Words Strategize for the World

Emerging from the study, Fang Wei felt uneasy. The invasion of the Hegemon Kingdom foreshadowed the coming of a chaotic era, and he was currently powerless.

Fang Wei felt he needed to intensify his training in rhythm and strive to reach the Law level as soon as possible, so that he would at least have some slight self-protection ability.

Time waits for no one; we must strive to improve ourselves.

Throughout the afternoon, Fang Wei, sensing the gravity of the situation, continued practicing his rhythmic movements.

As night fell, Fang Wei returned to the school building, and Fang Yue excitedly told him that he had enrolled in the Wentang Academy and would officially begin classes the next day.

Fang Wei asked Fang Yue what had happened.

Fang Yue told Fang Wei that when he was listening to a class outside the Wentang Hall that afternoon, the old man who had pleaded with them at the registration office last time found him and led him to the registration office with bows and scrapes, allowing him to register directly for enrollment.

The whole process was so fast that Fang Yue didn't even have time to react before she had completed all the procedures and was then told that Wentang would be having class the next day.

I didn't expect Qu Yashi to be so efficient. He finished speaking around noon and resolved the issue perfectly by the afternoon.

Privileges are never lacking in any world, and relationships remain the most useful of all resources.

Fang Wei was relieved that Fang Yue had enrolled in the Wentang Academy. He knew that once Fang Yue had completed her studies, she would be able to help him in even more ways.

……

Time passed unnoticed as Fang Wei continued his daily cultivation, and before he knew it, it was April.

With Fang Wei's unremitting efforts, his rhythm has improved considerably, and Fang Wei feels that he is not far from breaking through to the Law level.

The main reason Fang Wei was able to reach the Law Level so quickly was that he wrote in Small Seal Script and Cursive Script when practicing Rhythm, which doubled his cultivation speed.

Several more people who are sensitive to rhythm have joined the school, including Zhang Nianwei.

Zhang Nianwei's practice of the Liu style calligraphy has also progressed rapidly; in just 15 days, she has already written it quite well. Of course, Fang Wei's guidance has played a crucial role in this.

Since their last shopping trip, the two have had a very good relationship, and after nearly 15 days of morning interactions, their relationship has progressed even further.

Besides Fang Wei and Zhang Nianwei, Zhang Yin also tried to cause trouble for Fang Wei, but Fang Wei managed to teach him a lesson. Zhang Yin was not satisfied and threatened to get his brother to deal with Fang Wei.

On the second day of April, the teacher told everyone some news.

"Dear students, the annual sacrificial ceremony will be held in three days. On that day, the entire academy will gather at the drill ground to worship Heaven, Earth, and our ancestors."

A sacrificial day? Fang Wei flipped through his memories; it seemed there was such a day, but he wasn't very clear about it. He wasn't even very familiar with all the festivals on the Yongping Continent.

"The poems and essays for the annual memorial service are written by the teachers. This year, the academy hopes that every student can write and submit one. If there is an excellent work, it will have a good chance of being selected as the memorial poem or essay for this year's memorial day." After the teacher finished speaking, he left.

After the teacher left, Fang Wei couldn't recall what the day's rituals were. Since he was going to write a poem or essay about the ritual, knowing the content would allow him to be more focused.

Fang Wei turned to Zhang Nianwei: "How are the memorial days celebrated? What are the customs and traditions?"

Hearing Fang Wei's question, Zhang Nianwei said listlessly, "What could there be? Everyone just stands in the drill ground watching the teachers recite poems and worship ancestors. It's incredibly boring. But the teachers are quite busy; after the prefectural school's sacrificial ceremony, they have to participate in the prefectural city's sacrificial ceremony. Ah, if only it were a poetry festival, that would be so much more lively." Zhang Nianwei looked longing as she finished speaking.

"Poetic plot?"

"Yes, there are 13 festivals a year. The most fun ones are the Shiyuan Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Poetry Festival, and the Moon Appreciation Festival. But the Poetry Festival is in two months, and it will be very lively then."

Fang Wei knew there were many holidays, but he didn't know which ones specifically, so he asked, "What are the 13 holidays in a year?"

"You don't know those festivals? Well, that's understandable. People in the countryside don't celebrate that many festivals. It's normal that you don't know them."

