The Path of the Sage

"The Analects" has over ten thousand words, even if others read it out loud, it would take an hour. But Fang Yun had already finished reciting it in an hour and a half.

The people present had been standing here quietly listening for over an hour.

"...not fond of music, but came from a friend. Not inclined to speak, but learns when it is time to do so: that is what I call a wise man."

Fang Yun recited the last word with a slightly hoarse voice, and the whole room fell silent.

His monstrous talent was too amazing. Compared to Fang Yun, those child prodigies in Jiangzhou were simply ordinary.

The Half-Sage remained silent for a long time before finally asking, "Do you have a mentor who has taught you?"

Hundreds of fiery eyes fell on Fang Yun.

There are three teachers in life: the first teacher who teaches you the way, the mentor who teaches you, and the teacher who helps you understand.

The first teacher only refers to Confucius himself, the mentor is the formal teacher who accepts disciples, usually only one, and the teacher who helps you understand can be many. Fang Yun's private tutor, Cai He, the county magistrate who taught him the classics, and even this unknown Half-Sage could be considered his teacher who helped him understand.

Fang Yun was stunned. This was a good opportunity, but the problem was that he had already said that his sudden "talent" was due to the guidance of a mysterious mentor, and he already had a mentor.

If he were to change to this Half-Sage, not to mention that it would become a stain on his life, everything before would be suspected. There would definitely be people investigating what happened that day. If a Half-Sage were to step in and examine him, he might be considered a reincarnation of a demon or an evil spirit from beyond the sky, as incidents of demons using their thoughts to possess bodies had occurred before.

Wei Yuanjun almost fainted. This Half-Sage actually wanted to accept Fang Yun as his personal disciple!

Liu Zicheng wanted to slap himself in the face. He even wanted to cry out loud. He had used all his power to force Wei Yuanjun to drive Fang Yun away, and even hoped that Fang Yun would be selected as a saint, but he never expected that he would help Fang Yun instead, not only becoming famous all over the world, but even being valued by the Half-Sage.

Liu Zicheng's mind was a mess. He couldn't figure out how he, the nephew of a noble family and the Left Chancellor, had repeatedly calculated a poor student and ended up with this result.

Fang Yun clasped his hands and said, "I dare not hide it from the Sage. I already have a mentor who has taught me."

The sighs of the crowd filled the air. It was truly admirable for Fang Yun to maintain such integrity in front of the Half-Sage.

Gao Minghong said enviously and helplessly, "If Fang Yun is recorded in the history books, the historian will definitely write this down: when Fang Yun was a child scholar, he experienced the saint's selection, and after it was over, the Half-Sage wanted to accept him as a disciple but was refused. The historian who writes this sentence will definitely have the urge to strangle Fang Yun."

The talented scholar beside him said mournfully, "I want to strangle him right now."

"He refused, so let him refuse. Why is he so calm? Can't he pretend to be scared? I, an outsider, am more excited than he is. What kind of thing is this!"

The people around laughed and admired Fang Yun even more.

This made many people even more convinced that Fang Yun's mysterious teacher was at least a great scholar.

The Half-Sage sighed lightly and said, "What a pity. Since I have already helped you once, I will help you a second time by giving you a copy of 'The Analects of Inner Goodness'."When Fang Yun heard halfway, he was puzzled. When did he help himself? Was it related to reciting things backwards or writing couplets? But by the end, his eyes lit up, even happier than when the Half-Sage wanted to take him as a disciple.

As soon as the Half-Sage finished speaking, everyone thought of a possibility. They took a deep breath, widened their eyes, and held their breath, waiting for what was going to happen next.

Suddenly, the Holy Temple spewed out a golden pillar of light towards the sky, followed by a thunderous voice reciting "The Analects - On Benevolence."

"The Master said, 'Benevolence is beautiful. If one selects the right path but does not follow benevolence, how can one be wise?'"

The sound spread like thunder in all directions, eventually covering an area of thousands of miles.

Thousands of people looked up at the sky, and many even knelt down and kowtowed.

"The Sage has shown his power."

"It's the Thunderous Holy Sound!"

"I just don't know which great talent received the Holy Sound, but congratulations!"

"The babies born today are blessed."

"The Holy Sound is born. From now on, these babies will all become students of that great talent. I'm so jealous."

After a moment, the golden pillar of light in the Prefecture's literary academy spouted hundreds of fist-sized golden buds. Then, one by one, the buds bloomed, spitting out golden words that flew in the sky, forming a line and flying towards Fang Yun.

The first golden character, "Zi," entered Fang Yun's head and disappeared. Then, the following characters flew in one by one.

At the moment when the golden characters of the Holy Words entered his body, Fang Yun felt his whole body become light and surrounded by endless golden light, which was extremely bright and warm, like a dream.

Then the golden light disappeared, and Fang Yun found himself in the Palace of Literature.

Fang Yun was still puzzled when someone suddenly shouted, "Zi!"

Then an invisible force hit the Palace of Literature from the outside, making a loud noise. The Palace of Literature shook violently, and Fang Yun stood unsteadily, feeling dizzy and a slight burning sensation in his body.

When the sound disappeared, the Palace of Literature was still shaking. Fang Yun looked and saw cracks everywhere, but the cracks were filled with a liquid that looked like melted gold, which quickly repaired the cracks in the Palace of Literature.

"Yue!"

Another deafening shout, and Fang Yun felt dizzy again. The Palace of Literature cracked again and was filled with golden liquid.

