The examination hall had three doors, all of which were wide open at this moment.
Because it was cloudy, some red candles were lit in the hall. Although the door was open and the wind blew in, they did not flutter, but instead persisted in pointing upwards, shining brightly and illuminating the low table below.
The low table was exquisite, with the best four treasures of the study on it, and the incense burner next to it, which was a perfect match. But Xia Xiao was upset when he saw the brush. The hand holding the knife was difficult to hold the brush, either the brush broke or the hand cramped. Xia Xiao's handwriting was like a dog's crawl. Fortunately, he was a practitioner, not a candidate for the literary examination, otherwise he would cry to death on the low table.
It is said that seeing a letter is like seeing the person, but Xia Xiao is not so lucky.
As people walked in, they could see various names posted on the low table.
“Bang!”
When the last person walked into the examination hall, the three doors slammed shut with a creak. It was normal for the doors to be closed, as they couldn't allow outsiders to disturb them. There was wind outside, and it was about to rain, and no one knew when it would start.
"Find your seat and sit down."
In the deepest part of the temple, Fang Hai was sitting, and the two teachers beside him were serious. This was the last level to enter the Ningshen Academy. Anyone who passed it could leave this mundane place and go to the holy and dustless place of the Great Wilderness. Therefore, they were extremely rigorous and would not allow any mistakes.
When Si Ta sat down, Xia Xiao and Shu Shuang were still walking forward. Soon, they also found their own seats, side by side in the middle of the right side of the hall.
Sitting together, Xia Xiao felt like he was studying in the same academy. If he had a classmate like Shu Shuang, he would definitely not skip classes, but he would not look at the teacher during class.
Xia Xiao always thought that red candles were sacred, and only the wedding night could be worthy of such a meaningful candlelight. But at this moment, Shu Shuang was sitting under the warm red candles, her eyes shining when she smiled. The face that Xia Xiao had long been familiar with always exuded a different charm, sometimes shy and cute, and now warm and charming, warming his heart and hands, and he wanted to get into the dry bed together.
Shu Shuang saw that look and said coquettishly that he was still drunk. Xia Xiao smiled and turned his head. Now that the family affairs had been resolved, he would rather get drunk for once.
In front of the lamp, Xia Xiao looked at the huge white paper, which was empty, and frowned. What kind of problems will arise in this year's session?
Xia Xiao had studied the questions and answers in previous sessions. But how many flowers bloom in spring? How many stars are there in the sky? He didn't know the answer either. No one knew the correct answer.
Some people were lucky and pretended to be profound, so they handed in a blank paper. Some people really had insights and also handed in a blank paper. I don't know how these teachers used to see whose answer was better. Therefore, some blank papers were admitted to the college, and some blank papers were returned later.
The unpredictable final selection made many outstanding candidates miss the entrance to the academy, but also made the poor family produce noble children. In front of this low table, there is no way to cheat, no way to bribe the examiner, only the words written by your own hand will become the key to finally enter Ningshen Academy.
"The final round begins. Please answer the questions within two hours. When you have finished answering the questions, raise your hand for permission and you can leave the examination room."
Apart from this, there are no other precautions. There are three examiners here, so there is no need for those things!
Fang Hai raised his arm, and Chuan Lian at his side quickly formed seals. Then, each candlelight enveloped the eighty-six people, so that when Xia Xiao turned his head, he could no longer see Shu Shuang, but only a vague halo, which was as warm as a candlelight, but without any temperature.
When he turned his head, there were already three paragraphs on the white paper on the low table. This was the question, with a 1:9 ratio with the blank space. With such a large blank space, did Xia Xiao have to write a paper?
This year's topic was a bit long, but the longer the better. If it was like the last one, Xia Xiao would probably have a hard time writing anything even if he scratched his head.
In black and white, it says:
The vice president had passed through the Peace Zone, which was the territory of the Adventurer's Guild. Adventurers were naturally active, brave and careful.
On the road outside the city, the vice president was driving a car. The driver saw three children blocking the fast car and tried to drive them away but to no avail. He had no choice but to turn the horse around and hit a girl passing by on the roadside.
Question: Is the driver's trip pleasing to the Vice President?
Xia Xiao was not unfamiliar with this question. It seemed that no matter which world he was in, such a choice existed. But was the matter in this question really real? I heard that the highest authority in Ningshen Academy was the vice president, a person of that level, comparable to a master, who could travel thousands of miles in one breath. Why did he still need to take a car?
Besides, even if there were people in front of the car, I could just wave my hands and use my energy to move them away. Why bother? Isn't this asking for trouble? But how should I answer? I can't just make up a story. How about analyzing the problem from two perspectives? That's too fake. Who doesn't know how to do that?
Xia Xiao sharpened his inkstone, turning it three times to the left and three times to the right, but he still couldn't come up with a suitable answer. If it were normal times, he would answer this kind of question easily, after all, he had his own unique way of thinking and never followed the crowd. But now it was the final round, so he was more nervous than usual. At least the answer he wrote down had to be perfect, and there was only one piece of paper, so there was no room for even a draft!
Holding his chin, Xia Xiao thought for a long time, and time passed little by little.
