CH 184

Before speaking, Meng Linyu held a Treasure of Literature in his hand, using the power of talent to isolate their conversation from the outside world.

Upon hearing him mention the fur, Fang Yun was taken aback. He hadn't expected the Meng family to target him so quickly.

The Meng family, a Semi-Saint Prominent Family, was different from most others.

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The origin of the Meng family was the great general Meng Tian of the Qin Dynasty. He was highly respected for improving the brush, but he was not a Semi-Saint. His status was equivalent to that of The Empty Sage, and some even called him the Sage of the Brush.

Over a hundred years ago, an ordinary collateral descendant of the Meng family suddenly rose to prominence. With the support of the main family, he obtained the relics of many great generals and even Semi-Saints of the Qin Dynasty, such as Meng Tian, Bai Qi, Lv Buwei, and Shang Yang. From these, he comprehended various truths of The Path of the Saints, later becoming a Great Scholar and attempting to become a Semi-Saint.

After several failed attempts to become a Semi-Saint, he became more extreme, even monopolizing the Meng family's possessions and causing conflict with the main family. He abolished the main family, established his own line as the rightful heirs, and drove the original main family to the fringes of the wilderness.

Finally, seeing no hope of becoming a saint, he led troops to fight enemies, battling across various battlefields in Jing Kingdom, Qing Kingdom, Qi Kingdom, and against the barbarians. Using the enemies and barbarians as sharpening stones, he adopted Bai Qi's military strategies, supplemented by the techniques of Lv Buwei and Shang Yang. After a series of battles, he finally carved out his own Path of the Brave and successfully became a saint.

Due to his strong personality, tough methods, and ruthless strategies, he was feared by both friends and foes alike. He was known as "The Tyrant", a title he accepted without hesitation.

The Tyrant built the foundation of his Path of the Saints on the despair and military killings, which posed a great hidden danger. Not long after becoming a saint, he became enlightened, became more reserved, and quietly cultivated. In the end, he disappeared without a trace. The Holy Academy did not announce any news about him, and he was listed as a missing Semi-Saint.

Later generations analyzed that The Tyrant's mistake was his excessive killing of the human race. His extreme personality and the equally extreme Path of the Brave he primarily cultivated were major taboos. Confucius's disciple Zilu was also reckless and brave, but only after Confucius guided him to cultivate righteousness to supplement bravery did he become a Semi-Saint.

After becoming a saint, The Tyrant hardly ever showed his face again. He didn't even write his own book of The Path of the Saints, so there were no works of his in the Imperial Examination's request for saintly words. Occasionally, people would ask about the time of his ascension to sainthood.

The Meng family also fell into silence because they had too many enemies. Some Semi-Saint Prominent Families even refused to acknowledge The Tyrant's Semi-Saint status.

Because many of The Tyrant's words and deeds conflicted with the orthodox military strategists, the Sun Tzu family and the Sun Bin family, among other military strategist families, never interacted with the Meng family.

It wasn't until fifteen years ago that the new genius of the Meng family, Meng Lintang, rose to prominence. The Meng family once again appeared in the public eye.

Meng Lintang, self-proclaimed as the Wild Scholar of the Northwest, vowed when he became a Hanlin Scholar five years ago that once he became a Grand Academician, he would seize the position of one of the four great talents of this generation. He was known as The Tyrant.

The Tyrant, a spitting image of the original Tyrant, was even more rational. Fang Yun had heard of Meng Lintang's arrogant reputation. He had offended many prominent families and even destroyed some, but he had never heard of him offending a Semi-Saint Prominent Family.

Fang Yun knew that Meng Linyu must be a brother of the same generation as Meng Lintang. He asked, "I wonder where Brother Meng got this news."

Meng Linyu smiled and said, "From the Ji family."

Fang Yun's eyes widened in anger, and he couldn't help but think of the three people from that day. He exclaimed, "Despicable!"

Fang Yun's expression was very direct, but countless thoughts flashed through his mind. The power of his strategy of deceiving the heavens and crossing the sea involuntarily activated, and he felt that the other party was secretly mobilizing military power.

