Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun confronted Grand Academician Meng Tong, who offered the Meng Family’s Sun-Splitting Brush in exchange for property taken by the Fierce Lord and sought to claim the Dragon Ginseng. Fang Yun rejected the Meng Family’s account of the Fierce Lord’s crimes and asserted that everything he had won by defeating a Rebel Species belonged to him, while Ao Huang then asked for the Ancestral Dragon True Blood.

• Meng Tong and the Meng Family bowed to Fang Yun and offered him the Sun-Splitting Brush as thanks for exposing the fiend.
• Fang Yun refused the brush and questioned Meng Tong about the Fierce Lord’s actions and the Meng Family’s claim to his seized property.
• Meng Tong argued that the Fierce Lord had been controlled by the fiend, but Fang Yun said the Fierce Lord had become a Rebel Species before dying.
• Fang Yun declared that everything he gained by killing a Rebel Species belonged to him, silencing Meng Tong’s pressure and drawing Qiao Juze’s approval.
• Ao Huang praised Fang Yun and asked him to give the Ancestral Dragon True Blood to the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace.

Fang Yun refused Meng Tong’s demand for the Dragon Ginseng, even after the Meng Family deployed Blood-Bathed Metropolitan Graduate Meng Chou and declared him an Enemy of Aristocratic Clans. Listening Thunder Great Scholar Ye Hongyu arrived to verify Fang Yun’s status as the Poem Ancestor, forcing the Meng Family to withdraw.

• Meng Tong demanded that Fang Yun return the Dragon Ginseng, while Fang Yun rejected the claim and recognized the dangerous Blood-Bathed Metropolitan Graduate accompanying him as possibly Meng Chou.
• Fang Yun insisted the Dragon Ginseng belonged to him and taunted Meng Tong over the Meng Family’s inability to avenge Meng Lintang.
• Meng Tong recited the Meng Sage Family patriarch’s order designating Fang Yun an Enemy of Aristocratic Clans, bringing oppressive force down on Fang Yun and his Literary Palace.
• Meng Tong ordered Meng Chou to eliminate Fang Yun, but Listening Thunder Great Scholar Ye Hongyu arrived with Grand Academician Yan and another Grand Academician.
• Ye Hongyu said he had come to verify the matter of the Poem Ancestor and ordered everyone uninvolved to withdraw, and the Meng Family members obeyed.

Fang Yun awaited the ceremony to verify him as the Poem Ancestor and Void Sage while preparing for the Metropolitan Graduate Examination and confronting the prospect of the Moon Tree Divine Punishment. The ceremony was set for dusk, though Grand Academician Yan warned that it could bring unexpected complications.

• Jiang Hechuan arrived, and he and Ye Hongyu arranged for Jing Kingdom to prepare a proper ceremony to verify Fang Yun as the Poem Ancestor using the Three Treasures.
• Jiang Hechuan publicly praised Fang Yun’s achievements and announced the verification ceremony, while the Meng Family held back from challenging the Sacred Academy.
• Fang Yun returned to his study, rescued the Inkstone Turtle from sneaking away, and prepared for the Metropolitan Graduate Examination while considering the forces arrayed against him.
• Grand Academician Yan brought Fang Yun the sealed River-Drinking Shell and told him that Eastern Sage intended to help him face the Moon Tree Divine Punishment.
• Grand Academician Yan warned that the dusk ceremony might provoke twists and turns, while Fang Yun remained focused on his studies and preparations.

Fang Yun tried to begin a vast historical work called Emperor's Book, but its title transformed into Emperor Sovereign Canon, revealing that the completed work could become a Half-Sage canon. The chapter ended with the Moon Tree Divine Punishment making its completion seem almost impossible.

• Fang Yun planned to write a pronunciation dictionary and primers, but rejected medical and Confucian classics because he lacked the necessary knowledge or Literary Qi.
• Fang Yun decided to create a work recording the people, events, and knowledge of different eras, and titled it Emperor's Book.
• The title burned on ordinary paper, so Fang Yun wrote it on a Sage Page with ink ground on the Inkstone Turtle's back.
• The Inkstone Turtle secretly added dark golden liquid to the ink and tried to swallow the Sage Page, but the page's power hurled it through a wall.
• The words Emperor's Book transformed into Emperor Sovereign Canon, and Fang Yun realized the completed work could become a Half-Sage canon, though the Moon Tree Divine Punishment threatened to prevent him from finishing it.

