They were entranced, as though bathed in a spring breeze.
Every official felt as though he were floating toward immortality, listening intently to Fang Yun's lecture.
They did not even notice the pale golden characters appearing on the trunks of the two apricot trees, slowly flowing upward from the base. Every character came from Fang Yun's lecture. The apricot trees seemed rooted not in the soil, but in Book Mountain, in Fang Yun's Literary Palace.
When the flowing golden script appeared, the two apricot trees stopped growing at a height of sixteen zhang.
The golden script flowed slowly up the trunks and into every branch, then formed one red flower bud after another. Some buds split open, revealing pure white apricot blossoms.
Golden light flowed across the white petals, and characters coursed over the calyxes.
A faint apricot blossom fragrance spread through the Literary Academy.
Outside the Literary Academy, many scholars discussed it with bitter expressions.
"Those are Sacred Apricot Blossoms! They say that whenever an Apricot Altar, large or small, blooms, the Human Race's important figures fight tooth and nail to get inside and breathe in the sacred apricot blossom fragrance!"
"What a pity. You can only smell it from inside. All we can do is imagine it. According to legend, Aperture-Opening Incense is the most important thing for children, but for adults like us, sacred apricot blossom fragrance is a divine treasure of the highest order. Sacred apricot blossom pollen supposedly contains fragments of the Sacred Way. Once absorbed, they gradually dissolve within the Literary Palace, strengthening not only the mind, but also the Literary Palace and literary guts."
"Now that there are even Sacred Apricot Blossoms, it looks like bearing Little Sage Apricots is only a matter of time. According to the rules, once the Sacred Apricot