Meng Linyu sighed lightly and said, "The Ji family is in decline and has always been cautious, unwilling to conflict with you. But they hate that you got the fur before them, so they spread this news in secret, hoping to use other Prominent Families or our Meng family to get rid of you. Although Lintang has a fierce reputation, most of it is slander from his enemies. He is just straightforward. Fearing that you might misunderstand, he sent me to explain."

Fang Yun still had anger in his eyes and said, "Is the Ji family afraid to directly snatch the fur because they fear Lord Dongsheng?"

Meng Linyu pretended to think, then shook his head and said, "I don't know about that." After saying that, he closed his mouth.

Fang Yun's anger gradually subsided, and he said, "Thank you, Brother Meng, for the reminder. If it weren't for you, I might have been deceived by the Ji family."

Meng Linyu sighed and said, "Your only problem now is that your foundation is not deep. If you had a deep foundation, who would dare to provoke you?"

"I understand. This is my weakness." Fang Yun said sincerely.

"Actually, your mentor is not a Semi-Saint, is he?" Meng Linyu suddenly said.

Fang Yun helplessly said, "To be honest, I don't know if he is or not. He never said anything about it. If I don't become an Imperial Scholar, I'm not qualified to know his identity."

Meng Linyu said, "Recently, the consensus among the Prominent Families of All the Saints is that your mentor cannot possibly be a Semi-Saint. Therefore, the people of Qing Kingdom and Wu Kingdom are already itching to move. I shouldn't be telling you this, but to show the sincerity of our Meng family, I should tell you about it."

Fang Yun said calmly, "I have never used my mentor's name to bluff and deceive others. It doesn't matter what others think. I think Lord Dongsheng helped me kill the Great Scholar of Qing Kingdom not for my mentor."

Meng Linyu didn't say anything, just nodded his head. After a moment of silence, he said, "You really are the famous Fang Mao of the Ten Nations, full of courage! I heard that after you won the provincial examination, you want to challenge the whole province in a literary battle; after you pass the metropolitan examination and become an Imperial Scholar, you want to go to Qing Kingdom to reclaim a province through a literary battle. Is that true?"

"I'm tired of Qing Kingdom's endless suppression of Jing Kingdom. In order to be able to read in peace in Jing Kingdom in the future, I have to get rid of the mosquitoes around me, don't you think?" Fang Yun said with a smile, looking at Meng Linyu.

Meng Linyu nodded and said, "That makes sense. If Lintang hears this, he will definitely like your approach. Well... In addition to talking about the Ji family, I also want to use something to exchange for that fur. Of course, I won't force you. After I say what we're prepared to exchange, if you refuse, I'll pretend I never asked, so as not to hurt our friendship."

"If the Meng family sincerely wants to exchange, I will certainly reciprocate." Fang Yun said.

Meng Linyu asked, "Do you know about the Pointing Soldiers Platform?"Fang Yun's expression turned solemn, he asked seriously, "Is it the artifact of Han Xin, who was later known as the God of War?"

"Yes, it's Han Xin's Soldier Counting Platform. According to the 'Historical Records', Han Xin was so meritorious that he aroused suspicion. He later colluded with the traitor Chen Xi. When the Emperor of Han attacked Chen, Han Xin feigned illness and did not participate. In the end, he was executed by Empress Lü's scheme. Han Xin was a military strategist after all. Before his death, he requested to infuse his talent into his official seal, transforming it into the Soldier Counting Platform, a very powerful Treasure of Literature, far surpassing the ordinary ones of the Great Scholars."

"I'm aware of this. It's a pity that a generation's God of War ended up in such a situation. If he were alive today, without the suppression of the strong Han Dynasty, he might have smoothly become the new saint of the Military Strategists." Fang Yun felt regret for Han Xin. If one were to judge based on military achievements and strategies, Han Xin would definitely have become a saint.

"Indeed, it's a pity. A great man of his generation." Meng Lin Yu said.

Fang Yun asked, "Han Xin's Soldier Counting Platform is said to have a magical effect. Is the Meng family really willing to exchange it?"

