A few days later.
The Qingshan County Military Examination of the twenty-fourth year of the Qing'an Era finally arrived.
Unlike the civil examination, where examination sheds were set up in the market near the County Yamen for candidates, the martial arts examination was held directly out in the open.
The venue was the square before the main hall of the City God Temple on West Avenue in the county seat.
On the high platform before the main hall, a middle-aged official in a green robe sat in the central seat. To either side sat the Qingshan County Assistant, County Assistant, Dian Shi, and other auxiliary officials of the County Yamen, arranged according to rank.
Different official positions meant different fabrics for their official robes, making them easy to distinguish.
On both sides of the square below the platform sat Qingshan County's gentry and wealthy merchants, dressed in splendid silks and fine clothes.
They fixed expectant gazes on the two or three hundred martial artists standing in the square.
Those who pursued literature grew poor, while those who pursued martial pursuits grew rich—such had always been the case since ancient times.
For an ordinary wealthy household, it was easy enough to scrimp and save to support one or two full-time scholars, but difficult to support a martial artist who had trained since childhood.
Thus, more than sixty percent of the nearly three hundred martial artists standing in the square came from the families of these gentry and wealthy merchants.
Another twenty percent were tied to them by countless threads, most being guards from their outer residences.
Only the remaining twenty percent of the martial artists came from humble homes.
"What?"
"He came too?"
In one corner of the square stood a desk specifically used to inspect the martial artists' native registrations and letters of guarantee.
Behind the desk sat the clerk in a black robe whom Wei Tu had seen last time in the household records office of the County Yamen.
After checking the letters of guarantee piled on the desk one by one, the clerk suddenly spotted Wei Tu's name among them.
A look of surprise crossed his face. He flipped the household records office's civilian registry to its final page, compared Wei Tu's hometown registration and age, and could not help exclaiming in astonishment.
It had only been a little over half a year since Wei Tu had left servitude last year. Since Wei Tu was the first servant he had seen redeem himself after the clerk inherited his father's post, the impression Wei Tu had left on him was anything but shallow.
"Trying to change his fate through the martial arts examination won't be easy. I only hope he doesn't die on the examination platform..."
The black-robed clerk silently thought.
Every three years, the County Yamen had to clear out its "hidden households." People like Wei Tu, newly entered into the civilian registry, counted toward his performance record.
Naturally, he did not wish for Wei Tu to die here.
In the square.
The black-robed clerk was not the only one who recognized Wei Tu. There was also a beautiful woman seated among the gentry.
This beautiful woman was Wei Hong. Seated behind Master Huang, she furrowed her willow-leaf brows slightly and looked several times at Wei Tu standing in the square.
Although many years had passed and she had not seen this nephew from her own clan for a long time, their blood relation still allowed her to recognize Wei Tu at a glance among this crowd of martial artists.
"What was he doing here? Did he want to take the martial arts examination? His build really was quite a bit stronger than it had been three years ago..."
"But among all these martial artists, he was still utterly ordinary. Perhaps he was not even as capable as Yuan Shan..."
Wei Hong's feelings were complicated.
She hoped Wei Tu would stand out among the martial artists, so that he could support her as someone from her natal clan in the future. Yet instinctively, she also believed Wei Tu could not make it—this nephew from her own clan could not make it.
In more than three years, Wei Tu had only learned some rudimentary Health Cultivation Technique. No matter what, he could not compare to martial artists born into prominent households.
These martial artists from wealthy families had trained since childhood. They ate meat at every meal, had famous masters to teach them, and were nourished with medicinal meals from time to time...
How could a mud-legged peasant compare with them?
There was simply no comparison!
Very soon.
Gongs and drums sounded in unison.
The Military Examination began.
Wei Tu received a numbered tag marked "C-13" and waited amid the crowd.
Compared with the prefectural examination and the circuit examination, the County Examination martial arts examination was the simplest, with only five tests.