In the examination hall, Fang Hai stood up and looked at the eighty-six light balls.
“I wonder what kind of answer they can come up with this time?”
When Chuan Lian was curious, his handprint changed. Above the light ball, many scenes appeared, in a hazy and misty state, like a dream. But most of the scenes were the same, all of them were a carriage driving on the road.
These horses can stop suddenly or move backwards, walking in the timeline, but they will inevitably bump into the girls on the roadside.
Teachers do not judge the performance of candidates based solely on their answer sheets, but rather on the scenes that emerge at this time.
The whole hall looked ordinary, but in fact, it was already in an extremely delicate array. This was a special array used by Ningshen Academy for recruiting students. It could read people's minds and check their spiritual talents, which was difficult for ordinary talisman masters to do. Even Chuan Lian could not explore the mystery of it. He was just a carrier of the array, not a caster.
This talisman array is very peculiar and can be used to conduct rigorous screening of the examinees’ minds!
In just a moment, the warm candlelight glowed red. Chuan Lian saw it and said:
"First place, Shu Shuang."
Chuan Lian read out the name, and the teacher beside him wrote it down and they cooperated tacitly.
The red candle on the low table went out, and the halo dissipated. Shu Shuang breathed a sigh of relief, put the brush in her hand away, then stood up and saluted Fang Hai.
"Thank you, senior."
"You are welcome."
After collecting the test paper, Fang Hai took a look and said with satisfaction:
"Go wait for Xia Xiao at the side door."
"yes!"
Shu Shuang glanced at Xia Xiao beside him. He was in a halo and must be still thinking hard. But Shu Shuang believed that Xia Xiao could do it. Although he usually spoke little, he was very smart. This level of test would not be difficult for him. The rumored final selection was not that scary and was acceptable.
Walking towards the side door, Shu Shuang didn't even know she was the first. When she stepped out of the hall, it was raining in the gloomy sky and earth. Shu Shuang felt a little cold and hunched her shoulders. She wanted to go back, but found that the side door was closed.
Shu Shuang took back her hand that was about to push the door, looked at the rain under the eaves in front of her, took a few steps back, and leaned against the wall.
"Ma'am, a cape and an umbrella."
As the maid came over with something in her hand, Shu Shuang quickly said thank you. The pretty maid, who was older than her, had never seen such a kind and amiable person, so she was a little surprised.
Shu Shuang noticed her gaze, and when she looked over, the maid just lowered her head apologetically, as if she was going to kneel down and apologize the next moment.
"What's wrong?"
"I apologize for the offense, young lady, I hope you will forgive me."
"It doesn't matter."
Shu Shuang's voice was sweet. Seeing the drizzle falling, she gathered her skirt and squatted down.
"Go hide from the rain, I'm waiting for someone here."
This side corridor is a bit narrow and can't keep out the rain. The maid saw Shu Shuang's bright eyes raised, and some joy appeared in them, and said:
"Miss, wait a minute. I will find you a big umbrella."
As she said this, the maid braved the cold rain and went to another place. Shu Shuang looked at her, feeling quite grateful, but also a little distressed, because the young lady didn't have an umbrella.
In the hall, Fang Hai took the answer sheet and placed it on the table next to Chuan Lian. Although it was early summer, the weather was humid and the ink had not yet dried, making the handwriting look even more beautiful.
Chuan Lian was curious, so he leaned over to take a look and saw the words written on it: If this does not meet the Vice President's liking, even if it can save his life, he will still be panicked.
The answer means that even if the vice-president sent the girl to a safe place, she was still traumatized the moment the carriage rushed towards her!
As a member of the Zoushou Church, this answer is not bad, but it is not new.
Soon, Xia Xiao raised his hand in the halo, and red light emanated from around him.
"Second place, Xia Xiao."
Chuan Lian finished speaking, and Fang Hai stepped forward. Shu Shuang checked it after finishing writing, but when Xia Xiao just stopped writing, he raised his hand. At this time, the white paper in front of him was freshly wet, and the ink had not yet penetrated the back of the paper.
"Senior, when can I have a few words with Senior Chuan Lian?"
"We will have a chance to meet tomorrow."
Xia Xiao nodded, and when he realized that Shu Shuang was nowhere to be seen beside him, Fang Hai explained to him.
"She's waiting for you at the side door."
So fast?
Xia Xiao smiled, bowed, and thought to himself that it was not bad. Xia Xiao always felt that Shu Shuang's talent was higher than his, but she was a little stupid.
Walking back to Chuan Lian, Fang Hai said:
"This guy's handwriting is terrible."
"So bad?"
Chuan Lian looked at it and saw only a few numbers on the white paper, which were written in extremely wild cursive, like a flock of crows dancing. When Xia Xiao was writing, he naturally wanted to write more handsomely, so he wrote it down in one go, but he didn't expect that after looking at it later, it was still so ugly, even like a slightly curled pig's tail.
"What's that?"
Chuan Lian looked at it for a long time, bent down to look at it carefully, and then read it out.
"It's not to my liking, because the sky is free to fly."
“Interesting.”
Fang Hai curled his lips and smiled slightly, and the energy in his hand made the ink dry faster. These two test papers, one for reference and one for warning, were perfect.