“Tomorrow at noon, go to the Tian character room at De Yue Tower and tell them you are Fang Yun. No one will dare to stop you. I’ll go ahead.” Zhang Poyue patted Fang Yun’s shoulder and turned to leave.

The literary battle had ended, and everyone gradually returned home.

The carriage came to a stop, and Fang Yun stepped down, hearing the sound of a zither coming from his house. The music was slow and the tone was stagnant, clearly a beginner practicing.

Fang Yun entered the house and found that the sound of the zither was coming from Yang Yuhuan’s room. He quietly walked over and gently opened the door.

Under the dim oil lamp, Yang Yuhuan was earnestly playing the zither. She was dressed in a white floral dress, elegant and refined. Her long black hair draped over her back, her eyes focused on the zither, plucking the strings slowly. Despite her clumsiness, there was a unique beauty to it.

After a while, Yang Yuhuan realized there was an extra person in the room. She looked up, her face flushed, and she stood up in a panic, her hands twisted together, “I…I didn’t hear you come back.”

Fang Yun didn’t expect Yang Yuhuan to be so shy and asked with a smile, “How long have you been learning?”

“Madam Lai taught me yesterday, and this zither is also borrowed from her.” Yang Yuhuan was still a bit shy.

Fang Yun asked in surprise, “You’ve only been learning for a day and you can play this well?”

Yang Yuhuan was both happy and shy, and whispered, “I’m not good at all, but Madam Lai said I have talent. I was upset today, so I started playing and lost track of time.”

“Since you like the zither, let’s go buy a better one in a few days. I like the way you play. After you’ve practiced well, play for me.” Fang Yun said.

Yang Yuhuan had originally not wanted Fang Yun to know, always feeling that she, as a lowly child bride, would be laughed at for learning such elegant things, especially since she had just learned to read. But to her surprise, Fang Yun, the great talent of Jiangzhou, not only liked it, but also strongly supported her. This made her feel a warm current in her heart, full of gratitude.

“Okay, I will study the zither well and only play for you!” Yang Yuhuan whispered, looking at Fang Yun with a different kind of affection.

“Do you really like playing the zither?” Fang Yun seemed to be asking a redundant question.

Yang Yuhuan was stunned for a moment, then nodded seriously, “I really like it, I…I think…if I can play the zither well…I can…I can match you a little bit, just a little bit is enough.”

Yang Yuhuan’s voice was trembling, but her eyes were extraordinarily firm.

Fang Yun’s gaze became incredibly gentle, “The zither in the four arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting is the zither you play. All scholars should know how to play. I may not have time to delve into it. But since you like it, keep practicing. If you can reach a high level, it may be very beneficial.”

Like calligraphy, zither, chess, and painting each have their own realms.

“Okay, I will work hard!” Yang Yuhuan’s eyes shone even brighter in the night.

“I will take the state examination this year to become a Presented Scholar, and then prepare for the Imperial Scholar examination. Whether I can become an Imperial Scholar or not, I will marry you within two years at most. You can send someone to inquire about your family. Your relatives will be needed when we get married.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you.” Yang Yuhuan shyly lowered her head, her heart sweet as if she had eaten honey. These days, she noticed that Fang Yun was changing more and more, and she was afraid that Fang Yun would alienate her. But to her surprise, Fang Yun treated her even better than before, and was particularly considerate.

Fang Yun understood how bitter the hearts of women in this era were. Since Yang Yuhuan liked the zither, let her focus on learning. Having a hobby would give her a spiritual sustenance, and she wouldn’t be worn down by the trivial matters at home.

“You can play the zither whenever you want in the future. Don’t worry about me, I won’t be disturbed by the sound of the zither.”

Yang Yuhuan said, “When you’re home, I won’t play. I’ll go to Madam Lai’s place to play. General Lai is almost never home during the day. It’s very convenient to be with Madam Lai, and it won’t disturb you.”

“That’s fine. The more expensive the zither, the better. Don’t save money, just buy a good one, okay?”

