CH 102

"Tong Li!" Zhao Zhuzhen looked at Tong Li angrily.

Immediately, there was a sound of unsheathing swords in the Jinghai Tower. All the guards drew their swords, ready to kill at any moment.

Now, even those who didn't know Zhao Zhuzhen could guess her identity.

Shi Dehong said, "Leading the imperial guards as a woman, and at such a young age, there's probably only the current ruler of the Jing Kingdom, Princess Zhao Hongzhuang. However, I heard that you prefer to be called Princess Zhao, so let's address you as such."

"Princess Zhao!"

Since Shi Dehong revealed her identity, everyone had to bow and greet her.

"Please refer to me as Zhao Zhuzhen," Zhao Hongzhuang said.

"Tong Li, step back!" Governor Dong shouted.

Tong Li stared at Fang Yun and said, "You have destroyed my Path of the Saints. Are you willing to gamble with me? If you are a true scholar and have confidence, why not give me a chance to win against you? What are you afraid of?"

"Tong Li, are you sure you want to seek your own death?" Fang Yun asked.

"Shi Dehong is right. If I can't defeat you, the higher your achievements, the more unstable my Book Palace will become, and it will eventually crumble! However, I want to gamble with Shi Dehong. You must defeat both of us at the same time to be considered the winner. If you defeat only one of us, it will be a draw. How about it?" Tong Li was already acting like a madman because he knew this was his only chance.

At this point, Shi Dehong didn't mind Tong Li calling him by his name and said, "Good! Tong Li, I underestimated you before. It turns out you are also a good man! Fang Yun, are you willing to gamble with the two of us?"

Fang Yun looked at the two of them, then suddenly smiled and said, "Shi Presented Scholar, since your mentor is the Poetry Lord, he must have some evaluation of you, right?"

"Of course," Shi Dehong said.

"Then, what does the Poetry Lord think will be your ultimate literary position?"

Shi Dehong gestured towards the Jing Kingdom and said, "My mentor once said that I will attain the position of Grand Academician!"

Fang Yun nodded and said, "Good! But also not good."

"Why do you say that?" Shi Dehong felt a sense of unease. He didn't expect Fang Yun to be so calm, a calmness that made people fearful.

"Breaking the Book Palace of a future Grand Academician, eliminating a small hidden danger for my Jing Kingdom, is good. After all, you are still a member of my human race. Breaking your Book Palace, on the other hand, is not good. However, since you want to suppress the scholars of a nation and attempt to destroy my Path of the Saints, instigating others to gamble with me, I will break your Book Palace! I agree to this gamble!" Fang Yun's voice was resolute.

"It depends on whether you have the ability to break my Book Palace!" Shi Dehong sneered.

Qian Presented Scholar immediately said, "Fang Yun, all the literary people in Yuhai City support you! Not only will you become the talented scholar of Yuhai Prefecture, but you will also surpass Shi Dehong and reach the second level of the third mountain!"

"Tong Li, if you dare to come to our 'Tanhai Society' literary gathering in the future, I will break your legs!"

"Liu Xiong, you don't need to take action. After the Book Mountain event in June, Tong Li will definitely have his Book Palace shattered."

"That's right."

Governor Dong said with a gloomy expression, "Shi Dehong, since you are gambling with Fang Yun, you must stay in Yuhai City until Fang Yun leaves the Book Mountain."

"Naturally, I really like the scenery of Yuhai City. Staying for a month is no problem. Perhaps I can stay for a few more months and participate in Yuhai Prefecture's annual demon-slaying poetry gathering, competing for Lord Li's Dragon Blood Ink Tablet."

Governor Dong said, "You have misunderstood. What I mean is, if Fang Yun wins, and you have a way to avoid the gamble and the oath, be prepared for me to personally break your Book Palace!"

A trace of panic flashed in Shi Dehong's eyes. Then he calmly said, "This is a gamble between Fang Yun and me. I hope Governor Dong won't interfere and break the rules."

"I only kill those who break the rules."

