The Path of the Sage

Fang Yun walked alone on the path to the second pavilion, lost in thought.

"This Book Mountain is truly challenging. I used to think that even if I couldn't reach the fourth mountain, it wouldn't be difficult for me to reach the third pavilion of the third mountain like the other four talented scholars. But now, I realize that I have underestimated the scholars of the world. The first pavilion is already this difficult, how much more challenging would the second pavilion or even the second mountain be? I must reflect on this!"

Upon reaching the second pavilion, Fang Yun noticed two accomplished scholars from the Semi-Saint prominent families looking at each other with a frustrated expression.

They seemed to sigh before they started writing on their papers.

Fang Yun was taken aback. If these two were struggling at the second pavilion, it meant that it was not an ordinary challenge. The accomplished scholars from the Semi-Saint prominent families wouldn't be stumped by the first mountain. Even with bad luck, they should be able to reach the third mountain.

Looking up, Fang Yun saw two words written on the plaque of the second pavilion: Couplet.

"Could it be another absolute?" Fang Yun wondered.

When he left the first pavilion, the paper in front of him disappeared. Now, stepping onto the second pavilion, a new piece of white paper appeared with three couplets written on it. Answering two correctly would allow him to pass.

Ordinary couplets weren't difficult and could be matched with some time. But upon seeing these three, Fang Yun thought to himself that these couplets were indeed tricky, even more so than those posed by the Half-Sages during the Saint Selection.

"These must have been left by some Semi-Saints who didn't care about them after they were done. It's already difficult for accomplished scholars to answer questions posed by Semi-Saints, just like those hardest questions in the Saint's words. Let's start with the first one. The first question is a palindrome couplet, and it's a homophonic palindrome couplet with different characters but the same pronunciation. How difficult is this Book Mountain!"

"Light rain on the beautiful mountain, the green mountain is beautiful."

Fang Yun looked at the people in the second pavilion again and found that they were constantly gesturing at the paper, pondering the lower couplet. He then looked down and saw thousands of people crowded in the first pavilion.

"That's not right. It was said that half of the people could reach the first pavilion when climbing the Book Mountain, but now why are there less than 20% of people here? Could it be that the strange wind this year is particularly strong?"

Fang Yun didn't think much about it and soon wrote the lower couplet.

"Light rain on the beautiful mountain, the green mountain is beautiful."

"The ancient cypress sways in the wind, the old cypress is fragrant."

After finishing, Fang Yun continued to look at the second couplet.

"Undress me, feed me."

"This is from the 'Biography of Marquis Huaiyin' in the 'Historical Records'. Han Xin said that Liu Bang gave him his clothes to wear and his food to eat, and he was very grateful to Liu Bang. Using the content of a famous book as the upper couplet, the lower couplet must also use the content of a famous book. This is a sentence collection couplet, and it's going to be a challenge to find. I guess those disciples from the prominent families would be good at answering this. They read a lot of miscellaneous books."

Fang Yun pondered for a moment. It seemed that there were no sentences in the canon of All the Saints that he remembered that could be used as the lower couplet. Since it was a sentence collection couplet, it couldn't be too obscure. The lower couplet had to be at least from the works of a Great Scholar. Now, he quickly skimmed through the works of the Great Scholars, looking for sentences that could be used as the lower couplet.

It took him half an hour to find a sentence from the 'Shuo Yuan' by Liu Xiang, a Great Scholar from the Han Dynasty, that could be used as a couplet. So he wrote the lower couplet.

"Undress me, feed me."

"The spring wind blows on people, the summer rain wets people."

The two couplets used the nouns 'clothes', 'food', 'wind', and 'rain' as verbs, which could be considered cleverly matched.

Fang Yun looked up and saw that there were now four more people in the second pavilion, all from the prominent families of All the Saints. Then he turned his head and saw that the number of people in the first pavilion hadn't changed much.

