The Path of the Sage

Compared to a complete Courage to Write and the vortex of Courage to Write, one was in the sky and the other was on the ground.

Fang Yun scanned the crowd and said, "Since there are still people who harbor ill intentions towards me, you can go with them! When I, Fang Yun, do things, I never leave trouble for the future!" His voice was as cold as the arrival of winter, and he pointed at twenty-something people.

Those twenty-something people were all from the Wu Nation or the Qing Nation, and there was even one from the Jing Kingdom.

Fang Yun pointed his finger twenty-five times, the Courage to Write vibrated, forming an invisible spiritual force that fell on those twenty-something people.

These people thought they were hiding well, but everyone here was purely condensed by divine thoughts. Under the power of the Courage to Write, no one could deceive Fang Yun.

"You... save me! I dare not! I wanted to harm you, but I didn't do anything! I..." A person screamed, his body turned into shattered ice and disappeared.

The other twenty-something people all ended up the same way.

Underneath the Book Mountain was eerily quiet, even those who were screaming because of the strange wind were scared into silence.

Fang Yun bowed to the people who came to rescue him and said, "Thank you, my literary friends. If you can remember today's events after leaving the Book Mountain, I will surely repay you generously."

However, the crowd was still in shock. Many people were still extremely afraid. If Fang Yun had a malicious heart, he could shatter everyone's divine thoughts just by walking around the mountain.

They were not afraid of failing to ascend the Book Mountain, but because there were more severe consequences.

If one's divine thoughts were shattered outside the Book Mountain, they would become completely idiotic. Although it wouldn't be as severe inside the Book Mountain, unless a Half-Sage took action, they would be forever cut off from the Palace of Literature and could no longer use their talent.

Even if a Half-Sage took action, they could only mobilize their talent at most, and their literary position would never advance again.

"Then I'll go up the mountain first."

Fang Yun finished speaking and turned to step onto the single-plank bridge. No matter how fierce the strange wind was, his clothes remained still, unable to bring him any pain.

When he was far away from the river, the crowd gradually came to their senses.

"What a Fang Wujia, we all underestimated him. If the news of a Talented Scholar having the Courage to Write spreads, the world will be in chaos. Fortunately, the Book Mountain was created by Sage Confucius and is blessed by all the Sages. Even a Half-Sage can only see where we are, but they have no idea what's happening inside."

"Even if it's a Half-Sage, they won't believe that Fang Yun has already condensed the Courage to Write. They probably think that those people's divine thoughts were scattered by the strange wind."

"Fang Yun's potential... I'm afraid it's even higher than Yi Zhishi and Lu Huaijiang!"

"What a pity! It's a pity that we can't remember anything after leaving the Book Mountain. Otherwise, even if I have to wage a literary war with the Qing Nation and the Wu Nation, I would persuade my father to make friends with the Jing Kingdom, or simply pull Fang Yun to my Shu Nation."

"Crown Prince, you're thinking too much. If we could really remember all this, I guarantee that the Master of the Kong Family would use all means to make Fang Yun marry into our Kong Family, and then promise to let his eldest son be the next head of the Kong Family and the Master."

"You Kong Family are really generous!"

"Where do you guys think Fang Yun can reach?"

"Just talking about ascending the Book Mountain, he should be able to reach the third mountain and the third pavilion."

"Not necessarily. He might have had a chance encounter to condense the Courage to Write, but the content tested by the Book Mountain is very mixed. How could he possibly compare to us, the prominent families?"

One person laughed lightly, "I don't mean to look down on Fang Yun. I know he is proficient in poetry and holy scriptures. However, I'm afraid he can't even pass this second mountain. Have any of you ever seen a poor scholar pass the second mountain when they were a Talented Scholar?"

Many children of prominent families also laughed and nodded.

"That's true. It's not that the poor scholars lack talent. It's just that they learn too little, unlike us who learn a lot for the Book Mountain."

"This can't be blamed on him. After he passes the Talented Scholar exam, he can spend three to five years studying. After passing the Presented Scholar exam and ascending the Book Mountain for the second time, he might be able to pass three mountains in one breath and pick the first Heart of Literature."

"Right, but his journey on the Talented Scholar's Book Mountain is about to end."

"However, I heard that he made a bet with the people of the Qing Nation. If he can't reach the second pavilion of the third mountain this time, he will destroy his own Palace of Literature."

"Ah? Is there such a thing? How come I didn't know."

"There's no point in talking too much. When we leave the Book Mountain, everything will be clear."

"Let's go, let's ascend the Book Mountain together. Don't be late. Look, Fang Yun has already reached the first pavilion."

Meanwhile, in the All the Saints Hall at the center of the Holy Academy.

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Three Half-Sage examiners saw nine mountains made of light in front of them. Under the first mountain, there were many light spots, each representing the divine thoughts of a Talented Scholar.

The light spots of the twenty-something people whose divine thoughts were suppressed and killed by Fang Yun's Courage to Write gradually disappeared.

"The youngsters of the Wu Nation and the Qing Nation are really useless."

"They are decisive when it comes to assassinating the new talents of the human race."

"This year's Book Mountain seems to consume more talent than previous years."

"Perhaps influenced by the Five Movements of Literature and Music, this year's Talented Scholars are better than previous years."

"The topics of this Book Mountain are related to the potential of the Talented Scholars. The higher the potential of these Talented Scholars, the more difficult the topics. The excellent Talented Scholars may not be hindered, but the ordinary Talented Scholars are going to be unlucky."

