No one answered the questions of the two candidates. The group of five had already walked to a tall tree some distance away.
This was a rather dense tree, but there were no fruits on it.
It was a very normal looking tree, and there were two pitch black stone plates below.
"This is the second round barrier!" Ping Yang pointed towards the two stones underneath the tree and told Fang Zhengzhi.
"How do you know?" Fang Zhengzhi looked at the stones.
These were too completely identical black rocks. The only difference was that the one in front had scriptures carved all over it whilst the one at the back was smooth as a mirror.
"Of course I know, how else do you think I got in here?" Ping Yang said contentedly.
"Oh? How did you get in here?"
"I had... ahem, that’s a secret. I’m not telling you!" Ping Yang caught herself in the nick of time.
"If my guess is correct, this must be the "Spiritual Chinese Scholar Tree" which let Meng Tian understand the Dao of Heaven. This would mean that the two stones are the "Twin Stone Tablets." Yan Xiu spoke up suddenly.
"Yan Xiu is right. These are the twin stone tablets. However, they have never been solved by anyone all these years. They are very different tablets, one has words on it, the other doesn’t. However, the one with words will change every 15 minutes." Ping Yang interjected.
"Then, how do we solve it?" Fang Zhengzhi did not want to destroy Ping Yang’s excitement.
Furthermore, he did not understand any of these.
"One has to memorize all the words in 15 minutes. Then, you have to copy them on the other board. You will only pass if you get them all correct. If you’re off by even one word, you’re out." Ping Yang said arrogantly.
"So easy?" Fang Zhengzhi could not believe it.
"Simple? Who knows how many incredible talents have failed at this stage. The words on the tablet are from an ancient language, not something that we use now. Memorizing 3000 constantly changing foreign words with no rules to them is simple to you?" Ping Yang asked in disdain.
"Is that not simple?" Fang Zhengzhi replied condescendingly.
Ping Yang’s face immediately flushed red with anger.
"Humph. I can guess what you’re thinking. Many people have tried what you’re about to do. There have been many equally shameless people who tried to copy down the words on pen and paper. However, the words here are incredibly complex. Copying them down would take a huge amount of time. It would be impossible to copy them over to the other stone in time! I think that we should go kidnap the other two before one of them emerges victorious?"
Ping Yang snorted, then unconsciously looked towards the two seriously injured candidates. Her Blazing Qilin Spear began to buzz.
"I said that it was simple. We will definitely pass it!" Fang Zhengzhi ignored Ping Yang and took out pen and ink.
"What are you taking pen and ink for? I already told you copying is no use!" Ping Yang looked at Fang Zhengzhi with condescension.
"Did I say I was going to copy it down?" Fang Zhengzhi returned the condescending look.
"If... if you don’t plan on copying, then why have you taken out ink?" Ping Yang flung her hands in the air.
"To pour!" Fang Zhengzhi immediately splashed the ink on the stone. The black stone became even more black with ink.
This was blasphemous.
Utterly blasphemous.
Ping Yang was livid. She never expected that Fang Zhengzhi would do something so blasphemous. He was destroying the tablets!
More infuriatingly, after Fang Zhengzhi splashed the paint, he took out a huge brush and began scrubbing the stone.
Fire began to dance on Ping Yang’s Blazing Qilin Spear.
Just as she was about declare battle on Fang Zhengzhi, Fang Zhengzhi retrieved a few pieces of paper and began to join them together.
"Oh? What are you doing?" Ping Yang froze as her eyes revealed her confusion. What was he doing, joining the paper together?
"Do you know what is a letterpress?" Fang Zhengzhi did not even raise his head.
"What press?"
"Aish... with your intelligence, you won’t understand even if I explained it to you. Let me show you a mold." Fang Zhengzhi continued to work.
Yan Xiu quietly watched by the side, not speaking.
The two hostages were quiet as well. They did not dare say anything.
Ping Yang was clearly on the edge of blowing up. They were certain that only Fang Zhengzhi had the audacity to speak to Princess Ping Yang like this.
"How dare you insult my intelligence? If you don’t explain to me what press and mold you’re making, I will challenge you in a fight to the death!" Ping Yang was furious.
"Sure, but you have to do me a favor." Fang Zhengzhi said unhurriedly.
"What is it?"
"Lend me your Blazing Qilin Spear for fun."
"Quit dreaming!"
"Then do you want to quickly enter the third round? Valuable time will be wasted if I don’t have the Blazing Qilin Spear."
