Liu Zicheng in the Shadows

Prefect Sun cupped his hands to Li Wenying and said, "Someone once said that if the Sacred Way were smooth and unobstructed, a willing heart would suffice. But the path of the Sacred Way is bristling with thorns; only those possessed of fearless guts can press onward. That is why we scholars must temper our Literary Guts. Only then can we steady the Literary Palace, pluck the Literary Heart, and tread the Sacred Path. Jing Kingdom has rare talents like Fang Yun in youth, and Lord Swordbrow's fearless Literary Guts in maturity. Why should we fear that it cannot flourish greatly? Inscription of the Humble Abode belongs to none but you, sir."

Yet Li Wenying said, "Since Inscription of the Humble Abode can temper Literary Guts, it would be inconvenient for me to keep it to myself. I will exchange a Metropolitan Graduate Literary Treasure and a Dragonblood Ink Stick for the right to read Inscription of the Humble Abode for half a year. After half a year, you may seek out Fang Yun yourselves."

As he spoke, Li Wenying walked toward Fang Yun's home.

Prefect Sun and the others were utterly convinced. They gave slight bows before departing one after another.

Once those officials had left, the Academy Students present immediately exploded into heated discussion.

Those who had originally pitied Guan Yaoyuan and Yan Yue now distanced themselves from the pair. Li Wenying, a Grand Academician, had personally come calling on Fang Yun. Fang Yun was bound to soar like a dragon and leap like a tiger. No matter how powerful the Left Prime Minister was, he would not wish to offend Li Wenying.

He Yutang looked at Yan Yue and Guan Yaoyuan, shook his head, and said, "Scheming and plotting, a crooked poem, fame and fortune veiling both eyes; the Empress Dowager's decree, one Nation-Quelling essay, Instant Literary Guts shattering a heart of calamity. Fine men refuse to be men and insist on becoming dogs of the Liu Household. Pitiful, hateful, regrettable."

The crowd dispersed. Guan Yaoyuan was helped into his carriage by the driver. Lowering his head, he ground his teeth for a long while before saying, "The greater your literary fame becomes, the more Liu Zicheng will want to kill you. Liu Zicheng is ruthless and cunning, yet he has always plotted from behind the scenes. One day, he will make you lose all reputation and be utterly ruined. You escaped once—I refuse to believe you can escape a second time! Fang Yun, on the day you enter the Prefectural Academy, I will watch with my own eyes as you become the laughingstock of Dayuan Prefecture! If you step into Young Master Liu's trap, not even the Literary Chancellor can save you. You will surely become the common enemy of every official! Hahaha!"

The people at the mouth of the alley gradually scattered, and Fang Yun welcomed Li Wenying into the courtyard.

Li Wenying was thin and tall. If one ignored his peculiar swordlike brows and official robes, he looked like a rigid old schoolteacher.

Fang Yun, Yang Yuhuan, Academic Examiner Wan, and Tang Grand Manager welcomed him together in the courtyard.

"Greetings, Lord Academy Head." Fang Yun and the others cupped their hands in salute, while Yang Yuhuan hurriedly followed them in bowing.

Yang Yuhuan had not expected that, just after receiving the Empress Dowager's decree, before she had even finished counting all those fine gifts, the renowned Grand Academician Li Wenying would arrive. In the eyes of Jiangzhou commoners, Li Wenying was more famous and more respected than even the Left Prime Minister, second only to the monarch and the Literary Chancellor.

Yang Yuhuan had never before seen such an important figure. She merely served tea and poured water in silence, standing to one side and watching quietly.

At first, Yang Yuhuan secretly observed this Li Grand Academician whose name shook the Ten Kingdoms. But after a while, she realized that Li Wenying had come calling because of Fang Yun's Inscription of the Humble Abode, and was even willing to exchange a Metropolitan Graduate Literary Treasure for it!

Yang Yuhuan could not help looking at Fang Yun, her gaze filled with astonishment. So the real Fang Yun was a hundred times more formidable than the Fang Yun in her heart.

Xiaoyun has become even more impressive. At this moment, he truly has the bearing of a man, exactly like the husband in my heart... Yang Yuhuan's face immediately reddened. She did not dare think further and hurried away, afraid someone would notice.

