Translator: Lordbluefire

  For the 1-star examination, it was enough for the examinees to just have a single subject reaching the expert level.

  Hence, the examinees would head to their respective venues according to the scheduled time of each subject.

  With all the subjects added together, it basically needed three days for all the subjects to be tested.

  For a subject like poison study, it was usually held in the smallest classroom, the type where 50 pax was the max capacity. In fact, the classroom might not even be filled up.

  While for alchemy, weaponsmithing, and spirit runes—the popular subjects, their testing area would always be filled to the brim. Hence, they were usually scheduled first, and the grading would begin the moment the candidates completed the exam papers.

  “Everyone, let’s start!”

  This time around, the person in charge of the grading was a 7-star great teacher, Tong Xugao. He had already been a grandmaster spirit runist for 30 years and was experienced enough to manage this.

  Moreover, the other ten graders were all spirit runists with over ten years of experience in the study of spirit runes.

  “Teacher Tong, please!”

  Everyone clasped their hands. After Tong Xugao took away a paper, they then started grading.

  This was a convention. The main grader would start by doing this first as a sign of respect.

  “I wonder if we will see someone scoring full marks this year?”

  Wang Song glanced at the exam papers in his hands as he frowned. There was already a mistake at the 7th question.

  “A supreme genius like Sun Mo might only appear once in a decade!”

  “It should be in several decades!”

  “In any case, they are very rare!”

  The graders started chatting.

  With their standards, they wouldn’t make a mistake even if they chatted as they graded the papers.

  And it was fine even if they made a mistake because every set of exam papers would be cross-marked by three people. The others would surely catch it if a mistake in grading was made.

  “Sadly, my student went to participate last year. And to avoid gossip, I had no way to become an examiner. Otherwise, he might have to address me as ‘teacher’ now!”

  Wang Song sighed.

  “It’s fine. We might meet one this year as well. Don’t forget that Secondary Saint Zhou’s beloved great grandson has chosen the study of spirit runes.”

  Qian Hao chortled.

  The eyes of everyone brightened. Being able to form a relationship with the Zhou Clan wasn’t bad either. If that really happened, it meant that their trip here wouldn’t be a wasted one.

  “I wonder how many marks the Great Tang Empire’s Princess, who is also Sun Mo’s student, can score?”

  Someone was curious.

  “I think it should be above 90 no matter what, right?”

  Wang Song guessed.

  For the written exam this time around, full marks was 100.

  “Let’s get started quickly then!”

  The excitement of everyone was immediately stirred, and the speed of their grading became quicker as well.

  This was them trying to find a hint of joy in a dry and arduous task like grading papers.

  Because the Saint Gate limited the number of people that passed, the grading of the exam papers was extremely strict.

  For the first portion, which consisted of basic questions, no mistakes were permitted. One would be eliminated the moment there was a mistake.

  The second portion of the written segment consisted of questions with depth to them. The examinees could at most make three mistakes and if they exceeded this number, there was no need for the graders to continue reading as the examinees would be eliminated as well.

  Yes, even if the examinees had fascinating and wonderful answers for the latter questions, they would still fail.

  And for the third portion, they were collectively known as open-ended questions.

  For questions belonging to the third portion, there was only a rough scope and there were no concrete answers. As long as their answers fell into the rough scope, they could be considered to have passed.

  As for whether their answers were good or not, it would be judged through a discussion by the graders eventually.

  Bluntly speaking, it was to test their creativity and to check if the examinees had a unique understanding of spirit runes. For those examinees who only excelled in rote memorization, they would never be able to pass.

  There was a bamboo basket placed before every grader.

  The failed papers were tossed inside the basket.

  Gradually, everyone no longer bothered to chat and started grading the papers in a mechanical-like manner. They would only engage in discussion if they saw the occasional brilliant answer that was worthy of being a highlight.

  “Spirit runes could have life? What wild fantasy is this?!”

  Wang Song’s lips twitched.

