Chapter 116: The Entrance Exam 3

After Fang Jie walked into the Martial Arts Academy, he found that this place was drastically different from what he had imagined.

When he first got to Chang’an, he was impressed by the grand and vast presence of the city.

The Royal Palace, Smooth Spring Garden, and the various agencies were all magnificent, just like this no.1 city in the world.

However, the Martial Arts Academy was different.

After walking in, the first thing that Fang Jie saw wasn’t a magnificent building but a garden. It was the style of Yangtze-South with many rivers, bridges, and trees. There was even a giant boulder close to the gate that created a small waterfall, and the vapor from the waterfall made people’s mood better.

Fang Jie found the professor who was responsible for authenticating the participants by a bridge.

It was clear that this professor was a delicate person. She placed the desk beside this bridge, and the flowing river was behind her.

A tree with layers of big leaves blocked all the sunlight for her, and the bright fruits on the branches released a pleasant fragrance.

There were red, white, and black fish swimming in the river, and they would sometimes leap above the surface of the river, creating small rainbows.

The noisiness of Xuanwu Street instantly disappeared after people walked into the Martial Arts Academy.

For some reason, all the participants instantly stopped talking when they walked through the gate as if they were afraid of disturbing the peacefulness.

The participants lined up and walked up to the female professor before handing her their tokens. That female professor didn’t look up; she just accepted the tokens and checked the corresponding names in her booklet.

Both she and this yard looked calm and quiet.

She didn’t speak at all, looking like a flower that was blooming beside the river. She was a part of the scenery, and she looked more beautiful and more delicate than flowers.

Since she was looking down, Fang Jie couldn’t see her face clearly. However, judging from her smooth forehead, delicate nose, and round chin, she wouldn’t be ugly even if she wasn’t beautiful.

Even if she were average-looking, her calm and composed temperament would make others like her. She was calm and peaceful like water.

Fang Jie walked to her, bowed, and greeted her before taking off his token and placing it on the desk. The female professor looked at it and found Fang Jie’s name inside the thick booklet, then she put a checkmark under the name with her ink brush.

Fang Jie was surprised by this simple move.

This thick booklet recorded the names of all participants from both the military and all the cities, and there were many names on a single page with descriptions in a smaller font below them.

Ordinary people would forget the names on the first page after flipping through a few pages, but this female professor only glanced at Fang Jie’s token before casually locating Fang Jie’s name in the booklet.

It took her less than three seconds to look at Fang Jie’s token before putting down the checkmark.

“Such a great memory!” Fang Jie praised in his mind, and his respect toward the professors of the Martial Arts Academy increased a ton. Now, he finally realized how great these professors were.

The professor named Yan Ji at the gate only left him a good impression, but this female professor truly taught him what talented people were capable of. Fang Jie was proud of his memory, but it was nothing compared to the memory of this female professor.

After taking back his token, Fang Jie thanked this professor and turned around, getting ready to leave.

“Wait a second.”

When Fang Jie turned around, the female professor who hadn’t looked up or talked suddenly called out.

Fang Jie looked at her, and his heart lurched a little. Although this woman wasn’t stunningly beautiful, her appearance suited her presence. She had an oval face, smooth skin, round chin and cheeks.

However, Fang Jie’s heart lurched not because of her charm; it was because of her eyes.

This female professor’s eyes didn’t have a tint of black in them. Her eyes were white, but not the lifeless whiteness that would make others feel cold. Her white eyes looked like jade, but jade wasn’t as bright as her eyes. Her eyes were like white crystals.

Brilliant and clear; Fang Jie had never imagined that a person’s eyes that didn’t seem to have pupils could be this beautiful.

Although her eyes looked white, Fang Jie seemed to see a faint-golden ring in each of her eyes, outlining what was supposed to be ordinary people’s irises. When Fang Jie took a closer look, he saw that in each of her eyes, there were three bright dots located at the top, bottom left, and bottom right of her eyes.

This pair of eyes was memorizing like the beautiful cosmos.

After the female professor coughed, Fang Jie realized his rudeness and quickly lowered his head. “Professor, what do you need?”

The female professor raised her hand and smoothed her bang; she didn’t seem angry over Fang Jie’s rude stare. She pointed at Fang Jie’s horse and asked, “Since you want to use your horse during the exam, it needs to be registered. Does it have a name? I will write it down.”

Clearly, even though she was inside the Martial Arts Academy, she overheard the noises at the gate earlier.

“Name?” Fang Jie froze for a second and suddenly remembered that he never gave this red horse a name. After thinking for a bit, he shook his head and replied honestly, “It doesn’t have a name. Professor, it would be my honor for you to name it.”

The female professor didn’t think that Fang Jie was going to ask her to name the horse. After a moment of hesitation, she stood up, walked around the horse, and couldn’t help but comment, “No wonder you want to use your own horse. This chilly-blood horse is far better than most of the horses in the academy. It is a pity that such an outstanding horse doesn’t have a name.”

