[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou":3,"chapter-the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-17":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Ink Saint of Great Zhou",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2291980,4481,"Chapter 17","the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-17",17,"\u003Cp>Chen Ji was so awestruck by the “Dream of the Red Chamber” published in today’s official gazette that he stood on the street, lost in deep contemplation, which caused him to arrive late at Wenyuan Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not accept that the divine-level “Exorcism Poem” composed by his revered literary master was casually dismissed as “not bad.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wrote the Exorcism Poem!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang cleared his throat and was about to introduce himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Chen Ji let out a cold snort, activated his full might of righteous qi, and climbed the steps with rapid, pounding strides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the blink of an eye, he left Lu Fang more than ten zhang behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang was stunned; though both were at the ninth rank, third tier, his righteous qi was far weaker than Chen Ji’s, making it impossible to catch up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Truly a remarkable talent!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang muttered under his breath, had no desire to explain, and bent low to struggle up the Jiezi Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, Jiezi Mountain was only difficult at the start; once past the initial stretch, climbing the many stone steps no longer consumed righteous qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He reached the summit of the cloud-piercing Jiezi Mountain in roughly two ke of time—the Wenyuan Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>High walls of white plaster and gray tiles rose before him; from below the stone steps, he could barely glimpse a corner of the academy’s terraces and pavilions amid the mist, while the azure righteous qi above the sky hung unbroken, shifting endlessly, as if he had entered a fairyland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am Lu Fang, here to study at Wenyuan Academy. May I ask whom I should seek out?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang asked the guards standing beside the gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The older gatekeeper bowed and smiled: “Director Liu just arrived and instructed us that when you came, we were to escort you to him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you for your trouble.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang followed the older gatekeeper into the academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before him stretched a “vast” white stone square, large enough for over a dozen basketball courts; at its far end stood rows of pavilions and lecture halls, their distant sounds of recitation drifting through the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the right of the white stone square ran a narrow path leading to an arched-gate courtyard, where a single room stood at its center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The older gatekeeper bowed inside: “Director Liu, I’ve brought the student.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The room was a typical triple-chamber structure, filled with books stacked into “peaks” and scrolls carelessly scattered about.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A middle-aged, refined scholar sat at a long table over ten meters away, reading the Great Zhou Gazette; upon hearing the announcement, he looked up and studied Lu Fang at the doorway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You are Lu Fang?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scholar rose eagerly to ask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, here is my token.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang produced a token, made of an unknown yellow-brass alloy—light in weight yet substantial in feel, with the character “Xu” carved on both sides, a token given to him by his master, the Grand Confucian Wang Fu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yesterday, Li Yu had told him to present this token to prove his identity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scholar bowed respectfully to the token, then smiled warmly at Lu Fang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Correct. I’ve just been reading your elegant prose, ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’—it’s truly magnificent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Especially your annotations to the ‘Song of Goodbye’—‘The humble room lies empty, once filled with court tablets. Withered grass and dead trees, once stages of song and dance. Spiderwebs cling to carved beams, green gauze now...’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Wenyu clapped his hands repeatedly, lavishing praise without pause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A genius born of heaven!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He will surely become famous throughout the land!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unmatched by any before him, unmatched by any after!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Lu Fang, with his thick skin, felt his cheeks flush at such praise; he chuckled awkwardly and reminded him: “Director Liu, I’ve come here by the Emperor’s decree to study. May I ask how I should proceed?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Wenyu smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As a disciple of a Semi-Sage, your literary talent is exceptional—you need not be bound by rigid rules. Just come to the academy often, attend lectures and master sessions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you find the master lecturers’ literary merit lacking, wait until the two Academy Directors return—they will give their own lectures.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Directors usually give lectures once every two or three months, typically on the last two or three days of the month.