Fang Yun began compiling the Emperor Sovereign Canon, creating works intended to broaden the Human Race’s knowledge, while the Canon’s emergence caused the Sacred Academy’s lamps to blaze across the continent. As Fang Yun took his family to the Temple of Sages for the Poem Ancestor Ceremony, the capital’s crowds blocked their way, and Ao Huang cleared a path.

• Fang Yun’s Emperor Sovereign Canon took shape, and its aura triggered Lanterns Soaring to the Heavens, startling the Half-Sages and drawing attention from powerful figures across the continent.
• Fang Yun wrote Expanded Worthies and began adapting The Jade Forest of Young Learners into a broad introduction to the Saint Origin Continent’s history and knowledge.
• Jiang Hechuan told Fang Yun to bring his family to the Temple of Sages for the Poem Ancestor Ceremony, while saying he and the capital’s Great Scholars had other matters to handle.
• Fang Yun gathered Yang Yuhuan, Nunu, Ao Huang, and the household, then set out for the Temple of Sages.
• The carriage became stuck in the crowd, so Ao Huang used his Dragon Might to make the people part and clear Fang Yun’s way.

Fang Yun arrived at the Temple of Sages for his Void Sage ceremony as Jing Kingdom’s scholars gathered, while Jiang Hechuan confronted Hall of Punishment envoys and the Lei Family over the investigation into Lei Jiu’s death. The Half-Sages’ powers clashed over the road to the capital, and a Grand Academician who glimpsed the conflict died after comprehending the Dao.

• Fang Yun and Yang Yuhuan arrived at the Temple of Sages with Ao Huang before the auspicious hour for the ceremony.
• Ye Hongyu sealed the crowd’s voices, while Jiang Hechuan confronted the Hall of Punishment envoys and ordered uninvolved visitors to leave Jing Kingdom.
• Lei Tingyu and Zong Wenxiong stayed, and Zong Wenxiong challenged Chen Mingding while declaring that Fang Yun had taken the wrong road.
• Zong Wenxiong invoked Father Sage’s power, and Chen Mingding answered with a Holy Painting that turned the surrounding land to spring.
• A Grand Academician from the Hall of Punishment glimpsed the clash between the rainbow and spring rain, comprehended the Dao, and turned to dust.

Fang Yun’s Dragon Sword Poem was verified by the Law Classic, the Book of Songs, and the Dragon-Shocking Brush, making him the Poem Ancestor and spreading the poem across the Saint Origin Continent. As the ceremony ended, Fang Yun faced the impending Moon Tree Divine Punishment, while his enemies and the Demon Race considered their next moves.

• Ye Hongyu began the nighttime Poem Ancestor verification ceremony and summoned the Law Classic, the Book of Songs, and the Dragon-Shocking Brush before the Temple of Sages.
• Fang Yun wrote the Dragon Sword Poem, and all three Sacred Treasures confirmed it as a Poem Ancestor work.
• The poem’s Poem Ancestor Instruction reached every living creature on the Saint Origin Continent, and scholars bowed to Fang Yun as their master.
• Ji Zhibai rejected Fang Yun as a teacher, forgot the Dragon Sword Poem, and suffered a dimming of his Literary Guts, while Liu Shan reacted with contempt.
• The Demon Race discussed Fang Yun’s possible use of the Ancient Star River, and Zong Wenxiong warned Jiang Hechuan that their conflict would continue in the Sacred Academy Heavenly Prison.
• Fang Yun worried silently about the coming Moon Tree Divine Punishment, and Ye Hongyu received the three Sacred Treasures into his River-Drinking Shell.

At the Poem Ancestor Ceremony, the Hall of Punishment investigated Fang Yun over accusations that he had let Lei Jiu die, a move Jing Kingdom scholars suspected was meant to block his Metropolitan Graduate Examination. Fang Yun explained that he had rescued Zhang Zhixing first because Zhang was poisoned nearby, then reached Lei Jiu too late.

• Mingzhi Academy students celebrated Fang Yun's advancement to Poem Ancestor and Before-the-Sages Metropolitan Graduate.
• Xu Changjing arrived with Great Scholars and Grand Academicians of the Hall of Punishment and announced that Zong Ji and Sima He had accused Fang Yun of refusing to save Lei Jiu.
• Jing Kingdom scholars realized the investigation could delay or disqualify Fang Yun from taking the Metropolitan Graduate Examination.
• Fang Yun asked why only Zong Ji and Sima He had filed the accusation, then explained that Lei Jiu and the others had abandoned him when enemies attacked.
• Fang Yun said he saved the nearby Zhang Zhixing after the Poison Flood Dragon Pearl injured both him and Lei Jiu, but reached Lei Jiu only after it was too late.

