The alluring, uncanny, exquisitely beautiful woman turned around, looked at Su Mo's youthful face, and smiled. "Hehehe... there's a fire of anger in your heart, grief-stricken and resolute."
"What are you planning to do now?"
Su Mo was not at all surprised that this woman could see into his heart... this woman was not human!
"A festering wound hidden beneath the skin can only heal if you tear open the skin above it and let it bleed!" Su Mo said slowly.
"But what does that have to do with you? You need only be what you call the Academy's seventh disciple and set foot on the path of immortality. With your talent, you could go far as long as you don't court death. Why meddle in other people's affairs? Besides, they're already dead!" the woman asked with a smile.
"Because... I saw it!" Su Mo smiled openly. "Even if all I can do is raise my firefly's glimmer in protest against a Heavenly Dao devoid of virtue!"
The woman could not help laughing at his words. "Do you think you're a hero? The Heavenly Dao... the Heavenly Dao died long ago..."
The Heavenly Dao died?
Su Mo froze. He had used "Heavenly Dao" only as a figure of speech, describing a system, a set of rules! Yet the woman had said that the Heavenly Dao was dead. Could the Heavenly Dao truly be a specific living being?
"What do you mean?" Su Mo asked.
The woman gazed into the starry heavens within the Spirit Sea. It was always night here, with countless stars overhead. She shook her head. "The truth is too far from you, farther than you could ever imagine. If you learned too much, you might go mad."
The woman turned back toward Su Mo and continued, "Actually, you're afraid of becoming too deeply entangled in karma with those departed souls, aren't you? You want to settle things?"
"Then have you considered that coming to me to settle your karma with those departed souls could entangle you in an even more terrifying bond of karma with me?"
Su Mo fell silent. He could not tell why he truly wanted to get involved in this matter. Wanting to settle those deep karmic entanglements was, in its own way, merely a selfish excuse he had found to persuade himself.
In the end, his soul, accustomed to a civilized world, simply could not bear the sight of this lawless one.
The woman seemed to see through his thoughts. With a giggle, she drifted over and leaned beside him. "So, have you made up your mind? Do you want my help?"
Su Mo caught the delicate fragrance wafting from beside him, tugging at his heartstrings. Forcing down the ripples stirring within him, he nodded.
"What a pity!" The woman drew away and sat cross-legged above the Spirit Sea again. "I can't do what you asked!"
"Why?" Su Mo asked.
"Because those departed souls dissipated long ago, when you said goodbye to them..." The woman had her back to Su Mo. He could not see her expression, only hear her calm yet uncanny voice.
They dissipated... is there nothing I can do? Su Mo's expression dimmed.
"However..." The woman sat cross-legged over the Spirit Sea, the waters beneath her still and fathomless. "If you want to reveal the fact that someone has consumed a Blood Pill, you need only circulate your Spiritual Power beside them!"
"Why?" Su Mo asked, startled.
The woman turned to look at him and said slowly, "Your Spiritual Power... carries their towering resentment!"
"Don't suppress it. Let them release it... afterward, dust will return to dust, and earth to earth..."
"But then you won't be able to enter that so-called Academy of yours! Have you thought this through?"
The spring dawn was cold, and the first rosy light peeked over the horizon.
Su Mo lay in the Rocking Chair at the bow, swaying gently in the breeze.
His consciousness had been within the Spirit Sea while his body lay in the Rocking Chair for two days...
He had changed into his black robe. As the wind swept past, the hem trailing on the ground fluttered with it.
The night mist had dampened Su Mo's hair, beads of condensed dew clinging to its strands.
From a distance, he looked like a pitiful wanderer...
Clang...
Clang...
Clang...
The deep, majestic tolling of a bell rolled through Kyoto, sounding a wake-up call to a world that had yet to fully rouse.
Su Mo opened his eyes, a rare trace of world-weariness flashing through them.
Clang...
Clang...
Clang...
Clang... clang... clang...
When the nine tolls had finished, a beam of golden light shot into the sky above the Imperial City, projecting a glittering Golden Ranking over Kyoto:
"Great Hua's sacred halls gather the worthy into a mighty river.
Answering heaven and bearing the Way, we select the able through examination."
"Worthies on the ranking: Liu Feng, Jiang Yu, Gu Sai, Ji Hongyan, Su Mo, Liang Yu..."
"The worthies ranked in the metropolitan examination are hereby summoned to the palace for examination, in accordance with heaven's mandate..."
Su Mo raised his head to gaze at the Golden Ranking that blotted out the sky and sun. So vast that it seemed to cover the entire firmament, it displayed this magnificent sight before the whole nation.
At this moment, Great Hua's national might was displayed to its fullest.
Yet in his heart, Su Mo knew:
This was a sorrowful land that devoured people without even spitting out their bones...
"My name is on it too... I must have posed quite a dilemma for you!" Su Mo murmured as he looked at the Golden Ranking in the sky.
The Golden Ranking shone overhead for a full half hour before fading away. Its dispersing golden light fell to the ground like a sacred miracle. The ignorant common people came out into the streets, greeting that holy light with joy and pride, as though bathing in its radiance could spare them all worries over food and clothing in the coming year.
Su Mo watched the people in the streets, his expression darkening.
Awareness... they've stripped the people of their awareness...
But human will is like wild grass. You cannot burn it all away! It will sprout in cracks you cannot see, grow, then push aside the stone weighing down upon it and reveal its indomitable will...
"Are you Provincial Graduate Su?" A group dressed in palace attire appeared before Su Mo's boat. The man at their head, who looked like a eunuch, respectfully addressed Su Mo at the bow.
Su Mo turned to look at the newcomers, confusion showing on his face. "That is this humble commoner. May I ask what brings you here, sir?"
The eunuch at their head smiled at Su Mo. "Young Master Su, just call me Eunuch Ji. I'm not worthy of being addressed as 'sir.'"
Eunuch Ji paused, then continued, "First, congratulations on having your name inscribed on the Golden Ranking and rising to the rank of Tribute Graduate. I have come by imperial decree to escort you to the Imperial Palace for the Palace Examination!"
The confusion on Su Mo's face deepened. He had never heard of someone from the Imperial Palace coming to escort a Tribute Graduate to the Palace Examination.
"Does every Tribute Graduate have someone to escort them to the palace?" Su Mo asked.
Eunuch Ji smiled and shook his head, an unreadable meaning showing in his eyes. "Only you, Young Master Su, have me to guide you to the Imperial Palace."
"Why is that?" Su Mo asked.
Still smiling, Eunuch Ji shook his head. "I merely follow His Majesty's spoken command. Naturally, I do not know the reasons behind it."
"Please change into this Tribute Graduate Robe and come with me... we must not be late for the Palace Examination!" As Eunuch Ji finished speaking, an attendant beside him carried a brand-new set of court robes up to the bow and raised it before Su Mo.
Su Mo nodded, took the Tribute Graduate Robe, and went inside the boat to change before coming back out.
Looking at Su Mo in his Tribute Graduate Robe, Eunuch Ji could not help exclaiming, "Young Master Su, you truly have an imposing bearing."
Su Mo bowed. "You flatter me, Eunuch Ji."
Eunuch Ji nodded. "Then let us go. Steady yourself, Young Master Su!"
The instant he finished speaking, Su Mo's vision blurred and a wave of dizziness swept over him. By the time he recovered his senses, he was already inside a resplendent palace.
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