"The Great Elder has co out of seclusion."
"What? Didn’t the Great Elder start his retreat five years ago and hasn’t been seen since? There’s always been rumors in the sect that the Great Elder..."
"That’s right, even many Hall Masters thought the Great Elder had gone to et the ’Mother of Non-Existence’."
"Excellent, with the Great Elder ending his seclusion, our sect finally has its backbone again; no need to continue being so fragnted."
A ssage from Yellow Stone Cliff by the seaside of the East Sea began to spread, and the disciples of the Lotus Sect scattered all around started to head towards Yellow Stone Cliff.
That place was where the long-unseen Great Elder of the Lotus Sect had been in seclusion, and it was also a place of natural strategic importance.
"The Great Elder had already reached the ’Exorcism’ Realm five years ago. Erging now, he must be at least at the Great Success of Exorcism and should be able to wield our sect’s Holy Artifact with ease."
"Since our sect’s uprising in Lingnan failed, there hasn’t been another expert who has cultivated the ’Exorcism’ Realm. With the Great Elder present, soone can finally deal with Elder Tang’s affair."
"Before falling into misfortune, Elder Tang had sent out a ssage that if she were trapped in Jiangning Prefecture, it would definitely be the work of the Holy Maiden from the Luo Sect."
"But wasn’t Elder Tang killed by the Officials?"
"Who knows? In any case, we can no longer trust the people of the Luo Sect."
"Right, we must hasten to Yellow Stone Cliff and inform the Great Elder of this, lest he be deceived by the people of the Luo Sect and suffer the sa fate as Elder Tang."
...
...
Xu Qing was naturally unaware of the Lotus Sect’s Great Elder coming out of seclusion, as he was giving one-on-one guidance on the eight-legged essay to the mbers of the Recovery Society.
"Weizhong, I rember you studied ’The Book of Changes’ before, why have you recently switched to studying ’The Book of Rites’?"
Among the Five Classics, ’The Book of Rites’ has the most characters. Although ’The Spring and Autumn Annals’ have fewer characters in its original text, with ’Zuo’s Comntary’ as its comntary, the volu is enormous. Coupled with other comntaries, ’The Book of Rites’ and ’The Spring and Autumn Annals’ have the most content for study. This results in relatively fewer candidates studying these books because the amount of content is the highest. The fewer the contents, the lower the difficulty.
Moreover, in the Imperial Examination, making a single word mistake could easily be spotted, leading to disqualification.
Additionally, provincial examinations have separate rooms for the Five Classics. Other disciplines with fewer characters have many examinees, usually overseen by more than two examiners, but disciplines like ’The Book of Rites’ and ’The Spring and Autumn Annals’, with fewer candidates, often have just one examiner grading the papers.
Those regularly studying cheating thods know well that the difficulty of dealing with a single examiner compared to that of dealing with two or more examiners is not sothing that can be asured in terms of distance.
Yan Shan awkwardly glanced around before whispering to Xu Qing: "The examination on ’The Book of Rites’ is easier."
He said no more than this, clearly having caught wind of sothing.
Xu Qing surmised that it was likely that the examiner of ’The Book of Rites’ had so connection to Yan Shan.
Perhaps news of the Grace Examination had already begun to spread.
Ah, the officialdom’s ethos is ruined by these people. The policies from above are not even announced, and not only do those below know about it in advance, but maybe even the people from enemy nations know before the ordinary citizens.
"Weizhong, then you prepare well; you can ask if you have any questions."
Yan Shan was startled: "Could it be that you, Gongming, are also planning to switch to ’The Book of Rites’?"
Xu Qing stood with hands behind his back: "If I am to take the exams, I’ll take the hardest ones. It’s no fun to take the easy ones." He paused briefly before continuing: "As for the content of the Five Classics, I’ve long been proficient and fluent. If you question my expertise in ’The Book of Rites’, I assure you it’s certainly higher than yours. If you don’t believe it, I can recite it to you backward."
Yan Shan: "..."
He begrudged internally, "Is it so great to have a photographic mory?"
Okay then, having a photographic mory really is remarkable.
Not only can the current Grand Secretary morize at a glance, but he can also write different texts with both hands simultaneously.
In his eyes, Xu Qing was practically using the Grand Secretary’s template.
Xu Qing wasn’t boasting. In the Recovery Society, mbers studied all Five Classics, and Xu Qing guided them along the way, citing classics and according to the level of the mbers, pointed out their current deficiencies and directed them towards what they should read next...
In every respect, each ti Xu Qing ca, the society mbers were as happy as if it were a holiday.
Moreover, every ti Xu Qing visited, his level was higher than the last, without exception.
Even ordinary mbers could sense Xu Qing’s terrifyingly rapid progress. The key is, Xu Qing’s eight-legged essay abilities were already high, yet he still improved so quickly.
In this regard, Xu Qing had no need to hide his talent.
He wanted to impress the mbers with his scholarly prowess.
Thus, they would revere him as if he were divine.
The God of the Imperial Examination!
Moreover, in the eyes of scholars, a learned master is the most admirable. Public lectures by the great scholars of the day often draw a full house. Before academic influencers, even those who ranked as Second or Third Class Scholars would not dare to disrespect.
With Xu Qing’s professional coaching, the study progress of Recovery Society mbers was actually quite rapid. It’s just that they didn’t have much to compare this rapidity to.
After all, whenever they felt they were making progress, they found they were even further from Xu Qing.
Additionally, most mbers of the Recovery Society ca from ordinary backgrounds and were highly motivated to climb upwards.
With the resources provided by Xu Qing, they could devote themselves to study without worrying about lacking materials and occasionally compare notes with peers at the sa level.
This provided much more knowledge than what one could learn in the Prefecture School or County School.
Of course, they still needed to attend the Prefecture School and County School.
They were not like Xu Qing, who had only gone to the Prefecture School once since the beginning of the school term and managed to secure the first place in every model exam.
The key is, no one thought Xu Qing’s first place was achieved through connections.
Although the Prefecture School was, in truth, under Magistrate He’s control.
Let alone anything else, just the couplet outside the Recovery Society reading "The sounds of wind, rain, and reading blend – a heart for ho and country perates" has already widely circulated in the South Zhili area. In due course, it will surely penetrate deep into the hearts of scholars everywhere.
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