CH 150

"Master Dong, please, there's no need for formalities. I'll just take the seat at the head." Fang Yun said.

"No way! If you don't take the head seat, none of us will sit! This banquet, while partly to celebrate me, is mainly to thank you." Feng Yuanjun said, pushing Fang Yun towards the main seat.

Unable to refuse any further, Fang Yun had no choice but to sit in the main seat, with Li Wenying sitting next to him and Feng Yuanjun on the other side.

Once seated, Li Wenying returned to his usual seriousness, speaking very little, while Feng Yuanjun was extremely cheerful, talking non-stop.

"Before going to the River of Enlightenment, I firmly believed that it was extraordinary. When I saw it with my own eyes, I was immediately attracted by the quiet river. It was unremarkable, yet it had a mysterious power that firmly drew me in. I found a quiet place and had my private soldiers guard it. I sat there for three days without eating or drinking."

"At first, I was very calm, my mind clear, but I gained nothing, which inevitably made me a little restless and increasingly impatient. On the second day, I suddenly remembered Fang Yun's 'Inscription of the Humble Room', so I recited all his poems in my heart. For some reason, my mindset at that time was like reciting the classics of All the Saints, repeating them over and over again, and finally, I couldn't help but read them out loud."

"On the third day, I was calm and composed, slowly recalling my life. When I recalled Fang Yun writing 'Lotus leaves reach to the sky in endless green, lotus flowers reflecting the sun in a different red', I suddenly saw a sea of green lotus leaves, and a lotus flower rising slowly in the middle, reflecting each other with the sun. Then I found that my Courage to Write had been refined, and I had achieved great success in the first realm!"

After Feng Yuanjun finished speaking, he looked at Fang Yun meaningfully.

The rest of the people also looked at Fang Yun. Everyone knew that Feng Yuanjun couldn't possibly have such high talent. Apart from Fang Yun's poems and the River of Enlightenment, there was no other possibility.

"I believe that it's because of Feng Yuanjun's solid knowledge, refined talent, and stable Courage to Write that he was able to make a breakthrough at this time. It has nothing to do with my poems." Fang Yun said.

However, Prefect Dong said, "What you said earlier is correct, Master Fang. Master Feng naturally has a deep foundation, but your poems and the River of Enlightenment could be that spark of inspiration that awakened him. Many times, a few words of guidance are more effective than years of hard study. This point is most convincingly demonstrated by Master Li's experience."

Li Wenying nodded.

Fang Yun was left speechless. Li Wenying was actually quite ordinary when he was young, and even nearly twenty years old without passing the Child Scholar examination. But then he met a very ordinary old man who casually shared some life experiences, which happened to strike a chord with Li Wenying, leading to his sudden enlightenment and unstoppable progress ever since.

Feng Yuanjun raised his wine glass to Fang Yun and said sincerely, "This first toast, to Fang Yun, to his selflessness in sharing the River of Enlightenment, even repeatedly hinting at me to go there! Such a person with a heart as vast as the ocean, his future position will surely be above the stars! Fang Yun, I toast to you!"

Fang Yun had no choice but to raise his glass and toast with Feng Yuanjun, hoping that no one else would gain enlightenment from the River of Enlightenment in the future.

Feng Yuanjun was very talkative today, making the atmosphere of the banquet very lively. Fang Yun, on the other hand, was particularly silent, but the others saw this and kept nodding in approval.

"Look at him, he clearly has the ability to guide others to breakthroughs. He's clearly the center of this banquet, but he doesn't take credit at all, instead saying it's all due to Feng Yuanjun's own efforts. Who wouldn't like such a young scholar? If he's not a role model for scholars, who is?"

"Indeed! Even though I'm thirty years older than him, if I were in his position, I'd be grinning from ear to ear."

"I used to think that Fang Yun only had the potential to be a Great Scholar, but now I'm convinced that, barring any accidents, he will become a Semi-Saint! Ten years from now, he will surely be one of the four great talents of the next generation!"

"Yes! With such a calm heart, Fang Yun will surely become a Grand Academician within ten years, a Great Scholar within twenty years, and a Semi-Saint within fifty years! Just like what Feng Yuanjun said, his position will be above the stars."

Fang Yun sighed inwardly from time to time, thinking that these people had too much imagination and were too good at making things up.

After a quarter of an hour, Li Wenying asked in a low voice, "Do you have any relatives or friends in the Holy Academy?"

Fang Yun was taken aback, not understanding why Li Wenying would ask such a question, so he said, "No."

The two of them spoke very quietly, but everyone instinctively shut their mouths. After all, one of them was the undisputed number one person in Jiangzhou, and the other was the undisputed number one Accomplished Scholar of the Ten Nations. Like two giants here, no one dared to speak when the two of them were talking.

Li Wenying didn't care about the reactions of others and said, "That's strange then. The people from the East Saint Pavilion said that this year's quota for the Holy Land is designated for you alone. It doesn't count towards Jing Kingdom's quota, but takes up the quota of the Semi-Saint Prominent Family."

"How could this be?" Fang Yun felt a sense of foreboding when he heard that it took up the quota of the Semi-Saint Prominent Family.

Li Wenying said, "I'm not familiar with the people from the East Saint Pavilion, so I can't guess the mystery behind it."

However, Feng Yuanjun was stunned, then said, "After I became an Imperial Scholar, I worked in the East Saint Pavilion for half a year."

"Then you tell us what's going on, so he can be prepared." Prefect Dong immediately said.

Everyone looked nervously at Feng Yuanjun, fearing that the mighty East Saint Pavilion was targeting Fang Yun.