  “Actually, I’m quite fond of the thoughts of these young people. They dare to lose themselves in their imaginations and have no constraints. They are unlike us who are old-fashioned and inflexible.”

  Another great teacher spoke.

  “Spirit runes have life? How? Even if Sun Mo used spirit runes to revive withered trees, he merely selected the correct runes.”

  Wang Song shook his head.

  Tong Xugao, who had always been silent, suddenly spoke, “Imagination is not nonsensical thinking. People who feel this way would soon be beaten up by reality. For any subject, they have their own ‘internal rules’. Leaving the confines of the ‘internal rules’ shouldn’t happen.”

  Everyone hurriedly agreed with Tong Xugao’s words.

  Wang Song felt a little awkward. Although this major character wasn’t targeting him, the former clearly disagreed with his opinions. (Would I leave behind a bad impression? Sigh! Why was I so mouthy?)

  “Eh, this exam paper isn’t bad. The front portion is all correct, and the answers to the open-ended questions are very logical as well. This person should have received the guidance of a great teacher before!”

  Qian Hao sighed.

  After grading so many papers, he finally saw one with the potential to score full marks.

  He then flipped to the last question where the examinees were asked to draw a Rain Request Spirit Rune. It was relatively not bad and the standard was around the fifth level.

  To be honest, drawing the Rain Request Spirit Rune at the fourth level was already sufficient to get full marks for this question.

  “I feel that this set of exam papers ought to be given full marks!”

  Qian Hao spoke out, preparing to fight for it.

  It was definitely impossible for such an impressive examinee to be ‘buried’ in the future.

  A few of the graders immediately crowded over and lowered their heads to read the papers.

  “His or her answers are pretty good!”

  “Not bad, not bad. Not only did they answer the questions correctly, but their answers and judgments are quite far-sighted as well. This is really interesting.”

  “The spirit rune is also drawn pretty well.”

  The other graders immediately gave that paper a high evaluation.

  “Teacher Tong!”

  Qian Hao passed the paper to Tong Xugao. The number of marks would be determined by this main grader.

  Tong Xugao checked the paper very meticulously, and he gradually revealed a smile as he nodded involuntarily.

  “Put it to one side first!”

  Tong Xugao instructed.

  Qian Hao smiled when he heard this. This was the usual practice. Tong Xugao didn’t give it full marks now because he was worried there might be better papers later on.

  “This time around, Teacher Tong is too cautious. This set of exam papers can already be considered as choosing one in ten thousand.”

  Qian Hao already started to feel anticipation for the other graders to finish marking their papers. He wanted to know who the examinee of the papers he had just marked was.

  But ten minutes later, his anticipation was crushed.

  “Eh?”

  A great teacher with the surname ‘Zhou’ opened up the sealed cover and was stunned because there was a weak hint of light glimmering from the paper.

  This meant that within this set of papers, there was at least a sixth-level spirit rune. If not, the paper wouldn’t glow.

  “Oh no, I guess my examinee would have to take second place now.”

  Upon seeing this scene, Qian Hao felt depressed. The favor that he would gain if the examinee he marked was number one was all gone now.

  For the exam papers that were handed up, they would be placed by the main examiner into a sealed box that would only be opened after the box reached the grading chamber.

  “It would depend on luck, I guess?”

  The great teacher with the surname ‘Zhou’ teased.

  “Don’t slow down intentionally. Also, I don’t want you guys to neglect the papers you are currently grading just for the sake of snatching that set of exam papers.”

  Tong Xugao reminded them.

  He was worried that everyone might intentionally waste time because they wanted to wait for that set of exam papers.

  Half an hour later.

  “Haha, sorry everyone. I guess I’m the lucky one.”

  Wang Song laughed.

  “Treat us! Treat us! VIP seats at the top level of the Drunken Immortal Restaurant. If I don’t take advantage of you, I won’t be happy!”

  Qian Hao chortled.

  The others also no longer graded and gathered over.

  Basic questions, all correct!

  Advanced questions, all correct!

  The answers to the open-ended questions that had a high degree of freedom were all done nicely with nothing to nitpick.

