Chapter 5: Prophecy

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh"!

The torrential rain "pitter-pattered" against the eaves, falling onto the bluestone slabs in the courtyard. The "withered" peach tree swayed in the wind and rain, and the flowers and plants in the corner were nourished by the rainwater.

Lv Fang sat at the desk, looking at the cold rain falling from the open window lattice. A gentle breeze brushed his face, and his sideburns fluttered.

One autumn rain brings one chill.

The autumn in Po County was already quite cold.

Unlike the big cities in his previous life, one could still wear short sleeves at this time.

"Floating life, half a day of leisure; like a dream, watching the blue dog."

Lv Fang sighed. These two sentences were too suitable for his current situation; it really felt like he was in a dream.

In his previous life, he had been mediocre for twenty-four years. He was a Chinese major in university, and after graduation, he entered an app company developing "Tang poetry and Song lyrics," where he spent half a year annotating ancient poems and prose and selecting illustrations.

The app company developing ancient poetry failed, and he was forced to become a member of a new media company, mainly working on writing "copywriting" and operations.

The new media company failed a year later, and Lv Fang became a freelancer, posting daily "calligraphy practice" and "ancient poetry" videos online, barely making enough to feed himself.

Waking up to arrive at the Great Zhou Dynasty in a fantasy world, for Lv Fang, was not necessarily a bad thing.

He didn't have much attachment to his previous life; he was unmarried, had no girlfriend, and had an older brother and a younger sister who were both more successful than him, so he didn't have to worry about the problem of supporting his parents.

As the saying goes, heaven gives me talent, and it will be useful!

He couldn't feel what use he had; it was as if he had come to the human world just to make up the numbers.

Arriving in this strange and colorful world, Lv Fang's first feeling was surprise and ecstasy, and only then was there a little bit of panic.

Fortunately, he had the Ink Brush Realm by his side, and the days ahead were destined to be promising.

But there was one thing that made him feel anxious now.

He had thought that the evil ghost harming his predecessor was just a matter of bad luck and coincidence. Only after hearing County Magistrate Zhao yesterday did he know there was a mastermind behind it.

As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall!

Not knowing the cause, not knowing the stakes.

This unknown situation made him feel like he had thorns on his back.

'I must quickly obtain book fragrance energy and obtain more books.' Lv Fang hadn't obtained any books in the Ink Brush Realm last night, and he also understood the importance of book fragrance energy.

How to get more people to see "Liaozhai Zhiyi: Nie Xiaoqian"...

Just as Lv Fang was racking his brains for a feasible method, a young servant holding an oil-paper umbrella walked over hurriedly, bowed slightly, and said:

"Young Master Lv, Magistrate Zhao invites you to the study."

Lv Fang responded with an "okay" and followed behind the young servant, walking through narrow alleys, passing through a corridor of flowers, turning left and right until he arrived at a two-story pavilion. On the east side of the pavilion was an elegant study.

In the grand master chairs in the outer room of the study, County Magistrate Zhao and a woman dressed in a cyan Confucian scholar's robe were sitting side by side.

County Magistrate Zhao's lips moved slightly, transmitting sound to inform him:

"Lv Fang, this is the Fifth-Rank female scholar Li Yu from the Wenyuan Academy; you must not be negligent."

Li Yu looked at Lv Fang with her bright eyes and asked softly, "Are you the one who wrote 'Liaozhai Zhiyi: Nie Xiaoqian'?"

Lv Fang nodded with a smile. Glancing over, he saw the female scholar who asked the question; she was about twenty-two or twenty-three years old, with skin as white as snow.

Her black hair was loosely coiled up, and her exquisite face was white with a hint of red.

In her hands, she held a "miniature" wine jar, and a faint scent of osmanthus wine permeated the study.

Li Yu's expression could not hide her appreciation:

"In the past, there were idle stories like 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' and 'Zhuangzi Dreaming of a Butterfly,' which also belonged to elegant scripts, but such elegant scripts are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and I haven't heard of anyone who could condense a Book Spirit. I heard from County Magistrate Zhao that you used this elegant script to condense a Book Spirit?"

Elegant scripts from ancient times to the present were all written by sages who exhausted their great efforts.

Elegant scripts had nothing to do with realm, and anyone could write them, even those who were not Confucian.

But wanting the Heavenly Dao to recognize and approve them as elegant scripts was extremely difficult.

