Words Strategize for the World

With the man's guidance, Fang Wei quickly completed his registration at the prefectural school and settled down.

Originally, Fang Yue didn't have a student registration and shouldn't have been allowed to live at the prefectural school. However, after Fang Wei paid a considerable sum of money and requested a larger dormitory room, Fang Yue stayed at the prefectural school with him. Fang Yue was all alone and knew no one in Zhongyuan Prefecture, so living at the prefectural school was the best thing for her. Moreover, the two of them together could look after each other.

Before leaving, the man told Fang Wei all the rules of the prefectural school, so Fang Wei arrived at the school very early the next morning.

When Fang Wei entered the school, he found that there were already about 10 male and female students sitting at the tables.

Fang Wei attracted everyone's attention as soon as he entered the room. When they saw his shabby clothes, most people showed disdain. Fang Wei was not intimidated and went straight to the second-to-last empty table in the last row and sat down.

After Fang Wei sat down, he looked around and noticed that many people had arrogant expressions on their faces, presumably they were all scions of powerful families.

Fang Wei ignored them and sat down to wait for the teacher to arrive.

Not long after, the teacher walked into the classroom with his hands behind his back. After standing on the platform, he coughed twice before speaking.

"Dear students, I am your teacher, Zhou Yi. I will be your instructor for the next three years of your studies."

After the teacher finished speaking, he paused for a moment. Fang Wei was about to applaud when he remembered that this was Yongping Continent, where applause was not customary. So he waited for the teacher to continue.

"After more than ten years of diligent study, you can be considered the elite among scholars. Now that you have become refined gentlemen, you are even more outstanding. But you must not be arrogant, because you are not truly gifted."

The teacher walked back and forth among the students as she spoke.

"What is a natural talent? A person who becomes a scholar before the age of three is considered to have a natural talent. Such people are extremely rare, one in a million."

As soon as the teacher finished speaking, the students began to murmur amongst themselves. Hearing the murmurs, the teacher coughed and waited for the students to quiet down.

After a moment, the students quieted down, and the teacher continued the lecture.

"To become a scholar at the age of three is a gift from heaven. However, most people become scholars at the age of sixteen. Therefore, a selection of scholars is held every year on the day of the rhythm. Those who become scholars at this age are called exceptional talents. If one cannot become a scholar by the age of sixteen, then one will basically have no chance of becoming a scholar in this lifetime."

"Now you have all become refined scholars, outstanding talents. The next step is to learn rhythm. Only by mastering rhythm and controlling words can you become truly refined scholars."

"Once you learn from me and feel the rhythm, what remains is a long period of practice and improvement. Scholars are divided into five levels based on their abilities: Dao, Tian, ​​Di, Jiang, and Fa."

"Elegant scholars at the Law and General levels still need to write in mid-air when stimulating rhythm and manipulating text. Therefore, the Law and General levels are considered to be the entry level, and their abilities are not yet very strong. However, it is extremely difficult to advance to the Earth level. Many elegant scholars can only linger at the third level of the General level throughout their entire lives."

"If we break through to the Earth level and reach the General level, it will be a qualitative leap."

"Above the Earth level is the Heaven level, above the Heaven level is the Dao level, and advancing from the Heaven level to the Dao level is extremely difficult."

"Each time a scholar levels up, they will gain a new trait, and the number of words they can compose is limited."

"The characteristic of the Law level is that it is one word for offense and defense, and it can only control 4 words. So once you enter the Law level, you must think about how to rhythmically control those 4 words."

"General-level characteristic: The character manifests its form, and the user can control 16 characters; Earth-level characteristic: Every character is a gem, and the user can control 64 characters; Heaven-level characteristic: The weak character reveals its meaning. There is no limit to the number of characters at the Heaven-level, but each character has varying strengths; Dao-level characteristic: The character is imbued with wind and thunder. Dao-level experts have entered the realm of the Great Dao's simplicity, and each character at this level possesses immense power."

After saying this, the teacher walked back to the podium and sat down.

"Alright, today we'll begin our first lesson: Feeling the Rhythm."

"Rhythm, as the name suggests, is a subtle manipulation of words. The more refined and nuanced this manipulation, the better."

"When you are choosing people, you do not know what rhythm is, but you can inspire visions, which means that you can feel rhythm."

"It's normal for newly established scholars not to feel the rhythm yet. If you want to feel the rhythm as soon as possible, the best way is to write."

"You all know how to write, but when you write, in addition to carefully feeling the rhythm, it's best to recognize the shape and meaning of each character you write. This way you can feel the rhythm more quickly."

"Okay, now..."

Just as the teacher was about to continue the explanation, the sound of running footsteps came from outside the classroom, followed by a crisp voice.

"I'm sorry, teacher, I'm late."

Fang Wei turned his head and saw a pretty and well-behaved girl with delicate features standing apologetically at the door.

Seeing the girl moving so hurriedly, the teacher frowned and said, "What kind of behavior is this, rushing around like this?"

The girl didn't say anything, but just looked at the teacher with a pitiful expression.

"Sigh...come in and sit down!" In the end, the teacher had no choice but to let the girl in and sit down.

All the seats behind Fang Wei were full, so the girl had to sit in the last seat of the last row.

After the girl sat down, the teacher coughed and began to speak again: "Now, everyone, take out your writing tools from your desks and start writing to feel the rhythm."

After the teacher finished speaking, the students began to take out their writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones from under the table and start writing.

Fang Wei also took out his four treasures and began to write.

Fang Wei has been practicing calligraphy for more than ten years, but he has not seriously considered the form and meaning of the characters he has practiced.

After thinking for a moment, Fang Wei wrote the character "dragon" again, but this time he not only did not feel any rhythm, but there were also no unusual phenomena.

After inwardly mocking himself, Fang Wei picked up his pen again and began to write seriously.

The teacher walked around the classroom, observing the characters written by each student and nodding occasionally.

When the teacher walked over to Fang Wei, he stopped and began to carefully examine the characters Fang Wei had written.

After watching for a while, the teacher couldn't help but exclaim "Good!"

That "good" made all the students look up at Fang Wei.

The teacher realized his lapse in composure and quickly asked Fang Wei, "Who taught this handwriting?"

Fang Wei was puzzled after hearing this. He looked down at his own writing and found that there was nothing special about it. Could it be that the writing on Yongping Continent is different from what he writes?

Fang Wei's handwriting was the most standard semi-cursive script, a style that was very popular in the past. Of course, having practiced calligraphy for over ten years, Fang Wei had incorporated his own insights into it. Normally, semi-cursive script is more regular script than running script, but Fang Wei did the opposite, writing more running script than regular script. However, when his teacher asked who taught him, Fang Wei didn't know how to answer.

After thinking for a moment, Fang Wei said, "I wrote this myself; no one taught me."

Upon hearing what Fang Wei said, Zhou Yi was greatly surprised. Zhou Yi had been studying for decades and teaching for many years, but he had never seen such beautiful calligraphy.

The font is upright and elegant, with each character clearly defined, yet there is an infinite connection between each character, making it absolutely beautiful.

The teacher liked it more and more as she looked at it, and asked, "Is this really true?"

Fang Wei quickly said, "Students wouldn't dare to lie to their teachers."

"Good, good, good..." The teacher clapped his hands and praised repeatedly.

A few breaths later, the teacher asked, "What's your name?"

Upon hearing the teacher ask his name, Fang Wei immediately replied, "Student Fang Wei."

"Okay, Fang Wei, may I take a look at the characters you wrote?"

"Since the teacher likes it, then let's give it to the teacher."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi disregarded everything else, picked up the calligraphy written by Fang Wei, and left the school.