Under the starlight, eight fierce fish monsters rushed towards them. These fish monsters walked upright, holding bone forks, with huge bodies. Even the smallest one was two heads taller than an ordinary person, and the tallest fish monster was even eight feet tall. Some fish monsters were blue, some had black and white patterns, and some were covered in thorns. Their fish heads were huge, their eyes were as bright as torches, and when they opened their mouths, they revealed sharp teeth, which were extremely terrifying. The fish monsters ran and shouted at the same time.
“Flesh! Delicious!”
Fang Yun could only understand a few simple words, such as “human flesh” and “delicious.”
Ma Yuan and Luo Tianqi had already started writing with the fastest calligraphy. The surrounding vitality of heaven and earth was activated by their talents, and followed their brush strokes onto the paper. Ma Yuan was writing Tao Yuanming’s famous poem “Song of Xing Tian.” Fang Yun glanced at it and saw that Ma Yuan was halfway through writing.
“Jingwei fills the sea with small stones, and Xing Tian dances with his battle-axe, his fierce will always present…”
Jingwei fills the sea with stones, and Xing Tian fights without a head. The spirits of these two characters from the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” will last forever in Tao Yuanming’s powerful poem.
As soon as the poem was completed, it spontaneously combusted and turned into dots of white light that fell into everyone’s bodies. Fang Yun immediately felt his fighting spirit rise, and he felt no fear in his heart. At the same time, his mind was clear, and he kept thinking of ways to attack the fish monsters’ weaknesses, as if he had inherited the fighting ability of the war god Xing Tian.
Luo Tianqi’s “Together with You” had more characters and was not yet finished.
“Shall I say no clothes? Together with you, I will dress in the same robe. When the king raises his army, I will sharpen my spear. Together with you, we will share the same hatred…”
This poem from the “Book of Songs” is widely spread, describing the determination and scene of the Qin people fighting together against their enemies. Originally named “No Clothes,” it was changed to “Together with You” because there were two “No Clothes” poems in the “Book of Songs,” and this one was an auxiliary poem.
After “Together with You” was completed, Fang Yun immediately felt an invisible force rushing into his clothes, making them tighter and more protective. The iron armor on the soldiers’ bodies emitted a faint cold light, and the vitality of heaven and earth was injected into the armor. Ordinary monsters and weapons could no longer penetrate it, only monster soldiers could break through the armor after multiple attacks.
However, the leading blue fish monster soldier did not hold a bone fork, but a huge bone club that made a heavy sound as it dragged on the ground, leaving a deep mark on the ground. This blue fish monster soldier had black and white eyes, but there was a clear blood-red circle on the edge of the white.
This was the mark of a monster who had eaten a human!
“Archers, shoot the monsters! Don’t let that bone club hit you, it’s deadly! Third squad, attack the blue fish monster together! Second squad, attack the black and white fish monster, and first squad, deal with the patterned monster soldiers. Don’t write yet, wait, and wait…begin writing!”
Fifteen archers ignored the three monster soldiers and shot at the five monster civilians. These archers were all elite soldiers of the Prefecture, and none of them missed their shots, but some were bounced off by the fish monsters’ scales, and some did not hit the vital points. One fish monster was very unlucky and was shot through the eye, piercing through its brain and dying on the spot.
The morale of the group was boosted.The other four demon tribesmen looked fearful, slowed their pace, and hid behind the three demon soldiers.
Another round of arrows flew out, but the sharp arrows were all blocked by the fish scales of the demon soldiers.
Fifteen scholars wrote a poem together, the only killing poem that talented scholars could write, “Jing Ke’s Assassination of Qin.”
The wind was cold and the water was cold, the hero went away and never returned.
Exploring the tiger’s den and entering the dragon’s palace, exhaling to the sky and becoming a white rainbow.
Fifteen Qi assassins appeared next to the fifteen scholars, these assassins were like humanoid black mist, some dense and some light.
At this time, the eight demons had already entered within fifteen zhang, the maximum distance of “Jing Ke’s Assassination of Qin.”
“Kill!” Ma Yuan gave the order, and the fifteen mist-like assassins made up of the qi of heaven and earth, with a speed twice as fast as that of ordinary people, rushed towards the three demon soldiers.
The leading demon soldier seemed to have seen the Qi assassins before, sneered, and suddenly waved his big stick, easily hitting the frontmost Qi assassin. With a bang, the Qi assassin exploded, and the Qi scattered, disappearing completely.
But the first Qi assassin was just bait, and the other four Qi assassins, under their master’s command, bent down and rushed to the legs of the blue fish demon soldier, simultaneously stabbing four daggers into the left knee of the blue fish demon soldier, then twisted hard, splattering blood.
“Ah…” the blue fish demon soldier screamed in pain, and with a wave of his hand, he smashed one of the Qi assassins with a stick. He himself kneeled on the ground with his left leg completely disabled.
The first and second class scholars also used the same tactics, attacking the knees or ankles first, then attacking other joints such as the elbows.
This was the experience summed up by humans over hundreds of years. First weaken the demon barbarian’s mobility, then continuously create wounds with the speed of the Qi assassins. If there was an opportunity, they would stab into the eyes, nostrils, mouth, gills and other parts, if not, they would continuously attack the weakest joint parts.
Mr. Wang shook his head. These were still students, not military scholars. Powerful military scholars could control the Qi assassins to the point of being supernatural, and one person could kill these three demon soldiers.
