Nobody had noticed the change in Chen Changsheng's emotions, not even Tang Thirty-Six and Xuanyuan Po, who were standing right next to him. The attention of the crowd was completely focused on this perfect world. Only Luoluo noticed his strange expression and softly asked him what was wrong.

"I just feel like there's something off about today. Later on, in the matches, you have to be careful." Chen Changsheng did not speak about what he had just seen, but he did not conceal his unease. He added, "If there's any danger, leave immediately or listen to my orders."

Gou Hanshi and several others had already begun to understand what Luoluo wished to accomplish in participating in the Grand Examination without receiving a grade, yet as the benefactor of this, Chen Changsheng had actually not thought about it. Upon hearing Chen Changsheng's cautious warning, Luoluo naturally would not oppose. She said, "I will listen to Teacher's orders."

The examinees followed the Li Palace priests through a forest and arrived in front of a round building constructed of stone. This extremely grandiose building spanned several hundred zhang and was ten-some zhang high. The doors and windows atop the flight of stone steps were all tightly shut, so the insides of the building could not be seen, only its black roof.

A cloud suddenly drifted through the blue sky. It floated above the round building and released a refreshing rain. Not too much rain dripped down from above, yet in a very short period of time, the dust accumulated on the roof was completely washed away. The black roof became clean and bright, glistening with light like it was black jade.

"The Hall of Washing Away Dust1 is the site for the matches in this year's Grand Examination."

A Li Palace priest turned and said to the examinees, and then he began to explain the rules.

Just like the rules for passing through the sea of trees and crossing the green river, the rules for the one-on-one matches phase, the final and most important of the Grand Examination's phases, were also simple, clear, and easy to understand.

One hundred and thirteen people in total had passed the martial test. The first fifteen examinees to cross the Qu River had a bye in the first round. The remaining ninety-eight examinees would split into pairs and fight against the person they were paired with. The victors would enter the next round with the fifteen examinees who were given byes, and then they would be split into pairs and fight, and so on and so on until only one remained.

As for how the victor was determined, that was even simpler. When the two examinees fought, the one who could remain standing at the end was the winner.

The loser was naturally eliminated, so in the one-on-one matches phase, every round was very important, as there was no means of rectifying any error. However, because the vast majority of examinees sought to enter the three banners in order to obtain the right to enter the Mausoleum of Books, the first round was viewed with the most importance. As long as one could pass the first round, one was already more than halfway to getting into the three banners of the Grand Examination.

As for how the examinees would be paired off to fight, this was simple to the extreme. It even gave off the feeling that the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Orthodoxy, as organizers of the Grand Examination, were being rather irresponsible. According to the rules, they had given the examinee the right to choose their opponent! Other than the top fifteen examinees who had been given byes, the following forty-nine examinees could choose any opponent they wished from the bottom forty-nine examinees. The examinee that was chosen could not refuse, as this was tantamount to giving up on the test, and their would-be opponent would advance to the next round.

The examinees that had yet to be eliminated were certainly no fools. The moment the Li Palace priest finished explaining the rules, they completely understood. The crowd began to discuss amongst themselves, but before any examinee could bring up any objection or ask a question, the sonorous tone of a bell came from the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

The one-on-one matches of the Grand Examination had formally begun.

As the bell signaled the start, the examinee at the sixteenth place in line instantly became the object of everyone's attention. This examinee was a student from Star Seizer Academy. This person had a tall stature and a stern expression. His Qi was restrained, making seem rather low-key, but not cowardly. He gave off the aura of a soldier.

Another examinee might have felt uncomfortable in this situation, or at least would feel it a bit too sudden, but what soldiers paid the most attention to was strict obedience, receiving orders through the beat of a gong. Thus, this young examinee strode without hesitation out of the line and turned his gaze to the back half of the line.

His gaze moved calmly and slowly across the examinees.

Before his gaze, the examinees in the back half waiting to be chosen all had different expressions and reactions. Some were calm as if they did not sense it, whereas others were deliberately scornful as if challenging it. There were also examinees that lowered their heads or slightly turned their bodies to avoid meeting the gaze. Some examinees barely managed to struggle out a smile, making them look rather pitiful.

To everyone's surprise, the person this young student from Star Seizer Academy chose as his opponent was actually the disciple from Purple Qi Cliff that had asked a question to an examiner on the opposite shore of the Qu River. The examinees could not repress their turbulent emotions and began to chatter amongst themselves. It must be known that Purple Qi Cliff was a part of the Longevity Sect, and this person was assuredly not the weakest of the examinees present, yet he was the first chosen. Why?

The Purple Qi Cliff disciple was astonished, and it took a few moments for it to sink in that he had been chosen. With a calm expression, he walked out of the line, in no way feeling that he had been insulted. Logically speaking, the first to be chosen was inevitably the weakest, but he believed that strength of spiritual sense and quantity of true essence were just ice-cold numbers or levels. There were more factors in play in a one-on-one match, and he was confident that he could win.

And this was true. Besides those top fifteen who were given byes and were truly a level above their peers, the remaining almost one hundred examinees were all quite close in strength. In no way could one say that the examinee who had a higher place in line was assured victory against an examinee ranked lower.

