Chapter 621 Red Fox and White Fox (VIII)

Chapter 621 Red Fox and White Fox (VIII)

Within the capital, the streets are laid out like a Go game, criss-crossing and intricately arranged.

On the grand day when the tribute examination was held, more than ten broad streets came from all directions,

Every one of them was crowded with people, and the scene was spectacular.

Although the number of people who can win the exam is limited each year, the total number of people who have passed the exam over the years is quite impressive.

Just counting those who came from afar and came to Beijing to take the imperial examination with dreams in mind, the number was already quite large.

What's more, there are many relatives and friends accompanying them, or servants and coachmen accompanying them.

Their joining brought the entire capital's population to an unprecedented peak at this time.

Red Fox has lived for more than a hundred years. Although he has seen a lot of the world,

But today, he witnessed such an unprecedented scene for the first time.

After going through layers of rigorous inspections and body searches, Red Fox came up with information that could prove his identity.

After careful review, I was finally able to step into the towering walls of the Ministry of Rites.

Due to his deep relationship with the Zhou family, Chihu came to Beijing quite early this time.

Therefore, he had enough time to adjust his body and mind, which were slightly exhausted from the long journey, and now he has fully recovered to his best condition.

Not only that, with the enthusiastic recommendation of my husband and the deep relationship with my father,

He had the opportunity to have in-depth academic exchanges and discussions with many famous Confucians and officials.

However, the moment he stepped into the door of the Ministry of Rites, an ominous premonition suddenly surged in Red Fox's heart.

Immediately afterwards, an indescribable force swept through his body silently.

This power actually suppressed all the thoughts and demonic power in his body, making him not only physically stronger than ordinary people at this moment, but also

In other aspects, he is no different from ordinary people, and has completely lost his previous abilities.

Faced with this sudden change, Red Fox couldn't help but feel a little panicked and at a loss.

But he also knew that at this critical moment, if he showed the slightest abnormality, it would immediately arouse the vigilance and suspicion of the surrounding officers and soldiers.

Although with his strong physique, it is not difficult to force his way out of the Ministry of Etiquette,

But in this way, the identity of Zhou Qiguang that he worked so hard to acquire will also be in vain.

Such a result was undoubtedly the last thing he wanted to see, and it also made him feel very unwilling.

After thinking over and over in his mind, Red Fox finally pinpointed the crux of the problem in this official compound.

Recalling the moment when he entered the prefect's mansion, although he had felt signs that the demonic power was weakened,

But the level at that time was far less serious than it is now, and it was almost unbearable for him.

It seems... the complexity behind this secular dynastic regime far exceeds my initial imagination...

Red Fox sighed secretly in his heart and couldn't help but shake his head.

After thinking for a moment, he made up his mind to carry out this exam to the end no matter what, and not to let his efforts go to waste.

The tribute examination is long and torturous. Candidates need to choose a room as their examination room.

In the next few days, eating, drinking, having sex and other daily chores will be carried out.

According to the teacher's previous instructions, Red Fox took out ten taels of silver from his arms and respectfully handed it to the officer who led the way:

"I will trouble you a lot in these three days, so please take good care of me."

When the clerk saw this, a joyful smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he quickly accepted the money:

"It's easy to talk to. I will definitely try my best to arrange everything for you."

After saying that, the clerk led Red Fox to choose a clean and tidy room among the many rooms.

The mats and blankets in the room are all brand new, obviously specially prepared for this exam.

When the last candidate entered the examination room, time passed quietly to the prescribed deadline.

The heavy doors of the Ministry of Rites and the Gongyuan were tightly closed one after another, isolating the entire examination room from the outside world.

During these critical days, the perimeter of the Ministry of Rites was closely guarded by sergeants.

Unless they hold the emperor's imperial edict, any trespassers will be shot without mercy.

After all, there are three thousand candidates gathered in this examination room, and each one of them is the future pillar of the country.

Once anything goes wrong, the consequences will be disastrous.

Red Fox sat in the examination room, patiently waiting for the exam to begin.

