That Day, Shuhang Remembered the Terror of Being Ruled by Exams

The golden text, "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode," though written in ancient script, possesses a magical power, much like a translator. Even Song Shuhang, who is unfamiliar with ancient script, can automatically understand its meaning upon seeing it and instinctively translate it into simplified Chinese characters and memorize it.

According to Venerable White's explanation, this "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" is a Confucian School method of self-cultivation, roughly similar to Meditation Art, and it can also be used to practice calligraphy?

So Song Shuhang glanced at the golden text in the sky, memorized the first few sentences, and then paid no further attention to it.

The 'golden text' emanating from the statue lasted for about ten breaths.

During this time, Venerable White, carrying Song Shuhang, slowly descended.

Ten breaths later, the golden text that had condensed on the statue disappeared... The 'Thirteen Tribulation Immortals Under the Sage' returned to calm, and all the strange phenomena subsided.

The Confucian School disciples sighed with reluctance as they parted.

Just then, Song Shuhang suddenly felt everything go black.

A moment later, when Song Shuhang's eyes regained their sight, he found himself in a huge square.

The square was paved with black stone slabs, neat and dignified. In the very center of the square stood a statue, the statue of the first disciple of the Sage, 'Daozi,' who had previously condensed the golden text 'Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode.'

Besides Song Shuhang, there were nine other Confucian School disciples around him. Like him, these Confucian School also looked bewildered, glancing around in confusion.

A Confucian School disciple asked in confusion, "Where is this? Wasn't I just in [White Cloud City]?"

Song Shuhang pondered. He had just been with 'Venerable White' —so how high must the cultivation level be for the person who forcibly brought him into this space? How could they have brought him here from Venerable White's grasp in an instant?

Or perhaps, his body wasn't being pulled into this space, but rather his consciousness was entering this strange space?

While pondering, Song Shuhang spotted a familiar face among the nine Confucian School disciples—'The Blade-Wielding Scholar's Su Wenqu.

Back when the Chu Household's "Immortal Severing Platform" ended and the Hand Tractor Race was about to begin, Song Shuhang had met this Confucian School disciple, "The Lone Boat," who drove a sports car called "One-Leaf Lone Boat" modified from a damaged Immortal Ark. He was also known as "The Blade-Wielding Scholar" Su Wenqu, the only son of True Lord Eternal Fire of "White Cloud Academy."

It's worth mentioning that Su Wenqu's real Daoist name should be [Jade Sword Scholar], but the nickname 'Blade-Wielding Scholar' is so famous that no one remembers his real Daoist name.

Su Wenqu Orz.

However, Song Shuhang had met Su Wenqu, but Su Wenqu did not recognize Song Shuhang —because at that time, Song Shuhang had already entered the body of the Young Master Phoenix Slayer and was seeing him through the Young Master Phoenix Slayer's body.

Even the only son of True Lord Eternal Fire was pulled into this space, and it seemed that the Blade-Wielding Scholar Su Wenqu didn't recognize this space either, looking completely bewildered.

What exactly is going on with this space?

[Why do I feel like I've been pulled into an infinite space by the 'God'? But I didn't press YES or NO.] Song Shuhang thought to himself.

At this moment, Su Wenqu regained his composure. He stepped forward to the statue and offered a sacrificial prayer. Apart from them, the only other person in this space was this statue; the key must lie within it.

As he finished worshipping his ancestors, a faint light flickered on the 'Daozi statue'.

Immediately afterwards, a set of table and chairs appeared out of thin air in front of everyone present, with the Four Treasures of the Study—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—as well as water and ink sticks on the table.

Immediately afterwards, a solemn voice appeared in everyone's minds: [Recite the entire "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" from memory. Time: Five minutes.]

Following this authoritative voice, high walls rose around each Confucian School disciple and Song Shuhang, separating all the disciples.

Song Shuhang: "..."

Is this to prevent cheating?

So they became 'examinees'?

After graduating from elementary school, he rarely recited entire articles from memory anymore. That's terrible!

[Time begins.] The solemn voice rang out again.

The next moment, Song Shuhang heard the sound of the Confucian School disciples around him grinding ink, and a few moments later, he could hear the sound of writing.

For Confucian School disciples, the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" was as important as Meditation Method; it was the foundation of everything. They would write it down many times every day.

Most disciples were able to memorize and write the "Ode to Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" within one minute with remarkable speed.

Song Shuhang: "..."

He wasn't Confucian School disciple. He only glanced at the golden text of "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" while standing behind Venerable White's flying sword, and didn't memorize the entire text at all!

To expect him to memorize it in five minutes at this point? That's asking too much.

Besides that, there was one more thing—he couldn't grind ink.

During his primary and junior high school years, the school offered calligraphy courses, teaching students to practice calligraphy.

The problem is, the ink they use isn't 'ground'; they buy it by the bottle. He's never learned how to grind ink; he's only seen a few scenes of ink grinding in movies.

