Chapter 26

Crack!

A loud slap echoed.

To everyone’s surprise, the one slapped was not the third-rank Confucian Su Li, but Xiao Wanlin, who was just half a step away from the Semi-Sage realm.

“You… entered the Semi-Sage realm!”

Xiao Wanlin’s face turned ashen, a bright red palm print already blooming on his aged face—just delivered by Su Li.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Su Li swung several more slaps at Xiao Wanlin, cursing: “You old bastard, I’m teaching you a lesson for bullying my junior brother!”

“Insolent!”

A voice like thunder exploded.

The Xiao family’s Semi-Sage had moved!

“I’ll go to the Xiao State’s mansion and ask them how to write ‘insolent’!”

Su Li grabbed Xiao Wanlin, shook once, and vanished from the spot, leaving the crowd stunned in the wind.

A third-rank Confucian entering the Semi-Sage realm, due to vastly different foundations, gains a world of difference in power.

Su Li’s displayed strength far surpassed that of most Semi-Sages.

“Your Majesty, this Lu Fang dares to gossip and fabricate stories about the imperial family and the Duke’s affairs—he deserves execution!” Xiao Qi trembled with rage.

He wasn’t worried about Xiao Wanlin’s safety—so long as the three Xiao Semi-Sages were present, even if Su Li had become a Semi-Sage, he couldn’t stir up trouble. The key now was to make the Emperor acknowledge Lu Fang’s guilt.

Only once he was locked in the Ministry of Justice’s prison could everything be handled.

“Your Majesty, I believe he is jealous of my literary talent, and since I am under Master Xu’s tutelage, he seeks to destroy me utterly.”

Lu Fang said solemnly.

He had been uneasy moments ago, but now that his senior brother Su Li, a Semi-Sage, had come to back him, what was there to fear?

“Dream of the Red Chamber” was only published in the Great Zhou Literary Gazette after the Zhou Emperor had read it.

To use the Zhou Emperor as grounds to execute Lu Fang would be like slapping the Emperor’s face. Now, Lu Fang must argue “reason” and confuse the concepts.

“Jealous of your literary talent? Ridiculous!” Xiao Qi sneered. “Your two elegant essays are low-grade romantic fluff, and your Imagery-Level ‘Dangyao Ci’ wasn’t even written by you—probably stolen from somewhere.”

Lu Fang retorted:

“Esteemed official, please watch your words. You have no proof that ‘Dangyao Ci’ isn’t mine, yet you accuse me of theft—that violates law and reason.”

Xiao Qi frowned: “What proof do you have that ‘Dangyao Ci’ is yours? Without proof, shut up!”

“If you can compose another Imagery-Level poem before His Majesty, I’ll immediately kneel and apologize. Otherwise, you…”

Lu Fang interrupted: “Fine. That’s what you said.”

A Xiao family disciple coldly spoke: “What if you can’t write one?”

Composing an Imagery-Level poem? Do you really think it’s as common as growing cabbage? Some Confucians spend lifetimes without crafting even one.

“If I can’t write one, I’ll accept whatever punishment the Xiao family imposes!”

Lu Fang declared.

In his past life, countless poems had endured for millennia—how could none of them be Imagery-Level?

“Fine! I accept. Let His Majesty be the witness.”

Xiao Qi had wanted to avoid this debate, but hearing Lu Fang’s bold claim, he immediately agreed.

Ji Feng’s brows knotted together. Xiao Wanlin and Su Li had already clashed in the hall, giving him a headache—and now he was to be witness again. He warned:

“Lu Fang, think carefully. Imagery-Level poems are rare and unpredictable.”

Lu Fang paused, then smiled: “Your Majesty, I’ve thought it through. How about this poem?”

“Ode to Lime.”

“Chiseled and hammered from deep mountains,

Fire’s blaze treats it as trivial.

Though shattered to dust, I fear not—

Violent azure righteous qi surged forth, forming a scroll above Lu Fang’s head—a young Confucian scholar stood atop a mountain peak, his face filled with resolve.

