Inspector Geng stared coldly at Zhou Zhubu and said, "Since the Holy Academy has appointed me as the inspector of the imperial examination, why did you alarm the other saints? Is this examination room for the Holy Academy or for the officials of Jing State? You have to think carefully. After all, I represent the Holy Academy. If it is not a matter of right and wrong, once the three semi-saint examiners are dissatisfied and impose a holy punishment, you have to think carefully about the consequences."
Zhou Zhubu showed no fear and said, "Fang Yun's interpretation of the sutra may have some flaws, but it is well-structured and well-reasoned. His perspective on 'improper etiquette' is not only better than that of the scholar, but also far better than you and me. There is a hint of Confucius's idea of 'all under heaven as one'! Although this article is not very talented, it contains profound truths and is far superior to Tong Li's interpretation of the sutra."
Inspector Geng suppressed his anger and said, "This article is indeed insightful, and even ahead of its time. But if you say that this article contains the truth of 'all under heaven are one' that even Confucius could not achieve, then you are forcing me to ask for a divine judgment! Not to mention that it contains a trace of the truth of 'all under heaven are one', even if it touches the edge, the talent in it will surely be able to stabilize the country! This article does not show any talent, which means that the selection he mentioned is not feasible!"
"Lord Geng, please don't force us. Do you dare to swear to your literary advisor Wen Gong that his interpretation of the scriptures is not as good as Tong Li's?" Feng Zimo asked.
Geng Xunchao showed hesitation in his eyes, and then he said seriously: "Don't quibble! Fang Yun's interpretation of the sutra is better than Tong Li's in many aspects. I have never denied this point, but a sutra interpretation cannot be judged by just one sentence or one paragraph, but by the whole article! There are two reasons why I insist that Tong Li deserves the first place. First, his talent in the sutra interpretation far exceeds that of Fang Yun, which is an indisputable fact. Second, I prefer Tong Li's sutra interpretation that is down-to-earth and writes about "small ceremonies" to Fang Yun's "big ceremonies" that are almost boastful. Fang Yun is not even twenty years old and he is talking about national ceremonies. How can I be fooled by him!"
"Was Inspector Geng deceived by 'Praise of the Humble Dwelling' or by 'Early Morning Walk in Ji County'?" Prefect Dong asked bluntly.
Feng Zimo immediately said, "I was deceived by Spring Dawn."
Zhou Zhubu said, "I was deceived by The Pillow Book. By the way, Lord Li Wenying has also been deceived by him, as well as our country's Minister of Literature."
Inspector Geng looked at the test paper and thought that if there was something wrong with Fang Yun's poem and invitation to the Holy Spirit, he could use this to hinder him. So he sighed helplessly and said, "How about this. You guys judge his poem and invitation to the Holy Spirit first. Let me think about it."
The three examiners looked at each other and nodded. If things had turned out well, they would not want to ask the Holy Judge to make things worse.
The three continued to mark the papers.
Feng Yuanjun reviewed Fang Yun's petition. He read it from beginning to end without stopping.
Prefect Dong, who was standing by, asked in a low voice, "Can he get an A in the prefectural exam? Don't make the mistake and let someone find fault with me. I can't even say I was right in answering the scholar's exam."
Feng Zimo said: "Let me read it again."
Not long after, Feng Zimo directly pushed the nearly 200-page Holy Words test paper to Prefect Dong and said, "Come and take a look."
Prefect Dong was surprised and habitually picked up his vermilion brush to prepare for marking the papers. He looked at each paper one by one, and after finishing the last one, he was unable to put his pen down.
"Zhou Zhubu, come and take a look."
"Yes, sir."
Zhou Zhubu took longer to finish reading it.
"That's right." said Zhou Zhubu.
Prefect Dong pondered for a moment and said, "Please ask Lord Geng to review the papers. We may have missed something, but Lord Geng is a Hanlin scholar with great talent, so he will not miss anything."
There was a glimmer of surprise in Inspector Geng's eyes. He determined that there was something wrong with these three people, but he was not afraid. He walked over and picked up the pen to mark the papers.
The result was exactly the same as that of the three examiners, and Inspector Geng never put down his pen.
Inspector Geng stared blankly at Fang Yun's test paper for the Holy Word. As an official of the Holy Academy and a veteran Hanlin of the Wu Kingdom, he had experienced countless ups and downs. If he had not been persuaded to avenge his son, he would never have come to the sad place of Jing Kingdom.
Inspector Geng was very clear about his mission, which was to cooperate with Qing and Wu to kill a genius. The semi-saints of the two countries would not allow this, but the monarchs and many ministers of the two countries were unwilling to see such a genius appear in Jing.
In the eyes of people in Qing and Wu, Jing would be annexed by the two countries sooner or later.
Looking at the neatly written and error-free test paper, Inspector Geng felt a desire to find talent, but in the deepest part of his heart, his son's cry still echoed.
After a long time, Geng Xunchao said: "Please be assured that the words of the Holy Saint are correct. The text has also entered the threshold of the first realm. It is Grade A and correct."
Prefect Dong smiled and said, "The first person in Shengyuan Continent who has passed the first-class prefectural examination has appeared. From now on, no one will dare to refute Fang Yun, who is the best scholar in the ten countries."
Zhou Zhubu smiled and said, "The scholar before the Holy Spirit, there is no mistake in asking for the Holy Spirit's words. I don't want to praise him anymore. Since Fang Yun came out of nowhere, our colleagues in the Jiangzhou Academy of Literature have nothing to say except praise when talking about Fang Yun. I don't comment, I only discuss, asking for the Holy Spirit's words, poetry and scriptures, all are A."