"Once I get out of this strange space, I'll go learn calligraphy!" Song Shuhang thought to himself.

With a sigh, Shuhang picked up the ink stick and, imitating what he saw in the movie, added some water to the inkstone and tried to grind the ink stick in it. Regardless of whether his posture was correct or not, he just wanted to get the ink out first.

As he worked on it, he racked his brains trying to recall the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" that he had glanced at earlier.

Even with a cultivator's powerful memory, he could only memorize the first few lines of the <Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode>. After all, his eyes weren't 'cameras'; they couldn't retain everything he saw at a glance.

"Forget it, I'll just write as much as I can," Song Shuhang thought to himself.

Then, he picked up a calligraphy brush and dipped it in the inkstone. Fortunately, he had learned some calligraphy when he was young, so at least he still remembered how to use a calligraphy brush.

With another sigh, Song Shuhang up his brush and began writing the first few lines of the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" on the paper.

After writing the first few sentences, Song Shuhang could only stare blankly; he couldn't possibly remember the rest.

What to do?

Or perhaps we should ask the fellow Daoists nearby for help?

Then Song Shuhang called out, "Fellow Daoist next door, do you know what the next line of '[A gentleman cultivates himself, and nothing is better than integrity.]' is? Can you hear me? If you can, please answer!"

After all, the rules only stated that the <Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode> had to be recited from memory within five minutes; they didn't say that one couldn't ask fellow Daoists for help.

Unfortunately, the wall separating each "examinee" not only blocks their view but also their voices.

Although the sounds of grinding ink and writing could be heard, his voice was filtered out. The Confucian School disciples around him could not hear him, nor could they lend him a helping hand.

And just like that, five minutes passed quickly.

Rumble~~

The walls surrounding the 'examinees' shrank back.

Of the ten candidates, nine were Confucian School disciples, their faces radiating confidence, their blank sheets of paper filled with writing.

After grinding the ink, all the Confucian School disciples finished reciting the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" from memory within one minute.

Song Shuhang looked at the seat next to him—sitting next to him was none other than Su Wenqu, the only son of True Lord Eternal Fire, known as "The Blade-Wielding Scholar".

Shuhang subconsciously glanced at the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" on Su Wenqu's white paper.

Then, Song Shuhang was dumbfounded!

Su Wenqu's paper was covered with writing—and all of it was 'ancient script'.

Song Shuhang looked at his blank sheet of paper again, where he saw... a translated version of simplified Chinese characters.

What a rip-off!

They actually want to write in ancient script?

This kind of exam is clearly designed for Confucian School disciples, so why should he, a complete outsider, be dragged into it?

Could it be... because of the 'Glazed Scholar'?

Seemingly sensing Song Shuhang's gaze, Su Wenqu turned his head and looked at Shuhang. In fact, he had noticed Shuhang from the beginning—among the ten candidates present, only Song Shuhang was not a Confucian School disciple.

Then he glanced at what Song Shuhang had written on the paper, in simplified Chinese characters, and only the first few sentences.

Su Wenqu's face twitched involuntarily. "..."

"Fellow Daoist, I have a question—what happens if I fail a dictation test?" Song Shuhang asked worriedly. Would there be any punishment?

"I'm sorry, fellow Daoist. This is also my first time entering this strange space," Su Wenqu replied apologetically.

Just then, the stern voice rang out again. "Those who have finished the dictation may leave this space and receive the Third-Grade Confucian Treasure, the 'Fengshan Brush.' Those who failed to finish the dictation will have to start again after twenty breaths, with a time limit of five minutes."

Song Shuhang: 0_0

Holy crap, is this Infinite Make-Up Exam Space?

He simply didn't know the correct way to write the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode." Even if he had a hundred more chances, he still wouldn't be able to write it out completely in Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode script.

How to solve this?

"Fellow Daoist, I shall take my leave first. I wish you a speedy completion of your memorization." Su Wenqu said softly from the side, while unfolding the <Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode> he had written and displaying it in front of Song Shuhang.

Hopefully, this unfamiliar fellow Daoist can memorize the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" and successfully recite it from memory within the span of twenty-odd breaths.

"Thank you." Song Shuhang stared intently at the "Ode to Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" that Su Wenqu had copied from memory, trying his best to memorize it.

However, the characters used above are ancient scripts, and their writing style is vastly different from simplified characters. Moreover, Su Wenqu's dictated version of "The Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode" does not have an automatic translation function.

Song Shuhang took the notes very diligently.

Now, he can only rely on the powerful memory of a cultivator to memorize the patterns of every ancient character.

Twenty breaths passed in the blink of an eye.

With a rumble, walls rose up around Song Shuhang once again.

The exam has started again.

Song Shuhang had only memorized less than a third of the "Sage's Self-Cultivation Ode".

More pills.

At this moment, Song Shuhang finally recalled the terror of being dominated by exams...