The illusory realm disappeared, and Wei Yuan’s mind returned to his true body. As soon as he woke up and opened his eyes, he noticed that absolute pandemonium was happening in the test hall. Some people were crying, and some people were laughing. Some people were also shaking uncontrollably while their undergarments slowly turned wet.

Suddenly, a girl’s voice pierced through the cacophony of noises. It was sweet, soft, and indescribably melodious. “You pig-riding bastard, I’ll fight you to the—”

Wei Yuan snuck a look and saw a girl wearing a goose yellow dress standing not far away from him. She looked like a doll that was weaved from a combination of water and jade. She was so beautiful he couldn’t find a single flaw anywhere. It looked like she had just recovered her senses as she jumped out of her seat. When she realized that the surrounding candidates were staring at her though, she instantly fell quiet and even looked panicked and afraid. It was a look that made anyone who saw her feel like holding her tight.

Wei Yuan remembered her as a matter of course. She was the blue team commander who endured a blow from him. He had gone back up the hill to finish the job after realizing that she wasn’t dead yet.

The girl looked like she might burst into tears at any moment, and he could not help but feel a bit of regret. But his feelings were one thing, and finishing off a formidable foe was another.

Meanwhile, the Daoist responsible for supervising the kids felt like the noises were physical hammers pounding away at his head. He kicked them out as soon as he could.

Wei Yuan took his time to climb back to his feet. He waited for the girl in goose yellow dress to leave first before slipping into the crowd and walking toward the exit.

The girl didn’t see him, but someone else had. Right before he would leave the hall, Lee Zhi suddenly stepped out of a nearby shadow and blocked his path.

Wei Yuan tensed up internally and waited for Lee Zhi to speak up. However, the boy neither said a word nor opened the way. Thus, the duo kept staring at each other while the rest of the candidates passed them by. It wasn’t long before they were the only ones still standing in the hall.

The supervising Daoist didn’t urge them to leave. He simply stood outside the door with his back facing toward them.

Lee Zhi kept glaring at Wei Yuan until his eyes reddened. He then uttered through clenched teeth, “I, Lee Zhi, shan’t soon forget this shame! Give me your name if you’re a man!”

Wei Yuan could hardly back down after receiving such a taunt. Besides, they had already fought in the illusory realm. With Outlawed by Heaven and Earth, he was sure he could take out the boy in one or two blows at most. He replied, “Wei Yuan.”

Lee Zhi yelled, “Wei Yuan! Alright, I’ve remembered you! You’ve won this time, and I’m not a man who can’t accept defeat! But remember, there’s nothing to brag about beating someone younger than you! I, Lee Zhi, am only eight years old! The tide turns every thirty years, so just you wait—sooner or later, I’ll win back my dignity exactly the way I lost it!”

Lee Zhi turned around and stomped out of the hall after that. He waited until he was alone before he secretly wiped his arm across his eyes.

The martial test was over, but the battle in the examiner hall had just begun. Right now, everyone’s head was a pile of goo. This wasn’t how anyone had anticipated this martial test to go. If they hadn’t ended the martial test prematurely, Wei Yuan was probably going to drag every last candidate out of their hidey-holes and kill them all.

The boy had killed nearly every candidate with a spot reserved in an immortal sect or a grotto-heaven. Excluding him, most of the merits lay in the hands of ordinary candidates, and they were either a frontliner or a scout. However, it was such a pitiful amount of merit that it was worth one or two points at most.

Thus, the current situation was like this: if they were to grade this martial test strictly according to the rules and regulations, then everyone besides Wei Yuan had earned a big fat zero.

The older cultivator was the first to speak up. “We need to discuss how we should grade this.”

The old Confucianist declared, “I believe that the number one spot should go to Lee Zhi! As the commander of the yellow team, he both annihilated the blue team and preserved his elites. He’s still so young, and yet he has already displayed an uncanny level of talent in warfare. If he doesn’t deserve the top spot, then who does?”

The younger cultivator sneered. “You’re saying that Lee Zhi’s the one who annihilated the blue team? Are your eyes diseased?”

The old Confucianist replied with a straight face, “Wei Yuan’s the one who annihilated the blue team, and he is a member of the yellow team. As the commander of the yellow team, the merits of anyone in the yellow team naturally goes to him. This has been the case since forever.