"Strange! This year's Book Mountain is really strange. This situation shouldn't have happened. It is said that there is a strand of Confucius's thought in the Book Mountain. If you pass the ninth mountain, you will be accepted as a disciple and become a direct disciple of Confucius. If the descendants of Confucius's disciples see someone who has passed the ninth mountain, they would probably have to call him 'ancestor'. Unfortunately, the Book Mountain has restrictions on the literary position. Those who are too high can't enter, and those who are too low are not qualified. I wonder how far I can go in the end."

Fang Yun continued to look at the third upper couplet.

"Fish swim through the stone holes, the autumn river is cold."

At first glance, there was nothing special.

"The first one is a homophonic palindrome couplet, and the second one is a sentence collection couplet. This couplet can't be that simple. What kind of strange match is it? It's not a palindrome, not an embedded word, not a split word, not a hidden word, no historical poems, then what is it?"

After thinking for a while, Fang Yun suddenly realized.

"These seven characters are all surnames! If you think this couplet is about the artistic conception, you will definitely be fooled. Once the answer is confirmed, there is no way to regret it."

So, Fang Yun started to look for a couplet in the surnames of the Strange Book World. Since the thinking in the Strange Book World was faster, he quickly thought of a couplet.

"Fish swim through the stone holes, the autumn river is cold."

"Cypress trees form a forest, the summer mountain is high."

One is about a fish in the river, and the other is about a tree on the mountain, which are very neatly matched.

"Phew…"

Fang Yun let out a long sigh of relief. Looking up, he saw that there were now more than twenty people in the second pavilion. The first pavilion was still crowded with people, and as for the foot of the mountain, there were thousands of people staring at the single-plank bridge, not daring to approach. They could only endure the strange wind, but they were reluctant to leave. After all, as long as they stayed on the Book Mountain, they would benefit."This year's Book Mountain examination is a real tragedy. I wonder how many people will curse the examiners, even though it's not really their fault. If I knew who was to blame, I would curse them too!" Fang Yun shook his head, rechecked his answers, and then completed them in his mind.

The second pavilion emitted a white light that no one else could see, which fell on Fang Yun.

This time, the white light was denser than before. Fang Yun felt warm, as if his whole body was melting. His talent increased again, and the increase in talent had no hidden dangers. It was as stable as the talent he had slowly cultivated, as if it was a gift from heaven.

"The increase in the Courage to Write is even greater. No wonder the disciples of the Prominent Families of All the Saints would try to form a vortex of the Courage to Write before climbing the Book Mountain." Fang Yun couldn't help but think of Yan Yukong's Courage to Write, which, once released, could shatter grass and trees without any murderous intent or aggression.

Fang Yun slowly walked towards the loft of the second pavilion, climbing towards the third pavilion.

The accomplished scholars in front of the second pavilion all looked up, speechless as they watched Fang Yun's retreating figure. Some blinked continuously, trying to confirm that they were not seeing things.

These scholars knew the difficulty of these three couplets. With their knowledge, they could certainly answer correctly given enough time, but the problem was that it took too long.

But how did Fang Yun do it so quickly?

Everyone silently watched Fang Yun, then silently looked at each other, and continued to ponder.

One scholar muttered quietly, "If anyone dares to say that the children of poor families read fewer books in the future, I won't ask for a holy trial, I'll ask Fang Yun to teach him a lesson! I hope he gets stuck at the third pavilion, so we still have a chance to catch up."

No one heard his words, but he knew that everyone was feeling frustrated.

People on the mountain couldn't speak. But those at the foot of the mountain could.

"Look, Fang Yun is climbing towards the third pavilion! Haha, who just said that our children from poor families are nobody?" Someone pointed at Fang Yun's retreating figure and shouted.

Everyone at the foot of the mountain looked at Fang Yun.

"No wonder he can kill people with the point of his Courage to Write, this Fang Yun is really amazing."

"Maybe the Book Mountain examination questions are simple this year."

"Look at those disciples from the Prominent Families of All the Saints. Some of them have more potential than the last four talented scholars. Do you believe what you just said?"

