Ze Tian Ji Chapter 169

Chapter 169 – The Rankings of the Literary Test and a Stick Climbing Mountains

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The Education Palace within the Green Leaf World did not know day or night, and people inside also found it difficult to sense the passage of time, so they were unaware that in the real world, it was already the next day.

As the time approached noon, the peddlers outside seized the opportunity to hawk their wares with all their might. The area beyond the perimeter of the stone pillars was incredibly lively, and of the various scents of food filling the area, that of osmanthus cakes was the most distinct.

The common people who had come to see the Grand Examination encircled the Li Palace and discussed the news that would occasionally emerge from within. The crowd was unable to see those exciting spectacles on the testing grounds, but the mood was in no way affected by this. The atmosphere was incredibly enthusiastic, and it must be said that this feat was accomplished through the contributions of the storytellers.

In the streets outside the Li Palace, one would find a tea house every ten or so zhang. An ordinary table could usually be found outside these tea houses, and in front of their respective tables, the storytellers, dressed in their long gowns or cotton jackets, with phlegm spluttering from their mouths and hands and feet flailing, constantly described the events taking place in the Education Palace. Either these storytellers or the bosses behind them had some sort of connection to the people in the Li Palace, as events that had taken place only a few moments ago in the testing grounds of the Grand Examination would soon after became the contents of their story, and without much deviation from reality.

In the southwest corner was a relatively secluded tea house. It was rather elegantly decorated, but not even this tea house was able to keep its refinement today. It had especially invited a storyteller into its main hall and had paid a significant sum for the latest news out of the Li Palace. The middle-aged storyteller, with his lean and focused expression, slapped his wooden clapper and said, “It is said that one can faintly see their reflection in the waters of the Qu River. Each examinee displayed their own ability, perhaps walking on water to cross the river or transforming their body into a drifting cloud. Eventually, that youth from the Orthodox Academy was the last one. For a moment, both sides of the river were absolutely quiet, everyone wondering just how this youth would cross the river. Who would have thought that they would hear the cry of a crane on the horizon? The White Crane had returned!”

At this point, the storyteller clapped his wooden clappers again, giving the attentive patrons of the tea house a fright. He then slowly narrated, “At the time, almost a hundred examinees were standing at the banks of the Qu River, just about as dumbstruck as all of you are right now. You were all shocked by this little old man, but those examinees were shocked by the White Crane. Why? Because immediately afterwards, that youth of the Orthodox Academy, without a single world, picked up his front lapel and sat on the back of the crane, soaring into the sky and reaching the other shore. This was truly riding a crane down onto Jiangnan; that’s how wondrous this sight was!”

The tea house burst into a hubbub of discussion.

The storyteller chuckled. “Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need to discuss this. After all, all the examinees participating in the Grand Examination, whether from a sect or school, have all probably seen immortal birds and strange beasts, but why were they so flabbergasted? Because no one had ever thought that this sort of method could be used to cross the river. Yet what stunned them even more was that this white crane was not any ordinary white crane, but the White Crane of the capital’s Divine General of the East’s estate!”

The noise of conversation in the room grew louder. Many people of the capital knew that a white crane had been raised in the Divine General of the East’s estate, but it had not been seen much in the past few years. A few people thought of that engagement that had been the talk of the town and couldn’t help but be curious over why the White Crane was willing to carry that youth of the Orthodox Academy across.

“It seems that my esteemed patrons have not forgotten and should know that that white crane had followed Young Lady Xu to the distant Holy Maiden Peak in the south. Why did it suddenly appear thousands of li away in the capital? Could it be that Young Lady Xu really has recognized that Orthodox Academy youth as her fiancé? Then what sort of reaction would those four brilliant disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect have?”

The storyteller lightly coughed and took a sip of warm tea. The guests knew what this meant. Even though one or two patrons fumed that this was a story from yesterday and retelling it today was cheating them of their money, the vast majority of people still obediently put out money.

The storyteller was very satisfied at the copper coins in his plate, cleared his throat, and continued his story of the Grand Examination. The patrons all attentively listened, so no one noticed a middle-aged man wearing a bamboo hat finishing off his tea and walking out of the tea house. This middle-aged man’s hat was pressed down extremely low, making it difficult to see his face. After exiting the tea house, he mixed into the crowd and quickly vanished.

After a while, this middle-aged man appeared outside an inn four li away from the Li Palace. He took two dark red pills from his bosom and swallowed. After a spell of painful coughing, he was finally able to suppress his injuries. As he lay down on his bed to rest, his bamboo hat was pushed off to the side, and two indistinct bulges could be seen in his black hair.

In the afternoon, the business of all the tea houses got even better than before, but the narratives of the storytellers seemed to lose their allure, as the grades for the Grand Examination’s literary test had been announced. The managers or assistants from the various tea houses went to the front of the Li Palace to copy down the rankings and then returned to relay them to their patrons.

The name at the bottom of the literary test rankings was a student from Star Seizer Academy called Zhang Tingtao. The common people had no impressions of this name, so there was naturally little to discuss about it, only a few jeers and some criticisms on how Star Seizer Academy was being run. Xuanyuan Po’s ranking was very poor, Tang Thirty-Six was ranked seventh, Zhuang Huanyu was ranked sixth, and the four scholars from Scholartree Manor had all done stupendously, every one of them ending up in the top ten. Of course, what everyone cared about the most were the two names at the very top. Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng had been ranked first and second respectively, and the two names both had a note beside them: ‘outstanding’.

