The sage was determined to die.

Ji Bai opened his eyes for the third time.

The difference this time is that my head hurts terribly.

He covered his head, his mind was foggy, as if he had been punched several times, and memories were stimulating his nerves like needles.

Ji Bai turned his head to look at the old woman who was talking to him. She was lifting the unconscious scholars from the pond like chicks and piling them up on the ground like trash.

She wasn't worried about the lives of these people, but rather that their deaths would affect the progress of the work.

The group piled on top of each other on the shore like a human pyramid, and after a while they opened their eyes one after another. It was unclear whether they were woken up by the fall or by the smell of their colleague's clothes that hadn't been washed for days.

The old woman, looking down at them with an arrogant air, sneered, "You're all quite clever, thinking you can get away with anything by agreeing to sleep together?"

She casually picked up a whip made from a tree branch and lashed the stone to pieces, threatening, "You'll get double the work today. If it weren't for you useless cowards dragging our feet, Wenxin would have been successfully cultivated long ago."

The group stared at her as if she were a ghost. Although no one spoke first, the sense of loss from her shattered dream was more tormenting than ever before.

Gongsun Yang subconsciously touched his chest, but there was nothing extra there, only an ordinary heart beating.

What about his literary heart?

Was this all just a dream?

Even if it was a dream, it ended before he killed many people. The dream was too short, wasn't it?

Unbeknownst to the old woman, these people had undergone Wenxin's hidden test.

The people's mournful expressions, in her eyes, were simply a sign of their laziness.

Knowing the principle of giving a hardship followed by a sweet treat, she frowned and said, "If you're not even willing to endure this little bit of hardship now, how can you expect to endure more hardship in the future?"

"Let me tell you, when Wenxin appears in the world, you will have priority to participate in Wenxin's assessment."

She mercifully said, "A very small number of scholars even have hidden assessments. You scholars from small countries probably don't even know what hidden assessments are, do you?"

The group that had just completed the hidden assessment: "..."

After sending the others back to their posts, she returned to her position as supervisor.

At that moment, she didn't notice that the people who were originally going to cooperate had now quietly distanced themselves from each other.

Someone stared at Gongsun Yang and suddenly said out of the blue, "Brother Gongsun, before entering the Book Mountain, my teacher always emphasized to me that I should not trust anyone in the Book Mountain, not even my brothers or nephews, who might kill each other for their own interests."

"I met Brother Gongsun these past few days. He saved my life and has been of great help to us. I thought that what the teacher said might not necessarily be correct."

He paused for a moment and said, "But I just had a dream. In the dream, Brother Gongsun killed me without any hesitation. He was really decisive."

Gongsun Yang's hand, which was lifting the stone, paused slightly. He turned to look at the other person, his tone somewhat stiff: "What happened in a dream doesn't really matter, does it?"

The others weren't that stupid; upon hearing his words, they immediately realized that Wenxin wasn't on him.

Gongsun Yang felt regret and disappointment, lamenting to himself, "It seems I didn't pass the test of the Literary Heart. Who took that Literary Heart?"

……

Ji Bai felt disappointed and regretful.

He gazed at the jade-green Wenxin (a type of emerald-like object) in his heart, which was now sleeping peacefully there, followed by a countdown of thirty-six hours.

This means that if the Wenxin is not obtained by anyone else in three days, it will become his.

"...No way? I didn't do anything, so why should I take Wenxin away?"

The thought of the role this literary heart played in the illusion made Ji Bai's expression particularly painful.

His face was ashen as he recounted the bittersweet experiences he had gone through since his transmigration, as well as the smooth sailing he had encountered along the way.

It turns out that seeking death is this difficult.

Ji Bai thought to himself, "It's all because of my excellence that I've ruined myself."

As soon as the old woman approached Ji Bai, she noticed the musty smell emanating from him and instantly said confidently:

"Judging from your dejected look, you must already understand the gap between us, right? You have no chance of winning against me for Wenxin."

Ji Bai asked curiously, "According to the rules of the Book Mountain, even if we, as guardians, had a way to steal the literary heart, we should have suffered a backlash. How can you be so confident?"

The old woman suddenly gave a wicked smile. She took a deep breath, clenched her teeth, her face turned red, and she bent her arm, revealing a large bulge on her upper arm, which was as bare as tree bark.

She swung her arm at Bai Jibai in an extremely flamboyant manner.

"Did you see it clearly?" she squeezed out through gritted teeth.

Ji Bai nodded and commented, "You have a tumor?"

The mother-in-law, during a heart-to-heart talk: "..."

She loosened her arm, and the bag on her arm scattered like a punctured balloon.

The mother-in-law said disdainfully during the heart-to-heart talk, "This is the difference between us."

"Have you never noticed your own appearance? Apart from your dark and red skin, which makes you seem like a pure bloodline, aren't you full of flaws?" She said, her tone becoming somewhat sarcastic.

The elderly woman, who was having a heart-to-heart talk, looked Ji Bai up and down with her eyes and continued, "You look young, have firm skin, are tall, and have such long legs."

Ji Bai: "..."

Now that we've covered the advantages, what about the disadvantages?

"How can a young guy like you compare to us old, short, experienced, and sagging-skinned guards?"

She narrowed her eyes and spoke with great confidence: "The most effective way for the guards to obtain the Wenxin and thus gain complete freedom is to snatch it the moment it is born."

"Of course, this violates the rules of the Book Mountain. The moment we succeed in the robbery, the Book Mountain will send down lightning to strike us dead."

She pulled out a stone pipe from somewhere and, while puffing out smoke, recalled, "Countless guards have died under the lightning tribulation over the years. According to the analysis, the younger and stronger the person, the more severe the lightning tribulation that will descend upon them."

"But as long as you get through this, you will be reborn."

She looked at Ji Bai, and although she didn't speak, she had already created a thick barrier with her eyes.

Let's be realistic. You young people won't have a chance against a vulnerable old person like me.

Ji Bai was unaware of these things.

He said, speechless, "Those that couldn't survive are already cooked."

but--

Ji Bai suddenly realized something, his eyes widened, and at that moment he suddenly understood everything.

Although his role in the Book Mountain was that of a guard, he was not a native guard, but rather an outsider who entered the Book Mountain.

In other words, he could escape danger as a guard, gain literary talent as a scholar, and avoid being struck by lightning.

That's not fair!

He's cheating!

Damn it, how is he supposed to report himself for cheating?