A Son of a Poor Family

Saint Origin Continent, Jing Kingdom, Jiangzhou, Dayuan Prefecture, Ji County.

The sky was a flawless blue, the sunlight bright, and birds sang merrily. Leaves and petals knocked down by the night rain lay scattered across the ground, and spring was in full bloom.

Fang Yun felt chilled to the bone. He jolted awake and opened his eyes, staring around in confusion.

Fang Yun discovered that he was lying on the bluestone pavement of a narrow alley. The ground was wet, and he hurriedly braced himself against a wall to stand, only to feel searing pain throughout his body.

I clearly remember a fire breaking out in the library. Then I jumped from the building to escape. How did I end up here? What is this place? Fang Yun wondered.

Out of the corner of his eye, Fang Yun noticed that something was wrong with his clothes. Looking down, he was horrified to find himself dressed in coarse ancient hemp clothing stained with mud and blood. His arms were thin and small.

There was a small puddle nearby. Fang Yun lowered his head and saw his reflection in it.

"Isn't this what I looked like at fourteen or fifteen?"

Suddenly, Fang Yun's head exploded with pain, stars danced before his eyes, and a flood of memories surged into his mind. He gritted his teeth hard as sweat seeped from his forehead.

After an unknown amount of time, Fang Yun calmed down. His expression was incomparably complicated as he slowly sorted through the additional memories.

So this is no longer Earth, but the Saint Origin Continent, a place I've never heard of. This boy, also named Fang Yun, was beaten to death. Did I die from my fall at the library and, by some coincidence, take over his body? Is this the legendary resurrection after death?

This Fang Yun's greatest wish was to become a Licentiate, gain talent, and bring honor to his ancestors. There is actually a power called "talent" here. Scholars can use talent to command "the primordial energy of heaven and earth" and gain even greater power. I've never heard of anything like it.

Huh? The history here...

Fang Yun discovered that aside from the existence of demons and barbarians, the history of the Saint Origin Continent had been normal before the Shang Dynasty. However, enormous changes had occurred near the end of the Shang Dynasty.

Near the end of the Shang Dynasty, Lord of the West Ji Chang, later King Wen of Zhou, observed the sun, moon, and stars and wrote the timeless masterpiece Book of Changes. A heavenly phenomenon descended, talent poured into him, and Heaven named him the Second Saint. He then left Xiqi to campaign against King Zhou.

The Xiqi army advanced with irresistible force. After many days, it arrived beneath Chaoge City, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. The city gates suddenly opened, and one hundred thousand demons, three hundred thousand barbarians, and one million Great Shang soldiers poured forth like a tide, encircling the two hundred thousand Xiqi troops.

King Zhou of Shang stood atop the city walls with the fox demon Daji in his arms, loudly cursing the Xiqi soldiers before ordering a general assault. Just as the Xiqi troops were about to meet utter destruction, King Wen of Zhou descended from the heavens upon azure clouds.

Dressed in white, King Wen of Zhou glared coldly and enumerated King Zhou of Shang's ten great crimes. With every crime he declared, the national fortune of Great Shang diminished by ten percent, while King Zhou aged ten years. When King Wen finished, Great Shang's national fortune collapsed, and King Zhou was at death's door, barely clinging to life.

King Wen of Zhou's talent transformed into a blazing sun hanging high in the sky. Holding the sacred book Book of Changes, he recited aloud. Tiny golden characters flew from his mouth, growing larger and larger until each was the size of a person. Countless massive golden characters circled the blazing sun of talent, radiating brilliant light that illuminated the world.

The golden light did not harm humans, but the one hundred thousand demons and three hundred thousand barbarians suddenly shrieked miserably. Their bodies split apart from the inside out, blood spraying everywhere as they died one after another.

In the end, all five Barbarian Saints died, while only one of the three Demon Saints escaped.

Upon Muye, blood flowed until it could float pestles.

King Zhou died, and all one million Great Shang soldiers surrendered.

Later generations praised King Wen of Zhou: with one hand, he slaughtered demons and barbarians; alone, he brought peace to the world.

Later, King Wen of Zhou passed the throne to King Wu and devoted himself to studying the Book of Changes, living to five hundred years old.

After that, no one in the world possessed talent again until Confucius was born.

