Happiness is always short-lived.
After Fang Yun completed his poem "Plum Blossoms in the Wind Breaking the Snow", everyone continued to climb the avalanche slope with doubts about the "superior literary mind".
Since the candidates were climbing together and Fang Yun was in overall planning, overall everyone was moving quickly upwards, much faster than those monsters.
Ordinary mountain climbing would not be a problem for these scholars, but the snow around them exuded a chill that contained the power of comets and demon ancestors, causing them to consume dozens of times more energy than normal mountain climbing.
Several candidates with weaker physical strength were already breathing heavily. When they were breathing fastest, they occasionally reached the standard "one breath", which was one second for the other party.
This team has surpassed most of the ordinary Saint Clan monsters and is only behind those monsters whose strength is close to that of the Son of God.
Some saints reached the summit one after another.
Fang Yun and others were climbing up at a rapid pace, but suddenly, roars came one after another from above. The power of qi and blood contained in the roars acted on the avalanche, causing the snow waves to begin to accelerate.
Fang Yun knew that if the speed of the avalanche increased by 10%, the increase in destructive power would be far more than 10%.
The pressure on everyone increased suddenly, and the frequency of using poetry increased again.
While Fang Yun was giving orders quickly, he was observing the source of the roar and soon discovered that it was indeed the monster that was causing trouble on purpose.
Not only were these monsters roaring intentionally to intensify the avalanche, they were also changing their routes, pushing the cleared snow toward the human route, causing more snow on the route directly in front of the human race.
Whether the human race changes its route or continues to go straight up, it will consume extra talent.
"Shut up! Don't disturb my sleep!" A roar came from the sky, but the roar did not affect the avalanche at all.
The roar of the monsters soon stopped, but the monsters above did not change their route. They still deliberately pushed the snow towards the route of Fang Yun and others, and the stone lions did not appear again.
Fang Yun saw that it was necessary for the demons to choose a route and clear the snow around them. As for how to choose a route, it was their freedom. So the stone lions didn't care, but roaring was not necessary for climbing, so the stone lions stopped them.
"What should we do?" a scholar asked anxiously.
"There is nothing we can do. We can only hold on. As long as we keep up this speed, we will be able to overtake many monsters until we reach the top of the hill! Everyone, be extra vigilant. Whether we can pass the avalanche slope depends on these last five miles!"
After Fang Yun finished speaking, he also mentioned some precautions.
At the beginning, everyone's poems could last for more than ten breaths, and at most could last for thirty breaths, but later they could only last for seven or eight breaths, and now, most of the poems can only last for four breaths before being washed away by the avalanche.
For safety reasons, Fang Yun had to ask the candidates behind him to finish writing their poems half a breath in advance, but the consequence was that the talents of the candidates were further depleted.
"How much talent do you have left?"
"I only have two inches and a half left."
"I have two inches and six left."
"I have two inches and four left."
…
After hearing the amount of talent left by everyone, Fang Yun frowned. Now there is only one quarter of the journey left. Most of the talents of the candidates are about one quarter. If nothing unexpected happens, everyone has a great chance of reaching the top, but now the demon and barbarian tribes are blocking them. The chance has become extremely slim.
Everyone realized why Fang Yun asked about talent, and the team became gloomy.
If we continue, everyone might be buried in the avalanche slope!
The confidence that Fang Yun had built up because of his superior literary mind was being shattered by the obstruction of the monsters.
As time went by, the human race surpassed the monsters one by one. However, the monsters above continued to push the snow into the human race's path.
Suddenly, Zong Wude sighed and said, "Why don't we use ice stones to leave? In the second corridor, a demon used ice stones. It takes about ten breaths for the ice stones to take effect. If we work together, we can easily stop the avalanche for ten breaths."
"Then all our previous efforts have been in vain?"
"That's better than dying here! We represent the best of the generation. If we die, the human race will be absolutely suppressed by the monsters for at least a dozen years in the future. What's more, there is a high possibility that a semi-saint will appear among us. If we die here, it will not be a matter of being suppressed for a dozen years, but very likely for hundreds of years."
“We may not fail!”
"What if we fail? The demon race has many geniuses in these generations, and they are definitely better than our human race. If we go back now, we will still be able to resist even if we are defeated. If we die here, the human race of the same generation will probably be powerless to fight back against them."
Those who advocated advancement and those who advocated retreating started arguing, and both sides had their reasons and arguments, it was more like a debate.
Yan Yukong suddenly said: "We have handed over the power of command to Fang Yun. This matter is decided by Fang Yun, and no one is allowed to question it! Everyone shut up!"
Several scholars looked at Yan Yukong in astonishment and admired him even more. He was clearly the recognized number one scholar and a disciple of a semi-saint, but not only was he willing to sacrifice his life to save everyone, but now he was willing to be Fang Yun's supporting role and clear away the noise for Fang Yun.
"This is another kind of hero, who does not compete with the sun and the moon for glory, but is like the spring breeze and rain." Kong Delun sighed.
Fang Yun pointed at several people in a row, agreed on the time, and then said: "Keep going! I still have a lot of talent, I will also join in resisting the avalanche. I will come in seventeen breaths."
Many candidates showed expressions of reluctance. Fang Yun was constantly giving orders all the way. It seemed that he was just saying a few words, but he had to make judgments and calculations before speaking, and he needed to grasp various opportunities. But these were nothing. The most important thing was the pressure. As a commander, Fang Yun shouldered the wind and snow and the entire team!
