Golden rays began to shine, their radiance spreading across the world.
One by one, the examinees stood before the hall and expressed their original purpose in studying to the Sage in a few words or sentences.
The officials either nodded to one another or discussed quietly among themselves.
What a lively scene!
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye, and only Liu Feng and Su Mo had yet to answer.
Liu Feng glanced at Su Mo and frowned.
He remembered this Provincial Graduate Su. He had had an unpleasant encounter with Su Mo at the Riverboat Pavilion that day.
But he had been too busy these past two days to pay any further attention to this insignificant fellow.
He had never expected this man surnamed Su to make it this far. There was something about Su Mo that he found deeply repulsive. Still, it hardly mattered. A small fry could not stir up wind and waves.
Liu Feng glanced at Su Mo, then stepped out of the ranks first and knelt before the Sage.
"Your humble servant studies in order to..." Liu Feng held an official post, so there was nothing improper about addressing himself as a humble servant.
"To alleviate the suffering of the people!"
"To bring prosperity to the common folk."
"To strengthen the people's resolve."
"To fortify the foundations of the nation."
Liu Feng stood brimming with righteousness, his expression sincere. Though young, he harbored grand aspirations.
An uproar erupted! The officials immediately began discussing his words.
Many nodded repeatedly, making no attempt to conceal the admiration in their eyes.
The Minister of War beside them looked especially proud.
Even the dispirited man seated in a chair below the emperor could not help turning to look at Liu Feng!
Having finished, Liu Feng returned to his place. He was very satisfied with his answer... because he knew what the man on the sacred throne liked to hear!
The emperor's gaze flickered atop the sacred throne, revealing nothing of his thoughts.
The emperor turned toward Su Mo, the last examinee who had yet to step forward. Beside Su Mo, Ji Hongyan discreetly nudged him as a reminder.
Yet Su Mo seemed not to notice. He merely lowered his head, staring at the jade-paved ground beneath his feet.
"Su Mo, what is your answer?" the emperor asked.
His deep, resonant voice rang across the entire forecourt!
Su Mo raised his head toward the man on the imperial throne, stepped forward, and stopped.
Instead of answering, Su Mo turned toward Liu Feng, who had returned to his place, and smiled with a trace of sinister charm!
"Insolence! You dare show His Majesty disrespect!" a eunuch beside the emperor shouted.
Everyone was shocked!
"Guards..." Before the eunuch could finish, the emperor raised a hand slightly, cutting him off.
The emperor looked at Su Mo and asked, "Su Mo, what is the meaning of this?"
Su Mo turned toward the emperor on the sacred throne and gave an inscrutable smile...
The Minister of Rites beside them rebuked him. "Su Mo! Answer His Majesty's question. If you have no answer, withdraw!"
Su Mo lowered his head, as though he had finally thought something through, and at last spoke in a low voice:
"Actually, I didn't know what to do at first either... after all, my path of immortal cultivation was at stake!"
The officials and the other examinees watched Su Mo, frowning in bewilderment at his words!
Su Mo shook his head with a bitter smile and continued talking to himself. "What could I do? Just as she said, what did it have to do with me... haha, she was dying... and she still urged me not to meddle!"
Su Mo turned toward Liu Feng and burst into laughter... looking like a man possessed.
"Hahahaha... but you just said... you sought to relieve the people's suffering! Hahahaha! That's laughable!"
"If you deceived the world... how devastated would they be when they found out..."
Su Mo's laughter echoed all around. He doubled over, then his shoulders shook, caught somewhere between weeping and laughing!
"Has he gone mad?" Ji Hongyan frowned as she watched Su Mo's behavior before the hall, feeling that something was about to happen.
Jiang Yu stared blankly at Su Mo in the forecourt. "What's happened to Brother Su?"
Some officials wanted to reprimand Su Mo for his behavior, but seeing no reaction from the emperor, they dared not speak.
Seeing the deranged-looking Su Mo aim his attack directly at the words he had just spoken, Liu Feng flew into a rage. "Su Mo, what do you mean by this?"
