Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 67, "Ode to Grass," the pinnacle of plant poetry! (Fourth update, requesting monthly votes)
The five-zhang-high (approximately 10 meters) warship pierced through the clouds, like a green shadow skimming across the vast river surface, heading straight for Jiangzhou.

Inside a cabin on the third floor of the ship, Qingfei lay quietly on a soft couch, her forehead glistening with sweat and her lips as pale as paper.

In the battle just now, her vital energy flowed out like a burst dam, seeping into every inch of the ship's deck, turning the entire ship into a part of her.

"Take a break!"

Jiang Xingzhou gently held her slender hand, his fingertips touching her skin, which was as cool as if soaked in dew, and said gently.

She was just a young locust tree fairy who was only a little over ten years old.

The demon rank is too weak!
Forcibly assimilating this giant ship had drained too much of her energy.

Qingfei struggled to lift her eyes, a faint smile playing on her lips. Her eyelashes drooped, and a hint of a locust leaf could be faintly seen on the side of her neck, blushing.

"Thank you, Young Master Jiang! To have received a poem titled 'Grass' in my lifetime is truly a blessing for Qingfei!"

Her voice was as light as a whisper, as if it would dissipate in the wind at any moment.

Upon seeing this, all the students remained silent and lowered their heads.
They quietly left the cabin, leaving only the wooden floorboards creaking softly with each step, like the whisper of an old locust tree.

In today's battle, Jiang Xingzhou overwhelmed the demon soldiers with his "Dafu"-level poem about plants and trees, "Grass," and ranked first in battle merit.

Qingfu merged with the wood, and her essence assimilated into the ship. The locust tree brought the entire ship to life as an ancient locust spirit, pushing the power of "Grass" to its "peak," a feat that cannot be overlooked.

The poetry and prose of plants and trees are based on the talent and literary skills of human cultivators.

But it has always been bound by the spirit of heaven and earth.

If one is in a lush mountain forest, then the grass and trees become the source of poetry, all the trees resonate in unison, and the power of poetry is vast and unstoppable.

If one is in a desolate desert or sandy land, the power of plant-based arts will be greatly diminished, like a fish out of water.

Qingfu, however, used herself as a medium to create a spiritual realm of plants and trees in this vast river and sky, using the rotten wood, deck, and mast of a five-zhang-high and twenty-zhang-long ship.

This allowed Jiang Xingzhou's "Grass" to revive the dead and heal the wounded, sweeping away the demon soldiers with overwhelming force.

However, it was also a stroke of luck for her.

This five-zhang-long locust tree-shaped ship became part of her body, and the poem "Grass" was even engraved on the locust tree trunk of the ship's mast.

She obtained this poem as her destiny poem, and in the future, she has a great chance of cultivating herself into a demon general, or even a demon commander!
Dusk falls over the river, and the setting sun is like blood.

Instructor Zheng Shuqian and County Lieutenant Zhao Tieshan stood side by side at the bow of the ship, their robes fluttering in the sunset glow.

In the distance, the outline of Jiangzhou Prefecture is faintly visible, and the Kongming lanterns lit up on the city walls are faintly visible. The city walls are like a lurking beast, quietly waiting for its returnees.

The silence of survivors
It felt like a lifetime had passed for them!
Neither of them spoke, but they just stared at the approaching lights, their knuckles turning white as they gripped the gunwale tightly.

The river breeze brushed past my ears, and in my daze, I could still hear the clanging of swords clashing and the muffled thuds of my comrades falling.

That battle just now was too close, so close that life and death hung by a thread. It was too ruthless, so ruthless that even the sensation of pain became a luxury.

"I've finally survived."

Zheng Shuqian's voice was hoarse.

County Lieutenant Zhao Tieshan did not respond, but grinned, took out half a blood-stained millet cake from his pocket, broke it in half, and handed half of it over.

The cake was cold, and the blood was dry.

But at this moment, being able to chew on food and watch the sunset is already the greatest blessing in the world.

Suddenly, Instructor Zheng thought of something, stood with his hands behind his back, and swept his gaze across the students like a blade.

"Students!"

His voice was deep, “No detail of this battle, including any secrets related to the art of writing this poem by Da Fu, shall be revealed to anyone!”

