When the old woman rushed in, the celestial light was still dim.

The scene was just in chaos, and she fell down in front of the carriage, crying hoarsely, her appearance extremely miserable.

In the crowd, no one knew who was mingling in the shadows, pinching their throat and saying loudly: "So pitiful, the old lady is pleading for help like this, she must have unspeakable pain..."

Before the words were finished, Wu Zhengze stuck his head out from the carriage, holding the official seal, and his tongue burst forth like spring thunder:

"Where did this evil thing come from, daring to possess a person in broad daylight? There is order in the universe, and the vast qi endures, break the evil!"

Under the hazy celestial light, a thunderbolt unexpectedly rose up.

Crack—

The thunder came extremely swiftly, striking the old woman in an instant, splitting a black smoke from her body.

The black smoke shot up, emitting a shrill scream in mid-air, and twisted to fly away.

Wu Zhengze shone his official seal and rebuked again: "Ha!"

With a clear light emitted from the official seal, the black shadow was like snowflakes being melted under the sun, disappearing without a trace before even being able to let out a second scream.

By this time, a ray of morning sun just happened to pour through the always misty sky.

Cui Yunqi reacted quickly, immediately instructing the nearby guards: "Quick, drag the person away."

The black shadow had dispersed, but the old woman was still lying on the ground, her mouth twisted and eyes glaring, her appearance both miserable and terrifying, as if she still wanted to raise her head to say something.

But the guards had already parted the chaotic crowd, lifted the old woman like a gust of wind, blocked her mouth, and dragged her away.

In the crowd, a figure who had deliberately stirred things up was momentarily stunned.

He had received money, and had been advised to stay here to stir up trouble, but he never expected that before the fire could even be fanned up, the matter seemed about to be resolved completely?

Who exactly was the person sitting in that carriage, what identity, to be so tightly protected?

His eyes shifted, and he immediately shrank his head, preparing to slip into the crowd and escape.

He had only received a little money, it wasn't worth risking his life, right?

Run, run, run—

Didn't manage to run.

At some unknown time, a team of martial artists in strong attire appeared, and with big hands lifted him like picking up a chick.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Help... mmm!"

His mouth was covered, and he was taken away.

A farce, dissipating completely in the pre-dawn darkness before the day even fully broke.

Cui Yunqi let out a long sigh, sneering: "Kid raised, really can't be brought to the table. I actually overestimated you, expected you to have some major skills. Fool!"

Seeing the carriage carrying Chen Xu ahead start again, Cui Yunqi quickly ordered everyone to follow.

Although in his heart he had already judged Wei Song guilty and cursed him to the last degree.

But Cui Yunqi deeply understood, sometimes, don't look at certain petty people being both sinister and ignorant, but it's precisely those wild punches they throw that are hard to deal with.

No matter whether Wei Song's move was to assassinate Chen Xu or just to stall him.

As long as he made a move, it's considered he partially achieved his goal.

Encountering such setbacks on the way to the examination, would Chen Xu's mood be affected? Would he panic? Is it possible for him to perform poorly?

"Brother Chen, you must not disappoint me..."

The carriage gradually moved away, and when it arrived outside the examination hall, the morning glow on the horizon had already spread half the sky in brilliant splendor.

In the Imperial Examination Hall, the chief examiner Su Quan gazed at the celestial glow of the moment, certain worries in his mind were just like the clouds on the horizon, burning endlessly, stretching out of sight.

Yet he had to maintain a facade of peace and act as if nothing happened.

The examinees' verification was gradually completed, and the scholars stepped into the examination hall.

Dong, dong, dong—

The Heaven-Equalizing Bell rang again.

Amidst the leisurely bell chime, the ceremonial officer guided everyone: "Honor the heavens and earth, honor the sages, honor all living beings!"

The ceremony of the provincial examination had subtle differences from the prefectural examination.

All examinees cupped their hands towards the sky in their examination cells, bowing three times.

Heaven and earth, sages, all living beings!

Not royal power, emperors, aristocratic families.

This was the integrity revered by the scholars of this world.

Although there might be a touch of hypocrisy to it, and not everyone could achieve it, at least in this moment of bowing to the heavens and all beings, there was a corner of the world that was pure.

Chen Xu calmed his mood, checked his examination cell, tidied up and organized.

Then he carefully sensed the small space, ensuring there were indeed no issues, only then did he set up the table board, placing the exam items one by one.