“But of course, I am not saying that Wei Yuan’s merits should be ignored. He can take the number one spot together with Lee Zhi.”

The younger cultivator was so furious he let out a harsh laugh. “What about the yellow team’s failure then? Should they go to him as well?”

The old Confucianist replied matter-of-factly, “Of course not. Merit and failure are two separate things. They shouldn’t be mixed together.”

The younger cultivator was so angry that his hands were shaking, but he simply lacked the skill to defeat Liu Sigu verbally. The old Confucianist had spent half his life debating others, whereas the younger cultivator was young, impetuous, and prideful. There was just no way he could outtalk him.

It was at this moment Daoist Fu Feng interrupted, “According to the rules, there is only the blue team and the yellow team. There is no such thing as a commander. Even if there was, why can’t the commander be someone else? Because he’s Duke Hui’en’s son?”

To his surprise, the old Confucianist declared loudly, “Exactly! It’s because he’s Duke Hui’en’s son, and because Cui Han and Wang Quan support him!”

The declaration contained so much confidence and conviction that Daoist Fu Feng couldn’t say a thing in return.

Everyone knew that the aristocratic families possessed immense power and influence, so much so that people called those at the top the Seven Surnames and Thirteen Honored. The foremost among them even rivaled the immortal sects. Thus, in a unified exam and especially a martial test like this, one’s background was enough to make one the leader. In fact, background was the only way to decide such things. This was why Bao Yun was leading the blue team, and Lee Zhi was leading the yellow team.

The claim that the division of teams was absolutely fair was, of course, a partial lie as well. After all, Bao Yun and Lee Zhi would never be placed on the same team no matter what.

Daoist Fu Feng knew all this as a matter of course, but he wasn’t expecting the old Confucianist to bring up all of the unmentionables just like that. It was such a provocation that his Dao Foundation grew restless, and his complexion turned as black as the bottom of a frying pan.

The old Confucianist continued, “Someone has to pick up the mess. However you lot choose to grade the candidates, Lee Zhi is getting thirty points from me.”

It was at this moment the middle-aged Confucianist broke his silence with a cough. “You’ve all witnessed the martial test from the beginning until the end. The blue team was annihilated first, while Lee Zhi demonstrated exceptional military leadership and maintained his composure under pressure. As the leader of the yellow team, he should be awarded thirty points.”

The younger cultivator sneered. “Lee Zhi lost two battles in a row, and you call this a ‘demonstration of exceptional military leadership’? To begin with, the blue team’s demise has absolutely nothing to do with him. If it wasn’t for Wei Yuan, hmph! Miss Bao would have destroyed him several times over! If Lee Zhi could get thirty points, then the young miss should get fifty points!”

The middle-aged Confucianist said, “Wei Yuan belongs to the yellow team.”

The younger cultivator countered, “Didn’t he wipe out the yellow team as well?”

This wasn’t an easy question to answer. After exchanging a look with the old Confucianist, the middle-aged Confucianist answered, “His evaluation should be lowered accordingly as he accidentally harmed a teammate.”

It was a slick reply, but the younger cultivator wasn’t going to let go so easily. He pressed, “Exactly how many points do you plan to deduct?”

The two Confucianists cursed inside their heads. Zhang Sheng was watching, so they couldn’t answer this question carelessly. The middle-aged Confucianist outright ignored the question and said, “Miss Bao’s blue team was annihilated, and she hasn’t achieved anything individually. According to the rules and regulations, she should get zero points!”

“Bullshit!” The younger cultivator flew into a rage.

Once more, the examiners were embroiled in a heated argument. Zhang Sheng was the only one who had been keeping quiet from the beginning and so appeared to be the odd one out. Everyone knew that the argument was meaningless though. There was no way they were going to agree with each other, so they could only grade based on their own preferences.

Zhang Sheng didn’t touch the name list in front of him. He simply watched the group in silence.

Liu Sigu was the first to grab his brush and wrote the words “Lee Zhi, 30”. The second name he wrote was Wei Yuan. He pondered for a long, long time after writing the name until finally, he lowered his brush like it weighed a thousand jun[1]. He wrote a 2 and paused for a few seconds. Then, he added an 8 behind the 2.

