Departmental Examination (Seeking Recommendations and Collections)

The tolling of bells and drums drifted from afar. It was just past the fourth watch, and the sky was still dark, but footsteps were already converging on the Imperial Academy.

Without the lanterns, the scene would have looked like zombies besieging a city.

Every scholar wore a grim expression, as if he were a Warrior bound for the battlefield, ready to draw his weapon and hack someone down at any moment.

The Provincial Examination was administered by the Ministry of Rites under the Shangshu Province, so it was also called the Ministry of Rites Examination. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was known as the Metropolitan Examination.

Now, 4,872 successful candidates from the four hundred prefectures of the realm had gathered in the Capital City.

Fewer than four hundred would remain!

The Palace Examination determined rank; the Provincial Examination determined who stayed and who went.

If not for the need for Literary Qi, the last-ranked candidate in the Provincial Examination would hold the same status as the first.

So this second-round Provincial Examination was, in truth, the decisive battle after ten years of hard study.

No wonder the candidates all looked like that.

Huang Shang and You Shixiong joined the stream of people and walked forward with Presence of Mind.

He was a little nervous, too, but compared to the other scholars, who had wagered their entire futures on this one examination, he was naturally much calmer.

Besides, his mind was undistracted. He had studied hard all this time and prepared thoroughly. If he still failed, there would be nothing to regret.

After a few clangs of the gong, the gates of the Imperial Academy slowly opened.

The chief examiner for this session—the presiding official—was Fan Zhen.

He was a formidable man in his own right, but the Great Song was so rich in outstanding figures that he was not especially famous by comparison. He was better known in historical circles for the saying, "The Three Fans compiled history."

The gate officers emerged solemnly, leading several squads of soldiers. Under their watch, thousands of people inched forward in an orderly line and filed into the examination grounds.

The procedure that followed was much the same as for the Provincial Examination, so there was no need to repeat it. But when Huang Shang saw the statue of Confucius inside the Imperial Academy, he could not help but start.

The Literary Qi there could no longer be described as dense. It was vast and boundless, filling heaven and earth.

Nor was it confined to the Imperial Academy. It spread across the entire Capital City.

Since Confucianism had been exalted in the Han dynasty, it had influenced all of China for over a thousand years, permeating every detail of people's lives.

If this was a kind of faith, then without a doubt, it had far more adherents than Daoism or Buddhism.

Yet the world's vital energy was so thin that no one could wield this power, leaving it to go to waste.

For a moment, Huang Shang's breathing quickened. Greed stirred in him, urging him to absorb it all—but reason soon suppressed the impulse.

When his Jieyuan status had been enhanced, he could have absorbed more Literary Qi if he had wanted.

But reason told him this was no path for the long run.

Any power rooted in faith was too deeply entangled with the world around it.

This was the Song dynasty, where Confucianism had been elevated to the heavens and civil officials were favored over the military to an extreme degree. That was why such an opportunity existed. But when he traveled through the Heavens Consciousness in the future, would every world he visited really be an ancient Eastern one?

So Huang Shang combined Literary Qi with true qi, forming Noble Spirit.

True qi strengthened the body, blood, and vitality, and offered insight into the mysteries of the human form.

Literary Qi concerned knowledge, breadth of mind, and spirit—the bearing of historical responsibility.

The two together formed Noble Spirit!

This power truly belonged to him. Wherever he went, it would serve him!

With that in mind, craving too much Literary Qi now would inevitably throw him off balance.

A man whose virtue exceeded his position was bound to invite disaster.

Huang Shang saw clearly into his own nature, ignoring the temptations around him. He entered his best state and strode into the examination hall.

Soon, the examination papers were distributed, and he began reading the questions.

His first impression: the difficulty had soared.

His second impression: the scope had broadened.

The increased difficulty lay in the obscure classical interpretations. Answering these perfectly could no longer be achieved through memorization alone; they required a thorough grasp of the material.

That posed no challenge to Huang Shang.

His learning was anything but rigid. He had long been able to draw inferences from a single example.

The broader scope lay in poetry, rhapsodies, and policy essays.

A broader scope did make it easier to show one's abilities, but it also made a candidate's learning and insight all the more apparent.

That was how the gaps between them could be widened.

