The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

"Good!" the unknown half-saint praised.

Those scholars originally thought that the second couplet was better than the first couplet in terms of both words and artistic conception. If it was put into the poem, it might not be inferior to Dafu. When the half-saint said it was good, it meant that the half-saint indirectly admitted that Fang Yun's second couplet was good.

Tan Yu and Nie Shi, the two long-serving servants, had been holding back for a long time. At this moment, they finally breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the half-saint praising Fang Yun. Even if Fang Yun failed, the half-saint should show mercy and would not deliberately attack Fang Yun's palace.

Wei Yuanjun and Liu Zicheng's faces changed slightly. It was a supreme honor for a boy to be praised by a half-saint, which was not much worse than the double armor before the saint.

The people around Liu Zicheng were a little panicked. If Fang Yun really passed the saint selection, the court would definitely protect him. Going against him was no different from committing suicide.

Guan Yaoyuan scolded in a low voice: "Why are you panicking! This is just the beginning. How can a saint only ask one question? There must be more difficult questions to come! Legend has it that a person who asked for the saint's selection also answered the first question correctly, but was so angry that he fainted when he was asked the second question. The saint is fair and will never let such a thief pass the saint's selection!"

Liu Zicheng glanced at Guan Yaoyuan to express his gratitude, then looked at Fang Yun, squinting slightly, and didn't know what he was thinking.

The voice of the semi-saint sounded in the sky again: "I am standing in the mountains at this moment, and I got the second couplet: fog locks the mountain top and the mountain locks the fog. This time, you can think about it for a hundred more breaths."

This sentence reminds people of the fog wrapped around the mountain, and the mountains wrapped around the fog, which is more intuitive than the first couplet.

Wei Yuanjun said in surprise: "It's a palindrome!"

Immediately, someone wrote the seven words "fog locks the mountain top and the mountain locks the fog" on paper. There is no difference when reading the seven words upside down, and they are the same.

The people who had cheered for Fang Yun before frowned. This palindrome is dozens of times more difficult than repeating words. Palindrome couplets often need to be pondered for a long time before they can be matched. No matter how quick your mind is, it will be useless.

Wan Xuezheng looked at Fang Yun nervously. He was the examiner of Fang Yun's county examination. Since Fang Yun became famous, he has always wanted to consolidate the relationship between the two. When Fang Yun became famous in the future, he can take advantage of the situation. If Fang Yun got into trouble, with his qualifications and connections, he would never be able to make a breakthrough. Being a scholar in the prefectural literary academy is already the limit.

Fang Yun closed his eyes, as if imagining the scenery of fog locking the mountain tops and the mountains locking the fog.

After forty breaths, Fang Yun suddenly opened his eyes and said: "Fog locks the mountain tops and the mountains lock the fog. The sky is connected to the water and the water is connected to the sky."

"Good!" Wan Xuezheng couldn't help shouting, and then he grabbed the pen of another official and completed the couplet on the previous page.

The students thought about it carefully and were convinced. Even those who were good friends with Liu Zicheng began to admire Fang Yun. It was no easier to answer a palindrome couplet in a short time than to write a poem.

As soon as the first couplet came out, people seemed to see the scenery surrounded by mountain fog. The second couplet was not only a palindrome, but also the scenery was exactly the same. It immediately reminded people of the scene where the distant water and sky met at the end. The two scenes reflected each other. Although it was a couplet, it was as beautiful as a poem and painting.

"Great!" The voice of the half-saint was full of joy.

Liu Zicheng and Wei Yuanjun looked at each other and saw the retreat and regret in each other's eyes. Maybe this unknown half-saint would pay special attention to Fang Yun in the future. Fang Yun would definitely settle accounts later, and the consequences would be disastrous.

Wei Yuanjun suddenly bowed in the direction of the Holy Temple and said loudly: "Although Fang Yun has a reputation for talent, his moral character is terrible. He is indeed a great traitor and an evil person. If you want to test him strictly, his poems, essays, and other minor skills are not enough. You should test the great principles of the Holy Way! Please judge by the Holy Way."

At this moment, even the clerks were angry. The semi-saints of other countries did not want to harm Fang Yun and had already recognized Fang Yun's talent. As a Jing countryman, Wei Yuanjun actually forced the talented man of Jing country to death. This was unbearable.

Wan Xuezheng said angrily: "I will report you!"

The semi-saint suddenly snorted coldly and said: "What a noble and righteous man and loyal and capable official for the human race and Jing country. In order to help you, I will personally tell Brother Guanhai about this matter."

Wei Yuanjun looked ashen, his legs were weak, and he could only stand by holding the table.

The people around Wei Yuanjun scattered in all directions like the ebb tide, and even Liu Zicheng looked as if he could not avoid him and left quickly.

