Chapter 83

The third candidate stepped forward and once again used the technique of碧血丹心 (Bixue Dixin) at the cost of ten years of his life.

"Sheath conceals the light of Ganjiang..."

Before the third candidate could complete the candidate battle poem "Observing Ganjiang and Moye," the demon turtle prepared to launch an attack.

Mr. Wang suddenly threw the mountain-shaped pen stand, a literary treasure, from his hand. The pen stand immediately transformed into a massive mountain, striking the demon turtle solidly.

This literary treasure was powerful enough to severely injure an ordinary demon general, but the demon turtle only took a step back and shook its head.

At this moment, the battle poem "Observing Ganjiang and Moye," activated by Bixue Dixin, was completed. Two light swords, one red and one white, flew out and aimed at the demon turtle. Although the power of these two swords was not as strong as a graduate's verbal attacks, the faint righteous aura they carried was the nemesis of demons.

The demon turtle did not dare to be overconfident and once again retracted its head, tail, and legs into its shell, covering all six openings.

The two swords of Ganjiang and Moye could not injure the demon turtle and could only continuously attack its shell.

"Run quickly!" Mr. Wang shouted.

"Take care!" The students said and began to flee with all their might, while the candidate who held the Chen Xi pen escaped.

The two swords of Ganjiang and Moye soon disappeared. Before the demon turtle could raise its head, the fourth candidate activated Bixue Dixin.

The other candidates either stood on tree stumps, behind broken trees, or ran to increase the distance, reciting poems or engaging in paper battles, all their attacks landing on the demon turtle.

The fourth righteous aura spread around, increasing the power of everyone's battle poems by forty percent.

The demon turtle finally realized that if this stalemate continued, it would eventually be exhausted by the candidates' Bixue Dixin and ultimately killed by breaking its shell.

"No one can kill me! I will go to the Dragon Ascension Platform and transform into a dragon!" The demon turtle roared, extending its head and legs from the shell. The battle poem with the faint righteous aura struck its head, causing its skin to crack and blood to flow. Even its powerful self-healing ability was reduced to only thirty percent of its original strength.

The attacks from the eight candidates simultaneously landed on the demon turtle, rapidly depleting its vital energy.

A water shield appeared around the demon turtle, and it withstood the dense attacks from the candidates, suddenly accelerating and rushing to the nearest candidate, opening its mouth to bite down.

The candidate's aura armor only lasted for half a breath before collapsing.

With a crack, the candidate was bitten in half at the waist. The demon turtle chewed a few times and swallowed the upper half of the candidate, then swallowed the remaining body.

"Beast!" Mr. Yu shouted, spitting out blood, and the fifth Bixue Dixin power appeared.

"You can't kill me! After I eat the Chen Xi pen, I will kill all of you!"

The demon turtle no longer retracted into its shell and continued to chase the person holding the Chen Xi pen while withstanding everyone's attacks.

It emitted a more formidable demonic aura, causing all the soldiers and students to collapse on the ground, and the scholars' legs turned weak, making their escape much slower. Only Fang Yun's literary gallbladder vibrated and returned to normal, allowing him to continue running.

Fang Yun clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, feeling ashamed as he watched the candidates expend their lives to attack, while he could only run away.

However, Fang Yun knew his strength was limited. Without the ability to use Bixue Dixin, he could not match the candidates. The demon turtle still had strong defenses, and unless he could make a scholar's battle poem have more than six layers of treasure light and a poetic soul with the power to penetrate the turtle's shell, he could not injure the demon turtle.

"If I had a higher literary rank! If I had a higher literary rank..." Fang Yun repeated this phrase in his heart with sorrow and anger as he ran.

The stars were bright, the crescent moon hung low, and in the dark forest, the demon turtle resembled a running small mountain. Anyone in its path was either crushed or trampled to death, or killed by the snake venom in its vital energy.

On the way, it killed more than thirty people.

Fang Yun and the other scholars hurried to avoid it, but a scholar from the third class was too close to the demon turtle and was bitten.

Blood splattered as the demon turtle slowly chewed, making a crisp sound.

All the students' faces turned pale, and a wave of grief surged in their hearts. They could not believe that their classmate, who had studied, drank, and fought together, was eaten alive.

"He said he would take the state examination in September! In just four months, he could have become a candidate! He said that after becoming a candidate, he would settle his family and go to Yuhai City to kill demons, but..." Lu Yu burst into tears.

The demon turtle, hearing the crying, looked back and said in a sinister voice, "Don't cry, it's your turn soon! No one can escape!"

"I'll fight you to the death!" Li Yunchong immediately began writing "Jing Ke's Assassination of Qin."

The candidates followed, but they could not run faster than the demon turtle.

"Nonsense! Run immediately!" Mr. Wang shouted from a distance.

"Can we escape?" Lu Yu wiped his tears and, like Li Yunchong, began writing "Jing Ke's Assassination of Qin."

"I'll fight too!" Ning Zhiyuan shouted and began engaging in a paper battle.

Seeing the demon turtle's speed, Fang Yun finally realized there was no way to escape. The demon turtle was too powerful, and the only choice was to fight.

Fang Yun leaned against a tree, pulled out a scroll from his backpack, and handed it to Li Yunchong. He then gave the mountain-shaped inkstone given by General Chen Xi to Lu Yu.

"Protect me."

The scholars around him were momentarily stunned because Fang Yun had said these three words before he wrote "Capturing the King" when they were surrounded by over a hundred demons in the morning.

"Okay!"

