Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun celebrated humiliating Lei Yuanting, then discussed the upcoming contests and the dangers surrounding his Dragon-Climbing Stone with the Upper Lodge Metropolitan Graduates. He decided to enter the Dragon Ascension Platform to see the Dragon Race Ancient Land, and Qiao Juze began explaining the Ten-Kingdom Competition.

• Fang Yun and the others celebrated Lei Yuanting's disgrace, and Qiao Juze planned to publicize the incident in the Literary Gazette.
• Qiao Juze outlined the Ten-Kingdom Competition, the Metropolitan Graduate Spring Hunt, and Fang Yun's demanding examination schedule.
• The group discussed how the Dragon Ascension Platform favored disciples of Sage Aristocratic Clans and warned Fang Yun that families might try to acquire his Dragon-Climbing Stone.
• Cui Wang and Ke Yuan suggested Fang Yun trade the stone for a Flood Dragon Bone, but Fang Yun chose to enter the Dragon Ascension Platform to see the Dragon Race Ancient Land.
• Qiao Juze turned the discussion to the Ten-Kingdom Competition and began explaining its arrangements.

Fang Yun discussed Jing Kingdom’s prospects in the Ten-Kingdom Competition with the Upper Lodge Metropolitan Graduates and set their goal as fighting for ninth place. On returning to the Academy, he learned that Left Prime Minister Liu Shan had visited him, and realized the visit pressured him to return the courtesy at Liu Shan’s residence.

• Qiao Juze explained Jing Kingdom’s weak standing in the Ten-Kingdom Competition, and Fang Yun promised to compete alongside the others.
• The group debated their chances, agreed they could not realistically reach eighth place, and set their goal as taking ninth.
• Qiao Juze said Qing Kingdom’s weakened team might fall behind Yue Kingdom, but Jing Kingdom still had little chance of surpassing Qing Kingdom.
• Fang Daniu told Fang Yun that Left Prime Minister Liu Shan had personally visited while Fang Yun was away.
• Fang Yun realized that failing to visit Liu Shan in return could lead to a charge of breaching ritual propriety and delay his Metropolitan Graduate examination by two years.

Fang Yun returned the Left Prime Minister’s Blood Jade carp with an intentionally brief visit that avoided meeting him, then turned his attention to his Academy studies. He began studying the Provincial Graduate curriculum as groundwork for understanding the Sacred Way.

• Fang Yun decided that the Left Prime Minister’s public visit required a return of courtesy, despite rejecting the possibility of reconciliation between them.
• Fang Yun prepared gifts equal in value to the Blood Jade carp and reviewed the emergency Grand Court Assembly summary.
• Fang Yun visited the Left Prime Minister’s Residence while Liu Shan was attending court, left the gifts with the gatekeeper, and departed without waiting.
• Fang Yun reported to the Academy, collected his new-student materials, and chose to focus on the Metropolitan Graduate Examination rather than prepare specially for the Ten-Kingdom Competition.
• Fang Yun recognized the teaching guide as a map of the Sacred Way and studied the curriculum, focusing on Jiang Hechuan’s insights in Zuo’s Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals: Correct Meaning.

Fang Yun reviewed the Heavenly Tree and learned from Yan Yukong that its seedlings demanded priceless fertilizer from talented entrants, though observing the Heavenly Tree itself was valuable. He decided to enter that night and prepared to remain inside for the full three hours, while the court continued discussing rewards for his achievements.

• Fang Yun studied the Metropolitan Graduate Examination and considered the many upcoming competitions and exams before deciding to enter the Heavenly Tree before the Ten-Kingdom Competition.
• Fang Yun asked Yan Yukong about the Heavenly Tree, and Yan Yukong warned him that celebrated geniuses had all failed to reach its second level because their seedlings demanded extraordinarily valuable fertilizer.
• Yan Yukong told Fang Yun that entrants should still spend the full three hours inside to observe the Heavenly Tree, so Fang Yun decided to enter that day.
• Fang Yun told Yang Yuhuan not to disturb him that night and continued reading while preparing for his entry.
• Vice Minister Sai informed Fang Yun that the court was discussing rewards for his achievements but might have to wait until he became a Metropolitan Graduate because his Literary Rank was too low.