Fang Yun defended his hesitation over saving Lei Jiu and learned that the Lei Family and Zong Family had tried to subject him to the Heart-Severing Punishment. Xu Changjing spared him that punishment but ordered him held by Jing Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice, now overseen by a Left Prime Minister ally.

• Fang Yun cited two stories about Confucius to explain that he had hesitated before risking his life to save Lei Jiu, and Xu Changjing ruled that he would not face a Heart-Seeking Question.
• The crowd learned that the Lei Family and Zong Family had tried to arrange the Heart-Severing Punishment, and Fang Yun swore to repay their enmity if he survived.
• Jing Kingdom’s scholars, Ao Huang, and Nunu denounced Lei Tingyu and Zong Wenxiong until Jiang Hechuan quieted them.
• Xu Changjing said Fang Yun would be held by the Ministry of Justice while he investigated the case, and Fang Yun agreed to abide by the law.
• Xu Changjing entrusted Fang Yun to Left Vice Minister Yuan Su and warned him that he alone would answer if anything went wrong.
• Fang Yun realized Minister Yu had been deliberately sent away and that the Left Prime Minister had prepared to place the capital’s Ministry of Justice under Yuan Su’s control.

After the Poem Ancestor Ceremony, Fang Yun learned that political enemies had blocked his path to the Void Sage Garden and that the Moon Tree Divine Punishment could leave him without protection. The Ministry of Justice came to arrest him, and he left his family in Ao Huang’s care as he prepared to face them.

• Lei Tingyu announced that Fang Yun’s charges prevented a Void Sage image from being placed in the Void Sage Garden, while Ye Hongyu promised to plead Fang Yun’s case at the Sacred Academy.
• After the crowd dispersed, Grand Academician Yan and Zhang Hu discussed using the Armillary Sphere to calculate the Moon Tree Divine Punishment’s trajectory and measure Heaven’s might.
• Fang Yun returned home and reassured Yang Yuhuan that he would overcome the trials ahead, while Ao Huang worried that the Lei Family and Zong Family had cornered him.
• The Ministry of Justice arrived to arrest Fang Yun, and he gave Yang Yuhuan his River-Drinking Shell and asked Ao Huang to protect her and the others if he did not return.
• Yang Yuhuan clung to Fang Yun in tears as Nunu and Little Meteor watched helplessly, and Ao Huang drove the officers’ knocking to a stop with a threat.

Fang Yun was arrested and paraded through the capital after the Meng Family named him an Enemy of Aristocratic Clans and filed new accusations against him. He remained calm as Qiao Juze and Jing Kingdom students followed the procession, while the growing crowd turned against Yuan Su and the officials.

• Yuan Su arrived with soldiers and officials, announced that Fang Yun’s privileges had been revoked, and ordered him shackled and placed in a prison cart.
• A Metropolitan Graduate provoked Fang Yun, who tore off the man’s clothes with a sword-like breath; Qiao Juze then arrived with students to support Fang Yun.
• Fang Yun’s Tongue Sword suppressed the gathered scholars’ weapons, and the officials put him in the prison cart while the students followed.
• Yuan Su stopped the procession to rebuke the students, but Qiao Juze defended their right to accompany Fang Yun, and Yuan Su ordered the procession onward.
• Capital residents recognized Fang Yun and gathered to watch, spreading rumors that the Left Prime Minister and Yuan Su had conspired against him.

Yuan Su sent Fang Yun to the brutal Tiger Prison despite public outrage, while Academy students organized protests and a suspension of studies. Fang Yun arrived at the prison, where Yuan Su reminded Warden Huo of a favor from four years earlier.

• An angry crowd pelted Yuan Su’s convoy, but he used his Official Seal to force the people back and ordered it to Tiger Prison.
• Qiao Juze explained that Yuan Su controlled Fang Yun’s imprisonment, then vowed to visit Tiger Prison daily to protest.
• Zhang Chengyu rallied Academy students to support Fang Yun and suspend their studies while others went to the prison.
• Fang Yun arrived at Tiger Prison and was assigned to its death-row section as a heinous criminal awaiting execution.
• Warden Huo greeted Yuan Su, who reminded him of what had happened four years earlier.

