Fighter of the Destiny

The pen walking on the snow-white paper is like a person walking in the desert, sometimes making a rustling sound, sometimes silently.

There seemed to be many more mulberry trees in Zhaowen Hall and many silkworms were raised.

Chen Changsheng held the pen and carefully answered the questions on the scroll. His pen did not move around on the scroll, and he wrote carefully, stroke by stroke, so seriously that he was even a little cautious.

Because of his restraint, he looked a little nervous. In fact, he was very relaxed. Countless articles he had read since childhood were passing through his mind like fallen leaves in the wind. When he looked at the title, he read from the fallen leaves. Gently pick off a piece and copy it down. Where does it require long-term thinking? Questions that require thinking to draw conclusions have not yet appeared. The few test papers that have been seen do not contain knowledge beyond the scope of Taoism. In the assessment, the priests who asked the questions have not yet shown wisdom that exceeds that of countless predecessors.

Gou Hanshi, who was not far away, put down his pen and rubbed his wrist, then continued to write, with a calm and relaxed expression, as if he was studying and taking notes in Lishan Study.

It was quiet in Zhaowen Hall. Only the sound of flipping through test papers and writing could be heard. Occasionally, one or two coughs could be heard, which represented nervousness.

At this moment, something no one expected happened - someone handed in the paper in advance.

Of course it's not Gou Hanshi or Chen Changsheng. They just put their pens on the paper and started writing. As the most promising person in the literary test, they must at least finish all the questions, right?

Xuanyuan Po was not the first to hand in the paper - there is no elimination in the literary test. If you are really not good at it, just give up. This is what Tang Sanliu said to him. This is also what many college teachers or sect elders say to their disciples. In other words, this is the so-called experience - if you perform extremely well in the martial arts test and battle later, even if you have no results in the literary test, you still have hope of entering the top three.

It is very common to submit papers in advance in the annual imperial examinations, but this year someone handed in papers in advance, which still surprised people because it is still too early.

The first person to hand in the paper was the undressed young man that Chen Changsheng had been paying attention to. The young man didn't even read the paper. To be more precise, as soon as the question paper was handed to his desk, he stood up, took the question paper and walked towards the examiner's position. What is the difference between this and giving up the exam? This is to abandon the exam.

In the previous imperial examinations, even though there were many people like Xuanyuan Po who would give up on the literary examination based on the experience taught by their predecessors and teachers, they would always think of saving some face for the imperial court and the state religion, at least in the imperial examination. After half an hour in the examination room, I handed in the paper.

The young man didn't hesitate and gave up the exam as soon as it started. He seemed completely ignorant of the ways of the world. The candidates looked at his back and were very surprised. Some of them showed a look of gloating, thinking that the examiner would treat such a candidate even if he didn't. It would be an on-the-spot attack and it wouldn't leave any good impression.

The young man walked to the examiner's seat and put the question paper on the table.

The thick stack of question papers was naturally blank.

Several examiners sent by the imperial court and the state sect stared at the young man in silence, and the atmosphere was a bit strange.

A priest broke the silence and said in a cold voice: Are you sure you want to hand in the paper?

The young man has a delicate appearance, and his biggest feature is that his eyebrows are very thin and flat. They look like a straight line. They are not ugly at all, but they just look a little cold.

Listening to the priest's question, the young man still had no expression on his face and asked, Can't you?

When he spoke, his thin eyebrows were slightly raised, looking a little bored, as if he didn't like talking to others.

His voice was as light as ice, his tone was as flat as wilderness, and his speaking speed was very slow, as if he was jumping out word by word, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.

The priest frowned slightly and said with some displeasure: According to the rules of the imperial examination, it is natural to submit the paper in advance, but...

Before the priest could finish speaking, the young man said, I'll hand in the paper.

The speaking speed is still very slow, the tone is still very flat, the mood is still very cold, the meaning is very clear, the intention is very firm, that is, there is nothing wrong with it.

The priest looked at the blank question paper and said nothing more. Another examiner sternly reprimanded: You can no longer enter the second class. If you have any sense of shame, you should feel ashamed. You still act so proud. I really don't know how your teacher taught you!

The young man remained expressionless and did not answer this sentence.

He has no teacher. He came to participate in the imperial examination just to participate in the battle. He wanted to defeat everyone, especially the little girl from Baidi City, and once again told himself that he was the strongest. As for the selection of the imperial court and the state religion, he wanted to defeat everyone. He didn't care at all if he topped the list.

