CH 206

Everyone was unsure why the old man was angry, and they didn't dare to ask. Yan Yukong and the others walked out, while Fang Yun took out a set of Talented Scholar's robes from the Swallowed Lake Pearl and changed into them. His previous clothes were in tatters.

When Yan Yukong walked out, many people outside smiled and congratulated him. When Sun Naiyong and Mo Shan walked out, everyone thought it was only natural.

When Fang Yun, dressed in the Talented Scholar's robes, walked out, everyone was stunned. Even Li Wenying was taken aback, then his eyes revealed an undisguised joy.

"What's going on? The fourth one to come out is a Talented Scholar?"

"That person seems to be Fang Yun."

"Even if he is Fang Yun, he is still a Talented Scholar! How could a Talented Scholar pass the Holy Land Road? How could a Talented Scholar rank fourth! Look, only six people came out this time, where are the other geniuses from various nations? It's absolutely impossible! There must be something wrong!"

"You talk less, wait and see, ask for the situation before making conclusions."

Hundreds of people didn't speak, quietly waiting for Fang Yun and the others to come over.

An official from the Qing Nation walked a few steps quickly, smiling at Yan Yukong who was walking in front: "Master Yan, you are the first in the Holy Land Road this time, right?"

Yan Yukong nodded.

"Then... how come that Fang Yun from Jing Kingdom came out with you?"

"He also passed the Holy Land Road, ranking fourth." Yan Yukong finished speaking, ignored the man, and walked away.

The official from Qing Nation stood there as if petrified. He wanted to grab Yan Yukong's clothes and ask again, but he heard clearly that Fang Yun ranked fourth on the Holy Land Road, becoming one of the top ten, and his Moonlight was doubled.

The people around looked at Fang Yun. The Holy Land Road was not about poetry, it was about survival ability, it was about strength. Only those with enough strength were qualified to enter the Holy Land.

"A Talented Scholar stands out from a group of genius Presented Scholars and ranks fourth, this... is the world of the Ten Nations going to change?"

"Fortunately, it's only Presented Scholars and Talented Scholars. If there were Imperial Scholars participating and he could still rank in the top ten, I, as an Imperial Scholar, would rather die!"

"How did he pass the Holy Land Road? When I was a Presented Scholar, I also walked through it, and it was simply a hell on earth. How could he, a Talented Scholar, possibly do it?"

People were discussing and guessing, and finally came to a helpless conclusion: Fang Yun is not afraid of pain!

Apart from this, they couldn't think of any other possibilities.

People also noticed another problem. Among the Sage Confucius and the six Sub-Sage Prominent Families, only Yan Yukong was in the top six. The rest, except for Fang Yun, were all disciples of the Semi-Saint Prominent Families.

"Could it be... is the world really going to change?"

"The Holy Land came early this year, and many Prominent Families miscalculated. Those geniuses are too young. If they waited for another two years, even if they couldn't compare to Yan Yukong, they wouldn't be worse than others. If they knew the Holy Land would come early, those Imperial Scholars would probably still be Presented Scholars."

"Look, someone is writing the ranking of the Holy Land Road."

Everyone looked over and saw a large piece of white paper being posted on the side of the Wen Palace. A Hanlin Scholar stood a zhang away, a pen flew from his hand to the front of the paper, writing the ranking of the Holy Land Road.

Fang Yun glanced at the list, then chatted with Li Wenying about the Holy Land Road and walked out, heading to the resting place in the Confucius Mansion, waiting for the Mid-Autumn Literary Meeting in the Holy Land in the evening. After writing the poems and articles, they could receive the Moonlight, and finally officially enter the Holy Land.

Two quarters of an hour later, Li Fanming passed through the mist, looking exhausted. The big rabbit no longer let him carry it, and honestly followed behind.

Li Fanming walked towards the Beast Bridge, seeing dozens of people standing in front, most of them resting. So he asked the earliest arrivals, but no one had seen Fang Yun.