Fang Yun learned that the court had decided to grant him the lifetime title of State Duke An and received an offer from Meng Lingyu to trade for his Dragon-Climbing Stone. He rejected the Meng Family’s terms and threats, then prepared to enter the Heavenly Tree.

• Vice Minister Sai told Fang Yun that he would become State Duke An and receive a high-ranking official post after the Palace Examination.
• Fang Daniu brought Meng Lingyu to see Fang Yun, who refused to greet him and asked about Fierce Lord’s injuries.
• Meng Lingyu offered a Marquis Wu Chariot and other rewards for Fang Yun’s Dragon-Climbing Stone, but Fang Yun demanded a Literary Ancestor’s Great Scholar True Texts or a page of sacred writing.
• Meng Lingyu warned that the Lei Family could kill Fang Yun at the Dragon Ascension Platform, but Fang Yun refused the deal and ordered him to leave.
• Fang Yun wrote the names of the Meng Family and Lei Family with lines between them, read the court summary, and prepared to enter the Heavenly Tree.

Fang Yun entered the Heavenly Tree, observed its strange double-helix star rivers, and gained a seedling that required Dragon Sage Corpse Aura. After returning to his study, he learned the Meng Family and Lei Family might be plotting against him, while Fierce Lord had also sworn to kill him.

• Fang Yun entered the Heavenly Tree and watched its shifting star rivers, eventually observing their patterns without trying to fully understand them.
• Fang Yun returned to his study after three hours and discovered a Y-shaped seedling in his Literary Palace that required Dragon Sage Corpse Aura.
• Fang Yun concluded that Dragon Sage Corpse Aura would be extremely difficult to obtain and decided to keep pondering the Heavenly Tree's starry sky.
• Fang Yun told Zeng Yuan that Meng Lingyu had visited him, and Zeng Yuan warned him that the Meng Family was cooperating with the Lei Family to take revenge.
• Fang Yun learned that Fierce Lord had awakened and blamed him for killing his divine avatar, but he refused to sell his Lei Family Dragon-Climbing Stone because he planned to use it at the Dragon Ascension Platform.

Fang Yun began his studies in the Academy’s Grade C Heaven Class, built goodwill with his classmates, and prepared for the Ten-Kingdom Competition. He arrived in Kong City with Jing Kingdom’s delegation and entered its dormitory district at Confucius Academy.

• Fang Yun inspected the Heavenly Tree Seedling in his Literary Palace and continued studying until the Provincial Graduate class opened.
• Fang Yun joined the Grade C Heaven Class and invited his classmates to dinner, signaling that he was willing to accept them as the foundation of his future faction.
• Fang Yun attended class and group activities as an ordinary student, then joined the other Upper Lodge Metropolitan Graduates for instruction about the Ten-Kingdom Competition.
• Guo Zitong and two Hanlin Academicians led Fang Yun and the other nine Upper Lodge Metropolitan Graduates aboard a Flying Page Skyboat to Kong City.
• Fang Yun and the Jing Kingdom delegation arrived in Kong City and entered their exclusive dormitory district within Confucius Academy.

Fang Yun reunited with his Sacred Ruins friends in Kong City as scholars across the kingdoms crowded to buy Sacred Way, whose new supplement featured his work. The chapter ended with the Jing Kingdom Upper Lodge Metropolitan Graduates preparing for the Ten-Kingdom Competition’s first contest, “Travel Ten Thousand Miles.”

