The sun was already high in the sky when Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai finally got out of bed.
Without the slightest rush, the two dressed and washed, visited the latrine, and then sauntered leisurely out of the Justice Sect to have "brunch" together out on the street.
Only after finishing their meal did they stroll back like men out on an idle walk, making their way to the study hall where the literary exam was to be held.
Throughout the entire process, they didn't care in the slightest whether anyone was watching; they acted as relaxed as if they were in their own homes, seemingly not giving a damn about any "Youth Heroes Assembly"...
The Justice Sect disciples were well accustomed to the pair and knew these two rascals were always like this. But the outsiders who had arrived today for the assembly could not help murmuring inwardly at the sight, genuinely unable to tell whether the pair just possessed an exceptionally calm mindset or were completely arrogant and insolent...
Halfway through the hour of Si, the literary exam of the Youth Heroes Assembly was finally about to begin.
The Justice Sect compound was spacious with deep courtyards, so clearing out a study hall capable of holding over a hundred people was child's play. In truth, fewer than a hundred youths had come to participate; rather, the elders from various sects who had come to observe or oversee the event far outnumbered them.
Naturally, the observers were not permitted into the study hall, just as parents could not follow their children into an examination room. Thus, while the young heroes were taking their "exam," these elders were escorted to another reception hall to rest; later, Sect Leader Shen was to host a banquet for them.
Unlike the other young heroes who had taken their seats early, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai walked into the study hall practically right on the nick of time—and they were even picking their teeth as they strolled in.
"Hey! Brother Sun! Brother Huang! Over here, I've got empty seats by me!" At this moment, only that dim-witted Lei Buji had the gall to call out to them so loudly.
Perhaps precisely because he lacked a few marbles, the seats around him were all empty; nobody wanted to sit beside him.
Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, of course, did not mind in the slightest. With leisurely strides, they walked over and plopped down in the two empty seats next to Lei Buji.
With that... Lei Buji, who previously hadn't drawn too much attention, instantly became an "oddball" in everyone's eyes. What was more, compared to Sun and Huang, a kid like Lei Buji whose background was completely unknown aroused even greater suspicion.
"Ahem." Seeing that everyone had arrived, an elderly man seated at the head of the hall, dressed and groomed like a schoolteacher, cleared his throat and spoke: "Silence, please..." As he spoke, he shot a glance toward the Justice Sect disciples beside him. "Distribute the exam questions."
Receiving their orders, the disciples went forward, split the dozens of paper scrolls stacked on the lecture desk into bundles, and orderly distributed them to every occupied desk.
"Paper, ink, brush, and inkstone have been prepared; you may use them at will," the old gentleman remarked leisurely as the papers were handed out. "The prompt is written on the sheet; simply write your answers below it. The time allotted is half a shichen. Those who finish early may turn their papers in, but once you hand them in, you must leave."
His tone and demeanor as he said this were completely relaxed, yet his eyes held a constant edge of sharp vigilance. In truth, from the moment those young heroes entered the room, his piercing gaze had been scrutinizing each and every one of them.
Several of those seated below recognized the old gentleman as well, knowing him to be the long-renowned "Iron-Faced Scholar" of the jianghu, Qiao Chengshu.
Old Qiao's martial arts were not particularly high, barely qualifying as a "second-rate expert," but he was famous for his uprightness and fairness, as well as his exceptional literary talent. In his youth, Qiao Chengshu had even passed the examinations to become a tribute student, but for various reasons he later abandoned the path of officialdom and took to wandering the jianghu instead. For several previous Youth Heroes Assemblies, Old Qiao had served as the examiner for the literary exam, which was why Shen Youran had invited him once again.
Qiao Chengshu was among the rare few who were both worldly-wise in the ways of the jianghu and brimming with classical learning. Naturally, the prompts he devised were tailored to the participants, weighing circumstance and audience.
To put it more bluntly, he knew very well that most of these young men and women of the jianghu possessed limited literacy. He wasn't going to trouble them with the kind of examination meant for imperial scholars, but would offer questions suited to their station.
For instance, this year's prompt read: *Twenty years hence, where will you abide? How many seasons of the jianghu, how many parting paths?*
This question had no set answer. It was an open-ended prompt imagining the future, primarily meant to get these young folks thinking about what the jianghu would look like once their youth had faded, and where they would ultimately end up.
Examinees could deduce the future trends of the martial world based on their own understanding of the jianghu, or they could wield their literary talent to deliver lengthy, impassioned discourses. In short, any answer was acceptable...
In any case, there was no such thing as "failing" this literary exam. It was merely used to rank participants according to their responses, setting the stage for the next day's martial tournament. Those who performed well on today's literary exam would be seeded in the upper brackets of the tournament, allowing them to fight fewer matches; furthermore, even if they lost in their very first bout, they would still secure a respectable final placement. Those who performed poorly, however, would have to fight their way up from the very bottom of the bracket, demanding immense physical stamina and martial prowess—though, of course, as long as one's martial skills were strong enough, one could theoretically still achieve a high ranking or even claim the championship.
It was precisely because Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai knew this rule—or rather, because they knew that "even if they handed in blank sheets today, they could still fight it out in the martial tournament tomorrow as usual"—that they were so completely brazen and unconcerned.
Taking another step back... even if they truly ended up dead last in the tournament, they didn't really care.
After all, their sole intention in venturing out this time was to broaden their horizons in the jianghu; no one had set any targets demanding they achieve some lofty ranking.
Although Huang Donglai's father had dropped a line in his letter, it was only telling him not to bring shame upon the family. And on that front... Huang Donglai had already accomplished it through his chivalrous deeds on the road to Luoyang. As for Sun Yixie, that went without saying: so long as he returned home alive, his father would be more than satisfied.