Fang Yun said, "Since Lord Swordbrow merely wishes to borrow it for half a year, then take it. There is no need for an exchange. You have guarded Jiangzhou for many years and saved hundreds of thousands of Jiangzhou citizens. You are a model for all scholars. I absolutely cannot accept your things."

Li Wenying nodded with a smile. "It is enough that you have such intentions. Rather than calling the Metropolitan Graduate Literary Treasure and Dragonblood Ink Stick an exchange, it would be better to call them my thanks to you. This Inscription of the Humble Abode may very well surpass Nation-Quelling in the future and have its name transmitted under heaven. Reading your first handwritten draft is worlds apart from comprehending it yourself. Previously, I had only a thirty percent certainty of becoming a Great Scholar, but now I have forty percent certainty. A mere Literary Treasure and ink stick are nothing."

Seeing that Li Wenying was resolute, Fang Yun said, "Since an elder has bestowed such a generous gift, this student gratefully accepts."

Li Wenying handed the Dragonblood Ink Stick to Fang Yun, a sorrowful look appearing in his eyes. "The Demon-Slaying Brush is at my residence. I will have someone deliver it tonight. Before dying, a Metropolitan Graduate deputy general infused it with Literary Qi. What it bears is not poetry, but the final words he left before death: 'Hold this brush, and slay demons in my stead.' It also bears the battle intent and unwillingness he carried in life. War Poetry written with this brush ordinarily gains only a little over ten percent in power, but when used against the Demon Race, its power increases by a full fifty percent."

Fang Yun, Academic Examiner Wan, and Tang Grand Manager were all moved. Brushes that could increase the power of War Poetry by fifty percent were exceedingly rare. Usually, only Literary Treasure Brushes made from the bones or fur of Great Demons could achieve such an increase. Beyond that, one needed the bones or fur of a Demon Sage.

Tang Grand Manager asked tentatively, "Could that have been the Tanhua of Jade Sea City, one of the candidates to become the next leader of the Mohist School?"

"It was him. Other than a Mohist, who would still uphold 'Non-Aggression' toward the Human Race at death's door, refusing to make an offensive Literary Treasure and allowing this brush to target only the Demon Race? After I became a Grand Academician, that brush was no longer suitable for me. I had always wished to find it a fitting owner. Fang Yun, you have literary talent, literary fame, and can compose an Inscription of the Humble Abode like this. You are the best possible person to wield the Demon-Slaying Brush."

"Thank you for your esteem, Lord Academy Head," Fang Yun said.

"Unfortunately, your Inscription of the Humble Abode is too short. If it were longer, then once you became a Provincial Graduate, you could use a long work to condense your Literary Guts. Our talent does not compare to yours, so the works we use to condense Literary Guts are mostly masterpieces by the Sages. If you can write a work that condenses Literary Guts, you must write it at any cost. Before your Saint Enfeoffment, you must never let anyone learn its contents. Do you understand?"

"This student has been taught." Fang Yun committed it to memory. No one had ever told him this before, because no one had believed he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Sages.

After saying that, Fang Yun handed Inscription of the Humble Abode to Li Wenying.

After accepting it, Li Wenying said, "When I return home, I will have someone send you the Demon-Slaying Brush." With that, he turned and left.

Fang Yun and the others saw Li Wenying off, then returned to the house.

Nunu, who had been hiding inside, silently came out. She lightly sniffed with her nose, swept her gaze around vigilantly, then returned to normal and jumped onto Fang Yun's lap, where she lay quietly.

Tang Grand Manager smiled. "If someone had once told me that a Grand Academician would personally call upon a Licentiate, I would never have believed it. But now that it has happened before my very eyes, I have no choice but to believe."

Academic Examiner Wan turned solemn. "Fang Yun, since the County Examination, I have been exchanging letters with County Magistrate Cai and following your affairs. I have never doubted your Literary Qi, but I have always feared that you would grow arrogant and complacent. In County Magistrate Cai's letters, he said that after Fang Zhongyong became a Licentiate, his father took him everywhere to show him off and forced him to write poems and lyrics, insisting that he compete with you. Yet his father rarely allowed him to study the Classics of the Sages and cared nothing for his Classic Interpretation. County Magistrate Cai once wrote that the two Licentiates of the Fang Household, one first and one second, would one day meet with a gap as vast as Heaven and abyss between them. Do you understand?"

