"Sir, may I ask if we are in Chang'an?"
On the barren land, a young man carrying a bag stopped an old man carrying a shoulder pole and asked respectfully.
"Yes, go another ten miles and you will reach Chang'an, but you'd better go around for five miles from the southeast first."
Hearing this, the young man's face showed confusion, "Why?"
"There is a chasm ahead. If we don't go around it in advance, we will have to walk along the edge of the chasm between the ravines, which will be even more tiring." The old man waved his hand, said no more, and walked straight into the distance.
"Tianyuan..." the young man muttered, "I have never heard of Tianyuan near Chang'an before."
Although he was puzzled, he still followed the old man's instructions and began to circle to the southeast.
The young man looked to be about twenty-four or twenty-five, wearing a dusty dark blue robe. From a distance he looked like a man of elegant temperament, but if you looked closely, you would find traces of mending on his cuffs and hems. Although the tailor's skills were superb, there were still some slight color differences.
He carried his heavy bag a little higher, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and walked forward step by step towards the scorching sun.
After an unknown amount of time, he walked up a small earthen slope and turned around to look. He saw a huge abyss indeed located in the distance. The inner wall was extremely smooth, like an endless deep hole with no bottom in sight.
“There is such a miracle near Chang’an…” Shock appeared in the young man’s eyes. He couldn’t imagine how such a huge and deep abyss was formed.
He rested for a while and set out again towards Chang'an. After a few hours, he finally arrived at the foot of Chang'an.
What surprised him was that a large section of Chang'an's city wall had collapsed for some unknown reason. Many laborers were busy rebuilding the city wall, and a group of soldiers in armor were standing at the original location of the city gate, checking everyone entering the city one by one.
"Brother, what exactly happened in Chang'an?" The young man standing in the queue couldn't help but ask the man in front of him.
"I don't know either, but I heard on the way here that Chang'an was attacked by some powerful evil spirit, and it was the intervention of Marquis Guanjun that saved the city from a catastrophe." The man looked around and said in a low voice,
"You were outside the city. Did you see that abyss? It is said that it was also the work of the Marquis!"
"That abyss was actually man-made?!" Shock appeared in the young man's eyes.
"Humph, that's the Marquis! What can't he do?"
"Marquis of Champion..." The young man muttered the name, with a look of longing in his eyes.
Seeing that the young man was interested in the Marquis of Guanjun, the man's mouth curled up slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he whispered in the young man's ear mysteriously and said with some pride, "Brother, to tell you the truth, I came to Chang'an this time to seek refuge with the Marquis!"
"To join the Marquis?" The young man was stunned. "Are you also going to take the exam for the Evil Suppression Division?"
"?The same to you??"
After knowing that they were actually fellow travelers, the two of them immediately became enthusiastic and began to address each other as brothers according to their ages.
"Brother Hu, since you are here to take the exam for the Evil Suppression Bureau, why do you come only now? If I remember correctly, this is the last day, right?" the man asked puzzled.
"My home is quite far from here, and it took me some time to walk here."
"Oh? Where is your home?"
"Chonglin County."
"Hiss, that's certainly not close... Did you walk all the way here? Why didn't you buy a horse?"
The young man smiled and said nothing.
Seeing that the young man was unwilling to say more, the man tactfully stopped asking. After the two chatted for a few words, it was the soldier's turn to interrogate him.
"Who are you? Why do you want to enter the city?" the soldier asked with a serious expression.
The man opened his mouth to say something, looked around furtively, and finally came close to the soldier's side and answered in a low voice:
"I'm going to the Evil Suppression Division..."
The soldier looked at him with a strange expression and said, "If you want to go to the Evil Suppression Division, then go to the Evil Suppression Division. Why are you speaking so quietly? Let's go... the guy behind you, what about you?"
"I am going to the same place as him..."
"Hey, come on, go straight after entering the gate and turn right after two miles. There are signs to guide you along the way. Remember to take a number and queue up."
The soldier waved his hands impatiently, as if he was too lazy to ask any more questions. The two of them passed through the city gate inexplicably. Faintly, they heard the soldier's impatient voice again:
"What? You're going to the Evil Suppression Division, too? Why didn't you say so? Tsk, let's go... There are other people going to the Evil Suppression Division behind you. You don't have to queue up. Just go in and don't block other people's way."
youth:……
"There are so many extraordinary people in this world..." The young man scratched his head in confusion.
"I don't know if there are that many extraordinary people, but there are definitely many people who admire the Marquis."
"By the way, Brother Zhao, I haven't asked you yet. Since you are also a strange man, what are your abilities?"
"As for me, hehe..." The man looked around and saw that there was no one around. He leaned close to the young man's ear and said proudly, "I can kill a cow with three punches!"
"..." The young man's mouth twitched slightly, and finally he forced a smile and praised politely, "Brother Zhao is really powerful..."
"Hahaha, I'm fine. By the way, how about you, Brother Hu?"
"I... I'm not as good as Brother Zhao. I can't even kill a cow."
The man looked at the young man with pity, patted his shoulder, showed an "I understand" expression, and spoke meaningfully,
"Brother Hu, it doesn't matter whether you are a strange man or not, as long as you have this intention..."
"Brother Zhao, let's hurry over there. I think the people queuing for the exam are already on the street."
"What?!"
The two of them followed the soldier's instructions and saw many eye-catching slogans on the road:
——The strange men who came to take the exam went two miles forward from here.
——Turn right ahead.
——This place is still one mile away from the test site. There are about 200 people in line, and the expected waiting time is two hours.
——Time is money, so don’t waste your own and others’ time. If you are not an outsider, please go to the other side of the street to get a bowl of mung bean soup, and then return the same way you came.
The two of them were far behind the queue. Seeing the dense crowd of people in front of them, the man sighed helplessly and turned to the young man and said:
"Brother Hu, there are too many people here. Why don't you go back... Practice more and come back next year when you can kill a cow."
"..." The young man shook his head, "It's okay, I can wait."
The man did not try to persuade them any more, and the two of them just lined up in the queue, moving forward little by little. The bright sunlight gradually set in the west, and the distance between them and the house became closer and closer.
"Brother Hu, it doesn't seem that slow... There are people ahead of us who have been turning back. They must have given up." Seeing that it was almost his turn, a look of joy appeared on Zhao's face!
Just as the young man was about to say something, a young man with a cold face came over from the front, with a jade token tied around his waist with the words "Zhen Xie" written on it.
"What are your abilities?" Wu Quan walked up to Zhao Nanren and spoke expressionlessly.
"Are you from the Evil Suppression Division?" Zhao whispered mysteriously, "I can kill a cow with three punches!"
Wuquan glanced at him, silently stretched out his hand, and pointed to the street across the street:
"Drink the mung bean soup, and get out of here after that!"