Chapter 300 - 277: Trial
Inside the Qianyuan Hall, in front of each seat hangs a curtain, on which a light and shadow appear, clearly displaying the scene inside the Merit Tower.
The seat of Duke Jingguo’s mansion is very near the front, Gu Haochuan represents Duke Jingguo, with his apprentice Gu Zhengshan sitting beside him, and on the other side, sits the eldest daughter, Gu Yuyong.
All three of them look up at the curtain, seeing Chen Ming fleeing from the generals of "Great Wei" without fighting.
Gu Yuyong slightly furrows her eyebrows, "He is just a Third Grade assistant general, why doesn’t Xiaoqi dare to fight him?"
With his Second Grade strength, killing a Third Grade along with a dozen soldiers is not difficult.
He actually doesn’t want the merits presented before him?
This Merit Tower is an extraordinary treasure, with mysteries inside, holding the heroic souls of many warriors from previous dynasties, used specifically for tempering the younger generation.
In this Merit Tower, one can experience real battlefields and fight against the warriors of past dynasties.
Later, the Great Jin’s Taizu used this Merit Tower as a trial for the Zhongyuan Night Banquet, opening it once every twenty years. It’s also the only way to earn battle honors without going to war.
In the Merit Tower, killing the heroic souls of Great Wei’s warriors earns battle honors.
This trial is all about who earns more battle honors.
So, it’s not just about martial strength, but strategy as well.
Gu Haochuan was quite satisfied with Chen Ming’s response; this kid is indeed clever. Just arriving in a strange place, he still remains cautious.
Just a bit too clever.
He didn’t tell the kid in advance about the trial content of the Zhongyuan Night Banquet due to some concerns.
With this kid’s body technique, as long as he’s careful, almost no one on this battlefield can catch him, unless he makes it to the seventh level and encounters a heroic soul at the Divine Hidden Realm Level.
But if he really reaches the seventh level and shines too brightly, getting noticed by the Empress Dowager or the Emperor, that wouldn’t be good.
In the five hundred years since the founding of the Great Jin, in over twenty Zhongyuan Night Banquets, only two people have entered the seventh level.
Later, these two became illustrious figures.
Gu Haochuan’s feelings were complicated, worried that he would slack off, causing the Gu Family to miss the celestial mansion slot.
On the other hand, also worried that he would perform too excellently, losing control over him.
So, he simply didn’t tell the kid about the trial content, to prevent him from making plans in advance.
Gu Haochuan naturally couldn’t speak of these schemes, he just said, "On the battlefield, it’s always better to be cautious."
At this time, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Look quickly, Wang Jihu’s merit points have exceeded a hundred."
Several people turned their heads to look at a curtain in the middle, displaying a list of names, real-time rankings showing the top twenty merit point holders’ names.
At the moment, Wang Jihu’s name was at the top, already over a hundred.
This means he has slain a Third Grade assistant general.
In the Merit Tower, slaying a heroic soul below Seventh Grade earns one merit point.
Sixth to Fourth Grade, ten merit points.
Third Grade, a hundred points.
Second Grade, two hundred points.
First Grade, three hundred points.
They are on the first level, the highest power being Third Grade.
Then, the ranking kept changing, soon Duan Sijue and Ling Qingying’s names surged to the top three.
As for Gu Xianyu’s name, it didn’t even make the top twenty.
Miss Gu watched with some irritation, "What’s Xiaoqi waiting for? Why hasn’t he acted yet?"
...
Over at the imperial relatives’ side, their perspective was quite different from the contestants.
They could freely choose any trial participant’s scene.
At the seat of Prince Yan’s mansion, Madam Xia transmitted to her daughter, "Don’t forget your promise."
Xia Mudan nodded silently.
So, Madam Xia switched the screen to Gu Xianyu’s battlefield.
In reality, among those present, it wasn’t just them paying attention to Gu Xianyu.
At the Eldest Princess’s place, and also the side of Princess Mingyu, they were all watching him.
The so-called Zhongyuan Night Banquet, for those participating in the trials, is a grand event.
For these spectators, it is also a rare and splendid spectacle.
The Emperor turned to the somewhat listless Empress and asked, "Who does the Empress think will take first place in this trial?"
The Empress was not focused on these trials, heard this and shook her head, "I can’t guess."
"What was the Empress watching just now?"
"Nothing."
The Empress forced a smile to cover her unease and suggested, "Emperor, how about we make a bet?"
The Emperor was indeed distracted, "Oh? What shall we bet on?"
"I bet on the female lord winning first place. If I win, I want the Emperor’s painting of Spring Flowers, Autumn Moon."
"Alright. Then I bet on Wang Jihu."
The Emperor, seeing her interest, accepted the bet, "If I win, what should I ask for?"
At this moment, the Eldest Princess who was sitting beside them interjected, "Brother Emperor, I also want to join."
The Empress asked with a smile, "Oh, who do you favor, Zhaoyu?"
The Eldest Princess replied, "I bet on Gu Xianyu."
The Empress was curious, "From the Jingguo Duke’s family, that Xiaoqi? You have such confidence in him?"
