Eastern outskirts.
Freight yard.
This place had once been a fairly sizable inn. The proprietor had grown old and wanted to sell it off, but the asking price had been so high that many had balked. Who would have thought it would change hands so quickly?
The temple had indeed risen with astonishing speed. What should have taken several years to build had been completed in just two or three days.
Coupled with that tale of the City God Examination spreading through the city, it made people all the more curious.
Yu Zheng and Zhou Qian were two of the bolder ones.
The two left the academy at dusk. By the time they reached the temple, night had fallen.
Holding a lantern, Zhou Qian stared at the long flight of stairs and swallowed hard. At this point, after so much time had passed, the hot blood surging in his chest had long subsided. He could no longer press forward on sheer bravado; even his legs would not stop trembling.
With difficulty, he shifted his gaze toward Yu Zheng. "Brother Yu..."
Yu Zheng was terrified too, but he knew his studies were not particularly good. He had little hope of passing the examinations in this lifetime.
Never mind whether there was some immortal master in the temple—even if it truly held evil ghosts from the underworld, he intended to brave it.
Yu Zheng reassured him, "We're already here!"
"Exactly."
Beneath the glow of a single lantern, the two slowly climbed the long stairs.
They entered through the main gate and saw the temple courtyard packed with people. Both silently thought, Strange!
They saw neither ghosts nor gods. Instead, they saw many scholars like themselves chatting idly in twos and threes, while some who had come well-prepared sat nearby with book baskets