"Humph, don’t try to lie to me. I am smart enough not to fall for it." Ping Yang snorted derisively as she pouted, determined not to fall for the trick.
Fang Zhengzhi did not say anymore. He picked up the joined up pieces of paper and pressed them on the stone tablet.
Before long, he turned around.
The white paper was filled with the words of the tablet.
Ping Yang was quickly mesmerized by the words. Her eyes darted around as she pondered over it. However, she couldn’t fully understand it.
"Do you plan to memorize them in advance? It’s no use. The words will change order in a while." Ping Yang looked at the paper with the words. She still thought that this method was not going to work.
"Don’t talk so much rubbish, pass me the Blazing Qilin Spear!"
"You... humph, if you dare lie to me, I will fight it out with you!" Ping Yang looked at Fang Zhengzhi’s extended hand and unwillingly placed the Blazing Qilin Spear in his hand.
Fang Zhengzhi took the Blazing Qilin Spear in his hand and stabbed it into the ground.
A huge column of flames shot up into the sky. It’s domineering aura seemed even more intense in Fang Zhengzhi’s control.
"Boom!" A loud sound echoed out.
A huge hole appeared instantly in the ground.
"What... what are you trying to do?" Ping Yang was unsettled by this.
"Trying out its power? Do you have a problem?" Fang Zhengzhi spun it around contentedly before getting to work.
In his previous world, he would need at least a couple of days to build a three thousand word letterpress.
But it was much easier in this world.
Him, Yan Xiu, and Ping Yang could control the elements around them. As such, the five of them could easily change the shape of the soil to make a mold.
Building a letterpress would probably only take them 15 minutes here.
Then, Fang Zhengzhi began to delegate the work. The paper in his hand was torn into five pieces and each person began to make the mold.
Ping Yang was slightly unwilling. However, she began to become more excited after seeing Fang Zhengzhi’s demonstration.
Before long, with five people working on it, a mold as large as the tablet was formed.
Then, Fang Zhengzhi began to explain to Ping Yang and Yan Xiu how this mold was used.
At the start, Ping Yang was still doubtful and untrusting. However, after hearing it through, her eyes began to glimmer.
"That works? But... isn’t it too shameless?"
"Do you understand?"
"Understand."
"Then I will demonstrate once. After I pass, I will leave the mold behind."
"Go on."
"There’s something I must say first. After we get out of this place, I want to patent this technology. Anyone who wants to use this must pay me silver. Do you all understand?"
"What is a patent?" Ping Yang was confused.
Fang Zhengzhi began to sweat. It looks like this world is really very different. Forget the patent, let’s just pass the Twin Stone Tablets.
He walked up to the tablet with scriptures. The moment the words changed, he quickly raised up the mold in his hand.
Seconds passed.
Ping Yang and Yan Xiu looked at Fang Zhengzhi nervously.
After about ten minutes, Fang Zhengzhi had completed his three thousand word mold.
Then, he began to stroll over to the empty tablet.
He brushed his mold with ink as he walked over.
"I press!" Fang Zhengzhi immediately pressed the mold against the empty tablet.
When Fang Zhengzhi lifted the mold, the tablet was filled with the 3000 words from the other tablet. They were naturally identical.
"Hum!" A bright, golden ray of light shot skyward.
...
Inside the Imperial Academy.
King Duan was clearly unsettled, his eyes glowing as he pondered.
Han Zhangfeng closed his eyes, silently sitting on the chair, not commenting on the third round as he had done before.
The Ninth Prince, on the other hand, was enjoying the third round competitions.
Then, he saw a figure appear in the picture. That was a figure who should not have been there. He simply appeared out of thin air in the middle of the raging battle.
His blue colored long sleeves were gently flapping in the breeze.
"Fang... Fang Zhengzhi?!" The Ninth Prince was so shocked by what he saw that he couldn’t help but exclaim.
"What is Ninth Brother yelling... oh? That, that is Fang Zhengzhi?! How... how did he advance to the third round?" King Duan was just about to chide the Ninth Prince about breaking his train of thought when the figure caught his eye.
He wasn’t the only one who was fascinated.
Everyone in the third round stood rooted to the ground.
They all looked at the youth dressed in the blue long sleeve. It was indeed Fang Zhengzhi.
Just at this moment, the messenger from before entered the room once again. He walked briskly, even forgetting some of the formalities in the process.
"King Duan my lord... Ninth Prince, Official Han, Fang... Fang Zhengzhi crosses the Twin Stone Tablets! He... he’s into the third round!"
