Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: Ace
Chapter:
Chapter Title: The Wanderers' Favor and the Paper Crane
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"You told me to take them away immediately, so I did. We ran a hundred li and survived."
Hu Feifei laughed.
Chen Shi was dumbfounded. He had to admit, the girls from Old Man Hu's family had incredibly good luck. If they had left even a quarter of an hour later, they would have been trapped in the city, likely with countless dead and wounded.
"But coming back wouldn't help anyway."
Chen Shi frowned, saying, "All the officials in the city are dead now, the border troops have suffered heavy casualties, and even the provincial education commissioner was killed."
"This autumn provincial exam of ours is probably doomed."
He sighed. The purpose of coming to Gongzhou this time was twofold: first, the gathering of the wanderers, and second, the autumn provincial exam.
But the main goal was the provincial exam.
Without passing the juren examination, returning home to eat fish and meat with the villagers and relatives would be neither proper nor legitimate.
The Cold Mountain Wanderer leaned in with a smile.
"As for your autumn provincial exam, this old man can actually help."
Chen Shi's eyes lit up. He quickly bowed. "Dare I ask, Senior, how can you help?"
The Cold Mountain Wanderer hurriedly helped him up. "Don't do that—you'll kill me with formality!"
"You're Chen Shi, right? You don't know this, but ten years ago, I met you!"
The Exiled Wanderer chimed in. "Yeah, back then you were with your grandpa. We walked over, talked to your grandpa, and I even patted your head."
"Kid, we're not outsiders!"
Chen Shi blushed. "Seniors, I died eight years ago afterward, so I don't remember anything from before."
"No memory is good. No memory is good."
The two let out a sigh of relief. Back then, when they heard Chen Shi was coming to the gathering, they worried he'd cause trouble, so they rushed over and sternly threatened Chen Yindu a couple of times. But Old Man Chen, busy taking care of his grandson, didn't take their threats seriously at all.
The Cold Mountain Wanderer smiled. "The two of us were once officials in the court. Later, we couldn't stand the ways of officialdom and were powerless to change it, so we resigned and left. We stopped using our old names."
"'On the cold mountain, flute calls spring's return; exiled guests gaze, tears filling sleeves.'"
"We two down-and-out souls took two characters each from this poem as our titles."
The Exiled Wanderer said, "Though we've left the court, we still have some connections there."
"The juren exam for scholars comes once every three years. If you miss this one, you'll have to wait another three."
"How many three-year periods does a man get? We'll write to the Grand Secretariat and ask those grand ministers to give it some thought. They'll surely give you all an explanation."
Chen Shi, Hu Feifei, and the others were both shocked and delighted, hurriedly expressing their thanks.
Li Tianqing, coming from a great clan after all, looked a bit suspicious upon hearing this. "Will the grand ministers in the Grand Secretariat listen?"
The two elders of Cold Mountain and Exile exchanged a smile. "They will listen."
The two immediately wrote a letter by hand, folded it into a paper crane, and blew on it. The paper crane suddenly flapped its wings, transforming into an immortal crane in midair, which flew off with a flap—far faster than any messenger pigeon!
Chen Shi watched with shining eyes and stepped forward. "Seniors, could you teach me this spell?"
The Cold Mountain Wanderer burst out laughing.
"You want to use this as a means of livelihood? This is clearly a万里 flying sword technique, transforming paper into a mount to take a person's life..."
The Exiled Wanderer kicked him. The Cold Mountain Wanderer snapped awake. "Why did I say that? This kid has a bunch of demons living in his head. If he learns my technique and uses it to kill, wouldn't that be my sin?"
"It's not easy to learn."
The Cold Mountain Wanderer mumbled.
Seeing the difficult look on his face, Chen Shi immediately understood. He took two taels of silver from his sleeve pocket with a smile. "I get it. This is the tuition."
With that, he stuffed it into his hand.
The Cold Mountain Wanderer gripped the two taels of silver, looking puzzled.
Seeing his expression, Chen Shi knew it was too little. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out another tael. "I haven't had any income these days, so I don't have much money."
The Cold Mountain Wanderer was torn between laughter and tears. He pocketed the three taels. "Fine, I'll teach you."
Seeing him agree, Li Tianqing hurriedly took out silver too, but he only had less than two taels left in his pocket.
Chen Shi made up the difference for him. "Please teach us both this spell, Senior."
The Cold Mountain Wanderer had been about to refuse when the Exiled Wanderer kicked him and sent a transmission. "If he gets unhappy and drops dead with a snap, you'll face those demons alone—I won't help you!"
The Cold Mountain Wanderer transmitted back, "Where's the part about dying if we don't agree? Nonsense!"
Even so, he still smiled. "Fine, I'll pass it on to you two while recuperating in the city these next few days."