The three of them wrote comments on Fang Yun's test paper. Prefect Dong looked at Inspector Geng and said, "Sir Geng, what have you decided?"
Inspector Geng lowered his head and said nothing. He thought of the opportunity for Wu to annex Qing, the instructions given by the man before he left, and finally, he thought of his talented child who had the potential to become a Grand Secretary.
"My son is a genius. He passed the imperial examination at the age of fifteen and came to Jingguo to study at the age of seventeen. He was beaten to death just for raping a girl from a small family. Jingguo has not handed over the murderer yet! My son is a scholar and has the potential to become a university scholar. So what if he killed a commoner girl! If my son were still alive, he would probably have become a Jinshi and be in charge of a county or even a prefecture. He would definitely be as famous as Fang Yun! If Jingguo kills my son, I will make Jingguo use one of its talents to bury him with me! I have been waiting for this opportunity for ten years! Ten years!"
"When I learned that my son was dead, I actually had the evil thought of killing the people of Guangjing, which went against my usual morality and caused my literary courage to be unstable. Fortunately, I used the principles of the Three Bonds to strengthen my literary palace. As long as I am determined to avenge my son, my literary courage will never be broken. Today is a great opportunity for me to avenge my son. Once I complete the revenge and fulfill my wish, I will most likely be one step closer!"
"What's more, they promised me the opportunity to go to the Holy Land, and I will definitely become a great scholar! Lord and subject loyalty, father and son affection, husband and wife harmony, these are the three cardinal guides! Revenge for my son is the canon of human ethics, and even the saints cannot punish me!"
Geng Xuncha's eyes were red, his hands were clenched, and his face was flushed. After a moment, he regained his composure, raised his head, and said slowly: "Fang Yun's interpretation of the classics is strange and biased, and Tong Li's interpretation of the classics is talented. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. I think that the two articles are equally good and both are ranked B."
"Lord Geng, it seems that you still force me to ask for the Holy Word." Zhou Zhubu narrowed his eyes and looked at the Hanlin in front of him.
Geng Inspector glanced at the three people indifferently, and said slowly: "As the inspector of the Holy Academy, I represent the face of the Holy Academy and the dignity of a semi-saint! If I am unreasonable, you can ask the Holy One to judge, but I have my reasons and evidence. The Saint will definitely consider the face of the Holy Academy and choose the two Bs, and finally let Tong Li's interpretation of the scriptures be ranked A! And you will be judged as wrong by the Saint, and your Wendan and Wengong will be damaged, and you will never make any progress in this life."
Zhou Zhubu smiled and said, "So what? Even if I die today, so what! Your humble servant respectfully asks for your judgment!"
Zhou Zhubu's loud voice appeared in the examination room.
Inspector Geng had a gloomy face and had to bend down like everyone else towards the statue of Confucius.
It was just past eight o'clock in the evening. Under the cover of night, the Yuhai Mansion Academy was quiet, while the streets around the academy were brightly lit and extremely bustling.
Suddenly, a sun appeared above the Academy of Literature, the darkness was dispelled, revealing a cylindrical daytime sky, and this cylindrical daytime sky was spreading in all directions.
Soon, the white sky enveloped the entire Yuhai City, turning the darkness of the city into daytime. However, outside the city, it was still dark, with the inside and outside of the city clearly divided into black and white, which was extremely strange.
Everyone who saw this scene was stunned. It was clearly night, so how could it turn into day
Before everyone could react, the day suddenly disappeared, and Yuhai City was shrouded in darkness again. But a moment later, before the people of Yuhai City could adapt, the day reappeared.
Then, Yuhai City began to alternate between day and night, which frightened many people.
Inside the provincial governor's mansion, Zhang Poyue stood up in surprise and looked at the sky outside the window, which was sometimes bright and sometimes dark.
"Changing the world, this is the power of a half-saint! Back when we were fighting against the monster coalition on the grassland, Saint Chen changed the world with his own hands, turning night into noon. The monsters were uncomfortable, but our human race was in high spirits and finally won the victory. Could it be that the saint of Qing Kingdom is here to kill me?"
Inside the Fang Mansion, Fang Yun was drinking and eating with everyone.
"What's going on? Could it be that the demon tribe is invading and that's why the Semi-Saint is coming in person? I'll leave first!" Fang Shouye ran out in a hurry.
Zhao Hongzhuang walked into the courtyard, looked at the sky and said, "The center of the change of the world is in the Wenyuan. Could something have happened there? This change of the world is probably not intentional, but caused by the leakage of the power of a semi-saint at a very high level. Fortunately, if that person's strength can be further improved, then our Yuhai City will be in trouble, and the four seasons will keep changing in a short period of time."
"Could it be related to the imperial examination?" Fang Yun recalled the vision he had seen in the scriptures before and felt a little guilty.
"I don't know." Zhao Hongzhuang shook her head.
Inside the examination room, everyone was sweating profusely. Everyone could feel an invisible force suddenly appearing in the room. That force was like the tide of the sea, constantly pushing their bodies.
Many people were frightened. In the past, asking for the Holy Judgement would at most result in a reply from a semi-saint. But now the power of the semi-saint had leaked out, leading to a complete change of the world. This was definitely not a good thing.
Inspector Geng sneered, knowing in his heart that he could never induce the Semi-Saint to manifest such power. There must be other reasons, and he would not be the one to suffer.
As night and day alternated, an old voice came from the sky.
"Why do you ask for a Holy Judge?" (To be continued...)