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This arrangement was not special treatment for Lu Fang alone; Li Yu received the same privilege at the academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Confucian students who had been taken as disciples by Grand Confucians or Masters of the Cultivation Realm were naturally supervised by their own sects; at the academy, they were merely registered, with the right to attend lectures by the Directors and Masters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary Confucian students entering the academy, however, underwent scholarly assessments to be assigned to a specific “lecture hall.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That suits me well.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang nodded in satisfaction: “Then I’ll take my leave and take a look around the academy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Today is an odd day—men may enter the Library Wing. On even days, only the women’s wing is open. You should go there,” Liu Wenyu suggested. “Shall I accompany you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, no,” Lu Fang declined politely. “I’ll just wander on my own. No need to trouble you, Director Liu.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After bidding farewell to the overly enthusiastic Liu Wenyu, Lu Fang crossed the empty white stone square, paused briefly to listen to lectures from the rows of lecture halls, and finally headed toward the rear—the Library Wing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All students were in their lecture halls; the Library Wing, save for the gatekeeper, was utterly empty, and thus eerily quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Library Wing stood three stories tall, appearing modest from the outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But inside, it revealed a hidden vastness—its first floor alone was larger than the white stone square, lined with endless bookshelves crammed with texts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A Brief History of Wenyuan Academy!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Near the entrance, Lu Fang found a bamboo slip recording the origins of “Wenyuan Academy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the record, Wenyuan Academy was not founded during the Great Zhou Dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had existed since the preceding Ren Dynasty, established by its sixth emperor—though at that time, there was no Jiezi Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Ren Dynasty fractured and collapsed, the Great Zhou rose powerfully; the Sage Jiang transported Jiezi Mountain through empty space to guard one corner of the Great Zhou’s qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After reading the bamboo slip, Lu Fang read several more Confucian classics and elegant prose; as he opened the Outer Chapters of the Zhuangzi, waves of righteous qi surged into his body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pop!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint, almost imperceptible sound echoed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang broke through his realm, entering the Eighth Rank, First Tier—the Realm of Literary Brilliance. Though still within the Confucian realm, he closed his eyes and sensed with delight that his righteous qi had more than doubled in strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After taking three Righteous Qi Elixirs, breaking through was inevitable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never expected it to happen so soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had been in the Great Zhou for less than ten days and had already reached Eighth Rank, First Tier—remarkably swift progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My righteous qi is far weaker than that of other Confucians at the same level. Why is that?” Lu Fang frowned, pondered for a while, found no answer, and gave up thinking about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He picked up the Outer Chapters of the Zhuangzi again, determined to climb another level—if not, at least summoning a bit of literary qi would be better than nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, he had hoped too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After spending three hours in the Library Wing, he had not drawn even a trace of righteous qi, let alone literary qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, “Dream of the Red Chamber” had just debuted on the Great Zhou Gazette and was now seen by many, gathering him a fair amount of scholarly fragrance—he felt less disheartened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As time passed, Confucian students gradually arrived at the Library Wing; even with restraint, the space grew slightly noisy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Come on, come on—there’s a good show up ahead!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What show?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Director Liu’s whisper says that the playboy Xiao Jincheng boasted that the Northern Garrison’s ‘Zhenbei Army’ is incompetent, retreating endlessly before the barbarian hordes without daring to fight. The ‘stubborn fool’ Chen Ji overheard and is now arguing with him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s definitely worth watching—the ‘stubborn fool’ won’t care if Xiao Jincheng is a descendant of the Three Excellencies; he’ll demand the truth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three Confucian students chatted as they exited the Library Wing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“‘Stubborn fool’? That’s aptly put.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang muttered to himself, set down his book, and followed the curious students to the white stone square.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Chen Ji! Kneel down and beg for forgiveness from Master Xiao, and maybe today you’ll be spared your dog’s life!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Confucian with high cheekbones shouted boastfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His name was Hua Wenzé, widely despised at Wenyuan Academy—a classic sycophant who bullied others under the protection of his master, one of Xiao Jincheng’s lackeys.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Which mad dog is barking?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ji stood unshaken, his back straight as a pole.\u003C\u002Fp>",1482,"2026-06-20T03:56:21.568Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","c10416a917a0c79c4d93dd429dd060f28a8c8a674624b60b8bc4b66bc8d38dff","the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-18","the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-16",289,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-cover.jpg"]