"Do you think anyone can reach the third mountain and the third pavilion this year?"

"If Fang Yun was born in a prominent family, he might be able to reach the third mountain and the third pavilion. If there was no Five Movements of Literature and Music this year, he might also have a chance to reach the second mountain. But this year, the Book Mountain consumes too much talent, and the topics are probably extremely difficult. If nothing unexpected happens, he won't even be able to pass the first pavilion. This year's Book Mountain is too difficult."

"What a waste of a great talent, he is too reckless."

"Sigh, if I had known that the Book Mountain would change like this, I would have gone to Jade Sea City to protect him that day, even if it meant losing face."

"What a pity..."

Fang Yun slowly ascended the stairs, meeting no resistance. He easily stepped onto a small plaza paved with stone slabs, where a pavilion stood ahead.

A plaque hung on the pavilion, inscribed with the character "字", simple and unimpressive.

Fang Yun was somewhat disappointed, having imagined Book Mountain to be a grand and magnificent place.

On the mountain path above the first pavilion, two people were climbing, indicating that they had correctly answered the first pavilion's question and were about to enter the second.

Fang Yun scanned his surroundings, noticing everyone was looking down at a blank piece of paper in front of them. The paper was empty, and although some people's mouths were moving, no sound could be heard.

"It seems this is to prevent us from cheating. But I fear this is only the first pavilion of the first mountain. Only two people have ascended before me. Is the first pavilion this difficult?"

As Fang Yun was pondering, a white paper appeared before his eyes. It instructed him to read out ten characters and provide their meanings. If he could correctly identify seven, he would pass and enter the second pavilion.

Upon seeing the ten characters, Fang Yun felt a headache. Each character was more obscure than the last, and the ten characters seemed more numerous than the words on an ordinary page.

皨, 猣, 屶, 牋, 癰, 爡, 馫, 蚎, 謈, 鶗.

"No wonder they say Book Mountain is a dead end for children of humble families. Unless one specifically studies these, it's impossible to recognize all ten characters. Even after reading so many books these past few months, I can't recognize all of them. How could children of humble families have the time to learn these characters? Only the children of prominent families who guessed the type of exam questions would memorize these obscure characters."

Fang Yun carefully looked at the first character.

皨.

"This one is okay, it's the same as the character '星', with the same pronunciation and meaning," Fang Yun thought.

Fang Yun then looked at each character one by one. In the end, he could only recognize 猣, 皨, 屶, 謈, 馫, and 鶗, a total of six characters. He could only remember the pronunciation of two, and the meanings of the other four were uncertain.

The Heavenly Book moved slightly, revealing the complete pronunciation and meaning of the ten characters. The six characters Fang Yun recognized were correct, but one of the meanings was wrong.

"The reason those people had no confidence in me climbing Book Mountain is probably because they knew I had read too few miscellaneous books. Book Mountain is really difficult. Children of humble families can only hope to have a chance after passing the Talented Scholar exam, studying for more than a decade, and then passing the Presented Scholar exam. The second time they climb Book Mountain, they are inherently disadvantaged compared to those from prominent families. The two people ahead seem to be from the All the Saints family, impressive!"

Fang Yun stood there, reading out the pronunciation of the ten characters and explaining them.

After Fang Yun finished speaking, the first pavilion shook slightly, and the plaque emitted a strange white light that fell on Fang Yun.

Fang Yun closed his eyes, slowly enjoying the baptism of the white light. He didn't know what this white light was, but he guessed it must be something good, as it made him feel very comfortable.

Before long, the white light dissipated, and Fang Yun opened his eyes.

By this time, many people had come up behind him. Hundreds of people had stepped onto the plaza of the first pavilion, and thousands more were crossing the single-plank bridge at the foot of the mountain.

Fang Yun immediately stepped aside to make way for these people.

One person made a gesture of invitation to Fang Yun. Fang Yun smiled in thanks, then walked forward, entering the first pavilion.

The person who had made the gesture of invitation stood there stunned, saying, "I meant to invite him to continue. How did he already pass the first pavilion? I just said it's very difficult for children of humble families to pass Book Mountain. How did he pass so quickly? It seems even faster than the two people before him."

The others didn't hear what he said. Many children of prominent families watched as Fang Yun passed through the first pavilion and ascended the stairs to the second.

These people looked at each other, seeing surprise in each other's eyes, and the same thought occurred to them all.

"Could this year's questions be simple?"

So everyone looked down at their own questions. Some were bewildered, some rubbed their temples, and some immediately looked up at Fang Yun.

Before long, many people looked at each other again, their eyes full of doubt, as if they had the same question.

"How did Fang Yun answer correctly?"

These Talented Scholars were surprised, but the three examiners from the All the Saints Temple were a hundred times more surprised, unable to speak for a long time.

On the light-shadow Book Mountain before them, the light representing Fang Yun had brightened by a whole magnitude!

"Did I see wrong?"

"You didn't see wrong."

"Only by perfectly answering all the questions in a pavilion, without a single omission, would his light brighten by a magnitude. But he's just a child of a humble family. It's already incredible that he passed the first pavilion. How could he answer all the questions without a single omission? I don't know the content of this year's first pavilion exam, but if I were to participate in this Book Mountain climb when I was a Talented Scholar, let alone being flawless, it would be a fluke to pass the first pavilion."

The other two Half-Sages remained silent. They couldn't very well say they were inferior to Fang Yun. (To be continued.)

PS: The third update will be around midnight.