Fang Yun naturally understood. Heaven was the sky, while abyss was the deep chasm. The difference was even greater than that between Heaven and earth.

"Thank you for your guidance, Lord Wan. This student will remember your and County Magistrate Cai's teachings and will absolutely not imitate that Fang Zhongyong. Every day, I study the Classics of the Sages closely. From now on, I will write one Classic Interpretation every three days."

"Good. With such resolve, I am relieved. Might I borrow that Dragonblood Ink Stick for a look?" Academic Examiner Wan did not wish for the atmosphere to become too grave, so he smiled and changed the subject.

Thus, the three discussed Demon Blood Ink Sticks. Some of what they said did not exist in the Strange Book World, so Fang Yun remembered it, intending to buy related books later to make up for his shortcomings in this area.

After chatting for a while, Tang Grand Manager said, "Fang Yun, Lord Swordbrow holds great expectations for you. He clearly wished to give you the Demon-Slaying Brush and Dragonblood Ink Stick, yet he called it an exchange for half a year of Inscription of the Humble Abode. There is considerable meaning behind that. Do you understand it?"

Fang Yun pondered for a moment, then said, "First, it was to protect me. This Inscription of the Humble Abode is extremely important to those desperate to break through their Literary Rank but unable to do so. People will certainly come one after another, and some may even resort to despicable methods. But now that Inscription of the Humble Abode is in Lord Li's home, I have much less trouble. Second, Inscription of the Humble Abode is a priceless treasure to many people, but since it is being lent out, it must have a price tag. Lord Li set the price for borrowing it for half a year as one Metropolitan Graduate Literary Treasure and one Dragonblood Ink Stick. That is equivalent to drawing a line for others."

"What a Fang Double-A! You saw through it so thoroughly! How much thought have you given to our cooperation?" Tang Grand Manager asked.

Before Fang Yun could answer, Academic Examiner Wan rose to take his leave, subtly indicating that it was not suitable for him to participate in this topic.

After seeing Academic Examiner Wan off and returning to sit inside, Tang Grand Manager said, "Fang Yun, are you willing to cooperate with my Profound Court Book Firm?"

"Of course I wish to cooperate, but the method of cooperation needs to be discussed carefully." Fang Yun smiled.

Tang Grand Manager said, "Would you sell us those promotional methods for selling books for five thousand taels?"

"Even if I did not sell them, it would not take long before you learned them yourselves, so naturally I will sell them for five thousand taels. But five thousand taels is far too little for the exclusive sales rights to The Western Wing. Your Profound Court Book Firm wants people to buy books only from your firm, but my goal is to spread my literary fame. Making money is secondary instead. In other words, our interests conflict."

Tang Grand Manager fell silent for a moment. "Your mysterious teacher is indeed formidable. I thought you would not see the stakes involved, but you struck the nail on the head. That is fine as well. Speak wisely to a wise man. What are your demands?"

Fang Yun said, "As long as your Profound Court Book Firm can guarantee that my books are sold in every kingdom, every province, every prefecture, and every county of the Ten Kingdoms, and permit every bookshop except your competitors to stock and sell them, then there is room for discussion."

Tang Grand Manager thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth. "Saint Origin Continent has more than eight thousand counties, and roughly five hundred of them fall outside our book firm's sales network. But if you are willing to hand all future sales rights for your poetry, prose, novels, and other works to Profound Court, I guarantee that within three months, those five hundred counties will all have bookshops cooperating with us. If we cannot do it, we will open our own bookshops."

"No. I only intend to entrust my popular novels to your firm for publication. As for other books, I cannot yet be certain," Fang Yun said.

"This... if that is the case, then your value is far less significant than I had imagined," Tang Grand Manager said.

Fang Yun smiled. "Then what if I write at least one novel every year with sales no lower than The Western Wing, perhaps even novels that spread more widely than The Western Wing? What would my value be then?"