Chapter 57

"Jixian student Fang Yun, please the Holy Selection!"

Fang Yun's clear voice echoed within the Wen Academy.

Wei Yuanjun looked at Fang Yun in shock, momentarily unable to react, then became furious: "How can this be! You insolent boy, how dare you!" He glared at Liu Zicheng.

But Liu Zicheng lowered his head, a malicious smile on his face.

"Damn it!" Wei Yuanjun cursed softly, unsure whether he was cursing Fang Yun or Liu Zicheng.

Gao Minghong sighed lightly, admiring Fang Yun's decisiveness, and couldn't help but recall the history of the "Holy Selection."

In the early days of the Wen Academy, a significant event occurred.

In Wuzhou of Jiaguo, a very promising scholar was stripped of his eligibility to enter the Wen Academy by the local Prefectural Governor for offending him, and the scholar's mother was so enraged that she died.

The scholar, bearing a grudge, sued the Prefectural Governor, but the officials protected each other, and the matter was suppressed by the officials of Wuzhou.

He endured humiliation and studied hard, and after becoming a Jinshi, he returned to the Prefecture of Yongwen and exterminated the entire family of the Prefectural Governor, 141 people in total, leaving no one alive, and then committed suicide in public.

This incident shocked the ten countries. Some lamented the loss of over a hundred lives, while others mourned the potential loss of a great Confucian scholar.

The Holy Academy sent a team led by a semi-saint from the Legalist school to Wuzhou to investigate the case. All high-ranking officials who served in Yongwen and Wuzhou at the time were investigated, and those who had protected the Prefectural Governor were executed immediately, and their three generations were barred from taking the imperial exams.

To prevent such incidents from happening again, the Holy Academy established the "Holy Selection."

If someone believed they had great talent but was rejected by the Wen Academy, they could request the Holy Selection, which would be personally evaluated by a semi-saint.

Since the establishment of the Holy Selection, five people have requested it, and all failed. This was because the semi-saints had such high standards that even if they intentionally gave simple questions, if the answers were not good enough, they would not be accepted.

The failure of these five people's literary palaces was a significant blow, and they all became obscure.

The last Holy Selection request was over two hundred years ago, and no one had been forced to request it or was willing to do so.

For two hundred years, everything was calm, and Wei Yuanjun never associated Fang Yun's expulsion with the Holy Selection.

Regardless of whether Fang Yun succeeded or failed, the court would inevitably send someone to investigate Wei Yuanjun. As a supporter of the Left Chancellor, he was not afraid of the investigation, but the Holy Selection happening to him would inevitably damage his reputation, and even the Left Chancellor would not be able to use him.

If Fang Yun passed the Holy Selection, Wei Yuanjun would not just lose his reputation; he would be disgraced for eternity. The Holy Academy would send people to investigate him thoroughly, and even ten Left Chancellors could not save him.

Wei Yuanjun's eyes were full of hatred, thinking that if he had known Fang Yun was so bold, he should have let him enter the Wen Academy and then used various means to harm him. But now it was too late to regret.

More than half of the students were filled with righteous indignation. They originally admired Fang Yun's talent and thought he would endure the humiliation, but now seeing him choose to confront Wei Yuanjun, they admired him even more.

Some older people shook their heads in sighs, feeling that Fang Yun was not worth it. If he failed the Holy Selection, it would be equivalent to being rejected by a semi-saint, and even if he had extraordinary talent, his literary palace would shatter.

Liu Zicheng's allies smiled, believing that Fang Yun was bound to fail.

In the crowd, Guan Yaoyuan said with a tone of relief: "That day you shattered my and Yan Yue's literary palaces, today you will taste the same pain. No, being rejected by a semi-saint will make you ten times worse than us! You will become a laughingstock in the ten countries!"

Fang Yun's voice echoed within the Holy Academy and eventually reached the Holy Temple at the front.

At first, nothing changed, but after a moment, an invisible force shot from the Holy Temple into the sky, dispersing the clouds for a thousand miles, creating a shockwave centered on the Holy Temple, and stirring up strong winds in all directions.