Not long after, sheets of paper were distributed to each candidate.

Immediately afterwards, a clerk read the test questions loudly,

Red Fox listened attentively, and then carefully wrote the topic on the white paper.

For Red Fox, he had never experienced such a test before, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

What's more, his mana is blocked at this moment.

He was unable to use his mind to spy on other people's thoughts as before, which made him feel a little impetuous and difficult to calm down.

Even so, he could only suppress the panic in his heart and try his best to cope with the exam in front of him.

However, as a demon, Red Fox has an amazing memory that far exceeds that of humans.

When those test questions were presented in front of him, countless wonderful articles instantly emerged in his mind.

Although not all articles fit perfectly with the test questions, Red Fox would never blindly copy them. That was definitely not his style.

He just drew inspiration and essence from it, and that was enough for him.

Red Fox is extremely smart, and he has unique insights into scriptures and scriptures.

Therefore, in less than half a day, he had already deeply understood the essence of the scientific examination, and his writing was full of flowers.

As the three-day exam time passed quietly, Chi Hu felt even more confident.

Although he can no longer use his mind, his insight into the human heart is still profound.

Coupled with his rich knowledge and profound accumulation over more than a hundred years, he can also write it down.

After those three long days, Red Fox and a group of newly acquainted fellow disciples wandered around the bustling capital all day long, enjoying themselves.

After these new friends learned about the prominent family background of Zhou Qiguang, whom Red Fox was pretending to be, their enthusiasm for him became even higher. As a result, Red Fox also gained a lot of thoughts from the exchanges.

In the blink of an eye, another ten days passed, and finally it was the day when the results were released.

Red Fox glanced at the list with nervousness and anticipation, and was pleasantly surprised to find that his name appeared in the third position on the first list.

He couldn't help but feel a little surprised. He didn't expect that his ranking in this scientific examination would be so high.

I thought before that it would be great to be on the list.

He knew very well that the emperor of this year's imperial examination would personally mark the examination papers, and the examination process would be rigorous and fair, with no possibility of fraud.

Therefore, this ranking is undoubtedly real, and it is an honor he won with his true talent and learning.

At this time, there were crowds of people in front of the list. Some candidates fainted because they were too excited or nervous.

This made the minor officials in the Gongyuan very busy, constantly shuttling among the crowd to treat and comfort them.

At this moment, several officials walked out of the Gongyuan. They stood in front of the list and announced loudly:

"Scholars who have not been selected, please leave the Gongyuan; those who have been selected, please wait here for the emperor's summons."

The sound echoed among the crowd, filling the entire Gongyuan with a solemn and solemn atmosphere.

This is actually a matter of course. After all, among the three thousand people,

Even if there are three lists to announce the results, there are only ten people on the first list, twenty people on the second list, and thirty people on the third list.

Adding up the three lists, only 60 people can stand out.

Calculated in this way, it is equivalent to selecting one outstanding person from about fifty candidates.

As you can imagine, the competition is fierce.

Without spending too much time, these sixty Xinke Gongshi received their tokens to enter the imperial city in an orderly manner based on their rankings on the list.

They need to stay in the capital for three days, use this time to rest physically and mentally, and be fully prepared for the palace examination on the fourth day.

Red Fox was not too surprised that he could successfully win the championship.

After all, he knew that what he relied on for this exam was all his real talent and practical knowledge.

If he had relied on his telepathy to spy on other people's thoughts as before, he might not have been able to achieve such outstanding results.

Because the emperor was personally responsible for the grading work this time, and the examination papers were judged based on the emperor's preference.

If you try to plagiarize other people's ideas, you probably won't get such a good ranking.

And in just three days, the news that Zhou Qiguang was on the list was like a spring breeze.

It quickly spread throughout his hometown and became a hot topic of discussion among the Zhou family after dinner.

This good news not only brought glory to the Zhou family, but also gave Red Fox an unprecedented growth in his thoughts.

As relatives and friends warmly congratulated Zhou Qiguang, the thoughts in Red Fox's body began to surge.

