"That concubine's daughter actually passed the exam!"
The results after the exams were announced naturally brought joy to some and sorrow to others. Most of the scions of prominent families in the capital were fine. Even those who had been given special attention but failed the exams were mostly not jealous of the children of commoners who had temporarily risen to prominence. Although some envied those who could stay in this place of high spiritual energy, the truly promising children generally had the magnanimity to tolerate others.
Moreover, many of the students failed because they focused too much on inheriting the techniques and had too little time to study Neo-Confucianism. However, most of them were very confident in themselves and their temporary setbacks did not affect their mindset. Many people believed that they would catch up and pass the exam in Jiangnan within six months at most.
However, not everyone has such a positive mindset, and a large number of people find it unacceptable that children of commoners can enjoy such advantages!
At this moment, the two once important members of the Shen Family were extremely distraught.
As a key member of the family and a direct descendant, although she couldn't compare to Shen Yu's status in the family, she was still far superior to Shen Xue, a illegitimate daughter with no talent, and the resources she enjoyed were on a completely different level.
But recently, things have completely turned upside down because of the Jiangnan Academy. The high-level spirit fields, which were originally only open once a month, have been opened to illegitimate daughters like Shen Xue who have no aptitude, and they have been opened three times at once.
The frequent opening of spirit fields will affect the quality of subsequent openings, which will reduce the treatment of the children who originally enjoyed the resources, and will naturally cause dissatisfaction.
And now, Jiangnan's opportunity has been taken away again!
The spiritual energy here is several times higher than that in the capital. Even though it's not quite as high as the spiritual fields, it's abundant every day. The spiritual fields open once a month for three days each time, but here, you can meditate on the street anytime you want, for thirty days straight. As long as you're a sorcerer, I doubt anyone who comes here will want to leave.
"I wonder if Shen Yu's approach will work?" Another member of the Shen Family's direct lineage was a fat man, the fourth son of the fourth branch. He had just been admitted to the Capital Yin-Yang Academy this year and was in the prime of his life. However, he couldn't muster any enthusiasm at all. If he hadn't been here before, he would have been fine, but after coming here, he suddenly felt that the Yin-Yang Academy was no longer appealing.
"You're really counting on him?" Shen Xing from the third branch sighed and shook his head. "He's set his sights on Shen Yuan. Putting aside whether Shen Yuan has the ability to break the academy's rules, even if he does, it's not necessarily our turn."
The other person was taken aback, their face immediately falling. That was indeed the truth; even if the other two had a strained relationship, they were still brothers. What were they?
They used to mock Shen Yuan a lot when he was with the Shen Family, so why should they expect him to help them now?
"So we're just going to slink back like this?" The fat man Shen Lin, immediately glared.
Shen Xing remained silent. Logically speaking, that was the case; both of them were near the bottom of the class, so what else could they do but slink back home?
But how could they possibly be willing to go back like this?
"How about we write back and ask my father and third uncle to put pressure on Shen Xue to give us her spot?"
Shen Xing: "."
Is this fat guy out of his mind?
Putting aside whether the people in Jiangnan recognize your actions, even if they do, how can you expect the other young masters to accept it? Shen Xue isn't without any backing now. That old man Bai Hua is very sought after in the capital. The Shen Family can win the favor of many prestigious families just by opening schools for others. Only someone out of their mind would try to steal someone else's daughter-in-law's spot.
The patriarch's insistence on sending the three of them up had already displeased Bai Hua. It had taken considerable effort to persuade the old gentleman to stay, and now he was trying to snatch his spot with a single sentence?
Are you kidding me?
Regardless of their combined importance, even the current head of the family wouldn't dare to risk such a move by Shen Yu!
Seeing Shen Xing looking at him like he was an idiot, Shen Lin realized that his idea was too unreliable, and immediately lowered his head dejectedly.
Are we really going back like this?
Are they really going to let that illegitimate daughter climb all over them in the future?
The more Shen Lin thought about it, the more confused he became. For some unknown reason, a strange sense of malevolence welled up in his heart, and his face inexplicably turned ferocious.
"Hey Fatty," Shen Xing was taken aback. "What's wrong with you?"
Although Shen Lin had a bad personality, he was usually pleasing to the eye. He was fair-skinned and handsome, with a chubby face and a simple, honest smile that easily won people's favor. This was the first time he had ever seen Shen Lin look so creepy.
My whole face looks inexplicably distorted.
"You said," Shen Lin suddenly looked up, "What if Shen Xue died?"
"What did you say?" Shen Xing was stunned. "Are you crazy?"
"I'm not crazy," Shen Lin said in a low voice. "You've seen Shen Xue's condition these past two days, haven't you? If she suddenly died, it wouldn't be so hard to understand, right?"
Shen Xing's face darkened. "So what if you die suddenly? What does it have to do with us? Will Jiangnan Academy just let you fill in? Don't you know your own ranking?"
"That depends on when she suddenly dies," Shen Lin laughed. "It's definitely not possible now. If we can stay a few more days after those aristocratic scions who didn't pass the exam return home, and Shen Xue suddenly dies, then we can ask Shen Yuan and the family head to lend a hand, and we can step in. Isn't that possible?"
Shen Xing: "."
Has this guy really gone mad?