Fang Yun felt that his consciousness had been sealed by a great power just now. Only now did he come back to his senses. This was the legendary Holy Sound Baptism. The Half-Sage condensed the Holy Words with supreme talent, tempered the Palace of Literature, and the golden liquid was the Holy Words transformed into characters.

Every time the Holy Words hit the Palace of Literature, cracks would appear and be repaired by the golden liquid. The talent above Fang Yun's statue would become more condensed, the stars in the sky would become brighter, and the vortex of the Courage to Write would accelerate.

Fang Yun calmed down, concentrated, and immersed himself in the Holy Sound Baptism, knowing that it was created by a Semi-Saint who had experienced the God of Literature's movement. It could be said to be a miniature God of Literature's movement. Only the eldest son of a Semi-Saint's prominent family would receive the Holy Sound Baptism after forming the Palace of Literature, and the chances for others were extremely slim.The higher the literary position, the thicker the talent. The same literary position has the same thickness of talent, but the stronger the cultivation, the higher the talent, ranging from one inch to ten inches. The more solid the literary palace, the more condensed the talent, and the more talent one has and can mobilize under the same cultivation level.

Under the influence of the Holy Sound and Holy Words, Fang Yun's literary palace continued to strengthen, and his talent became more refined.

After reading "Li Ren," Fang Yun felt a sense of euphoria as if he was floating. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the same place, feeling full of strength, even more comfortable than drinking Dragon Palace Blood Ginseng. Any hidden dangers caused by malnutrition over the years seemed to have disappeared.

"Fang Yun of Ji County has great talent and can enter the Wenyuan Academy of Dayuan Prefecture." The voice of the Half-Sage spread throughout the entire Dayuan Prefecture.

The golden light above the Holy Temple also disappeared.

"Respectfully send off the Sage." Everyone bowed together.

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Suddenly, a great power descended, imprisoning the power of the Holy Temple of the Prefecture Academy, and the surrounding air seemed to solidify. A white cloud carrying a thin middle-aged man in a blue robe descended from the sky.

"Seen Lord Li!"

Everyone saluted Li Wenying.

When the Half-Sage arrived, Wei Yuanjun and Liu Zicheng were just afraid, but when Li Wenying appeared, the backs of the two men were immediately soaked with sweat, and their legs trembled.

With a black face, Li Wenying scanned the crowd and finally looked at Fang Yun, asking, "I already know what happened today. How do you think we should deal with Wei Yuanjun?"

Wei Yuanjun was frightened and looked up at Fang Yun, pleading with his eyes.

After surviving the crisis and refining his literary palace with the Holy Words, Fang Yun's thinking became more agile, and he saw through the ins and outs of the whole thing more thoroughly.

Fang Yun said, "Wei Yuanjun, as long as you confess all your accomplices and make the right choice, I can plead for you."

Liu Zicheng lowered his head, tightly biting his teeth, and waited nervously for the outcome.

Wei Yuanjun's eyes dimmed. He knew that if he betrayed Liu Zicheng, his entire Wei family would suffer from the crazy retaliation of the Liu family and the Left Chancellor. But if he didn't admit it, at most, he would die alone. Fang Yun and Li Wenying would not harm his family.

"Everything was done by me, and I wanted to harm you. It has nothing to do with anyone else."

Without hesitation, Fang Yun said loudly, "This person did not select talents in the Prefecture Academy, which is dereliction of duty. He slandered his students as a teacher, which is immoral. He formed a clique and engaged in private activities as a courtier, which is disloyal. He committed great treason by causing harm to the Child Scholar before the Holy One as a human Imperial Scholar. If it were just these, he could still keep his life, but he harmed me again during the Holy Selection. If this person is not put to death, where is the law of Jing Kingdom? Where is the justice of the human race?"

Fang Yun looked coldly at Wei Yuanjun.

"In addition, there is Li Wenying in Jiangzhou." After Li Wenying finished speaking, a white light sword three feet long, wrapped in extremely fine blood vessels, was spit out from his mouth.

Wei Yuanjun was shocked and instinctively tried to activate his official seal, but the talent of the Holy Temple and his official seal were both suppressed by Li Wenying's official seal, and he could not control them at all."Please spare me, Lord Li!" Wei Yuangun spoke while emitting a white light from his ancient sword to block, then activated his personal seal, the Treasures of Literature Mountain Seal, which contained the power of the "Mountain Ode" to summon a transparent mountain shadow that was ten meters tall.

This "Mountain Ode" was a famous defensive war poetry written by the Half-Sage and was commonly used and effective.

Wei Yuangun was about to recite the war poetry when Li Wenying's blood-dripping ancient sword silently cut through his War of Words and the mountain shadow like a hot knife through butter.

Wei Yuangun looked on in despair as the blood-dripping ancient sword came towards him.

Everyone present saw clearly as the blood-dripping ancient sword passed through Wei Yuangun's neck, his head flew off, blood splattered three feet away, and his headless body slowly fell to the ground.

Wei Yuangun's head rolled on the ground, his eyes looking up to the sky, unable to believe that he was killed in the Prefecture Academy just for driving away a Child Scholar.

Liu Zicheng immediately knelt down, regretful and tearful, "Fang Yun, I was wrong! I wanted to ruin your literary reputation, but I didn't expect Wei Yuangun to develop a murderous intent towards you after being scolded by Sword Eyebrows that day. I will resign from my position as the Academy Student of the Prefecture Academy, not participate in the State Exam for three years, and start anew. You are a great talent that our human race hopes for, and if I dare to harm you again, I will be no better than Wei Yuangun."

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