Chen Chang Sheng didn't notice the gazes that fell upon him. Since Luo Luo's arrival at Li Palace, he hadn't enjoyed this sort of treatment for a long time, but once he returned to those days, he quickly adapted and became very used to it. Furthermore, he was currently thinking about something and was slightly distracted.
He was confident that his results in the academic examination would at least place within the top three, the problem was that Gou Han Shi should also be able to place within the top three, even Tian Hai Sheng Xue's results in the academic examination wouldn't be too bad. Based on this, in order for him to place first upon the First Banner, he would need to at least enter the final round of the duelling phase, which would require him to consecutively win five rounds. Of course, if Gou Han Shi, Tian Hai Sheng Xue and the four scholars from Scholartree Manor who handed in their papers at the end of the academic examination were quickly eliminated, then the pressure on him would be greatly reduced. The problem was, no matter how you looked at it, this wasn't possible.
Zhuang Fei Bai, Liang Ban Hu and Qi Jian were all potential strong opponents, there was also Zhuang Huan Yu, who was especially quiet today. What caused Chen Chang Sheng to feel the most uneasy, or perhaps more accurately, cautious, was the lone clothed youth that stood out from the crowd.
This wolf-tribe youth didn't have any results in the academic examination, therefore, regardless of his results in the duelling phase, he wouldn't be able to place first upon the First Banner, thus he wouldn't be a direct competitor for him. However, what if he were to encounter this youth in the first few rounds? No one wanted to encounter this youth before the duelling phase, Gou Han Shi and Tian Hai Sheng Xue were probably thinking the same.
The short break quickly ended, Official Li led the maids to pack up the food containers and left the area. The second round of the duelling phase was about to begin, the area outside of the tower gradually quietened down, compared to the atmosphere prior to the first round, it was even more tense and oppressive, this was because the top fifteen examinees were about to enter the ranks of the duelling phase.
The first fifteen examinees to pass through the River Qu were all very strong, there were four from Li Shan Sword Sect, two from Star Seizer Academy, a senior from Holy Maiden Peak, Tian Hai Sheng Xue coldly stood at the forefront, Zhuang Huan Yu calmly stood with a fellow student, the wolf-tribe youth named Zhe Xiu still stood alone in the outer perimeter, only he didn't recognize anyone.
Compared to the first round, the second round of the Duelling Phase of the Grand Examination had the same basic rules, with only two major differences. Firstly, the opponents were no longer determined by the order of the first, and it had nothing to do with the examiners, but rather, by drawing lots. Furthermore, for the subsequent rounds, lots would be drawn once more, and what opponents the examinees would face would be completely left up to fate.
Secondly, from the second round onwards, the loser of a duel would no longer be directly sent out of the Education Palace, but would instead remain in the arena. Because the top 64 had already been decided, in order to determine the final rankings for the Grand Examination and the Three Grades, the examiners would not be able to guarantee absolute fairness in their grading, and the loser would most likely have to undergo a rematch.
Before the duels began, lots had to be drawn. In a sense, the drawing of lots was even more important than the match itself. If he could draw a relatively weak opponent, it would be equivalent to passing a round in advance. But if he was unlucky and drew an opponent like Gou Han Shi, what should he do?
Dozens of pairs of eyes followed the hand of the Li Palace clergyman as it left the box and landed on the slip of paper with the examinee's name written on it.
"Tradition Academy, Xuanyuan Po." The Li Palace clergyman then pulled out a second slip of paper, glanced at it and said: "Against Li Shan Sword Sect, Gou Han Shi."
The area before the Tower of Purging Dust was silent, or perhaps deathly silent, it took a long time for the examinees to react, letting out countless cries of surprise.
From everyone's point of view, since Qiu Shan Jun had unexpectedly not participated in the Grand Examination, then the strongest in this year's Grand Examination would undoubtedly be Gou Han Shi, they naturally assumed that his name would only appear much later. Who could have guessed that in the first round, the examiners would pull out a slip of paper with Gou Han Shi's name written on it.
