Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 37 Mayfly Hatching from Its Shell: The Art of Rapid Writing from the "Rapid Writing Manual"!

Midnight.

At the Xue family's banquet, the leftover food was reflected in the candlelight, and the aroma of delicacies still lingered on the remaining dishes.

Seventy-two jade goose-fish lamps illuminated the mansion as brightly as day.

After everyone in the manor had eaten and drunk their fill, they spent an hour sprinkling wood ash, burning mugwort, knocking peach branches to drive away the insects, and using dragon-attracting talismans to capture the insects.

Jiang Xingzhou obtained a golden, top-grade [Mayfly], Xue Lingqi obtained a golden, superior-grade [Green Cicada] insect, and the two brothers, Xue Fu and Xue Gui, obtained a [Grasshopper] and a [Red-eyed Cricket].

The other children in the Xue family also carried silver insect boxes and excitedly harvested some insect eggs, much to the satisfaction of the concubines.

"Everyone, you may all disperse now!"

"Young Master Jiang and Fugui will need to go to the county school tomorrow!"

It wasn't until the midnight drumbeat "bang—" that the group, rubbing their sore eyelids and feeling somewhat sleepy, reluctantly left, carrying their insect boxes back to their respective rooms in the Xue residence.

The thunderstorm subsided, and the dark clouds gradually dispersed.

A full moon climbs up the eaves, its light as clear as water.

Jiang Xingzhou, dressed in a plain white robe and carrying a glass jar filled with golden mayfly eggs, returned to the side courtyard of Langhuan Pavilion.

I cut a section of bamboo tube from the asparagus fern and made it into an asparagus fern insect box to serve as the insect chamber for the [asparagus worm]. Then I walked through the corridor and came to the study.

He gently closed the carved wooden window in the study, lit the lamp, and the window frame was illuminated by a warm, yellowish light.

Place the insect chamber on the desk.

The insect room, built according to the square layout of the Confucian temple, is most suitable for cultivating the noble spirit of Confucian insects.

Jiang Xingzhou's fingertips shimmered with a green light as he poured a dozen strands of his own talent into the bamboo box.

Inside the bamboo tube, a milky white mist swirled.

A golden egg appeared and disappeared in the misty air, like a piece of gold sand half-submerged and half-floating.

Increasing the energy concentration inside the insect chamber can speed up the hatching of this golden mayfly egg.

The breeding methods, diet, preferred classics, and racial talents of each species of worm are almost completely different. The only common point is that they all feed on talent and also on various books such as the Analects of Confucius and the Songs of Chu.

"The Ode to Raising Insects states: 'The literary insect uses the meaning of classics as its cocoon and its talent as its wings, and it especially loves the noble spirit of the ancient sages' commentaries in the classics.'"

This is because the pages of the book contain remnants of the scholar's talent.

If a Hanlin scholar or a great Confucian scholar provides annotations in a book, their talent is even more outstanding, which will delight and drive literary enthusiasts wild with joy.

Jiang Xingzhou pondered for a moment, then went to the bookshelf on the third floor of Langhuan Pavilion. From a pile of ancient books and bamboo slips, he found the thick book "Ode to Insect Breeding," which specifically recorded the characteristics and breeding methods of hundreds of kinds of insects.

He doesn't need it himself.

I will send it to Miss Xue tomorrow so that she can raise the [wenchong qingfu].

To avoid that pampered Miss Xue coming every day with her insect box to ask for advice on how to raise crickets.

"sand--"

A faint sound suddenly came from inside the bamboo tube.

After being nurtured by the "talent" for half an hour, seemingly sensing the rich talent within the insect chamber, a mayfly larva hatched from its egg!

The Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe) is the best time for larvae to hatch.

The newly hatched mayfly larvae, with two thin, transparent wings on their backs and a bluish-green, golden hue all over their bodies, looked innocent and bewildered, gazing up at their master, Jiang Xingzhou.

It absorbed Jiang Xingzhou's talent and naturally felt a sense of closeness to him.

Even though mayflies are young, the moment their wings flutter, a fleeting image of shimmering blue light appears, as if time is passing by at a rapid pace—a rare image among insect species that exhibit a rapid temporal flow.

"The three signs of Jingzhe (Awakening of Insects) break open on time, so the chicks are hatching so quickly?"

Jiang Xingzhou was pleasantly surprised.

Fortunately, the arrest was timely.

If you miss tonight, given the mayfly's rapid growth rate, it will become an adult in a day or two.

Once they become wild adults and pass their juvenile stage, they are extremely wild and can no longer be domesticated into crickets.

He copied a copy of the Book of Songs onto Xuan paper, burned it to ashes, and crushed it in a jar.

Then, from the tip of a wild rice plant in the side courtyard of Langhuan Pavilion, I collected a few drops of night dew, mixed them with the ashes of the Book of Songs, and fed them to mayfly larvae.

