Brushes moved across the snow-white paper like people wandering about a desert, silence punctuated by the rustling of sand.

It seemed like many mulberry trees had instantly grown within the Hall of Shining Words, each raising up many silkworms.

Chen Changsheng gripped his brush and seriously answered the questions on the test. His brush on the exam was like a lingering serpent, one brush for a single stroke so seriously drawn that he gave off an air of caution.

This caution made him seem rather nervous, but in reality, he was very relaxed. The countless essays he had read as a child now constantly flitted through his mind like leaves in the wind. When he saw a question, he would lightly pick out a leaf and copy down what was written there, with no time needed to think. Those questions that required contemplation to reach the answer had not appeared yet. The several pages of questions he had seen had not yet gone beyond the scope of the knowledge in the Daoist Canon. The priest that had written the questions had not yet displayed wisdom that surpassed the countless sages of the past.

Nearby, Gou Hanshi put down his brush and massaged his wrist, then continued to write. His expression was calm and relaxed as if he had returned to taking notes on his homework in Mount Li's study room.

The Hall of Shining Words was quiet, the only sounds those of flipping pages and writing brushes. Occasionally, someone would cough once or twice, a sign that this person was nervous.

Just then, something completely unexpected happened: a person turned in their exam early.

Of course, it was not Gou Hanshi or Chen Changsheng. Their brushes had just begun writing on their exams. As the two viewed as having the best chances in the literary test, they should at least answer all the questions, right?

It was also not Xuanyuan Po. "There's no chance of elimination in the literary test, so if you're really not good at it, just give it up." This was Tang Thirty-Six's advice to him, and the same advice was dispensed by the teachers and elders of many academies and sects to their own students. This advice was a result of experience. If one could have an extremely good performance in the martial test and one-on-one matches, then even if one completely failed the literary test, there was still hope of entering the three banners.

Someone turning in the exam early was a very common sight in each Grand Examination, but this incidence was still very surprising, because it was still far too early.

The first to turn in their exam was precisely that thinly-attired youth who Chen Changsheng had been paying attention to this entire time. This youth had not even looked at his exam. To put it more accurately, the moment the exam booklet was put on his table, he rose and began walking towards the chief examiner with exam in hand. How was this any different from giving up on the exam? This was exactly giving up on the exam.

In the Grand Examinations of the past, even if there were many people like Xuanyuan Po who were endowed with the experience of their teachers and elders and had decided to completely give up on the literary test, they would at least give a little face to the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy, enduring the exam for at least an hour before turning it in.

But this youth had chosen without hesitation to give up on the test as soon as it began, as if completely unaware of the ways of the world. The examinees all stared at his back in shock, and some also seemed to take delight in this youth's suffering. For the examiner to have this sort of examinee, even if they didn't explode on the spot, they certainly wouldn't have any good impressions of the unlucky examinee.

This youth walked up to the chief examiner and placed his exam booklet on the table.

This thick booklet was naturally blank.

The several chief examiners dispatched by the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy all stared at this youth in silence, causing a strange atmosphere to develop.

A priest broke this silence, coldly asking, "You truly wish to turn in your exam?"

This youth had a delicate appearance, his most defining feature being a pair of very thin and flat eyebrows that looked almost like straight lines. It was by no means unsightly, but it did make him seem rather cold.

At this priest's question, the youth showed no change in expression. He asked, "Is it not allowed?"

As he spoke, his slender brows slightly rose as if rather annoyed. Apparently, he found conversing with other people extremely unenjoyable.

His voice was as mild as ice, his tone as flat as a wasteland, and he spoke very slowly, as if each word was jumping out of his mouth one at a time. All in all, it seemed like it had been a very long time since he had last opened his mouth to speak.

This priest slightly frowned, his displeasure evident in his voice. "According to the rules of the Grand Examination, it is naturally allowed to turn in your exam early, but.."

Not waiting for the priest to finish, the youth declared, "I am turning in my exam."

His speech was still very slow, his tone still very flat, his mood still extremely cold. His meaning was clear, his resolve firm, so there was no 'but'.

The priest glanced at the blank exam booklet and then said no more. Another examiner harshly scolded, "Now it's impossible for you to enter the second banner. As long as you have a heart that can feel shame, then you should feel ashamed, but instead you still act so proud of yourself! I really don't know how your teacher taught you!"

The youth remained expressionless and did not reply to these words.

He had no teacher, and he had only participated in the Grand Examination to take part in the one-on-one matches. He wanted to defeat everyone, especially that lady from White Emperor City, so that he could once more tell himself that he was the strongest. As for the first rank of the first banner decided by the Great Zhou Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy, he simply didn't care.