The emotions within those cries of surprise were very complex, apart from shock, there was also a lot of joy, and within a few cries of surprise, one could hear the emotions of schadenfreude.
Just like how no one wanted to go up against that wolf-tribe youth, and even more so, no one wanted to go up against Gou Han Shi.
Now, they didn't need to worry, because the one going up against Gou Han Shi was Xuanyuan Po, Orthodox Academy's Xuanyuan Po.
The woodlands were very quiet, Chen Chang Sheng and Tang Thirty-Six looked at Xuanyuan Po, their gazes didn't contain any sympathy, only questioning.
At this moment, sympathy had no meaning.
Xuanyuan Po had a blank expression on his face and asked: "What do we do?"
Tang Thirty-Six said: "Can't you see that we're all waiting for you to make a decision?"
Xuanyuan Po looked towards Luo Luo and said: "Teacher, I'll listen to you."
Luo Luo looked towards Chen Chang Sheng and said: "Teacher, what do you think?"
Chen Chang Sheng looked towards Tang Thirty-Six and said: "Why don't you make a decision?"
Tang Thirty-Six didn't even think about it, he immediately raised his hand and shouted towards the Li Palace clergyman in charge of drawing the lots: "We forfeit!"
The crowd was in an uproar, no one could have imagined that Orthodox Academy would directly choose to forfeit the moment the lot was drawn, wasn't this a bit too direct and efficient, or perhaps a bit too shameless? Sounds of ridicule could be heard from the crowd, Xuanyuan Po lowered his head, looking a little dejected.
Chen Chang Sheng comforted him: "Preserve some of your strength, that way, you'll be able to gain some advantage in the next round."
Tang Thirty-Six was in charge of external affairs, he looked at the examinees who were incessantly jeering and said: "Forfeiting means surrendering? If you're really that good, we'll give this lot to you and you can go fight against Gou Han Shi? "
It was naturally impossible for the examinees to be allowed to sign, but his words reminded many of the examinees present that if their goal was to enter the Three Grades of the Grand Examination, then when encountering an undefeatable expert like Gou Han Shi in the second round, forfeiting was perhaps the best choice. Thinking that they might also forfeit later on, the examinees naturally quietened down.
The drawing of lots continued, the peaceful scene was once again broken after the clergyman drew out the names of Tang Thirty-Six and Liang Ban Hu.
The examinees looked towards the woodlands, no one laughed at Orthodox Academy, instead, they began to sympathize with them.
Tang Thirty-Six's expression was calm as usual, but his mood was extremely bad, he said in a voice that only the people next to him could hear: "What kind of fucking luck is this?"
Xuanyuan Po's encounter with Gou Han Shi was extremely bad luck, he was matched against Liang Ban Hu, his luck wasn't any better. Not long after the drawing of lots started, two people from Orthodox Academy were matched against two people from the Divine State's Seven Laws, publicly recognized as the strongest. No matter how you looked at it, Orthodox Academy was obviously unlucky today.
Orthodox Academy's bad luck didn't end here.
The piece of paper with Chen Chang Sheng's name was drawn by the Li Palace clergyman, following that, the clergyman drew his opponent.
Scholartree Manor's Huo Guang.
The crowd was in an uproar, at this moment, even the examinees who had the worst impression of Orthodox Academy weren't in the mood to gloat.
The most shocking thing happened at the end.
Luo Luo's opponent was … Tian Hai Sheng Xue.
The area before the Tower of Purging Dust was silent, the sound of the clergyman drawing the lot was extremely clear.
The crowd looked towards the group from Orthodox Academy by the woodlands, shocked and speechless.
The group from Orthodox Academy were also shocked and speechless.
At this moment, the crowd could be sure that the result of this drawing had nothing to do with luck, but was instead a deliberate attempt to suppress Orthodox Academy, because the probability of this happening was too small.