The man shut up. Now many people have noticed the changes in the Ten Nations. As talent continues to accumulate, the classics of All the Saints are increasing. The base of scholars in the human race is expanding, and there are more and more geniuses. The Holy Academy is also increasing the number of admissions. The number of scholars this year has doubled, which is not only due to the contribution of the Five Movements of Literature and Music, but also inseparable from the accumulation of the human race.

Yi Zhishi, Lu Huaijiang, Yan Yukong, Li Wenying and others, even in the time of Confucius, would have become famous figures. In the past, one would emerge every few decades, but now several emerge at once.

"Perhaps this is the era of the revival of my human race."

"The human race emerged from ignorance starting with King Wen and rose with Sage Confucius. But I don't know who will be the master of the revival of my human race."

Inside the Hall of All the Saints, the three Half-Sage examiners looked at the light spot representing Fang Yun in the illusory image of the Nine Mountains without speaking.

In the illusory image of the Nine Mountains, the brightness of the light representing Fang Yun increased again, from twice as bright at the beginning to three times as bright.

After a long time, one person said, "Even if all three couplets are correct, it can't double the brightness of the light. It must be because his couplets are too ingenious."

"If he perfectly completes the three mountains in one go, he might get the legendary top-grade Heart of Literature 'Furious Writing'. Even people like Yi Zhishi have never had a top-grade Heart of Literature. They only have a chance when they are canonized."

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"This is the first time I've looked forward to the scholars climbing the Book Mountain."

"Should we send a message by snapping our fingers to inform the other Half-Sages? They may not be paying attention to the scholars climbing the Book Mountain." Mi Fengdian said with a smile.

"Let's wait and see. It's not too late to wait until Fang Yun perfectly climbs the second mountain."

As soon as the words fell, the three Half-Sages suddenly looked up. An old man with white hair appeared at the entrance of the Hall of All the Saints. The man was so thin that he looked like a skeleton, swaying with every step he took.

The three Half-Sage examiners immediately stood up.

"Mr. Wang." The youngest, Mi Fengdian, immediately said.

"Brother Jing Long." The older Half-Sage said.

"Lord Dong Sheng."

The three of them looked serious. This Wang Jinglong looked old and weak, and was extremely thin. But everyone knew that he had become like this because of a deadly battle with a Half-Sage of the demon race. In fact, he was a very hot-tempered person. It was his anger that turned the winter snow yesterday. Other Half-Sages didn't have such a big temper.

Legend has it that when Wang Jinglong was born, there was a faint roar of the Dragon Saint in the sky, as if it had been startled, so his parents gave him this name.

But every time the old dragon of the East Sea saw him, he had to fight first.

Wang Jinglong held a teapot in his left hand and a cane in his right, walking slowly and leisurely. It was hard to imagine that he was a hot-tempered person.

"I'm not busy with the affairs of the Eastern Saint Pavilion. I came to see how that useless young man of my family is doing."

The three Half-Sages knew very well that every Half-Sage could communicate with the Holy Academy and get the illusory image of the Nine Mountains like them, but it was not as good as the Hall of All the Saints. Wang Jinglong was clearly not here for his descendants, but for Fang Yun.

Among the Half-Sages canonized as the Four Saints in the Holy Academy, the status of the Half-Sages was the highest.The Eastern Sage resides in the Holy Academy, the Western Sage guards the Two Realms Mountain, the Southern Sage roams the human world, and the Northern Sage, disguised as a demon, stirs up internal strife in the Demon Realm.

In the current Holy Origin Mainland, Wang Jinglong holds absolute power and is also the strongest person.

His personal arrival indicates that the importance of this year's Talented Scholar's Book Mountain even surpasses that of previous years' Presented Scholar's Book Mountain. It might even be a warning to all the Semi-Saints through his actions.

He will deal with those who want to make things difficult for Fang Yun from his own clan!

If they can't control themselves, then don't blame Wang Jinglong for stepping in!

.(To be continued.)