The Secret You Don't Want to Explore

"In addition, according to your performance in the examination, the final results are divided into eight grades. This ranking is determined by the invigilation team and has been unanimously approved by the prosecutor. As for your specific ranking, you can refer to the red list yourself." The invigilator paused. "But no matter what ranking you achieve, you're already a member of the Council, and your promotion in the future won't be limited by one ranking. From today onwards, we're considered to be working together, so I hope you won't slack off and make your due contribution to the Privy Council!"

After saying that, he pulled his hand smoothly and unveiled the list covered by the silk cloth.

The top left corner of the list, and the first to be seen by the crowd, was the first-class candidates of the mystic examination. Three people were at the top, namely Fang Xiandao of the Fang family, Luo Qingqing of the Luo family, and Fei Nian of the Fei family.

"I knew it would be like this," Fang Xiandao said smugly. "The trigrams have already predicted the result!"

The Fei family didn't have much of a reaction. As the family with the largest number of disciples participating in the examination, it was a miscalculation not to overpower the other two. As for the top ranking, it wasn't an uncommon thing.

Only Luo Qingqing showed a look of surprise.

However, for most candidates, this ranking was completely expected. Whether it was the battle for the spirit fire collection rights in the earlier half or the battle to guard Qing Shan Town in the latter half, the three families' performance was impeccable. Especially in the face of the Night of Great Desolation, no one retreated. They took the responsibility of the leader of each group and could be considered the main force against the evil spirits.

It took Xia Fan a while to find his name.

He was assigned to the end of the D-rank and was ranked in the 40th place, equivalent to the middle-class level among the candidates.

When he first saw the ranking, Xia Fan also felt a little surprised. But he was soon relieved. After all, it was a little too difficult to have the Privy Council's spies follow him and Luo Qingqing around while they were dealing with fiends. If this part didn't count in the rating, his performance was really not that impressive. For himself, the purpose of joining the Privy Council was to learn more about the mysteries of the world. So, it didn't matter much where he went. If the capital was really as strife-ridden as Li said, a low ranking might not be a bad thing.

"Lord Invigilator, I'm afraid the order of this list… is far from the truth," However, just then, Luo Qingqing stood out. "Xia Fan's ranking shouldn't be just D!"

"Oh?" The invigilator swept her a glance. "Do you have any questions?"

"Yes," Luo Qingqing said with a straight face. "Although the final night was commanded by the Luo family, it was Xia Fan who proposed the scenario. Also, when facing the fiends, it was his critical strike that sealed the victory. If the Privy Council failed to keep a record of it, I can provide details—"

"There's no need for that." The invigilator interrupted her. "I repeat, the list was comprehensively adjudicated by nearly ten officials of the invigilation team and passed the review of the Lord Prosecutor. There was no omission or miscalculation. As for the scoring criteria, the Privy Council has its own rules in place, you have no right to comment. Or does the… Luo family feels that the Lord Prosecutor's judgment is unfair?"

"I dare not, but—"

"Luo Qingqing, stop talking! Do you want to drag the entire Luo family down with you?" Luo Fengqing said sharply.

Even Luo You'er tugged on her sleeve.

"Why don't we ask the parties involved what they think?" The invigilator looked meaningfully at Xia Fan. "Do you think there's a problem with the ranking set by the Lord Prosecutor?"

Xia Fan vaguely felt a hint of something wrong, but he couldn't say exactly what was wrong. It was reasonable to say that the invigilator had the right to take charge of all matters of the examination, but why did he repeatedly drag his own boss out to block the mouth of the people? It was almost as if they were shirking their responsibilities…

The first thing he could be sure of was that the Privy Council did not intend to listen to the candidates' opinions. Whether it was because they were lazy or to maintain authority, the list was already a foregone conclusion, and it was easy to offend those above by questioning it.

He shook his head.

Luo Qingqing cast him a gaze of puzzlement and disappointment.

And more people were amazed. They didn't understand why the genius of the Luo family would stand up for someone from a scattered clan, and what made it even more unbelievable was the phrase "critical strike" in Luo Qingqing's words. Did it not mean that the performer of the Thunder Technique at that time was Xia Fan?

The problem was that this person couldn't even gather the ten taels of silver for participating in the examination, so how could he possibly come up with such an expensive material as thunderstrike wood to cast the spell?

Due to the presence of the invigilator, no one openly questioned it. But such an unconventional argument made many candidates oddly look at Luo Qingqing.

"Since this is the case, I declare that this mystic examination is over! The official appointment papers will be sent to your local government offices within half a month, and the appointment date will be no later than the beginning of next month, so please make good use of your travel time. I wish you all a prosperous future and success!"

…

After the candidates left one after another, Shen Chun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Honestly, he didn't want to do such an offensive thing, but his superiors ordered it, and he had to follow their orders.

When he was finalizing the preliminary list, the short man waved his pen and shifted Xia Fan from first place to 41st place. However, Shen Chun didn't feel any surprise when that happened. Instead, he felt like it "finally happened".

As if the other party was waiting for this moment.

From the beginning, the short man's purpose wasn't to inspect but to select people.

This matter had undoubtedly been tacitly approved by Ba Xingtian. He could only do so even if he thought it wasn't right.

It wasn't uncommon for the higher-ups to solicit potential mystics in advance. Shen Chun had heard about it long ago, but most people's practice was to get a good ranking for the other party and then reveal the news in exchange for the other party's gratitude for receiving help and encouragement from a superior. This was the first time he had seen someone's ranking being shifted lower.

Compared to the A rank that everyone followed, it was true that it would be easier to tamper with a lower ranking in the subsequent transfer. But it would be easy to create hidden threats too. If the other party knew that the low ranking was deliberately done, they might develop hatred in their heart. By then, they wouldn't only be unable to recruit him, he might even turn against them.

And for the short man, it seemed more important to keep Xia Fan somewhere than to gain his gratitude.

At the same time, pulling down the ranking meant that the former's sphere of influence wasn't in Shang Yuan.

These two points seemed contradictory. Shen Chun couldn't think of a candidate who wasn't in the center of power but had the energy to make the Privy Council inspectors step in.

The good thing was that the person wasn't as rigid and irritable as Lord Ba said and did not make a scene in the examination room. Except for the reaction of the Luo family genius being a bit unexpected, the whole announcement process went quite smoothly.

The next step was to secretly investigate Xia Fan's movements to see where he would actually be assigned and perhaps narrow down the short man's identity.

But Shen Chun had already resolved not to probe into the matter.

The young Privy Council official was by no means easy to deal with, which was evident from the way Ba Xingtian treated him.

Compared to curiosity, his own life was obviously more important.

He knew that some secrets were better buried in his heart forever.

.

End of Volume 1