Yuan Su brought Fang Yun to Tiger Prison, arranged for him to stay in a relatively decent cell, and sealed his Literary Palace. After the guards left, Fang Yun fought off prisoners who attacked him and warned the others not to test him.

• Yuan Su questioned Warden Huo about Fang Yun and promised to recommend him for office if he treated Fang Yun impartially.
• Yuan Su escorted Fang Yun into Tiger Prison, where Fang Yun saw the squalid conditions and dead prisoners in the dungeon.
• Yuan Su assigned Fang Yun the Ding Thirteen cell after the Hall of Punishment Metropolitan Graduates objected to harsher treatment, and the guards cleaned it.
• Yuan Su searched Fang Yun, then used a Sage Page to seal his Literary Palace before leaving him locked in the cell.
• Four prisoners reached through the bars to attack Fang Yun, but he tore off their arms and warned the other prisoners not to come after him.

Fang Yun endured his first morning in the prison and used his Heavenly Words in the Mouth to recite the Sages’ classics to the prisoners. As their hearts were stirred by his words, some repented and one prisoner killed himself.

• Fang Yun reflected on the Lei Family and Zong Family’s plot and considered ways to escape.
• The jailers distributed moldy food and cloudy water, which Fang Yun politely accepted and refused, instead gathering pure water from the air.
• Fang Yun began reciting the Book of Changes, and his Heavenly Words in the Mouth helped prisoners understand its characters and meaning.
• The prisoners gradually knelt and listened as Fang Yun continued with The Analects.
• When Fang Yun recited Confucius’s saying about educating people without distinction, one prisoner repented and smashed himself to death, while others confessed or vowed to redeem themselves.

Fang Yun recited the Sages’ classics in Tiger Prison while scholars across the Ten Kingdoms rallied for his release. On the eve of the Metropolitan Graduate Examination, he invoked Spring and Autumn Adjudication and Expiation by Poetry and Prose, prompting the Sacred Academy’s Sages to convene as Liu Shan revealed that the Pavilion of the Hall of Punishment was meant to block his bid.

• Fang Yun recited the classics day and night, and his Heavenly Speech changed the prisoners and warmed Tiger Prison as the jailers and prisoners listened.
• Qiao Juze, Zhang Chengyu, and other scholars led protests and circulated petitions, while officials, students, and Ao Huang joined the growing pressure to free Fang Yun.
• The Hall of Punishment rejected the Meng Family’s accusation that Fang Yun had killed the Fierce Lord but retained the charge that he had seized Meng Family property.
• The two Hall of Punishment Metropolitan Graduates reported that Righteous Qi might be arising in Tiger Prison, where prisoners grew stronger despite the filthy conditions.
• Fang Yun petitioned to undertake Expiation by Poetry and Prose, wagering that he would expiate his crimes if he placed first in the Metropolitan Graduate Examination and face doubled punishment if he failed.
• Liu Shan believed the Legalist-controlled Pavilion of the Hall of Punishment would block Fang Yun’s petition, while the Eastern Sage struck the Sacred Bell to summon the Sages to discuss him.

Eastern Sage convened a Sacred Deliberation, and the sages granted Fang Yun Expiation by Poetry and Prose on the condition that he write three Nation-Quelling works before the Metropolitan Examination. As the capital debated whether he could meet the demand, Zong Wenxiong predicted Fang Yun would produce only two.

• Nine Great Scholars agreed that Fang Yun deserved Expiation by Poetry and Prose, and the sages authorized a vote during the Sacred Deliberation.
• The Hall of Punishment ruled that Fang Yun could leave prison after writing three Nation-Quelling works, while a first-place finish in the Metropolitan Examination would clear all his charges.
• Jiang Hechuan announced the decision, and the capital's cheering turned to outrage when people heard Fang Yun had less than twelve hours to write three works.
• A dragon threatened the Human Race sages and was struck by lightning; people then wondered whether Little Fox had imitated Dragon Roar Thunder Voice.
• Fang Yun's allies in Kong City chose to wait, while the Empress Dowager said Jing Kingdom would await his three Nation-Quelling works.
• At the Lei Family Estate, Zong Wenxiong told Lei Tingyu that Fang Yun could write two Nation-Quelling works, but the third would be State-Ringing at most.