Meng Lin Yu replied, "None of us in the Meng family want to part with it, but to show our sincerity, we are willing to exchange the Soldier Counting Platform for that fur. How does our offer compare to the Ji family's?"

"Far superior to the Ji family's." Fang Yun replied.

"So, do you agree to the exchange?" Meng Lin Yu asked.

Fang Yun asked, "Can you wait for three days while I consider?"

"Three days is nothing, I can wait! However, if you disagree after three days, I will have to leave. The Soldier Counting Platform is a treasure of the Military Strategists, and no one would exchange such a Treasure of Literature for that piece of fur."

Fang Yun said, "The Ji family said that the fur is worth at most an ordinary Great Scholar's Treasure of Literature. Why is the Meng family willing to exchange a top-tier Great Scholar's Treasure of Literature for it?"

Meng Lin Yu sighed, "Actually, it's nothing much, but please don't mention it to others."

"Don't worry, whether we end up exchanging or not, as long as the Meng family is sincere, I won't mention this matter to anyone else."

Meng Lin Yu said, "Not long after our ancestor, Meng Saint, became a saint, he found that his foundation in the Path of the Saints was unstable. He sought ways to remedy it, but ended up disappearing. We in the Meng family deduced from various clues that our ancestor might have entered the Holy Land from the Demon Realm, and that fur might be related to him."

"So you're trying to trace your ancestor's footsteps. Ah, now that you've said this, I really want to exchange right away. By the way, since the Ji family told the Meng family about this, the other Semi-Saint Prominent Families must know about it too, right?"

Meng Lin Yu said, "Everyone in both realms is watching the Holy Land, so this kind of thing can't be kept secret. However, many people don't know the use of the fur and don't care about it. After all, there are many secrets in the Holy Land, and each Prominent Family probably has some of them. They won't miss a piece of fur."

"I see. It seems that if I don't exchange with the Meng family, I will be under a lot of pressure. Alright, let me think about it more." Fang Yun stood up as he spoke.

Seeing that Fang Yun was about to see him out, Meng Lin Yu also stood up and said, "I'll come again in three days."

"Take care, Brother Meng." Fang Yun saw Meng Lin Yu out.

After Meng Lin Yu left, an old man with a straightforward temperament said with a stern face, "Fang Yun, Meng Saint slaughtered two of our cities back then. He has a deep feud with our Jing Kingdom. Don't forget that."

Another old man said, "You may not know this since you're in Jade Sea City, but I've traveled around various nations over the years and have heard and seen a lot. Meng Lin Yu's talent even surpasses that of Meng Saint, and he also practices the Path of the Military Strategists. After becoming an Imperial Scholar, he used his status as a member of a Semi-Saint Prominent Family to seize and plunder, continuously strengthening the Meng family. A Semi-Saint Prominent Family originally only had a town, but their Meng family has occupied the entire Meng County. The disciples of the Meng family from all over are studying there, and it's thriving."

"Doesn't the royal family of the Wu Nation care?" Fang Yun asked.

"It's not worth falling out with a Semi-Saint Prominent Family over a county. You must be very careful. Meng Lin Yu practices Meng Saint's Path of the Saints. Although he is more restrained than Meng Saint, he is still extremely ruthless. It is said that he originally studied 'Sun Tzu's Art of War' and wanted to become a traditional Military Strategist. But later, he was somehow stimulated and swore to re-verify Meng Saint's Path of the Saints, to wash away the shame for his ancestors, and to make 'Meng Saint's Art of War' appear in the Saint's Words."

"I really didn't know about this, after all, there are tens of thousands of miles between here and Meng County in Wu Nation." Fang Yun said.

The old man's expression was serious, "We all dislike Meng Lin Yu, but he is indeed ruthless. He is currently plundering on a large scale, using any means necessary to strengthen the Meng family. He might really restore the Meng family to its former glory. A few days ago, an old friend from Wu Nation sent me a message by carrier pigeon, saying that Meng Lin Yu even forced the prominent Han and Zhang families to hand over the 'Three Chapters of Han Xin' and other Treasures of Literature. It was only after someone from the Sun family spoke up that Meng Lin Yu had to temporarily restrain himself." (To be continued.)