Over the next month or so, I developed the logistics needed to set up the courier service and built a warehouse for the mountain village people. Using the golden eagles, we were able to provide delivery services for the merchants and deliver the products and fresh food much faster than before. Delivery times were reduced from months or weeks to a matter of days…sometimes even less than a single day. In a matter of hours, in fact.
"Have you heard of the Golden Eagle Delivery Express?"
"Yeah! It's amazing! I can't believe how fast it is! I placed the order yesterday, and I got it today! They're amazing!"
"Who's the genius who thought of using Golden Eagles to deliver stuff? I wish to thank him!"
"I heard it was the son-in-law of the Lan family. Turns out that the Jian Shen dude and the Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion were just slandering him. He's not trash like they claim he is. He's actually a genius who impressed the White Herb Sect!"
"No wonder the young miss of the Lan family married him!"
"I believe Jian Shen was jealous of him, that's why he spread all these malicious rumors to slander young master Hei!"
"What a despicable person! He knows he can't win in a fair competition, so he set out to destroy his rival's reputation instead!"
"So pathetic…"
Such were the words of the people in the city, delighted at the new services. The merchants, in particular, were pleased with the new rate of delivery, and they could set up stalls and stores to sell fresh food and new products. There was a trickledown effect where restaurants also benefited – the chefs had access to fresher ingredients, which meant they could expand their menus and conduct businesses better than ever.
This led to a generally happier population, and the effects could be seen within a month. The civilians were dining more frequently, buying more things, which meant economic circulation and thus better market conditions. I wasn't an economist, so I didn't really understand most of the nitty gritty details, but suffice to say, Azure Cloud City ended up booming under the influx of merchant businesses, which in turn developed local shops and restaurants. The citizens became more affluent because there were more jobs, and they had more disposable income to spend on the products flowing into the city, which in turn meant mercantile expansions.
So…yay, I guess?
The merchants repaid my assistance by spreading advertisements and flyers for me and my wife, and they would sponsor our running for the next castellan. In contrast, the Yun family appeared to disappear under anonymity.
"It doesn't matter," Yun Hai said. "Yun Jian Tian will win the literary trial, and we should be able to win the strength trial. I'll be hiring Innate Realm cultivators to fight on our behalf. That trash son-in-law will never be able to defeat them. I bet he's not even Core Formation Realm."
None of the elders pointed out to him that I was capable of stopping his full strength sword strike with just my fingers, which meant that I was beyond Core Formation Realm. They would only earn a rebuke and maybe a smack for telling him the truth.
Some people only wanted to hear what they wanted to hear, after all.
The Yun family wasn't something we had to worry about, though. Close to the end of the month, right before the literary trial, another person showed up. An unexpected individual who barged her way through the doors of the Lan Manor.
"Lan Bei Er!" Yao Guai shouted. At the ruckus, Lan Bei Er reluctantly emerged from the manor, accompanied by her mother and me.
"How can I help you?" Lan Bei Er asked coldly when she saw Yao Guai. Her former master was undaunted by her hostile tone.
"Divorce that trash immediately! I found you a better husband. If you don't want to marry Jian Shen, then at least marry Young Master Cang Qiong! He'll be the future castellan of Azure Cloud City! You'll be better off with him!"
She was literally frothing at the mouth when she saw me, spitting and pointing angrily while muttering incoherent curses. Too bad mental illness wasn't a thing in this era or she would be locked up in an asylum.
"I will not!" Lan Bei Er snapped. "Besides, elder Yao, I'm not sure if you've heard, but the Cang family has already pulled out of the trials. Your information is outdated."
I noticed that she was no longer addressing Yao Guai as her master, changing it to elder instead. I didn't know if Yao Guai noticed, but she was more focused on something else.
"What?! That's not what we agreed on!"
Panicking, she turned and ran off in the direction of the Cang estate, no doubt to confirm the news that she had heard.
"Cang Qiong?" I asked. Mother-in-law sighed.
"He's the young master of the Cang family and a golden core disciple of the Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion. That means he's of a higher status than even Jian Shen. I believe he's a direct disciple under the Pavilion Master himself."
"He already broke through Innate Realm, and he's probably mid Innate Realm right now," Lan Bei Er said, thinking hard. "On par with you, maybe. He's not someone to be underestimated."
"If he's so pro, then how come he doesn't want to compete in the trials for the castellan, huh?"
"How I know? Ask the Cang family, not me."
It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but I didn't say that. Instead, I just nodded wearily. There was something not right about this whole thing, but I wasn't sure what it was exactly.
"Hmm, it's entirely possible that the role of castellan of a single city isn't enough for Cang Qiong's ambitions," mother-in-law said thoughtfully. "Someone of his talent and potential will go very far. He might be aiming for the general rank in the imperial army, or a minister. There's no way he'll be satisfied with being a castellan."
"That makes sense," I agreed. I didn't feel the same, I just liked having freedom. Also, my secret identity as a demonic cultivator made things a lot more complicated.