The echo of “I leave purity in this world” rippled through the hall. All present stared, dumbfounded, at Lu Fang, standing straight-backed.

Violent azure righteous qi surged forth, forming a scroll above Lu Fang: a young Confucian stood atop a mountain peak, face resolute.

At the sight of the young Confucian, everyone involuntarily recited: “Though shattered to dust, I fear not— I leave purity in this world.”

What noble character! If one can prove one’s purity, what is death?

A “primeval aura” coalesced and did not dissipate; in an instant, it transformed into the Semi-Sage’s Ink Treasure: The Annals of Time, and the Semi-Sage’s Ink Treasure: The Brush of Time. Sima Yu wrote as he spoke:

Sima Yu, the Shi family’s Semi-Sage, appeared out of thin air, ecstatic, reaching out.

A “primeval aura” solidified, then instantly transformed into the Semi-Sage Ink Treasure: The Annals of Time, and the Semi-Sage Ink Treasure: The Pen of Time. Sima Yu wrote as he spoke:

“Year Tianfeng Twenty-Nine, ninth month, twenty-second day.”

“Heir of the Xiao State, Xiao Qi, slandered the Confucian Lu Fang, falsely claiming his Imagery-Level ‘Dangyao Ci’ was stolen, and wagered using the Zhou Emperor as witness…”

“Lu Fang, before all eyes, composed another Imagery-Level masterpiece: ‘Ode to Lime’—‘I leave purity in this world’—and the entire court was stunned!”

After finishing the final stroke, Sima Yu was eager to continue, showing no intention to retract the Annals of Time or the Pen of Time.

“Good! Good! Good!”

Ji Feng laughed heartily, clapping his hands. “My ministers, is there anyone still questioning Lu Fang’s literary talent?”

The court officials murmured among themselves, but none dared step forward.

Xiao Qi’s face turned as black as soot, filled with regret.

Why had he foolishly challenged Lu Fang to this? They had agreed to accuse Lu Fang of slander against the imperial family and the Duke’s household using “Dream of the Red Chamber” as pretext—to lock him in prison.

Now, Lu Fang had composed an Imagery-Level masterpiece on the spot: “Ode to Lime.”

“Though shattered to dust, I fear not— I leave purity in this world.”

Just those two lines had ruined Xiao Qi’s reputation—and recorded him in the Annals of Time by the Shi family’s Semi-Sage as a “Slanderer,” to be cursed for eternity.

He now had to kneel and apologize on the spot. How could he possibly send Lu Fang to prison after admitting fault?

Finished! Completely finished!

He tried to steal a chicken and lost his rice.

“Esteemed official, you just said—if I could compose an Imagery-Level poem, you’d kneel and apologize,” Lu Fang said with a smile.

“You deliberately prepared the poem to trick me!” Xiao Qi glared furiously.

In Great Zhou, no one knelt before the Emperor—only when honoring ancestors. Even elders were greeted with a bow. Kneeling was thus an extreme humiliation.

That’s why, in Great Zhou, when conflicts arose, the guilty were made to kneel and apologize.

“Lu Fang, Senior Official Xiao is Minister of Justice. Show mercy where you can. Let’s call it a joke,” Fan Sheng interjected.

“Who is this official?” Lu Fang asked.

Fan Sheng cleared his throat: “Ministry of Revenue…”

Lu Fang cut him off with a smile: “I don’t even know you. Why should I show mercy? When he slandered me, why didn’t you say the same? ‘Call it a joke’? What joke is this?”

Fan Sheng nearly fainted from rage—this boy was utterly audacious.

“Who slandered you?” Xiao Qi roared.

Lu Fang nodded toward Sima Yu of the Shi family and said to Xiao Qi: “You can only yell at me. But it wasn’t me who said it—dare you challenge him? And wasn’t His Majesty the witness? Are you trying to renege, Senior Official Xiao?”