  As for the last question.

  “This is a sixth-level spirit rune!”

  Seeing the exam paper shining with a weak glow, everyone exclaimed in admiration.

  Just this spirit rune alone could be sold for a few thousand taels of silver.

  Naturally, it wouldn’t be too expensive because its effect was simply to gather rain. It provided no help toward cultivation.

  “Full marks! This examinee is definitely the top-scorer of this batch for the written spirit rune exam!”

  “His handwriting isn’t bad as well and has the feel of a calligrapher.”

  After Wang Song finished speaking, everyone nodded. Even Tong Xugao felt the same way.

  Only when one’s grasp on the study of spirit runes was high would they be able to draw such a high-level Rain Request Spirit Rune.

  “I wonder how Li Ziqi would perform?”

  Qian Hao suddenly mumbled.

  Everyone started before laughing. This time around, she definitely had no way to replicate her teacher’s feat of getting full marks.

  The handwriting on this set of papers and the style of answering for the open-ended questions might not be bold and unconstrained, but they also exuded a sense of robust sharpness. The examinee should be a guy.

  The grading continued and 15 minutes later, the great teacher with the surname ‘Zhou’ suddenly cursed out loud.

  “Damn!”

  Everyone inclined their heads in puzzlement.

  “You guys, quickly look at the handwriting…”

  Great Teacher Zhou was agitated because he was a lover of calligraphy.

  “What about it? Are there any signs that this examinee was cheating?”

  Wang Song stretched his head out. After that, he was startled. “This…”

  “What calligraphy style is this?”

  The others were dumbstruck as well.

  “Haha, I didn’t expect that I would grade the exam papers of a calligrapher!”

  Great Teacher Zhou was joyful.

  “Mn!”

  Everyone nodded. Although they weren’t calligraphers, their ability to appreciate this wasn’t low. The handwriting on this set of exam papers was good enough for the examinee to set up his or her own unique style.

  This font was sturdy but with a hint of beauty and gentleness. It was really impressive.

  Great Teacher Zhou continued reading, but the more he read, the heavier his expression grew. In the end, his brows were completely furrowed, intense enough to crush a crab to death.

  “What’s wrong? Is that person going to fail?”

  Wang Song asked.

  This was after all an exam testing for one’s expertise in the study of spirit runes and not an exam testing for one’s handwriting. No matter how beautiful their handwriting was, it was useless if they failed.

  “No, the answers have surpassed my scope of understanding.”

  Great Teacher Zhou honestly replied.

  “Ah?”

  Everyone was shocked and hurriedly gathered over.

  “Look at this question. The examinee explains the connection between spirit runes and life. It said that all living things needed a type of ‘life cycle’. If one could convert spirit runes into this type of system and use purified spirit qi as the energy source, one would be able to create a new life.”

  Everyone exchanged glances because this concept was super advanced. Moreover, this didn’t merely involve the study of spirit runes but also medical studies.

  If Sun Mo saw this question, he would say that it was not medical studies but a part of life sciences.

  As someone of the modern era, Sun Mo’s horizons were too broad. Moreover, because of his habits, he would subconsciously impart some modern concepts to her.

  This concept was something casually mentioned by Sun Mo when they had been discussing mechanical puppets. At that time, Sun Mo had been thinking about whether he could create a machine that relied on a spirit rune system to operate.

  After all, in this era, coal and oil were too rare. Even if they were excavated, it was impossible to use them. And as for spirit qi, it was then the main energy source that the bulk of the population used.

  Also, Sun Mo said before that those aboriginals in the Greenhaze Forest were artificially created. Hence, Li Ziqi extended the thought and mentioned puppets.

  Could puppets become alive and gain their own consciousness? Becoming a race of their own?

  Li Ziqi’s answer was too shocking. All the graders who were veterans in the study of spirit runes fell silent. They could only look at Tong Xugao and wait for his explanation.

  However, this grandmaster spirit runist had sunk into deep thoughts after hearing Li Ziqi’s answer which was being recited by Great Teacher Zhou.