This time, the suppression of the innate qi within him by the Heaven-Equalizing Bell seemed even lighter.

Of course, there was still some impact.

However, Chen Xu didn't deliberately resist this effect, there was no need for unnecessary effort.

And the small turmoil encountered on the road earlier, Chen Xu had not kept it in his heart at all.

As for whether it would shake his emotions, that was even more baseless.

Besides being somewhat envious of Master Wu's Thunder Technique, Chen Xu was amazed at Master Wu's combat ability.

This master who constantly said not to engage in fighting, when it came to real fighting, he was quite proficient indeed.

Chen Xu thought about how in the Ghost Market, Great Scholar Ji Weizi had taught him how during the Scholar examination to summon the will of heaven and earth to open the Upper Dantian.

From there, literary qi naturally formed, and literary fortune was born.

He carefully recalled that technique, harmonizing his breath, and calming his mind.

Dong—

The Heaven-Equalizing Bell rang again, the first examination paper was distributed.

The entire examination hall was much quieter and more orderly compared to the last time, only the voice of the ceremonial officer was heard reading: "The first session, from three quarters past dawn today, ends three quarters past afternoon."

The bell's chime lingered, resonating as if it had reverberations.

When Chen Xu got the paper in his hand, the sunrise burst fully from the clouds.

Indeed, it was a clear and fine day, compared to the dreary and stormy weather during the prefectural examination, it was as if heaven was taking care.

However, the examination hall couldn't hold back and soon resounded with a string of gasps, breaking the prior calm.

Causing the patrolling soldiers to shout: "Silence!"

The sound of gasping instantly lowered overall, but still occasionally subtle hissing sounds occurred.

That was hard to control, so the patrolling soldiers couldn't be bothered with it.

Chen Xu looked at the questions, it was quite good, there were no more ink interpretation or classic notes, but there were twenty questions on interpreting the meanings of the classics!

The answer to each question could not be less than three hundred words, requiring expressive language, coherent sentences, reasoning, and personal insights...

And that was not even the entirety of the first session.

At the end of such a terrifying volume of questions, there was also a current affairs policy essay.

With such a thick stack of exam papers, those who write slowly might not finish in a day.

Chen Xu thus no longer cared about the changes in people's mood, he dripped water to grind ink, first skimming through all the questions, to understand roughly what content was being tested.

Then he chose one paper, placing the extra exam papers in a waterproof oilcloth exam paper bag—

This was an item Chen Xu especially prepared after witnessing that wind blow away exam papers that day.

Even though he could control wind and water and didn't really need to fear rainstorms, it was best not to use magic during the exam.

Several other scholars from Jichuan County also prepared in this way; everyone had seen that day's storm, and all shared the sentiment.

When going through verification, this exam paper bag had also been closely inspected by the clerks.

No need for more idle talk, Chen Xu seized the time and started answering the questions smoothly and fluently.

In his answering of the questions, he truly achieved speed, stability, and accuracy.

This was not only because he had enough knowledge reserves, but also because he was full of qi blood and his divine soul was strong.

Chen Xu completely failed to notice that diagonally across from him, there was a young boy with small eyes, who was answering questions while frequently glancing at him.

Every time he saw Chen Xu finish one exam paper, that boy would inevitably grit his teeth for a while.

Speeding up to finish the paper in his hands before quickly grabbing the next one.

Sometimes when Chen Xu wrote a little slower, the boy would gently let out a breath of relief, then hurry to increase his pace, trying to surpass Chen Xu.

After answering more than a dozen questions on interpreting the classics, Chen Xu began to feel a bit weary, so he set down his pen to take a short rest.

Diagonally across, the young boy with small eyes immediately showed disdain, then quickly curbed his emotions, and buried his head to write furiously.

He intended to seize this opportunity to completely surpass Chen Xu!

After writing for a while, the young boy found that Chen Xu still had no intention of continuing to write, and secretly sneered.

Shaking his head, he simply stopped paying attention to him, this time fully immersing himself in his own thought process for the answers.

What he didn't know was that the reason Chen Xu was resting his spirit was actually because he was contemplating how to write the last current affairs policy.

After writing down so many questions on interpreting the classics, Chen Xu suddenly had an inspiration for that current affairs policy.

Only then did he put aside the classics interpretation, and mentally draft the policy essay.

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