“Okay.” Yang Yuhuan was overjoyed, regardless of what Fang Yun said. She just nodded in agreement.

“I’m going back to my room to study, don’t stay up too late.”

“Okay.” Yang Yuhuan nodded again.

Fang Yun smiled and said, “Sister Yuhuan, you look beautiful when you play the zither. I really like it.” He then turned and left.

Yang Yuhuan’s face turned crimson, and she secretly watched Fang Yun, her little heart beating even faster.

“Little Yun is becoming more and more glib.” Yang Yuhuan whispered, but she was very happy in her heart.

Seeing Fang Yun’s figure disappear, Yang Yuhuan couldn’t help but walk a few steps to the door, once again seeing Fang Yun’s back, she felt particularly at ease. Watching Fang Yun enter his room, a faint smile appeared on her face.

Yang Yuhuan quietly looked at Fang Yun’s room, the smile on her face lingering for a long time. As long as Fang Yun was at home, she felt her heart was full and nothing was lacking.

“I will practice the zither well.” She whispered, returning to her room, quietly looking at the zither score under the oil lamp. It was hard, but she enjoyed it.

After Fang Yun returned to his room, he first practiced a few pages of calligraphy, then recited the already familiar “Mencius”. Then he stood in front of the table, spread out the paper, and pondered.

“That day, I rashly tried to write ‘Song of Righteous Qi’, but unfortunately, I only wrote three and a half characters, not even completing the first five characters of ‘Heaven and Earth have Righteous Qi’. ‘Mencius’ describes the fundamental nature of righteous qi, while ‘Song of Righteous Qi’ describes the power of righteous qi in detail. Therefore, even though I only wrote three and a half characters, I was able to form a vortex of ‘The Courage to Write’, allowing me to have ‘The Courage to Write’ even as an Accomplished Scholar.””I must now study Wen Tianxiang’s ‘The Song of Righteous Qi’. If I can integrate ‘Mencius’ and ‘The Song of Righteous Qi’, there is a high possibility of obtaining the purest and highest level of righteous qi, thereby cultivating the ‘righteousness’ of The Path of the Saints to the extreme. With Mencius and Wen Tianxiang as my teachers, I can walk the path of righteousness more smoothly than others.”

“No matter what, I must fully write it out. However, there are a few characters in ‘The Song of Righteous Qi’ that have not appeared in the Holy Origin Mainland, so I need to make some changes later. Now, I should constantly use ‘The Song of Righteous Qi’ to strengthen myself, but I don’t know how many characters I can write at the moment.”

After Fang Yun finished thinking, he took a deep breath, picked up his pen, and slowly began to write on the paper.

Heaven.

Fang Yun’s talent was rapidly flowing into this character, but after the character “heaven” absorbed enough talent, it stopped, and Fang Yun continued to write.

“Heaven and earth have righteous qi…”

After writing the character “qi”, his two talents were completely exhausted. Fang Yun felt mentally fatigued, so he put down his pen and looked at the five ordinary black regular script characters on the paper.

“Weren’t the characters golden last time?” As Fang Yun was thinking, a faint golden hue emerged on the surface of the five black characters, and then the text and the paper disappeared simultaneously.

Fang Yun immediately entered the world of the miraculous book and saw three items floating in the void.

A drop of Demon Saint blood in the shape of a Flood Dragon, a fragment of ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’. The third item was the paper of ‘The Song of Righteous Qi’, but it only had five characters.

The small Flood Dragon formed by the drop of Demon Saint blood was extremely arrogant before, constantly struggling, but now it looked lifeless, as if it had lost its spirituality.

Fang Yun took a closer look at this drop of blood. The Demon Saint’s consciousness inside had disappeared, but it still emitted a terrifying aura. When Fang Yun’s power was sufficient, he could use this drop of Demon Saint blood.

“It is said that poetry and literature can be ‘sanctified’, and the blood of both human saints and demon saints can sanctify poetry and literature. When I have enough power to control this drop of blood, at the right time, I can sanctify poetry, fully unleashing the most terrifying power of The War Poetry. Compared to the sanctified War Poetry, the War Poetry we use now can only be described as child’s play.”