Branches swayed, dust flew, and clothes rustled. Everyone except Fang Yun had to squint and turn their backs to the Holy Temple.

"Boom!" The houses closest to the Holy Temple collapsed, and several trees were uprooted.

On the left side of the Holy Temple, a large bell rang without anyone striking it.

"Clang..."

The sound of the bell spread in all directions.

The sound reached the State Wen Academy, and the bell in the Holy Temple there also rang, emitting a more resounding sound that spread further.

The speed at which the Holy Temple bell sound spread far exceeded that of ordinary sounds. Centered on Dayuan Prefecture, the bells in the Holy Temples of the surrounding counties gradually rang, followed by the bells throughout Jiangzhou, and finally, the bells in the Holy Temples of all the Wen Academies in Jingguo.

The people of Jingguo were discussing the matter.

"What's happening? Could it be a barbarian invasion?"

"No, the bell for a barbarian invasion would be very urgent and continuous. This bell only rang once, so I don't know what happened."

"Could it be an accidental strike?"

"The Holy Temple bell cannot be struck by anyone; only the talent of the Holy Temple itself can strike it."

"I hope it's not something bad."

Inside the Jiangzhou Wen Academy, Li Wenyuan heard the bell and stood up abruptly, his hand on the official seal, his eyes seeing everything in the Prefecture Wen Academy.

"Someone actually forced Fang Yun to request the Holy Selection, how audacious! How despicable! Someone!"

Li Wenyuan said, and a piece of white paper flew to the table, words immediately appearing on it. Li Wenyuan then picked up the official seal and pressed it on the paper.

A bailiff quickly entered and asked, "What are your orders, Lord Prefect?"

"Take my literary order to the Prefecture Wen Academy. Regardless of whether Fang Yun succeeds or fails in the Holy Selection, give him this literary order. From now on, he is a student of our State Wen Academy."

The bailiff was stunned upon hearing the words "Holy Selection" but quickly apologized and took the literary order, rushing away.

As soon as the bailiff left, Zhou Zhubu rushed in.

"Sir, what happened? Is it the Holy Selection? Who?"

Li Wenyuan said gloomily, "Fang Yun."

Zhou Zhubu punched the door frame in anger and roared, "How could this happen? How could this happen! He has the potential to be a great Confucian scholar! Is it the Left Chancellor's gang, Wei Yuanjun? No one else could have forced Fang Yun to leave. The Holy Selection is not a game; it is a test by a sage, and Fang Yun will certainly fail! I will immediately write a memorial. As long as Wei, the traitor, is in power, I will impeach him, and I will not rest until he is dead! I will not rest until he is dead!"

Zhou Zhubu's eyes turned red with anger, almost to the point of tears. He could not bear to imagine the loss to Jingguo and the human race if Fang Yun's literary palace shattered.

Li Wenyuan remained silent.

Zhou Zhubu suddenly clenched his teeth and cursed, "Destroying a great Confucian scholar of Jingguo and cutting off the pillar of the human race, I will take up my sword and kill that old man!" He turned and ran.

"Stop!" Li Wenyuan shouted, and the pressure of a university scholar pinned Zhou Zhubu in place.

Li Wenyuan sighed and said, "It's all my fault. I was afraid that Fang Yun's reputation would grow too quickly, and his talent would rise too rapidly, leading to future instability in his literary palace and literary courage. So I had him stay in the Prefecture Wen Academy to hone his skills. I never expected that a Prefectural Governor would strangle a great talent of the human race for personal gain. If anything happens to Fang Yun, I will kill him to uphold the law and uproot the Left Chancellor's supporters in Jiangzhou! He may control half of Jingguo, but in Jiangzhou, there is Wen Eagle!"

Li Wenyuan's last words were firm, shaking the entire room.

Zhou Zhubu said angrily, "If Fang Yun's literary palace shatters, is there any way to remedy it?"

