Fang Yun walked alone along the path to the Second Pavilion, lost in thought.
"Book Mountain is truly difficult. I once thought that even if I could not reach the Fourth Mountain, reaching the Third Pavilion of the Third Mountain like the other Four Great Talents would not be hard. Now that I think about it, I had underestimated the scholars of the world. The First Pavilion is already this hard—how difficult will the Second Pavilion, or even the Second Mountain, be? Self-reflection. I must reflect on myself!"
When Fang Yun reached the Second Pavilion, he found the two Academy Students from Half-Sage Families staring wide-eyed at each other, looking utterly dejected.
Then the two of them seemed to sigh before they began writing continuously on their papers.
Fang Yun's heart jolted. If those two were already like this in the Second Pavilion, then the Second Pavilion was no ordinary challenge. Academy Students from Half-Sage Families could not possibly be stumped by the First Mountain. Even with poor luck, they should have been able to reach the Third Mountain.
Fang Yun looked up and saw two words written on the plaque above the Second Pavilion: Couplet Challenge.
Could it be another impossible couplet? Fang Yun thought.
When Fang Yun left the First Pavilion, the paper before him had vanished. Now that he had stepped into the Second Pavilion, a fresh sheet of white paper appeared, and three couplet questions emerged upon it. Answer two correctly to pass.
Ordinary couplets were not difficult; given enough time, anyone could match them. But when Fang Yun saw these three, he silently thought that they were indeed fiendishly tricky, no less difficult than the questions posed by the Half-Sages during the Sage Appeal that day.
"These must have been questions some Half-Sage wrote and