First on the Posted Results

Master Doulun and Shuiyue soon brought the Buddha head Wang Cheng had made in the first examination hall over to the monks' quarters.

The abbot of Yongning Temple and the chief superintendent from the Protectorate General's Office understood at a glance. The Buddha head had been carved lifelike, its details smooth and refined, clearly showing considerable skill. Unfortunately, the gilding had not been completed; less than half the face was still bare stone.

Such an unfinished Buddha head could never pass the assessment. Poor performance would have been one thing, but the stone carving itself had been done exceptionally well, only for the unfinished gilding to ruin it because he had misjudged the time. It was hard not to feel bitterly stifled over that.

The chief superintendent sighed. "This boy has real skill, and he is still so young. I fear he may also have borrowed money to take part in the assessment?"

Though the old abbot neither confirmed nor denied it, he seemed to tacitly accept the chief superintendent's conclusion.

Once the officials had questioned the candidates in the monks' quarters, the chief superintendent ordered them released. After all, the candidates had eaten their morning vegetarian meal and still had to take the second assessment today.

After the candidates dispersed, the chief superintendent and the abbot discussed matters further. They then summoned a coroner to examine the body and confirmed that it had been a hanging, with no other internal or external injuries.

Afterward, the chief superintendent ruled it a death by hanging. With testimony from the candidates in the monks' quarters, Wang Cheng's unfinished Buddha head as physical evidence, and the coroner's examination report, the three forms of evidence together settled the case on the spot.

The chief superintendent had Wang Cheng's corpse wrapped in a yellow mat