The Path of the Sage

"You dare to stop me from inspecting the examination hall!" Geng Xuncha said sternly.

"No, I am afraid that the two child scholars will be clumsy and offend you, a Hanlin scholar. After all, your son died at the hands of someone from my Jing Kingdom. We cannot let you be unhappy anymore! I will personally go down and inspect in place of the two child scholars, with you supervising on the side!" Feng Zimo said seriously, taking Fang Yun's book box and slowly taking out the contents, placing them on the desk for Geng Xuncha to see.

Fang Yun remained silent, but he understood in his heart that Geng Xuncha wanted to sabotage his Four Treasures of the Study using the two child scholars.

"If I am provoked, I will definitely fail the prefectural examination. This is probably just the beginning. During these three days, he will continuously use this method to harm me! I must find a way to prevent him from acting recklessly!" Fang Yun thought to himself.

After Feng Zimo displayed all of Fang Yun's belongings, he smiled and said, "Lord Geng, is there anything missing?"

"Hmph!" Geng Xuncha stared at Fang Yun, not knowing what he was thinking.

Suddenly, Fang Yun said to Feng Zimo, "Mr. Feng, I don't turn a blind eye to things. This examination is crucial for me. If someone dares to hinder my future, I will definitely request the judgment of the Sage! Please ensure fairness, Sage."

Feng Zimo immediately responded, "In the imperial examination, if there is any injustice, anyone can request the judgment of the Sage, and you are no exception!"

"You..." Geng Xuncha was rendered speechless by the harmonious interaction between Fang Yun and Feng Zimo. Once the judgment of the Sage was requested, things would become uncontrollable, which was not the result he wanted to see.

Others dared not easily request the judgment of the Sage, but Fang Yun, who had already requested it once, had no fear.

"Hmph!" Geng Xuncha snorted coldly and left in a huff.

Feng Zimo glanced at Fang Yun and followed suit, releasing the two servants from their restraints.

Fang Yun knew that Geng Xuncha would not make things difficult for him during the examination. He smiled slightly, sat back in his chair, and began organizing the Four Treasures of the Study on his desk to prepare for the upcoming examination.

The prefectural examination consisted of three subjects. The first subject, the request for judgment, and the poetry and essays were the same as the county examination. The third subject was classics, which was not tested in the county examination.

In the county examination, there were thirty request for judgment papers, while in the prefectural examination, there were a hundred. Especially the last ten pages of the examination, which mostly required extensive copying, often requiring nearly a hundred blank pages to complete. In other words, the request for judgment in the prefectural examination required writing nearly two hundred pages of papers.

Generally speaking, it would take nearly two days to complete the request for judgment in the prefectural examination. After that, the poetry and essays and classics would be tested.

Before long, the cart distributing the examination papers arrived, and the distributor placed two stacks of paper on Fang Yun's desk.

One stack was the examination papers, and the other stack was blank paper for copying.

Fang Yun looked at the two thick stacks of paper and remained silent for a while. He thought to himself that this was probably the final madness. Once he passed the examination and became an accomplished scholar, he would no longer have to face the tedious and tricky request for judgment.

Fang Yun instinctively flipped through the examination papers for the request for judgment, which consisted of a hundred chapters. Finally, he took the first page and began answering the questions.

The first question for the request for judgment was a very simple fill-in-the-blank question. It was the opening of "The Analects" by Confucius.

"The Master said: 'Is it not a pleasure to learn, and practice what is learned time and again?'" There was a blank space after that, and Fang Yun immediately filled it in: "Is it not also delightful to have friends coming from distant places? If people do not recognize me and yet I do not become resentful, is this not the mark of a gentleman?"

During the process of answering the questions, the Book of Wonders remained motionless, and Fang Yun did not use the power of the Book of Wonders. He relied solely on his own memory and understanding to answer the questions.

Fang Yun had already memorized all the original works of the All the Saints.

Soon, Fang Yun encountered a very tricky and peculiar question. It asked when the Half-Saint He Yunxiang of the Wu Kingdom had been to the famous Mount Nan.

Fang Yun racked his brains and found that He Yunxiang had been to Mount Nan four times, with three of them having clear records. He only needed to write those down directly. However, there was no record of the time of the second visit to Mount Nan among the four times.

Fang Yun thought carefully and searched for all the works related to He Yunxiang's second visit to Mount Nan. In the end, he only found a long poem in ancient style and a memoir by He Yunxiang.

The long poem was titled "Moon Over Mount Nan" and was composed by He Yunxiang when he climbed Mount Nan at the age of nineteen. At that time, He Yunxiang was not yet famous and was unknown.

"This poem must be the key."

Fang Yun recalled this long poem by He Yunxiang. Soon, he found an interesting line in the poem.

"The fierce wind slices through half the moon."

Fang Yun thought to himself, "There is an important premise in poetry, which is 'jingzhen' (authenticity). Although He Yunxiang was young at that time, he would not write randomly. The moon phase changes with time, such as the new moon, full moon, waning moon, and so on. When it is the first quarter or last quarter, the moon is only half, as if it has been sliced in half by a sharp wind. This matches the line 'The fierce wind slices through half the moon.' Other moon phases do not fit. The first quarter is on the seventh or eighth day of each month, and the last quarter is on the twenty-second or twenty-third day."

"In other words, it is currently uncertain in which month He Yunxiang went to Mount Nan, but it must have been one of the four days: the seventh, eighth, twenty-second, or twenty-third of a certain month."

