The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

It was the dead of night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

Outside the Ghost Cry Garden, danger lurked everywhere.

Hundreds of soldiers from the city defense battalion, armed with torches and crossbows, surrounded the dilapidated courtyard. In the firelight, their tense and grim faces appeared particularly ferocious.

Zhao Li himself was clad in armor, riding a tall horse, coldly gazing at the courtyard before him, which appeared ghostly in the night.

Beside him stood a Taoist priest named Xuanji, dressed in a Bagua robe. This man was the servant he had hired at great expense to perform the ritual.

"Master, is the time here?" Zhao Liben asked in a deep voice.

"Your Excellency, the auspicious time has arrived." Master Xuanji pretended to calculate with his fingers and said loudly, "This place is filled with resentment and rampant with demons. Only the divine fire of the Nine Heavens can cleanse it! Please give the order, Your Excellency, to burn this demon's lair and restore peace to Daming Prefecture!"

"Good!" Zhao Liben drew his sword sharply from his waist, pointed it forward, and shouted sternly, "Archers, prepare!"

"Whoosh!"

The hundred archers in the front row drew their bows and nocked their arrows in unison. Their arrowheads were tied with strips of cloth soaked in kerosene, which flared up under the torches.

"Release the arrows!"

With Zhao Liben's order, a hundred rockets, trailing long fiery tails, streaked across the night sky like a meteor shower, hurtling towards Guikuyuan.

With this kind of force, it would be more than enough to burn down a dilapidated courtyard, or even attack a small fortress.

A cruel and triumphant smile appeared on Zhao Liben's face.

He could almost see Jiang Lin and the others struggling and screaming in the sea of ​​fire, finally turning into charred remains.

However, just as the rockets were about to fall into the courtyard, a sudden change occurred!

"boom--!"

A muffled, loud thud came from the dry well sealed by talismans in the center of Ghost Cry Garden.

Immediately afterwards, a thick, three-zhang-high pillar of crimson fire shot into the sky!

The pillar of fire carried an intensely hot wave of air that instantly spread outwards.

Hundreds of rockets flying in mid-air, like moths drawn to a flame, crashed headlong into the massive pillar of fire. They were instantly engulfed by the even more intense heat and turned to ashes without even making a sound.

The sudden turn of events stunned everyone.

The soldiers' warhorses were startled by the sudden loud noise and heat wave, retreating and neighing incessantly, throwing their formation into chaos.

"Stay calm! Everyone stay calm!" Zhao Liben was both shocked and furious, trying his best to control his frightened mount while shouting loudly.

Just then, a leisurely voice came from inside the courtyard wall through a tin canopy, clearly resounding in everyone's ears.

"Oh dear, Prefect Zhao, what an air of authority! I'm here refining elixirs, what are you doing bringing so many people to join in the fun? Are you perhaps trying to steal my elixir formula?"

It's Jiang Lin's voice!

Zhao Liben's pupils contracted sharply as he stared intently at the towering pillar of fire, his heart filled with turmoil.

Alchemy? What kind of alchemy could generate such an astonishing scale? This is simply unheard of!

Zhao Liben was furious and about to order a full-scale attack when Jiang Lin's voice rang out again.

"Zizhan, the wind is getting strong, let's get out of here! Oh no, the time has come, the wind is picking up, let's recite poetry!"

Immediately afterwards, everyone saw a figure in white stagger up the courtyard wall. It was Su Shi.

Su Shi held a scroll of manuscript in his hand, his face was pale, and his legs were trembling, as if he had been seriously frightened.

"Headmaster... I... I'm afraid of heights..."

"Stop talking nonsense! Read it now! Or I'll deduct your royalties!"

Upon hearing the words "manuscript fee," Su Shi, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly perked up. He cleared his throat, and facing the night wind, began to recite aloud in a tragic yet impassioned tone:

"Heaven and earth possess righteous energy, which manifests in various forms. Below, it becomes rivers and mountains; above, it becomes the sun and stars..."

This is Wen Tianxiang's "Ode to Righteousness"!

Su Shi's voice, so stirring and powerful, seemed to pierce through the clouds and split rocks. Combined with the towering pillar of fire, it created an indescribable sense of tragedy and sacredness.

Just as everyone was bewildered by this sudden "artistic performance," an even more unbelievable scene unfolded.

As Su Shi recited the poem, the crimson pillar of fire began to change color!

Behind the courtyard wall, following Jiang Lin's instructions, Shen Kuo suddenly threw a packet of copper powder, which had been prepared beforehand, into the fire.

"boom!"

The crimson pillar of fire instantly transformed into an eerie emerald green! The green flames shot into the sky, turning the entire night sky into a strange, turquoise hue.

"Heavens! A deity has appeared! It's the God of Literature!"

Among the onlookers, soldiers, and civilians, someone let out a gasp.

Everyone was stunned by this illogical scene. They had never seen green flames before. This was completely beyond their comprehension.

Master Xuanji was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, pointing at the green flames and stammering, "This...this is Samadhi True Fire! It's Heavenly Fire! It cannot be offended! It cannot be offended!"

However, this is not the end.

Shen Kuo then threw several different packets of metallic salt into the fire one after another.

And so, the pillar of fire sometimes exploded into dazzling red streams of light, sometimes spewed forth brilliant yellow flames, and sometimes transformed into a deep blue...

The colorful flames alternated and changed in the night sky, like a grand and eerie fireworks show, making the entire Ghost Cry Garden look like a fairyland.

"Thump! Thump!"

Unable to bear the fear from the unknown any longer, all the officers and soldiers dropped their weapons, knelt down, and desperately kowtowed and begged for mercy in the direction of Ghost Cry Garden.

"Lord Star, spare me! Deity, spare me!"

In a mere instant, the situation underwent a dramatic and earth-shattering reversal.

Zhao Liben stared blankly at the miraculous scene before him, at his subordinates kneeling in a sea of ​​kneeling figures. His mind was completely blank; he couldn't comprehend what was happening.

He knew he was finished.

The plan to burn down Ghost Cry Garden has completely failed. Not only did he fail to burn Jiang Lin to death, but he also staged a farce that "offended the emperor's authority" in front of the entire city.

He had only one thought in his mind—run!

However, how could Jiang Lin give him that opportunity?

"Zhao Liben!" Jiang Lin's voice, like that of a deity from the heavens, resounded through the night sky with boundless majesty. "You illegally operated a mine, harmed the people, and committed heinous acts, arousing the wrath of both gods and men! Today, I, the Star Lord, will punish you on behalf of Heaven!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Shen Kuo, seemingly due to a mishap, accidentally poured an entire can of "fierce fire oil" into the fire.

"Boom—!"

An unprecedentedly loud explosion rang out, and a huge fire dragon, several meters in diameter, roared and soared into the sky, carrying the momentum to destroy everything, heading straight for Zhao Liben outside the wall!