“How can this be good? Lord Feng’s actions are unpredictable. He might go to the Demon Realm today and return tomorrow. If Fang Yun is not dead, he will definitely kill all of us,” one person said.
“What else can we do? We can only kill Fang Yun to vent our anger! I don’t know which Semi-Saint is so ruthless, willing to use the power of the Holy Temple to attack all of us who are involved in the ‘Path of the Saints’ monthly magazine. This ‘Inscription of the Humble Cottage’ is one of the few ambitious works, and it conflicts with the ideals of our group. Those who survived are just lucky.”
“It’s worthy of the means of a Semi-Saint. This time, at least 20% of us will die or become completely disabled, and at least 50% of the Cultural Palace will crack. Fortunately, the Demon Realm has many treasures that can compensate for the cracks in our Cultural Palace. I just don’t know when it will be our turn.”
“I have always been responsible for recording the movements of the human geniuses. I am very clear about this Fang Yun’s situation. A few days ago, Fang Yun and the talented scholars from the state academy went to Mi County to kill demons. According to the plan, they should be returning to Dayuan Prefecture today. We just need to ambush them on the road from Mi County to Dayuan Prefecture and kill them.”
“Should we kill only him or everyone?”
“Since Lord Feng is angry, naturally we have to kill everyone. I will immediately gather everyone. Regardless of whether the Cultural Palace has any problems, as long as we can discuss military strategy on paper, everyone must go!”
“The demon-hunting team in the state academy usually only has three or four presented scholars. Is it necessary for everyone to go?”
“You all know Lord Feng’s temper. If we don’t give it our all, in case Fang Yun escapes, we will definitely die. Since the Semi-Saint used the ‘Inscription of the Humble Cottage’ to harm so many opposing individuals, we naturally have to seek revenge! I will use Lord Feng’s order to invite three imperial scholars and all the presented scholars, along with two demon generals and ten demon commanders. This is the full strength of our Jingcheng Peak. Even if Fang Yun brings the entire Prefecture Army of Dayuan Prefecture, he will still die without a doubt.”
“The General of Dayuan Prefecture, Chen Xibi, is just an imperial scholar, and the rest are all presented scholars and talented scholars. They can’t compare to Jingcheng Peak at all. Unless all the officials of Dayuan Prefecture come out, Fang Yun will undoubtedly die. Now the only worry is Li Wenying and Zhang Poyue.”
“Li Wenying and Zhang Poyue are both in Yuhai City. They won’t have time to come to the rescue. Since we have mobilized all the forces of Jingcheng Peak, we will definitely succeed in this battle!”
“Then it’s settled. The power of the Holy Temple covers a radius of about twenty miles around the city. We will ambush thirty miles away from Dayuan Prefecture and kill all the members of the talented scholars’ team, then immediately retreat.”
“They will probably arrive at Dayuan Prefecture in the afternoon. We will gather our forces now and set up an ambush in the afternoon. We must fight quickly!”
Half an hour later, more than a hundred opposing writers and demon clansmen gathered. Among these people, the three opposing imperial scholars and two demon generals had the highest status, followed by twenty presented scholars and ten demon commanders. The rest were talented scholars and demon soldiers, enough to wipe out the Prefecture Army.
Soon, these people left Jingcheng Peak and headed towards the road from Mi County to Dayuan Prefecture.
Half an hour after they left, a demon eagle landed in the inner courtyard of Jingcheng Peak.
An opposing writer walked over and took a piece of paper from the eagle’s leg. It said that a demon turtle from the Dragon Palace had infiltrated Lu Family Town and killed someone, and Li Wenying had killed it, and then Li Wenying rushed into the Yangtze River for revenge.
“Lu Family Town is also in Mi County, but since Li Wenying took action, it shouldn’t have anything to do with the talented scholars’ team from the state academy. There’s no need to inform them,” the opposing writer said, returning to the room to continue recording and organizing information about the writers in the entire Jing Kingdom.
Lu Family Town was not a lively place to begin with. After the town was partially destroyed by the demon turtle and snake demon, everyone in the town was immersed in grief, and almost everyone was in mourning.
Just after 11 o’clock in the morning, a large convoy of ox-drawn carriages came from the southwest. Some of the people on these carriages were survivors of the battle with the demon turtle, while others were reinforcements from the Prefecture Army and officials.
A part of the carriages were isolated, with soldiers who had participated in the battle yesterday and personnel from the Holy Academy’s punishment hall, to prevent these soldiers from talking to outsiders.
Some of the carriages carried the bodies of dead demons, and there were also some carriages with living demon barbarians, the private soldiers of several imperial scholars and Hanlin scholars. There were relatively few imperial scholars with demon barbarian private soldiers, but almost everyone from the Hanlin scholars or higher had them.