"Hm?!" Han Zhangfeng’s eyes shot open. His sharp gaze scanned the screen, finally locking into Fang Zhengzhi.
He wanted to calm down, but he couldn’t.
Fang Zhengzhi had just crossed the Broken Bridge! And now he’s crossed the Twin Stone Tablets?!
If this was luck, how f*cking lucky was this guy?
"The Twin Stone Tablets... he actually cleared the Twin Stone Tablets! What... what is going on?!" King Duan, despite his temperament, found it difficult to calm down.
He could have attributed Fang Zhengzhi’s crossing of the Broken Bridge to luck.
But it was impossible to get lucky with the Twin Stone Tablets.
Furthermore...
Countless geniuses have failed to cross the Twin Stone Tablet barrier. It was too difficult, bordering on impossible to solve.
"How did he solve it?!"
By this point, King Duan and Han Zhangfeng were quite puzzled.
Even the Ninth Prince could not figure out how Fang Zhengzhi did it.
The messenger really wanted to respond, but he did not really know how to describe Fang Zhengzhi’s method of solving the Twin Stone Tablets.
"He... seemed to make a rock just like the Twin Stone Tablets... with identical inscriptions, then... he pressed it on the empty tablet. Then... he passed!" The messenger himself could not even understand what he was saying.
"Rubbish, the inscriptions on the Twin Stone Tablets change every fifteen minutes. How could he manage to make an identical one in that time?" Han Zhangfeng’s voice became incredibly icy.
"About that... I don’t know. But that was what he did. And Yan Xiu and the others..." Before the messenger could finish, a figure dressed in white appeared on the screen.
It was Yan Xiu.
Then, moments later, Ping Yang and the two hostages also appeared in the third round.
"Five... five?! They... they all passed the Twin Stone Tablets?! What... what is going on? How could all five of them memorize the 3000 words?!" Han Zhangfeng lost his cool.
He was seeing something completely senseless.
Fang Zhengzhi could be a genius. He could have incredible talents. But how did he manage to impart it all to the other four?
If only Fang Zhengzhi had passed the Twin Stone Tablets, one could attribute it to him being talented and having superb memory.
But...
All five of them passing?
That was beyond any logical explanation.
No one answered the questions of the two candidates. The group of five had already walked to a tall tree some distance away.
This was a rather dense tree, but there were no fruits on it.
It was a very normal looking tree, and there were two pitch black stone plates below.
"This is the second round barrier!" Ping Yang pointed towards the two stones underneath the tree and told Fang Zhengzhi.
"How do you know?" Fang Zhengzhi looked at the stones.
These were too completely identical black rocks. The only difference was that the one in front had scriptures carved all over it whilst the one at the back was smooth as a mirror.
"Of course I know, how else do you think I got in here?" Ping Yang said contentedly.
"Oh? How did you get in here?"
"I had... ahem, that’s a secret. I’m not telling you!" Ping Yang caught herself in the nick of time.
"If my guess is correct, this must be the "Spiritual Chinese Scholar Tree" which let Meng Tian understand the Dao of Heaven. This would mean that the two stones are the "Twin Stone Tablets." Yan Xiu spoke up suddenly.
"Yan Xiu is right. These are the twin stone tablets. However, they have never been solved by anyone all these years. They are very different tablets, one has words on it, the other doesn’t. However, the one with words will change every 15 minutes." Ping Yang interjected.
"Then, how do we solve it?" Fang Zhengzhi did not want to destroy Ping Yang’s excitement.
Furthermore, he did not understand any of these.
"One has to memorize all the words in 15 minutes. Then, you have to copy them on the other board. You will only pass if you get them all correct. If you’re off by even one word, you’re out." Ping Yang said arrogantly.
"So easy?" Fang Zhengzhi could not believe it.
"Simple? Who knows how many incredible talents have failed at this stage. The words on the tablet are from an ancient language, not something that we use now. Memorizing 3000 constantly changing foreign words with no rules to them is simple to you?" Ping Yang asked in disdain.
"Is that not simple?" Fang Zhengzhi replied condescendingly.
Ping Yang’s face immediately flushed red with anger.
"Humph. I can guess what you’re thinking. Many people have tried what you’re about to do. There have been many equally shameless people who tried to copy down the words on pen and paper. However, the words here are incredibly complex. Copying them down would take a huge amount of time. It would be impossible to copy them over to the other stone in time! I think that we should go kidnap the other two before one of them emerges victorious?"