So-called elegant scripts were those recognized by the Heavenly Dao of this world; frequent reading gave one a chance to gain talent energy or various extraordinary powers.

'This female scholar is so certain; I suppose it's correct. Any book obtained from the Ink Brush Realm, as long as it is written out, is an "elegant script."'

Lv Fang learned from the "Dotted Ink" of the Ink Brush Realm that books written out and read by others gave one a chance to obtain book fragrance energy and the extraordinary power unique to the book.

Besides the fact that readers couldn't obtain Haoran Zhengqi and talent energy, it did indeed fit some characteristics of elegant scripts.

Another thing was that when others read the "elegant scripts" Lv Fang wrote, gaining book fragrance energy and extraordinary power, he would also gain them.

The length of "Liaozhai Zhiyi: Nie Xiaoqian" was not long, and even if someone read it, they might not necessarily comprehend anything.

But there were many books in the Ink Brush Realm; perhaps...

Lv Fang suppressed the joy in his heart, remembered the female scholar's inquiry, summoned the Book Spirit Yan Chixia, and gave a rough introduction.

Li Yu nodded frequently and instructed:

"The toad spirit that drove the ghost to harm you has already been slain by me in the deep mountains this morning. You must not leave Po County for a period of time. If there are no accidents, the imperial court will have everyone named Lv Fang go to the capital."

Lv Fang hesitated, "Toad spirit? Go to the capital?"

Li Yu picked up the "miniature" wine jar and took a sip of osmanthus wine, unhurriedly:

"That's right, go to the capital."

"By the way, you still don't know what's going on."

"You must be very confused, why would an evil ghost harm you? Why would they protect you in the county office?"

"It's quite interesting to talk about."

"The demon race's prophet, the King of Ten Thousand Trees, failed to pass the lightning tribulation three months ago and left a prophecy before dying."

"'Support Zhou Chang, two mouths one side.'"

"'Ten thousand spirits gasp for breath, Zhou Jin is called the top.'"

"These four lines of prophecy are the cause of the whole matter."

After listening, Lv Fang pondered for a moment and suddenly realized. The first two lines of the "King of Ten Thousand Trees" prophecy meant that those who support the prosperity of the Great Zhou Dynasty are "two mouths one side."

Two mouths and one side, isn't that the two characters for Lv Fang?

No wonder Private Secretary Lu said that all those named Lv Fang were to be taken to the county office for protection.

The last two lines of the prophecy were not difficult to understand either.

"Ten thousand spirits" originally referred to humanity, but coming from the mouth of the demon race's prophet "King of Ten Thousand Trees," and paired with the next line "Zhou Jin is called the top," it could only refer to alien races other than humanity.

The Great Zhou Dynasty and the demon race often had wars.

It was just that for the past few decades, the demon race had been quite peaceful, and both sides were superficially harmonious, while secretly still hating each other.

Once the prophet King of Ten Thousand Trees' prophecy came out, it would be strange if the demon race didn't take action.

"His Majesty has the virtue of loving life, allowing mountain and river spirits and monsters to attach themselves to the Great Zhou and survive, and has issued Great Zhou laws to protect them. It is time to clear out these ungrateful beasts."

The female scholar Li Yu had an angry expression on her face, and what she said next also confirmed Lv Fang's speculation.

All parts of the Great Zhou Dynasty were on guard against "demons and barbarians." The demon race united with some spirits and monsters in nearby mountains and rivers, or drove ghosts to harm people.

It was just that the scale of the project was too large, and the demon race and spirits and monsters involved were too many.

It was inevitable that news would leak, allowing the Great Zhou imperial court to find out, so they sent people to slay the chaotic demon race and spirits and monsters.

There was also someone named Lv Fang in a neighboring county who was harmed in the exact same situation, and that evil ghost also asked what treasures were in the Lv family."

After Li Yu's tracking, she learned that the evil ghost was driven by a "toad spirit" in a deep mountain on the border between Po County and the neighboring county, so she slew it on the spot.

"No wonder the evil ghost kept probing me, asking what treasures the Lv family had."

Lv Fang furrowed his brows.

The toad spirit was famously greedy in this world.

It was estimated that it had received orders from the demon race to do it quietly, and while the toad spirit was planning slowly, it took the opportunity to want to make a fortune.

Seeing there was no chance, it then let the evil ghost kill him.

"The demon race's petty thieves dare to come to the Great Zhou Dynasty to act wildly!"