Ze Tian Ji Way Of Choices Chapter 145 – Drawing Lots

Chapter 145 – Drawing Lots

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Chen Changsheng did not notice all the gazes focused on him at this time. After Luoluo had left for the Li Palace, he had not been treated this way for a very long time, but after returning to that past period in a single day, he very quickly became used to it. Moreover, he was currently pondering a few matters and his mind had wandered off.

He was confident that his grade in the literary test was at least in the top three. The problem was that Gou Hans.h.i.+'s grade was also in the top three, and even Tianhai Shengxue's grade was probably not much worse. This being the case, if he wanted to take first rank of the first banner, he would at least need to reach the final round, so he still needed to win five more rounds. Of course, if Gou Hans.h.i.+, Tianhai Shengxue, and those four scholars from Scholartree Manor, who had also turned in their tests last, were all very quickly eliminated, he would be facing much less pressure. The primary difficulty there was that no matter how he thought about it, such a thing was impossible.

Guan Feibai, Liang Banhu, and Qi Jian were also potential threats, and there was also Zhuang Huanyu, who was particularly reticent today. But the one who made Chen Changsheng feel the most unease and wariness was still that thinly-clothed youth standing apart from the crowd.

The wolf youth had no grade in the literary test, so regardless of how well he did in the one-on-one matches, he could not possibly take first rank of the first banner; Chen Changsheng would not be directly competing with him for that spot. However, what would happen if he were to encounter the youth in one of the upcoming rounds? No one wanted to meet that youth in advance, probably not even Gou Hans.h.i.+ or Tianhai Shengxue.

The short period of rest very quickly concluded. Guardian Li had the maids put away the lunchboxes, then left the grounds, and the second round of matches for the Grand Examination began. The area outside the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust slowly fell silent. Compared to the atmosphere from before the first round, it was even more tense and oppressive. This was because the top fifteen examinees would also join the ranks of partic.i.p.ants.

The first fifteen examinees to cross the Qu River in the martial test were all very strong. There were the four people from the Mount Li Sword Sect, the two individuals from Star Seizer Academy, and the senior sister from Holy Maiden Peak. There was also Tianhai Shengxue standing coldly in front of the rest, Zhuang Huanyu calmly standing next to one of his schoolmates, and that wolf youth called Zhexiu still standing alone on the outskirts of the crowd. There was only one person that no one recognized.

Compared to the rules for the first round, the rules for the second round were mostly similar, with two significant differences. The first was that opponents were no longer decided by those who had ranked higher up, but it still had nothing to do with the examiners. Instead, it was done by the drawing of lots, and the matches for all the following rounds would also be decided by drawing lots. Which opponent the examinees would face was completely up to fate.

Secondly, with the beginning of the second round, the loser of the match would no longer be sent out of the Education Palace but would remain on the scene. This was because there were only sixty-four people remaining, so in order to ensure the final ranking for the Grand Examination and the candidates for the three banners, and given that the examiners could not be guaranteed to be absolutely impartial, it was highly likely that the losers might have to fight in a deciding match.

Before the matches could begin, lots would have to be drawn. From a certain point of view, the drawing of lots was even more important than the matches themselves. Drawing a weaker opponent basically meant advancing to the next round, but if one were to unluckily draw an opponent like Gou Hans.h.i.+, what could be done?

Several dozen gazes tracked the hand of the Li Palace priest in charge of drawing lots as his hand left the box of lots and fell on the paper listing the names of the examinees.

"Orthodox Academy, Xuanyuan Po." The Li Palace priest took out a second slip of paper, glanced at it, then said, "Against Mount Li Sword Sect, Gou Hans.h.i.+."

A deathly stillness settled in front of the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust. After a very long time, the examinees finally reacted, erupting with cries of surprise.

Everyone felt that since Qiushan Jun had unexpectedly decided not to partic.i.p.ate in this year's Grand Examination, the strongest partic.i.p.ant of the Grand Examination was undoubtedly Gou Hans.h.i.+. They very naturally felt that his name would not appear until very late; no one expected that the examiner would pull out Gou Hans.h.i.+'s name on the very first match.

These cries of surprise were mixed with all sorts of emotions. Besides shock, there was also joy, as well as a hint of schadenfreude.

Just like how no one wanted to fight against the wolf youth, even fewer people wanted to fight against Gou Hans.h.i.+.

Now, none of them needed to worry, because the person fighting Gou Hans.h.i.+ was Xuanyuan Po, the Orthodox Academy's Xuanyuan Po.

The forest's edge was very quiet. Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six looked at Xuanyuan Po, their eyes holding no sympathy, only questions.

In these sorts of moments, sympathy was meaningless.

Xuanyuan Po looked at a loss as he asked, "What do I do?"

Tang Thirty-Six replied, "Do you not see that we're all waiting for you to make a decision?"

Xuanyuan Po turned to Luoluo and said, "Teacher, I heed your words."

Luoluo turned to Chen Changsheng and asked, "Teacher, what do you think?"

Chen Changsheng turned to Tang Thirty-Six and asked, "Why don't you make the decision?"

Without even thinking about it, Tang Thirty-Six raised his hand and called out to the Li Palace priest that was drawing lots, "We forfeit!"

The crowd exploded once more. No one had expected that the Orthodox Academy would forfeit right after the lots were drawn. This was a little too straightforward, or perhaps shameless? Laughter could be heard from the crowd, and Xuanyuan Po lowered his head, looking rather dejected.

Chen Changsheng soothed, "Save your strength. Later on, in the decider matches, you might be able to get back a little advantage."

Tang Thirty-Six was in charge of external matters. He looked at those examinees laughing without end and said, "Is forfeiting surrender? If you've really got the skill, we can give this lot to you, and will any of you go and fight Gou Hans.h.i.+?"