Since the examinees taking place in the first match were decided, the Li Palace priests did not give either side any time to prepare. They brought the two examinees to the Hall of Washing Away Dust. The wooden door at the base of the round building slowly opened, but behind the door was a darkness like that of a terrifying abyss. The priest indicated that the two should enter, after which he swiftly closed the door again.

As they stared at the tightly shut wooden door, the examinees were rather surprised. Could it be that spectating was not allowed in this year's Grand Examination?

The Li Palace priest expressionlessly said to the remaining examinees, "Due to a few special circumstances, this year's one-on-one matches will take place behind closed doors."

The examinees began to discuss this news, some people looking straight at the Orthodox Academy group, especially at Chen Changsheng. They probably suspected that the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education had made such arrangements for his sake. If this was a closed-door exam, then it was not possible to know the details of the battle, let alone if any cheating was going on. At the very least, if Chen Changsheng lost, the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education would be able to save a little face.

Of course, Chen Changsheng knew that this arrangement had nothing to do with him. He looked at the solitary wolf youth standing in the distance and silently wondered whether the closed-door exam had been at this person's request.

The wooden door of the Hall of Washing Away Dust was tightly shut. Remnants of the rain fell from the black eaves of the hall, dripping against the ground.

It was not possible to see what was going on within the hall, and not even a sound could be heard from within, so it was impossible to know how the match within was progressing. The atmosphere outside the hall became somewhat oppressive, and the examinees more and more nervous, perhaps precisely because they could not hear or see, only imagine. Some examinees decided to just cross their legs and seat themselves on the ground, closing their eyes and calming their hearts, putting these matters out of their mind.

After a short while, the door to the Hall of Washing Away Dust opened.

The examinees all turned as one to look. Those examinees who were seated on the ground, and seemed unable to be disturbed by anything, also instantly opened their eyes.

The one walking out was the examinee from Star Seizer Academy. His face was slightly pale and a large hole had been torn out of the front lapel of his uniform, through which a little blood could be seen. However, he still maintained his expression of unperturbed solemnity.

A female examiner from the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green stepped forward to treat the examinee. A clear light flashed over the stone steps and a serene and soothing Qi enveloped the area.

Usually, to be able to see the exquisite Sacred Light treatment of this female teacher would have earned the praises of the examinees, but right now, they were all concerned about the result of the battle.

That disciple from Purple Qi Cliff had still not come out.

Qi Jian walked up to the Li Palace priest and asked, "Might I ask Teacher of what has happened to our junior brother?"

The various sects of the Longevity Sect spoke as one and regarded each other as coming from the same sect. For many people, it was very proper and expected for Qi Jian, a disciple of the Mount Li Sword Sect, to ask after the circumstances of a disciple from Purple Qi Cliff. Only Chen Changsheng was rather perplexed at this sight. He did not understand why it was Qi Jian, who was rather young and inexperienced with these kinds of things, that was asking the question rather than Gou Hanshi.

If the senior brothers were not speaking, why did the junior brother of Mount Li have to speak out first?

Chen Changsheng noticed that Gou Hanshi had his habitually calm expression and that Guan Feibai and Liang Banhu also did not show any reaction. It was as if Qi Jian's stepping forward was a very normal matter.

The Li Palace priest replied, "The loser cannot remain on. The person you are inquiring about has already been sent out of the Education Palace. At this moment, he should be receiving treatment at the Hall of Illustrious Persons. There is no need for you to be concerned."

Qi Jian turned to glance at Gou Hanshi. Upon seeing that his senior brother had said nothing, he returned.

The Li Palace looked over the register in his hands and then looked at the examinees. "Where is number seventeen, Huo Guang?"

Right after he asked the question, a young scholar slowly walked out from the crowd.

This scholar was dressed in a brown robe and his face seemed to be covered in a layer of frost. His expression was one of extreme apathy and arrogance.

He had the right to be arrogant.

Upon seeing this person step forward, all the examinees lined up in the back half became unsettled. They were even more nervous than when the examinee from Star Seizer Academy was choosing his opponent.

Because this young scholar was from Scholartree Manor.

And it was precisely this person from Scholartree Manor that Tang Thirty-Six had quarreled over the path with in the Dallying Forest.

The atmosphere became tense and very few examinees dared to look him straight in the eyes. More of the examinees were silently praying that they would not be picked by him.

According to the Li Palace priest's arrangement, the examinees ranked in the bottom forty-nine all stood to the west of the stone steps in front of the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

The gaze of this scholar from Scholartree Manor flashed across the crowd, falling on a certain area.

This area stood at the edge of the forest, where the dense foliage could keep out the sun. However, it was a little far from the Hall of Washing Away Dust, so few examinees were standing there.

Luoluo did not like to be exposed to the sun, even if it was the fake sun of the Pope's Green Leaf World.

Thus, Chen Changsheng had led his group to this area to stand.

All the members from the Orthodox Academy were standing at the edge of the forest.

The gaze of this scholar also fell on the edge of the forest, fell on the students of the Orthodox Academy.

Chen Changsheng was very calm.

Xuanyuan Po had no reaction. His attention had been grabbed by an ant at his feet.

Luoluo was using a handkerchief to fan Chen Changsheng.

Only Tang Thirty-Six reacted.

He slightly arched his brows, raised his head, and then looked back at this scholar from Scholartree Manor. His demeanor exuded an indescribable arrogance as if he was saying, 'pick me, pick me!'