Chapter 10 — Tao Xia's Surprise & Full Moon

Sky Fire Office.

The examination was over.

The Examining Officials, one who is responsible for reviewing the results, were flooded with the arrivals of examination papers. They were around five hundred examination papers. This amount would be reviewed in a matter of a few hours.

There are a total of four checkpoints of the review: Examining officials took the first reviews and then send them to secondary officials. They would then be handed to an examiner, a vice examiner or a chief examiner, and would be then checked by the determining official. The provincial and final exam has the same process.

The air in the office was heavy. Many sweated and found the reviewing process exhausting. Not because the quantity to review takes time, but rather the quality of the answers. The ridiculous answers almost made them curse and lose composure. They felt their intelligence was insulted.

Tao Xia, one of the examining officials, agreed no more. He scratched his head. His eyes were bloodshot. Staring at the papers in front of him, he almost went mad.

Look at this!

Rush to the enemy's camp and win through numbers?

Is this student stupid?!

Disregarding the life of his people is the worst military tactician, or even more the most foolish tactician to exist. A great tactician would seek the optimal, possible method to ensure minimal deaths. Sacrificing soldiers over victor is indeed one solution, but it was something they despised. Only dynasties with a dictator as their Emperor like the Eastern Sun Dynasty would opt to do so.

Tao Xia rubbed his temples and took some fresh air outside the office. He had reviewed ten papers, and all of them were either mediocre or outright waste. It was giving him headaches.

Some of his colleagues conversed with visible frustration.

"What's wrong with this year's examination? Every paper is trash!"

"Hai, one paper that I had checked is so infuriating. Inviting the Emperor to the kingdom and taking him as a hostage? Stupid! People aren't so dumb to fall on such a low-level tactic."

"Same, same. I also came across a silly paper. It made my head hurt. Seriously every year I swear Sky Fire County is worsening. In the following years, I wouldn't even be surprised to review the same, stupid papers."

Tao Xia returned to his seat once his headache was slightly alleviated. He stared at the twenty papers he had to review. Going through another round of mediocre papers.

The examination sheets before arriving at the examining office had been into the sealing office and copy office. These two offices are responsible for sealing the papers to prevent cheating and erasing the names of the author so that the examiners would not be able to identify them. One of the reasons is to prevent leaks of passing examinees as such.

Mediocre.

Trash.

Mediocre.

Hmm, Good.

Tao Xia evaluated the papers one by one. He stacked the reviewed papers on the left side of the table.

Flipping another paper.

Hmm?

This?

Tao Xia's eyes narrowed. Twenty questions with exceptional answers. At first, he thought it was a lucky coincidence that the student had been prepared for these questions. But, after the first twenty, the questions would become harder and harder. And yet, this paper had kept the pace of exceptional answers.

One of the answers that shocked Tao Xia was this question: You had conquered the enemies' territory. What was your process of imperialism and how would you conquer the heart of the defeated enemies?

The author answered: "There must be a progression and objectives in war. Firstly, you attack the enemies' plans, disrupt alliances, then attack their army, and last is to attack cities. You must start from the least progression to the major objective. To conquer the enemy is to preserve their nation, army, regiment, and hope. Eventually, they would be converted into one of your own. Preservation and destruction coexist, not as a dichotomy, but as a matter of degree. This must be understood, so I had conquered not just the territory, but also its people.

Preservation?

Destruction?

Not as a dichotomy?

Tao Xia was surprised. It has been a long time since he had heard of an amazing response. He scanned more of the content.

He found that...

The author of this paper is well-versed in tactics.

His martial arts knowledge is wide and fresh.

His theoretical ability is extraordinary!

However...how about his literary?

Tao Xia flipped the paper. His eyes narrowed. He found the author's literary answer. The question was to write a short descriptive poem.

[Above the tower -- a lone, twice-sized moon.]

Hearing the first word, Tao Xia's eyes flashed.

[On the cold river passing night-filled homes,

It scatters restless gold across the waves.

On mats, it shines richer than silken gauze.]

At this point, Tao Xia felt he had imagined dimmed houses where only the light of a full moon shone. Its simple reflection produced an incredibly beautiful and comfortable mat where its quality is better than a silk.

[Empty peaks, silence: among sparse stars,

Not yet flawed, it drifts. Pine and cinnamon

Spreading in my old garden . . . All light,

All ten thousand miles at once in its light!] [1]

In the last paragraph, Tao Xia visualized the full moon drifting throughout the sky as time and night passes. The relaxing smell of cinnamon and pine. And then slowly, he saw the moon's light brightening not just any old garden, but an entire region of thousands of miles.

Amazing!

Brilliant poem!

This is it!

This is what he's been looking for!

Tao Xia smacked the table due to excitement. Forget taking the last two examinations, the author of this paper would be automatically accepted based on this result.

Tao Xia sat down and calmed his boiling excitement. He was disappointed. The name was erased, so he could not rush to this person personally. Otherwise, Tao Xia would recommend him for an important position.

....

....

....

Walking along the street, Li An headed home as he stared at the clouds. I wondered if I did well in the exam?

He had confidence in himself, but his trauma after three failures made him nervous.

"Forget about that, I need to find aspirations to truthfully comprehend [Starting Martial Arts With Horse Stance].

He had not halted his practice over this technique since receiving it. His teacher told him that it would take him a week or so, but Li An was aware he needed more time than that.

Bai Lu had presumed he was a talented youth, but he was not hundred percent correct in his assumption. Before obtaining the system, Li An's stats were low.

He needed double the required attributes to master the technique in a lightning speed, which Li An lacked.

His strength and agility are not bad, but his intelligence is a mere eight points. Had he owned sixteen points on intelligence, he believed that mastering the technique would take him roughly a week or even less.

But alas, it was eight points, above average, so he only managed to achieve the entry-level of the techniques even after two weeks had passed.

Like martial realms, martial techniques were divided into two stages: entry and mastery.

Mastery over a martial technique means a martial artist has understood the core of the martial technique and can execute it whenever the host willed it. Like what Bai Lu had done during the Arm-wrestling event, he had instantly utilized the Horse Stance at his will.

In the case of entry martial techniques, there would be time delays. That meant using [Starting Martial Arts With Horse Stance] would take a few seconds before it could be ready to display.

"I should ask Teacher Bai the next day. I cannot wait five days. I'm only missing a little bit, and a single click would let me enter mastery over the Horse Stance technique."

As Li An thought and walked the street, he encountered that girl again. Having to live on the same street, they were bound to pass one another oftentimes. Surprisingly, Chu Ying did not seem to notice him, or rather her thoughts were occupied.

"Hey," Li An waved his hand in front of her.

"Ah?"

Chu Ying was sobered as she stared at Li An. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering if something is wrong with you." Li An shrugged.

"That's it? I'm leaving!"

Li An was surprised as he watched Chu Ying walk away. Usually, she would have that snobby attitude. Now she seemed in hurry.

As Li An trailed his gaze onto her, his eyes narrowed. It was faint, but he swore he noticed a black bruise on the back of her neck. When her hair waved in the air, it showed before being covered by the hair again.

Was it an illusion?

Li An tilted his head and, ultimately, did not probe deep into the matter. It was none of his business anyway.

However, the next day, Li An deeply regretted not chasing her that day.

The regret stabbed his heart like needles.

Such a tragedy is the least he expected to happen.

....

[1] Tu Fu a.k.a Du Fu's Poem Full Moon. If you like deep analysis of it, here's the source — https://englishpoetry23.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/full-moon-tu-fu-selected-poetry-analysis/