In Tiger Prison, Fang Yun wrote his first piece for Expiation by Poetry and Prose, a sorrowful lyric about dreaming that Yang Yuhuan had died. The lyric became Transmitted Under Heaven and moved people across Jing Kingdom, while Yang Yuhuan and Fang Yun’s companions grieved for him.

• Fang Yun asked for the Four Treasures of the Study and prepared to write his first piece for Expiation by Poetry and Prose.
• Fang Yun composed River Town: Dream in Prison, describing his imagined grief over Yang Yuhuan’s death and their separation.
• The lyric stirred sorrow across the region, and Jiang Hechuan recited it throughout Jing Kingdom.
• The lyric’s Literary Qi rose beyond five feet, making it Transmitted Under Heaven, while people across the kingdom wept.
• Yan Yukong praised Fang Yun’s talent, and the Poetry Lord interpreted the lyric as depicting Fang Yun returning as a ghost after his death.
• Yang Yuhuan wept in Fang Yun’s bedroom, while Ao Huang vowed to protect her and Little Fox.

Fang Yun’s sorrowful lyric stirred grief across the continent as people mourned his fate and debated his worth. At the Fang Household, Yang Yuhuan resolved to sound the Grievance Drum and petition the throne for justice for him.

• Zhao Hongzhuang begged the Empress Dowager to save Fang Yun, saying she would not live if he died.
• Zong Wenxiong urged Lei Tingyu to oppose Fang Yun’s imprisonment, but Lei Tingyu dismissed him as doomed and revealed that the Lei Family’s divine artifact had stirred.
• Ji Zhibai discussed Fang Yun’s lyric with Liu Shan, who praised Fang Yun’s potential while staking his own future on Saint Zong’s Barbarian-Alliance Strategy.
• Fang Yun’s companions in Kong City wondered whether he could survive the Moon Tree Divine Punishment, while Su Xiaoxiao vowed to remain unmarried and serve him as a slave.
• Yang Yuhuan told Ao Huang she would sound the Grievance Drum outside the imperial palace and petition the throne for justice for Fang Yun.

Yang Yuhuan set out to beat the Grievance Drum, but Qiao Chenshi persuaded her to return and discuss the matter first. In Tiger Prison, Fang Yun wrote the Nation-Quelling poem “Ode to Lime,” whose rare power to flawlessly temper Literary Guts spread across Jing Kingdom and left his enemies uneasy.

• Yang Yuhuan left the Upper Lodge to beat the Grievance Drum, but Qiao Chenshi linked arms with her and convinced her to return home for advice.
• At the Xun Household, members criticized Fang Yun, and Xun Tianling rebuked them for disgracing the family before leaving.
• After resting until his Literary Qi stabilized, Fang Yun wrote “Ode to Lime,” which produced four feet and one inch of Literary Qi and became Nation-Quelling.
• The poem’s hammering, chiseling, and flames flawlessly tempered the Literary Guts of Fang Yun, two Hall of Punishment Metropolitan Graduates, and Warden Huo.
• Literary Prime Minister Jiang Hechuan announced that scholars below Great Scholars could use the poem to remove flaws from their Literary Guts, prompting scholars throughout Jing Kingdom to recite it.
• Qiao Juze praised the poem’s benefits, while Liu Shan wondered whether it targeted him and Ji Zhibai feared that other Metropolitan Graduates would surpass him.

Ji Zhibai and Liu Shan waited tensely for Fang Yun’s third poem, while Fang Yun rested after producing two powerful works. Across the Xun Household, Ode to Lime eased resentment toward him, though some members remained stubbornly hostile.

• Ji Zhibai vowed to kill Fang Yun himself, and Liu Shan predicted Fang Yun would retaliate against Yuan Su, Zong Ji, and Sima He.
• Hall of Punishment Metropolitan Graduates warned Fang Yun that writing a third Nation-Quelling Poem could exhaust him before the Metropolitan Graduate Examination and his coming final test.
• Fang Yun agreed to rest and soon fell asleep in the underground cells at Tiger Prison.
• Xun Household members found that reciting Ode to Lime began cleansing flaws in their Literary Guts and reconsidered their hostility toward Fang Yun.
• Xun Tianling praised Fang Yun’s works through Tongue Blossoms Thunder, prompting many Xun Household members to laugh and admit they studied them.
• Some stubborn Xun Household members left in anger, while an elder warned that Fang Yun’s third piece might be difficult.