It was naturally impossible to give away one's spot, but his words reminded many people that if their goal was to enter the three banners of the Grand Examination, then forfeiting might be the best choice against an impossible opponent like Gou Hans.h.i.+. When they thought of how they might have to forfeit as well in a little while, those laughing examinees naturally fell silent.

The drawing of lots continued. The silence was broken by the Li Palace priest announcing the names of Tang Thirty-Six and Liang Banhu.

The examinees turned to the forest's edge, not laughing at the Orthodox Academy, but beginning to sympathize with them.

Tang Thirty-Six had a calm expression, but his mood was absolutely disastrous. Using a voice that only the people near him could hear, he said, "What sort of d.a.m.n luck is this?"

Xuanyuan Po's meeting Gou Hans.h.i.+ was extremely bad luck, and his matching up against Liang Banhu was also terribly poor luck. The drawing had just barely begun, but two of the Orthodox Academy had matched up against two of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws, publicly acknowledged as the strongest group of young geniuses. No matter how one saw it, the Orthodox Academy was clearly having a bout of bad luck today.

The Orthodox Academy's poor luck was not yet over.

The paper slip with Chen Changsheng's name was pulled out by the Li Palace priest. Immediately after, the priest pulled out the name of his opponent.

Scholartree Manor, Huo Guang.

The crowd was abuzz with chatter. Even those examinees who had the poorest impressions of the Orthodox Academy could no longer take any pleasure from their misfortune.

Finally, the most shocking matter of all occurred.

Luoluo's opponent was…Tianhai Shengxue.

The Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust was quiet, making the voice of the priest drawing lots exceptionally clear.

The crowd, speechless, looked at the Orthodox Academy's group in shock.

The Orthodox Academy's group was also shocked speechless.

At this moment, people could be sure that the result of this drawing of lots had nothing to do with luck, but was a deliberate strike against the Orthodox Academy, because the odds of this result were far too small.

Xuanyuan Po had been matched up against Gou Hans.h.i.+ and forfeited straight away. Tang Thirty-Six, although famous and regarded as a young genius, was still quite lacking in strength compared to Liang Banhu, so probably did not have much chance of victory. As for the third match…although that scholar from Scholartree Manor called Huo Guang had not entered the Proclamation of Azure Sky, based on the level he had shown in the martial test, he was probably the second-strongest of the group of four from Scholartree Manor. He was stronger than two of his schoolmates that were already ranked on the Proclamation of Azure Sky and was only beneath Zhong Hui, who was ranked ninth. No matter how lucky the encounter Chen Changsheng had, he could not possibly win against Huo Guang.

The most blatant evidence was Luoluo's opponent. As she was ranked second on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, the only individuals she feared in this year's Grand Examination were Gou Hans.h.i.+ and Tianhai Shengxue, both of whom had already entered Ethereal Opening, yet she managed to pull exactly Tianhai Shengxue. More importantly, amongst all the examinees, only Tianhai Shengxue had a comparable background to Luoluo. At the very least, he could display his strength in his match against Luoluo.

Just like the area in front of the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust, the Hall of s.h.i.+ning Words was absolutely silent.

The archbishop slowly opened his eyes. When his turbid gaze fell on the result of the draw displayed on the mirror of light, it gradually turned cold.

Mo Yu drooped her eyes, seemingly thinking about something.

Prince Chen Liu arched his brows, displaying anger on his face.

Xue Xingchuan was somewhat surprised, and turned to shoot a glance at Xu s.h.i.+ji.

Xu s.h.i.+ji was expressionless, maintaining his silence.

The other powerful figures present in the hall all kept their silence.

None of the figures in the Hall of s.h.i.+ning Words was stupid. How could any of them fail to see that someone had intended this result from the drawing of lots? It was very obvious that the bias the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education showed for the Orthodox Academy had finally incurred the discontent of the Orthodoxy's new faction. After patiently enduring for so long, in the final phase of the Grand Examination, they finally launched their counterattack, but n.o.body knew if this matter had been incited by the Divine Empress or the Pope.

"To use the south to beat down the Orthodox Academy, this isn't a very good look."

Mao Qiuyu, Princ.i.p.al of the Heavenly Dao Academy, sighed, then walked out of the Hall of s.h.i.+ning Words.

Several people in the hall, including the Princ.i.p.al of the Li Palace and two bishops of the Orthodoxy, appeared rather embarra.s.sed at these words.

Mao Qiuyu's status was above worldly matters. He could say what he wanted and leaven when he wanted, but he could not change the result from this drawing of lots.

The Grand Examination had to continue, and the drawing of lots also continued. The matches that were given the most attention were naturally the four matches of the Orthodox Academy. Guan Feibai, Zhuang Huanyu, and other such well-known young experts had drawn weaker opponents. Only Su Moyu's luck was even worse than Chen Changsheng's group, because his opponent…was that youth called Zhexiu.

Only upon hearing the Li Palace priest announce the name did the examinees present finally learn the full name of the wolf youth.

This youth was called Wofu Zhexiu.

'Wofu' was an extremely rare surname. Upon hearing it, one knew that this was not a person from the Central Plains but a person from a small tribe beyond the walls.

Tang Thirty-Six patted Su Moyu on the shoulder, saying, "Just concede. Who told you to stand next to us? Our bad luck has infected you."

Was this really about luck? Of course not. Everyone knew this, but just like earlier, there was no evidence, so there was no means of opposing it.

One could only concede or attempt to obtain an inconceivable victory.

Tang Thirty-Six advised Su Moyu to take the former, while he himself intended to choose the latter.

Luoluo and Chen Changsheng intended to do the same.