Xuanyuan Po's encounter with Gou Han Shi, he could only forfeit and admit defeat, Tang Thirty-Six had a great reputation and was known as a young genius, but his strength was still quite far from Liang Ban Hu's, there shouldn't be any chance of victory. As for the third match … that scholar from Scholartree Manor named Huo Guang, although he didn't enter the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, according to his performance in the Martial Trial, he should be the second strongest amongst the four students of Scholartree Manor, stronger than the other two students who had already entered the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, only below Zhong Hui, who was ranked ninth. Even if Chen Chang Sheng had a fortuitous encounter, he still wouldn't be able to defeat his opponent.
The most obvious evidence was Luo Luo's drawing of lots, she who was ranked second on the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, in this year's Grand Examination, her only fear were Gou Han Shi and Tian Hai Sheng Xue who had already completed their Ethereal Opening, yet she had drawn Tian Hai Sheng Xue. More importantly, amongst all the examinees present, only Tian Hai Sheng Xue's family background was similar to hers, at least he could freely display his strength in battle.
… …
… …
Similar to the Tower of Purging Dust, the Hall of Zhao Wen was also completely silent.
His Eminence, the Archbishop, finally slowly opened his eyes, his somewhat murky gaze fell upon the list of lots that appeared on the mirror, gradually turning cold.
Mo Yu's eyelids were slightly drooping, her thoughts unknown.
Prince Chen Liu slightly raised his eyebrows, anger was evident on his face.
Xue Xing Chuan was a little surprised, he turned around and glanced at Xu Shi Ji.
Xu Shi Ji's face was expressionless, he maintained his silence.
The other important figures in the hall also maintained their silence.
None of the important figures in the Hall of Zhao Wen were stupid, how could they not see that this drawing of lots was a result of someone else's actions? It was very obvious, the Board of Ecclesiastic Education's favoritism towards Orthodox Academy, in the end, caused the dissatisfaction of the Orthodoxy's new faction. After enduring silently for a long time, they had finally begun their counterattack in the final round of the Grand Examination, but it was unknown if this matter had been personally approved by the Divine Empress or His Holiness.
"Using southerners to fight against Orthodox Academy, this really isn't a pretty sight."
Heavenly Academy's Principal Mao Qiu Yu sighed, he stood up and walked towards the exit of the Hall of Zhao Wen.
Hearing these words, some of the people in the hall, such as the principal of Li Palace College and the two Bishops of Orthodoxy, had awkward expressions.
Mao Qiu Yu's status was high, he could say whatever he wanted, he could leave whenever he wanted, but he couldn't change the result of the drawing of lots.
The Grand Examination had to continue, the drawing of lots also continued, the ones that received the most attention were naturally the four matches that had to do with Orthodox Academy. Guan Fei Bai, Zhuang Huan Yu and the other renowned young experts had drawn relatively weak opponents, only Su Mo Yu's luck seemed to be even worse than Chen Chang Sheng's group, because his opponent was … that youth named Zhe Xiu.
Hearing the Li Palace clergyman announce his name, the examinees present finally knew the full name of that wolf-tribe youth for the first time.
That youth was called Wofu Zhe Xiu.
The surname Wofu was extremely rare, it was obvious that he wasn't someone from the Central Plains, he was probably from a small tribe beyond the Great Wall.
Tang Thirty Six patted Su Mo Yu's shoulder and said: "Admit defeat, who told you to stand with us earlier? Bad luck is contagious."
Was it really luck? Of course not, everyone in front of the Tower of Purging Dust knew this, but, just like in the first round, if there was no evidence of manipulation, then there was no way to object.
You could only admit defeat, or attempt to obtain an inconceivable victory.
Tang Thirty Six advised Su Mo Yu to choose the former, but he himself was prepared to choose the latter.
Luo Luo and Chen Chang Sheng also had the same thoughts.
… …
… …
(Today's chapter, due to personal reasons, there have been fewer updates these few days, apologies.)
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