Chapter 145: Drawing Lots
Chen Changsheng did not notice the gazes falling upon him. Since Luoluo had come to the Starfall Academy, he had not enjoyed such treatment for a long time, but once he returned to those past days, he quickly adapted and became accustomed to it. Moreover, he was thinking about certain matters and was somewhat distracted.
He was confident that his written exam results would rank at least in the top three. The problem was that Gou Hanshi should also be in the top three, and even Tianhai Shengsheng’s written exam results would not be too poor. Calculating this way, if he wanted to take the top spot in the Grand Examination, he would need to at least reach the final round of the duels, which meant winning five consecutive rounds. Of course, if Gou Hanshi, Tianhai Shengsheng, and the four Huaiyuan Academy scholars who submitted their papers last in the written exam were eliminated quickly, then the pressure on him would be much less. The problem was that, no matter how you looked at it, this was impossible.
Zhuang Feibai, Liang Banhu, and Qijian were also potential strong enemies, as well as Zhuang Huanyu, who had been particularly silent today. What made Chen Changsheng most uneasy, or rather vigilant, was that lone youth in the single-layer garment standing apart from the crowd.
This wolf clan youth had no written exam results, so no matter how his duels went, he could not take the top spot and would not be in direct competition with him. But what if he encountered this youth in the first few rounds of duels? No one wanted to meet this youth early, and he believed Gou Hanshi and Tianhai Shengsheng thought the same.
The short break quickly ended. Lady Li had her maids gather the food boxes and leave the arena. The second round of the Grand Examination duels was about to begin. The area outside the Dust-Washing Pavilion gradually grew quiet. Compared to the atmosphere before the first round, it was even more tense and oppressive, because the top fifteen candidates were also joining the duels.
The first fifteen candidates to pass through the Qujiang River in the martial exam were all very strong. There were four from Lishan Sword Sect, two from Star-Gathering Academy, one senior sister from Saintess Peak, Tianhai Shengsheng standing coldly at the front, Zhuang Huanyu calmly standing with a classmate, the wolf clan youth named Zhexiu still standing alone on the periphery, and only one person whom no one recognized.
Compared to the first round, the basic rules of the second round of the Grand Examination duels were the same, with only two major differences. First, the opponents were no longer chosen by the candidate with the higher number, nor were they related to the examiners. Instead, lots were drawn. Moreover, in the subsequent rounds, a new draw would be held for each round. Which opponent a candidate would face was entirely left to fate.
Second, starting from the second round, the loser of a duel would no longer be directly sent out of the academy but would remain in the arena. Since they were now among the top sixty-four, to determine the final rankings and the top three candidates of the Grand Examination, the examiners’ scores could not guarantee absolute fairness, and the losers might need to compete in additional matches.
Before the duels began, lots had to be drawn first. In a sense, drawing lots was even more important than the duels themselves. If you could draw a relatively weak opponent, it was like passing a round in advance. But if you were unlucky and drew an opponent like Gou Hanshi, what would you do?
Dozens of eyes followed the hand of the church priest presiding over the drawing ceremony as it left the lot box and landed on the slip of paper bearing the candidate’s name.
“Starfall Academy, Xuan Yuan Po.” The church priest then drew a second slip, glanced at it, and said, “Opponent: Lishan Sword Sect, Gou Hanshi.”
In front of the Dust-Washing Pavilion, there was silence, or rather, dead stillness. It took a long time for the candidates to react, and countless exclamations erupted.
In everyone’s view, since Qiushan Jun had unexpectedly not participated in the Grand Examination, the strongest candidate this year was undoubtedly Gou Hanshi. They naturally assumed his name would appear very late. Who would have thought that in the first draw, the examiner would pull out the slip with Gou Hanshi’s name?
The emotions in those exclamations were complex. Besides shock, there was much joy. In a few cries, one could hear a gloating tone.
Just as no one wanted to face that wolf clan youth, even fewer wanted to face Gou Hanshi.
Now people didn’t need to worry, because the one facing Gou Hanshi was Xuan Yuan Po—Xuan Yuan Po of the Starfall Academy.
By the forest edge, it was very quiet. Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six looked at Xuan Yuan Po. There was no sympathy in their eyes, only a questioning intent.
At a time like this, sympathy was meaningless.
Xuan Yuan Po looked bewildered and asked, “What should I do?”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “Didn’t you see we’re all waiting for you to decide?”
Xuan Yuan Po turned to Luoluo and said, “Teacher, I’ll listen to you.”
Luoluo turned to Chen Changsheng and said, “Teacher, what do you think?”
Chen Changsheng turned to Tang Thirty-Six and said, “How about you make the call?”
Without a second thought, Tang Thirty-Six directly raised his hand and shouted to the church priest in charge of the draw, “We forfeit!”
The arena erupted in uproar. No one expected the Starfall Academy to choose to forfeit as soon as the draw results were announced. Wasn’t this too decisive, or rather, too shameless? Laughter of mockery came from the crowd. Xuan Yuan Po lowered his head, looking somewhat dejected.
Chen Changsheng comforted him, saying, “Save some strength; you can gain an advantage in the additional matches later.”
Tang Thirty-Six, handling the external affairs, looked at the mocking candidates and said, “Forfeiting means surrendering? If you’re so capable, we’ll give you this lot, and you go fight Gou Hanshi?”