Shi Dehong angrily said, "If you dare to kill me, my mentor will never let you go!"

"Then let him come! We in Yuhai City are not afraid even of the Dragon Clan, let alone a mere Poetry Lord. Who says there are no bones beneath the Path of the Saints? First, there was the Hundred Schools of Thought Contend, and Sage Confucius emerged. If Sage Confucius didn't contend, how could my human race prosper? Where are the bones beneath Sage Confucius' feet? Then there was the Legalists supporting Qin, unifying the mainland. If Emperor Qin didn't contend, how could there be uniformity in writing, carriages, and measurements? Where are the bones beneath Emperor Qin's feet? If the Poetry Lord wins, we will sharpen our knives for him. If the Poetry Lord loses, he will be our stepping stone. That's all there is to it! Since I realized the art of war on paper, I have only believed in the pen in my hand and the Path beneath my feet!"

"Hmph!" Shi Dehong snorted coldly and stopped speaking. In front of Governor Dong, he was still a bit tender.

Fang Yun had lived in a world dominated by evolution, so he naturally believed in the survival of the fittest, which was an unavoidable truth in any world.

An old Presented Scholar sighed and said, "Xiao Li, Tong Li and I were classmates, and I have held you before. If you apologize to Fang Shuangjia, he will definitely forgive you. Don't gamble anymore, you can't win. When Fang Yun was on the dragon boat, I saw a glimpse of Li Wenying when he was young. When he was a Presented Scholar, he never lost in the dragon boat literary gathering, even against the talented scholars of the Jing Kingdom who were more gifted than him."

Even the people from the Jing Kingdom acknowledged Li Wenying's talent. Li Wenying's talent was not as good as the Four Great Talents, nor was he as good as those in the second tier, but his current achievements were second only to the Four Great Talents. If the previous generation of literary figures were to rank the Five Great Talents, besides the Four Great Talents, Li Wenying would undoubtedly be the fifth person.

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Tong Li had regained a trace of sanity and said, "Master Cheng, Governor Dong has already said that the Path of the Saints is difficult, and there is only one way to contend. If Fang Yun doesn't lose, I will never be able to let my talent flow freely, and my Book Palace will never be stable! This year's Book Mountain is my only chance! I must defeat Fang Yun! It has come to this point, and if I hesitate again, even before reaching the Book Mountain, my Book Palace will already shatter! I don't know right from wrong, I only know that I have no way to retreat!"

"You..." Cheng Presented Scholar was speechless.

Shi Dehong said, "Tong Li, I am the top scholar of a state. If you are willing, I can come to your mansion tomorrow to exchange poetry and literature. How about it?"

Tong Li happily said, "Senior Shi is really willing to help me?"

"We are both members of the human race, and we should help each other.""Thank you, Shi Jieyuan! If I can surpass Fang Yun, I will surely repay your great kindness." Tong Li's face showed joy.

Cheng Juren angrily said, "Tong Li, you must not make one mistake after another!"

Shi Dehong immediately said, "Esteemed elder, your words are mistaken. Tong Li is pursuing his own Path of the Saints. I also want to surpass Fang Yun through the Book Mountain in a fair and square manner. Where is the mistake in that?"

Fang Yun slowly said, "Tseng Tzu said: I examine myself three times a day. Even the Semi-Saint Tseng Tzu had to reflect on his loyalty, honesty, and diligence every day. You, a mere Presented Scholar, how dare you claim to be flawless? If there is a mistake, correct it; if there is none, strive harder. This is the way of the Sage. How can you act against it!"

Fang Yun's words were as usual, but only the eight characters "If there is a mistake, correct it; if there is none, strive harder" had a subtle difference, spreading far and wide, but no one immediately noticed, nor did anyone associate it with anything.

Shi Dehong was slightly surprised. He had just stimulated Tong Li with the words of the Sage and succeeded in one fell swoop. He didn't expect Fang Yun to accuse him in the same way.

