An air of grim menace filled the Golden Throne Hall.
Pair after pair of eyes glared furiously at the white-robed figure kneeling in the hall. No one had expected the top scholar, personally appointed by the Zhou emperor only yesterday, to commit such an unforgivable crime.
"Your Majesty, Su Xiuyi infiltrated the death prison and released the Heavenly Fox Holy Maiden without permission. His crime is grave, and he deserves death."
"Your Majesty, the Heavenly Fox Holy Maiden infiltrated our human race and took the imperial examinations. She even reached the palace examination and came second. Her talent in Divine Runes is unparalleled, and she is truly a grave threat to our Great Zhou Dynasty. Our failure to discover her demon form is a disgrace. Su Xiuyi, the top scholar, let the tiger return to the mountain for his own selfish desires. His crime deserves death."
"Your Majesty, Su Xiuyi's crime is unforgivable. If he is not executed, how can we answer to the million-strong army guarding the border against the Demon Race? How can we answer to the human men who died? Su Xiuyi deserves death."
"Your Majesty, please execute Su Xiuyi."
In the Golden Throne Hall, the Great Zhou emperor sat on his golden dragon throne. His gaze was icy cold, and a soul-chilling frost radiated from his entire body, while his eyes seemed to burn with raging flames.
An elderly Confucian scholar stood in the hall, his hair streaked with gray and his face lined with wrinkles. He was Wang Lin, the reigning imperial tutor. His eyes were closed, and his body trembled faintly. The Great Zhou emperor's gaze fell on him. After all, Su Xiuyi was his disciple and adopted son.
Wang Lin seemed to sense the Great Zhou emperor's gaze and the fury of the assembled officials. He slowly opened his eyes and said, his face full of disappointment, "Your Majesty, I treated Su Xiuyi as my own son and taught him to read from childhood. His release of the Heavenly Fox Holy Maiden was my fault. I failed to teach him properly. But his Dao foundation has been crippled and his Divine Runes destroyed. I offer one arm and the head of a Demon Race king in exchange for his life. I will retire to the academy."
When Wang Lin finished speaking, everyone looked at him and saw that one of his sleeves hung empty today. The next moment, his other arm exploded, leaving both sleeves empty, and an enormous black tiger demon's head appeared in the hall.
"This...!"
The hall fell utterly silent. One person after another drew a sharp breath. Wang Lin was not only the Great Zhou emperor's teacher, but also the Great Zhou's foremost Confucian scholar and an immensely powerful Divine Rune master. Yet, to atone for Su Xiuyi's crime, he was willing to lose both arms in exchange for letting Su Xiuyi cling to life. After all, such a grave crime warranted death by dismemberment.
Wang Lin had paid such a price and beheaded a demon king. No one dared say more, and they lowered their heads to await the Great Zhou emperor's decision.
The Great Zhou emperor looked at Su Xiuyi, who lay unconscious, his cultivation crippled and his Divine Runes destroyed, and said coldly, "Su Xiuyi released the Heavenly Fox Holy Maiden, a crime deserving death. However, the imperial tutor crossed hundreds of millions of miles of mountains and rivers overnight, slew a Demon Race king, and severed one of his own arms. The death penalty may be spared. Su Xiuyi shall be stripped of his rank as top scholar and sent to the Literary Saint Courtyard. He shall not take a single step outside it for the rest of his life. Should he defy this imperial decree, any person of the Great Zhou may execute him."
Furious voices still echoed through Su Xiuyi's mind. Barely conscious, he was dragged out of the Golden Throne Hall. By the time he fully regained consciousness, he had been dragged to the entrance of the Literary Saint Courtyard.
The Literary Saint Courtyard was no pleasant place. It was a land of death, a cursed place where the Literary Saint had died.
I'm Su Xiuyi, the top scholar?
No, I'm Su Xiuyi.
After regaining consciousness and confirming it several times, Su Xiuyi realized he had transmigrated, and into the body of the Great Zhou Dynasty's top scholar at that.
Yesterday, in the Golden Throne Hall, the Zhou emperor had personally crowned Su Xiuyi as top scholar. But when the Literary Saint's providence descended upon them, it was discovered that the second-place scholar was not human, but the saintess of the Heavenly Fox Demon Race. A member of the Demon Race had come second and absorbed the imperial family's providence, revealing a powerful Divine Rune, "Saint." The Zhou emperor had been enraged by the examiners' oversight, and court and country had been shaken. He had immediately thrown her into the death prison, yet Su Xiuyi had released her without permission.
This Su Xiuyi was also the Zhou emperor's junior fellow disciple and should have wielded power that reached the heavens. Yet, who could have imagined that he would be stripped of his scholarly rank, his providence in the literary Dao scattered, his cultivation crippled, and himself cast into the cursed Literary Saint Courtyard?
This cursed place was a perilous land whose curse could even kill a Literary Saint. He had gone from great joy to great sorrow in an instant.
The Literary Saint Courtyard was utterly desolate. Its walls were crumbling and covered in weeds and moss, completely out of place among the magnificent buildings around it. It was a truly gloomy sight, and at least several decades had passed since anyone had cleaned it.
Even the couplet carved in stone by the gate was almost hidden beneath moss. Standing before the Literary Saint Courtyard, with soldiers glaring coldly behind him and desolation all around, Su Xiuyi cut a forlorn figure.