• Fang Yun welcomed Zong Wude, Li Fanming, Yan Yukong, and other Sacred Ruins friends, who gathered with scholars from several kingdoms for a late-night Literary Assembly.
• On the first day of the month, enormous crowds gathered to buy Sacred Way, drawn by its supplement featuring Fang Yun and news about his works.
• Shen Liwen sent his servant to fight through the crowd for a copy, while Qing Kingdom peddlers advertised Sacred Way with both praise and slander of Fang Yun.
• Scholars in Kong City saw the table of contents and hurried away to read Sacred Way in private, while one Academy Student predicted Fang Yun might found new schools in the qin, books, and painting Ways.
• The Jing Kingdom Upper Lodge Metropolitan Graduates set a goal of placing at least tenth in the “Travel Ten Thousand Miles” contest and contending for ninth.

Fang Yun and the Jing Kingdom Upper Lodge Metropolitan Graduates prepared for the Ten-Kingdom Competition, where they hoped to improve on last year’s ranking. At the competition grounds, Yue Kingdom’s students thanked Fang Yun for weakening Qing Kingdom, but an unidentified newcomer interrupted with an insult.

• Qiao Juze explained the competition’s elimination rules, and the group discussed Chen Jing’s newly awakened Star Position and Fang Yun’s potential to gain one.
• The group worried about the unpredictable first round and agreed to stay together so Shen Kingdom could not disrupt them.
• Fang Yun and the others arrived at the competition grounds and took their section among the students from the various kingdoms.
• Yue Kingdom’s Hu Shang and his companions thanked Fang Yun, saying his actions had given them a chance to challenge Qing Kingdom for seventh place.
• Someone from a newly arrived group called Fang Yun a shameless clown.

Fang Yun confronted Qing Kingdom’s Xun Li and Jia Kingdom’s Lei Thirteen before the Ten-Kingdom Competition began. The first event, Travel Ten Thousand Miles, started with contestants tasked with writing about horses to summon steeds for a race across a plain.

• Xun Li challenged Fang Yun’s confidence in Jing Kingdom and accused him of having no place at the competition, but Fang Yun mocked him and offered a one-on-one contest.
• Yan Yukong discouraged Xun Li from arguing with Fang Yun, and Xun Li left after refusing Fang Yun’s challenge.
• Fang Yun taunted Lei Thirteen about Lei Jiu’s failed response to the poetic line ‘Smoke Locks the Pond Willows,’ silencing Jia Kingdom’s group.
• Chen Jing encouraged Jing Kingdom’s students to aim for ninth place as the Ten-Kingdom Competition prepared to begin.
• The host announced Travel Ten Thousand Miles as the first event and sent the contestants into the competition’s Literary World.
• The contestants learned they had to write a poem, lyric, or prose piece praising horses; the quality of each work would determine the speed of the steed it summoned for crossing a two-hundred-li plain.

Fang Yun’s “Heavenly Horse Song” summoned a divine steed that raced far ahead of the other competitors in the first trial of Travel Ten Thousand Miles. He crossed the plain and reached a vast stretch of water, where the next leg of the competition awaited.

• Liang Zhongdao recited a poem about Turning Plume and rode his summoned steed onto the plain.
• After Cui Wang’s boast for Jing Kingdom drew criticism, Fang Yun recited Li Bai’s “Heavenly Horse Song” and summoned a tiger-marked, dragon-boned flying horse.
• Fang Yun’s steed raced at more than five times Turning Plume’s speed, and the competitors and spectators admired his poem and cheered the Human Race.
• Yan Yukong and the other students recited poems and followed Fang Yun across the plain on their own steeds.
• Fang Yun crossed the two-hundred-li plain in less than two ke and arrived at an immense expanse of water.

Fang Yun designed and painted a fast, single-person sailboat, then used his calligraphy to summon wind and crossed the storm zone. He left the other contestants behind as they struggled to devise boats of their own.

