Confucianism under Heaven

Chapter 98 6 Anwang's Secret Realm

Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Secret Realm of the King of Liu'an

The entire Hall of Saints suddenly fell silent. The gazes of the various powerful families and clans lingered, and some looked at Ye Ru with pity.

"Who is this person? He actually dares to compete with Li Chi in talent. This is simply humiliating himself. Everyone knows that Li Chi spent two years in the position of a child scholar, all for the sake of showing off his skills in this year's national competition."

"How stupid of them to try and outwit a powerful family. They're overestimating themselves."

To everyone's surprise, this ordinary-looking young man was actually going to fight against the wealthy Li Chiwen, and they immediately began to mock him.

"Brother Ye, those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trifles. Please think twice before you act."

Kong Hexuan frowned and looked at Ye Rudao.

"Ye Xingjun, a small act of impatience can ruin a great plan. Don't act rashly."

Song Tao quickly intervened, knowing that below the aristocratic families lay the wealthy families, whose educational resources far surpassed those of the poor families.

"Do not worry."

Ye Ru smiled slightly, showing no fear. Instead, he raised his head and looked at Li Chi.

He was also somewhat curious about the Li family, a wealthy and powerful clan.

"Alright, you and I are both students who have completed the preliminary examinations. To be fair, let's have a contest of talent!"

Li Chi's face was gloomy as he spoke.

"Then let's compete in talent."

Ye Ru said calmly.

The two exchanged a glance, and the tense atmosphere instantly escalated.

Everyone fell silent, watching the energy of heaven and earth slowly surge around them.

Li Chi said coldly:

"Our ancestor studied the art of rulership under Xunzi. After completing his studies, he went to Qin and persuaded King Zheng of Qin to destroy the feudal lords and establish an empire. Only then were the feudal lords pacified and the people at peace. He proposed the principles of 'prioritizing agriculture and eliminating commerce, so that the common people may prosper' and 'when the people are in charge, they should focus on agriculture and industry.' These were great achievements!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a powerful crimson aura of talent suddenly erupted from his study, reaching a height of ten feet, causing some people's expressions to change drastically.

"Li Si, a great Confucian scholar, was jealous of the virtuous and capable, and slandered and killed Han Fei. I respect his final repentance."

Ye Ru's expression remained unchanged, but his scholarly aura subtly surged, growing from one foot to two feet, then three feet...

Finally, to everyone's astonishment, the power of the aura reached twenty feet, and a storm of aura swept outwards.

"A student with the talent of a twenty-foot tall? I'm not mistaken, am I?"

"This must be fake. How could this person possibly have the talent of Li Chi, who is twenty feet tall?"

Countless people wore expressions of horror and were deeply shocked.

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

When Li Chi saw this, his pupils contracted, and then all that talent swept wildly towards Ye Ru.

"break."

As soon as Ye Ru finished speaking, the twenty feet of talent around him suddenly emitted a silver light. The crimson light released by Li Chi was like a subject meeting a king; upon contact, it was utterly defeated.

"Silver talent? Is this the talent of the Literary Star?"

One of them looked at the silver aura, frowned, and then suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

"What! A talent for literature? This child actually possesses the talent of the Wenqu (a Chinese literary talent)!"

"Wait, did you hear Kong Hexuan say something to this person earlier?"

"It seems to be Brother Ye."

Some people suddenly realized something, then looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, everyone said in unison:

"Could it be that Ye Tongsheng, who triggered the two Wenqu lights and educated the people..."

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone involuntarily gasped.

boom!

At this moment, Li Chi coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body shot backward, and he crashed onto the table, shattering it instantly.

The silver aura gradually faded, finally revealing an orange glow.

"Orange-colored talent...this is a sign that only scholars possess."

"Could it be that Ye Ru has been promoted to Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations)?"

Upon realizing this, everyone's expressions became even more shocked.

Kong Hexuan swallowed hard, his face filled with disbelief.

His talent gradually faded, and the entire room fell into a deathly silence.

"Brother Kong, we should go now."

Ye Ru smiled at Kong Hexuan, causing the latter to pause for a moment before finally reacting and looking at Ye Ru:

"Yes, let's go."

After saying that, the five of them walked up to the second floor together.

If the first floor is exceptionally lively, then the second floor is relatively quiet.

Because this is where the elites of the holy families truly reside.

In the Confucian and Taoist Continent, every grand restaurant tacitly arranges for aristocratic families to dine on the second floor, while wealthy families dine on the first floor.

This is equivalent to class.

After the five of them went up to the second floor, they asked for a private room and started waiting for the food to be served.

"Master Ye, when did you become a scholar?"

Kong Hexuan was quite curious about Ye Ru's arrival at the Xiucai level and couldn't help but ask, while Song Tao and the others also craned their necks to ask.

"Good fortune came my way to the Xiucai degree a couple of days ago, but I haven't yet obtained the Xiucai rank. I have a question: wasn't the National Examination for the First Rank held in Western Shu? Why are all the prominent families here in Luzhou first?"

Ye Ru drank a cup of tea and asked in confusion.

"You may not know this, but Luzhou was the fiefdom of the Kingdom of Liuan during the Western Han Dynasty. In the second year of Emperor Wu's Yuanshou reign, Qing, the youngest son of the King of Jiaodong Kang, was enfeoffed as the King of Liuan. It was ruled by five kings: King Yi Lu, King Miao Ding, King Qing Guang, and King Yu. It was destroyed by demons during the reign of Wang Mang. In the past few days, someone discovered this large tomb, which has attracted the attention of many disciples of the sages."

"And they all came to this great tomb in Lu'an seeking calligraphy and paintings."

Kong Hexuan pondered for a moment before replying.

"Digging up someone's grave? That's a grave offense! Aren't the noble families of the sages afraid of being met with a counterattack?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Ru was immediately startled, and then exclaimed in surprise.

"This is not about digging up a grave. This place was once occupied by the demon race, but was later taken back by the human race. It then became a secret realm. There is a sacred seal here, which means that only those who have achieved the three literary ranks of Tongsheng, Xiucai, and Juren can enter."

"As for anything higher, it won't work. So this time, many people from the various holy families have come here, firstly for training, and secondly for that calligraphy."

These words reassured Ye Ru somewhat. If it was a secret realm, it wouldn't be as heinous as digging up someone's ancestral graves. The Confucian Continent was different from his own dynasty. It was occupied by four races: demons, monsters, dragons, and humans, who fought against each other. It was reasonable that some dynasties were destroyed by demons and monsters.

Some of the cultural treasures were discovered in the secret realms of dynasties that were destroyed by demons, so they cannot be considered tomb raiding.

"How about it, Brother Ye? I wonder if you'd be interested in exploring the Liuan Secret Realm? It's said that there's a fourth-grade literary treasure there, as well as a flower that can prolong life. If you were to obtain it, it would be a great blessing."

Kong Hexuan looked at Ye Ru with great interest. A fourth-grade literary treasure was worth the effort of many noble families.

"A flower that promotes longevity?"

Ye Ru's heart skipped a beat. If he could obtain this flower that prolongs life, even if he didn't win the first prize in the National Scholar's Competition, he could still go back and let the old scholar Chen extend his life for a few more years.

"The Secret Realm of Lu'an..."

As Ye Ru pondered, Xiao Bai's voice quietly reached his ears:

You absolutely must go!