With no demon soldiers blocking them, the arrows of the fifteen archers continued to shoot out. These archers became stronger under the influence of “Chang Wu” and aimed more accurately under the influence of “Yong Xing Tian.” They were not effective against demon soldiers, but were very powerful in killing demon tribesmen at close range.
Fang Yun carefully observed all the scholars. After using “The Heart of Literature,” they immediately began to breathe deeply, keeping their minds calm. Fang Yun knew that using talent would cause talent vibration. Only by reducing the talent vibration of the literary palace could talent power be mobilized again.
In addition to “The Heart of Literature” being able to quickly calm down talent vibration, it could only be calmed down by one’s own willpower and experience.
The three presented scholars each observed their own students, secretly remembering each student’s strengths and weaknesses.
The four demon tribesmen were quickly hit by arrows in their vital points. Three died, and one lay on the ground barely alive. The archers’ arms were sore and they began to rest.
The knee and ankle joints of the three demon soldiers were all disabled, but their bodies were very strong. Even if they sat down, they killed all fifteen Qi assassins. In the end, they even crawled towards them with their arms supporting their bodies, cursing loudly in demon language.The five accomplished scholars of the third class were the first to stabilize their shaken spirits and once again used their paper skills to summon five elemental assassins.
“Soldiers, attack!”
The soldiers of the three prefectures began to move, using shields and swords for defense, spears for stabbing, bows and arrows for harassment, and elemental assassins for surprise attacks. Even though the three demon soldiers were incredibly powerful, they were quickly killed.
Fang Yun furrowed his brows slightly. He had thought that fifteen accomplished scholars killing three demon soldiers would be easy, but he hadn’t expected it to be so complicated. Even though the demon soldiers were powerful, if this was how they fought on the battlefield, the role of accomplished scholars would be very limited.
After killing the monsters, the prefecture soldiers began to dispose of the bodies, while the fifteen accomplished scholars discussed their gains and losses.
After much discussion, they came to two conclusions. The first was that they were not soldiers, and their efficiency in killing enemies was too low. The second was that the number of war poems they could use was too few. They only had one poem for killing enemies, “Jing Ke’s Qin Assassination Song,” and they didn’t even have any “Strong Soldier Poems.”
Lu Yu helplessly said, “If an imperial scholar were to take action, they wouldn’t need to recite a poem to kill the enemy. They could recite a poem like ‘The Bow Poem’ to enhance the power of fifteen archers, and one arrow could pierce through a demon soldier’s scales. But the number of poems that accomplished scholars can use is too limited. They only have a few to choose from. On the battlefield, new accomplished scholars are basically just making up for shortcomings. It’s not until they become imperial scholars that they can truly show the power of scholars.”
“Don’t worry. As the ten nations begin to value war poems, in a few decades, many war poems that accomplished scholars can use will emerge. Our purpose in coming here to kill demons is secondary. It’s more important to hone our literary skills and mental strength on the battlefield.”
“Ah, it’s so hard to come across a genius with poetry skills no less than Yi Zhishi, yet he’s willing to be a lowly creature!”
“Don’t mention him!” Mr. Wang said unhappily.
Fang Yun vaguely guessed that the lowly creature Lu Yu was referring to was Fengcheng Jue, but he didn’t know much about his story.
While everyone rested, Fang Yun pulled Lu Yu aside and asked, “Is the lowly creature you mentioned Fengcheng Jue?”
“Who else could it be besides him? Who else could be considered a lowly creature? He was a good person, but he chose to become a dog!”
“I’ve heard of him before, but I don’t know the specifics. Can you tell me?”
“Well, I’ll tell you what I know. Fengcheng Jue had a tough childhood. His village was attacked by dog barbarians, and he was taken as a slave. The dog barbarians treated him like…like that thing, cough cough, I won’t say anymore, you can imagine. Later, the dog barbarian tribe was conquered, and he returned to the human race.”
“Three years later, he showed his genius side and became a child scholar and accomplished scholar in the same year, an imperial scholar the next year, and an imperial court academician the year after that. He eventually became a Hanlin scholar and one of the four great talents. Unfortunately, his childhood was too tragic, which caused his mind to have problems. I don’t know why, but he joined the demon saint and became a rebellious literary person. Before he betrayed them, he sold out a great scholar, causing that scholar to die at the hands of the demon saint.”
“It is said that Fengcheng Jue is now a grand academician, commanding one-third of the rebellious literary people. He often asks demon tribe powerhouses to transform his body and loves to eat people.”
Fang Yun said in surprise, “There are still people like that?””Of course, he also openly claims that the human race is a lowly one, and the Demon Barbarians are supreme, hating all geniuses. By the way, you should be careful, as he has sent people to assassinate Yi Zhishi several times, and it won’t be long before he targets you. Be cautious.”
Fang Yun didn’t expect such a famous person to be so mentally twisted, and said, “He and Yi Zhishi are both from the previous generation’s four great talents, but his literary rank is one level lower. He should be focusing on diligent cultivation and striving to become a Great Scholar, so he won’t pay attention to me, and I won’t provoke him. You’re overthinking.”
“Hmph, who knows with that kind of madman.”
After resting for a quarter of an hour, everyone set off again, traveling day and night in search of demons.
Originally, it would be difficult to find a demon in one night, but with Nunu’s guidance, they managed to kill thirty demons in just one night, which was equivalent to their efforts of the past ten days.
Fang Yun even used a spear to deliver the final blow to a demon soldier.
On the way back to Lu Family Town, everyone unanimously agreed that Fang Yun and Nunu were the chief contributors. Nunu was extremely happy, jumping around non-stop in Fang Yun’s arms.