• Fang Yun realized the boat challenge tested both boat design and calligraphy, and learned that he had to cross alone with his powers restricted.
• Fang Yun consulted books in the Strange Book World and chose a Finn-class racing sailboat for his design.
• Fang Yun painted the unfamiliar sailboat, and Yan Yukong and the other contestants arrived to see it.
• Fang Yun explained that he had studied and built sailboats as a child, then quickly learned to steer the vessel across the water.
• Fang Yun wrote on the sail to summon wind and accelerated into the storm zone.
• Fang Yun safely crossed the storm zone while the students at the shore tried to design stable, fast boats they could sail alone.

Fang Yun finished the speed trial first despite his lower Literary Rank, then faced a final mountain-making poetry challenge that reset his lead against the Metropolitan Graduates. He struggled to choose a poem strong enough to block his rivals without exhausting his limited Literary Qi.

• Fang Yun used his All-Purpose War Poetry and the King of Stars’ power to race across two hundred li, while the Metropolitan Graduates advanced faster but started far behind.
• Xun Li tried to persuade the other kingdoms’ students to deny Fang Yun first place, but they mocked and rejected his effort to stir dissension.
• Fang Yun reached the black soil first, completing the third question just ahead of the twelve Metropolitan Graduates and preserving his chance at ten marks.
• The competition announced that each Academy’s first finisher could create a real mountain with poetry or prose, and contestants had to cross the mountains made by other Academies.
• Fang Yun considered several famous mountain poems but worried they would consume too much Literary Qi, while Xun Li arrived and smiled at seeing him.

Fang Yun recited a poem that raised Mount Lu and trapped the contestants in a mountain maze, turning Xun Li’s challenge into a showcase of his talent. Kong Deyu verified that the poem was a World-Passing Enemy-Blocking Poem, while Fang Yun continued ahead and the other graduates prepared to build mountains of their own.

• Xun Li challenged Fang Yun to race through the Travel Ten Thousand Miles, but Fang Yun ignored him and recited a poem about Mount Lu.
• Fang Yun’s poem raised an immense mountain range that blocked the path, and Kong Deyu recognized its principle as a powerful Enemy-Blocking Poem.
• Fang Yun named the poem Mount Lu Game and explained that those within the game were lost while onlookers saw clearly.
• Kong Deyu copied the poem, witnessed its calligraphic phenomena, and confirmed that it was an Enemy-Blocking Poem.
• Kong Deyu rebuked Xun Li as unworthy, while Yun Xunsong said his Cloud Kingdom Academy would use its mountains to block the other kingdoms rather than Fang Yun.

Fang Yun raced through the Travel Ten Thousand Miles trial while the other competitors lost time inside Mount Lu, and he waited until Pan Jueming finally emerged. The event ended with Confucius Academy in first place and Gu Kingdom last, while Fang Yun’s low score set a new record.

• The Metropolitan Graduates discussed the trial’s difficult questions and Fang Yun’s physical strength before beginning their climbs.
• Fang Yun ran swiftly and climbed ten mountains while competitors were delayed inside Mount Lu.
• Pan Jueming emerged last, mistakenly believing he had won, and received the minimum passing score as the crowd laughed.
• The host announced that Gu Kingdom had ranked eleventh and would miss the Read Ten Thousand Books event.
• The results placed Confucius Academy first and Gu Kingdom last, and Fang Yun’s score set the lowest first-place total in the competition’s history.

After Qing Kingdom fell to ninth place, Xun Li accused the Lei Family of sabotaging Yan Yukong, and Yan Yukong declared that he would challenge Thunder Province to a Literary Battle. Fang Yun agreed to help him, then the competitors entered the Literary World for the second event, Read Ten Thousand Books.

• Xun Li blamed the Lei Family for Yan Yukong's low score, and Lei Thirteen denied the accusation and threatened him.
• Yan Yukong announced that he would launch a Literary Battle against Thunder Province after the competition, and Xun Li tried to dismiss his words as a joke.
• Yan Yukong asked Fang Yun to help him win land from Thunder Province, and Fang Yun agreed.
• Fang Yun told Qiao Juze that a Qing Kingdom defeat could provide an excuse to strike at the Lei Family in Thunder Province.
• The competitors returned to the grounds and entered the Literary World, where they found a grand hall filled with bookshelves for Read Ten Thousand Books.