After reviewing the questions, Huang Shang first set them aside and went over the three key points he had worked out in advance.

First, be distinctive.

Whether in style or in argument, he had to make the examiners' eyes light up.

There were far more examiners for the Provincial Examination than there had been in the prefectures, but there were also far more papers to read, and they had to be graded even more carefully.

People had limited energy, after all. Candidates should not assume that things were different at the Provincial Examination. They still needed to seize attention from the very start.

Everyone who had made it through the thousands of competitors was successful; how great could the gap in talent and learning really be?

Sometimes, all it took was something fresh.

Second, say something substantial.

Huang Shang had made a special trip to Liangguang to collect a wealth of material for just this reason.

The examiners for the Provincial Examination were the finest in the whole country, with eyes sharp enough to spot anything. Where had they never been? What had they never heard of?

Su Shi inventing an allusion in an essay was an exception. Under normal circumstances, exaggerating in an essay was as good as ruining it. And the moment an essay reached its most impassioned heights was precisely when it was easiest to make that mistake.

Third, tailor his strategy to his competitors.

That was where his earlier intelligence gathering came in.

Huang Shang recalled the formidable candidates in this session and the fields they excelled in. He would steer clear of those areas.

Then he would give his all in the fields they were weak in and beat them there, one and all.

Was that not true of life as well? If you wanted to succeed, was this not the way?

Having run through all this, Huang Shang picked up the Zhuge Pen.

Calm and unhurried!

While Huang Shang was writing furiously, Xu Yue and the other three were making their way through Worry-Free Cave.

With the two sides allied, the four Reincarnators worked together with terrifying efficiency.

Xu Yue devised the plan, Wu Que spotted its gaps, Xu Feng led the charge, and Nightingale provided support.

Each of the four had their own strengths. They soon narrowed down the suspicious targets, followed the trail, and found traces of the enemy in Kaifeng Prefecture.

It really was Worry-Free Cave.

This place was simply too well suited for hiding.

Reincarnators liked places like this, whether friend or foe.

At that moment, the four held their formation, staying on high alert as they advanced.

Even after Worry-Free Cave had been altered beyond recognition, there were no waterways beneath the imperial city.

But though none had existed before, one could be dug.

"Here!"

As the four searched carefully, Nightingale quickly spotted something and pointed her magic staff.

Ripples suddenly appeared on a wall that had been completely bare. As a talisman drifted down like a falling leaf, a brand-new passage appeared before them.

Xu Feng felt the smooth edge and measured its height. "A digging robot did this. Damn, that's well hidden—tunneling right under our noses!"

Nightingale tilted her head and asked curiously, "Why make it so tall?"

The passage was nearly four meters high. It did look strange—after all, a two-meter passage was plenty for an ordinary person.

Xu Yue looked thoughtful. Wu Que asked, "Where does this passage lead?"

Xu Yue opened her hand. A three-dimensional map of the imperial city appeared above it, with a red line traced across it. "To Yanfu Palace!"

Yanfu Palace was a relatively independent palace complex outside the imperial city. It was not very large at present. It would not be expanded until after Emperor Huizong of Song took the throne and found the palace grounds too cramped. Cai Jing, eager to curry favor with the emperor, summoned the five chief eunuchs, including Tong Guan and Yang Jian, and began a massive renovation.

Wu Que studied the map. "They're planning to enter the northern rear palace through Yanfu Palace, then head east to the Eastern Palace and assassinate the Crown Prince. Should we destroy the passage outright or wait here?"

Xu Yue was about to say something when Xu Feng and Wu Que suddenly changed expression. "Stay alert! Someone's coming!"

A moment later, Xu Yue and Nightingale also heard a sound clearly.

It came from deep in the chest. It did not sound human; it was more like an animal breathing.

The four immediately split up and formed a battle formation. A massive silhouette squeezed out of the shadows and came into view.

They had just wondered why the passage needed to be so tall.

Now they had their answer.

When a giant of over three meters, dragging a huge sword, revealed his true form, the four of them all changed color. "The Western District! The Butcher!"

(Reader "Bloodfiend" provided the Reincarnator [Butcher].)

Thanks to readers "The 11th Sniper," "The Armored Turtle of the Armor Sect," and "I Love Jin Shanshan" for their tips.