At the Liu family of Dayuan, in Liu Zicheng’s study.

From the moment he saw this eighth-rank official, Liu Zicheng’s hand had been shaking, and it was still shaking after he entered the study.

“Do you know why the Cao Wei dynasty was usurped by the Sima family?”

“Cao Zhi was an outstanding talent, possessing the potential of a Semi-Saint. Cao Pi feared that Cao Zhi would become a Great Scholar and threaten his throne, so he ordered Cao Zhi to exterminate demons, which led to Cao Zhi’s death at the hands of the Demon Clan. Later, a Semi-Saint sentenced Cao Pi to death with a single word. From then on, the Cao family’s power declined, and decades later, the Sima family seized the throne.” Liu Zicheng answered honestly.

“Fang Yun’s talent has already surpassed that of Cao Zhi at the same age. You have repeatedly harmed him, and he is now trying to investigate. The Holy Academy’s Punishment Hall will definitely intervene. Once it is determined that you are guilty, the Left Chancellor will only suffer damage to his reputation, but your elder brother Liu Zizhi and your clan will inevitably be implicated, and there will be no chance for the imperial examination.”

“But that was before he became famous! He is retaliating against me!”

“If he tries to kill you twice, what will you do?”

Liu Zicheng fell silent.

The eighth-rank official slowly pulled out a white silk from his sleeve and threw it at Liu Zicheng’s feet.

“You write a suicide note, admit all your crimes, apologize to him, and take responsibility for your actions. I hope he will spare the other members of the Liu family.”

“I…” Liu Zicheng’s arms were not only shaking, but his legs were also trembling slightly.

“Will you die alone, or will you drag dozens of members of the Liu family to death with you?”

“But… Can’t the Left Chancellor really save me?” Liu Zicheng asked.

“If he could save you, I wouldn’t be here.” The man replied calmly.

“What if I don’t want to die?” Liu Zicheng asked timidly.

The man glanced out the window and said, “I’ll give you half an hour.”

Liu Zicheng suddenly laughed bitterly, “Of course, if I don’t die, you will kill me. I just can’t accept it! He was clearly a poor scholar who knew nothing, how could he know everything in just a few days! He must be a demon infiltrating our human race! He will definitely harm the human race.”

The man sneered, “That day in front of the Literature Academy, Historian Jun personally talked to him and said he was waiting for him in the Holy Academy, can’t you guess?”

Liu Zicheng was stunned. He exclaimed in surprise, “Historian Jun is the disciple of the South… You mean, Fang Yun is actually his disciple?”

“You know it now. The Treasure of Literature he controls. You also know why Fang Yun could achieve so much in such a short time. Everything makes sense. He leads the contemporary historians, and you dare to repeatedly harm Fang Yun’s life and reputation. Once he speaks out, not to mention your elder brother, even the Left Chancellor’s position will not be secure.”

Liu Zicheng was stunned for a long time, his eyes dimmed, and he slowly said, “Since he has his guidance, then I will give up. Please tell my elder brother, if there is a chance, to personally apologize to Fang Yun and resolve the feud between the two families! No wonder he values him, in fact… I have already admitted defeat, I have already regretted it, it’s just… I just can’t accept it.”

“I said, you write.”

“Yes.” Liu Zicheng grabbed his trembling right forearm with his trembling left hand, and then held the pen with his right hand.

“I say what, you write what, start. All the mistakes are on me, and they have nothing to do with the rest of the Liu family…”

Before long, Liu Zicheng finished writing the last character and threw the pen on the ground. He picked up the white silk with a stumble, his hand shaking even more.

The man took the chair, snatched the white silk, and then threw the white silk over the beam and tied it tightly.

Liu Zicheng’s legs were shaking even more. Tears involuntarily flowed out, and he mumbled as he cried.

“I regret it so much, why did I have to harm the disciple of a Semi-Saint, why did I have to harm Fang Yun! How could I be so stupid, so foolish…” Liu Zicheng stepped onto the chair while babbling, grabbed the white silk with both hands, and slowly put his neck into the white silk noose.