The Eldest Princess replied, "Naturally."
The Emperor laughed, "Alright, I will bet with you."
As he finished speaking, he waved his hand, and before him, three curtains simultaneously descended, displaying the scenes of Ling Qingying, Wang Jinhu, and Gu Xianyu undergoing their trials.
...
Chen Ming was unaware of the situation outside; after avoiding the small troop of Great Wei, he first explored the surroundings for a while.
Soon, he made a discovery; the range of this space is roughly a few square kilometers, with boundaries, as the mountain walls cannot be crossed.
He already had a guess in his heart; this place should be something similar to a secret realm.
A bit like the ink-wash secret realm of the Great Prison in Xiazhou City.
In this space, there was only that small troop claiming to be Great Wei soldiers, totaling twenty people.
One was Third Grade, three were Fifth Grade, and the rest were below Seventh Grade.
Not much of a threat to him.
"Merit Tower, is this what it means?"
Thinking about what the eunuch said earlier, Chen Ming already understood what this so-called trial was about.
Killing these Great Wei soldiers could earn him merit. In the end, the top five with the highest merit points would earn a spot in the Immortal Mansion.
This is very fair.
The only issue was that he didn’t know how much merit others would ultimately receive.
"It seems I can only score as much merit as possible."
Chen Ming thought to himself, scoring as much as he could.
He’s quite familiar with this kind of thing, having been scoring experience points every day recently, and already developed some skills in it.
To gain as much merit as possible, he had to strategize carefully, controlling the consumption of Gang Yuan is the King’s Dao.
Thus, he commenced his hunting action, using his advantage in cultivation and body technique, almost effortlessly killing all twenty Great Wei soldiers.
[You killed an LV30 enemy and earned ten thousand experience points.]
[You killed an LV50 enemy and earned thirty thousand experience points.]
[You killed an LV70 enemy and earned eighty thousand experience points.]
[...]
Killing these Great Wei soldiers here also gives experience points?
Chen Ming was somewhat delighted; even a mosquito is meat. Experience points are a good thing, and it’s worth getting a little bit.
For the past half month, he’s been killing those specters in Qingwei Heaven every day, and the specters there are almost wiped out by him. This isn’t a real game, and the little monsters inside don’t respawn.
...
"Smart."
The Emperor saw the entire process of Gu Xianyu killing those soldiers’ souls and couldn’t help but praise.
He wasn’t watching the trial of the Merit Tower for the first time, and naturally knew the first level wasn’t difficult. Actually, the greatest restriction in this trial was Gang Yuan.
Inside, Gang Yuan’s recovery was very slow. To gain as much merit as possible, one must control every bit of Gang Yuan usage effectively.
So far, only this Gu Xianyu was capable of it.
As for the other two, Wang Jinhu simply disdained it.
Ling Qingying had the awareness but couldn’t achieve the level of Gu Xianyu.
The Emperor smiled, "Zhaoyu always had a good eye. Duke Jingguo is quite lucky, having such a good son."
The Eldest Princess said, "Hasn’t my brother heard about this person’s achievements?"
After saying this, she felt several gazes cast upon her. Even one from behind the curtain of the dragon throne.
The Emperor said, "I indeed haven’t heard."
"He..." The Eldest Princess’ mouth curved into a proud smile. "Previously, he was marginalized by his brothers and didn’t even dare to stay in the Capital City, so he applied to go to Xiazhou and even joined Six Gates."
The Emperor was somewhat surprised, "Such a thing happened?"
The Jingguo Duke’s mansion was not considered the most prestigious of the noble families, and their trivial matters couldn’t reach the Emperor’s ears.
The Eldest Princess continued, "After he went to Xiazhou, it was like a dragon returned to the sea and accomplished several extraordinary feats. He killed two First Grade members of the Nine Nether Sect and even slew a First Grade in purple who betrayed Six Gates."
The Emperor was somewhat moved, "Indeed a young talent."
This Gu Xianyu only had Second Grade cultivation, yet he had already killed three First Grade cultivators. It’s simply unbelievable.
He once again looked at Gu Xianyu on the curtain and found him more pleasing to the eye.
Perhaps it was his experiences in the Jingguo Duke’s mansion that shaped his cautious personality?
The Eldest Princess laughed, "Has my brother thought about what to lose to me?"
The Emperor wasn’t concerned about winning or losing the bet; making the Empress and his sister happy was more important to him. He said, "It’s still early to talk about winning or losing. Gu Xianyu’s cultivation is ultimately shallow, and may not beat Wang Jinhu."
"We’ll see."
The Eldest Princess felt those peculiar gazes retract and laughed inwardly. She’s not foolish enough to personally reveal that matter.
Doing so would bring her no benefit.
This kind of matter should be revealed by the person involved for it to be interesting.
She’s now eagerly looking forward to when Gu Xianyu takes first place and personally tells her brother about it. Then, how these people who plotted would react?
That would be very interesting!
The Eldest Princess looked up at the curtain, watching Gu Xianyu being transported to the second level, facing more enemies, and thought cheerfully to herself, "Kid, you better not let me down!"