Ping Yang snorted, then unconsciously looked towards the two seriously injured candidates. Her Blazing Qilin Spear began to buzz.
"I said that it was simple. We will definitely pass it!" Fang Zhengzhi ignored Ping Yang and took out pen and ink.
"What are you taking pen and ink for? I already told you copying is no use!" Ping Yang looked at Fang Zhengzhi with condescension.
"Did I say I was going to copy it down?" Fang Zhengzhi returned the condescending look.
"If... if you don’t plan on copying, then why have you taken out ink?" Ping Yang flung her hands in the air.
"To pour!" Fang Zhengzhi immediately splashed the ink on the stone. The black stone became even more black with ink.
This was blasphemous.
Utterly blasphemous.
Ping Yang was livid. She never expected that Fang Zhengzhi would do something so blasphemous. He was destroying the tablets!
More infuriatingly, after Fang Zhengzhi splashed the paint, he took out a huge brush and began scrubbing the stone.
Fire began to dance on Ping Yang’s Blazing Qilin Spear.
Just as she was about declare battle on Fang Zhengzhi, Fang Zhengzhi retrieved a few pieces of paper and began to join them together.
"Oh? What are you doing?" Ping Yang froze as her eyes revealed her confusion. What was he doing, joining the paper together?
"Do you know what is a letterpress?" Fang Zhengzhi did not even raise his head.
"What press?"
"Aish... with your intelligence, you won’t understand even if I explained it to you. Let me show you a mold." Fang Zhengzhi continued to work.
Yan Xiu quietly watched by the side, not speaking.
The two hostages were quiet as well. They did not dare say anything.
Ping Yang was clearly on the edge of blowing up. They were certain that only Fang Zhengzhi had the audacity to speak to Princess Ping Yang like this.
"How dare you insult my intelligence? If you don’t explain to me what press and mold you’re making, I will challenge you in a fight to the death!" Ping Yang was furious.
"Sure, but you have to do me a favor." Fang Zhengzhi said unhurriedly.
"What is it?"
"Lend me your Blazing Qilin Spear for fun."
"Quit dreaming!"
"Then do you want to quickly enter the third round? Valuable time will be wasted if I don’t have the Blazing Qilin Spear."
"Humph, don’t try to lie to me. I am smart enough not to fall for it." Ping Yang snorted derisively as she pouted, determined not to fall for the trick.
Fang Zhengzhi did not say anymore. He picked up the joined up pieces of paper and pressed them on the stone tablet.
Before long, he turned around.
The white paper was filled with the words of the tablet.
Ping Yang was quickly mesmerized by the words. Her eyes darted around as she pondered over it. However, she couldn’t fully understand it.
"Do you plan to memorize them in advance? It’s no use. The words will change order in a while." Ping Yang looked at the paper with the words. She still thought that this method was not going to work.
"Don’t talk so much rubbish, pass me the Blazing Qilin Spear!"
"You... humph, if you dare lie to me, I will fight it out with you!" Ping Yang looked at Fang Zhengzhi’s extended hand and unwillingly placed the Blazing Qilin Spear in his hand.
Fang Zhengzhi took the Blazing Qilin Spear in his hand and stabbed it into the ground.
A huge column of flames shot up into the sky. It’s domineering aura seemed even more intense in Fang Zhengzhi’s control.
"Boom!" A loud sound echoed out.
A huge hole appeared instantly in the ground.
"What... what are you trying to do?" Ping Yang was unsettled by this.
"Trying out its power? Do you have a problem?" Fang Zhengzhi spun it around contentedly before getting to work.
In his previous world, he would need at least a couple of days to build a three thousand word letterpress.
But it was much easier in this world.
Him, Yan Xiu, and Ping Yang could control the elements around them. As such, the five of them could easily change the shape of the soil to make a mold.
Building a letterpress would probably only take them 15 minutes here.
Then, Fang Zhengzhi began to delegate the work. The paper in his hand was torn into five pieces and each person began to make the mold.
Ping Yang was slightly unwilling. However, she began to become more excited after seeing Fang Zhengzhi’s demonstration.
Before long, with five people working on it, a mold as large as the tablet was formed.
Then, Fang Zhengzhi began to explain to Ping Yang and Yan Xiu how this mold was used.
At the start, Ping Yang was still doubtful and untrusting. However, after hearing it through, her eyes began to glimmer.
"That works? But... isn’t it too shameless?"
"Do you understand?"
"Understand."