Later, someone took the young man out of Zhaowen Hall and went to the venue for the martial arts test.

Hundreds of candidates in the hall looked at the young man walking away with complicated expressions in their eyes.

Gou Hanshi vaguely guessed who the young man was, and his expression became a little solemn.

Zhuang Changyu raised his eyebrows slightly, his expression still calm, but there was some uneasiness deep in his eyes.

Half an hour later, candidates turned in their papers one after another.

The candidates were taken away from the Zhaowen Hall by the officials and walked along the Shinto in the palace for a long time before arriving at Chaoyang Garden, the venue for the martial arts test.

Chaoyang Garden is a large garden to the east of the Imperial Palace. In spring and bright scenery, countless grasslands are as green as the sea, and countless trees have a quiet and forest atmosphere. You can hear the birds singing in the morning and watch the winding water in the evening. The scenery is extremely beautiful. At this time Winter has just passed and spring has arrived. The grass is slightly yellow, but the scenery is still very charming.

What is the real intention of the imperial examination?

Select talents for the state religion and the imperial court, and set the threshold for enlightenment in the Tomb of Heavenly Books? Yes, these are all, but the ultimate purpose of the Great Examination is to select and train more and more truly talented young people to reserve subsequent strength for the war with the demons.

The single combat power of the demons is too strong, and humans and demons can only rely on their numerical advantage to compete. Since a thousand years ago, people have realized that only by cultivating more truly peerless warriors can they compete. Only those who can gain a real and overwhelming advantage in this war.

In the long road of spiritual practice, access to seclusion is the most important threshold. As long as you pass this threshold, you will become the focus of attention in the human world, but age is also a very important reference value. A thirty-year-old sitting photo shows The importance of the realm to the human world is far less than that of sitting in the first realm at the age of thirteen. This is a truth that everyone understands. Otherwise, even if you finally enter the star-gathering realm when you are eight hundred years old, you will already be exhausted. Ku, it is no longer possible to enter the highest realms. What significance does this war with the demons have?

Therefore, just like the list of heaven, earth and people issued by Tianji Pavilion, the Great Imperial Examination values ​​the candidates' potential and talent most, and looks at the future. Talent and potential are actually the same thing in a sense, but the latter has more subjective initiative factors than the former. When combined, what is expressed is ability.

The martial arts test is the most direct means for the imperial examination to achieve its own goals.

For geniuses like Xu Yourong and Luo Luo, their bloodline talents are innate and do not need to be tested, but their abilities can be tested. The first is the intensity of spiritual consciousness, which determines the distance of the candidate's destiny star and the efficiency of practice per unit time. The second is the amount of true energy, which is related to the candidate's diligence and the efficiency of perceiving the world.

Under the leadership of officials, the candidates walked through Chaoyang Garden and came to the easternmost and deepest part. They did not see the boy who handed in the paper first. They only saw an extremely smooth pruned holly shrub in front of them, about two people tall. Cong, some candidates in Kyoto knew the origin of this lush green forest, and then they realized that this year's martial arts test had such content, and they couldn't help but wailed silently in their hearts.

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Not to mention the difficult situation faced by the candidates who are preparing to take the martial arts test, the literary test in Zhaowen Hall is still going on. Some students are biting the end of their pens, their faces are pale, as if they may faint at any time, and some students are in the cold early spring air. , his face was covered with sweat, his body was steaming slightly, and the atmosphere in the venue was particularly depressing.

——This year’s literary test questions are too difficult and involve too much and too deep knowledge, far more than in previous years. No matter how hard you rack your brains, after all, manpower is sometimes scarce, and candidates continue to lose the battle with the question maker and hand in their papers early. Then, from time to time, cries can be heard from behind Zhaowen Hall.

The eyes of the examiner and the priests fell more and more on Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, but they seemed not to notice and continued to work on the question paper without pausing the pen in their hands.

As time passed, there were only about ten people left in Zhaowen Hall. Most of the seats had been removed, making the place even more empty and deserted. Even the remaining people had given up on answering the questions on the last few pages and began to Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng were still answering the questions after carefully checking the previous answers and hoping there would be no unnecessary mistakes.

The early spring sun moved from the horizon to the center, and fewer and fewer people were still taking the literary test. Even Tianhai Shengxue and the four young scholars from Huaiyuan had finished answering questions. Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng continued to answer the questions in silence. Answering the question, they had reached the last page at this time.

