"Hundred levels!" Fang Yun answered without hesitation.
The old man was dressed in black, with a thin and expressionless face. When he heard Fang Yun mention Baichong, he just said "oh" and then slowly explained: "Do you know the rules of the Valley of Worry?"
"I know." Fang Yun answered politely.
"Since you have entered Shun Valley, you should follow the example of the sage Shun and work in the fields. One level of worry is just cultivating one acre of land and then harvesting it. One hundred levels of worry is not only cultivating one hundred acres of land, but also the hardships you endure are a hundred times greater than one level of worry. Only great scholars can bear one hundred levels of worry."
"I'm very pressed for time. Besides, there's no punishment for failure in the Valley of Sorrow," Fang Yun said.
The old man pointed to the mountain on the right. The mountain was originally shrouded in clouds and mist, but now the clouds and mist have dispersed, revealing a row of names from top to bottom. There was a number in front of each name, from one to one hundred.
Those names are almost all celebrities in Shengyuan Continent.
"There is no penalty for failure, but there are rewards for success. You will get a Holy Page for each of the tenth, fifty, and hundredth levels. The ranking on the mountain is the ranking of all people from ancient times to the present when they entered the Valley of Sorrow during the Hanlin period. The more successes you have, the higher your ranking. If you directly choose the 100th level of the Valley of Sorrow this time, you will definitely fail. After failure, not only will you not get a Holy Page, you will not even be able to enter the Hanlin rankings."
Fang Yun smiled and said, "I came to the Valley of Troubles not for the Holy Page, nor for the ranking, but to hone myself as soon as possible. Regardless of whether I succeed or fail in the Valley of Troubles, I will gain something. Many times, you don't need to care about the result, the process is more important."
"Oh? Why is it that the process is more important than the result?"
"First love." Fang Yun answered seriously.
The old man in the valley was stunned for a moment, then laughed in silence, then shook his head slightly and said, "Please enter the valley."
Fang Yun bowed to the old man and walked deeper into the valley.
After passing through the valley, the view ahead suddenly opens up.
Countless farmlands are inlaid on the ground like squares, and the beauty is indescribable at a glance.
Nearby, there are one hundred acres of empty farmland, and at the edge of the farmland, there is a small house.
Fang Yun took a step out of the valley, and then felt his strength rapidly draining away.
This situation also happened when I was in the Hanlin Palace, but the situation now is even more serious.
Fang Yun found that his connection with Wen Gong was completely blocked. He could not use any power such as his talent or literary courage, and his physical strength continued to drain away.
Soon, Fang Yun became an ordinary young man.
Suddenly, Fang Yun heard the old man's voice.
"I want to tell you two things. First, the Dragon Palace of the South Sea, the Dragon Palace of the North Sea, the Dragon Palace of the West Sea and the Lei Family have joined forces to stop you from leaping over the Dragon Gate. I know a thing or two about their methods, and you will definitely fail. Second, although the barbarians have invaded on a large scale, with hundreds of millions of barbarians heading south, they did not immediately fight to the death. It is not because they were stopped by the human war fortress, but because they are waiting for you. As long as you dare to go north to join the battle, the Half-Saint Wolf Slaughter will send out the entire army, and you will definitely die."
"Thank you, old sir."
Fang Yun walked towards the hut without looking back, but he was thinking about the old man's words.
"As Mencius said, 'When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will first test his mind and will, toil his muscles and bones, starve his body, deprive him of all want, and disturb his actions.' This is the test in the Valley of Anxiety. The old man told me at this time. It must be 'to test his mind and will,' which made me suffer mentally and spiritually."
"I had expected that the Three Seas Dragon Palace and the Lei Family would prevent me from leaping over the Dragon Gate, but I didn't know what methods they had. The more they did so, the more suspicious I would become, and this would also achieve the purpose of the Worry Valley. However, the Worry Valley underestimated me too much. This level of worry is not something to be afraid of."
"The second matter is more serious. It's not that Half-Saint Lang Lu wants to kill me, but what means will the demon race use to force me to go north? The demon barbarians can't do it, but what about the human race? What about the Jing Kingdom? This is the key. And the other key is, Half-Saint Lang Lu wants to kill me, why doesn't the Saint Academy stop him? Is it just because of the agreement between the two races that the saints cannot directly attack non-saints? As long as Lang Lu doesn't do it, and it's the barbarian king who kills me, the saints will really not save me?"
"But this alone can't make me suffer!"
Fang Yun snorted coldly and continued walking forward.
However, the further he walked, the heavier Fang Yun found his body became. After taking a few steps, his body felt as if it was filled with lead.
"This is probably the hundred worries, which are much more difficult than normal grinding."
Fang Yun walked into the hut and saw a hand-made plow at the door.
There were no cattle either outside or inside the hut.
"I've heard that the First Valley of Worry uses oxen to plow the land, which is relatively easy. I didn't expect that the Hundred Worries would require us to plow the land ourselves, and we have to plow a hundred acres manually!"
Fang Yun thought to himself, picked up the hand plow helplessly, and slowly walked towards the field.
Fang Yun glanced at the hundred acres of land in front of him, then looked up at the scorching sun in the sky and frowned slightly. The sun here was actually in the sky, and the time was completely different from that in Shengyuan Continent.
After carrying the hand-plow and walking a dozen steps, Fang Yun began to breathe lightly and sweat profusely. The clothes on his chest, abdomen and back were tightly stuck to his body. He had to occasionally lift the clothes off his body and shake them gently to fan himself.
"boom… "
Fang Yun threw the manual plow heavily into a corner of the hundred-acre field, then adjusted the direction, let the lower end of the plow penetrate into the ground, and began to push the manual plow. At the moment of pushing, Fang Yun felt tremendous resistance and at the same time a feeling of powerlessness.
Humans basically use animals to plow the fields. At worst, two or three people plow the fields together, with someone leading the way in front and someone supporting from behind. It is rare for one person to plow the fields alone.
However, if the land is not plowed, the crops will not grow well, and digging holes one by one to place seeds or bury seedlings is more time-consuming and laborious.
Fang Yun pushed the manual plow forward slowly, and the soil was turned to both sides. Plowing the land requires more than just strength. One must also pay attention to the direction and strength of the plow at all times. If the direction is off, it will lead to uneven planting. If the force is too small, the plow furrow will not be deep, and if the force is too great, it will be too laborious.
After dozens of breaths, Fang Yun felt his arms sore, but he said nothing and continued to push the plow forward.
"This is called physical exertion. I can endure it!" Fang Yun said to himself.
In the vast universe, everything seems to be still, except for a young man walking slowly in the fields.
Soon, Fang Yun's whole body was soaked and his breathing became louder and louder.
A quarter of an hour later, Fang Yun's hands were aching. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the part where he held the plow was red. If he continued, his skin would definitely be rubbed off.
Fang Yun looked into the distance, looked at the black soil in front of him, rested for a moment, and plowed the land again.
A few breaths later, Fang Yun suddenly heard the voice of the old man in the valley.
“… to stop you from making the leap to the Dragon Gate… you are bound to fail… you are certain to die…” Fang Yun didn’t care at first, but the voice kept echoing in his ears, and he felt a little irritated. Without literary courage, even a great scholar would not be unaffected.
Fang Yun gritted his teeth and persisted, looking down at the soil below rolling to both sides, and watching the furrows on the ground continue to extend.
After a while, the sound disappeared, but after a while, it appeared again.
"This is not to make him harden his mind, it's just like Tang Monk chanting the spell to tighten the headband, so long-winded!" Fang Yun was very helpless.
(To be continued.)