"Could it be that he simply gave up on the exam?"
Under the Vermilion Bird Gate, dressed in a wide-sleeved robe, Xi Yangyu raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise.
At this moment, Chen Danqiu had finished reciting the obscure, lengthy, and tedious pre-exam declaration, and the candidates began to enter the venue one after another.
Pei Jing, Yong Hongzhong, Chou Jinghuan...
Those familiar names surfaced in his mind as they entered through the Vermilion Bird Gate one by one. The queue behind was getting shorter, and the face from Yizhou was nowhere to be seen.
Not coming is perhaps for the better.
Xi Yangyu’s lips curved into a faint smile.
Pei Jing looked at the list of exam venues posted on the wooden board in the courtyard, slightly raising his eyebrows in surprise.
He Fanshuang, Li Ang, Pei Jing, Chou Jinghuan...
All were familiar names. But...
"Did that young man really not come?"
Chou Jinghuan looked around the queue, clicked his tongue, and said, "What’s going on?"
"Could it be that he’s given up on himself?"
A young noble whispered, "Didn’t Master Xi say seven days ago that his Spirit Vein trigram doomed him to be incapable of cultivation? Forcing Spiritual Energy into his body would only kill him. It’s better not to come and avoid being carried out, sparing himself the embarrassment."
"That’s true. After all, he ranked second in the preliminary and first in the re-exam. Even without Spiritual Vein Talent and not coming to the final exam, affluent families would still fight over him for a son-in-law."
"Heh, that indeed is something to envy. Perhaps even before our cohort graduates, he’ll already be a father..."
The young nobles, familiar with each other, whispered and joked.
Pei Jing did not join their discussion, turning his head to look towards a corner of the queue.
He Fanshuang furrowed her willow-leaf brows, looking silently at the empty queuing area on Vermilion Bird Street.
It didn’t seem to be joy because Li Ang hadn’t come, but rather... displeasure at having lost a rival.
"You may enter the exam venue now."
An Academic Palace Instructor opened the door, nodding at the candidates outside.
Finally, it had begun.
Pei Jing took a deep breath, and the rest of the students also ended their quiet discussions, their faces tense as they stepped into the exam venue.
Inside, the setup was as before, with tables spaced apart from each other.
However, what lay on the tables were not paper exams, but rather... square wooden boxes made up of several concave and convex wooden posts.
The wooden boxes looked plain, each topped with a wooden sword handle.
The candidates who entered the exam hall were astounded.
The Academic Palace Instructor on the stage nodded nonchalantly and said to the candidates in a deep voice, "The content of the Academic Palace final exam is to unlock this wooden box and withdraw the wooden sword at its top. The time limit is twelve hours."
In the southwest of Chang’an, at Xia Mountain, within the Academic Palace, lay a certain underground chamber.
Under the dim light of an oil lamp, Tantai Leshan’s hands trembled as he wrote the last line in the book crammed with experimental records.
"...Experiment seventy-nine: result, malaria is indeed caused by mosquito bites."
On the ground in front of Tantai Leshan lay the corpse of an ordinary-looking middle-aged man.
The body, dressed in brown common clothes, was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, one who would blend into a crowd without notice. The only noteworthy aspect was the manner of his death.
His body was covered in cold sweat, with a sword wound near his heart. The wound, which pierced straight through the heart, was so clean and sharp that hardly any blood flowed out. In fact, even the blood that had pooled on the ground was, over time, gradually flowing back into the sword wound in the man’s chest.
The moment all the blood had returned and the sword wound at his heart inexplicably healed, the man suddenly opened his eyes and gasped for breath.
He leaned against the wall, shook his head, patted his forehead, and said to Tantai Leshan in a tired, lazy voice, "So, did you find out?"
Tantai Leshan took a deep breath and said gravely to the man, "We found out. The symptoms before your death were undoubtedly malaria."
"Wow," said the middle-aged man, codenamed [Demon-One-Ninety-Eight] [The Undying], clicking his tongue without any surprise at his own death and resurrection. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"Go to Dongjun Tower and use [Trick-One-Seventeen] [Chang’an Micro-View] to simulate and foresee if renovating the water channels and eradicating mosquitoes in Chang’an City can eliminate malaria by this autumn."
Tantai Leshan stood up and said solemnly, "And report the results to the Mountain Master and His Majesty."
"Sacrificial Officer," under the Vermilion Bird Gate, Xi Yangyu said to Chen Danqiu, "it’s almost time to close the gate."
Academic Palace Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu looked up at the sky, nodded, and gestured for the Imperial Guards on both sides to close the city gate.
Seeing the solid and heavy Vermilion Bird Gate slowly closing, parents of candidates living in Guanglu Square and Xingdao Square turned back to their houses. They clasped their hands together and prayed before their ancestors’ tablets. Meanwhile, other parents lit incense sticks, turned their Buddha beads, or even knelt down on the spot to bow and pray to Haotian.
"We should go in and wait too."
Having seen such a scene many times, Xi Yangyu flicked his sleeves and was about to head towards the Imperial City with Chen Danqiu and the others.
CLIP-CLOP! CLIP-CLOP!
Clear hoofbeats approached from afar, and a young man rode in on a horse.
Chai Cuiqiao, standing by the tower window, instinctively called out Li Ang’s full name, not "Young Master" or "Eldest Son."
Li Ang raised his arm, waving to Chai Cuiqiao and Li Leqing at the tower window. He dismounted. He then handed the packhorse and a medicine box to his excited classmates from Yizhou. He had borrowed the horse for a string of coins from a villager traveling to Chang’an to sell vegetables.
Li Ang straightened the ill-fitting clothes he had bought from a street vendor—his original clothes had been torn to shreds by black silk threads. He strode forward and handed his examination credentials to an Imperial Guard. Then, he entered the gateway. Coming before Chen Danqiu and the others, with everyone watching, he clasped his hands in a respectful bow and said, "Disciple Li Ang from Yizhou, here to participate in the Academic Palace final exam."
Xi Yangyu glanced at him and said indifferently, "The Academic Palace final exam is a serious matter, not to be taken lightly. Now that the Vermilion Bird Gate is closed, whatever your reasons, come back next year."
Before Li Ang could speak, Chao Wen Yuan, whose eyes sparkled with keenness, spoke first. He addressed Chen Danqiu, "Sacrificial Officer Chen, the official time for the final exam is the Chenzheng hour. The Haotian Bell has not yet rung for Chenzheng. Theoretically, this student still has a chance to enter the examination hall and participate in the final exam."
Xi Yangyu narrowed his eyes at Chao Wen Yuan, his meaning clear—Li Ang, born with a deficient Spirit Vein, was unlikely to pass the exam even if he participated.
Chao Wen Yuan looked straight into Xi Yangyu’s eyes and said in a deep voice, "Rules are rules."
Chen Danqiu wore a stern expression, paused for a moment, and then slowly nodded.
Li Ang gratefully bowed to Chen Danqiu, Chao Wen Yuan, and the others, then stepped through the reopened Vermilion Bird Gate and walked toward the examination hall.
His steps were brisk.