The examiners and priests in the hall could no longer sit still. They left their tables and chairs one after another and came to the room with tea. Because they were worried that it would affect their answer, they did not get too close. They watched this extremely exciting scene in the imperial examination from a distance. It was a rare scene, no one made any sound, and the expressions on their faces became more and more exciting.

——In these years of imperial examinations, no one has ever been able to complete all the questions in the literary examination. Because the people who set the questions for the literary test are all old priests who have studied Taoism intensively in the palace. Those old priests may have ordinary spiritual realms and have little power, but they have buried their heads in piles of old papers all their lives and are extremely knowledgeable. They are used to writing on the last few pages. He wrote some of the most difficult questions in the test papers to prove his worth. It was extremely difficult for these knowledgeable old priests to answer those questions alone, let alone the students who came to take the literary test.

Gou Hanshi claimed to have read the Taoist canon thoroughly, and Chen Changsheng now has the same praise. Perhaps because of this, the learned old priests in the palace were angered. The questions in this year's imperial examination were much more difficult than in previous years, especially the last few pages. Juan was even more sophisticated to the extreme, just wanting to embarrass Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng.

The examiner and the priests knew very well the inside story of this year's literary test. At this time, they were extremely shocked when they saw that Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng had answered the last page and seemed to be able to complete all the questions.

Tianhai Shengxue had already handed in the paper. He stood at the door of the palace and looked back at Gou Hanshihe and Chen Changsheng who were still answering questions in the palace. He frowned and said nothing. As the most promising heir of the Tianhai family, he had never relaxed his demands on himself. , but the last few pages of the question paper were too difficult. He couldn't understand why Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng could continue to answer the questions. Is the gap in knowledge between the two sides really so big?

The scholars from Huaiyuan were counting down to handing in their papers. Logically speaking, they should be proud enough. However, looking at the two people who were still writing quietly in the field, they could not have such emotions. They were not surprised that Gou Hanshi, who had no academic name, could persevere until now. But they thought that the young man named Chen Changsheng would definitely not be able to complete the last few pages of the test paper. He must be vanity-driven and refused to leave, with a mocking look on his face.

I don’t know how much time passed.

In the quiet Zhaowen Hall, there was the sound of clothes rubbing against tables and chairs, and the sound of discussion and faint restlessness could no longer be suppressed, and sounded from the east side.

Gou Hanshi finished answering the question and stood up.

Almost at the same time, the sound of tables and chairs being moved and the sound of papers being sorted came from the west.

People looked over there and saw Chen Changsheng holding the question paper in his arms and preparing to hand it in.

Quietness returned to the palace.

Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng looked at each other quietly from a distance of more than ten feet, then bowed slightly and saluted.

From the time the bells rang, when they first saw each other, of course, they always knew each other was there.

The literary test ended. The silent formation outside Zhaowen Hall was removed, and waves of sound poured in.

The people who came to watch the imperial examination were stopped far away. Even so, the sound still reached the venue. You can imagine how lively it must be at this time.

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The people who were watching the excitement had already learned the details of the literary test. They knew that Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng were the last to hand in the paper and had answered all the questions in the paper. They couldn't help but get excited and shouted General one after another. The two read through the Dao Zang. The young people finally handed in the paper together. The sight of it is fascinating to think about.

Gou Hanshi is famous all over the world. He was the first in the literary test and was highly respected by the world. But after all, he was a young man from the south. Although Chen Changsheng offended all the young men in Kyoto because of his engagement with Xu Yourong and the story of the autumn rain, But after all, he is a Zhou person. At this time, he has become the representative of the people of Kyoto and the pride of the Zhou people. Most of the people are applauding him.

Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng couldn't hear what the people in the distance were shouting. They took the hand towels handed by the deacons, wetted them in the basin, washed their faces and hands, tidied them up, and walked out under the leadership of the officials. Zhaowendian, it is obvious that these are the unique treatments for the two of them.

Walking to the green tree in front of the Shinto, Gou Hanshi asked him: Although Zhou is an old state, its destiny is only the old one. What do you think of this question?

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(I have had many ideals, one of which is to be a top student, but unfortunately I don’t have the ability, so I can only fulfill my wish through stories. Hehe, I will try to get it before 11 o’clock in the next chapter. Thank you for your monthly votes today. , I will write it well.)