Everyone didn't know why the old man was angry, and they didn't dare to ask too much. Yan Yukong and the other two walked out, while Fang Yun took out a set of scholar's clothes from the Hanhu shell and put them on. His previous clothes were torn beyond recognition.
When Yan Yukong walked out, many people outside congratulated him with smiles. When Sun Naiyong and Mo Shan walked out, everyone also took it for granted.
When Fang Yun, dressed in scholar's clothes, walked out, everyone was stunned, even Li Wenying was stunned, and then an unconcealable joy appeared in his eyes.
"What's going on? The scholar is the fourth one to come out?"
"That person seems to be Fang Yun."
"Even if he is Fang Yun, he is also a scholar! How can a scholar pass the Holy Ruins Road? How can a scholar be ranked fourth! Look, there are only six people in this batch, where are the geniuses from other countries? It's absolutely impossible! There must be something wrong!"
"Say less, wait a moment, and find out the situation first."
Hundreds of people remained silent, waiting for Fang Yun and others to come over.
An official from the Qing Kingdom took a few quick steps and said to Yan Yukong, who was walking in front of him, with a smile: "Mr. Yan, you are the first in the Shengxu Road this time, right?"
Yan Yukong nodded.
"Then... why did Fang Yun from Jingguo come out with you?"
"He also passed Shengxu Road and ranked fourth." Yan Yukong said, ignored the man and walked out.
The official from Qing Kingdom stood there as if petrified. He wanted to grab Yan Yukong's clothes and ask him again, but he heard clearly that Fang Yun ranked fourth in Shengxu Road, making it into the top ten, and his moonlight doubled.
The people around looked at Fang Yun. This road to the Holy Ruins was not about poetry. It was not about talent but about survival ability and strength. Only those with enough strength were qualified to enter the Holy Ruins.
"A scholar stood out from a group of talented candidates and ranked fourth. Is this... going to change the world in the Ten Kingdoms?"
"Luckily he is only a Juren Xiucai. If there were Jinshi candidates, he would be ranked in the top ten. I, a Jinshi, would rather die by hitting my head against the wall!"
"How on earth did he get through Shengxu Road? I walked through it when I was a juren, and it was like a sea of fire and a mountain of swords. How could a scholar like him possibly get through it?"
Everyone was talking about it, constantly speculating and deducing, and finally came to a helpless conclusion: Fang Yun was not afraid of pain!
Apart from this, no one could think of any other possibility.
Everyone also discovered a problem. Among Confucius and the six sub-saint families, only Yan Yukong was in the top six. The rest, except Fang Yun, were disciples of semi-saint families.
"Could it be... that the world is really going to change?"
"The Holy Ruins will be opened earlier this year. Many families made mistakes in their calculations. Those geniuses are too young. If they had waited for another two years, even if they were not as good as Yan Yukong, they would still be as good as others. If they had known that the Holy Ruins would be opened earlier, those Jinshi would probably still be Juren now."
"Look, someone is writing the list of articles for Shengxu Road."
Everyone looked over and saw a large white paper pasted on one side of the Wendian Hall. A Hanlin was standing ten feet away. A pen flew from his hand to the white paper and wrote the ranking of Shengxu Road.
Fang Yun glanced at the list, then walked out to the resting place of the Confucius Palace while chatting with Li Wenying about the Shengxu Road. Waiting for the Shengxu Mid-Autumn Festival in the evening, after writing poems and essays, he could get Yuehua and finally officially enter the Shengxu.
Two quarters of an hour later, Li Fanming passed through the mist, looking exhausted. The big rabbit no longer let him carry it, and followed behind obediently.
Li Fanming walked towards the Beast Bridge and saw dozens of people standing in front of him. Most of them were resting, so he asked the first person who came here, but no one saw Fang Yun.
"Anyway, he is the top scholar and his poetry is so good. He will be safe even if he can't get the extra moonlight." Li Fanming thought to himself as he sat on the ground to rest, preparing to wait until he had recovered some strength before crossing the Beast Bridge.
The big rabbit ran around, sniffing constantly, and soon returned to Li Fanming happily.
Another quarter of an hour later, Liu Zizhi walked out of the fog and slowly walked towards the Beast Bridge.
Liu Zizhi looked pale and depressed. He looked carefully at all the people at the Beast Bridge and found that Fang Yun was not there. His mood suddenly improved.
When he reached the Beast Bridge, Liu Zizhi heard someone talking about Fang Yun, so he walked over to eavesdrop.
"Has anyone seen Fang Yun?" someone asked.
"Brother Fanming just asked about this. It seems Fang Yun has not passed the fog transformation."
"Of course. If a mere scholar like him can turn fog into mist, then where can we, the scholars, put our faces?"
"However, this fog transformation is really too scary. This is just an ordinary fog transformation. If it is a powerful fog transformation, we will definitely die. And the fog transformation can also transform into butterflies. It's scary to think about it."
“When the mist turns into a butterfly, it is not scary and is still very weak. If it is given enough time to grow, the Holy Ruins will be its world. Therefore, the demon and barbarian tribes and other strange creatures in the Holy Ruins will try their best to stop the mist from turning into a butterfly. Once the mist turns into a butterfly, they will unite to destroy it and prevent it from growing.”
"I heard that the Demon King has a mist butterfly, which is extremely terrifying."
"Forget it, stop talking nonsense and recover your strength to strive for the top 30. If you can't make it, don't get below 80."
Liu Zizhi felt happy when he heard everyone's conversation. As long as Fang Yun could not make it into the top 30 and could not get the extra moonlight, it would be difficult for a mere scholar to achieve anything in the Holy Ruins no matter how strong he was.
