Most people fought tooth and nail to enter Qingcheng Academy for the purpose of participating in the martial examination held once every three years.
Whether at court or in various prefectures and counties, military positions were mostly inherited through hereditary succession or gradually advanced through the military ranks. The martial examination was a shortcut to a prosperous and stable career path.
Similar to the civil examination, successful martial examination candidates could parade through Jinling City on the day results were announced, receiving the admiration of the common people, and then attend an imperial banquet where the emperor personally bestowed rewards—it was said that the first, second, and third place winners would typically be directly promoted to the Imperial Guards or palace guards. The current Imperial Guard Commander was born from the martial examination. Other successful candidates could also be assigned to various locations to obtain official positions.
Additionally, the martial examination had an enormous attraction. If successful candidates were willing, they could represent the imperial court at the martial arts assembly in the latter half of the year—anyone who could shine brilliantly at the assembly would receive additional rewards from the court.
Although the martial arts assembly was a grand gathering of heroes and didn’t necessarily require going through the martial examination route, if one went riding on the ladder provided by the court, what they brought back wouldn’t just be the empty reputation of being “number so-and-so under heaven,” but real silver. If someone happened to claim the alliance leader position, after returning to court they would receive high office and generous salary, soaring upward.
After all, those who roamed the jianghu these days were all poor. Bandits who robbed homes were poor, chivalrous heroes who upheld justice were poor. Even becoming the martial arts alliance leader brought no dividends—one might even become poorer from frequently providing relief to small sects on the verge of collapse.
With the martial examination imminent, students at Qingcheng Academy were all like they’d been injected with adrenaline—practicing tirelessly, rising at the cock’s crow. Especially the new students, competing to leave excellent impressions on the headmaster and academicians, could be seen practicing with swords and spears in front of the academy buildings even in the dead of night, until some radical students were dragged off by Second Senior Brother Mo for “corporal punishment,” finally settling down somewhat.
Changling naturally wasn’t among those “diligently studying and practicing hard.”
She woke late and slept early every day, spent most of class time spacing out, was nowhere to be seen during breaks—one could say she minimized her presence to the extreme. Yet there were still many students attracted by her beauty. Every day when she finished slacking off and returned to her dormitory, she could collect several “love poems” on the windowsill—more than half were for her, the rest for Beauty Fang.
“These people are really quite bored.” Fang Zhuyi tossed a stack of letters into the basket. “Only know how to waste time. What do they think Qingcheng Academy is?”
She was saying this in a roundabout way for Changling to hear. Unfortunately, Changling was completely oblivious and agreed: “Indeed very boring.”
Fang Zhuyi looked at Changling lazily sprawled on the bed, glanced sideways, and said: “Before at Kaiyun Tower, weren’t you quite capable? You even said my Lingju Fist wasn’t orthodox. Until now you haven’t shown your skills once. Could it be you don’t actually know Lingju Fist?”
“Yes, I don’t know it. I was just casually deceiving you before.”
Seeing her casual perfunctory response, Fang Zhuyi said angrily: “What exactly did you come to Qingcheng Academy to do?”
For questions she didn’t want to answer, Changling usually chose silence.
If initially coming to take the examination was to see Mo Daoyun and investigate the truth of those years, then staying was to go further.
If she succeeded in the martial examination and could enter the palace to serve, wouldn’t that conveniently give her the opportunity to sever her enemy’s head? As for the martial arts assembly… since Jing Wuwei was wholeheartedly trying to elevate Jing Can, it would be unreasonable if she didn’t take this opportunity to step on him a few times.
The position of martial arts alliance leader was somewhat mysterious, especially after crossing hands with Helmsman Xu. Only then did she truly feel what it meant that “the younger generation is to be feared,” what it meant that “every generation produces talented people”—anyway, just among the academy students, one Wang Xun plus two Mo Chuans were all far from being Xu Laifeng’s match.
Unless she could recover several more levels of internal energy. But thinking of the detoxification method that divine stick Ji mentioned…
The first method was unreliable. Those who practiced the Shemo True Scripture were destined to be tearless for life. As for the second method…
Changling lay on her side on the daybed, supporting her head with one hand, glanced at the letters in the basket, and suddenly said: “Miss Fang, do you have someone you’re in love with?”
