Chapter 72

After County Magistrate He finished recounting the events, everyone began to eat.

No one drank alcohol. After eating their fill, the three scholars each received three "official seal red documents" from County Magistrate He. If they encountered danger within the boundaries of Mi County, they could tear one of the documents, and County Magistrate He would receive a warning and come to their rescue.

If someone tore two documents, the county would report directly to the Prefectural Governor. If all three were torn, it would be reported immediately to the State Governor.

The county sent out three young scholars who were familiar with the local environment to serve as guides for the three groups.

After bidding farewell to County Magistrate He and the others, the seven carriages headed to the place where monsters had recently appeared.

Lujia Town was the confluence of three rivers in Mi County. The widest part of the river here could reach ten zhang, and the deepest part could reach two zhang. Water monsters often attacked humans here. Moreover, Lujia Town backed onto a forest, where the monsters were like leeks—cut one batch, and another would grow, making it impossible to kill them all.

Upon arriving at Lujia Town, the carriages of the three groups did not stop immediately but traveled through the town. Mr. Yu of the third group sat in the carriage, holding the literary treasure "Tiger Head Paperweight for Detecting Monsters" to detect any monsters. In the end, he found nothing and returned safely.

The group found the town mayor, and the guide presented the county's documents. The three scholars then presented the documents from the State Academy. They found a large courtyard in the town to rest and prepare. Everyone rested for the afternoon and planned to set out at night, as many monsters were active at night.

After a brief rest, the town mayor brought three young scholars to visit. One was an old scholar who taught in the town, and the other two were young scholars preparing to take the examination for the rank of Scholar this year. They were excited to meet the talented scholars from the State Academy and naturally came to pay their respects.

The town mayor introduced them one by one.

"This is Mr. Yang, the teacher of the town's primary school. He is a kind and experienced man, and all the young scholars in our town are his students."

"This is Guo Yongzhi, only twenty-two years old, with great potential to pass the Scholar examination."

"This is my nephew, An Chengcai, who is five years older than Guo Yongzhi. If he doesn't pass the Scholar examination in three years, he will stop and take over Mr. Yang's primary school. Don't look at him being quiet; he once vowed not to marry until he passed the examination. But seven days ago, he saved a woman from a robbery, and five days ago, he got married. My nephew's wife is truly beautiful. The boy, though unlucky in the examination, is lucky in love!" He patted An Chengcai's shoulder.

An Chengcai was handsome but somewhat introverted, and he smiled shyly, unable to hide his inner pride.

The old scholar was not interested in fame or rank, while the two young scholars were very respectful, especially when they learned that Fang Yun was among them, which made them even more excited.

The students, having nothing else to do, discussed how to pass the Scholar examination with the two young scholars. Fang Yun, being a young scholar himself, listened carefully.

Nunu curiously observed An Chengcai, occasionally sniffing lightly, looking puzzled, but soon lost interest and fell asleep in Fang Yun's arms.

As evening approached, everyone took a short nap for an hour, then got up to eat and prepare to set out.

Scholars were different from ordinary soldiers. They all wore a set of "board clothes" that could be folded to cover their upper body. When they needed to write battle poetry, they would unfold the board, forming a tray in front of them to use as a writing surface.

Although Fang Yun was not a Scholar, Mr. Wang prepared a set of board clothes for him to get used to wearing.

Before setting out, Fang Yun entered his literary palace and found that his talent had not changed much, but the literary gallbladder vortex was spinning faster, showing signs of forming a literary gallbladder. It seemed that it would take no more than a month to form.

"I hope I become a Scholar by then; otherwise, a young scholar's literary palace cannot contain a literary gallbladder."

As night fell, the group set out.

According to tradition, the students of the three groups would separate, but because of the appearance of a monster general, the academy ordered that the three groups must not be too far apart and must always be able to see each other.

Under the quiet night sky, the group left the town and headed towards the Yangshui River.

These people were all at least young scholars, so even in the dark of night, it was as clear to them as daylight.

Accompanied by the chirping of insects, they walked for half an hour and saw the Yangshui River stretching out like a white silk ribbon before them.

"Prepare yourselves!"

At Mr. Yu's command, everyone made their final preparations.

The five Scholars of the first group immediately lowered the hard boards in front of their chests, forming trays on their abdomens, placed white paper on them, and took out ink bottles and brushes, ready to write at any time.

Although Fang Yun could not write on paper, he followed the others, purely for practice.

In front of the first group were fifteen soldiers: five shield bearers, five spear bearers, and five archers. All their weapons and shields were of the highest quality, including demon turtle shields that could withstand even a monster general's attack.

The three scholars each took out a monster-detecting paperweight, a literary treasure containing a poem by the great scholar Gan Bao, the author of "In Search of the Supernatural." This poem could detect all monsters within a one-li radius, with only a few monsters able to avoid detection.

The three groups moved slowly along the riverbank, searching for monsters.

Fang Yun carefully observed his surroundings, his heart beating slightly faster, and his spirit more excited than usual, as this was his first time to kill monsters. Even if he couldn't participate directly, it was good to see them.

After walking for fifteen minutes, they found nothing, and a few people began to relax, but Mr. Wang warned them.

Another fifteen minutes passed with no results.

