His melancholy over, he returned the teacup to Xuan Yuan Po’s hands, gave everyone a smile and then left in his horse-drawn carriage.
Chen Chang Sheng and the others were befuddled, not understanding what meaning was there to Minister Xin’s action.
The other shore was a saying within Buddhism; Buddhism had declined ten thousand years ago and was rarely mentioned by people, were the words from Minister Xin due to true anguish, or did it have some other implication?
“This fellow, when did he suddenly start to enjoy blurting out his worries?” said Tang Thirty-Six.
Jin Yu Lu couldn’t control himself any longer, reprimanding him: “You idiot, this is blatantly the leaking of a topic.”
“Eh?” Xuan Yuan Po’s mouth was agape, wondering where the exam question was.
Chen Chang Sheng and Tang Thirty-Six exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves that adults really liked handling matters in unusual ways, for such an important matter, couldn’t it have been stated in a clearer manner?
The Grand Examination was separated into three stages of: Academic Exam, Martial Trial and Duelling. The special attention directed towards Orthodox Academy from the Education Board was primarily centred around Chen Chang Sheng, he had no problems with the Academic Exam, while Duelling was dependent upon personal ability and didn’t have any exam topics; therefore, Minister Xin’s leaked topic had to be something related to the Martial Trial.
“Crossing a lake?”
Tang Thirty-Six walked to the lake’s edge and stood upon the half-remaining boulder that had been shattered by Xuan Yuan Po, turning his gaze towards the opposing shore that was around 100 metres (~109 yards) away; he was slightly confused, stating: “This isn’t difficult.”
“It’s hard for me to cross alone.” Xuan Yuan Po turned to look at Chen Chang Sheng, stating: “But I can easily throw a stone across to the opposite shore.”
Chen Chang Sheng understood his meaning, but didn’t reply, after a brief silence, he said: “I need to consider.”
The tree that had been destroyed by Xuan Yuan Po was too thick, making it difficult to chop into firewood. Jin Yu Lu was in a rare spate of enthusiasm, and instead, set the remaining half of the tree alight in its entirety, before suspending a black deer that been sent by Luo Luo from Li Palace over the flame; spit-roasting an entire deer was all about its opulence; its grease surrounded the place and the academy was soon veiled in its aroma.
Xuan Yuan Po stood beside the roasting deer, waiting for it to cook with an unblinking gaze; Tang Thirty-Six had a knife in one hand and a plate in the other, his throat constantly going through the motions of gulping; only Chen Chang Sheng wasn’t by the pyre, even though the Grand Examination was imminent, he hadn’t let up in the slightest, strictly adhering to his principles; something as unhealthy as a deer roast, how could he possibly eat it?
He continued to race across the ground near the lake, relying upon muscle memory to convert positions of Elucidating Steps into instinct; the topic leaked by Minister Xin did not pose a problem for himself, he currently had at least three different methods to cross a lake, but it would involve revealing his current abilities which would put him at a disadvantage for the Duelling stage, therefore he had to think of some other method.
After a long while, the deer had finished roasting, Xuan Yuan Po cried out to him from the opposite shore and he waved his hand a few times in reply, expressing that he really wasn’t going to have any. After this, Xuan Yuan Po started tearing at the meat with his hands, while Tang Thirty-Six began using his knife to carve out some meat, Jin Yu Lu took out a bottle of fine alcohol that he refused to share with the two youths.
Chen Chang Sheng shook his head, thinking to himself about what was so good about alcohol and meat, but… ox tongue was indeed rather tasty, while pondering on everything, he climbed up the great banyan tree and stood upon its foremost branch, gazing out towards the white houses and dark eaves of the Capital in the snow’s aftermath, hands on his waist as he stood there silently for a long while.
The area surrounding the Capital, should currently be a snow plain that covered tens of thousands of miles.
Within his body, was also a snow plain that stretched for tens of thousands of miles.
It was possibly just under the palm of his hands.
The snow plain was comprised of Star Brilliance that could be converted into boundless amounts of True Essence.
Though he didn’t dare to touch that Star Brilliance, just knowing of its existence was reassuring.