Many literati of Jing Kingdom nodded with a smile, but a strange scene occurred. These people obviously all supported Fang Yun, but some smiles froze on their faces, some laughed even more happily, and some retracted their smiles and pondered deeply.

Almost all the literati present suddenly completely forgot about the dispute between the few people. Many people repeatedly muttered the eight characters "If there is a mistake, correct it; if there is none, strive harder" under their breath.

Yan Yukong, who looked down on everything, immediately turned his head to look at Fang Yun, his eyes flashing with an unprecedented brilliance.

Fang Yun secretly cried out in trouble. The eight characters "If there is a mistake, correct it; if there is none, strive harder" were Zhu Xi's annotations to "I examine myself three times a day" in The Analects. In his view, these eight characters were very common. But these eight characters had never appeared in the Holy Origin Mainland, which meant something different.

In the eyes of everyone, it was Fang Yun who was extending and explaining Tseng Tzu's words in The Analects. The Accomplished Scholar was actually annotating the words of a Semi-Saint!

In the Holy Origin Mainland, the classics of All the Saints were not to be annotated casually. Even the Grand Academicians did not dare to write books to explain the classics of All the Saints. Those classics of All the Saints were basically annotated by Great Scholars.

It was not a crime for those below the Great Scholars to annotate the classics of All the Saints, but if any sentence was not annotated correctly, they would immediately be attacked by a group. This was a dispute over the Path of the Saints, and there was no room for any mistakes.

Therefore, even when the Grand Academicians explained the classics of All the Saints, they would quote the annotations of the Great Scholars, which was somewhat similar to "invoking the words of the Saints". At most, they would add their own explanations to the annotations of the Great Scholars, which was called "elucidation".

But Fang Yun was directly annotating The Analects!

Tong Li suddenly lowered his head, his eyes showing a fierce color, and he tried hard to think about Fang Yun's sentence, wanting to find the loophole in this sentence. But this thought only lasted for three breaths, and he felt his literary palace begin to shake.

"Not good! This annotation has great meaning and great learning! I can't refute it." Tong Li was greatly shocked in his heart, hurriedly stopped thinking, and the sweat on his back flowed down. He was filled with regret in his heart, but he knew that there was no way back.

Tong Li was filled with despair.

Shi Dehong also immediately lowered his head to think, a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he secretly said that Fang Yun was overestimating his abilities. Every sentence of the classics of All the Saints contained the principles of heaven and earth and had infinite power. Many years ago, many people who had casually annotated were shattered their Courage to Write and ruined their literary palace. Now, without becoming a Great Scholar, no one dared to speak rashly.

Shi Dehong quickly thought about the eight characters "If there is a mistake, correct it; if there is none, strive harder", wanting to find a flaw, to sever the relationship between these eight characters and Tseng Tzu's famous saying, so as to completely deny Fang Yun, and then let Fang Yun's literary palace crack.

He kept thinking, but soon found that these eight characters were impeccable, and it was impossible to find any loopholes from them with the literary position of a Presented Scholar.

Not only that, the more Shi Dehong thought about it, the more he felt that this sentence contained the ultimate truth. If someone said that this was written by a Half-Sage, he would definitely believe it.

"How is it possible! How can I think his words make sense!" This disciple of the Poetry King roared in his heart.

Prefect Dong praised excitedly, "Fang Yun is truly a great talent, this sentence contains the sound of the Path of the Saints! Perhaps many years later, this sentence can become a question in the imperial examination!"

"Yes! Just now, that was indeed the sound of the Path of the Saints. Although there is still a great gap from the words of the Saints, it is ultimately close to the Path of the Saints."

Fang Yun hurriedly said, "Everyone, don't say it. I just blurted out this sentence by accident. How could it be the sound of the Path of the Saints."

However, Prefect Dong's expression changed, and he walked towards the window, looking at the Jade Belt River outside the window with a smile, "Whether it is the sound of the Path of the Saints or not, we will know at a glance."

Everyone immediately rushed to the window, even those old people in their seventies and eighties were extremely excited. (To be continued.)

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