Fang Yun was a bit disappointed. Lu Yu whispered, "This is common. Last time, we didn't see any monsters until the third night. If we don't find any by the river, we'll go to the forest. No rush."

Fang Yun nodded.

Another hour passed with no results, and even Mr. Wang began to relax.

Suddenly, Nunu pointed to a patch of grass about three zhang ahead and made a soft sound.

Everyone immediately became tense. Mr. Wang shouted a warning to the other two groups and looked at Nunu.

Nunu paid no attention to Mr. Wang but pointed to Fang Yun.

Fang Yun said, "Mr. Wang, let's go check it out. Nunu might have found something."

Mr. Wang, having seen many spirit beasts, did not doubt her and said, "Yuncong, take five people to check it out."

"Understood!" Two shield bearers, two spear bearers, and one archer immediately accompanied Li Yuncong to the spot, while Mr. Wang held a mountain-shaped literary treasure pen stand, ready to act at any moment.

Li Yuncong soon returned, holding a palm-sized fish scale, and said excitedly, "Mr. Wang, this is a fish monster's scale. I examined the tracks and it seems that several fish monsters passed by here and went north."

"Call everyone together. I'll go check it out." Mr. Wang quickly walked over and carefully examined the tracks, confirming Li Yuncong's findings.

The three groups gathered, and as usual, the three scholars said nothing, only assisting the Scholars in their training. They would not act unless the students were in danger.

The Scholars of the three groups unanimously decided to pursue the monsters to prevent them from harming people.

Thus, everyone began to run.

After a few steps, Fang Yun whispered, "Nunu, come to my hand."

Nunu immediately climbed up Fang Yun's right arm like a squirrel, looking at him curiously, as if asking what was going on.

Fang Yun, while running, asked, "How long has that fish scale been there?"

Nunu frowned in thought and extended her fleshy right paw.

"Five hours?"

Nunu shook her head.

"Five hours?"

Nunu still shook her head.

"Five quarters of an hour?"

Nunu still shook her head.

Fang Yun was puzzled for a moment, then asked seriously, "Nunu, don't tell me you can't count!"

"Ying ying!" Nunu was angry, as if saying, "You're the one who can't count!"

"How long, then? Five days?"

Nunu shook her head and held out her paw firmly, looking a bit smug, as if saying, "Clearly, you can't count!"

Fang Yun carefully examined Nunu's paw, finally realizing that her paw, unlike a human hand, could not fold, so it always showed five.

Fang Yun rolled his eyes at Nunu, extended his left hand, and curled his thumb, asking, "Is it four?"

Nunu shook her head.

"Is it three?"

Nunu nodded quickly and made a wiping motion with her small paw, as if saying, "You finally got it right, what a relief!"

"Is it about three quarters of an hour ago?"

"Ying ying!" Nunu smiled and nodded.

"How many monsters?"

Nunu tilted her head in thought and raised two paws.

Fang Yun couldn't help but laugh, guessing from six to eight, at which point Nunu nodded.

"Can you tell if they are monster civilians, soldiers, or generals?"

Nunu shook her head and then nodded.

Lu Yu and Ning Zhiyuan, who had been watching, were immediately puzzled. Communicating with a spirit beast was too difficult to understand.

Fang Yun thought for a moment and asked, "You can distinguish generals but not soldiers or civilians?"

Nunu nodded happily.

"Are there any generals here?"

Nunu hesitated, then shook her head.

Fang Yun immediately told everyone, "Three quarters of an hour ago, eight monsters passed by here. We can't determine how many are soldiers and how many are civilians."

Everyone looked at Fang Yun and Nunu with gratitude. This information was crucial. The fifteen Scholars discussed it while running, and the three scholars did not interfere.

After a while, Nunu suddenly reached out and tugged at Fang Yun's clothes, calling out seriously.

Everyone immediately looked at Fang Yun.

"Are we close to the monsters?" Fang Yun asked.

Nunu nodded.

Everyone looked at the three scholars holding the monster-detecting paperweights, but they all shook their heads.

After running for a while, everyone saw eight monsters ahead, their silhouettes clearly visible in the moonlight.

Ma Yuan, the temporary leader of the third group, said, "Monsters detected! Slow down and make final preparations."

Everyone slowed down and prepared for battle.

The eight monsters soon noticed them and charged over, shouting.

Ma Yuan continued to command, with the shield bearers and spear bearers protecting everyone, the Scholars in the back, and the archers at the rear. He also ordered Fang Yun, the three young scholar guides, and the archers to stand together.

The eight fish monsters accelerated towards them.

The tense atmosphere was like an invisible dome pressing down on everyone, making it hard for Fang Yun to breathe.

After the eight fish monsters ran for a while, Ma Yuan issued orders.

"Three are monster soldiers and five are civilians, all ordinary fish monsters. Don't be afraid!"

"I will write 'In Praise of Xingtian,' Luo Tianqi will write 'With You in the Same Robe,' and the rest will wait for them to get closer, deciding when to write 'The Song of Yishui' based on their writing speed! Each group will attack one monster soldier, and every three archers will shoot one civilian monster."

Fang Yun looked up at the sky; the Literary Star was particularly bright tonight.

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Recommend a friend's fantasy novel "The Armory Bandit in Another World"

With the armory system, he travels to ancient times!

Book ID: 3173750

[bookid=3173750, bookname="The Armory Bandit in Another World"]

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