Chapter 1075 – A Great Spectacle (1/2)

Chapter 1075 – A Great Spectacle

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The Imperial Guards outside the Mausoleum of Books instantly tensed up. With a dense twanging of bowstrings being pulled taut, countless crossbows were aimed at Wang Po's back.

Dust could be seen rising in the distance as the ground began to shake. Though it was still not possible to hear the stamping of hooves, the black-armored cavalry were probably mobilizing.

By the time these things were happening, warning signals had already been sent out to every part of the capital.

The Orthodoxy cavalry's reaction was also very fast. Even though they had received no order from the Li Palace, several hundred horsemen immediately galloped over and blockaded the gate into the Mausoleum of Books.

After three years, both sides once more engaged in a tense standoff.

Wang Po appeared unaware of what was happening outside the stone gates. He continued to make his way into the lush and green Mausoleum of Books.

Watching him leave, a Li Palace priest couldn't help but ask, ”Sir, where have you been these last few days?”

Everyone in the capital wanted to know the answer.

Without turning his head, Wang Po said, ”I've always been here.”

Upon hearing Wang Po's answer, that priest, the Orthodoxy cavalry, and even the Imperial Guards farther out were all shocked.

No one had thought that Wang Po might have been in the Mausoleum of Books these last few days. Ordinary people could not enter the mausoleum, so they naturally would not be able to see him.

That he had appeared today before everyone was precisely because he wanted the world to know that he was going to do something.

But what exactly was he going to do?

It had been many years since Wang Po entered the Mausoleum of Books to view the monoliths and comprehend the Dao, but it seemed like he had not forgotten that experience.

Like an old hand, he found a path in the forest and began to venture southwest.

After some time, he came to a small courtyard.

The orange grove in the early spring naturally had no oranges, but there still seemed to be a faint smell of unripe oranges in the air.

Wang Po had spent the last few days living in this very courtyard.

The dried meat that had once been hung on the roof beam was nowhere to be found. The chairs and table within the room were washed so cleanly that not a speck of dust could be found.

Wang Po did not enter.

He stood outside the fence and calmly said to that old friend who had lived in that house for thirty-seven years, ”I am going to walk the Divine Path today.”

Back then, Xun Mei had failed in intruding upon the Divine Path. Just when Xun Mei was about to take leave of the world, Wang Po had said that, in the future, when he cultivated to the Saint Realm, he would ascend to the summit of the mausoleum to take a look around in Xun Mei's place.

It turned out that this was something he intended to do today.

……

……

The Grand Examination had already begun, but Chen Changsheng had still not appeared.

Even if there was no butcher, the people still had to eat pork. Even if the Pope did not appear, life still had to continue, and the examination still had to proceed.

There was no attempt to deliberately innovate in this year's Grand Examination. As they had been several years ago, the literary test, the martial test, and the one-on-one matches were conducted in order.

The literary test was conducted within the Hall of Announcements according to the old rules. It was supervised by both the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education and the Imperial Court's Ministry of Rites, but final approval rested in Gou Hanshi's hands.

Gou Hanshi was still very young, but no one questioned his qualifications. He was well-versed in the Daoist Canon, and besides, he had been the one to make the questions for this year's literary test.

In the light of the morning sun, the literary test smoothly concluded without a single incident.

The people and betting house stewards who had gathered outside the Li Palace to see the spectacle felt rather uninterested, but they also felt the air to be somewhat strange.