Fang Yun was thinking, isn't this just a half-saint telling tales to another half-saint? Even if this Wei Yuanjun had a hundred lives, it would not be enough to die. Not to mention that the backer is a mere left prime minister, even if the left prime minister, right prime minister, assistant prime minister and literary prime minister are added together, they are not as good as the only half-saint Chen Guanhai in Jingguo.

"It's what you deserve!" Tan Yu, who was always silent, said, and slowly loosened his hand holding the knife.

Except for a few people like Liu Zicheng who were secretly happy, everyone else looked at Wei Yuanjun with contempt.

The half-saint said: "I originally wanted to come up with three couplets. Since you want to test the great righteousness of the holy way, I will change the third question. You got the first place in the palace test for the holy words, and the ordinary test questions are not difficult for you, so I will test you to recite it backwards. I will give you one hour to recite the Analects backwards, and you can make no more than three mistakes."

The whole audience was in an uproar.

"Reciting the Analects of Confucius with more than 10,000 words backwards? What kind of exam is this!"

"I calculated the time. It takes two and a half hours to recite the Analects at a normal speed. Reciting it backwards must be very slow. Why do you want an hour?"

"Even Jinshi can't do it. At least Hanlin can do it."

"Yeah, let alone reciting it, even if you read it backwards, it's impossible to finish it in an hour. After all, we understand the normal order and will be disturbed by reciting it backwards."

The students didn't care that the semi-saint was present and expressed their opinions. This method was too difficult and no one present could do it.

"Reciting the Analects backwards is unheard of. How can this be considered a test of the righteousness of the saints?"

"You dare to question a half-saint? Shut up!" said Wei Yuanjun.

"Old thief Wei, are you satisfied? If you don't die, I will curse you every day!" Wan Xuezheng's eyes were blazing with anger.

A scholar suddenly tore open a piece of his robe and said, "Liu Zicheng, I want to be friends with you. Although there is the reason of the left prime minister, I also think you are a person worth making friends with. You and Wei Yuanjun have gone too far this time. From now on, you and I will sever our friendship!" After saying that, he walked away from Liu Zicheng.

Many people looked down on Liu Zicheng even more.

Liu Zicheng remained calm, with a very faint smile on his lips, and was extremely happy in his heart. Ordinary people didn't know, but he learned from Liu Zizhi that there was a rumor that "reciting backwards fluently" was one of the questions tested in "Shushan", which stumped countless people. Even Jinshi was difficult to pass, let alone a mere Tongsheng.

Wei Yuanjun breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Fang Yun would definitely not be able to recite the sutra by heart. If he failed to ask the Holy Selection, the Wen Palace would inevitably be broken, and Fang Yun would never be able to retaliate against him again.

Wei Yuanjun no longer paid attention to Fang Yun, but thought about how to protect his family after being dismissed from office. The more he thought about it, the sadder he felt. He thought he could gain the trust of the left prime minister by suppressing Fang Yun, but in the end he offended two semi-saints at the same time.

Gao Minghong on the side sighed lightly and was about to persuade Fang Yun to give up, but he felt that it was inappropriate when the words came to his lips, so he could only say in a comforting tone: "Don't listen to their nonsense. As long as you are sincere in your heart, you can recite the sutra by heart. Try it."

"Well." Fang Yun nodded and said, "Saint, can I prepare for half a quarter of an hour before starting? If I recite it directly, I'm afraid there won't be enough time."

"Yes."

Everyone immediately looked at Fang Yun with all kinds of weird eyes. Did he really want to try? Did he really think he could recite it by heart?

Gao Minghong was speechless, thinking that it was not his persuasion that gave Fang Yun blind confidence?

Fang Yun closed his eyes, and the book "The Analects" immediately appeared in the strange book world, and then all the words were reset in reverse order.

Fang Yun used his mind to quickly read the reversed "The Analects" in the strange book world. After reading it several times, Wei Yuanjun immediately said: "Time is up."

"Dog official!" A young scholar who was full of blood and blood could no longer hold back.

"Cursing him like this is an insult to dogs!" said one person.

Wei Yuanjun's eyes flashed fiercely, and he secretly remembered the person who cursed him.

"Let's start." The voice of the half-saint sounded.

Fang Yun bowed in the direction of the holy temple, closed his eyes again, and the reversed "The Analects" appeared in front of him, and he recited it.

"People know by nothing, words know no, also stand by nothing, etiquette knows no..."

Fang Yun's speed was a little faster than normal recitation, extremely fluent, without the slightest stumbling, and ups and downs. People who didn't understand would definitely think he was reciting some particularly profound classics of the saints.

After a quarter of an hour, Fang Yun's speech speed actually began to speed up, and there was a trend of getting faster and faster, and his pronunciation was clear, without any wrong pauses.

