Chapter 467: Chapter 318 An Assessnt Without A Standard Answer_3
The crowd was abuzz with discussion.
ng Zhengjun did not stop the Mochi students from talking this ti.
She paused for a mont, then added another sentence:
“The Academy will send so students to Great Li to conduct the Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony for the Imperial Family. The details will be discussed with those selected afterwards.”
No sooner had ng Zhengjun’s words fallen than the room plunged into heated debate.
Because nobody had anticipated that this Great Li examination would actually be the Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony.
As for the ‘simplicity’ ntioned by soone, only a fool would believe that.
Gu Yiwu’s thick eyebrows furrowed, “Ziyu, this is bad news, how could it be this task? Isn’t this a ‘death’ sentence for whoever goes?”
Zhao Rong’s eyebrows were tightly knit, and he remained silent.
He had studied the Ritual Records diligently, and although he had a rift with ng Zhengjun, he still took the lessons on ritual skills very seriously.
So basic knowledge of ritual skills was even known to old salts like Fan Yushu, let alone him.
The so-called simplicity of the Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony conducted for the secular dynasty ntioned by ng Zhengjun was not about the complexity of the procedures, the manpower, the material resources, or even the auspicious timing and harmony of the event.
It was difficult because there was simply no set pattern!
There were hardly any widely circulated books on ritual skills that detailed how the Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony should be conducted.
Therefore, whenever an ambitious and capable ruler from the kingdoms below the mountains wanted to hold a Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony in celebration of ritorious deeds, the rituals used were mostly cobbled together by various national officials.
In essence, they had their own ‘folk thods’, which were mostly unfit for public presentation, and were just a way to fool those monarchs who didn’t know any better.
Of course, it was possible that so remarkable geniuses could co up with an effective set of specific ceremonies for the Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony.
But ‘the great affairs of a nation are sacrifice and military matters.’
The procedures for such grand ceremonies were a nation’s significant secrets, not to be disclosed.
They were each country’s greatest ritual!
How could they be spread outside for others to learn?
Now, the students who were selected to go to Great Li, though they had studied ritual skills at the Academy and were certainly better than those half-baked officials from the mountains below,
To concoct a set of rituals to fool the Imperial Family of Great Li was, of course, simple.
But what was the use in fooling them?
The person grading this examination would be ng Zhengjun.
A Confucian Great Cultivator who had entered the path through ritual skills, with inscrutable cultivation, and who was even said to have visited the Central Continent Confucian Temple and understood thousands of sacrificial rites.
So, this was an examination with no standard answers.
Zhao Rong carefully studied ng Zhengjun, who was sitting silently on the distant steps.
He said earnestly, “We haven’t even started yet, how can you say it’s definitely a dead end?”
Gu Yiwu let out a bitter laugh, “Ziyu, do you really not understand or are you pretending not to understand? This Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony, to put it nicely, is an opportunity for free expression and ritual practice. To put it bluntly, it’s blindly ssing around and heading down a one-way street to death.”
He shook his head as he joined Zhao Rong in looking towards the stern and strict woman.
“Indeed, such a freely expressive examination should allow for generous scoring, but without any standard procedure for the Sealing and Sacrifice Ceremony, Teacher ng’s subjective judgnt has too much influence on the exam results. Isn’t it true that her word is final?”
Zhao Rong remained silent.
Suddenly, he pulled his right hand out of his sleeve, stretched it forward, his fingers slightly splayed, his palm curved.
Gu Yiwu glanced down curiously, “What are you doing, Ziyu?”
Zhao Rong made a pinching motion with his outstretched right hand in mid-air.
He said gravely, “Brother Yiwu, is the waist of that Daughter of Li really this slender?”
Gu Yiwu: “???”
Zhao Rong smiled.
On the steps in front of the Ritual Hall, ng Zhengjun stood silently for a while, then suddenly moved…
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