The scholars present were speechless. Yuhai City was an important base for the military and the Holy Academy, and news spread very quickly. They already knew what Fang Yun said.
Even without talking about his achievements, Fang Yun's courage alone was enough to make them feel ashamed. No one present could do what Fang Yun did.
Pang Juren from the Criminal Hall, who had been following Fang Yun from a distance, nodded slightly. He knew that Fang Yun did not mention the real great merit. Although he did not know what great merit Fang Yun had made, he could guess that it was a major event related to the destiny of the human race, otherwise Li Wenying would not have gone to the Saint Academy to see the Half Saint overnight a few days ago, and then the Half Saint personally issued a gag order.
Even though Fang Yun was very angry, he did not mention the merits of the strong soldier poem "Capture the King" and the scholar's war poem "Arrow in the Stone". Apart from the people who saw it with their own eyes that day, less than four people in the world knew that the two poems were written by him. It would take at least a month before he would announce to the world that they were written by someone else and let people go to various holy temples to learn them.
Fang Yun continued, "If you can persuade me kindly, I can shamelessly go to Lord Li and ask him to escort me to Dayuan Prefecture to take the exam on the first day of June, and then return to Yuhai after climbing the Book Mountain. But why don't you give me a chance to speak? Why do you slander me as soon as you open your mouth?"
No one could refute it, and many people even vaguely understood that they were too eager to go to the Book Mountain and were being used as pens by Tong Li and others.
"If I really came here for the quota of Shushan, you can scold me as much as you want, I won't say a word! But I was forced here by the monsters because of my meritorious service in killing monsters. As human beings, you don't help me, and I won't say anything even if you just watch from the sidelines. But why are you adding insult to injury? You just think that I don't have a deep foundation, I am neither from a wealthy family nor the son of a high-ranking official, and I am only famous for my literary talent but not powerful, so I am easy to bully! If it was the son of a prefect, who would dare to stand up and stop me?"
Many people feel ashamed.
Fang Yun said: "You can distrust me, Fang Yun, but ask yourself, is it possible that Lord Li Wenying would bend the law for my sake? If Feng Chengjue, one of the four great talents and leaders of the rebellious literati, had not wanted to kill me, why would Lord Li send me to Yuhai City for protection?"
Everyone was moved. Feng Cheng Jue was full of evil and countless people hated him. Those who originally disliked Fang Yun immediately changed their attitude.
A student bowed to Fang Yun and said, "Brother Fang is right. In the face of the conflict between the human race and the demon race, even the families with hatred can join forces. It is too much for us to care about these trivial matters. We should denounce the demon race that kills people, not the victims hunted by the demon race. I will try my best to clarify this matter to my classmates and clear your name. I feel guilty, so I will not participate in this year's provincial examination. Goodbye."
"Ah, you're right. If we humans destroy this genius that even the demons can't destroy, how can we face others in the future? I apologize!"
"I was selfish and accidentally hurt Brother Fang. I hope you can forgive me!"
Most people dispersed, but a few refused to leave. The student who had scolded Fang Yun at the beginning felt ashamed and annoyed, but he didn't dare to lose his temper. He just waved his sleeves vigorously and left with the others.
The clerk sighed softly and said, "Fang Yun, I am someone close to Lord Li, you know that. You must be patient. Tong Li relies on his prominent family background and is used to being lawless in Yuhai City. They are probably deliberately angering you and looking for an opportunity to force you to leave Yuhai City."
Fang Yun said, "How could I not know? They think that the title of Master Talent or the place in the Book Mountain belong to them! If a wealthy family from the capital suddenly came to Yuhai City to study in the Book Mountain, would they dare to stop them? I have been famous for less than three months, and I am a child from a poor family, so they think I am committing a crime! If I bow my head, they will think that everything is as it should be, and they will not stop until they force me out of Yuhai City."
The clerk was stunned for a moment, then said, "You are right. Those who are highly respected or kind-hearted will be happy to see that you have become famous. But those who are full of thieves and prostitutes, and who think that you are blocking their path to the Holy Path, will naturally hate you. Yesterday I heard a scholar ridicule those people. Even if they don't have your luck, those who resent you will never be able to touch the Holy Path."
Fang Yun took a deep breath, his eyes firm, and said: "I hope they will stop at the right time. If they go too far, don't blame me! I dare to kill even monsters, so why would I be afraid of a few mad dogs!"
The clerk was startled and thought, what a strong evil aura! Only those who had fought with the demon generals before would have such a momentum. Could it be that Fang Yun had also fought with the demon generals
Fang Yun vaguely felt a sense of heroism in his heart that he had never felt before, which made him involuntarily think of the scene where Li Wenying killed the Lord of Dayuan Mansion with a sword and slaughtered tens of thousands of monsters on the Yangtze River.
The literary talent in the Wen Palace glowed slightly.
The clerk said, "That's right. Most saints have a path to success through killing. Killing monsters, killing enemy nations, killing enemies. Let's go."
Fang Yun worked with the clerk to handle his student registration, and then went to register for the provincial examination on the first day of June. However, there were too many people signing up for the examination, so he didn't finish his queue until noon.
Jiyuan County, Fang Yun’s hometown, has a population of 90,000 and admits 50 students every year. Yuhai Prefecture has one prefecture and nine counties with a population of over 3 million, and there are nearly 2,000 students every year.