“How could I be so foolish…” Liu Zicheng completely changed, no longer looking like the son of a noble family, but like a resentful woman.

The eighth-rank official suddenly kicked the chair away, and Liu Zicheng’s body was suspended in the air. He was panicked, his arms flailing, his legs kicking, but suddenly he stopped struggling, quietly hanging in the white silk noose waiting for death, while looking at the man, as if he wanted to say something.

Just as Liu Zicheng was about to suffocate, the man sneered coldly, “Your elder brother doesn’t know about today’s events, and I won’t stop your elder brother from avenging you.”

“Uh…” Liu Zicheng’s eyes burst with endless hatred, and then he died.

“Hmph, your Liu family of Dayuan has tarnished the Left Chancellor’s reputation, naturally you have to clean it up yourself!”

The next morning, Fang Yun was reading when the sixth-rank county seal in his study suddenly formed a strange fluctuation.

“Is there a letter from a carrier pigeon?” Fang Yun walked over, grabbed the official seal, and saw a text carrier pigeon fly out, which finally disintegrated in front of Fang Yun and spread out into a piece of black text floating in the air.

Fang Yun’s expression remained unchanged as he slowly read the entire text.

This was a letter sent by Sun, the prefect of Dayuan Prefecture, detailing the circumstances of Liu Zicheng’s death, and finally warning Fang Yun to be vigilant.

Fang Yun waved his hand, and the text disappeared. Then he turned his head to look out the window.

“As expected of the Left Chancellor, this preemptive move is very good. However, I, Fang Yun, am not afraid to bear the blame for forcing Liu Zicheng to death. On the contrary, it will make his subordinates vigilant if Liu Shan forces the Liu family to death. The Left Chancellor of a nation will not be so careless, there must be a follow-up move. Unfortunately, even though I am a model scholar, I can’t do anything about the head of all officials. But the day I become an Imperial Scholar and enter the court, will be the time when you, Liu Shan, decline.”

“Liu Shan, aren’t you converting my current merits into literary merits? Then you continue, and I will continue to make merits. I’m just very curious, when I wear the official robe for the first time, what rank will I be!”

Fang Yun calculated in his heart, if he could pass the imperial examination, he would at least get an eighth-rank position in the academy. Plus, the literary merits he has accumulated now can be promoted three levels, from seventh-rank, positive seventh-rank to deputy sixth-rank, which is already higher than a county magistrate.”The top scholar is directly promoted to the seventh rank, a higher level! The Imperial Scholar examination is divided into two parts: the tribute examination and the palace examination. However, the palace examination in the Ten Nations is quite different. It is not the monarch who conducts the examination in the Golden Palace, but the Semi-Saints who personally assess and judge in the Holy Temple. The final ranking of the Imperial Scholars from each nation is determined by the Semi-Saints. The content of the palace examination is also extraordinary.”

“Thanks to the illusion of Book Mountain, the poetry, classics, and policy discussions for the Presented Scholar and Imperial Scholar examinations are no longer a problem. The next step is to continue accumulating knowledge. I have more and more free time. In preparation for the future palace examination, I must start practicing in a few days, serving in the literary academy, government office, or military for a period of time. Otherwise, I will have no basis for what I want to do in the future! Whether it’s books on military strategy, agriculture, industry, and commerce, there must be a reasonable excuse for them to appear.”

Fang Yun thought to himself, and quickly finished writing the remaining part of “The Legend of the White Snake”. Fang Yun liked happy endings, so he finally let Cai He, who “played Fahai”, repent and go to the border to guard the nation, while Xu Xian and the White Lady retired from the world. Their son, Xu Shilin, eventually became a Great Scholar.

After finishing the book, Fang Yun used his official seal to send a letter to Tang, the head of the Xuanting Bookstore, asking him to publish “The Legend of the White Snake” as soon as possible.

