet was stronger than Li Wenying's, Li Wenying was the first person to become a Grand Academician besides the Four Great Scholars in the previous generation. He was capable of killing the current generation's Poet and was not afraid of killing a mere disciple of the Poet.

However, to his surprise, Li Wenying not only did not get angry, but instead sneered and said, "What a fool. You can go back now. I have a good relationship with the Mencius Family, and I will handle this matter."

Feng Zimo didn't know what means Li Wenying would use, but seeing his confidence, he felt relieved and said, "If the Holy Academy's inspection participates in the marking of the imperial examination, how should we act?"

"Just don't lose the dignity of the people of Jing Nation. If he dares to make things difficult for Fang Yun, the moment he leaves the marking room will be his burial day!" Li Wenying said.

Feng Zimo secretly admired Li Wenying, the renowned poet and swordsman, who could slay any demon and kill any person.

"I will take my leave."

Feng Zimo walked out of Li Wenying's residence and looked up at the brightest star in the sky, the God of Literature.

"If there are any flaws in Fang Yun's performance in the imperial examination, causing him to fail to become a Presented Scholar, I will kill Shi Dehong and Tong Li, and break Fang Yun's predicament!" Feng Zimo made up his mind, his courage clear, and his steps light.

After the Dragon Boat Festival on the sixth day of the sixth month, Fang Yun hung a "No Visitors" sign outside his door, declined all social engagements, and focused on studying at home.

Everything returned to normal, and Fang Yun began reciting the original works of all the saints every day, then practiced calligraphy, specializing in the regular script of the Liu style. After that, he speed-read the annotations of those great scholars and articles on classics in the world of rare books, writing an essay on classics every morning, noon, and evening, and asking Pang, the neighbor, for comments.

Every five days, Prefect Dong would personally come to guide Fang Yun's essays, pointing out the shortcomings without reservation.

The world of rare books allowed Fang Yun to learn a large amount of knowledge in a faster and more efficient way, the Courage to Write made his will more determined, and his talent made his thinking more flexible and his mind sharper. The Thunderous Holy Melody and the movements of the God of Literature further enhanced his overall abilities, so his progress was extremely fast.Every time Feng Zimo pointed out deficiencies in the scriptures, Fang Yun would record them with a pen, ponder over them repeatedly, and make improvements if possible, or avoid them if not. In this way, he would make the same mistake at most twice, and never a third time.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

On the thirtieth of May, Feng Zimo once again visited Fang Yun's home, carefully reviewing the scriptures Fang Yun had written these days. He found that apart from some areas where the explanation was not deep enough, he could not find any mistakes. If these were submitted to the prefecture examination, they would certainly be considered second-class works.

Feng Zimo was extremely pleased and praised, "No wonder your 'correct if there is, strive if there is not' could evoke the sound of the Path of the Saints. You really put this phrase into practice. Good!"

Fang Yun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized. He thought to himself that no wonder he could always quickly find mistakes when writing scriptures these days, and thus firmly remember them, never making the same mistake more than twice. It turned out that those eight words played a certain role, and he gained a deeper understanding of the power of this world.

"So that's how it is! The scriptures of All the Saints are not just knowledge, not just principles, but also power! It's just that ordinary people find it difficult to bring it out, but if one can truly touch the Path of the Saints, one can turn that knowledge and principles into one's own power! I used to just know, but today I truly understand!"

"Writing carries the path, it's not just about explaining and spreading principles through articles, but also about carrying one's own Path of the Saints, one's own power with articles. No wonder these mere eight words could form a dragon gate, giving ordinary fish the possibility of becoming dragons, because these eight words contain the 'correct' power."

Fang Yun was overjoyed, his eyes sparkling with happiness.

Feng Zimo, standing aside, slowly stepped back a few steps, nodding his head in satisfaction.

Before long, Fang Yun returned to normal, finding that his talent had further improved, increasing by three inches.

Feng Zimo smiled and said, "With just a hint from me, you were able to quickly understand the principles. You are indeed a prodigy. Do you often have such insights?"

Fang Yun immediately repeated his old trick, saying, "When I was young, I liked to sit by the river and think. Perhaps the experiences of that period made me better at understanding various principles."

Feng Zimo said, "I remember the river at your home. You've mentioned it many times, saying that many of your achievements today are built on that river. After the prefecture examination is over, I will go to the river at your old home to ponder. Perhaps there is a magical power there that will allow me to have insights like you."

"…Perhaps." Fang Yun sweated inwardly. The so-called river-side insight was nothing more than a nonsense excuse to cover up the inspirations from "The Fox and the Rhyme" and "The Three Character Classic". If Feng Zimo really went, absolutely nothing would happen.

Feng Zimo laughed and said, "If I can also have insights by the river thanks to you, there must be something extraordinary there. I will let my friends go there to understand the Path of the Saints."

Fang Yun could only pray in his heart: Please don't have any insights. If you happen to have one, it will cause a lot of trouble.

Feng Zimo said, "The prefecture examination this year was originally scheduled for the fifteenth of June, but I heard that due to changes in celestial phenomena, the Half-Sage moved it forward to the first day, which is very disadvantageous for you. You must not be careless. Your saint-invoking words and poems are not bad, and it's not difficult to get a second-class grade in the scriptures, but it's still a bit difficult to get a first-class grade. However, I see that your scriptures often have astonishing words, full of novelty, but when you think about it carefully, they are reasonable. This may be the key to your getting a first-class grade in the scriptures."

Fang Yun said, "Thank you for your guidance, Master Feng. I will definitely carry this forward."

"The young man is teachable."

Fang Yun understood in his heart that what Feng Zimo called "astonishing words and novelty" was actually what he had learned and heard on Earth. Many things were originally forgotten by him, but because of the talent he gained, his brain became stronger, those vague memories became clear, and those originally unclear knowledge gradually deepened, which influenced him and made him have "astonishing words".

If those astonishing words were written in ancient times on Earth, they would certainly be attacked by everyone. But on the Holy Origin Mainland, these scholars would treat them with an objective attitude. As long as they were reasonable and did not violate the Path of the Saints, even the most absurd things could be accepted. (To be continued.)