"It's Void Sage Fang!" someone shouted from the foot of the mountain.
"It really is! Heavens, he's actually standing atop the Seventh Mountain! Does that mean he reached the Seventh Mountain back when he was still a Provincial Graduate? He clearly said before that he'd reached the Sixth Mountain!"
"So that's it. Void Sage Fang deliberately held back and understated his achievement to avoid causing too great a stir."
"Greetings, Void Sage Fang!"
The newly appointed Provincial Graduates saluted Fang Yun one after another. The faces of those from Jing Kingdom, in particular, seemed to shine with a clear, radiant light.
Even many members and associates of lineages such as the Zong Family and the Lei Family paid their respects properly.
The leaders of those lineages might have opposed Fang Yun for the interests of their lineages or schools of thought, but the young seldom took part in those disputes. They had read all of Fang Yun's poetry and prose and heard of his great accomplishments every day, and had already been profoundly influenced by him.
In the future, they might oppose Fang Yun for their lineages' sake, but nothing could make them deny his talent and achievements.
Fang Yun nodded lightly to the people below. Recalling his two previous ascents of Book Mountain, he let out a long sigh, then turned toward the Eighth Mountain without wasting another moment.
A gorge lay between the Seventh Mountain and the Eighth Mountain, with a broad black chain connecting the two.
Between the mountains, strange winds howled.
A wistful expression appeared on Fang Yun's face. He still remembered standing at the edge of the Seventh Mountain that day, unable even to see the chain bridge leading to the Eighth Mountain. No matter what he did, he could not cross the belt of