Su Mo turned toward Liu Feng and spoke slowly, as though recalling something, as though being torn apart, his voice filled with unbearable pain:
"West City..."
"Underground..."
"Those thousands of departed souls... they're so noisy..."
The examinees were all bewildered, unable to understand what Su Mo was saying!
Yet the officials present showed no change in expression, giving no hint of their thoughts.
Liu Feng's expression shifted slightly. He looked toward his father, the Minister of War, only to see no reaction from him.
"Su Mo, you need only answer the question. What West City? What departed souls? What do these things have to do with your answer?" the Minister of Rites asked, suppressing his anger.
"They have nothing to do with my answer... but they have everything to do with his!" Su Mo raised his hand and pointed straight at Liu Feng.
Liu Feng's expression changed drastically. He turned to look, only to find that the emperor on the sacred throne remained unmoved.
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
Su Mo looked around. Seeing everyone remain silent, he shook his head. "You actually don't know? You don't know?"
"Hahahaha..." Su Mo laughed incessantly. When he finally stopped, he took the Memory-River Spirit Jade from inside his robes!
The Memory River rose, and the past returned!
"Is that... the Memory-River Spirit Jade?" Someone recognized it.
Someone else asked, "What is the Memory-River Spirit Jade?"
"The Memory-River Spirit Jade can make a person's memories appear before everyone's eyes!"
"What does he want to show us?"
"Whether you truly don't know or are only pretending! Since we've already come this far... why don't I take you to see?"
Thinking of that night... of the horrific scene beneath West City, Su Mo pressed the Memory-River Spirit Jade to his forehead and activated it. Radiance flowed across the spirit jade.
A streak of light flew out of the spirit jade, followed by a second, a third...
Countless streaks of light flew out, circling the forecourt of the Imperial Palace before shooting into the sky. They formed a canopy that blocked the daylight, instantly plunging the square before the hall into darkness.
Everyone saw only pitch-black darkness, and a bone-piercing chill swept over them.
Suddenly, a spot of light appeared within the darkness...
A red spot of light appeared before their eyes, slowly spreading.
Mist... red mist!
The red mist veiled everyone's eyes, hiding whatever lay within it!
Underground. They were underground!
The chill from deep beneath the earth crept into everyone's heart...
A rank smell... the stench of blood!
The red mist gradually receded...
Blood... it was all blood!
A pool of blood-red filled their vision!
Corpses... countless corpses hung all around the underground stone walls!
At last... the scene conjured by the Memory-River Spirit Jade unfolded before everyone's eyes!
Inside a vast underground cavern, corpses hung from all four walls, their blood, fresh or dried, flowing toward a pool in the center.
Human blood running down the walls had gathered into a pool of blood...
Red blood churned within the pool. An eerie underground wind swept past, stirring wisps of bloody mist that lingered without dispersing.
A huge bronze cauldron stood on a lone island in the blood pool.
A suspended, single-plank bridge led from a hidden passage straight to the island.
Dark-red radiance surged over the Bronze Cauldron on the island in the blood pool. A red pill hovered in midair, constantly rotating as it absorbed bloody mist from the pool...
"This is..." An elderly official with graying hair opened his mouth at the scene before him, his expression blank!
As though he had returned to that night, Su Mo's eyes reddened, and he said hoarsely, "Someone intended to refine a blood pill!"
"These people..." Ji Hongyan trembled as she looked at the corpses hanging from the surrounding stone walls.
Su Mo replied, "They... were naturally the main ingredient! The blood needed to refine a blood pill... kill them and take their blood, hehehehe!"
"That's..." Someone pointed at the blood-red pill hovering above the island in the pool.
Su Mo took a deep breath. "That is the blood pill, bought with these people's lives!"
The emperor watched the scene, his gaze flickering!
Yet the dispirited man seated below the emperor stared fixedly at one section of the stone wall... reflected in his eyes was a petite, endearing figure!
That sweet, sensible little girl, who had nevertheless been mischievous enough to run away from home on her own, that... lifeless corpse!
Utter silence!
The illusion faded.
The dispirited man's eyes were vacant...
Before you continue