When the Saint Confucius was born, he was ugly and strangely formed, so he was abandoned in the wilderness. The weather was scorching hot. An eagle descended and fanned its wings to drive away the heat for him, while a mother tiger carried Confucius into her den and nursed him with tiger's milk. Thus, later generations said Confucius was "born of a dragon, raised by a tiger, and fanned by an eagle."

Later, the mother tiger returned Confucius to his mother, who raised him with devoted care.

Confucius's mother was a concubine. After his father died, Confucius and his mother were driven out by his father's principal wife.

Confucius was extremely poor in his youth. After becoming a Saint, he once told his disciples, "I was lowly in my youth, and thus became skilled at many humble tasks." In other words, he had been poor as a child, so he knew many kinds of rough labor and crafts.

Confucius was quite ordinary when he was young. Only in middle age did he reveal his extraordinary qualities, traveling through the various states.

In his old age, Confucius returned to Lu State to serve as an official. He eventually became one of Lu State's highest-ranking officials, the Minister of Crime, but was ultimately forced out and resigned.

After resigning, Confucius revised the Book of Songs, Book of Documents, Book of Rites, and Classic of Music, and wrote a preface for King Wen's Book of Changes. Finally, Confucius personally compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals. When the work was completed, talent soared into the heavens, heavenly flowers rained down, stars shone across the sky, clouds glowed for a thousand miles, thunder roared for ten thousand miles, and the world was shaken. He achieved the rank of Second Saint.

After Confucius became a Saint, he entered seclusion for ten years.

Not long afterward, the snake Demon Saint who had escaped during the Shang-Zhou war emerged after six hundred years of cultivation. Having advanced further to become a Great Saint, it sought revenge for King Wen's extermination of demons and barbarians and launched a massive invasion.

A Great Saint's power was slightly greater than that of a human Second Saint. Even King Wen of Zhou in his day had been somewhat inferior.

The allied demon and barbarian forces reached Jade Sea City, throwing the masses into panic.

Just as the demons and barbarians were about to attack the city, Confucius flew over aboard the literary treasure "States Carriage." Holding the "Spring and Autumn Book" in his left hand and the "Spring and Autumn Brush" in his right, he smiled upon seeing the snake Great Saint. "One never tires of finely polished rice, nor of finely minced meat. Please enter my urn, Great Saint, and be cooked in blazing fire."

The million demons and barbarians flew into a rage. Confucius raised his brush, and winds surged while clouds churned, the heavens and earth changed color, and the Spring and Autumn Brush wrote nine consecutive "execute" characters. Each character became a blade, executing the snake Great Saint and cutting it into ten pieces. Then Confucius cooked it before everyone and ate the hundred-zhang-long snake Great Saint all by himself.

During the cooking, the million-strong demon and barbarian army tried to flee. Confucius casually threw out the literary treasure Spring and Autumn Book, which covered three thousand li of sky. With a movement of the great book, it swept away and killed the million demons and barbarians.

The masses knelt down and called him Saint.

Later, Confucius founded the first academy, Qufu Academy. He broke the educational monopoly of the time, accepting thirty thousand ordinary disciples, three thousand personal disciples, and seventy-two worthy disciples.

Anyone who studied under Confucius naturally gained talent after learning.

Later, Confucius advanced further and achieved the rank of Saint, unprecedented before him and unmatched after him.

The Saint perceived the workings of Heaven and discovered that humanity concealed a great crisis. Thus, he rode the States Carriage alone to the upper three barbarian lands, the lower four seas, and the five demon mountains, forcing the Demon Race and barbarian race to sign a thousand-year pact of nonaggression.

No one knew what exactly happened during Confucius's journey to the upper three barbarian lands, lower four seas, and five mountains. They only knew that after his return, Confucius visited every school of thought before entering seclusion and never emerging again.

After Confucius entered seclusion, Mencius, Xunzi, Zengzi, Zisi, and Yan Zi, having received Confucius's personal instruction, successively became Half-Sages, ranking below the Second Saint.

The Confucian disciples no longer stood opposed to the other schools. Confucius's grandson Zisi even proposed the principle of "taking all schools as teachers," actively seeking instruction from the various schools and helping them learn to use talent. Mozi of the Mohist school, Han Feizi of the Legalist school, Lü Buwei of the Miscellaneous school, Xu Xing of the Agricultural school, Sun Tzu of the Military school, and others successively became Half-Sages.

It was not until Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang slew the white snake demon and rose in rebellion that the disciples learned Confucius was about to die.