Fang Zhuyi, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, almost ran her qi astray upon hearing this: “What?”
Changling said: “Miss Fang is so beautiful with many admirers. I wonder if you have someone in your heart?”
Fang Zhuyi kept her eyes closed: “Whether I like someone or not, how is it your business?”
If she didn’t, she would just directly say no. Changling sat up curiously: “Tell me, what is being moved by someone?”
“I don’t know.” Fang Zhuyi looked quite unhappy. “You’re already betrothed to Brother Yangui. Don’t you know what being moved by someone means?”
“If I knew, why would I ask you?”
Hearing this, Fang Zhuyi inexplicably opened her eyes: “When you… see Brother Yangui, does your heart beat faster, or… do you feel particularly nervous or excited?”
Changling asked: “These are the reactions to being moved by someone?”
“Have you never experienced it?”
Thinking about it… back then with Fu Liujing, she seemed to have never had any accelerated heartbeat or nervous excitement, right?
Could it be because of practicing the Shemo True Scripture?
Fang Zhuyi saw Changling staring blankly without answering and said unhappily: “I’m asking you…”
At this moment, a bell rang in the distance. The afternoon break was over. Students pushed their doors open one after another. Changling got up, said “let’s talk later,” and hurriedly slipped away, leaving Fang Zhuyi alone grinding her teeth and pounding the bed—from now on, she’d be a fool if she answered her questions again.
Qingcheng Academy’s martial arts classes taught mostly the most basic things. Though they didn’t include fancy divine techniques, at least in Changling’s view, this Old Man Shu taught all practical knowledge, especially suitable for students like Fu Yanyang whose foundation wasn’t stable yet who spent all day hoping to cultivate superior martial arts.
However, even though the teacher was reliable, this group of students had no discernment. The martial students considered themselves superior, while jianghu students prided themselves as seasoned. Since Academician He played truant, students without their own academician’s discipline were terribly unruly. During sparring sessions they could start fighting—Old Man Shu was so angry he didn’t know what to do. Once back at the Three Clarity Hall, he went to reason with Mo Daoyun, saying no matter what, they needed to recruit a new eastern academy academician. They couldn’t let that young marquis above keep occupying the position without doing anything.
This gossip spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred. Students whispered among themselves that Marquis He was leaving. By the time it reached Changling’s ears, it was already the fifth day of Ye Qi’s absence.
Where exactly had he gone?
Was he practicing martial arts, receiving treatment? Or had his illness flared up again?
Aside from revenge, Changling cared about nothing. For the first time, she was stirred to anxiety by someone she considered unimportant, who could go wherever he pleased. Originally planning to return to the residence tonight to see if those experts had left, she felt too lazy to move even a step and simply stayed at school—though she herself didn’t know why she wanted to stay.
After nightfall, the martial students’ dormitory building usually had few people remaining. Fang Zhuyi had gone home for extra meals. Changling occupied the whole room comfortably. After practicing her cultivation for a while, she suddenly heard two “knock knock” sounds at the window. She got off the bed and pushed it open, only to see a figure already slipping away. On the windowsill lay a blank envelope, not knowing which fool had left it.
Changling raised an eyebrow, about to throw the letter away. After thinking about it, she casually opened it and saw Fang Zhuyi’s name written at the top of the letter, with a poem below: “My gaze roams beyond the four fields, leisurely and solitary I stand alone. Orchids and irises border the clear stream, flourishing blossoms shade green islets. The beauty is not here, who shall I give this to? Never having been long parted, how would I know the longing for companionship?”
Just reading the first few lines, Changling was amused by the complete disconnect from the topic. Reading to the last line, she couldn’t help but pause. Carefully savoring it, she felt from the bottom of her heart that this person had excellent literary talent. Coming to Qingcheng Academy was truly beneath them.
