A quarter of an hour soon passed, and Fang Yun's depleted literary qi was instantly replenished. The great hall before him suddenly transformed at speed, soon becoming a square, unadorned chamber, enclosed on all sides, without doors or windows.
The wall directly ahead differed from the other three. It was smoother, unlike their uneven surfaces, and bore two thousand squares.
That mighty voice rang out again.
"The First Hanlin Hall, the 'Sword Tempering Wall.' You must release your Lip Spear and Tongue Sword and inscribe two thousand characters on the Sword Tempering Wall before you. During this process, demon barbarians will appear in succession. If you finish inscribing two thousand characters before they kill you, you will pass the First Hanlin Hall."
The instant the voice finished, Fang Yun identified several key points and swiftly organized his conclusions.
First, I'm a full fifty zhang from the Sword Tempering Wall. That distance greatly weakens my control over the Tongue Sword. Inscribing all two thousand characters will be slow.
Second, the Sword Tempering Wall is extremely hard. One careless move could snap my Tongue Sword, so I must proceed slowly and gently. Whenever it can no longer hold up, I must rest. I have no experience with this, and I'm accustomed to the powerful True Dragon Ancient Sword. This new Tongue Sword may well shatter halfway through.
Third, when the demon barbarians appear, I must use war poetry to attack. I cannot use Dual-Mindedness here, so fighting will greatly slow my inscription. If killing demon barbarians consumes too much of my literary guts or literary qi, I'll have no strength left to carve; if I focus my efforts on carving, they may kill me. Balance! Finding a balance between literary qi, inscription, and combat will be the key to the First Hall.