Soon after, someone came and brought the youth out of the Hall of Shining Words and to the location of the martial test.

As the several hundred examinees watched him leave, their eyes roiled with all sorts of emotions.

Gou Hanshi had a vague guess as to who this youth was and his expression became somewhat solemn.

Zhuang Huanyu slightly raised his brow, his expression calm, but with a little unease in the depths of his eyes.

After an hour had passed, examinees began to turn in their tests.

These examinees were led out of the Hall of Shining Words by officials and taken down the Divine Avenue of the Li Palace for a very long time before finally arriving at the location of the martial test: the Garden of the Morning Sun.

The Garden of the Morning Sun was a large garden in the eastern section of the Li Palace. In the warm spring season, its vast fields of grass were like an ocean of green and its countless trees carried the serene aura of a forest. In the morning, one could listen to the birds sing, and at dusk, one could view the winding streams. It was an extremely beautiful sight, and even now, when winter had just passed and spring was beginning to bud, despite the yellow grass, the scenery was still very enchanting.

What was the true intention of the Grand Examination?

To select talents for the Orthodoxy and the Imperial Court, to act as a threshold of entry for the Mausoleum of Books? Yes, it was both these things, but the most important goal of the Grand Examination was to pick and then nurture more and more of the truly talented youths so as to build a stockpile of reserve strength for the war against the demons.

The fighting ability of a single demon was far too powerful, so the humans and demi-humans could only rely on their numbers to gain an advantage and put up a bitter resistance. Starting from a thousand years ago, humans came to realize that only by nurturing more and more experts that were supreme in the true sense of the word would they be able to obtain a true and overwhelming advantage in this conflict.

In the endless path of cultivation, Ethereal Opening was the most important threshold. As long as one passed this threshold, one would become an important focus of the human world. However, age was an important consideration. To the human world, a thirty-year-old upper level Meditation cultivator was far less important than a thirteen-year-old initial level Meditation cultivator. Anyone could understand the reasoning. Even if an eighty-year-old cultivator were finally able to enter the Star Condensation Realm, the oil of his lamp had been spent, and it would be impossible for him to ascend to those higher realms, so what meaning did it have in the war against the demons?

Thus, just like the Proclamations of Heaven, Earth, and Man promulgated by the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, the Grand Examination focused on the potential and talent of its examinees, focused on their future. From a certain perspective, talent and potential were one and the same, though the latter had a more subjective and conscious factor to it than the former. When these were combined, what they displayed was ability.

The martial test was the most direct method for the Grand Examination to realize its goal.

Geniuses like Xu Yourong and Luoluo were naturally blessed with the talent of their bloodlines, and it was both unnecessary and impossible to test this talent, but ability could be tested. First was the strength of one's spiritual sense, which decided how distant one's Fated Star was, determined the efficiency of one's cultivation over time. The second factor was quantity of true essence, which concerned the examinee's diligence and the effectiveness of their perception of the world.

Under the guidance of the officials, the examinees entered the Garden of the Morning Sun, heading towards its easternmost and deepest part. They did not see that youth who had turned in his exam first, only holly trees that had been pruned extremely flat and were about as tall as two people. Some examinees from the capital knew of the origins behind this lush forest and thus came to realize the contents of this year's martial test, and could not help but moan in their hearts.

...

...

Leaving these examinees taking the martial test in front of their challenging situation, the literary test in the Hall of Shining Words was still continuing. Some students gnawed on the ends of their brushes, their faces pale as if they could fall unconscious at any moment. Some students were actually profusely sweating in the chilly air of early spring, and light steam rose from their bodies. The mood in the hall was particularly oppressive.

The questions for this year's literary test were too difficult, requiring a level of knowledge too broad and too deep, far surpassing the literary tests from the past few years. No matter how much one racked one's brains, one's strength had a limit. There was a constant stream of examinees who ended up defeated in their battle against the question maker and turned in their exams early. Occasionally, the sound of sobbing could be heard from outside the Hall of Shining Words.

More and more of the examiners and priests were focusing their gazes on Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, yet the two seemed blissfully unaware. They continued to work the problems, the brushes in their hands never stopping.

As time passed, only ten-some people remained within the Hall of Shining Words. The vast majority of tables had been moved away, making the hall feel even more spacious and deserted. Even those who remained had given up on answering the questions on the last few pages and begun to earnestly check their answers, hoping that they had not made any careless mistakes. Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng were still answering questions.

