Chapter 181 - 143: The Prefecture Examination Begins
The competition was naturally fierce, and casualties were not uncommon each year.
Liu Chuanzhi sneered as he stared at Fang Yue, simply waiting for him to be crippled or killed in the upcoming test.
’Hmph, it’s not so easy to make a name for yourself in the Prefecture Examination. I truly hope an overreaching fool like you dies right there on the Martial Arts Examination Platform.’
Of course, Liu Chuanzhi only thought this way because he was unaware that Fang Yue had single-handedly slain the Seventh Elder of the Mo Mountain Tribe. If he knew, his thoughts would have been quite different.
After all, at the time, they had only seen the conflict erupt between the people of the Mo Mountain Tribe and the Black Wind Thieves, and assumed the mission had failed as a result.
As for the person later responsible for contacting the remnants of the Mo Mountain Tribe, they wouldn’t have dared to approach the Seventh Elder anyway. After all, the Seventh Elder might have believed that they had set him up.
In the stands.
Just then, another person spotted Fang Yue.
It was Wen Lan, the young lady of the Wen Family, who had previously gone to Da Liushu Village to fetch her aunt.
At that moment, the gaze of the young woman from one of Shanyang Prefecture’s great Noble Families flickered as she looked at Fang Yue.
Several years had passed, and she had only met Fang Yue once. But as a Martial Artist, she had an excellent memory and recognized him with ease.
By her side was a cherubic little girl—it was Nu.
She had come to watch the Prefecture Examination today. When Nu heard, she had fussed and cried to come along, so Wen Lan had no choice but to bring her.
She just never expected to see Fang Yue here.
Then, Wen Lan frowned, a touch of ridicule gradually coloring her gaze as she looked at Fang Yue.
’He’s here for the Prefecture Examination, hoping to pass the Martial Examination? How utterly audacious. This is Shanyang Prefecture, not some country backwater like the one he crawls from...’
Wen Lan didn’t think Fang Yue had any chance of passing the Prefecture Examination. In her mind, both Da Liushu Village and the greater Xiahe County were nothing but poor, remote backwaters.
For a country bumpkin Martial Artist like Fang Yue from Da Liushu Village to reach the Marrow Transformation realm in just a few short years was already a sign of outstanding Talent.
But to expect any results in this Prefecture Examination? That would be next to impossible.
’Participating in the Prefecture Examination is just pure arrogance!’
’How could a country bumpkin with mud on his boots possibly compete with the top Martial Scholars of Shanyang Prefecture?’
’He’ll probably be eliminated in the very first round: the stone lifting test.’
"Hey, Lan, Lan! Look, isn’t that Yue!"
Just then, Nu, who was beside her, looked ready to jump for joy. She pointed a chubby little finger at someone in the crowd and exclaimed excitedly.
"Nonsense. Nu, you must be mistaken."
Wen Lan deeply disliked country folk like Fang Yue and certainly didn’t want him having any contact with her family.
So, she lied through her teeth.
By the time she had finished her little distraction, Fang Yue was already obscured by the crowd, and Nu could no longer see him.
~~~~~~
Soon, it was Fang Yue’s turn for the assessment.
Under the watchful eye of the examination official, Fang Yue began the stone lifting.
He went straight for the heaviest one: the 10,000-jin Stone Lock.
"Number six hundred thirty-five, Stone Lifting Armor!"
As expected, Fang Yue passed this round with an A.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t have gotten an A+; he’d observed that out of all the candidates, fewer than a hundred Martial Scholars could achieve an A in the strength test, and less than twenty could manage an A+.
There was no need for Fang Yue to stand out so much. His goal was simply to rank somewhere between twentieth and thirtieth place.
"He actually got an A. I didn’t think he’d turn out to be a dark horse. Then again, it’s not like he looked particularly weak."
"Heh, Landlord Wang, you’re reading too much into it. A mere A-grade hardly justifies his ’ninth place’ odds. It seems this man is just an embroidered pillow—all show and no substance. He’s a smokescreen set up by the gambling dens!"
In the stands, many had placed bets.
As a Martial Scholar whose odds had been deliberately manipulated, Fang Yue naturally drew a great deal of attention.
Thus, as soon as Fang Yue’s result was announced, it immediately became a topic of discussion, drawing even more attention than the results of higher-ranked, stronger Martial Scholars.
However, after a brief moment of surprise, the crowd quickly settled down.
It was just an A, after all. That wasn’t enough to rattle those who had bet on Fang Yue to lose.
Among over a thousand Martial Scholars, an A-grade was merely average.
There were still quite a few Martial Scholars with similar results.
After this, there was still horsemanship, archery, and Military Strategy.
While these next few tests weren’t considered major, they put younger Martial Scholars at a distinct disadvantage.
After all, mastering these three skills took a great deal of time.
To have cultivated the Martial Dao to such a level at his age, Fang Yue certainly couldn’t have had much time to practice horsemanship, archery, or Military Strategy.
Therefore, if his performance in these three tests was subpar, his chances of ultimately passing would be slim.
~~~~~~
"Lan, I wasn’t wrong! I wasn’t wrong! It really is Yue! He’s amazing! He can lift such a big stone, he’s so strong!"
When Fang Yue lifted the stone, he was out in the open with nothing to block the view.
So Nu saw him clearly.
This time, Wen Lan couldn’t bluff her way out of it.
"Lan, when we get home today, Nu is going to tell Mother! Mother has been talking about Yue all these years. I’m sure she wants to see him too," Nu said innocently.