All the scholars were invigorated, their eyes shining with unprecedented hope.

Everyone immediately stood in front of Fang Yun, using their bodies to protect him.

Lu Yu activated the power of the mountain-shaped inkstone, and a small mountain shadow fell on Fang Yun.

Li Yunchong unfolded the battle painting, which was "The Running Ox," signed by the famous painter Hu Moyuan. It depicted thirty oxen, each with a steel horn.

Li Yunchong immediately placed his right hand on Hu Moyuan's seal and injected talent, causing the battle painting to fly into the air. One by one, the oxen fell, and finally, thirty oxen with steel horns formed a barrier in front of Fang Yun.

At Li Yunchong's command, these oxen would charge forward. Although their forms were intangible, they were composed of aura, making them three times stronger than ordinary oxen!

As Li Yunchong used "The Running Ox," Fang Yun took out the holy page given by County Magistrate Cai, placed it on the board, dipped a bit of dragon blood ink, closed his eyes, and countless poems flashed in his mind.

There were many poems, but few battle poems. Even if there were, they were either unable to kill the demon turtle or Fang Yun lacked the talent to write them.

Finally, Fang Yun thought of a poem to kill the enemy.

At this moment, everyone in front of Fang Yun was looking forward, while those behind him were blocked by a fallen tree, and the closest person could not see him.

Fang Yun opened his eyes and was about to write when Nunu suddenly spat a mouthful of blood onto the tip of the demon-dispelling pen. The fragrant blood mixed with the ink. Fang Yun glanced at Nunu, whose eyes were dim, and she jumped onto his backpack.

Fang Yun took a deep breath and began writing the poem.

"Dark forest, startled grass, wind."

Immediately, layer upon layer of treasure light appeared on the paper.

Fang Yun, influenced by five layers of Bixue Dixin, gained fifty percent of the treasure light. With the demon-dispelling pen attacking the demon turtle, he gained another fifty percent of the treasure light, combining to form one layer of treasure light, doubling the power of the battle poem.

The dragon blood ink added thirty percent of the treasure light, but the treasure light continued to increase, quickly reaching two layers and thirty percent, which was one layer more than normal. Fang Yun knew that the only additional power was from Nunu's blood.

Subsequently, the two layers and thirty percent of the treasure light suddenly doubled to four layers and sixty percent, and then another layer was added.

The holy page had a doubling effect!

The holy page was ineffective on other treasure lights but doubled the power of the battle poem itself and the power of the pen and ink!

Those who were originally protecting Fang Yun felt a light behind them and instinctively turned back. Five layers of treasure light covered the holy page!

This meant that whatever poem Fang Yun wrote, its power had already increased by more than five times!

"How can one line have so much treasure light?" Lu Yu, being young, could not help but exclaim. Even those who did not turn back looked back, dumbfounded, as Fang Yun continued to write the second line.

"General draws his bow at night."

The original treasure light appeared.

"At dawn, he searches for the white feather."

The first layer of treasure light appeared.

After writing the third line, Fang Yun's body trembled, sweat dripped from his forehead, and a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. His hand could not write the next line.

Insufficient talent.

"This poem should require two inches of talent to write, but my current scholar talent is only a bit over one inch, which is too much of a stretch! But I will not give up! They can sacrifice themselves with Bixue Dixin, and I, Fang Yun, can also sacrifice myself for righteousness!"

The Literary Palace gently vibrated, and five golden characters suddenly flew out, which were the first five characters of "The Song of Righteousness."

"Heaven and earth have righteous energy!"

The five golden characters flew into the water-drop-shaped literary gallbladder, which suddenly burst into brilliant light, absorbing the power of all the stars in the Literary Palace and finally projecting a beam of starlight onto the talent.

The talent immediately increased temporarily.

Fang Yun continued to write.

As Fang Yun wrote the fourth line, the demon turtle suddenly stopped, turned to look at Fang Yun, and its eyes fell on the holy page with more than seven layers of treasure light, revealing a look of panic and immense greed.

"Actually a human genius, that power can threaten me! His talent is different, more attractive than that of the graduate! Eating him will surely allow me to shed my false dragon form and transform into a dragon turtle! I cannot let him complete it! Roar..."

Li Yunchong suddenly shouted, "Protect Fang Yun! Oxen attack!"

The demon turtle could no longer emit a dragon roar, but the sound contained its vital energy and was directed at Fang Yun, which could have interrupted him. However, with the power of "The Mountain Assignment," Fang Yun was unaffected.

After roaring, the demon turtle immediately rushed toward Fang Yun, believing it could stop him. Even if it could not, it could retreat into its shell. A scholar's battle poem could not break its shell, even though its vital energy and shell had been weakened by the candidates.

The oxen were not real but were composed of aura, unafraid of the demon turtle's roar, and charged forward.

"Get out of the way!" The demon turtle ran at full speed, but the thirty oxen's aura was too powerful, slowing it down.

The seven candidates behind Fang Yun recited the battle poem "Canglang" in unison.

The demon turtle roared, and a false dragon pearl floated above its head. A massive flood poured out from the false dragon pearl, dispersing the oxen and rushing toward Fang Yun.

Just as the flood was about to reach Fang Yun, seven massive waves appeared in front of the flood, firmly blocking it.

"Not in the stone ridge!"

Fang Yun wrote the last line, and a layer of poetic soul treasure light appeared on the holy page.

Eight layers of treasure light covered the holy page.

Fang Yun looked up at the demon turtle, his eyes like a sword.