Fang Jie blushed a little and thought, “Are you saying that it is a pity because it doesn’t have a name, or because an insignificant figure like me owns it?”

After she rubbed the neck of this horse with her hand, she said to Fang Jie, “Such a beautiful horse; how about Rainbow?”

“Rainbow?” Fang Jie froze for a second and scratched his head. “Isn’t it a bit too feminine? It is a warhorse after all.”

The female professor also froze for a bit and replied with frustration. “Is it really your horse? It is a warhorse, but it is also a female.”

Regardless if Fang Jie was willing or not, this female professor sat down behind the desk and wrote down the horse’s name behind Fang Jie – Rainbow.

Since this name was recorded in the Martial Arts Academy, it was set in stone and couldn’t be changed. This tall and dashing horse was now called Rainbow.

Fang Jie smiled awkwardly and thanked the female professor before walking away with the horse. After taking a few steps, he heard the female professor’s voice again.

“I’m Qiu Yu, one of the examiners of the martial tests. I hope your performance wouldn’t bring shame to this great horse.”

Fang Jie didn’t reply nor turn around. He nodded and continued walking forward.

Through a path paved with rocks, Fang Jie followed the people in front of him and got deep into the academy.

Now, he realized that the Martial Arts Academy truly wasn’t big. With thousands of participants inside, this place seemed crowded. Since there were too many people, there weren’t enough buildings to be used as venues.

Therefore, both the written and martial tests would take place outside.

The five written tests were first, so Fang Jie handed Rainbow to the people of the Martial Arts Academy to handle. Then, he found his seat in the field; the desk had his name on it.

This familiar scene made Fang Jie think back to his student life on Earth where there were frequent tests and exams.

The five written subjects were math, rites, music, geography, and military strategies and tactics.

The thousands of participants quickly found their seats under the guidance of the people of the Martial Arts Academy. After the footsteps died down, the area became quiet.

To the north of the field was a stage; the people from the military were familiar with this setup.

The stage was big; it was probably temporarily built for this purpose.

When Fang Jie sat down, the first thing he saw was the yellow umbrella that represented the supreme identity.

The Emperor was here!

Fang Jie knew the importance that the Emperor placed on the entrance exam of the Martial Arts Academy, but he didn’t think that the Emperor would deviate from his busy schedule and come here.

Under the yellow umbrella, there was Heaven-Bless Emperor Yang Yi of Great Sui. He was wearing formal attire for big events, looking majestic.

To the left was Yang Yin, Royal King Yi. To the right was Zhou Banchuan, the Principal of the Martial Arts Academy.

“The size of the entrance exam gets bigger every time! I’m pleased! I said that Great Sui doesn’t lack talents. These participants are all the future pillars of the government.” Yang Yi pointed at all the people sitting below the stage and said with a smile, “I heard that Mongo-Yuan tried to copy the Martial Arts Academy. They built the Martial Hunting Hall and selected talents every three years. However, the whole thing seems sketchy like a knock-off.”

All the officials around him laughed.

The laughter from the stage didn’t catch Fang Jie’s attention, but the person beside him made him have a headache.

This person leaned forward with her arms on the table and her hands cupping her chin. She didn’t look at the stage. Instead, she looked at Fang Jie with a strange smile.

“How come you are here?” Fang Jie asked in a low voice.

This person giggled but didn’t reply. Her face was charming, and her smiling eyes made her look cute. This beautiful girl was someone who Fang Jie met before – Wu Yinyu!

Fang Jie was surprised to see her; he knew that Wu Yidao sent this girl to One Qi Daoist Temple on Pure Joy Mountain.

“She can enter the Martial Arts Academy after entering One Qi Daoist Temple?” Fang Jie wondered.

If Fang Jie knew how much money Wu Yidao gave to the Martial Arts Academy, he wouldn’t be this surprised.

Just as Fang Jie wondered why Wu Yinyu was here, a professor made an announcement, and all the participants stood up and took a step forward.

Fang Jie quickly got up and knew that everyone was about to greet the Emperor. However, they weren’t asked to kneel.

While Fang Jie was surprised, he saw the eunuch who he met in Smooth Spring Garden walking to the front of the stage and opening an edict. After he cleared his throat, he started to make the announcement.

The first portion of the announcement praised the participants and the Martial Arts Academy; there was nothing new.

Nothing was fancy, and it was written in the tone of the Emperor. However, the ending shocked Fang Jie.

“People who purchased fake questions with a lot of money, please stand out. You are all disqualified, and you need to reflect on your actions back home! You can’t become officials in the next five years, and you won’t ever be considered for official positions if you get any other bad records. His Majesty is kind and won’t give you tough punishments this time since you are the talents of Great Sui and first-time offenders. Please take responsibility and reflect on yourself!”

Hundreds of people turned ashen-faced, including Cui Lueshang.