The deck was completely silent, save for the muffled sound of the river lapping against the water.

"This time, these rebellious scholars colluded with the demon race to intercept and kill our warships in Jiangyin. We will report this to the county and prefectural governments. The prefectural government will have its own magistrates to deal with these damned rebellious scholars!"

Instructor Zheng's fingers tightened slightly within his sleeve, veins bulging. "You are all weak, and you must not attempt to investigate on your own, lest you lose your lives!"

He said coldly, the setting sun behind him like blood, casting an extremely long shadow.

"Yes!"

The students were startled and replied in unison, "We will obey your command!"

They understand.

If the traitorous scholars and demons were to learn of the powerful healing effects of the "Grass" poem on the ship, they would surely prepare in advance for the next attack and try every means to counter the effects of this poem.

Commandant Lei Wanting stood on the deck of a flagship, with thirty Mengchong warships arrayed behind him, and three thousand iron-rimmed crossbows all aimed at the locust wood tower ship in the middle of the river, which was radiating a magnificent glow.

He gazed at the giant locust tree-shaped ship flying on the river.
My heart is filled with sorrow.

That old locust tree demon is really audacious! After devouring three hundred students on the ship, he still dares to invade towards Jiangzhou City!
Behind him,
The soldiers of the palace strained their bowstrings, the creaking sounds filling the air, ready to unleash a volley of arrows at the command.

"Brother Lei!"

Suddenly, shouts came from the bow of the ship.

Lei Wanting stared intently and saw that it was Zhao Tieshan, the county magistrate of Jiangyin. His armor was torn to shreds, and he looked extremely miserable as he stood at the bow of the ship.

"Brother Tieshan, were you captured by this old locust tree demon general and taken hostage?"

Lei Wanting's heart trembled violently, and he was immediately moved. He cried out in grief, "I was ordered by the prefect to kill all the demons on the river to avenge the three hundred children of Jiangyin! Brother, I will offer incense to you next year on Qingming Festival!"

He waved his hand.

The soldiers of the Mengchong fighting ship all raised their iron-rimmed crossbows.

"Wait!"
We didn't die!

The demon race was driven back!

Zhao Tieshan hurriedly waved his hand.

The students stood at the gunwale of the ship. Although their faces were pale, their eyes were bright, indicating that not all of them had perished.

"."

Lei Wanting's eyes widened in disbelief.

After counting, the 283 students were almost all alive, though not quite 300.

Even the soldiers with crossbows began to look at each other in bewilderment.

Did the three hundred students from Jiangyin survive?

Escorted by thirty warships,

The five-zhang-long (approximately 10 meters)-sized barge from Jiangyin sailed into Jiangzhou Prefecture and crashed into the ferry, creating a ten-zhang-long (approximately 33 meters) water curtain that soaked the bluestone along the shore.

The constables, armed with knives, blocked the ferry crossing, but they couldn't stop the thousands of people from Jiangzhou Prefecture from surging in like a tide. "What a tragedy!"
The Jiangyin warship was in terrible condition. The entire ship was swallowed by the old demon!

"Although the ship is towed back, I'm afraid very few of the three hundred students' remains will remain!"

The people looked at the ship with sorrow in their eyes and felt great sympathy for the young scholar from Jiangyin.

The elderly doctors, their hands trembling, carried their medicine kits as they waited for a long time.

"Make way!"

Commandant Lei Wanting shouted as he parted the crowd, leading everyone to hastily board the strange locust tree-shaped ship, which was half wood and half demon.

The moment I boarded the boat, a whiff of locust blossoms filled the air.

There was no eerie, forest-like aura about it.

What greets you is the fragrance of all sorts of exotic flowers and plants.

The senior doctors' pupils contracted sharply.

The deck was covered with gnarled tree roots.

The cabin, window frames, and ship's side were covered with all sorts of colorful vines and exotic flowers, their branches laden with life.

"Sir, look at the mast!"

The most breathtaking thing is the mast in the center of the ship—which has transformed into a towering locust tree trunk several feet thick, with a poem called "Grass" on the trunk, the golden characters shining brightly, and every stroke flowing with brilliant light.

Commandant Lei Wanting and hundreds of senior doctors were all stunned.