Giving away lots was naturally impossible, but his words reminded many candidates present. If the goal was to enter the top three of the Grand Examination, then encountering an unbeatable strongman like Gou Hanshi in the second round made forfeiting perhaps the best choice. Thinking that they might also forfeit later, the candidates naturally quieted down.
The drawing continued. The calm scene was broken again when the church priest drew the names Tang Thirty-Six and Liang Banhu.
The candidates looked toward the forest edge. No one mocked the Starfall Academy; instead, they began to sympathize with them.
Tang Thirty-Six’s expression remained calm, but his mood was extremely foul. In a voice only those nearby could hear, he muttered, “What kind of damn luck is this?”
Xuan Yuan Po meeting Gou Hanshi was the worst luck possible. Him facing Liang Banhu was hardly any better. The draw had only just begun, and two people from the Starfall Academy had already been matched against two of the strongest, the so-called Seven Laws of the Divine Kingdom. No matter how you looked at it, the Starfall Academy was clearly having a bad day.
The Starfall Academy’s bad luck didn’t end there.
The slip with Chen Changsheng’s name was drawn by the church priest. Then, the priest drew his opponent.
Huaiyuan Academy, Huo Guang.
The arena erupted in uproar. By now, even candidates with the worst opinion of the Starfall Academy had no mood to gloat.
The most shocking thing happened at the end.
Luoluo’s opponent was… Tianhai Shengsheng.
In front of the Dust-Washing Pavilion, it was silent. The sound of the priest drawing slips was so clear.
People looked at the several members of the Starfall Academy by the forest edge, stunned into silence.
The Starfall Academy members themselves were also stunned into silence.
By this point, people could be sure that such draw results had absolutely nothing to do with luck. It was a deliberate suppression of the Starfall Academy, because the probability was too small.
Xuan Yuan Po meeting Gou Hanshi could only result in forfeiting and admitting defeat. Tang Thirty-Six was famous, hailed as a child prodigy, but his strength and realm still had a considerable gap with Liang Banhu, so victory seemed unlikely. As for the third match… that Huaiyuan Academy scholar named Huo Guang, though not on the Azure Cloud Ranking, based on his performance in the martial exam, should be the second strongest among the four Huaiyuan scholars, stronger than two of his classmates who were on the ranking, second only to Zhong Hui, who was ninth on the Azure Cloud Ranking. Even if Chen Changsheng had encountered some miraculous fortune, he couldn’t possibly defeat him.
The most obvious evidence was Luoluo’s draw result. As second on the Azure Cloud Ranking, the only ones she feared in this year’s Grand Examination were Gou Hanshi and Tianhai Shengsheng, who had already reached the Penetrating Darkness realm. And she happened to draw Tianhai Shengsheng. More importantly, among all the candidates present, only Tianhai Shengsheng’s family background was roughly comparable to hers, at least allowing her to fight relatively freely.
The same as in front of the Dust-Washing Pavilion, the Zhaowen Hall was also dead silent.
The Archbishop finally slowly opened his eyes. His somewhat murky gaze fell on the draw results displayed on the light mirror, gradually turning cold.
Mo Yu’s eyelids drooped slightly, no one knew what she was thinking.
Chenliu Wang raised an eyebrow slightly, anger on his face.
Xue Xingchuan was somewhat surprised and turned to look at Xu Shiji.
Xu Shiji remained expressionless, maintaining his silence.
The other important figures in the hall also kept silent.
The important figures in the Zhaowen Hall were no fools. How could they not see that this draw was a man-made result? Clearly, the Church Council’s favoritism toward the Starfall Academy had finally provoked dissatisfaction from the new faction of the State Church. After enduring for a long time, they were now counterattacking in the final duel segment of the Grand Examination. It was just unclear whether this had the personal approval of Her Holiness the Saint Empress or His Holiness the Pope.
“Using southerners to fight the Starfall Academy—this really doesn’t look good.”
Mao Qiuyu, the dean of the Heavenly Academy, sighed, stood up, and walked out of the Zhaowen Hall.
Hearing this, some people in the hall, such as the dean of the Church’s Affiliated Academy and two State Church archbishops, looked somewhat embarrassed.
Mao Qiuyu had a transcendent status. He could say what he said and leave as he pleased, but he could not change the draw results.
The Grand Examination had to continue, and so did the drawing. The most attention was naturally on the four matches related to the Starfall Academy. Guan Feibai, Zhuang Huanyu, and other famous young experts drew relatively weak opponents. Only Su Moyu’s luck seemed even worse than Chen Changsheng’s and the others’, because his opponent was… that youth named Zhexiu.
Hearing the church priest announce the names, the candidates present learned the full name of that wolf clan youth for the first time.
That youth was called Wofu Zhexiu.
Surnames like Wofu were extremely rare. One could tell at a glance that he was not from the Central Plains but likely from a small tribe beyond the border.
Tang Thirty-Six patted Su Moyu on the shoulder and said, “Give up. It’s your fault for standing with us earlier. Bad luck is contagious.”
Was it really luck? Of course not. Everyone in front of the Dust-Washing Pavilion knew this. But just like in the first round, if you couldn’t find evidence of manipulation, you had no way to object.
You could only admit defeat or try to achieve an impossible victory.
Tang Thirty-Six advised Su Moyu to choose the former, but he himself was preparing to choose the latter.
Luoluo and Chen Changsheng thought the same.
(One chapter today. Due to personal reasons, updates will be fewer these days. Apologies.)