The Read Ten Thousand Books contest began, testing the contestants’ ability to read and understand obscure works quickly. Fang Yun sped through his books far faster than the other students, and the chapter ended with him continuing to lead even as increasingly difficult texts slowed him down.

• Lü Xuzhi and Yun Xunsong declared their goals for earning rings of the Courage Bell, while Yan Yukong and Kong Deyu recalled Fang Yun’s extraordinary reading in the Sacred Ruins.
• The contest rules awarded Courage Bell rings and shares of the rewards to contestants who finished each hundred books first.
• Fang Yun read Record of the Desolate Prairie at astonishing speed and finished it before Qiao Juze had reached a quarter of his own book.
• Fang Yun’s next book was Zhang's Complete Book of the Seven Policies, Volume Four, but he continued turning pages rapidly despite the students’ mockery.
• Fang Yun moved on to Xiang's Exposition on Reading the Changes, where his pace slowed again but remained faster than the other contestants’.

Fang Yun read faster than the other competitors, earning all ten Courage Bell chimes and first place in Read Ten Thousand Books. After the competition ended, he surprised Qiao Juze by pulling a book from Qiao Juze’s shelf and continuing to read.

• Fang Yun finished one hundred books, and the Courage Bell rang for the first time as the competitors reacted to his lead.
• Fang Yun reached two hundred, three hundred, and four hundred books, triggering more bell chimes and leaving the other competitors far behind.
• Fang Yun completed the final book and earned the tenth bell chime, advancing his Literary Guts to Jade Born from Stubborn Rock.
• Fang Yun took first place in Read Ten Thousand Books with ten tallies, while the other competitors continued reading in silence.
• Fang Yun beckoned toward Qiao Juze’s bookshelf, took Flash Prefecture Folk Song Collection, and resumed reading, prompting someone to call him a madman.

Fang Yun finished ten thousand books in the second round and was swept into a vision of the Spring and Autumn Annals, where he witnessed more than two centuries of history in an instant. He returned to the competition exhausted, concealed what he had experienced, and fell asleep.

• Fang Yun continued reading without slowing, while Yan Yukong and the other competitors struggled to keep pace.
• Kong Deyu finished a thousand books and placed second, then stopped reading to rest.
• After Fang Yun completed ten thousand books, an ancient bell sounded and the Spring and Autumn Annals' voice drew him into a river of radiance.
• Fang Yun watched the history recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals unfold over more than two hundred years, ending with Confucius encountering the Qilin.
• Fang Yun returned to his seat, told Qiao Juze he was merely tired, and fell asleep as an invisible force isolated him.

After Fang Yun finished Read Ten Thousand Books, Jing Kingdom rose to eighth place, though it remained only narrowly ahead of Qing Kingdom. As he prepared for the Sea of Ten Thousand Questions, he discovered his Literary Guts had strengthened and a mysterious Seven-Colored Bracelet had appeared in his Literary Palace.

• Fang Yun woke after Read Ten Thousand Books and joined his companions to check the competition rankings.
• The rankings placed Jing Kingdom eighth and Qing Kingdom ninth, while Shen Kingdom and Gu Kingdom were eliminated.
• Fang Yun's companions warned that Qing Kingdom was expected to outscore Jing Kingdom in the final round, and the group discussed the Sea of Ten Thousand Questions.
• Fang Yun examined his Literary Palace and found his Literary Guts had grown stronger and a faint Seven-Colored Bracelet had appeared on his self-statue's wrist.
• Fang Yun recalled the history of the Spring and Autumn Annals and its importance to the School of Historians and Confucianism.