Chapter 73

Under the starlight, eight fierce fish demons lunged forward.

These fish demons walked upright, wielding bone forks, and were enormous, the smallest being taller than an ordinary person by two heads, and the tallest one even reaching eight feet in height.

Some of the fish demons were blue, some had black and white patterns, and some were covered in spines. They had large fish heads, eyes as bright as torches, and when they opened their mouths, they revealed a mouthful of sharp teeth, which was extremely terrifying.

The fish demons ran while shouting.

"Jiji ya ya ang ang aha..."

Fang Yun could only understand a few simple words, such as "human flesh" and "delicious."

Ma Yuan and Luo Tianqi had already started writing, using the fastest cursive script. The surrounding elemental energy was stirred by their own talent, following their ink and entering the paper.

Ma Yuan was writing Tao Yuanming's famous piece, "In Praise of Xingtian."

Fang Yun glanced over and saw that Ma Yuan was halfway through.

"Jingwei carries tiny twigs, to fill the vast sea. Xingtian wields his axe and shield, his fierce resolve remains unbroken..."

Jingwei filled the sea for eternity, and Xingtian fought to the death without a head. The spirits of these two characters from the Shan Hai Jing were eternal, transformed into a powerful inspiring poem under Tao Yuanming's pen.

When the poem was completed, it ignited without fire, turning into white light that entered everyone's body.

Fang Yun immediately felt his fighting spirit rise, with no trace of fear in his heart. At the same time, his mind became clear, and when he looked at the fish demons, various methods of attacking their vital points and weaknesses flashed through his mind, as if he had inherited the combat ability of the war god Xingtian.

Luo Tianqi's "With You in the Same Robe" had more characters and was not yet finished.

"Who says we have no clothes? I will share mine with you. When the king raises his army, I will sharpen my spear and shield. I will share the same enmity with you..."

This poem, selected from the Book of Songs, was widely known, depicting the Qin people's determination to fight together against their enemies. Originally titled "No Clothes," it was renamed "With You in the Same Robe" because there were two "No Clothes" in the Book of Songs, and this one was an additional protective poem.

Upon completion of "With You in the Same Robe," Fang Yun immediately felt an invisible force enter his clothes, making them tighter and more protective.

The soldiers' iron armor glowed with a cold light, infused with elemental energy, making it impossible for ordinary demons and ordinary weapons to penetrate. Only demon soldiers could break through the armor after multiple attacks.

However, the leading blue fish demon soldier held not a bone fork but a huge bone club, which made a heavy sound as it dragged on the ground, plowing a deep furrow.

This blue fish demon soldier had clear black and white eyes, but at the edge of the whites, there was a distinct blood-red ring.

This was the mark of a demon who had eaten humans!

"Archers, shoot the demon civilians! Do not be hit by that bone club, touching it means certain death! Class Three, attack the blue fish demon! Class Two, attack the black and white fish demon, and Class One, attack the patterned demon soldier. Do not write yet, wait, wait a bit more... Start writing!"

The fifteen archers ignored the three demon soldiers and shot at the five demon civilians.

These archers were elite soldiers, and none missed, but some arrows were deflected by the fish demons' scales, and others did not hit vital points. One fish demon was particularly unlucky, an arrow pierced its eye, passing through its brain, and it died on the spot.

The morale of the group was greatly boosted.

The other four demon civilians showed fear, slowing their steps and hiding behind the three demon soldiers.

Another round of arrows flew, but the sharp arrows were all blocked by the demon soldiers' scales.

The fifteen students began to write the only enemy-killing poem a scholar could write, "Jing Ke's Assassination of Qin."

The wind was cold, and the water of Yi was icy; the brave warrior went forth, never to return.

Entering the tiger's den and the dragon's lair, he sighed to the sky, and a white rainbow formed.

Fifteen elemental energy assassins appeared beside the fifteen scholars, these assassins resembling human-shaped black mist, varying in density.

At this moment, the eight demons had already entered within fifteen zhang, the maximum range of "Jing Ke's Assassination of Qin."

"Kill!" Ma Yuan ordered, and the fifteen elemental energy assassins, composed of elemental energy, rushed toward the three demon soldiers at a speed twice as fast as a human running at full speed.

The leading demon soldier seemed to have seen elemental energy assassins before, and with a contemptuous smile, he suddenly swung his club, easily smashing the leading elemental energy assassin. With a loud bang, the elemental energy assassin exploded, the elemental energy dispersing and disappearing completely.

But the first elemental energy assassin was just a decoy. Under the command of its master, the other four elemental energy assassins bent down and rushed under the blue fish demon soldier's legs, stabbing its left knee with four daggers simultaneously, then twisting, causing blood to spurt.

"Ah..." The blue fish demon soldier cried out in pain, casually swinging his club to smash an elemental energy assassin. It bent its knee and knelt, its left leg completely crippled.

The scholars of Class One and Class Two used the same tactics, either attacking the knees first or the ankles, then the elbows and other joint areas.

This was a strategy humans had summarized over hundreds of years: first weaken the demons' mobility, then use the speed of the elemental energy assassins to create wounds, and if an opportunity arose, stab the eyes, nose, mouth, gills, and other vulnerable areas. If no opportunity arose, they would continuously attack the weakest joint areas.