  Chapter 993: Wonderful, Very Wonderful, Extremely Wonderful!

  They couldn’t continue waiting like this as well. Hence, Qian Hao boldly asked.

  “Teacher Tong, what do you think?”

  The expression of Tong Xugao whose thoughts were disrupted immediately sank. He angrily shot back. “What do you mean what I think? Don’t you guys know how to think critically?”

  The expressions of everyone turned awkward. (If we could understand, why would we still need to ask you?)

  But seeing that Tong Xugao seemed to fail to grasp the main points as well, everyone’s depressed feelings became better. (So, even you don’t understand!)

  It was like an entire class failing a subject together. The sense of individual shame naturally wouldn’t be so great.

  After all, everyone was mortal!

  “Pass the paper to me!”

  Tong Xugao stretched his hand out.

  Great Teacher Zhou actually still wanted to look at it a little more, but he didn’t dare to defy the words of this major character. Hence, he unwillingly passed it over and resembled an honest guy whose wife was snatched by a bandit.

  “Quickly!”

  Tong Xugao shouted. He couldn’t wait anymore. He impatiently got to his feet and directly grabbed it. After that, he no longer sat. He simply stood there and read the answers to the major questions.

  For a time, the entire grading chamber fell silent.

  The graders exchanged mutual glances. They also wanted to look, but no one dared to get near Tong Xugao. There was no solution to it as his aura was simply too strong.

  Tong Xugao took four hours to finish reading the set of papers.

  Actually, he was in deep contemplation for the majority of the time.

  This Great Teacher Tong mainly focused on spirit runes, and his secondary subject was medical studies. It was so mismatched because he came from a clan of doctors who had practiced medical arts for generations.

  If it hadn’t been for Tong Xugao using his life to force his family, his grandpa would have beaten him to death when he had said he didn’t want to inherit the clan’s mantle.

  However, as he saw his grandpa sighing even when drawing his last breath, lamenting why his grandson wanted to waste his talent in the field of spirit runes, Tong Xugao suddenly had a wild thought. He wanted to combine both spirit runes and medical studies.

  After that, through several years of research, he finally found a direction. He wanted to create some artificial limbs that could allow a disabled person to be whole again through the usage of some spirit runes.

  In the Nine Provinces, let alone some great teachers who were fighting with weapons every day, there were also soldiers and adventurers. In fact, in order to seize water sources, the different villages would fight each other every once in a while.

  Hence, there were countless cripples in the Nine Provinces missing a limb or two.

  If he could create a perfect prosthetic, it would be a grand plan that benefited the entire Nine Provinces, a saint-level achievement.

  It was just that after so many years, Tong Xugao couldn’t find a way to do this. But right now, he actually gained inspiration from this set of exam papers.

  “Wonderful!”

  “Very wonderful!”

  “Extremely wonderful!”

  A path opened up in Tong Xugao’s mind, and he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

  What magical thoughts!

  Sadly, this examinee didn’t expound on it in a more in-depth manner.

  What a pity!

  What a pity!

  Naturally, there was a time limit to an exam, so the examinee couldn’t fully explain everything. After all, a topic like this was sufficient to be the teaching material of an entire lecture.

  Swish~

  All the graders glanced over with shock in their gazes.

  (It can’t be right? Such a high evaluation?)

  This was a 7-star grandmaster spirit runist. Since he acted like this, this examinee must be extremely outstanding for sure.

  “Teacher Tong, how are things?”

  Wang Song asked.

  Tong Xugao cast a glance at Wang Song but didn’t speak. He continued flipping through the papers and wanted to look at the last major question.

  Wang Song immediately grew embarrassed because the unspoken meaning of Tong Xugao’s action was clear. (You won’t understand even if I say it.)

  After embarrassment, he felt resentment.

  (Tong Xugao’s aged eyes must be blind. He actually feels that I’m not comparable to an intern teacher? How preposterous!)

  “Perfect!”