"Then I will demonstrate once. After I pass, I will leave the mold behind."
"Go on."
"There’s something I must say first. After we get out of this place, I want to patent this technology. Anyone who wants to use this must pay me silver. Do you all understand?"
"What is a patent?" Ping Yang was confused.
Fang Zhengzhi began to sweat. It looks like this world is really very different. Forget the patent, let’s just pass the Twin Stone Tablets.
He walked up to the tablet with scriptures. The moment the words changed, he quickly raised up the mold in his hand.
Seconds passed.
Ping Yang and Yan Xiu looked at Fang Zhengzhi nervously.
After about ten minutes, Fang Zhengzhi had completed his three thousand word mold.
Then, he began to stroll over to the empty tablet.
He brushed his mold with ink as he walked over.
"I press!" Fang Zhengzhi immediately pressed the mold against the empty tablet.
When Fang Zhengzhi lifted the mold, the tablet was filled with the 3000 words from the other tablet. They were naturally identical.
"Hum!" A bright, golden ray of light shot skyward.
...
Inside the Imperial Academy.
King Duan was clearly unsettled, his eyes glowing as he pondered.
Han Zhangfeng closed his eyes, silently sitting on the chair, not commenting on the third round as he had done before.
The Ninth Prince, on the other hand, was enjoying the third round competitions.
Then, he saw a figure appear in the picture. That was a figure who should not have been there. He simply appeared out of thin air in the middle of the raging battle.
His blue colored long sleeves were gently flapping in the breeze.
"Fang... Fang Zhengzhi?!" The Ninth Prince was so shocked by what he saw that he couldn’t help but exclaim.
"What is Ninth Brother yelling... oh? That, that is Fang Zhengzhi?! How... how did he advance to the third round?" King Duan was just about to chide the Ninth Prince about breaking his train of thought when the figure caught his eye.
He wasn’t the only one who was fascinated.
Everyone in the third round stood rooted to the ground.
They all looked at the youth dressed in the blue long sleeve. It was indeed Fang Zhengzhi.
Just at this moment, the messenger from before entered the room once again. He walked briskly, even forgetting some of the formalities in the process.
"King Duan my lord... Ninth Prince, Official Han, Fang... Fang Zhengzhi crosses the Twin Stone Tablets! He... he’s into the third round!"
"Hm?!" Han Zhangfeng’s eyes shot open. His sharp gaze scanned the screen, finally locking into Fang Zhengzhi.
He wanted to calm down, but he couldn’t.
Fang Zhengzhi had just crossed the Broken Bridge! And now he’s crossed the Twin Stone Tablets?!
If this was luck, how f*cking lucky was this guy?
"The Twin Stone Tablets... he actually cleared the Twin Stone Tablets! What... what is going on?!" King Duan, despite his temperament, found it difficult to calm down.
He could have attributed Fang Zhengzhi’s crossing of the Broken Bridge to luck.
But it was impossible to get lucky with the Twin Stone Tablets.
Furthermore...
Countless geniuses have failed to cross the Twin Stone Tablet barrier. It was too difficult, bordering on impossible to solve.
"How did he solve it?!"
By this point, King Duan and Han Zhangfeng were quite puzzled.
Even the Ninth Prince could not figure out how Fang Zhengzhi did it.
The messenger really wanted to respond, but he did not really know how to describe Fang Zhengzhi’s method of solving the Twin Stone Tablets.
"He... seemed to make a rock just like the Twin Stone Tablets... with identical inscriptions, then... he pressed it on the empty tablet. Then... he passed!" The messenger himself could not even understand what he was saying.
"Rubbish, the inscriptions on the Twin Stone Tablets change every fifteen minutes. How could he manage to make an identical one in that time?" Han Zhangfeng’s voice became incredibly icy.
"About that... I don’t know. But that was what he did. And Yan Xiu and the others..." Before the messenger could finish, a figure dressed in white appeared on the screen.
It was Yan Xiu.
Then, moments later, Ping Yang and the two hostages also appeared in the third round.
"Five... five?! They... they all passed the Twin Stone Tablets?! What... what is going on? How could all five of them memorize the 3000 words?!" Han Zhangfeng lost his cool.
He was seeing something completely senseless.
Fang Zhengzhi could be a genius. He could have incredible talents. But how did he manage to impart it all to the other four?
If only Fang Zhengzhi had passed the Twin Stone Tablets, one could attribute it to him being talented and having superb memory.
But...
All five of them passing?
That was beyond any logical explanation.