At this moment, Shen Lin's smile felt very eerie to him, unlike anything he had seen before. But for some reason, listening to such unreliable advice, he couldn't suppress the wicked thought that was rising in his mind.
A thought kept popping into my head.
Maybe it really is possible?
Once the thought arose, he found he couldn't suppress it no matter what he did, and he himself didn't know that a strange smile exactly like Shen Lin's had appeared on his face at some point.
Unbeknownst to the two, a strange scarecrow was grinning and watching them intently.
"Brother, what are you looking at?"
At night, in the room of the Northern Desolation Kingdom team, Murong Bingyun was staring blankly at the excerpted list.
After being interrupted by Beiyu, he looked up and said, "Your Mystic Academy's exam tomorrow will focus on medical theory, so you can't slack off. What are you doing here instead of reviewing pharmacology?"
"Medical knowledge is accumulated over many years; how can you cram at the last minute?" Beiyu rolled his eyes at the other person, then found a seat and sat down. After seeing the list, he laughed and said, "What? Didn't you make the list, elder brother? Why are you still looking at the list?"
Murong Bingyun ranked in the top five in both mathematics and physics, so her results this time were not disgraceful, considering that her opponents were the major families of the Central Plains, and the Northern Desolation Kingdom was far behind the Central Plains in terms of academic heritage.
"I'll take a look and see what my future classmates will be like," Murong Bingyun said with a smile.
"What's there to study?" Beiyu asked curiously.
"Of course there are," Murong Bingyun shook her head. "I looked at the list, and this time, the top-ranked families are mostly from powerful clans, especially the descendants of the Nine Ministers, who basically occupy the majority of the list. The families of the Nine Ministers in the Central Plains are all ancient clans with a history of thousands of years, and their reserves of techniques are quite astonishing, far beyond what our Northern Wolf Kingdom's families can compare to. When you're classmates with these people, you have to be careful when vying for good techniques. After all, if you can't compete with them in terms of the number of techniques, you have to have a good eye and get the best techniques from the Jiangnan Academy before others realize it."
"That's true," Beiyu nodded, "But I trust your judgment."
"Thank you for your trust."
"But... I see you've been fixated on the top spot. It's not just about researching the descendants of the Nine Ministers, is it?" Beiyu said with a half-smile. "I've noticed it for a while now. You seem quite interested in that girl named Shen Xue. Let me remind you, you've been personally betrothed by the Wolf King. You can't have any other ideas. Besides, I've also heard that Shen Xue is already married; she's someone's betrothed."
"You're really bored," Murong Bingyun chuckled. "With exams in the air, you still have time to inquire about that."
"Isn't it because I'm afraid you'll act impulsively out of youth?"
"I'm not as bored as you," Murong Bingyun rolled her eyes at the other person. "I just think this girl has some potential for cooperation."
"Cooperation value?"
"Yes, she has a great talent for math and science. I just checked her scores. Although she ranks first among our migrant children, her score is quite impressive because she scored more than fifty points higher than the second-place Pang Family student. Her near-perfect score in math and science proves that she already had a very good foundation."
"What does this mean?" Beiyu was taken aback.
"This means she'll be progressing much faster than us after she enrolls," Murong Bingyun said in a low voice. "Our exams are much easier than the local Jiangnan exams, precisely because we out-of-town students have a weaker foundation. Math and physics are things that can't be caught up in a short time. So even if we get into the academy, it will probably take us a lot of time to catch up. But her math and physics foundation is far superior to ours, so she'll definitely catch up faster than us."
"I've also investigated that girl. The Shen Family isn't a particularly powerful family, and they don't have many techniques they can exchange for. Besides, she might not have the family's absolute support. At this point, having her scout ahead and find good techniques, with us providing the techniques to exchange for, and then sharing the techniques after the deed is done, isn't out of the question."
"So that's what you're planning?" Beiyu nodded. "In that case, why don't we just go to her? I think with our terms, she shouldn't refuse, right?"
"This is a bit troublesome."
"What's the trouble?"
"She's accompanied by a very troublesome evil entity. I have a feeling that thing is not simple, and it might be dangerous to get too close!"
"An evil object?" Beiyu looked at the other person seriously. "A sacrificial evil object? The Central Plains have these too? You have the Wolf King's blessing, so what could possibly make you feel threatened?"
"I don't know," Murong Bingyun shook her head solemnly, "But my intuition tells me that I might not be able to avoid that thing."
Beiyu: "."
--
"You've come to see the Lord?"
On the other hand, Wei Gongcheng, sensing something was wrong, finally decided to report it, even though Seventh Master Shen was not entirely in favor of it.
But when they arrived at the prefectural capital, Chen Ying's answer was completely unexpected.
"My lord left an hour ago!"
"They've left?"
Wei Gongcheng was taken aback. "Where did you go?"
The integrity assessment results were released, Chen Qing clearly seemed to take it very seriously, so why did he leave at this crucial moment?
"That monster is looking for him."
"Monster?"
" Princess White Jade!"
Upon hearing this, not only Wei Gongcheng but also Seventh Master Shen, who had come along, were taken aback. They had almost forgotten that there was such an important figure in the power struggle among the West Sea forces!
But was it a coincidence that I was called away at this crucial moment?
For some reason, Wei Gongcheng a vague unease rising in his heart.