Feng Yuanjun said, "This requires me to tell a story I heard. Back then, the leader of the Four Great Talents, Historian Jun, made a small mistake and was deliberately demoted by the people of the East Saint Pavilion to the far west to fight against the Sand Barbarians in the desert. But Historian Jun was too outstanding. Not only did he not suffer any losses, his foundation became more and more solid. Then he received a reward, which seemed to be snatched from the hands of a Semi-Saint Prominent Family, so some disciples of the Semi-Saint Prominent Families were not happy."

Li Wenying nodded, as if to say that this was indeed the case.

Feng Yuanjun continued, "Most of the descendants of the Semi-Saint Prominent Families are just bystanders, with only a few taking action. Most of them are just testing Shi Jun's strength. Once they realize that Shi Jun is qualified for the reward, they either stop midway, admit defeat, or praise Shi Jun. However, a few of them are not convinced and keep causing trouble for Shi Jun. Shi Jun has been persisting and not giving in. A month later, those who were causing trouble for him were all sent to the Two Realms Mountain and never returned."

Fang Yun immediately said, "I see. You mean this is a method used by the Eastern Saint Pavilion to temper people."

Feng Yuanjun, however, said with undisguised envy, "No, it's a method to temper geniuses! We don't even qualify to be tempered by the Eastern Saint Pavilion."

Everyone agreed. If one is not a genius, the Eastern Saint Pavilion wouldn't even bother.

Feng Yuanjun added, "I also heard that not all generations of the Eastern Saint Pavilion do this. It's the habit of the current Eastern Saint. So, I suspect that the Eastern Saint specifically chose Fang Yun to go to the Holy Land and deliberately let him take the quota of the Semi-Saint Prominent Families."

Fang Yun helplessly said, "They also want to use me to weed out the bad elements in the Semi-Saint Prominent Families, right?"

"Of course, that's part of the plan. The Eastern Saint has always advocated competition, but there must be a bottom line. You all know about the Eastern Saint's deeds when he was young. He killed enemies with talent first, and when the talent was exhausted, he killed enemies with a big knife in his hand, claiming that his Path of the Saints was forged through killing."

The people at the banquet wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. There were countless stories about Wang Jinglong. Before he became a Great Scholar, he was straightforward in his actions, claiming that whatever he did was his Path of the Saints. It was only after he became a Great Scholar that he began to cultivate his character. But if anyone angered him, he would immediately revert to his original self, Wang Jinglong.

Fang Yun asked, "Speaking of the Holy Land, I heard that when Sage Confucius was in seclusion, his several Semi-Saint disciples discovered a place. They encountered the Demon Clan there and all died in battle. That place was destroyed by the power of All the Saints and turned into ruins, hence it was called the Holy Land. Is this legend true?"

Most people were calm because this was a widely circulated statement, and they all believed it.

Li Wenying remained silent, while a few people looked somewhat embarrassed.

Feng Yuanjun said, "Everyone here is not an outsider, and this matter is not a secret. It's okay to tell the truth. In this matter, our human race was at fault, but our Semi-Saints accidentally entered there. They apologized afterwards, but the Demon Clan was relentless, leading to a life-and-death struggle."

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"Is there any inside story?" someone asked curiously.

Feng Yuanjun said, "The Holy Land was originally the tomb of a Semi-Saint of the Demon Clan. Although that Semi-Saint was not very powerful, he was one of the few who excelled in wisdom. Unlike other demons who only knew how to solve everything with killing, he made great contributions to the Demon Clan and held a high status. Our three Semi-Saints accidentally entered there, not knowing that it was the tomb of the Demon Saint. After all, the tombs of the Demon Clan and the Human Clan are different and cannot be distinguished."

Many people nodded. Although the Demon Clan had language, they originally had no written language. It was only later that they learned from the human race and created their own demon script. But even now, few demons learn it. Instead, human Accomplished Scholars or those of higher ranks must master it.

"The three Semi-Saints thought they had discovered a treasure land and then damaged the outer part of the Demon Saint's tomb. They were soon discovered by three Demon Saints and pursued. You know the Demon Barbarians, they are not lacking in wisdom in normal times, but once their blood is boiling, they will decide everything based on instinct. The three Demon Saints naturally thought that the human race had deliberately harmed the Demon Clan by breaking the thousand-year agreement, so they attacked the three Semi-Saints desperately. During the battle, our Semi-Saints learned the truth and apologized. Semi-Saint Zi Lu even took the initiative to not resist and took a hit from the Demon Clan, breaking his arm as an apology."

Many people had already guessed what happened next and were extremely angry.

"The other two Semi-Saints of our side also stopped and hoped to negotiate with the Demon Saints. But the Demon Saints were unrelenting and took advantage of the situation to launch a sneak attack and kill Semi-Saint Zi Lu! The other two were fellow disciples of Zi Lu. Seeing their fellow disciple die, how could they continue to negotiate? So the two Semi-Saints consumed the remaining 90% of their lifespan to turn into jade blood and a heart of gold, and finally died together with the three Demon Saints, sending the news back before they died."

Everyone then knew that Semi-Saint Zi Lu had died in such a way, and that such a thing had happened in the Holy Land.

"The people of the three Semi-Saint Prominent Families were naturally extremely angry. So, whenever they found out that the Holy Land was open, they would go in to hunt the Demon Barbarians. The Demon Barbarians also fought back, and this tradition has continued to this day."

Fang Yun sighed. Many of Confucius's disciples died prematurely. If they could live until Confucius's death, at least three more Sub-Sages would have emerged. (To be continued.)

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