Every year, tens of thousands of students would come to Yuhai City to take the examination for the title of scholar, but only about fifty would be admitted each year. Even though the number of places has been increased to one hundred this year due to the Wenquwudong examination, only three or four would be selected out of a hundred, so the competition was extremely fierce.
Fang Yun glanced at the people behind him who were queuing up with dry food, then left the academy and returned home.
Fang Yun's status was extraordinary at this moment. Many wealthy businessmen, famous families or officials in Yuhai City sent him invitations, as well as a large number of visiting cards, but Fang Yun rejected them one by one and concentrated on studying at home.
As before, he still only sleeps two hours a day.
After experiencing the Thunderous Holy Sound, the Five Movements of Wenqu and three downfalls of talent, Fang Yun was stronger than ordinary scholars both in terms of literature and body, and was even not weaker than ordinary juren, because ordinary juren had only experienced three downfalls of talent.
With the nourishment of the Dragon Palace Blood Ginseng, he was still full of energy even if he only slept two hours a day.
Fang Yun did not go to the Academy of Literature, but wrote an essay on the interpretation of the classics every morning, noon and evening, and asked his neighbor Mr. Pang to give him comments.
On the fifth day of May, Fang Yun, holding Li Wenying's invitation, took Yang Yuhuan and Nunu to the Yudai River to watch the dragon boat race. In addition to Mr. Pang's family, another neighbor, Lai Pianjiang's family, also went with them.
Everyone chatted and laughed as they went, and arrived at the Yudai River at around eight in the morning.
Fang Yun looked around and saw the clear Yudai River running through the city, separating the main city from the northern sub-city. The name of the Yudai River was not grand, but it was very wide, with a width of two hundred feet at its widest point, and even a small sandbar in the river at its widest point.
On both sides of the river are rows of lush green willow trees, with branches hanging down, which is particularly pleasing to the eye.
At this moment, the streets are bustling with people. Literati, children, beautiful girls, charming young women and all kinds of people come and go, all with smiles on their faces, enjoying the festive atmosphere.
The sounds of hawking rice dumplings, sachets, mugwort, and calamus are endless, and there are also jugglers and performers, making the place extremely lively.
Nunu was extremely excited. He looked around and was curious about everything.
Fang Yun looked at the sandbar in the river. There were already many people and some dragon boats on it.
General Lai introduced: "That island is the starting point of the annual dragon boat race, and the end point is the famous Jinghai Tower. The owner of the tower is related to Chen Sheng. Before Chen Sheng was canonized, he wrote an inscription in the tower. Jinghai Tower was named by Chen Sheng, so it has become bigger and bigger. There are two towers on the north and south of Yudai River, facing each other from a distance. They are vaguely the best restaurant in Yuhai City. There is a dragon head bridge outside Jinghai Tower. There is a dragon head on the bridge, and brocade is hung in the dragon's mouth. Whoever reaches there first and picks up the brocade flag is the winner. You can see it when you approach the river and look over there."
Fang Yun nodded, took out the invitation Li Wenying gave him, and said, "Where is this place? Please ask General Lai to take me there."
General Lai took one look and said with a smile, "You are indeed a scholar in front of the emperor. Jinghai Tower is the end point, and Yuhe Tower, where the invitation is, is directly opposite the island. It is the starting point of the annual dragon boat race, and not many people can get an invitation. Let's go, I'll take advantage of you and go and have a look together."
The three families went to Yuhe Tower together. Fang Yun was afraid that Yang Yuhuan would get lost, so he held her hand.
Although this action was not considered unusual in that era, it was not considered polite either. Yang Yuhuan struggled shyly for a few times, and finally allowed Fang Yun to hold her hand and walk forward.
Led by General Lai, everyone came to the entrance of Yuhe Tower and found that this place was different from other restaurants. There were many big men standing at the entrance.
Fang Yun and others could see that these big men were all students, and were obviously military personnel. They were all martial artists, had strong close combat abilities, and were able to fight against demon soldiers alone.
General Lai whispered, "This year's dragon boat race is a bit strange. In the past, it was not so strictly guarded. It should be that an important person has come. I wonder if it is from our Jing country or the Qing country over there."
Fang Yun walked to the door and handed the invitation to a guard at the door. The guard saw that Fang Yun brought so many people with him and said, "You can go in, but please don't go upstairs."
General Lai immediately smiled and said, "I serve in the army and I know all these rules."
The guard nodded and let everyone in.
After walking a few steps away from the man, General Lai whispered to him, "It's a Beijing accent."
Fang Yun understood what General Lai meant. He thought that there might be an important figure from the capital here.
Yuhe Tower was extremely spacious. There were many people chatting and listening to music on the first floor. The door at the back of the first floor was open. Outside the door was a garden, and behind the garden was the Yudai River. Fang Yun saw the green willow branches at a glance, and through the willow branches he could see the sandbar in the Yudai River, which was the island that General Lai Pian mentioned.
General Lai said, "You go to the second floor. You can see clearly from upstairs. We can just watch from downstairs."
Fang Yun looked at Mr. Pang, who nodded seemingly casually. Fang Yun felt relieved and took Yang Yuhuan's hand and walked to the second floor.
Many people secretly looked at Yang Yuhuan along the way, no matter they were handsome young men or passionate literati, even the singing girl who was playing the piano was distracted by looking at Yang Yuhuan.