After closing the window, Changling placed the letter on Fang Zhuyi’s table. On her small desk were little jars of rouge and powder. A small jade-carved lantern hung from the brush cord. Behind the three large characters “Fang Zhuyi” on the wooden plaque, a small red lotus was drawn in tiny script. Everything was full of girlish atmosphere.
Changling never usually paid attention to these things, but she suddenly felt that actually, these “dispensable” small details precisely showed that the owner of these items was carefree with romantic thoughts, able to sketch many ordinary things into shapes that pleased herself.
She thought randomly: If eldest brother were still alive, with his nagging nature, he would surely tinker with all these odds and ends for her, then follow behind her all day saying things like “girls naturally should be particular about food, clothing, and necessities” and “my little sister, properly dressed up, is naturally the world’s number one beauty”—the kind of words that made her roll her eyes.
Thinking of this, Changling couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile. However, the smile only lingered for a moment before sinking back.
In worldly matters, there are no ifs.
The window was lightly tapped twice again. Changling suddenly felt weary and immediately stepped forward. With a creak, she pulled open the window. Before the scolding words could leave her mouth, she met the clear gaze of the visitor.
The hand resting on the frame forgot to lower. Changling saw him appear before her eyes like this and was suddenly stunned.
“I, I waited at your family’s gate for a long time and never saw you…” Ye Qi also seemed startled by the suddenly opening window. “I didn’t expect you’d actually be here… Are you alone?”
Changling absentmindedly nodded, controlling herself from asking where he’d run off to these past days, only saying: “Why are you here?”
“Looking for you.” Ye Qi gazed at her quietly, rarely without teasing: “From now on, whenever I appear before you, there will only be this one reason.”
This sentence, though plain and ordinary, seemed to grow hands and unexpectedly pinch her heart gently. Changling’s eyelids drooped: “Looking for me about something?”
Ye Qi hesitated: “…Can’t I come find you if there’s nothing?”
“Mm, I need to sleep.”
She perfunctorily dismissed him and was about to close the window when Ye Qi’s hand shot out like lightning to hold the window, taking a deep breath: “I know it’s quite late now, but I want to take you somewhere. May I?”
“Where?”
Ye Qi looked sincere: “I can’t tell you before we get there, but I guarantee I won’t trick you. I think… it’s definitely a place you’ll very much want to go.”
What place couldn’t be mentioned?
Changling’s brow furrowed. With a bang, she closed the window.
“…” Ye Qi’s face was nearly slapped away by this door-closing gesture. He scratched his head somewhat at a loss, then paced to the door. Just as he was about to knock, the door opened as if reading his mind. The beauty at the door now held a sword, presenting the posture of going into battle: “Can we be back before dawn?”
Ye Qi immediately beamed with joy: “Before coming back, I can even take you to eat yangchun noodles with wontons.”
The horses were already prepared outside the academy. The two rode swiftly, one person per horse. Upon reaching the city gate, Ye Qi displayed his waist token and the gate guards obediently opened the door without daring to make a peep.
Changling didn’t know where Ye Qi wanted to lead her, but judging by this display, it seemed he had prepared early.
The mountain path was quite rugged. When the horses reached the mountainside, they could climb no further. Ye Qi whistled, and soon a young man appeared to take over. After handing over the horses, he led Changling swiftly climbing the winding steps upward.
This mountain wasn’t particularly remarkable. For martial artists, climbing to the top would take only about two incense sticks’ time. The mountain had mostly broad-leafed forests. Upon reaching deep into the dense woods, even the sound of mountain springs could no longer be heard, leaving only the wind whispering softly like a mournful cry.
Seeing as if she’d been abducted to some deep mountain forest, Changling finally couldn’t hold back and asked: “Where exactly are you taking me?”
Ye Qi’s footsteps paused. His gaze naturally looked forward. Changling instantly realized a certain sense of dissonance. She didn’t ask again but stepped forward step by step.
Passing through the last ancient tree blocking her view, she stopped several zhang away. Under the northern moon, among the interlocking mountain stones, a tomb mound stood tall. The inscription carved in the center of the stone tablet read: Tomb of Duke Yue Changsheng.