The Scholar Who Fought His Way Out of Endless Trials

With the fall of the sages, the great clans have placed layer upon layer of barriers in the path of scholars seeking advancement. What? A hundred taels of silver just to take the elementary literacy exam? Can I take it without paying? No payment, no exam! Fine, I’ll pay… A thousand taels just to become a licentiate… Fine, I’ll pay… Ten thousand taels of gold to become a gentleman, and you want to put a dog collar on me too! I refuse to accept this. Back then, I bowed and scraped in the academy until I could no longer be happy! When swords and blades cannot save the world, and ink and words cannot rouse the jackals, someone has to stiffen their neck and charge! I rebel! Today I’ll trample the streets of the capital underfoot and leave the nobles’ bones in my wake. I’ll fight my way toward a world without humiliation, and water this Central Plains with the blood of the mighty clans! Years later, I sit alone before the Poetry Tower and casually leave these words: I descended from the Heavenly Mountains with books and sword in hand, never expecting the world to be so bitterly cold!