Mr. Wang shook his head; these were ultimately students, not military scholars. Strong military scholars could control elemental energy assassins with great skill, and one could kill these three demon soldiers alone.

Without the demon soldiers blocking, the fifteen archers continued to shoot arrows. These archers, strengthened by the power of "Chang Wu" and aiming more accurately due to "In Praise of Xingtian," were very effective at killing demon civilians at close range, though they could not kill demon soldiers.

Fang Yun carefully observed all the scholars. After using "Paper Talk of War," they immediately began deep breathing to calm their minds. Fang Yun knew that using talent would cause a talent vibration, and only when the talent vibration in the Literary Palace diminished could they use talent power again.

Besides the Literary Heart, which could quickly calm the talent vibration, it could only be calmed by one's own willpower and experience.

The three juren teachers each observed their students, secretly noting each student's strengths and weaknesses.

The four demon civilians were quickly hit in vital points by arrows, three died, and one lay on the ground, barely alive. The archers, with sore arms, began to rest.

The knee and ankle joints of the three demon soldiers were all crippled, but their bodies were very strong. Even sitting down, they killed all fifteen elemental energy assassins and then, fearlessly, used their arms to crawl toward the group, cursing loudly in demon language.

The five scholars of Class Three were the first to stabilize their talent vibrations and used "Paper Talk of War" again, summoning five elemental energy assassins.

"Soldiers, attack!"

The three squads of the prefectural army began to move, using swords and shields for defense, long spears for attacks, arrows for harassment, and elemental energy assassins for sneak attacks. Despite their immense strength, the three demon soldiers were quickly killed.

Fang Yun frowned slightly. He had thought that fifteen scholars killing three demon soldiers would be easy, but it turned out to be so complicated. Even though the demon soldiers were powerful, if they fought like this on the battlefield, the role of scholars would be very limited.

After killing all the demons, the prefectural soldiers began to handle the corpses, and the fifteen scholars discussed the battle's gains and losses.

After much discussion, they concluded two points: first, they were not soldiers, and their efficiency in killing enemies was too low; second, there were too few war poems that scholars could use, with only one enemy-killing poem, "Jing Ke's Assassination of Qin," and no "Strong Soldier Poems."

Lu Yu said helplessly, "If a juren acted, they wouldn't need to recite enemy-killing poems. Reciting a 'Bow Poem' would enhance the power of these fifteen archers' arrows, allowing them to pierce the demon soldiers' scales with one shot. But the poems scholars can use are too few, just a few. On the battlefield, new scholars are mainly there to fill gaps, while juren can truly demonstrate the power of literati."

"Don't worry. As the ten countries begin to emphasize war poems, in a few decades, many immortal war poems for scholars will surely emerge. Our main purpose here is to kill demons, but more importantly, to hone our Literary Palaces and minds on the battlefield."

"Alas, a genius who was no less than Yi Zhishi and excelled in poetry and prose actually chose to become a lowly one!"

"Let's not mention his affairs!" Mr. Wang said unhappily.

Fang Yun vaguely guessed who the "lowly one" Lu Yu was referring to, but he did not know much about the person's story.

Taking advantage of the break, Fang Yun pulled Lu Yu aside and asked, "Is the lowly one you mentioned Feng Chengjue?"

"Who else could it be? Who else could match Yi Zhishi? Who else could be considered lowly? A good person, but he chose to be a dog!"

"I've heard of him before, but I don't know the details. Tell me about him."

"Sure, I'll tell you what I know. Feng Chengjue had a very tragic childhood. His village was attacked by dog demons, and he was taken as a slave. The dog demon who captured him was a beast, treating him... as... as that, cough, I won't say more, you can imagine. Later, the dog demon tribe was attacked, and he returned to the human race."

"Three years later, he showed his genius, passing the exams for child scholar and scholar in the same year, then passing the juren exam the next year, and the jinshi exam the year after that. He eventually became a Hanlin scholar, one of the four great talents. Unfortunately, his childhood was too tragic, leading to mental issues. He betrayed the human race, joining the demon sages as a traitor, and before his betrayal, he betrayed a great scholar, leading to the great scholar's death at the hands of the demon sage."

"Rumor has it that Feng Chengjue is now a university scholar, leading one-third of the traitor literati. He often invites demon strongmen to modify his body and loves to eat humans."

Fang Yun was surprised, "There are people like that?"

"Of course, he even openly claims that the human race is a lowly race and that demons are supreme, hating all geniuses. By the way, you should be careful. He has sent people to assassinate Yi Zhishi multiple times and will likely target you soon. Be careful."

Fang Yun, thinking of such a famous person being a psychological deviant, said, "He and Yi Zhishi were both among the four great talents of the previous generation, but his rank is lower. He should be focusing on cultivation, striving to become a great scholar, and won't pay attention to me. I won't provoke him, you're overthinking it."

"Hmph, who can predict what a madman will do."

After a fifteen-minute break, the group set off again, searching for demons under the stars.

Finding a demon in one night was usually very difficult, but with Nunu's guidance, they killed thirty demons in one night, equivalent to ten days of effort in the past.

Fang Yun even used a spear to deliver the final blow to a demon soldier.

On the way back to Lu Family Town, everyone agreed that Fang Yun and Nunu had made the greatest contributions. Nunu was overjoyed, jumping around in Fang Yun's arms.

The page turns, and the advertisement begins.

The page turns, and the advertisement ends.