Fang Yun not only consumes more physical energy than others, but also needs to consume more literary energy to ensure his clear thinking.
When the time came, Fang Yun picked up his pen and started writing.
"The thin stone and cold plum blossoms are neighbors, standing tall and straight all year round. You must know that they are proud of their snow and frost, and they are not part of the prosperous team."
Huge pine trees rise from the ground, pushing aside the snow waves, towering tall, much taller than the pine trees in other people's poems.
After the poem was written, Fang Yun said slowly: "Brother Tang, please finish the poem in twenty breaths."
Fang Yun's tone was very calm, but it made people feel infinite power, as if Fang Yun's poems could withstand an avalanche, and Fang Yun's people could support the entire Comet Corridor.
Everyone recognized the beauty of this poem. It praises the pine tree but does not mention the pine tree. It uses thin rocks and cold plums to set off the quality of the pine tree. At least it is out of the county, but the situation is urgent and no one will comment on it.
"If I can leave, this literary gathering will surely become a collection of essays!"
Every scholar had the same idea. He was full of infinite motivation. Anyone could write a collection of essays, but not everyone could publish it officially. Even the Ten Kingdoms had no jurisdiction over it. It had to be reviewed by the Holy Academy. Generally speaking, a university scholar could only publish a personal collection of essays once in his life.
Although there are many collections of literary gatherings, the conditions for publishing them are extremely harsh. They are generally privately printed, and there are very few collections of literary gatherings officially sold in bookstores in the ten countries. At the end of the year, each country often compiles all the poems and articles from the country's literary gatherings that year, selects the good poems and publishes them in one book.
Although the quality of this "Avalanche Literary Gathering" is not high, the quantity is extremely large, and the location is special, that is, the Comet Corridor. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for more than 30 candidates to climb the third corridor, and there is a great possibility that they will publish a collection of essays.
Not long after, it was Fang Yun's turn again, and he wrote another poem.
"Standing on the hills in cold and heat, the greenery is lush and green all year round. The road is not beautiful, but the evergreen is more beautiful than the temporary fragrance."
When the poem was finished, a huge amount of heaven and earth energy surged, forming green pines that towered into the sky and cleared the way through the snow.
Suddenly, a scream came from the front, which sounded familiar to Fang Yun.
This time, the range of the poem was very large. Not only did it repel the avalanche, it even repelled the Saint Clan bear demon general Xiong Cang. Xiong Cang deliberately chose to get close to the route of Fang Yun and others, trying to obstruct Fang Yun and others, but his cleverness backfired.
Xiong Cang's body was swept down by the snow waves and he could no longer find a foothold.
"Lord Lion King, the humans want to kill me! I have been injured by the avalanche and their poems, and I no longer have the ability to climb the third corridor. Please punish them, Lord Lion King!" Xiong Cang roared loudly.
"You deserve it!" The stone lion's response was crisp and clear.
Everyone couldn't help laughing. It seemed that the stone lion also hated the barbaric behavior.
After the laughter, there was silence again.
Not long after, Zong Wude suddenly said, "Fang Yun, we don't have much talent left."
Those who had previously advocated continuing to climb the mountain also shut up at this moment. The energy consumed by the obstruction of the monsters was far beyond imagination. Even with Fang Yun's participation, it would be impossible for everyone to reach the top of the mountain based on their current energy.
After walking for so long, everyone can already judge how far they can go next by their talent.
"One more mile." Yan Yukong suddenly whispered.
There was deathly silence in the team.
"I won't retreat until my talent is gone!"
After Fang Yun finished speaking, he took over from another scholar and quickly wrote a poem.
"Heavy snow crushes the green pine, yet it stands tall and straight. To know the pine's nobleness, wait until the snow melts."
After writing this famous poem by Marshal Chen Yi, Fang Yun sighed inwardly, realizing that his talent simply could not sustain it for more than a mile.
But never give up until the end!
Fang Yun's literary courage suddenly trembled slightly, and the power of his literary courage was integrated into this poem.
When the poem was finished, the wind and clouds rose, but not a single pine tree appeared.
"Did it fail?" All the candidates had the same thought.
Boom…
A strange scene appeared: rows of light and shadow poetry pines rose from the ground, broke through the snow and grew rapidly, forming an inexplicable and majestic force that pushed away all the avalanches and gave birth to a poetry pine road that was far wider, longer and more solid than any poetry, just like seven or eight poems by other people appearing at the same time.
"No! Look carefully at these pine trees!"
When everyone took a closer look, they found that the pine tree formed by Fang Yun’s poem was actually the sum of the pine trees formed by the seven previous pine-themed poems!
"Fang Yun, this poem of yours has revived the power of the previous seven poems! It's amazing!"
"This poem is simple in conception but it clearly points out the aspirations of the pine tree. It is similar to Confucius's saying, 'Only when winter comes do we know that pine and cypress are the last to wither.'"
"Look, some of the snow has melted!"
Everyone was shocked. In this kind of terrain, the snow melting into water could be dozens of times more terrifying than a simple avalanche.
When everyone took a closer look, they suddenly laughed, because all the snow and water were being pushed away by countless pine trees, and the monsters and barbarians who were harming everyone in front or had harmed everyone in the past were being hit by the tsunami-like snow and water.
The shrill screams echoed in the air above the third corridor. (To be continued...)