"Anyway, go back and study," mother-in-law told me with a somewhat stern expression. "The literary trial is next week, and Yun Jian Tian is not an easy opponent. He's the top scholar in Azure Cloud City. Even though you'll probably win the popular trial and the strength trial, that doesn't mean you should just give up on the literary trial."
"Understood." I raised a hand and returned to the study room where I had been reading. When I wasn't busily setting up the Golden Eagle Express, I had tried to dredge through my memory to recall all the literature and classics I studied in my previous life.
And then the day finally came.
The literary trial was held in the Azure Cloud Academy, supervised and judged by the teachers there. Kong Zi and Jiao Shu were the two elders invited to preside over the trial. Known to be impartial, educated, and widely read, the two old men sat by their desks, watching the two huge groups of people flood into the academy.
The Yun family had arrived with hangers on and audiences, probably to show off. Yun Hai led his family members, his son Yun Jian Tian beside him. They bowed respectfully to the two elderly scholars before taking their place at one side.
The Lan family did the same. I made sure to lower my head and cup my hands respectfully. The two old men nodded to acknowledge my greeting, but they weren't the type to accept flattery.
"Are you ready to lose?" Yun Hai asked. I groaned inwardly at the cliché line. Come on, couldn't these villains think of something better to say? I was a horrible villain, but even I didn't resort to spouting such cliché lines.
I had standards.
Kong Zi coughed. "All right, let's begin. The test of this literary trial is to compose a poem. We will judge it according to theme, tone and words. Who wants to start first?"
"Me," Yun Jian Tian said confidently, striding forward to the stage. He bowed and then took a deep breath, a smile spreading across his face. If I based this upon cultivation stories, I would bet that he wanted to crush me with despair by composing a poem so good that I wouldn't be able to come up with one and had to surrender ignobly or some bullshit like that.
Good thing this was told in first person, or we would have to put up with reading the characters' moronic thoughts. Anyway, the poem.
"The days pass, but I continue to think of you. The water that flows in the river under the bridge is not the same as the water yesterday. Like grains of sand, time continues to fall, slipping through one's fingers, never to be scooped up again. Looking at the moonlight, the only comfort I have is that we both are watching the same sky."
"OH!" Everyone began cheering and clapping. "As expected of the top scholar of Azure Cloud Academy! He's so amazing!"
"What talent! What poetry! I'm so moved!"
"I'm not crying, you're crying!"
"It's raining…it has to be, that's why my eyes are wet."
How exaggerated. I mean, that was admittedly a good poem, but come on…it wasn't to the extent where people would be moved to cry. I liked it personally, but I found myself disturbed by the audience's reaction. Then again, most of the people reacting were part of the gigantic entourage that the Yun family had brought along. Huh, maybe their response was staged, to pressure the judges into evaluating Yun Jian Tian's poetry highly.
Yun Jian Tian turned to me with a polite smile and a bow. "It's your turn now, Sir Hei Ye. I look forward to seeing what you compose."
Was the guy trying to be sarcastic and mocking me? I wasn't sure, so I decided to just take his words at face value and thank him with a nod of my head. There was no point assuming the worst of everyone. At least he wasn't taunting me and saying stupid stuff like he would eat his books off the floor if I composed a better poem than him.
Only one dimensional villainous caricatures did that. It might seem funny at first, but when every character in every cultivation story did the same thing, it would get downright repetitive. Not to mention unbelievable.
"Thank you." I took a step forward and went on stage, surveying everyone. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and recited a poem from memory. I had memorized one of Li Bai's most famous poems, and decided to just throw it there. I sucked as a poet. I was more of a prose person (though I sucked at writing prose too – this first person narrative account was evidence of that). So I had to rely on plagiarizing poor Li Bai to get through this.
Fortunately, Li Bai didn't exist in this cultivation world, so he couldn't sue me for copyright even if he wanted to. Not that copyright existed during his era anyway.
"Before my bed, there's a pool of light. I wonder if it's frost on the ground. Looking up, I find the moon bright. Then bowing my head, I drown in homesickness."
For a moment, there was silence. The audience was staring at each other and exchanging confused looks. It took them a few seconds for my words to sink in. Several of them applauded politely, but none with the rancor that was the reception to Yun Jian Tian's poem.
"Not bad, not bad. I didn't expect Sir Hei Ye to be able to compose a poem."
"Who said he was trash? Okay, he's not as good as Sir Yun Jian Tian, but he's not bad either."
"I don't know anything about poetry, but I can feel that this poem is very cultured…very nostalgic somehow."
I paused and glanced at the judges. Both of them were very still. Kong Zi, in particular, was staring at me with teary eyes.
"You…" he said hoarsely. "Does the poem mean what I think it means?"
"Depends on what you think it means, elder." I bowed my head and cupped my hands. "I meant for it to express filial piety."
"Yes, yes…" Kong Zi wiped his eyes and looked at me in wonder. "That's what I thought. That was beautiful."
"It's decided then?" Jiao Shu said, his voice full of awe. Kong Zi nodded.
"Yes…we've decided the winner. Hei Ye wins the literary trial."
There was a stunned silence that drifted in the air for a few moments. Then the audience exploded.
"WHAT?!"