When Confucius passed away, his saintly body transformed into a column of talent smoke that shot straight into the sky and remained for a long time without dispersing, visible to everyone under heaven. Three days later, the column split into three: one part entered Qufu Academy, one entered the thirty thousand disciples, and one entered the world.

Mencius, Xunzi, Zengzi, Zisi, Yan Zi, and the other five Half-Sages thus advanced further and became Second Saints.

From then on, the age of talent began.

From then on, the contention of the hundred schools ultimately returned to Confucianism.

Without the tragedy of suppressing the hundred schools, humanity flourished.

After Confucius died, Qufu Academy was renamed the "Sacred Academy," and its status became transcendent.

The Sacred Academy gradually perfected the power of talent. Upholding Confucius's final wish, it absorbed the strengths of the hundred schools, selected people solely by ability, and established ten literary ranks: Licentiate, Academy Student, Provincial Graduate, Metropolitan Graduate, Hanlin Academician, Grand Academician, Great Scholar, Half-Sage, Second Saint, and Saint.

The higher a scholar's literary rank, the more talent he possessed and the greater the primordial energy of heaven and earth he could command.

Fang Yun's heart surged with emotion. He had never expected such a wondrous world to exist.

As long as I become a Licentiate, I can gain the most basic "talent," as well as a heavenly gift granted by my literary rank. A Licentiate's heavenly gift is "Night Vision," allowing one to see at night and read without lighting an oil lamp. Becoming an Academy Student is even more remarkable—one can "wage war on paper." This is not an insult, but refers to battle poems and battle lyrics written by Academy Students, which can turn words into reality and form powerful force. At higher literary ranks, there are even more incredible heavenly gifts.

Fang Yun also recalled that the Saint Origin Continent had likewise experienced the Qin, Han, and Three Kingdoms eras, and presently contained ten nations. Based on the recent historical figures, Fang Yun deduced that the Saint Origin Continent was probably before the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Fang Yun counted the famous figures who had recently achieved sainthood.

Wang Xizhi, known as the "Sage of Calligraphy," had become a Half-Sage through Preface to the Orchid Pavilion, Peace Note, and Funeral and Disorder Note, ranking below the Second Saint.

Tao Yuanming had become a Half-Sage through The Peach Blossom Spring, Biography of Mr. Five Willows, Return to the Fields, and other works.

Zu Chongzhi had become a Half-Sage through Methods of Interpolation, Great Bright Calendar, Meaning of the Changes, and other works.

Li Daoyuan had become a Half-Sage through Commentary on the Water Classic and Original Gazetteer.

Fan Zhen had become a Great Scholar through Treatise on the Extinction of the Soul, ranking below a Half-Sage.

But there was no Li Bai! No Du Fu!

No Bai Juyi! No Wang Changling!

No Li Shangyin! No Wen Tingyun!

No Wang Wei! No Du Mu!

No Han Yu! No Liu Zongyuan!

No Yan Zhenqing! No Liu Gongquan!

No Su Dongpo! No Ouyang Xiu!

No Lu You! No Li Qingzhao!

No Lu Jiuyuan! No Cheng Yi or Cheng Hao! No Zhu Xi! No Wang Yangming!

Not a single famous figure after the Sui and Tang dynasties existed!

Fang Yun took a deep breath. Without a doubt, for him, this might be the best era possible!

Suddenly, Fang Yun's expression changed slightly, for only then did he remember his current identity and what day it was.

This Fang Yun came from a poor family. His parents had died early, and the only person in his household was Yuhuan, his child bride, who was three years older than him.

The Fang family originally could not afford a child bride, but Yuhuan had fled famine with her father and been taken in by the Fang family. Her father stole the Fang family's meager savings to gamble. After losing, he cheated and was beaten until he was barely alive. Before dying, he said that he had sold Yuhuan to the Fang family as a child bride, counting it as repayment for the Fang family's money.

Yuhuan had been a beauty even as a child, and after growing up, she became even more beautiful. The neighbors called her the "Xishi of Jiang Prefecture." Even though her family was poor and she wore only extremely plain coarse-cloth dresses, they could not conceal her peerless grace.

After his parents died, Fang Yun and Yuhuan depended on each other. Yuhuan was clever and skillful, earning money through needlework.

Fang Yun studied at a private school in the mornings and worked as a waiter at Auspicious Restaurant from noon onward to make a living, all while determined to pass the Licentiate examination.