「一年从头开始，有1月1日始元节、2月15日花灯节、3月3日律动日、4月5日祭祀日、5月21日立国日、6月6日诗情节、7月8日火神日、8月15日赏月节、9月9日寒食日、10月25日秋收节、11月12日恩师节、12月1日联对节。」

Zhang Nianwei, who is extremely familiar with the festivals, kept listing them off on her fingers as if they were her most treasured possessions.

Fang Wei knew about nine festivals: the Beginning of the Origin Festival, the Rhythm Day, the Planting Day, the Sacrifice Festival, the Founding Day, the Fire God Day, the Cold Food Festival, the Teacher's Day, and the Autumn Harvest Festival. However, he was not very clear about the others.

After explaining the festivals, Zhang Nianwei then explained to Fang Wei the origin of each festival and the specific content of the day.

Through Zhang Nianwei's explanation, Fang Wei gained a deeper understanding of the 13 festivals. She also roughly understood the content of the day of the sacrificial festival and had several articles about sacrificial rites in mind. As long as she wrote them in advance, she could simply wait for the teacher to collect them.

For the next two days, Fang Wei devoted all his time and energy to rhythmic training in order to reach the Law level as soon as possible.

Cultivation is like water dripping on a stone; it requires unremitting effort.

During the two days Fang Wei practiced, the academy gained two new students who had grasped the rhythm.

The day before the memorial day, the teacher came to collect the memorial poems. Because the memorial poems are a very specific type of poetry, many students did not write them.

Similarly, Fang Wei also submitted a sacrificial poem, which was borrowed from Earth.

It's about borrowing, absolutely. In more popular terms: spreading global culture.

If Fang Wei were to write this sacrificial poem himself, he certainly wouldn't be able to capture the feeling, so he could only draw inspiration from ancient sacrificial poems from Earth's time.

Sacrificial poems are a very rare literary form on Earth. Fang Wei searched his mind for a long time before finally finding one that matched.

Emperor Liezu

Oh, our illustrious ancestor! His blessings were abundant and well-deserved.

Shenxi has no bounds, and extends to all places.

Having already prepared the clear wine, I am now grateful for your thoughtful gift.

There is also a soup, which is both prepared and balanced.

When the emperor was silent, there was no strife.

May you enjoy long life and live to a ripe old age.

The chariot is in disarray, and the eight phoenixes soar.

He was granted a temporary residence and enjoyed the fruits of his labor, and was ordered to serve the people.

May Heaven grant peace and prosperity, and may the year be bountiful.

May you enjoy this holiday and receive boundless blessings.

Gu Yuhao tastes it, and the country will enjoy it forever.

Before leaving after collecting the sacrificial poems, the teacher told everyone: Tomorrow, all students must wear black and arrive at the training ground at dawn, and stand in their respective classrooms to wait.

Zhou Yi left the school and brought the sacrificial poems of the students to the Xuezheng Study.

At this moment, several people in the Xuezheng Study were already reviewing the sacrificial poems and essays of the students, one of whom was Qu Yashi.

"What kind of utter nonsense is this? It's an insult to my eyes!" one of them complained as he looked at the poems.

"Yeah, it's all utter nonsense, not a single one of them is good," another person chimed in.

"You two take your time looking, you'll find something good eventually. I think Zhang Fengyi's is pretty good. Although it's not quite enough for worship, it's still much better than the others," said a slightly overweight middle-aged man.

"Wen Tang's melody is also quite good."

……

The group discussed amongst themselves, and in general, none of the sacrificial poems and texts satisfied the teachers.

Zhou Yi also read sacrificial poems and texts, but he placed no hope in them and did not participate in the discussions.

As expected, after reading several poems and essays, Zhou Yi felt extremely headache-inducing.

Just as Zhou Yi was about to give up reading, he came across Fang Wei's "Liezu". Zhou Yi was immediately drawn in when he saw the words "Liezu".

After all, this time the selected text is a sacrificial poem, and the words "Liezu" (烈祖) alone are enough to tell that it is a sacrificial poem.

After reading it, Zhou Yi felt that the poem was very suitable for use in sacrificial rites, and in a moment of excitement, he shouted his approval.