Consequently, the pair were in rather relaxed spirits as they sat down to answer.
Huang Donglai began by writing about his aspirations, believing that in the future he would become a figure akin to the jianghu's "Bai Xiaosheng"—that is, a professional commentator. To prove his knack for the craft, he then penned down six names based on his understanding of the current trends in the martial world: Shen Youran, Sect Leader of Luoyang's Justice Sect; Yue Youque, one of the imperial court's four great masters of "Wind, Cloud, Water, and Moon"; Meng Qi, young master of Yuxiu Mountain Villa; Di Bujuan, chief of the Water Transport Gang; Dugu Yong, the "Dragon-Defeating Sword" of Jinling Sword King Manor; and Wumingzi, the "Three-Eyed Soundless" of the Kunlun Sect.
Huang Donglai predicted that the next twenty years in the martial world would belong to these six men. In the age bracket of thirty to forty, when synthesizing all factors—martial arts, prestige, sect background, and political influence—these six were clearly the most promising figures in the current martial realm.
At this time, Huang Donglai had no idea that of the six men he had pinned his hopes on today, counting from the day their names were written, not a single one would live past five years... and the deaths of several would be directly tied to him.
Naturally, that is a story for later...
On the other hand, Sun Yixie's answer was even simpler. Seeing as he didn't know many characters to begin with, he wrote a grand total of eight characters: *Drifting and bobbing with the waves, remembering only today.*
He had simply tossed a lyric from "A Laughter Across the Vast Sea" right at Old Qiao. As for his intended meaning... my guess is it amounted to: "I have the memory of a fish and can only remember today; tomorrow isn't my concern, I'm just here to drift and fool around."
Having written those eight characters, Brother Sun handed in his paper and took off. Before leaving, he even called out to Huang Donglai, saying he was heading over to scout out the dining area first.
His behavior undoubtedly drew burning glares from many of the surrounding young heroes once more, successfully unsettling their concentration and spoiling the quality of their answers...
When Qiao Chengshu saw the answer Sun Yixie submitted, he merely gave a dry chuckle without offering any comment.
If you think Old Gentleman Qiao was struck by divine awe upon seeing such an eccentric answer and gave Brother Sun a stellar ranking, you would be mistaken... Qiao Chengshu was no pedantic bookworm like Xue Tui. He had seen plenty of illiterates trying to bluff their way through by being unconventional, and he wasn't about to fall for it.
Thus, it can be stated frankly here: Sun Yixie was later placed on the second-to-last tier of the tournament bracket, and the tier below him was largely made up of actual illiterates and Lei Buji.
...
As the saying goes, words stretch when there is a tale to tell, and shrink when there is none; half a shichen slipped by in the blink of an eye.
By the time the young heroes finished their literary exam, it was already the hour of Wu. Leaving the study hall, they joined up with the various heroes and had lunch inside the Justice Sect compound. After the banquet disbanded, everyone dispersed.
As for the results of the literary exam, they were not to be announced until the following day. For the sake of fairness, Old Qiao received no visitors while grading the papers.
And so, the fourteenth day of the eighth month passed without any waves.
Early the next morning, the Justice Sect posted the results of yesterday's literary exam along with today's tournament bracket.
Who had answered well was clear at a single glance upon this chart...
Huang Donglai's ranking was quite high. However, right up until the rankings were posted, he remained completely unable to circulate his internal energy. It seemed he was going to be thoroughly screwed over by the elixir he had concocted himself... He had already prepared himself to forfeit directly when his turn came.
As for Sun Yixie's ranking, as mentioned earlier, although he cursed a steady stream of "motherfuckers" upon seeing the result, the entire world knew the bastard had handed in his paper in under three minutes; no one thought he deserved any sympathy.
Considering that the arena matches would take quite some time, shortly after the rankings were posted that morning, the main event of the Youth Heroes Assembly—the martial exam—commenced.
The challenge arena for the matches had been erected several days prior, naturally situated inside the Justice Sect's headquarters. Setting up an arena in the open street carried too many risks... If members of an evil sect mingled among the spectating commoners to stir up trouble, amidst such vast crowds the situation would be hard to control and casualties impossible to predict.
Besides, with so many people from the major sects present to watch, there was hardly any spare room left around the arena anyway.
By three quarters past the hour of Chen, all parties were in position around the arena. In the highest row of head seats offering the finest vantage point sat eight grandmaster-level sect leaders headed by Shen Youran; they served both as witnesses to the tournament and as the on-site judges.
The rules of the martial exam were simple: determine victory or defeat, but do not decide life or death; everything else was fair game.
For example, accidentally inflicting minor injuries was permissible. After all, fists and feet were merciless and blades had no eyes. While "stopping upon touching" was indeed the ideal, if one couldn't even break the skin, there would be no way to compete.
However, taking a life, crippling an opponent, or destroying someone's martial cultivation... that was forbidden.
If anyone displayed obvious malicious intent along those lines on the stage, fellow members of the jianghu wouldn't even need to intervene—the culprit's own sect elders would likely rush up first to cripple them, destroy their cultivation, or take their life, all to preserve the sect's reputation...
Additionally, it was worth noting that the scope of "everything else was fair game" also included the use of hidden weapons... Since certain sects specialized in hidden weapons, banning them entirely would be somewhat unfair. Thus, using them was fine, so long as they weren't coated in poison or aimed at blinding an opponent's eyes.
"Everyone, the arena matches shall now begin!"
Seeing that the time had arrived, at Shen Youran's gesture, a Justice Sect disciple responsible for emceeing quickly leaped onto the stage and bellowed out an announcement in a ringing voice:
"Today, the first match: Wang Chun, four-pouch disciple of the Beggars' Sect, versus... Lei Buji!"
Chapter 43