Li Fanming was beside him. Liu Zizhi remembered that Li Fanming had opposed him by the river before, so he smiled and said, "Brother Fanming, I apologize to you. I didn't expect Fang Yun to be able to survive the Weak Water and even the Strange Wind Canyon. My vision is not as good as yours."
Li Fanming looked up at Liu Zizhi and hummed indifferently.
Liu Zizhi wanted to resolve the conflict with Li Fanming. After all, he was half a member of the Ji family. He didn't expect him to have such an attitude. It was obvious that he had a very good relationship with Fang Yun. He was even more unhappy and said, "It's a pity that Fang Yun can't be ranked in the top 30 of the Holy Ruins Road. If he can be in the top 30 and get extra moonlight, he will be much safer in the Holy Ruins. I heard that few scholars have returned alive from the Holy Ruins in the past."
"Since Fang Yun can pass the Qifeng Gorge, it will be easy for him to leave the Holy Ruins safely." Li Fanming said.
“That’s not necessarily true. At least we have to get through the fog before we can say we are no longer afraid of the Holy Ruins.” Liu Zizhi said with a smile.
Li Fanming snorted and ignored Liu Zizhi.
The big rabbit on the side looked at Liu Zizhi with a squint, as if he was looking at a fool.
As time passed, more and more people completed the Saint Ruins Road. Fifty-four of the top sixty were disciples from the Saints' Families, while those after the sixtieth were mostly disciples from non-Saints' Families. If it weren't for the massive invasion of the Two Worlds Mountain by the demon race, some disciples from the Semi-Saints' Families would not have been able to come, and the competition on the Saint Ruins Road would have been even more intense.
Quarter of an hour later, Li Fanming walked across the Beast Bridge and successfully passed the Holy Ruins Road.
Not long after, Liu Zizhi also passed Shengxu Road and appeared in the Wendian. He didn't care about his torn clothes and strode out of the Wendian. Then he looked around and found a list next to him. His heart was in his throat.
"I hope there are less than eighty people! I hope there are less than eighty people!" He thought to himself, held his breath, and looked to the end of the list.
Then I saw a Hanlin writing with divine power: Seventy-six, Liu Zizhi.
Liu Zizhi clenched his fists and almost yelled out loud. He knew that he was not qualified to be among the top 80 candidates in the imperial examination, but with the help of the Left Prime Minister and his great improvement in strength in recent days, he had a chance. However, the chance was not great, and he felt relieved until now.
"Let's see who are in the top ten." Liu Zizhi thought to himself, starting from Yan Yukong who was ranked first. When he saw the word "Fang Yun" who was ranked fourth, his heart skipped a beat and he instinctively thought that it was a duplicate name. However, an uncontrollable panic rose in his heart.
"It must not be Fang Yun! It must not be! It must not be..." Liu Zizhi kept comforting himself in his heart, but the more he did so, the more panic he felt in his heart. He even couldn't help but think of the scene where Fang Yun surpassed him in the Qifeng Canyon. He still remembers that scene that chilled him to the bone. He thought he had lost, but in the end he surpassed him. It was a huge blow to him.
Liu Zizhi walked to the Hanlin scholar with heavy steps, prayed countless times in his heart, and then asked softly, "Master Hanlin, what country is the fourth on the list?"
The Hanlin glanced at Liu Zizhi and said, "You don't know Fang Yun of Jingguo? Do you think he has the same name? If not, it must be him! You are not the only one asking, it is Fang Maocai who wrote "Praise of the Humble House". Don't ask anymore."
Liu Zizhi's body swayed, and he didn't even have time to confirm again. Hanlin stopped him from saying anything.
At this moment, Liu Zizhi heard a very strange laughter. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a big rabbit standing upright and staring at him, covering its mouth with its two front paws and laughing strangely, as if it was looking at a fool.
Liu Zizhi was almost mad with anger. It was bad enough that he was suppressed by Fang Yun, but how could even a rabbit have the right to laugh at him!
Li Fanming on the side smiled and apologized: "Brother Liu, I'm really sorry, our rabbit doesn't know etiquette, I'm sorry to embarrass you." As he said that, he nudged the big rabbit with his toes to make it behave itself.
But the big rabbit ran away and pointed at Liu Zizhi and laughed.
People around looked at Liu Zizhi curiously. It was a rare and funny thing that a distinguished scholar was laughed at by a rabbit.
"Oh, there's nothing I can do." Li Fanming left with a sigh.
Liu Zizhi was so angry that his face turned red and he wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
At around four o'clock in the afternoon, before the sun set, people from all over the city began to head to the Confucius Academy in the city center.
A large number of students are already busy in the square in front of the Confucius Academy. Some are busy building a platform for literary gatherings. The hundred people who are qualified to enter the Holy Ruins will write poems and lyrics on the platform. Others are setting up tables and chairs in front of the platform to prepare for the guests.
The roofs of all the houses around the Confucius Palace Square are flat, and there are many tables and chairs on the roofs. At this time of year, these roofs can be sold at a high price. Those who do not get invitations to the literary gathering will find ways to buy space on these roofs.
The Shengxu Mid-Autumn Literary Festival is held once a year, and every time it attracts thousands of people to the streets and countless people from Kongcheng to the gate of the academy.
This year is destined to be more lively than before, because a lot of gossip is spreading. Some say that the four great talents of this generation have gathered, and even the mysterious "Hidden Lord", the second of the four great talents of this generation, will come. Some say that the four great talents of the previous generation and Li Wenying, who is known as the fifth talent, have also arrived, and the evil Lord has also appeared. There are even rumors that even a semi-saint may come to see this literary gathering. (To be continued...)
ps: The third update will be in the early morning, so it will be quite late.