There are more and more people reading in the stands.
Yan Yukong looked around and said, "This year, there are many more scholars watching the competition for the top spot than in previous years. Last year, there were less than a third of this number now."
"I didn't watch it last year," said Conde.
"I don't care either." Fang Yun said.
"The reason why there are so many people this year is that most of them are here for Fang Xusheng. You see, the people from Qingguo and Jingguo are obviously the most."
Fang Yun glanced at the stands where Qingguo was, then looked towards Jingguo, and found many familiar faces, then smiled and nodded.
The people in the Jingguo stands suddenly became excited and talked a lot.
Sun Naiyong said helplessly: "The competition for the head of the country is so important, and you two didn't even watch it? Fang Xusheng, don't tell me you don't know the rules of the competition for the head of the country."
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Of course I know. There are three rounds in the competition for the head of the country. The first round is this lotus pond. Everyone writes and makes resolutions, which will attract the power in the pond and form a lotus platform under their seats. The better the resolution, the stronger the power absorbed, and the more petals formed when sitting. After everyone has finished writing, the lotus platform will explode and rush in all directions. Those who have poor resolutions will be pushed out of the lotus leaves by the exploding power and fall into the water in failure. Those who still sit on the lotus platform can get a lotus heart and absorb the power of the lotus pond. As for the second round of the lava cave, everyone sits on the stone pillars in the flaming magma. As for the third round of the sky in the clouds, everyone sits on the white clouds. As long as they are pushed away from the stone pillars or white clouds, they will lose."
"I thought you didn't care at all." Sun Naiyong joked.
"I heard that the funniest year was when more than a dozen top scorers were almost as strong as each other, but none of them fell into the water after entering the lotus pond, and none of them fell into the lava after entering the lava cave, and none of them fell into the magma after entering the sky and clouds. It became a joke."
"It's too difficult to decide who is the top leader. After all, ambition, determination and path are not determined by talent or experience. Even though Fang Xusheng has extraordinary strength and amazing talent, it's not surprising if he fails in the fight for the top leader."
Fang Yun nodded slightly to show his approval.
"More than a hundred years ago, there was a top scholar with mediocre ability who inspired the potential of Yunkongtian and pushed the others aside to become the head of the country. But in the end, he only became an ordinary university scholar, not even a great scholar. He was called the weakest head of the country."
"However, the norm for the competition for the head of state is that there are only four or five people left in the end, and no one can do anything to anyone else. The most recent head of state was Yi Zhishi. Now, Yi Zhishi has become the number one scholar and has been named a literary giant."
"In the year when Yi Zhishi took the imperial examination, there were three other four great talents, including him. But in the end, Yi Zhishi still stood out and competed for the top spot in the country."
“If Mr. Zhishi is canonized as a saint, the human race will be even stronger. Back then, the Demon King fought against the four great talents alone and was evenly matched with them, which was a shame for the human race. If Mr. Zhishi becomes a semi-saint and studies the saintly way in depth, he may not be weaker than the Demon King.” Sun Naiyong said.
"It's hard to say. The strength of the Demon King is no less than that of the current Fang Xu Saint. He became the number one demon barbarian under the Demon Saint as a barbarian, and he has never been defeated. This has already explained everything. For Mr. Zhishi, the possibility of being canonized is 90%, and there is still 10% of surprise. But for the Demon King, canonization is just a matter of time. If he hadn't entered the Holy Burial Valley, he would have been canonized."
"Speaking of the Burial Valley, the great scholars of the human race have already started preparing. I just got the news yesterday that after the great scholar Ben obtained the middle-grade Spring and Autumn Preface, his power in fighting poetry has been further improved, and he has been listed as one of the main candidates by the saints. I don't admire Yi Zhishi, nor Fang Xusheng, but only Mr. Songshi!"
"Let's not talk about those nonsense things. The time is almost up. We..."
Before Zeng Nianhai finished speaking, a strange force descended from the sky. Everyone seemed to have remembered the saddest thing in their lives, and some people even shed tears involuntarily.
At this moment, Fang Yun saw the sad flowers and the sorrowful leaves. He looked at everyone, everyone was heartbroken. Then he looked at the sky and the surroundings.
Heaven and earth mourn together!
"This is… "
The great scholars in the stands were the first to stand up, and then the rest of the people realized something and stood up one after another.
Fang Yun stood up quickly, already knowing what had happened.
No one knew who had died, and there were no warnings, but everyone instinctively looked in the direction of Qing State.
Then, the heaven and earth shook.
The death knell tolls loudly, echoing throughout the universe.
In the army of Wu State.
A general who had passed the imperial examination, wearing a shining silver armor, stood in front of two thousand people, pointed to the north, and said: "There, live barbarians who are worse than pigs and dogs. They take our land, steal our food, and kill our relatives! They are powerful, strong, and numerous. Some of them can use weapons. What should we do?"
The training ground was in complete silence.
"Tell me, what should I do?"
No one answered.
"Then I tell you, kill them! Chop off their hands, break their legs, cut their necks, let them bleed, let them die, this is what we have to do! As for the rest, it has nothing to do with us soldiers! Now I ask you, with the demons and barbarians in front of us, what should we do?"
"Kill him!" Two thousand people shouted in unison!
The black-faced general smiled grimly and was about to praise the soldiers, but suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of Qing State. Unconsciously, tears fell from his eyes.
Thousands of soldiers wept bitterly.
Jiaguo, Lu County.
Lu County is a famous textile county in Jiaguo. Four rivers flow through Lu County, and workshops stand on both sides of the rivers, arranged in eight neat rows.
