222: Chapter 222 It's all settled today.

However, the rather awkward reality is that for an ordinary Martial Artist to achieve a Breakthrough to a higher Realm, they only need sufficient accumulation of True Qi and a tiny, almost negligible Opportunity.

Therefore, in this Great Jiang Dynasty where martial arts flourish, as long as one has enough talent and resources, practicing pure martial arts is the straightforward path.

With the right Opportunity, one might just achieve a Breakthrough.

At the very least, when one reaches the point of a Breakthrough, there is still the possibility of achieving it.

However, for a Martial Artist who enters the Dao through literature, once they reach the point of a Breakthrough, they must first find the corresponding Literary Qi for the next Realm.

Otherwise, there isn't even a glimmer of hope.

Precisely because of this, who in their right mind would waste so much energy learning poetry, unnecessarily slowing down their own pace of Cultivation?

The most critical point is, what if your martial arts Realm is sufficient, but when you are on the verge of a Breakthrough, you find yourself unable to write a work with the corresponding Rank of Literary Qi?

Then wouldn't your path of advancement be completely blocked, perhaps even forcing you to shamelessly beg others for their poetry?

Having your lifeline of cultivation held directly in someone else's hands—how is that any different from having your throat gripped by another?

So, even today, this path of entering the Dao through literature remains, in the entire Great Jiang, nothing more than an inferior, minor path.

The fact that there isn't a single Martial Artist who entered the Dao through literature among the top ten of the Heaven Ranking speaks volumes.

Even the most famous and powerful person in the Literary Dao today, Palace Master Su Jianqing of the Four Seas Academy, is currently only ranked eleventh on the Heaven Ranking.

One must know that back in the day, Palace Master Su Jianqing was hailed as the only person with the hope of becoming the second Marquis of Zhenguo of Great Jiang.

Yet who would have thought that she would eventually dive headfirst into the dead end of entering the Dao through literature.

At the time, Palace Master Su Jianqing was young and reckless; because she loved poetry, she wanted to restore the glory of entering the Dao through literature.

But now, she is stuck before the barrier leading to the higher Peak of martial arts, and it is said that she has not made any progress for over ten years.

With the potential hailed as being able to reach the level of the Marquis of Zhenguo and the top of the Heaven Ranking, she ended up failing to even enter the top ten of the Heaven Ranking.

One wonders if Palace Master Su Jianqing regrets the choice she made.

In truth, there is a reason why entering the Dao through literature is called a minor path.

Because there is even more direct evidence: the immortal stele itself does not favor this method of entering the Dao through literature.

The immortal stele lists the Heaven Ranking, Earth Ranking, Human Ranking, and the hidden dragon ranking.

It records the strength and ranking of Martial Artists across the world.

However, there is no corresponding ranking for works of Literary Qi on it.

In other words, the immortal stele does not acknowledge the existence of Literary Dao Qi at all.

Even if you were to write a peerless poem that shocked the heavens and moved the ghosts, the immortal stele wouldn't even budge.

It is even less likely to broadcast it to the whole world in the sky, as it does when there are changes to the rankings.

This leads to a problem: when a poem is written, determining the Rank of its Literary Qi is difficult.

Either the Martial Artist who entered the Dao through literature must close their eyes to perceive and understand it, achieving what is called resonance with the Literary Qi, to barely distinguish its Rank.

Or, it must be done like the previous literature class competition at the Four Seas Academy.

They spent a huge sum of money in advance to set up an extremely complex detection array all around, so that once a poem was produced, the array would automatically run and detect it.

However, the rare Materials required to build such an array are astronomically expensive.

In the entire Great Jiang, only the Four Seas Academy possesses one.

That was only barely built after Palace Master Su Jianqing became the head, having spent decades of effort and shamelessly running around to solicit sponsorships.

Therefore, in the entire Great Jiang, the inspection of works containing Literary Qi is still in its primitive stage.

It requires waiting for the work of Literary Qi to spread in a certain place.

Only then will a Martial Artist who entered the Dao through literature see or hear it.

Then they go to understand and analyze this work of Literary Qi, and achieve resonance with it.

During this process, you might find that after achieving resonance, the Rank of Literary Qi contained in the work is very low.

Or, after you exhaust your mental energy to find an interpretation, you discover that this work has already been interpreted by someone else in that way.

Resulting in no corresponding resonance with the Literary Qi.

Therefore, those who embark on the path of entering the Dao through literature either lack martial arts talent and use Literary Qi to make up for it.

Or they are people who are particularly fond of some aspect of the Literary Dao.

As for someone like Palace Master Su Jianqing, who is a Prodigy in martial arts, to still embark on the path of entering the Dao through literature, she is the only one in the world today.

Thinking of this, the First Prince's eyes beneath the mask narrowed slightly.

He suddenly remembered the secret report his subordinate had sent back a while ago.

It was rumored that after Palace Master Su Jianqing achieved resonance with that poem "little pond" which shocked the world during a class at the Four Seas Academy.

Her Bottleneck, which had not moved for ten years, seemed to show faint signs of breaking.

If she really achieved a Breakthrough, then the structure of the top ten of the Heaven Ranking would truly be shattered, turning into the top eleven of the Heaven Ranking.

And this path of entering the Dao through literature, which everyone considers a minor path, might just become a major path.

But this matter, in the eyes of those who know the inside story, looks strange no matter how you look at it.

When that poem "little pond" first appeared, its artistic conception and charm were being spread wildly throughout the circle of scholars.

They said it was the only masterpiece in thousands of years that was highly likely to produce golden Literary Qi upon resonance.

But what was the result?

At the time in the classroom, so many people were watching with their own eyes.

Palace Master Su Jianqing personally resonated with it, and in the end, the only thing that came out was blue Literary Qi.

Could it be that Palace Master Su Jianqing found a crooked method to force a Breakthrough by absorbing and refining a large amount of low-Rank Literary Qi?

Or is it that...

That poem "little pond" could actually produce golden Literary Qi, but at the very moment of resonance.

It was secretly modified or hidden by Palace Master Su Jianqing using some unknown Literary Dao secret technique?

Unfortunately, the Opportunity for resonance with Literary Dao works is extremely harsh.

Once a poem has completed its first resonance, unless a later person can find another completely different, new Concept to cut into it, it is very difficult to perform a second resonance.

The First Prince's mind was analyzing frantically.

Just at this moment, from the direction of the water pavilion, a cold and melodious female voice suddenly came:

"Since everyone has arrived, let the Poetry Gathering begin."

The First Prince abruptly withdrew his thoughts.

He raised his head, and through his mask, his gaze passed through the layers of flowers and trees.

He saw that inside the stone pavilion, Ouyang Wanqing had already slowly stood up.

A breeze blew by, rolling up her water-blue wide sleeves, bringing with it a very elegant scent of ink.

Her eyes, like autumn water, swept around indifferently. When they landed on Chen Shanzhi, who was wearing a white jade mask, they seemed to pause for a fraction of a second before moving away as if nothing had happened.

Not far from her side, First Scholar of the Capital was already impatiently waving his folding fan, his eyes staring fixedly at Chen Shanzhi, the disdain and sneer on his face almost overflowing.

The First Prince parted his lips slightly, revealing a cruel arc behind his mask.

"A bunch of self-righteous idiots."

He gently brushed his sleeves and recalled those three poems in his mind one more time.

Next, it is the First Prince's moment of the hunt.