The younger cultivator sneered and called him a sheep in wolf’s clothing internally. He loved to pretend otherwise, but his bones ultimately weren’t tougher than an immortal sword.

The younger cultivator also raised his brush and wrote “Bao Yun, 30”. When it was Lee Zhi’s turn, he didn’t hesitate to give the boy 15 points.

As soon as he finished grading Lee Zhi, the old Confucianist suddenly gave him a look and wrote “Bao Yun, 1”.

The middle-aged Confucianist’s head snapped up in realization, and he wrote the exact same thing.

The younger cultivator was flabbergasted to say the least. He looked around. The Buddhist monk had given Bao Yun and Lee Zhi 3 points each, and Wei Yuan 30 points. They were now busy grading the other candidates, though the large majority of them only got 1 or 2 points. The older cultivator was acting like this was none of his business and gave both Bao Yun and Lee Zhi 25 points.

Daoist Fu Feng gave Wei Yuan 30 points, Bao Yun 10 points, and Lee Zhi 5 points. Besides that, he gave a few other candidates 20 points or higher. Clearly, these were the aristocratic families he needed to support.

It was the relative difference that mattered, not the score itself. It was only now the younger cultivator realized that he was naive, and that he should’ve waited until the last second before giving Lee Zhi 0 points. Alas, one could not change what they had written on the paper, much less the scores of a unified exam.

At this point, everyone’s scores except the Buddhist monk barely had anything to do with the martial test. Thus, they dropped all pretenses and started fighting each other openly.

Zhang Sheng continued to watch them perform in silence.

It was at this moment an aquatic beam of light descended from above and struck the stone tablet. The lunar essence looked as fine as a strand of hair, but the pressure it placed on everyone’s shoulders rivaled that of the abyss, the ocean, even the sun itself!

The examiners’ thoughts froze for a moment. Then, they saw the list of names on the stele disappearing and reappearing with new scores behind them. The candidate at the top of the list was Wei Yuan with a score of 25. It was followed by Bao Yun with a score of 3, Lee Zhi with a score of 2, and a handful of others with a score of 1. Everyone else got 0 points.

An ancient, distant voice boomed from an unknown place the examiners only knew came from above them.

“This is fair!”

The scores on the stone tablet melted away like snow, and new scores appeared. 20 points were added to everyone's score. Wei Yuan’s new score was 45, Bao Yun’s was 23, Lee Zhi’s was 22, so on and so forth.

“This is the bare minimum of dignity we afford the clans.”

The examiners were completely silent. Now that a True Lord had spoken, they no longer had a say in anything.

Every True Lord was a heavenly pillar that could hold up a middle-class clan singlehandedly. Even prestigious, thousand-year-old clans like the Bao Clan and the Cui Clan had to treat a True Lord with due respect, not to mention that fine lunar essence enveloping the stone tablet was quite renowned even among the True Lords. There was only one person in the Palace of Absolute Beginning who helmed both the Skyblue Hall and the Water Moon Hall after all.

The voice then grew stern and rebuking, “It is deemed that Zhang Sheng of the Palace of Absolute Beginning has conducted himself recklessly and even humiliated his colleagues. Though motivated by righteous grievances, he must still receive due punishment!”

A pause later, the voice declared... Zhang Sheng’s stipend will be revoked for the next three years as a warning to others!”

The examiners all accepted the verdict cheerfully. Not one person leaked out their true thoughts.

High up in the sky, a silhouette shrouded in aquatic lunar light said, “We’re all old friends here. If there are any objections, we can discuss it at another time. If there are no objections, then this matter is settled.”

The silhouette was surrounded by several other formidable-looking figures. They all looked impressive in their own right. Two figures nodded, and the other two figures grunted noncommittally. The latter two figures were dressed like Confucianists, though the folding fans they were holding were strangely short like someone had sliced them in half. Besides that, one of the figures was dressed like a cultivator and glittering like a walking treasure vault. It was clear that everything he wore was a famous treasure of some sort. Strangely, his dazzling robe was missing a sleeve.

Three people had voted yes, and two had abstained. Thus, the matter was settled, and the unified exam had come to a proper conclusion.

1. 30 catties. ☜