“Sigh, An Chengcai, thank you for giving me the Great Scholar’s corrupted literature. Don’t worry, although I can’t submit it to the Holy Academy, I won’t let this Demon Saint blood and the true literature fragment go to waste. I will make them play a bigger role in my hands! Now that I have the top-grade ‘The Courage to Write’, which can write eight sentences at the fastest in one breath, I should write ‘The Legend of the White Snake’ as soon as possible, and donate the money from selling books to Lu Family Town, as a thank you for An Chengcai’s gift of Demon Saint blood and the fragment of ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’.”

Fang Yun remembered that the fragment of ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ had the effect of tempering the ‘The Courage to Write’ and ‘The Heart of Literature’, and he recited ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ silently in his heart.

“During the Taiyuan era of the Jin Dynasty, a man from Wuling made a living by fishing…”

After reciting the entire ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’, the fragment of ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ in the world of the miraculous book disappeared and appeared in Fang Yun’s ‘The Heart of Literature’.

Fang Yun immediately entered his ‘The Heart of Literature’ with his consciousness, and saw that the single page of ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ was incredibly large, floating above ‘The Heart of Literature’, only slightly smaller than ‘The Heart of Literature’. Considering the size of Fang Yun’s ‘The Heart of Literature’, which was equivalent to a small village, it was clear how extraordinary ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ was.

Fang Yun’s consciousness stood inside ‘The Heart of Literature’, looking up at the huge Great Scholar’s true literature.

“During the Taiyuan era of the Jin Dynasty, a man from Wuling made a living by fishing. He followed the stream, forgetting the distance of the road. Suddenly, he came across a peach blossom forest…”

The Great Scholar’s true literature automatically emitted a sound. This was the power of lingering sound, the voice was mellow and gentle, making people feel as if they were bathed in the spring breeze, and Fang Yun felt intoxicated.

When the voice of the Great Scholar’s true literature recited “Suddenly, he came across a peach blossom forest”, peach blossoms fell from the sky, fluttering about, the fragrance was intoxicating, it was dreamlike.

Among these peach blossoms, Fang Yun felt as if he was wandering outside the world, free and easy, as if he had arrived at the Peach Blossom Spring like the man from Wuling.

Peach blossoms flew one by one, flying into ‘The Courage to Write’, ‘The Heart of Literature’ and his talent, the rest flew into the stone walls of ‘The Heart of Literature’.

Fang Yun was immersed in this strange artistic conception, putting aside all the troubles and burdens of the world, enjoying the wonderfulness of the utopia.

At this moment, Fang Yun deeply felt the beauty of words and the ability of the Great Scholar for the first time. The indescribable joy filled his body, as if his body was continuously undergoing the baptism of talent.

The artistic conception of ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ was too wonderful. After the Great Scholar’s true literature left ‘The Heart of Literature’ for a while, Fang Yun finally sobered up.

“How would the complete ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ be? What about the complete ‘The Peach Blossom Spring Poem and Preface’? What kind of scene would the ‘Utopia’ of Taoist Saint’s Treasures of Literature be?”

Fang Yun carefully savored the beauty of the words and the artistic conception in ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’, and then carefully observed his own ‘The Heart of Literature’.

“Huh?” Fang Yun looked up and saw a ‘bravery’ character suddenly flashing in the crystal clear ‘The Courage to Write’, but it quickly disappeared.

“Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, faith, loyalty, and bravery are the seven paths of the saints, each with different powers. For example, the specific manifestation of ‘righteousness’ is the righteous qi, and the specific manifestation of ‘bravery’ is the power to kill the enemy. Therefore, the military strategists of all generations choose ‘bravery’ after ‘wisdom’. Those powerful descendants of the military strategists, even when they become Presented Scholars, have powerful destructive power, but the premise is that they have ‘military books’, and they have touched the path of bravery.”

(To be continued.)