As long as they are around the Holy Temple, those with official seals can receive or send letters. However, once they leave the Holy Temple, the official seals lose their magical effects. If the official seal is a Treasure of Literature, it still has some use. But for Fang Yun, whose seal is not a Treasure of Literature, it is completely useless once he leaves the Holy Temple.

Then Fang Yun called Nunu over. After Nunu carefully read the ending of “The Legend of the White Snake”, she happily jumped into Fang Yun’s arms to thank him.

“Do you like this ending?” Fang Yun asked.

“Ying Ying! Ying Ying!” Nunu waved her little claws and chirped happily.

“That’s good.” Fang Yun carefully read “The Legend of the White Snake” again, revised a few places, and finalized the draft.

On the Holy Origin Mainland, romances between humans and demons occur from time to time. As long as the Demon Clan does not eat humans, humans have sympathy for them.

But if it’s a Demon Clan that eats humans, no matter what, they will be hated by humans. Therefore, even though “The Legend of the White Snake” may face some opposition, it won’t be too great. After all, the book still promotes the idea of human supremacy and does not deviate from the original belief of An Chengcai in protecting the human race.

After putting the original manuscript aside, Fang Yun couldn’t help but think of the incomplete manuscript of “The Peach Blossom Spring”, and he always wanted to complete it.

“The Holy Land not only has the holy blood, holy jade, or Treasures of Literature left by the seven Semi-Saints, but there should also be other Great Scholars’ corrupted texts and true texts. After all, every ten years, the elites of the human race and the Demon Barbarians will enter it. If I can complete “The Peach Blossom Spring”, the power of the Great Scholar’s true text will be even stronger. It is said that the ancient land where All the Saints died will have strange things like the Old Pen and Ink Woman, which are extremely useful. Even Semi-Saints covet them. I wonder if the Holy Land will have them.”

Before long, Tang, the head of the Xuanting Bookstore, sent a letter saying that he would arrive in Yuhai City tomorrow.

After reading Tang’s letter, another letter arrived. Fang Yun opened it and couldn’t help but laugh.

The letter was written by Hu Moyuan, the famous painting master of Yuhai Prefecture. He had been in the second realm of painting for many years and almost had no chance of breaking through. But ever since Fang Yun proposed the theory of “Three Faces of Yin and Yang”, his painting skills have been improving. Hu Moyuan went to the Enlightenment River half a month ago, and just a quarter of an hour ago, he achieved enlightenment by the river, further improving his painting skills and entering the rare third realm of painting in the Ten Nations.

At the end of the letter, Hu Moyuan said that he would paint a battle painting of a demon general with the power of the third realm of painting in August and give it to Fang Yun as a token of gratitude.

Fang Yun shook his head and laughed. With Feng Yuanjun and Hu Moyuan achieving enlightenment, the Enlightenment River will not be peaceful in the future.

Before long, Cai He, the county magistrate of Ji County, sent a letter. The letter was thousands of words long, and the core content was to ask Fang Yun to continue to hype up the Enlightenment River. He planned to build a famous scenic spot in the Ten Nations with the Enlightenment River as the main attraction and Fang Yun’s literary archway as a supplement. The letter also said that this was mainly for Fang Yun’s literary reputation and the development of Ji County.

“This County Magistrate Cai is clearly trying to gain political achievements. However, isn’t it too much to sell the well water from my old house as ‘Holy Front Water’? And to close off the section of the river where I often stay and charge an entrance fee to ‘Enlightenment City’, he really knows how to make money. Although I get a share of the profits, the reputation of selling books is much better than this. The money earned from “The West Chamber” is still not spent up to now. No, I can’t be fooled by him. He can charge a fee, but the share of the profits given to me should be used to establish a free academy to recruit students from poor families!”

“Establishing a free academy is not only a meritorious act, but also a ‘virtuous’ act, which is what all scholars pursue. Many Great Scholars have their own free academies. Since I am a role model for literati, using the money earned from the Enlightenment River to establish a free academy is the best choice.”

After Fang Yun figured everything out, he continued to read. Near noon, Li Wenying sent a letter.

.(To be continued.)