"It seems Mr. Nie enjoys lofty standing in the Talent Selection Hall, qualified to instruct the Four Great Talents in poetry and prose. Naturally, I shall give the matter further consideration." Fang Yun smiled faintly. There was no need to pull his punches with the Qing Officials.
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Nie Changju's face. The many scholars present watched him with smiling eyes. If he wanted to harm Fang Yun, he would naturally have to pay the price. Whenever people mentioned Nie Changju in the future, they would surely call him the Hanlin Academician who had taught a Void Sage to write poetry and imagined he could decide the rankings of the Four Great Talents. For an ordinary Hanlin Academician, that was already an enormous stain on his reputation.
Nie Changju seemed to have come prepared. Suddenly, he used Tongue Blossoms Thunder. "I am merely an insignificant Hanlin Academician, but as a subject of Jing Kingdom, I naturally cannot bear to see the foremost position among the Four Great Talents fall into the hands of someone from the Literary World! On behalf of the people of Xiang Prefecture, I earnestly ask Void Sage Fang to face Hanlin Academician Zhang Longxiang in a literary contest at the Military Review Tower, rise to the foremost position among the Four Great Talents, rally the hearts of our people, and proclaim the might of our great Jing Kingdom! At the same time, let our Military Review Tower become the world's number one tower, surpassing the Yellow Crane Tower!"
After speaking, Nie Changju suddenly dropped to one knee.
Many officials were stunned. Only then did they understand that neither Nie Changju's earlier words nor Fang Yun's reply had mattered. Nie Changju had merely needed to lay the groundwork before forcing Fang Yun into