The patrons enthusiastically discussed the final rankings for the literary test, clicking their tongues in amazement and pointing at Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng as they sighed in praise. Tourists from the outlying provinces who had come especially to the capital to see the Grand Examination were very confused at this. Even if they were ranked in front, what need was there for such praise?

One of the people of the capital explained that the literary test of the Grand Examination had always just had a ranking, and only the most outstanding of exam papers would be specially marked as ‘outstanding’. What was meant here by ‘outstanding’ was that all the answers were correct. That Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng were both marked as ‘outstanding’ on the ranking meant that their answers had been perfect. It must be known that this was a very rare sight. It had been quite a few years since such a situation had occurred.

The tourists understood this reasoning, but they were confused by yet another question. Since both examinees had such outstanding grades in the literary test, all their answers should have been correct, so why did they occupy different rankings? Why was Gou Hanshi ranked first and Chen Changsheng second?

No one was forthcoming with an explanation. Those experienced residents of the capital were also very curious about this question. The Li Palace priests responsible for reviewing the exams were similarly confused.

The chief proctor of the literary test looked at the icy priest who had clearly come to make trouble and thought, even if the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education is unhappy that Chen Changsheng didn’t get first place, is there any need to be so obvious about it?

But since the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education had been abnormally strong in the past year under Archbishop Mei Lisha’s control, even if the chief proctor outranked this priest, he was still forced to give an explanation out of prudence.

“It’s a problem with standard wording.”

He looked at the priests from the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education in charge of reviewing the literary test’s grades and solemnly explained, “They were the same in every other aspect, but Gou Hanshi’s wording was very standard and rigorous, especially when it came to the specialized vocabulary in the scriptures. He even avoided using any proscribed words. Although there was nothing wrong with Chen Changsheng’s answers, the words he used were excessively archaic. Using the standard put in place after the great recompiling, he naturally should have lost points.”

The literary test grades had already been sent out of the Li Palace and announced to the world, so there was naturally no way of changing them. Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng had both been assessed as outstanding and become the praise of all the people. Soon after, when the participants in the final match were confirmed, the people were even more astonished, engaging in endless discussions. This was because the people in that match were still Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, which meant that this year’s first rank of the first banner would be one of these two.

One was the world-renowned Second Law of the Divine Kingdom’s Seven Laws, the young sage of the Mount Li Sword Sect, the erudite Gou Hanshi. The other was the first new student in the Orthodox Academy after many years, the object of the Orthodoxy conservative faction’s nurturing, Xu Yourong’s fiancé, Chen Changsheng. Both were equal in terms of reputation, and that they had been able to reach this point was proof of their knowledge and strength, but still, few viewed Chen Changsheng with any sort of optimism.

The Four Great Markets released the newest payouts. Gou Hanshi’s odds were one to one-third while Chen Changsheng’s were one to seven. The discrepancy was so massive that it was easy to see that everyone felt Gou Hanshi’s victory was a certainty.

As he listened to the ruckus down below, Tianhai Shengxue revealed a pensive look on his face. Although he had earlier placed a large bet on Chen Changsheng, he truly had not expected for that youth from the Orthodox Academy to get this far. Still, even he could not believe that Chen Changsheng could continue winning.

The reason that no one, not even Tianhai Shengxue, could view Chen Changsheng with any sort of optimism was that threshold that spanned between Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng.

This threshold was too high.

This threshold was related to life and death, was higher than life and death.

Within the Hall of Shining Words, Archbishop Mei Lisha slowly opened his eyes. He quietly gazed at the rankings of the literary test on the mirror of light for a very long time, and then smiled. With Priest Xin’s support, he slowly and arduously straightened his body and made his way towards the Hall of Pure Virtue. He had originally intended to borrow the Grand Examination to have Chen Changsheng mature as quickly as possible, but had not expected that Chen Changsheng would truly have a chance of plucking that plump and succulent fruit. He needn’t care if hope did not exist, but since hope did exist, he naturally could not allow anyone to destroy it, not a single person.

Deep within the Li Palace, the Divine Crown rested on a table, bearing the light falling from the sky, suffused with a dazzling radiance. The Divine Staff on the platform was reflected against the pool of water, making it appear to be in the middle of a deep sea. Compared to these two divine artifacts, the Green Leaf in the pot seemed rather shabby. Yet the Pope was not looking at the Divine Crown or the Divine Staff, but quietly gazing at the Green Leaf, silent and seemingly in a daze.

He held his hands behind him, appearing like an elderly gardener.

In the nearby pool of clear water, the wooden ladle lightly bobbed up and down like a boat. At any moment, it could be filled with water, and the water could be sprinkled over the Green Leaf, could bring down a bout of rain.

In a place most distant from the capital was an overgrown mountain ridge. Thick forests grew all along this ridge while white mist curled around it. The path was slippery and difficult to traverse, and it was also abnormally quiet. If not for the occasional tap tap coming from the mountain path, the place might seem even more sinister and terrifying.

This tap tap came from a wooden stick striking the moist rocks of the mountain path.

Leaning on his stick, Yu Ren slowly and arduously made his way up the path. His and Chen Changsheng’s master, the enigmatic Daoist Ji, was walking in front, hands held behind his back, seemingly unconcerned as to whether Yu Ren could keep up or not.

The tapping continued for a very long time, and the mist pervading the quiet forests thickened. Many subtle sounds could be heard within as if many creatures had been attracted by the sounds made by the stick.