Everyone stared blankly, especially Wei Yuanjun and Liu Zicheng, their brains seemed to be emptied, their eyes were dull, and they didn't understand why Fang Yun could do it. Photographic memory is already the extreme of ordinary geniuses. If a student can recite it backwards, he is definitely a saint-like figure.

After a long time, everyone was numb, and their brains returned to normal, thinking about what was going on during Fang Yun's recitation.

Liu Zicheng winked at a scholar next to him, asking him to interrupt Fang Yun's recitation, causing Fang Yun to fail.

The scholar gave Liu Zicheng a look that said "Do you think I'm a fool?" and retreated away from Liu Zicheng.

Liu Zicheng looked at another person, who immediately lowered his head, thinking that no one was stupid. If they stopped Fang Yun at this time, they would inevitably anger the semi-saint. The broken text palace would be a light punishment, and the semi-saint would probably utter the holy words and kill him on the spot.

Seeing that no one moved, Liu Zicheng could only remain silent.

At first, everyone didn't understand why the semi-saint would test like this, but as Fang Yun continued to read aloud, they gradually understood that remembering the classics of the saints completely was the first step, fully understanding was the second step, using them correctly was the third step, and the fourth step was to use them for oneself.

Once the classics of the saints become your own, every word will be deeply imprinted in your heart.

The test of reciting by heart is not about memory, but whether you have "taken the classics of the saints for yourself".

After thinking about this, a few people couldn't help but admire Fang Yun, and felt that Fang Yun had the majesty of a semi-saint, and it was enough for people to look up to him.

Fang Yun recited the Analects in reverse order with a dry mouth and a single-minded heart. He had no idea that he could use the Analects for his own benefit, and he had no idea that he was admired by many people.

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Let me talk about some off-topic things and the time for future updates.

I have been updating twice a day these days, rain or shine. Even when my family members arranged a blind date for me, I said that the new book period was very important, and I directly refused without lying at all. I don’t say anything empty words like for readers. I just want to write this book well and make it perform better.

But I regretted it that day. Why didn’t I know to meet them first?

I can only laugh at myself as the conscience of the industry.

Because my father came back, friends and relatives have invited our family to dinner many times recently, about seven or eight times. I have only gone twice in total, and the restaurant was booked downstairs from my house.

I know it’s not good not to go, I know it’s not good not to give others face, I know how those relatives and friends will look at me, but I really don’t have time.

I am now disconnected from the Internet while writing, for fear of being distracted. The editor, author and readers have all said that this book is difficult to write, and they have said it more than once or twice. This book is written very slowly, and I am afraid of problems, so I really dare not rely on speed to win.

Besides, two chapters a day with 6,000 words is a normal speed, not slow at all.

I always like to post two chapters in a row, and I also mentioned in the work related that at least two chapters will be posted in a row after the book is put on the shelves. Why do I have to post one chapter each at noon and evening? This needs to be explained.

Qidian has a "weekly member click list", readers must log in to their accounts on Qidian, and readers with at least 500 points of points must click to be effective, and there must be a six-hour interval, no matter how many clicks are made within six hours.

I want to have a good position on the weekly click list to make this book perform better, so I post two chapters separately.

If I post two chapters together, the weekly clicks will be much less, let alone competing for the top six on the weekly click list, it is a problem whether I can enter the top fifteen.

I have been holding back on these things, but now I can't hold back because of the incident in the book review area.

Because the two chapters are released separately, many readers say that I "break the chapter", note that the plot is separated by chapters.

As a result, some people misunderstood that I "break the update", which means not updating, and accused me of not updating twice a day and breaking the update, I really can't help it.

Before this, several readers accused me of updating once a day. Before you accused me, couldn't you check the catalog page to see how many chapters I updated a day?

I was abused by "investors" two weeks ago on the newcomer list, in the Dream Cup, and on the weekly list. My peers also tampered with the content of the book to black me in the novel forum. I had no way to deal with it. Now in the book review area of ​​this book, before accusing me of updating once or not updating, can't readers take a few seconds to check the update time and the number of updated chapters?

Accusing a book of updating once or not updating will cause many people who don't know the truth to abandon the book or not read it. It is very hurtful. I can't help but feel depressed.

Since all readers don't like to have chapters interrupted, starting from tomorrow, I will update twice every night, between 8 and 9 o'clock. If something happens at home that causes the update to be delayed, I will apologize and add more chapters.

As for the weekly list, we won't fight for it, but please continue to help vote for recommendations. The credibility of the weekly recommendation list is relatively strong.

Finally, let's discuss one thing happily. Can you not say that I have chapters interrupted in the book review area? Thank you.

From now on, there will be two updates every day between 8 and 9 pm, at irregular intervals.