Lei Wanting grasped a newly sprouted branch, feeling its vibrant texture against his fingertips.

Literature will gradually disappear after it becomes ineffective.

But the real thing is different—this five-zhang-high and twenty-zhang-long ship has truly come to life and become a locust tree ship.

On the Jiangyin warship,
Doctor Chen, who is over seventy years old, is a renowned scholar from Jiangzhou who has passed the imperial examinations. Now retired to the countryside, he is a famous doctor in Jiangzhou who examines students.

Almost all three hundred students were unharmed, and even the soldiers and yamen runners from Jiangyin were full of energy.

If it weren't for their tattered clothes, you would never have known they had been through a bloody battle.

Doctor Chen's withered fingers rested on the wrist of a student who had been injured, and his aged pupils suddenly contracted.

The pulse is steady, and the Qi and blood are abundant!

He abruptly ripped open the boy's blood-stained shirt, revealing a hideous scar running across his chest. New, tender flesh had already grown over the scar, suggesting that the fatal wound was a thing of the past, perhaps from months ago.

"His wound has healed?"

This...this is impossible!

"Healed so quickly?"

He couldn't believe it.

The doctors hurriedly tore off the bandages of the other wounded and examined the wounds of the students, soldiers, and servants, finding that they indeed had knife scars.

The constable whose abdomen had been pierced by the demon's claws had his wound completely healed.

The soldier whose neck had been slashed by a sharp blade now only had a shallow mark left.

Even more shockingly, a severely injured man whose abdomen had been cut open was now starving and was wolfing down a bowl of hot porridge.

Dr. Chen stared intently at the poem "Grass" on the mast, its golden light still lingering, his withered lips trembling.

"Wildfire cannot burn it all; the spring breeze brings it back to life!"

wonderful!
No wonder there were so few deaths and injuries among the children in Jiangyin! Now I understand!

"Dafu Poems!"

This must be the poem from Dazhou that caused such a stir at the Confucian Temple!

""Grass"!
This poem is a timeless masterpiece among poems about grass, the only one I have ever seen in my life! Having witnessed it today, I can die without regret!

"What a poem! What a poem!"

"good!
This article is so effective!
The wildfire burned away all the wild grass on the ground!

But when the spring breeze comes, the earth is green and full of life again.

These two lines of poetry are so profound and powerful that they can be considered the pinnacle of poems about grass!
Such tenacity of life!

There is probably no poem in this world that can surpass it in praising grass!

The doctors of Jiangzhou Prefecture were all shocked and utterly captivated.

Most of them were also scholars who had passed the imperial examinations and were trained in traditional Chinese medicine and herbal medicine, such as the "Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica" and the "Compendium of Materia Medica".

Of course, one can appreciate the power of this poem.

"Dr. Chen, why is this poem carved on the trunk of a locust tree?"

"This is probably the legendary art of grafting literary arts. The person who performed the art of poetry and prose borrowed the power of this old locust tree and the ship when performing this art, which is why the poems and prose were engraved on the ship!"

This method is extremely rare, and few people in the world know of it!

On the deck of the warship, locust branches rustled.

Han Yugui leaned back in a rattan chair, his body wrapped in bandages, faintly exuding the scent of medicine, his legs crossed as he recuperated.

He casually plucked a jade-like locust fruit from the side of the boat, its skin still glistening with dew-like radiance—this was not a product of literature, but a real fruit.

"Crack!"

Juice dripped down the corners of his mouth.

The boy squinted, a look of indescribable satisfaction on his face.

"You should all thank my Qingfei!"
If it weren't for her intervention, transforming the ship into a locust tree ship, thus doubling the power of Brother Jiang's poem "Grass"!
I'm afraid your injuries won't heal that quickly! You're still on the ground crying and screaming!

Han Yugui raised his hand, and the fruit pit flew in an arc and fell into the middle of the river. He then addressed the group of students.

"Shut up! Just eat your food! You're getting a good deal and then acting innocent!"

Cao An pursed his lips.

The students burst into laughter. After the doctors had examined them carefully, they lined up to disembark from the boat and enter Jiangzhou City.
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Fourth update! 4 words completed today!

Tonight, I'll continue writing and updating. One more chapter to go!
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(End of this chapter)