Su Xiuyi reached out and wiped away the moss. At last, he could make out the inscription: "I came from the mortal world, to attain immortality here."
The soldiers behind him saw his forlorn figure, but showed him no kindness. One said coldly, "The Great Zhou's top scholar should have taken up a three-foot sword and cut off the heads of the Demon Race's great demons, avenging our Great Zhou and our human brethren. Yet you released the Heavenly Fox Holy Maiden without permission—a monstrous talent like her. You let her beauty turn your head, and you deserve this fate."
"Pah!"
"You're human, yet you released the Heavenly Fox Holy Maiden. You're a disgrace to us all. The Heavenly Fox Holy Maiden comprehended and condensed the Primordial Divine Runes of heaven and earth, 'Saint.' Given time, she will surely become a grave threat to our human race. This cursed place suits someone like you."
A scholar in Confucian robes approached from a distance. Looking at the forlorn figure, he found it a sad and lamentable sight.
Su Xiuyi was gentle by nature. At birth, heaven had bestowed Divine Runes upon him, and purple qi had enveloped the academy. His talent was monstrous beyond compare; he had the makings of a saint.
"Xiuyi, why did you do it?"
"You know what will happen if you enter the Literary Saint Courtyard. And the imperial tutor severed both his arms and declared that he would retire from worldly affairs." The scholar sighed, his face full of disappointment.
"Poor imperial tutor. He severed his arms to plead for him, but the whole court was furious, and the army at the border was disheartened. In the end, all he managed to secure was an intact corpse." The soldiers sighed quietly.
The Literary Saint Courtyard was well known. It had once been the Literary Saint's residence. The Literary Saint had been so powerful that a saint of the Heavenly Abyss Race had infiltrated the courtyard and given his life to lay a curse, perishing along with the Literary Saint. In the years since, the place had become even more infamous.
Marquis Wushuang, who guarded the border, had defied an imperial decree, causing a hundred thousand soldiers to be slain by the Demon Race. He had been cast into the Literary Saint Courtyard. Though his physical body was invincible, Marquis Wushuang had perished in a month. His formidable appearance had vanished, his body had withered, and he had died from the curse.
A half-saint of the Heavenly Abyss Race had infiltrated the Literary Saint Courtyard to steal his ancestor's remains, only to be trapped inside. He had died after three days of terrified cries.
Prince Zhaotian had rebelled. His strength reached the heavens, and his body was undying. Yet in the Literary Saint Courtyard, he had still gone mad after one year and died after three.
Will I meet the same fate? Having only just transmigrated, Su Xiuyi could not accept it.
"System binding in progress..."
"System binding complete. Invincible Sign-In System activated."
"Would the host like to sign in before the Literary Saint Courtyard?"
The system's voice suddenly rang out in his mind, making Su Xiuyi's pupils contract sharply. His despair vanished, replaced by excitement.
His transmigrator's golden finger had finally arrived.
Sign in!
As a transmigrator, Su Xiuyi did not hesitate.
"Signed in before the Literary Saint Courtyard. Reward: one Heaven-Mending Pill, capable of healing all injuries and reforging a supreme Dao foundation."
Hearing the system's voice, Su Xiuyi was overjoyed. With his Dao foundation capable of being reforged and the system at his side, this place of certain death might not mean ten deaths and no chance of survival for him.
System, are there any requirements for signing in? Su Xiuyi asked in his mind.
"Sign-in is limited to once per day. Rewards differ by location. Some locations allow repeated sign-ins," the system's mechanical voice replied.
This world had two methods of cultivation. One was purely martial cultivation, and its practitioners were also called brutes. The other was the path of scholars, who cultivated Divine Runes and condensed them through their will. Divine Runes were themselves laws of the Dao and immensely powerful. This was also the path chosen by geniuses.
"Su Xiuyi, have you looked enough? We'll send you inside." Only after Su Xiuyi had stood there for a long time did the soldiers behind him speak. After all, even Prince Zhaotian had once fainted from fright here and been thrown inside. By "send," they meant throwing him straight in. This place was like purgatory, and they had no wish to be tainted by the power of the curse.
"No need. I'll go in myself."
Su Xiuyi still did not turn around. He glanced at the couplet: "I came from the mortal world, to attain immortality here." A faint smile touched his lips. Without the slightest panic, Su Xiuyi felt that the couplet had been written for him. He would not come out until he had signed in and obtained an immortality scripture.
Seeing Su Xiuyi stride into the Literary Saint Courtyard without the slightest fear, the onlookers could not help feeling it was a pity that such a man had met such a fate.
"Su Xiuyi, you truly were a model for the scholars of our Great Zhou Dynasty. I respect you. From now until your death, the academy's disciples will treat you well." The scholar admired Su Xiuyi greatly. His cultivation had been crippled, yet he was unafraid of this cursed place.
"Creak."
The rust-spotted gate slowly closed, and the courtyard could no longer be seen.
Su Xiuyi paid little attention to the desolate, gloomy courtyard. He immediately sat down cross-legged.
A Heaven-Mending Pill appeared in Su Xiuyi's hand, and he swallowed it at once.
An honest man speaks plainly: humble as I am, I beg you on my knees to add this to your collection.
(End of chapter)