Dusk fell.
Towering buildings rose along the inner river, and the covered bridges spanning it, as well as the surrounding pavilions, were already packed with spectators.
The Golden Tower was a renowned auction house in the Capital City. Its spacious premises made it suitable for hosting contests, so it also frequently took on events catering to refined and popular tastes alike, such as board games, arena matches, and beauty pageants, earning money through ticket sales or running the betting.
Today's "Social Death Contest" had been initiated by Wei Lu of Snow Eagle Ridge, with the Golden Tower hosting and judging. The person challenged was Zhang Huaiyu of the Imperial College.
Both contestants were young and could not yet be counted among Great Qian's leading figures, but neither had an ordinary background.
Wei Lu was the direct grandson of Wei Wuyi, Great Qian's foremost figure in the Martial Dao. If he failed to withstand the test and showed his true colors, suffering social death in public, Snow Eagle Ridge would become the laughingstock of the Jianghu that very day.
Zhang Huaiyu's master was Fan Li, the Imperial College's chancellor, and his grandmaster was Ye Ci of the Twin Saints-the source of "Fan's Sinews and Ye's Bones," which Xie Jinhuan had studied since childhood. Mu Yunling of Danyang was his martial uncle.
As a direct disciple in Ye Sheng's lineage, if Zhang Huaiyu disgraced himself in public, the reputation of Confucianism would take a considerable blow.
Thus, viewed in broader terms, this Social Death Contest could even count as a sectarian struggle between the Martial Dao and Confucianism!
To ensure both contestants' reputations were utterly ruined, this contest was an open-air public showdown. The questions had been devised by the Capital City's gang of well-connected young wastrels, whose bellies were full of