  Tong Xugao praised it greatly.

  “…”

  The graders who had been waiting for Tong Xugao’s evaluation, no longer cared about their pride when they heard these words. All of them directly rushed over.

  One must know that for the previous high-level spirit rune, Tong Xugao didn’t say the word ‘perfect’.

  Everyone cast a glance at the rune and was directly dumbstruck.

  T…this…

  They had no way to use any words to describe the shock in their hearts.

  There was no light emanating from this spirit rune.

  Usually speaking, spirit runes that glow would surely be high-leveled. 99% of the spirit runes that didn’t glow were low-level ones. But there was also a type of exception. When the standard of the spirit runist was so high that they had reached a realm where no spirit qi would leak, the entirety of spirit qi would be compressed and sealed in the runic lines of the spirit rune.

  Naturally, if one wanted to achieve this, the grade of their ink had to be good enough.

  Everyone here was a veteran spirit runist with loads of experience, and they could immediately judge that this spirit rune belonged to the latter category. This was why they were shocked.

  Usually speaking, those who could do this were either near-ancestor spirit runists or grandmaster spirit runists with over 20 years of experience.

  Even Tong Xugao wouldn’t dare to guarantee that he would be able to draw such a perfect spirit rune every single time. Also, one must know that this was done during an exam. This made the act of doing so even more impressive.

  “Even people who don’t know anything about spirit runes can see how good this type of spirit rune is!”

  “Yeah, this has reached a certain standard in aesthetics.”

  “It’s too beautiful to the extent where it will make people feel reluctant to use it.”

  The graders all sighed in admiration.

  “Although I’m cultured, right now I only want to use two words to describe my current emotions. F*cking impressive!”

  Qian Hao silently sighed. (The exam paper I graded earlier can only be ranked third now.)

  Ai!

  It was really a tragedy to be in the same era as such a genius.

  At this moment, Li Ziqi’s identity as a princess had to be credited. Since she was young, she had received education from royal tutors, and this caused her to have an extremely high level of culture. She was also proficient in music, chess, literature, and painting.

  Naturally, if that was all, it would still be impossible for Li Ziqi to have drawn such a beautiful spirit rune. However, Sun Mo was her personal teacher.

  After Li Ziqi had learned the fundamentals of spirit runes, she also gained the ability to adjust some details of the runes under the premise that the core structure remained unchanged. An example was the different thickness of the runic lines at different parts.

  It was like doing cosmetic surgeries. Everyone had eyes, nose, and mouth. Some would ‘adjust’ their nose bridge to be higher or go under the knife for double-eyelids, and they would look better than before.

  “This set of papers will definitely be the #1 this year.”

  Tong Xugao sighed ruefully.

  “Yeah, if there’s another examinee who has better answers, I will eat all the exam papers here.”

  Great Teacher Zhou nodded with joy in his heart.

  He was the one who graded this set of papers.

  No one raised an objection.

  This examinee got full marks for the earlier question and used a unique calligraphy style. The open-ended questions were also answered with a far-sightedness, and lastly for the drawing of the spirit rune, the examinee even raised the aesthetics of it.

  “For someone like this examinee, there’s probably only one every century,” Great Teacher Zhou mumbled.

  “Have you forgotten Sun Mo?”

  Qian Hao teased.

  “Speaking of which, this examinee might not be any inferior to Sun Mo.”

  Great Teacher Zhou laughed.

  “Say, do you guys think this set of papers belonged to Li Ziqi?”

  Wang Song suddenly raised a question.

  “It can’t be, right?”

  “It shouldn’t be possible.”

  “If it really was the case, I would feel so jealous that I want to die.”

  As everyone spoke, they turned their gazes to Tong Xugao. Their meaning was clear without words. (Can we tear the sticker to see who the examinee is?)

  “Hurry up and grade the other papers!”

  Tong Xugao urged.

  The rules were the rules; they must not be broken.

  Everyone also understood this. Hence, they returned to their seats and began the grading process again.