"He has great talent, and good poetry and literature can make up for some of it. He has two national-level poems and literature, and entering the Holy Tower can provide some compensation. If he can stay in the Holy Academy for ten years, his literary palace might be restored."

Zhou Zhubu remained silent.

"It's too late to stop it. I can only hope his literary palace is strong and won't shatter too badly." Li Wenyuan sighed, knowing that Fang Yun would certainly fail.

After the strong wind in the Prefecture Wen Academy, the sky became clearer. Then a strange force enveloped everyone. The force was extremely oppressive but also warm; it had a proud air of looking down on the world but also made people feel like they were basking in a spring breeze.

The force was too complex, making it difficult for many to adapt.

"Is anyone requesting the Holy Selection?"

The voice seemed to come from the horizon, and as everyone heard it, they involuntarily saw a towering mountain in their minds.

All the officials who were sitting stood up, bowing in the direction of the Holy Academy like everyone else.

Fang Yun said, "Jixian student Fang Yun believes that the Prefectural Governor of Dayuan, Wei Yuanjun, is unfair, and I specially request the Holy Selection to clear my name."

"I know of your reputation. Your poetry and literature are excellent. If the test were on poetry and literature, it would be unfair; you are only a student, so if the test were on classics and policy, it would be inappropriate. I will first test you with a few couplets. If you cannot answer within a hundred breaths, there is no need to answer the rest."

"The student respectfully requests the sage to set the questions." Fang Yun said respectfully. This "sage" referred to a person of great virtue, not a sage in the literary sense.

Fang Yun thought: One breath is the time it takes for a person to exhale and inhale, which is very close to one second. In other words, he had to answer the second half of the couplet within one minute and forty seconds. It was indeed a difficult test by a semi-saint.

Gao Minghong and others were even more worried when they heard it was a couplet. If the questions were on poetry, the content could be controlled, and as long as it was on topic, it would be fine. But couplets were different.

The second half of the couplet had to match the first half in terms of rhythm and tone. Ordinary couplets were one thing, but if the first half involved wordplay, word decomposition, palindrome, or embedded characters, it would be nearly impossible to answer within a hundred breaths, let alone a hundred hours.

Ordinary people's couplets might be easier to answer, but even if a semi-saint intentionally lowered the standards, it would still be extremely difficult.

The voice said, "Listen carefully. The first half of the couplet is: Pine leaves, bamboo leaves, all leaves are green."

Gao Minghong almost fainted, exclaiming, "This is a repeated character couplet. How can the first question be this difficult? Is this a test for a student or a scholar!"

"How dare you question the sage?" a person next to Liu Zicheng sneered.

"Silence!" Wan Xuezheng said angrily, not wanting Fang Yun to be disturbed.

Everyone frowned, trying to think of the second half of the couplet within a hundred breaths, which was extremely difficult. Liu Zicheng's allies were all gloating, believing that Fang Yun would not be able to answer.

Fang Yun frowned and looked around. Generally, couplets are based on the surroundings, giving a specific impression, and then the second half is thought of.

The first half of the couplet was "Pine leaves, bamboo leaves, all leaves are green." There were bamboo trees in Dayuan, but only pine trees on the small mountains outside the city. Fang Yun muttered, "There are no pine trees in Dayuan Prefecture."

The semi-saint said, "A sage sees the south and the north."

Liu Zicheng and others were even more delighted.

Fang Yun lowered his head and thought.

Many students sighed, having lost all confidence in Fang Yun.

Just after sixty breaths, Fang Yun suddenly looked up and said loudly, "Pine leaves, bamboo leaves, all leaves are green; autumn sounds, goose sounds, all sounds are cold."

As soon as Fang Yun finished speaking, Wan Xuezheng couldn't help but say softly, "Well done!"

Many students nodded, finding the second half of the couplet extremely clever.

"Is there autumn in Jiangzhou, Jingguo?" the voice seemed to be laughing, directly addressing Fang Yun's previous question.

Fang Yun immediately replied, "A scholar experiences spring, summer, autumn, and winter."

The students secretly cheered.

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