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were thrilled. Li Tianqing laughed. "With this skill, we'll never starve in the future!"
Chen Shi grinned. "Sending love letters to Little Jin will be so much easier."
Young Master Xiao shot him a sideways glance.
The Cold Mountain Wanderer said seriously, "My spell is different from the messenger's spell. The messenger's attaches the mind to the paper, with the caster constantly watching— it can't withstand wind or rain."
"But mine ties only a wisp of mind and a breath of true qi that doesn't dissipate, reaching ten thousand li away. No wind, thunder, or fierce beasts can stop it."
"This spell looks like one, but it's actually three."
"First, controlling the mind."
"Second, understanding transformation."
"Third..."
The Exiled Wanderer kicked him again. The Cold Mountain Wanderer came to his senses and laughed. "The third can't be taught!"
He inwardly thought how close that was.
The third was the sword-control killing technique. If taught, fine if the kid learned it—but if those demons in his sea of consciousness learned it, they could take heads from ten thousand li away!
"Was the money too little?" Chen Shi wondered.
Half a day later, the immortal crane formed from the Cold Mountain Wanderer's page of letter had already flown ten thousand li to the Western Capital.
The immortal crane was about to flap its wings into the Western Capital when its neck was suddenly gripped by a large hand.
The one gripping the immortal crane's neck was none other than Creation Little Five.
The Cold Mountain Wanderer's wisp of mind struggled briefly before being crushed.
The immortal crane involuntarily reverted to its original form, becoming a sheet of paper.
Creation Little Five unfolded the letter, read it through, and his eyes lit up. He laughed. "Dad hid so many good things in his head! Truly enviable."
With that, he folded the paper back into a crane shape, blew on it, and the paper crane turned into an immortal crane once more, flapping off into the Western Capital.
Only the wisp of mind within the immortal crane was no longer the Cold Mountain Wanderer's.
In the Wenhua Pavilion, Zhang Fuzheng was tilting his head, eyeing a cloud in the sky. That cloud had hung over the Western Capital for two months.
Corpse cloud.
A cloud formed of corpses.
It loomed over the Western Capital like this.
He was the newly appointed Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat. After Grand Secretary Yan Xizhi resigned, he had schemed every way possible to finally ascend to the position of Chief Grand Secretary.
But he never imagined that no sooner had he taken the seat than the corpse cloud incident arose.
Now, the Western Capital was gripped by panic inside and out. There were even rumors that it was his appointment as Chief Grand Secretary that caused all these disappearances.
They should kill him to appease heaven and make the corpse cloud vanish.
"Grand Secretary Yan must have sensed something and slipped away early by resigning! Once I'm powerless, he'll come back out and seize even higher power!"
He ground his teeth inwardly when suddenly an immortal crane flew into the Wenhua Pavilion, circled the pavilion once, growing smaller and smaller, until it finally became a paper crane that fluttered lightly onto the table before him.
Zhang Fuzheng unfolded the paper, his expression turning grave.
Moments later, all the grand ministers of the Grand Secretariat arrived in the Wenhua Pavilion.
Zhang Fuzheng passed the Cold Mountain Wanderer's letter around. After the various Grand Secretaries read it, their faces also turned grave.
"Over a hundred demons, locked in a mere scholar's head?"
One grand minister murmured, "This has probably reached disaster level, hasn't it?"
Another grand minister said indignantly, "Gongzhou—wiped clean by him! After wiping out Gong Province, off to wipe out another province, then another province after that! Back to Gongzhou! When will he come to our Western Capital to wipe us out? This boy must be executed!"
Zhang Fuzheng's face was stern. "Grand Minister Gao speaks well. This boy truly deserves execution. Then please, Grand Minister Gao, go to Gongzhou and execute him!"
Grand Minister Gao's face flushed red, and he fell silent.
Zhang Fuzheng said, "The Cold Mountain Wanderer sent this letter out of old ties, to warn the court—it's well-intentioned."
"Gentlemen, the Cold Mountain Wanderer also mentioned Gongzhou's examination matter, saying it can't delay the scholars' juren exam. In my view, we should do as he says."
The crowd didn't understand his intent.
Zhang Fuzheng smiled.
"Isn't the kid scholar seeking juren status? Then give juren status to all the surviving scholars from Gongzhou."
"If the kid scholar wants to take the jinshi exam next, then we'll make him a jinshi."
He clasped his hands behind his back and said leisurely,
"Ten years ago, the court owed him. Today, we pay it back."
"As long as he doesn't go seeking death or trouble, we'll satisfy everything! He wants juren? We'll make him juren. He wants to be an official? We'll make him one. Problem solved, isn't it?"
He paused, then said,
"This year's Gongzhou jieyuan is Chen Shi!"
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