The early spring sun rose from the horizon to its zenith, and the number of people taking the literary test continued to dwindle. Even Tianhai Shengxue and the four youths from Scholartree Manor had stopped answering questions, but Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng were still silently continuing to write. At this point, they had both reached the final page.

The chief examiner and the other priests in the hall found it impossible to remain seated. One by one, they left their desks and walked with their teacups into the examination area. Concerned that they might affect the pair's test taking, they did not get too close. From a generous distance, they watched a sight very rarely seen in the Grand Examination. Nobody made a single noise, and the expressions on their faces grew more and more splendid.

In the past few years, no one had been able to completely answer all the questions of the Grand Examination's literary test. This was because the ones who drew up the questions for the literary test were all elder priests of the Li Palace who had extensively studied the Daoist scriptures. Perhaps those old priests had ordinary cultivation and were lacking in power, but they had spent their entire lives buried in old books, so their stores of knowledge were extremely deep and profound. They had grown used to placing the most difficult of problems on the last few pages of the exam so as to prove their worth. Even these extremely erudite elder priests would find it an arduous task to answer these final questions on their own, much less these students who had come to take the literary test.

Gou Hanshi was famed for being well-versed in the Daoist Canon, and Chen Changsheng had now also received a similar reputation. Perhaps because this was the case, those erudite, old priests of the Li Palace had been provoked and made this year's questions much harder. This was especially the case for the questions on the last few pages, which delved into the most obscure and refined of topics, all for the sake of making things difficult for Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng.

The chief examiners and those priests were well aware of the story behind the literary test. Now that they saw Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng reach the final page, apparently able to answer all the questions, they were naturally shocked to the extreme.

Tianhai Shengxue had already turned in his exam and stood at the door to the hall. He turned around to look at Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng still writing and creased his brow in silence. As the descendant of the Tianhai clan with the most prospects, he had never relaxed the demands he placed on himself, but the questions on the last few pages had truly been too difficult. He could not understand how Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng were able to continue answering them. Was the gap in knowledge between him and them truly this vast?

The scholars of Scholartree Manor were the second-last to leave. Logically speaking, they should have been proud of their feat, but the sight of those two still writing in their exams made it impossible for them to feel such an emotion. They were not surprised that Gou Hanshi, who was famed for his knowledge, was able to endure until now, but they believed that the youth called Chen Changsheng would never be able to answer the last few questions, that he was only unwilling to leave out of pride. They could not help but show scorn on their faces.

No one knew how much time had passed.

The sound of clothes brushing against a table was heard in the quiet Hall of Shining Words. Whispered discussion and agitation, no longer able to be restrained, rose from the east side of the hall.

Gou Hanshi had finished answering the questions and was standing up.

At almost the same time, the sound of table and chair moving, the tidying of exam papers, arose from the west side.

The crowd gazed in that direction and saw Chen Changsheng holding the exam booklet to his chest, preparing to turn it in.

Silence once more descended over the hall.

Separated by ten-some zhang, Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng quietly gazed at each other and then slightly bowed their bodies in respect.

This was the first they had looked at each other since the first toll of the bell. Of course, they had always known that the other was present.

The literary test concluded, the noise-dampening array outside the Hall of Shining Words was removed, and sound crashed down like a wave.

The crowd who had come to spectate the Grand Examination had been kept very far away. Even so, the noise they made could still be heard, so it could be imagined how lively it was.

...

...

The spectating crowd already knew the specific circumstances of the literary test and knew that Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng had actually been the last to turn in their exams, that they had actually managed to answer all the questions. They couldn't help but be so excited that they shouted. Two youths well-versed in the Daoist Canon had ultimately turned in their exams together. This was a sight that enraptured the imaginations of the crowd.

Gou Hanshi was famed throughout the world and was the leading candidate for taking first place in the literary test. He was deeply respected, but he was still a youth from the south. Although Chen Changsheng had offended all the young men of the capital through his engagement with Xu Yourong and the story of the autumn rain, he was still a person of Zhou. At this time, he became the representative for the people of the capital, the pride of the Zhou. Unexpectedly, the majority of the crowd was cheering for him.

Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng could not clearly make out what the crowd was yelling. They took towels from waiting attendants, soaked them in water, and then washed their faces and hands. After tidying their appearance, they were led out of the Hall of Shining Words by an official. It was evident that this treatment was especially meant for just the two of them.

Upon walking to the trees in front of the Divine Avenue, Gou Hanshi asked Chen Changsheng, "'Although the Zhou is old, only its mission is ancient'. What is your view on this question?"

(TN: The question seems to be a modified form of a line from the "Classic of Songs" which goes 'Although the Zhou is old, its mission is new'.)