Every ten years, the Sacred Academy selected the Four Great Talents. If one of the four advanced to Great Scholar, the Sacred Academy would consider selecting the next generation ahead of schedule.
Preparations to select this generation of Four Great Talents had begun in year 202 of the New Calendar, but an entire year had passed without their leader being decided. That same year, Fang Yun had entered the Ninth Mountain and the Literary World.
Fang Yun had spent almost all of year 202 of the New Calendar in the Literary World and at Two Worlds Mountain, yet that year's Four Great Talents had still not been formally confirmed.
It was now year 203 of the New Calendar, and the Sacred Academy had still not decided who would lead the Four Great Talents.
The Sacred Academy contained many deliberation halls. These halls were not physical structures, but constructs raised by the Temple of Sages with literary qi. Only those granted the requisite qualifications could enter.
Whenever the time came to select the Four Great Talents, a temporary "Talent Selection Hall" would appear, its name signifying the selection of outstanding talent.
The Talent Selection Hall consisted of nine Great Scholars and thirty-one Grand Academicians.
The first step in selecting the Four Great Talents was for the thirty-one Grand Academicians to nominate candidates, then choose four of them as the Four Great Talents.
The next step was for the Sacred Academy's nine Great Scholar pavilion elders to rank the Four Great Talents, naming one of them their leader. He would be cultivated as a leader of the human race, his name destined to leave its fragrance through the ages.
The leader of the previous generation of Four Great Talents was Shi Jun, Lu Huaijiang. He was a gracious, modest gentleman, exemplary in