Almost overnight, his fifth and sixth tails grew out one after another, which marked that his cultivation had reached a new level.

As the number of tails increased, Red Fox obviously felt that his magic power had greatly increased, and his mastery of his mind became more skillful.

In the blink of an eye, the morning of the fourth day came quietly. Red Fox stepped into the gate of the imperial city together with those candidates who also had dreams.

However, as soon as he entered the palace, Red Fox felt as if his skin was being pricked gently by countless fine needles.

He couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise, secretly glad that his current cultivation level was no longer what it used to be.

Judging from his cultivation in the past few days, I am afraid that this transformation method will be difficult to maintain, and it is very likely that the true nature of the demon fox will be exposed directly, thus causing unnecessary trouble.

But now, with the blessing of the sixth tail, his control over his transformation has become much better, and he can hide his true identity more freely.

However, Red Fox could also keenly notice that there were many human monks gathered here.

Their strength is completely different from the real Zhao Zhenren he has met before, and they are definitely not the kind of weak people.

Among these monks, there are many masters whose strength is far above their own and unfathomable.

After respectfully paying homage to the Holy Master, Red Fox was led to the designated seat and sat down.

At the same time, Red Fox was also lost in thought.

He vaguely felt that the human court seemed to have some kind of suppressive power over the demon clan.

This kind of suppression is not only reflected in the various restrictions he encountered when he entered the Gongyuan before, but is further confirmed in the palace where he is now.

As time passed, when all the tributes paid homage to the Holy One in turn, the much-anticipated palace examination finally began.

Suddenly, a melodious and deep Jingyang bell rang through the sky,

Immediately afterwards, the delicate and long sound of drumming was faintly heard in the distance.

The sound of the bell and the drum music intertwined, causing everyone present to involuntarily fall silent.

The surroundings suddenly became silent, and even the slightest sound disappeared.

When Chihu heard the sudden bell, he was shocked.

He immediately realized that the demon power in his body was sealed again, as if it was tightly bound by an invisible force and could not flow freely.

However, what surprised him was that although the demon power was sealed, his telepathic ability did not seem to be affected at all.

He tried to use his telepathy to spy on the minds of people around him, and found that he could still easily read the thoughts of ordinary people without cultivation.

However, for those human cultivators, their minds were still like fog and difficult to spy on.

Just when Chihu lowered his head and thought, he suddenly caught a trace of unusual sound in his ears.

He raised his head suddenly, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

But soon he regained his calm and began to wait for the palace examination to proceed.

Afterwards, His Majesty personally wrote the carefully prepared questions on rice paper.

The eunuch in charge of ceremonies stood by respectfully. After the emperor finished writing,

he quickly copied it down and distributed it to each candidate present one by one.

The time for the exam was strictly limited to one hour, and the papers would be collected after the time limit.

After receiving the questions, Chihu did not rush to grind ink and write like others, but looked at it carefully and thought about it.

The emperor sat on the high dragon throne and observed everything from a high position.

The questions of this exam were not actually profound and difficult to understand the classics, but practical problems closely related to current politics.

The country's selection of talents is naturally not to cultivate a group of useless bureaucrats and literati.

Although the Confucian classics occupy an important position in daily learning and education,

this is for the consideration of brainwashing and cultural inheritance, and also because there is no better alternative.

However, in the palace examination, the examinees' opinions on current affairs and their ability to formulate policies were examined to determine whether they had actual political talent.

After raising his head several times to secretly observe the emperor's expression, Chihu finally put down his pen.

As he wrote, Chihu smiled:

"Sister... when you taught me telepathy in the past, you only asked me to perform it on lonely passers-by in the mountains or in the countryside."

"Even if my telepathy is accurate, it can only become their dream lover one after another..."

"Now... I have entered the palace examination room, and I can also know the emperor's mind!"

"So... I, Zhou Qiangguang! I am the pillar of talent that the emperor and the court have been dreaming of!" (End of this chapter)