"This poem also has the line 'Last night at midnight, the moon appeared like ice.' 'Ice' is another name for the moon. Midnight is between eleven o'clock at night and one o'clock in the morning, when the moon rises. It should be the waning moon because the waxing moon rises early and it is impossible for 'Last night at midnight, the moon appeared like ice' to happen. Therefore, the seventh and eighth days can be ruled out."

"However, this is not enough. It is still necessary to determine the month. This poem also has the line 'The yellow dog shivers among the flowers.' He Yunxiang's works do not mention what the yellow dog is, but in another travelogue by the Half-Saint Li Daoyuan, he mentioned the yellow dog, saying that there is a yellow insect in Hezhou called the yellow dog by the locals."

"The yellow dog insect likes gray chrysanthemums, and the gray chrysanthemums in Hezhou only bloom in August and September. Now it can be determined that this poem was written in August or September. In He Yunxiang's memoir, he wrote a sentence: 'Crossing the Xu River, the water reached my knees.' This Xu River is right below Mount Nan. According to Li Daoyuan's 'Commentary on the Waterways Classic,' the Xu River is only in the period from September to December when it is in the dry season, and the water level can drop to knee height. This confirms that this poem was written in September."After a complex analysis, Fang Yun cited the classics and answered the question.

"This question involves astronomy, geography, hydrology, plants, animals, poetry, and so on. I can guarantee that a typical Imperial Scholar wouldn't be able to answer it correctly! The person who set this question is really eccentric!" Fang Yun thought to himself, shaking his head, and continued answering the questions.

Fang Yun kept writing until noon when the servants of the academy brought food. The prefecture examination lasted for three days, and the candidates might spoil the food they brought themselves, so the academy provided three meals a day for tens of thousands of candidates.

After lunch, Fang Yun continued answering questions until dinner, when he finished the first ninety pages. The last ten pages were all memorized questions, which Fang Yun decided to leave for later.

After dinner, Fang Yun checked the first ninety pages of his answers.

While checking his answers, the magical book moved and began to reveal the correct answers in golden letters, just like when Fang Yun took the county examination.

With the help of the magical book, Fang Yun quickly checked the ninety pages of his answers and found that he had misremembered two questions and had not fully answered three questions, overlooking some details in the classics of All the Saints.

After correcting the wrong questions, Fang Yun began to write down the questions from the last ten pages, and didn't stop until midnight. He then lay down on the simple bed in the examination room to sleep.

At six o'clock in the morning on the second day of June, Fang Yun woke up like many other candidates, either waiting for breakfast or continuing to answer questions.

Find the original at "pawread dot com".

By noon, Fang Yun had finished all his answers, waited for the ink to dry, and then collected them together. He then sat down to rest, waiting for the other two subjects.

In the evening, the first subject was over, but the servants did not collect the examination papers. Instead, they directly distributed the examination questions for the second subject, poetry.

This year's poetry had three topics, and they were more specific than the county examination. They required writing about weapons, rivers, and one of the Saints of Confucianism. Only one poem was needed.

After pondering for a moment, Fang Yun wrote a poem:

The shore is wide, the mast is sparse, the waves are vast and vague, alone on the dangerous railing, how long are my thoughts. The distant trees outside the sparse forest, half of the autumn mountain carries the setting sun.

After the poem was finished, a burst of inspiration appeared, just a little short of reaching the prefecture level.

After finishing, Fang Yun didn't waste any time, because he had to give his all for the upcoming interpretation of the classics, so he continued to silently recite the classics of All the Saints.

Whether it's the ranking of Accomplished Scholar, Presented Scholar, or Imperial Scholar, it's all arranged according to the interpretation of the classics.

If a person's answers, poetry, and interpretation of the classics are respectively A-grade, A-grade, and B-grade, and another person's are C-grade, C-grade, and A-grade, then the latter will certainly win.

Poetry is the strongest aid to The Path of the Saints, but it is not the foundation of The Path of the Saints. The interpretation of the classics is the foundation of The Path of the Saints. Even Confucius's direct disciples often have to do the interpretation of the classics.

Unfortunately, the interpretation of the classics is not like answers or poetry that can be directly used. Writing the interpretation of the classics must rely on Fang Yun himself, because the interpretation of the classics is his understanding of the classics of All the Saints and The Path of the Saints. If Fang Yun can't write a good interpretation of the classics, or if the interpretation he writes does not match his own ideas, it is equivalent to destroying his own Courage to Write.

Fang Yun had previously spent most of his time on the interpretation of the classics because he knew that he could learn the interpretation of the classics in the magical book, and even quote some of it like writing a paper in later generations, but he absolutely could not copy it completely.

As long as the interpretation of the classics is done well, the foundation of The Path of the Saints can be forever solid. If the foundation of The Path of the Saints is forever solid, there is a chance to become a Saint. Therefore, even if the Great Scholar Yi Zhi Shi, who was not good at poetry, was still the leader of the four great talents of the previous generation, he was also the most likely person to become a Saint among the Great Scholars.

On the morning of the third day of June, the academy started the third subject, the interpretation of the classics.

Using the sentences in the classics of All the Saints as the topic, the scholars expound the principles contained therein, which is the interpretation of the classics.

Unlike the first two subjects, there was no one distributing examination papers before the interpretation of the classics started. All the candidates stood straight behind their desks, looking in the direction of the Holy Temple.

Before long, the entire academy shook slightly, and everything seemed to form a strange resonance. An indescribable sound appeared, and no one could describe the distance, size, or other aspects of that sound. It was as if it was a strange sound that reached directly into the soul. (To be continued.)