The Book of Songs that you feed it doesn't need to be the original ancient book, nor does it need to be written with any talent; ordinary copied pages will suffice.

The mayfly larva seemed to smell the mixture of ashes and dew, and fluttered its wings to feed. Nourished by the dew, the Book of Songs, and talent, its growth rate would be extremely rapid. In just a few days, it could grow into an adult.

The mayfly larvae are allowed to feed on their own.

Jiang Xingzhou took out a jade slip from his bosom—the "Jijiuzhang" (a book on rapid writing techniques), which was a reward given to the top student in the county examination.

After the county examination, he returned to the Xue residence for a banquet and had not yet had time to study this secret technique.

He tried to open the jade slip with his divine sense, but found that he couldn't.

“Tsai Hsueh-cheng once said that only those who excel in the preliminary examinations can practice this secret art of the Confucian Temple!”

Jiang Xingzhou suddenly thought of something and took out one of his own Tongsheng tokens from his waist. This token was a bit special, with the four characters "Tongsheng Anshou" engraved on it.

Sure enough, by touching the jade slip with the token of the top scholar in the examination room, the jade slip containing the "Jijiuzhang" could finally be opened.

In an instant,
A wild cursive script of the "Jijiuzhang" written with divine power was poured into his mind.

Jiang Xingzhou obtained the "Rapid Writing Technique" from the "Jijiuzhang".

[Rapid Writing Technique]
Note: This technique breaks the rules of literary arts, increasing the speed of writing and casting literary arts tenfold.

Jiang Xingzhou's expression brightened considerably upon seeing the information revealed on the bronze bamboo slips.

It should be understood that in the Great Zhou Dynasty, any scholar of any rank who uses his literary skills, whether reciting or writing, takes only a moment to complete each word.

These are the rules of literature established by the sages to ensure the safe release of literary arts.

"One word is one instant, twenty words is twenty instants. According to this calculation, to release a short poem-level literary technique, writing twenty words would take twenty instants."

Jiang Xingzhou felt a headache every time he thought about this.

The timing of this "prelude to literary pursuits" is terrifying.

Imagine this: just before you're about to unleash a powerful poetic spell, having only written two or three words, a ferocious enemy rushes in with a knife and slashes at you. How would you react?!

I'm sorry,
Before he could even unleash a single poetic spell, he was killed by the enemy with a single blow!

Even if the scholar writes a poem on the talisman paper in advance, the time taken is the same.

A poetic spell is released from the talisman, still at a speed of one word per instant; a short poem of twenty words takes twenty instants to complete.

Therefore, regardless of their rank, scholars in the Great Zhou Dynasty mostly preferred to use single-character, two-character, or four-character idioms when engaging in magical duels.

Although the [Wind], [Ice], and [Fire] spells are not very powerful, their advantage lies in their ability to be released in an instant and attack the opponent!

The fewer words in a literary technique, the faster it can be released. A four-word mantra can also be released in just four instants.

Unless there are soldiers or other people protecting them, scholars do not have enough time to compose and release a powerful long poem or lyric.

However, there is one exception: literary arts, which breaks through the rules of literature.

That is the "Rapid Writing Technique" created by Shi You, a half-sage of the Confucian Temple—it can greatly reduce the time it takes to cast spells, reducing it to one-tenth of its original length.

This significantly reduces the release time of a poem that was originally twenty seconds into just two seconds.

This rapid writing technique, which breaks the rules of literature, requires the personal creation of Shi You, a semi-sage of cursive script at the Confucian Temple, and is extremely rare.

This secret technique, specially crafted by the Confucian Temple, is reserved as a reward for those who pass the imperial examinations and achieve the highest rank of "Childhood Scholar"—the most talented scholar in a county.

At this moment, within the Purple Mansion's Literary Palace, the bronze bamboo slip floating in the void emitted a clear notification, and its information underwent a significant change.

Jiang Xingzhou: His ancestral home is Jiangyin County. He was born in the year of Gengchen.

Literary Rank: Junior Scholar [Imperial Scholarship in the Purple Palace]

Talent: a thousand strands.

Taoist cultivation: 15,000 points / 100,000 points.

Wenbao: Child's Robe (can ward off water and fire), Bow and Shadow Cup (a literary technique involving the image of a bow and snake), Thunder-Burning Bamboo.

Pet: [Mayfly (Golden Grade)].

Vehicle: [Deep in the Clouds].

The Secret Technique of the Confucian Temple: The Rapid Writing Technique of the "Jijiuzhang" (Exclusive to Top Students).

Literary Techniques: Eight Thousand Single Characters, [Every Bush and Tree a Soldier], "Deep in the Clouds" (Personalized Poetic Techniques)

The strength of the students who were students in the preliminary stage was more than ten times greater than that of the students who were students in the intermediate stage.

Late at night, the lights in Langhuan Pavilion finally went out.
-
Asking for a monthly ticket!
(End of this chapter)