They were skill and courage, foot archery, mounted archery, Sparring Match, and finally military strategy.
Skill and courage was further divided into Stone Lock Lifting, Drawing a Heavy Bow, and wielding a great saber.
"Team C, fall in!"
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and the military official in charge of the examination shouted.
Hearing this, Wei Tu composed himself and followed the martial artists at the front into the testing ground, where they stood before several stone locks of varying sizes.
Two hundred jin.
Three hundred jin.
Four hundred jin.
Five hundred jin.
There were four stone locks in total.
In the County Examination martial arts examination, Stone Lock Lifting began with a two-hundred-jin stone lock, a level of strength ordinary people simply could not attain.
"The five-hundred-jin stone lock!"
Wei Tu fixed his gaze on the largest and heaviest stone lock. His expression grew solemn as he sank his qi into his dantian, spread his feet apart, and assumed a horse stance.
Then.
He gathered the strength of his entire body, placed his right hand upon the stone lock, and heaved.
The heavy stone lock immediately rose from the ground. It paused for half a breath at Wei Tu's knees, then at his elbow, before finally being raised high above his head.
After holding it above his head for four or five breaths, Wei Tu could no longer endure and slowly lowered the five-hundred-jin stone lock to the ground with his right arm.
As the five-hundred-jin stone lock struck the ground, a faint earth-shaking rumble could be heard throughout the square, as though an earth dragon had turned over.
The entire square fell silent. At that moment, every gaze converged on Wei Tu, all filled with astonishment.
Someone capable of raising a five-hundred-jin stone lock one-handed in the Stone Lock Lifting test appeared in all of Qingshan County only once every several decades.
In the past century, there had been only three.
Without exception, those three martial artists had all taken first place in the County Martial Arts Examination.
And... Wei Tu was the fourth.
This also meant that this year's champion of the martial arts examination had already been decided at this very moment.
So long as...
"Very difficult!"
Once the gentry saw Wei Tu's clothing, they smiled and immediately reached their conclusion.
Wei Tu was shabbily dressed, his single-layer robe washed until it had faded white. One glance was enough to tell that he came from a humble home.
Such martial artists often failed in the two subjects of mounted archery and military strategy, and thus fell off the list.
Mounted archery required a fine horse as support. Though the County Examination provided horses, they were often inferior mounts.
Shooting from horseback on an inferior horse, one could not bring one's strength into a single line. No matter how exquisite one's archery was, it was difficult to hit the target.
The other subject was military strategy.
Its invisible threshold was equally high. Without the guidance of a good teacher, it was no easy thing to write an outstanding essay.
"C-13."
"Stone Lock Lifting, top grade."
At this moment, the examiner in charge of the Stone Lock Lifting subject announced Wei Tu's result.
According to the rules, to earn a top grade in Stone Lock Lifting, one had to raise a three-hundred-jin stone lock one-handed above one's head and hold it for thirty breaths.
Or lift a four-hundred-jin stone lock with both hands and suspend it over one's head for twenty breaths.
But Wei Tu was different. He had lifted a five-hundred-jin stone lock one-handed and held it over his head for more than four breaths. Such strength far surpassed that of an ordinary top-grade martial master.
The gap between lifting three hundred jin and five hundred jin with one arm was like a heavenly chasm.
Everyone knew this.
With one arm capable of lifting five hundred jin, one could even hope to earn the degree of Provincial Graduate in the provincial examination.
In other words, in Stone Lock Lifting alone, Wei Tu had already reached the level of the martial arts examination.
"Even if he finds it difficult to take first place, a top grade in Stone Lock Lifting still qualifies him for recommendation to the prefectural examination..."
"Wei Tu was not very old, only twenty? Twenty-two?"
"If he hired a famous master, he should be able to make up for his weaknesses in mounted archery and military strategy at the next examination..."
Among the gentry, after seeing Wei Tu's result, Wei Hong once again wore a complicated expression as she silently pondered.
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