On the second carriage of the convoy, there were more than ten officials and a highly respected old Hanlin scholar named Wen Zhenghuan. Fang Yun was also on the carriage.
The old Hanlin scholar had once served as the Ministry of Rites, but later resigned and retired in Dayuan Prefecture City. He occasionally gave guidance to the younger generation and had a close friendship with the Governor of Gezhou.
On the way, Fang Yun spoke very little and only listened to the officials chatting.
This carriage had one Hanlin scholar, eight imperial scholars, and four presented scholars. Even if these people didn’t use their talents, Fang Yun could still faintly feel the surging talent and vitality.
Because of Li Wenying’s order, no one discussed the events of yesterday. They only chatted about ordinary things.
But Governor Gezhou occasionally glanced at Fang Yun and occasionally made eye contact with his old friend Wen Zhenghuan, but the old Hanlin scholar pretended not to see.
Governor Gezhou looked at his old friend’s reluctance to speak up and had to change the topic. He found an excuse and smiled, “Fang Yun, Lord Li values you very much. Yesterday, I received a request for reinforcements with the official seal of the government and sent the High Court official from the state academy, Mr. Zheng from Liuyuan County, and Deputy General Xie to provide reinforcements. Unexpectedly, not long after, Lord Li sent me a message from Yuhai City, asking me to personally lead all available personnel to provide reinforcements. I must bring the personnel from the punishment hall and ensure isolation. He specifically emphasized that I must bring you back safely. I know this matter is important, but I’m afraid my limited ability won’t be able to handle it perfectly, so I invited Old Wen to come out with me. Old Wen used to be an assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, and he usually has a high profile. When he heard that he was going to help you, he didn’t say a word and came with me.”
“Thank you, Mr. Ge, thank you, Hanlin Scholar Wen,” Fang Yun said respectfully.
Wen Zhenghuan, who was over seventy years old, was spirited and smiled, “No need to be polite. I was just thinking of going out for a walk, so I’ll treat it as stretching my legs.”
Governor Gezhou continued, “Since you need to hide your identity as a pre-saint talented scholar, you cannot participate in this year’s Dragon Boat Literary Festival, what a pity. Unless something unexpected happens, our Jing Kingdom will be humiliated by the Qing Kingdom again this year.”
“Just a Dragon Boat Literary Festival, we have lost for so many years, one more year won’t make a difference. Your safety is more important,” Governor Gezhou said.
“Looking at the young scholars in our Jing Kingdom, besides Fang Yun, who else can compete with the talents of other countries? Your safety is the priority, and those empty titles are not important.”
“That’s true, but I am still unwilling. Losing for seventeen years, if we lose again this year, it will be eighteen years.”
“The Qing Kingdom is hateful! We have demon barbarians on all sides of our Jing Kingdom, and our national strength is gradually being worn down. Instead of helping, the Qing Kingdom has been throwing stones into the well every year. It is truly a shame for the human race!”
“I hope there will be successors after Chen Sheng.” Wen Zhenghuan sighed lightly.
The atmosphere in the carriage became extremely heavy. The biggest problem of the Jing Kingdom was the lack of talented individuals. If no one can become a Semi-Saint within five years, once Chen Guanhai, the current Semi-Saint, dies, the Jing Kingdom will undoubtedly be annexed by the neighboring Qing Kingdom and Wu Kingdom.
This large convoy stopped outside Lu Family Town. Fang Yun and all the academy students got off the carriage and went to visit the family of An Chengcai.
Naturally, they did not tell An Chengcai’s family the truth about his death at the hands of the snake demon. They only said that An Chengcai was eaten by the demon turtle, and then they said that An Chengcai had made the same contribution as a national martyr, and the Prefecture Army would send a pension in three days. One of his sons or nephews could attend the county school for free for three years.
At this moment, Fang Yun didn’t have any money with him, so he said he would send one thousand taels of silver to An’s family in a few days.
The others didn’t know that Fang Yun had obtained a fragment of “The Peach Blossom Spring,” so they thought Fang Yun was giving too much. Fang Yun could only help An’s family more in the future.
The fragment of “The Peach Blossom Spring” had already become a part of the world of rare books. Even if Fang Yun wanted to hand it over to the Holy Academy, he couldn’t do it. He could only swear to kill more demons and barbarians and not let down the fragment of “The Peach Blossom Spring.”
After comforting An’s family, the group walked towards the outskirts of the town. Lu Yu whispered, “One thousand taels of silver is too much. Many wealthy families can’t earn one thousand taels in a year.”
“Yes, it’s too much,” Ning Zhiyuan said.
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