"Anyway, he is the first Talented Scholar, and his poetry is so good, even if he doesn't get extra Moonlight, he is safe." Li Fanming thought to himself, sitting on the ground to rest, preparing to wait until he recovered some strength before crossing the Beast Bridge.

The big rabbit ran around, constantly sniffing. In a short while, it happily returned to Li Fanming's side.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and Liu Zizhi walked out of the mist, slowly heading towards the Beast Bridge.

Liu Zizhi's face was pale, and his mood was low. He carefully looked at all the people by the Beast Bridge, and when he didn't see Fang Yun, his mood suddenly improved.

Walking to the edge of the Beast Bridge, Liu Zizhi heard people talking about Fang Yun, so he went over to eavesdrop.

"Who of you has seen Fang Yun?" someone asked.

"Brother Fanming just asked, it seems that Fang Yun hasn't passed through the mist."

"Of course, if he, a mere Talented Scholar, could pass through the mist, where would we, the Presented Scholars, put our faces?"

"But, this mist is really terrifying. This is just ordinary mist. If it's that powerful mist, we would definitely die. And the mist can turn into butterflies, which is terrifying to think about."

"The mist is not terrifying when it first turns into a butterfly, it's very weak. If it is given enough time to grow, then the Holy Land would be its world. So the Demon Barbarians and other strange creatures in the Holy Land will do everything possible to prevent the mist from turning into butterflies. Once the mist turns into butterflies, they will unite to eliminate it, not allowing the Mist Butterfly to grow."

"I heard that the Demon Emperor has a Mist Butterfly, which is extremely terrifying."

"Enough, talk less, recover your strength to fight for the top thirty, if not, you can't be outside the eighty."Upon hearing the conversations of the crowd, Liu Zizhi felt relieved. As long as Fang Yun couldn't make it into the top thirty and didn't receive the extra Moonlight, no matter how strong he was in the Holy Land as an Accomplished Scholar, he wouldn't be able to make a difference.

Li Fanming was standing nearby. Remembering how Li Fanming had opposed him by the river before, Liu Zizhi smiled and said, "Brother Fanming, I apologize. I didn't expect Fang Yun to be able to cross the Weak Water and even the Strange Wind Valley. Your vision is better than mine."

Li Fanming glanced at Liu Zizhi and responded indifferently.

Liu Zizhi had intended to resolve the conflict with Li Fanming, considering that the latter was half a member of the Ji family. However, seeing his attitude, it was clear that he had a great relationship with Fang Yun. This made Liu Zizhi even more displeased. He said, "It's a pity that Fang Yun can't make it into the top thirty of the Holy Land. If he could, and received the extra Moonlight, he would be much safer in the Holy Land. I've heard that very few Accomplished Scholars have ever returned alive from the Holy Land."

"As long as Fang Yun can cross the Strange Wind Valley, it will be easy for him to leave the Holy Land safely," Li Fanming said.

"That's not necessarily true. At least he has to cross the Changing Fog before he can say he's not afraid of the Holy Land," Liu Zizhi replied with a smile.

Li Fanming snorted lightly and ignored Liu Zizhi.

A large rabbit nearby was looking at Liu Zizhi with a slanted eye, as if looking at a fool.

As time passed, more and more people completed the Holy Land Road. Among the top sixty, fifty-four were disciples from the Prominent Families of All the Saints. After the sixtieth place, the majority were disciples from non-Prominent Families of All the Saints. If it weren't for the large-scale invasion of the Demon Clan into the Two Realms Mountain, some disciples from the Semi-Saint Prominent Families wouldn't have been able to come, and the competition on the Holy Land Road would have been even more intense.

Two quarters of an hour later, Li Fanming crossed the Beast Bridge and successfully passed the Holy Land Road.

Soon after, Liu Zizhi also passed the Holy Land Road and appeared in the Hall of Literature. He didn't care about his torn clothes and rushed out of the hall. Then he looked around and saw a list nearby. His heart was in his throat.

