Chapter 39: The Examination Begins |
The twenty-eighth year of Emperor Shizong's reign, the ninth day of the seventh month.
In the square before the Gaolin County City God Temple, flagpoles stood like a forest.
Today was the official opening day of the martial examination.
Achieving high marks in the martial examination and obtaining the title of martial scholar not only provided tax exemptions but also granted privileges that ordinary people could hardly reach.
Therefore, the opening of the martial examination had become a grand event in Gaolin County, though this glory and clamor had little connection to the countless ordinary faces outside the venue.
On the command platform at the north of the examination ground sat the chief examiner and supervisors, with numerous clerks standing at their sides.
Their official robes displayed various colors, vermillion, green, black, and white, arranged in strict order, silently proclaiming the stern hierarchy of official ranks.
Below were this year's martial examination candidates, already lined up according to their registered origins and assigned numbers, standing solemnly in formation. The dark mass numbered several hundred people.
Each was burly with muscled bodies, dressed in various fitted short jackets, belted at the waist, wearing thin-soled quick boots.
Every person's eyes were fixed tightly on the command platform, showing desire, nervousness, eagerness to try, and even desperate determination.
In the side corridors of the examination ground sat the wealthy merchants and powerful families of Gaolin County.
Ordinary people didn't even have the qualification to enter the examination ground gates.
If wealthy households supported a scholar, though it required tuition fees, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, by gritting their teeth and having the whole family save on clothing and food, abstaining from fine meals, they could still manage to sustain it over several years.
But martial artists were completely different, their consumption was like a whale swallowing water, endless and continuous.
Daily meat and fine grains were indispensable, otherwise where would the strength come from to strike wooden posts hundreds of times?
This was merely daily sustenance.
What consumed even more money was medicinal supplements. A single pill cost what an ordinary family spent in several months, making it difficult even for average wealthy households to maintain such expenses.
Within the examination ground, ninety percent of the martial candidates either came from established families or had inherited martial arts with some family wealth. The remaining scattered ten percent, though not lacking in talent, had exhausted several generations of family accumulation and effort just to have the chance to stand here.
Of this ten percent who could stand out today, very few would succeed. Most were just there to make up numbers and gain experience.
Chen Qing was very clear that if the literary world was monopolized by scholarly families through books, classics, and teaching lineages, then in this world where martial arts flourished, those established families and powerful clans that occupied territories controlled martial wealth, meat provisions, and secret martial techniques.
"Chen Qing!?"
Xu Fang's gaze suddenly fixed on a figure in the crowd, her eyes full of disbelief.
"Little Fang, what's wrong?"
A well-maintained woman beside her, dressed in fine light blue silk, asked.
This was Xu Fang's sister-in-law, Xu Xiuhua.
Xu Fang came to her senses, her expression complex, "I saw a familiar person here, quite unexpected..."
Since coming to the Huang family, she often saw the carefully cultivated, physically strong young descendants sweating profusely under martial masters' guidance.
There were also the costly meat provisions, medicinal meals for nourishment, and equipment training.
She understood too well what enormous support this represented.
How could a wild mudfish from Mute Bay possibly qualify to stand here?
Xu Xiuhua glanced faintly in the direction she indicated, her elegant eyebrows furrowing almost imperceptibly, "Oh? Someone from a place like Mute Bay?"
Xu Fang bit her lower lip and nodded forcefully, her gaze complex as she followed Chen Qing's figure moving through the crowd, "He... I wonder how confident he'll be when he takes the field..."
"Confident?"
Xu Xiuhua laughed mockingly, "Little Fang, you must understand, this martial examination is fierce fire refining true gold, flowing water washing away dregs. Ninety-nine percent of people are just sand and gravel swept up when giant waves surge. When one wave crashes over, what should be sand remains sand, not the slightest bit false."
"That he could squeeze into this occasion already means his ancestral graves are smoking with fortune."
Children of wealthy households and powerful families had martial masters teaching them from childhood, ate meat every meal, and medicinal supplements were never lacking.
A fisherman from Mute Bay wanting to compete with them? Save that thought.
Clearly Xu Xiuhua wasn't optimistic.
Xu Fang nodded and said nothing more.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
Suddenly, three earth-shaking drum beats rang out.
Immediately after, heavy and slow drum beats rolled like muffled thunder, one after another, growing denser and more urgent, striking everyone's hearts and instantly pushing the already tense atmosphere to its peak.
Soon the drum sounds gradually ceased, their echoes still reverberating in the vast field.
The chief examiner slowly rose, walking steadily to the front of the platform.
His gaze was like lightning as he slowly swept over everyone, "This year's martial examination selects talented individuals. On the examination ground, let true ability do the talking! Swords and spears have no eyes, life and death are your own responsibility! If there is any cheating or fraud, military law will punish severely without mercy."
He suddenly raised his voice, shouting like thunder:
"The time has come!"
"Begin the examination!!!"
The martial examination officially began with the clerk's announcement.
Groups of martial candidates entered the examination ground, each selecting bows of different stone weights from the racks.
The first round tested physical strength.
The assessment judged by the number of times one could draw a bow, requiring 120 pounds of force to fully draw a one-stone bow, with the bowstring passing halfway counting as effective.
Bows in the square ranged from one stone to twelve stones.
The grading was clear: those who could draw three to four-stone bows received grade Ding; four to six stones earned grade Bing; seven to nine stones achieved grade Yi; only those who could draw ten-stone bows or above had a chance at grade Jia.
"There are only two rounds total. The second round of actual combat has too many variables, so the first round must achieve a good result."
Chen Qing observed the martial candidates' performance on the platform while calculating in his mind.
Combined with day and night hard practice and treasure fish nourishment, his strength had now been refined to his organs. Though still far from achieving great mastery of hidden strength, his through-arm boxing had reached great achievement, which was his advantage.
More and more martial candidates took the platform, including Zhang Qian and Sun Shun.
"Ding Liu (Sun Shun), Yi middle."
"Ding Fifteen (Luo Qian), Yi lower."
Both had drawn seven-stone bows, Sun Shun managing five times while Luo Qian managed three.
"Sigh."
Sun Shun shook his head and sighed, feeling somewhat dejected.
He knew his hopes of achieving high marks this year weren't great either.
Yi middle was a threshold. If one couldn't reach Yi middle or above in the first round, unless they performed exceptionally in the second round and achieved grade Jia, hopes of high achievement were slim.
Luo Qian's expression remained unchanged. Participating in this martial examination, she had long known her chances of achieving high marks.
Her gaze had already locked onto those martial candidates with hopes of high achievement, secretly calculating whether she could find opportunities to befriend one or two.
If even Zhou's courtyard elite disciples were in such situations, ordinary disciples faced even greater difficulties. Most people could barely draw three or four-stone bows before gasping for breath, being eliminated in the first round almost without suspense.
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