At Ning Chen's words, every eye in the hall came to rest on Xu Shuhan.

The whole court, civil and military, had pinned its hopes on him.

Nobody expected the poem he had made to surpass this lyric of Ning Chen's. So long as the gap was not too wide, they would not lose too badly.

The Prince Regent frowned. "Old Master Xu, let the marquis have a taste of the quality of our Wu immortal of poetry."

He had invited so many venerable scholars and great classicists, and they had chewed on it for days... surely what they had polished could not be poor.

Even if it fell short of this lyric of Ning Chen's, it would not leave Wu's world of letters stripped of every shred of dignity.

Cold sweat stood out on Xu Shuhan's forehead, and his back was soaked through.

Slowly he cupped his hands and bowed, and lowered the head he had held high from the moment he walked in. His voice came out hoarse and dry. "The marquis's gift is great. This old man is the glimmer of a firefly. I have lost!"

Then he knelt, and said in shame, "Your Majesty, Prince Regent... this humble commoner's learning is shallow and does not come to a ten-thousandth part of the marquis's. I beg Your Majesty and the Prince Regent to forgive me. This humble commoner deserves to die!"

The officials, civil and military, were astonished at first, and then the pot boiled over.

This???

They wanted to swear out loud.

Beaten. Beaten into the ground.

He did not even have the courage to open his mouth.

After this battle, Wu's world of letters would be stripped of every shred of dignity.

The Prince Regent's face was so dark it was nearly dripping.

He had invited all those venerable scholars and great classicists, and they had polished the verse day and night... and in the end the man did not even have the courage to open his mouth. It was a monstrous humiliation, a slap across his face over and over.

The worst off, in…