  After Qian Hao took up his brush, he pondered for a few minutes before heading back to the basket and picking up the exam papers of the examinee who answered that ‘spirit runes have life’.

  (I shouldn’t ‘kill’ the miraculous thinking of this examinee!)

  Qian Hao reflected on himself.

  This examinee was lucky because Li Ziqi’s answers in her open-ended questions obtained a pass from Tong Xugao.

  The workload, which was supposed to last for three days, was fully completed by everyone within two days. They all wanted to quickly know the name of that examinee who stunned all of them.

  The evening arrived, everyone had huge eyebags as they gathered again.

  “Let’s start from the third place?”

  Qian Hao suggested.

  The sticker covering the name was torn and very soon, the name ‘Jiang Zizhong’ appeared.

  “Oh, it’s someone from Teacher Jiang’s clan!”

  Wang Song shook his head and sighed. In the past, he had learned from Jiang Wei before. This was why he knew Jiang Zizhong was very capable. “He shouldn’t have taken this examination.”

  “Yeah, everyone knows that the Jiang Clan specialized in the study of spirit runes. A third rank isn’t sufficient for them.”

  Everyone agreed.

  Tong Xugao didn’t bother with a minor character like this. He directly peeled the sticker on the second paper. After that, the sound of him inhaling a breath of cold air rang out.

  Zhou Wenbin!

  This name was very familiar to everyone.

  “Could the first place really be Sun Mo’s eldest disciple?”

  Qian Hao was speechless and felt somewhat jealous. (You are already so strong. If your disciple was also so impressive, others would have no need to live anymore.)

  “What a pity!”

  Everyone felt regret for Zhou Wenbin. After that, Tong Xugao continued.

  There was no suspense. The name ‘Li Ziqi’, which was written in the thin gold body script, appeared in everyone’s vision.

  For a time, the room was completely silent. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

  No one was shocked because everyone had anticipated this result.

  “I heard that Sun Mo is known to be skilled in both writing and painting. This calligraphy script must be something created by him!”

  Great Teacher Zhou sighed and felt an impulse to pay Sun Mo a visit.

  Such a beautiful script made him really want to learn it.

  “Teacher Tong, why don’t I hold this set of papers in safekeeping?”

  Wang Song spoke.

  He finally understood why Liu Fan wanted him to help secure Li Ziqi’s exam papers. This was because even if this girl couldn’t become a saint, this set of exam papers would still have a very great collection value.

  “Let me do it!”

  “Give it to me!”

  Everyone started to argue.

  A benefit of being a grader was that they could have first priority to safekeep any set of exam papers. If one wanted a set of papers, there would usually be no objections.

  But things were different this time around. It was a set of exam papers that would only appear once in a hundred years.

  “Cough, cough. I have to research the answers on this set of papers a little more!’

  Tong Xugao rejected and directly kept the papers.

  Everyone immediately felt like cursing his mother.

  (You are a 7-star major character, what are you doing, snatching things from us from the junior generations? If you really want this, can’t you just get Li Ziqi to write you another set? Wait a minute, given Sun Mo’s fame, even a 7-star great teacher might not have enough prestige to ask him to do something.)

  …

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Early in the morning, Lu Zhiruo was already knocking on Li Ziqi’s room door with impatience.

  “Eldest Martial Sister, you should sleep some more. I will help you to look at your results!”

  The papaya girl knew that she didn’t have such capabilities. So, she simply treated her eldest martial sister’s results as her own. There was no problem with this. When the time came, she would simply shout that her eldest martial sister was the top scorer, and she would also be able to enjoy the envious gazes of others.

  (Right, I better shout the words ‘eldest martial sister’ a little softer later.)

  “You are knocking so loudly, how can I sleep?”

  Li Ziqi was speechless.

  “Let’s go and take a look at the results!”

  Qin Yaoguang was long since prepared and ready to head out.

  “Will Eldest Martial Sister screw up?”

  Xianyu Wei was worried. After all, that Zhou Wenbin had also chosen to participate in the written segment for the study of spirit runes.