Driven by the water flow, most of the workshops made rumbling sounds, but some workshops had stopped working.
Some workers sat in front of the workshop to rest, smoking their pipes and blowing smoke rings.
"Things from Ning'an County are harmful. Look, our Lu County is a famous textile county. Even if the clothes we wear are not from Lu County, they are at least from Minzhou. Now, when it's hot, Ning'an County's thin cotton sweaters are on sale; when it's cold, Ning'an County's scarves appear. They are so showy and expensive, but wives and girls all like them."
"You can't deny it. Ning'an brand products are selling well. Now in Lu County, I'm afraid there are thousands of workshops that have begun to produce Ning'an brand products. Those who insist on not doing so will go bankrupt in large numbers."
"I'm confused. Minzhou is the world of the Mo family. How can the Mo family just sit there and watch others ride on their heads?"
"You don't understand this! Ning'an County and Fang Xusheng are in a secret relationship. Ning'an brand has long been owned by more than just Ning'an County. In Fang Xusheng's words, it's called 'technical investment', and the shares were given to the Mo family. The Jingguo royal family, Ning'an County government, Fang Xusheng, the Mo family, and the Gongdian all have shares. Those who work well or manage workshops well have shares in individual workshops, and they also get dividends."
"Xu Sheng makes so much money, isn't it a bit embarrassing to eat it? Wucuo Novel Network has many words"
"If you don't speak, no one will think you're dumb! If you say that again, don't blame me for getting angry!"
"Brother Wang, I..."
"What do you mean by 'I'? Fang Xusheng doesn't want a penny of the money earned by the Ning'an County workshop! He divides all the money into two parts, one to help the people of Ning'an County and the other to expand the Fang family library! Don't compare Fang Xusheng with those corrupt officials."
"Yes, Fang Xusheng is different. Fang Xusheng didn't hide anything. Ning'an County has been cooperating with Gongdian. Just like before, as long as you pay a sum of money, you can use Ning'an's new engineering technology. The smartest people in our Lu County spent money to buy those technologies early on and transformed the workshops. Not only did they not lose money, but they made more money than before!"
"In the end, I still have to thank Fang Xusheng! I am discussing with my wife whether we should go to Jingguo to help Fang Xusheng. Although we may not be able to do other things, we can still build mechanical weapons and repair mechanical vehicles and ships."
"What a coincidence. The Mo family just gathered people to go to Jing Country today, and the wages have doubled. By the way, I heard that the Mo family dispatched a semi-saint mechanical beast. Tsk tsk. Although they tried their best to cover it up, that thing is too big, more than ten feet long. It was still seen by someone."
"What? The semi-saint mechanical beasts are dispatched? That thing can take a beating."
"The Mo family is indeed more courageous than the Za family. It is their duty to help Fang Xusheng. If our Jia country is in trouble, Fang Xusheng will definitely... eh..."
The people chatting suddenly stopped talking and looked in the direction of Qingguo.
Everyone stood up slowly, lowered their heads, and tears flowed silently.
All the people mourned.
Xi Yunxiao, the Half-Saint of Qing Kingdom, fell.
From the Yumen Pass in the north to the Nanshazhou in the south, from the Luzhou Peninsula in the east to the Kunlun Mountains in the west, the death knell is ringing and the music of the zither is weeping everywhere in the world.
It was afternoon at this moment, and the sky should have been clear, but a strange black force gathered above the Shengyuan Continent, covering the sky and blocking out the sun. In the end, both the sun and Wenquxing were mostly obscured by the black, leaving only an imperceptible glow.
The sky was dark and gloomy.
Under the darkness, countless white human shadows suddenly appeared, bending down to worship.
There were Xi Yunxiao's friends and relatives, residents of the area Xi Yunxiao had governed, soldiers in the army Xi Yunxiao had led... All the deceased who had received Xi Yunxiao's kindness appeared in the sky at this moment.
Old friends see you off.
In the direction of Qing State, a huge orange beam of talent light with a diameter of more than ten thousand feet rose rapidly like a fountain, and finally seemed to pierce through the sky and stand tall against the earth.
boom…
A loud bang that penetrated the soul exploded and fell into the ears of every living being on the Shengyuan Continent.
The huge column of talent and light continued to rise, and then turned into a huge rainbow in the sky, spanning the east and the west.
Talent turns into a rainbow.
Snap…
After a few breaths, the rainbow of talent suddenly exploded and turned into countless rays of light that scattered between heaven and earth.
Everything on the Shengyuan Continent seemed to be purified by an invisible force. The darkness dissipated, the sun and Wenquxing reappeared in the sky, and everything was like the morning after the rain.
When a saint dies, his talent will benefit the world.
Suddenly, crisp noises were heard from three places in Shengyuan Continent, and then three beams of talent and light, much smaller than the previous ones, shot straight into the sky, and someone was promoted to a great scholar.
His talent is soaring.
On the Daofeng Mountain, in the Holy Courtyard, and above the holy temples, translucent figures appeared one after another. These figures were either looking in the direction of Qing Kingdom, or bowing their heads in deep thought, or looking up at the sky at Wenquxing, or closing their eyes to rest.
The saints awaken.
An old, translucent figure walked out of the void, moved slowly in the air, and finally came in front of the many semi-saint phantoms.
Those semi-saints bowed together, and Xi Yunxiao returned the greeting.
"Welcome back my fellow writers."
Although Fang Yun and others were in the Confucius world, they could see all kinds of strange phenomena happening in the Shengyuan Continent.
"Three days of truce!"
The sound of the Half-Saint Wolf Slaughter spread across the sky.
(To be continued…)