"I hope there are less than eighty people! I hope there are less than eighty people!" He thought to himself, holding his breath and looking at the end of the list.

He saw a Hanlin Scholar writing with a divine brush: Seventy-six, Liu Zizhi.

Liu Zizhi clenched his fists, almost wanting to shout out loud. He knew that he originally didn't qualify to be in the top eighty of the Presented Scholars, but with the full support of the Left Chancellor, he had a chance to make great progress in these days. However, the chance was not big, and he didn't feel relieved until now.

"Let's see who are in the top ten." Liu Zizhi thought to himself, starting from the first place, Yan Yukong. When he saw the name "Fang Yun" ranked fourth, his heart skipped a beat. He instinctively thought it was a coincidence of names, but a sense of uncontrollable panic rose from the depths of his heart.

"It can't be Fang Yun! It can't be! It can't be..." Liu Zizhi kept comforting himself in his heart, but the more he did so, the greater his panic became. The scene of Fang Yun surpassing him in the Strange Wind Valley involuntarily surfaced in his mind. He still remembered that bone-chilling scene. He thought he had lost, but in the end, Fang Yun surpassed him, which was a huge blow to him.

With heavy steps, Liu Zizhi walked to the Hanlin Scholar and prayed countless times in his heart before he asked softly, "Sir Hanlin, which nation does the person ranked fourth on the list come from?"

The Hanlin Scholar glanced at Liu Zizhi and said, "Don't you know Jing Kingdom's Fang Yun? You thought it was a coincidence of names? It's not a coincidence, it's him! Not only you asked, it's the Fang Mao who wrote 'Inscription of the Humble House', don't ask anymore."

Liu Zizhi's body swayed, and he didn't even have time to confirm again. All the words he wanted to say were blocked by the Hanlin Scholar.

Just then, Liu Zizhi heard a strange laughter. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a large rabbit standing upright, staring at him, covering its mouth with its front paws and laughing strangely. The look in its eyes was like looking at a fool.

Liu Zizhi was almost driven mad. It was bad enough that he was surpassed by Fang Yun, but now even a rabbit had the right to laugh at him!

Li Fanming, standing nearby, apologized with a smile, "Brother Liu, I'm really sorry. Our rabbit doesn't understand etiquette, and has made you laugh." Saying this, he nudged the big rabbit with his toe to make it behave.

However, the big rabbit ran far away and kept pointing at Liu Zizhi and laughing.

The people around looked curiously at Liu Zizhi. It was a rare sight to see a Presented Scholar being laughed at by a rabbit.

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"Ah, there's nothing I can do." Li Fanming sighed and left.

Liu Zizhi was so angry that his face turned red. He wished he could find a hole to crawl into.

Around four in the afternoon, before the sun had set, people from all over the city began to head towards the Confucius Mansion Academy in the city center.

There were already a large number of students bustling around the square in front of the Confucius Mansion Academy. Some were busy setting up the stage for the literary meeting, where the hundred people who were eligible to enter the Holy Land would write poems and lyrics. Others were setting up tables and chairs in front of the stage for the guests.

The roofs of all the houses around the square of the Confucius Mansion Academy were flat, and many tables and chairs were also set up on the roofs. Every time at this moment, these rooftops could be sold for a high price. Those who didn't get an invitation to the literary meeting would try their best to buy these rooftop positions.

The Holy Land Mid-Autumn Literary Meeting was held once a year, and each time it would empty the streets and attract countless people from the City of Confucius to the front of the Academy.This year is destined to be more lively than before, as a large amount of gossip is spreading. Some say that the current generation's Four Great Talents will gather, even the always mysterious "Hidden Monarch", who is one of the Four Great Talents, will also come. Some say that the previous generation's Four Great Talents and Li Wenying, who is known as the fifth talent, have already arrived. The Tyrant has also appeared, and there are even rumors that the Semi-Saint might come to watch this literary meeting. (To be continued.)

PS: The third update will be at midnight, which will be quite late.