Every spot on the examination papers where a name was written had been pasted over with slips of paper, then the papers were sent to the grading room.
The Prefectural Academy's grading room was bright as day.
This Prefectural Academy grading room was immensely spacious. More than twenty thousand Licentiate examination papers lay across row after row of tables; at a glance, it resembled a Paper-making Workshop.
Three examiners, one Imperial Examination inspector, and ten Literary Academy Provincial Graduates stood before Confucius's Sacred Image.
"Appeal for Sage Judgment!"
An invisible force descended, and wind stirred within the room.
All the examination papers emitted smoky orange Literary Qi, though its density and height varied.
An invisible force swept over them, moving tens of thousands of papers to one side of the grading room. They were stacked together, forming a mountain of paper.
At last, the two hundred papers with the highest Literary Qi remained on the tables.
Prefect Dong said, "Literary Star's Five Stirrings—I do not know whether it is a blessing or a curse. But since the Saints have increased the number of Academy Student positions, it is good news for the Human Race. Begin grading."
The ten Literary Academy Provincial Graduates stepped forward. Each selected nineteen examination papers, while the ten papers with the most Literary Qi remained where they were.
Unlike the County Examination, the Prefectural Examination required Literary Academy Provincial Graduates to grade papers crosswise. After every two adjacent graders scored their own papers, they had to judge each other's papers.
The three examiners and the inspector looked toward the first ten papers.
The highest-ranked stack possessed two feet and four inches of Literary Qi. Behind it came two feet and one inch, two feet, and one foot nine inches.
Prefect Dong smiled and asked, "Would you