The Imperial Examination Begins (1/3)

On the first day of the third month of the First Year of Qiongyu, in the Chu Imperial Capital.

Today is the day of the first imperial examination established by the Chu Kingdom. Early in the morning, the entire capital city became extremely congested. All sixteen city gates of the capital were opened to welcome cultivators and students from all directions.

The entire outer city was already packed with people, with vendors hawking their wares, taxi drivers maintaining order, and many onlookers who had gotten up early to watch the spectacle.

In comparison, the students heading to the examination hall were somewhat inconspicuous in the crowd.

Although they may seem insignificant, they are the ones who serve the audience.

"Look at these students from the Confucian Dao Academy! They are all handsome and refined. I am very pleased to see them!" A middle-aged man stood at the outer city gate, looking at the students on the street wearing the unique white Confucian and Daoist academy robes, and a big smile appeared on his face.

"I've heard that the 'Four Books and Five Classics' they're reading are the books of sages and saints. They're destined to become saints and immortals, figures we cultivators can't even dream of comparing ourselves to," a cultivator nearby couldn't help but exclaim.

"Alas! The Empress has opened a special imperial examination, and the shopkeeper himself has come to the capital to oversee it. This is truly a joy for the students of the Confucian Dao Academy." Another cultivator shook his head and stamped his feet, his face full of regret.

"Yes! Who knew that the shopkeeper and the Empress would value the Confucian Dao Academy so much? Not only did they break the seal on the Righteous Qi, allowing all students to cultivate themselves by studying the Four Books and Five Classics, but they also established a special examination and held this imperial examination. If I had known all this back then, I would have definitely enrolled in the Confucian Dao Academy no matter what."

When the Confucian Dao Academy was first established, it caused quite a stir, but it didn't actually become a huge success. This was because people had no idea what the Confucian Dao Academy taught. Most students chose the Confucian Dao Academy mainly because it was a stepping Confucian Dao Academy to the colleges they wanted to attend.

This directly led to the fact that when everyone discovered that the Four Books and Five Classics taught at the Confucian Dao Academy could not bring them any benefit, they all stopped attending classes and went to other places to audit classes.

If Ma Fei hadn't discovered the problem with the Confucian Dao Academy in time and unsealed the Righteous Qi, the graves of the Confucian Dao Academy in various academies of the Chu Kingdom would probably be overgrown with weeds by now.

"Your information is outdated. As far as I know, the shopkeeper's trip to the capital this time isn't solely due to the imperial examinations," a young cultivator said, his face full of mystery.

"Oh? What do you mean?" Everyone's faces instantly showed confusion and curiosity.

'Snap~'

The young man turned on his folding fan. The late winter weather was already quite cold, and the young man, who was not only dressed lightly, actually fanned himself in such cold weather, causing a biting wind to instantly waft around him.

The cultivators standing around all shrank their shoulders and consciously took a step back.

The young man, completely unconcerned, glanced around and said mysteriously, "The shopkeeper has somehow managed to gather some stunningly beautiful women this time. I even saw him enjoying the snow with those women at Qinchun Garden just a couple of days ago."

"And then?" Everyone's eyes lit up at the mention of the stunningly beautiful woman, their gossip-loving hearts burning brightly.

The young man chuckled and said, "And then? The shopkeeper is twenty this year! According to the laws of our Great Chu, if a man is not married and settled by the age of twenty, he must pay a poll tax and undergo three months of military training. Although this law does not apply to cultivators, it does indicate that the shopkeeper has reached marriageable age!"

"Yes! The shopkeeper was born in the 331st year of Zhonghe, and this year is the First Year of Qiongyu, so he is exactly twenty years old!" a cultivator said with a sudden realization.

Since Ma Feifei and his Mysterious Bookstore became famous, Ma Feifei's identity has become no secret to cultivators throughout the Azure Dragon Continent. Almost everyone knows that Ma Feifei's father is named Ma Zhiyuan, a fallen Viscount from the Chu Kingdom, and that Ma Feifei was born in the 331st year of Zhonghe.

Even some things from Ma Feifei's childhood have been dug up and become amusing anecdotes for casual conversation.

"If that's the case, then doesn't that mean the shop owner came to the capital to announce to the world that he's getting married?" a cultivator said in surprise.

"Very likely! And there might be more than one." The young man chuckled, then his face returned to normal as he continued fanning himself.

"Hiss~! I remember there was a rumor that the old shop owner was accompanied by six stunningly beautiful women when he came to the capital this time!"

"No, I checked a few days ago and it said seven!"

"No, no, no, you're all wrong, it's eight!"

"..."

Then things got chaotic. The discussion spread wider and wider, starting from a corner of the outer city and eventually reaching the entire outer Johto. Even the inner city slowly began to show signs of it.

Amidst this strange phenomenon, the imperial examinations were about to begin.

The inner city is the most prosperous area of the capital, inhabited by high-ranking officials, nobles, and highly skilled cultivators. Compared to the outer city, the inner city is less noisy and more solemn.

Because there were so many students who registered for the imperial examination, totaling more than 30,000, the Empress specially set up the examination hall in the open-air square of the inner city, which stretched all the way to the main street from the inner city to the palace. The tables were arranged in a 16x16 format and stretched downwards as far as the eye could see.

On both sides, there were soldiers in armor guarding the taxis, one every three steps, with long spears held horizontally, the tips of the spears pointing at the butts, blocking every gap.

Opposite these soldiers were onlookers, who were not Sheer Force separated from the examination area and could watch the imperial examination up close.

Around the examination hall, there are 108 examination room entrances. More than 30,000 students can enter the examination hall by checking their examination room number and finding their seat.

At 10:00 a. m. sharp, all 30,000 students entered the examination hall. Everyone successfully found their seats and sat down. They were all dressed in white robes and scholar's caps, sitting upright with solemn expressions, without making a sound.

"His Your Majesty has arrived!" A eunuch announced loudly at the palace gate.

"His Your Majesty has arrived!"

"His Your Majesty..."

Everyone's eyes were fixed intently on the direction of the palace.

"Crunch~"

The palace gates opened, Empress, dressed in a golden dragon robe, slowly walked out, followed by two maids holding lanterns on either side of her.

"Strange, where is the shopkeeper?" The onlookers in the inner city looked towards the palace and found that apart from the Empress, Ma Feifei was nowhere to be seen, and even the women accompanying him were nowhere to be seen.