Ye Fan sat cross-legged and upright, unfolded a thick scroll of martial arts examination questions on his desk, and began to read the questions.
The first round of the literary test in the palace examination consists of five questions.
The imperial examination is divided into nine major categories of professional examination questions.
But in the palace examination, most of the supervisors chose questions from the martial arts department to answer.
The reason is very simple. When they reach the Wuhou stage, most people will choose to major in the martial arts department and not major in other departments, or at most minor in other departments. Moreover, the martial arts department is the first of the nine departments, and its scores rank in front of other departments.
These five examination questions are composed of one question for each of the five examiners. Each question is worth one hundred points, and the total score for the literary test is five hundred. The three-hour time limit is enough for most Wuhou supervisors.
Ye Fan glanced at the five test questions, and after feeling confident, he began to think deeply.
The more than a year and a half since he entered the Imperial College was not in vain. Adding up the three years he spent in the Star Tower, he became the Marquis of Wu for a total of four and a half years.
Over the past few years, he has spent almost two hours every day reading the ancient divine book of Shang.
It may not take longer than other Wuhou.
But many precious things recorded by Shang cannot be seen at all elsewhere.
In terms of depth of experience and breadth of knowledge, he has far surpassed all the Wuhou supervisors in Canglan Imperial Academy.
…
Chongwen Pavilion, inside the main hall.
The five examiners looked at the supervisors in the hall who were answering their papers. Most of them looked a little worried.
No one is optimistic about Ye Fan's literary test results.
In comparison, I am more optimistic about Rui Zifan.
Rui Liangzhi, the former Minister of War, once ranked first in the palace examination and was a well-known genius Wuhou in the royal city. He was extremely talented. And Rui Zifan received careful guidance from Rui Shangshu since he was a child, and he was even better than his master. During his martial arts period, he once won the first place in the four departments of the Royal City's martial arts academy, and he was very famous in the Royal City early on. In the years since I entered the Imperial College, I have calmed down even more. I have been practicing quietly for seven or eight years, and my strength has become quite profound.
Ye Fan was born in the small town of Luyang Prefecture in Donglai County. He did not have outstanding elders in his family to teach him carefully. The Luyang Martial Arts Academy was not well-known and lacked the guidance of famous teachers. This innate condition was far behind Rui Zifan.
In addition, the Rui family has deep roots in the royal city and strong financial resources, so they have invested a lot of cultivation materials in Rui Zifan.
Ye Fan obviously does not have the full support of his family.
A simple comparison will make it clear that even if the two have the same innate qualifications and excellent talents, but the differences in acquired conditions are too great, Rui Zifan's strength can still be countless times better than Ye Fan's.
At least half of the five examiners were very worried.
Prime Minister Liu Guoliang is a close confidant of the monarch, so he naturally understands the monarch's thoughts well.
Moreover, the monarch appointed him as the chief examiner, apparently with the intention of secretly helping Ye Fan.
Cao Hao is the dean of Donglai County, and he must know Ye Fan, a Marquis of Wu from Donglai County, very well. But he and the monarch had a quarrel, and it was logically impossible for him to become the top five examiners. However, in order to secretly help Ye Fan, the monarch also appointed Cao Hao as one of the five chief examiners in the first round of the palace examination.
As for Ye Fan's boss, Ling Hong, the great minister of Tingwei, also had a deep understanding of Ye Fan's performance in the royal city during the past month.
These five examiners seemed to have a neutral stance, but at least three of them secretly asked questions that were tilted towards Ye Fan.
There are two remaining examiners, Niu Shaojun and Bian Hengyi. Niu Shaojun has an upright temperament and will definitely not secretly help other prison students. Since King Bian Herongwu had personally suppressed the rebellion in the Jinluan Palace, Clan Chief Bian would not side with Rui Zifan.
The monarch made such arrangements so that Ye Fan could get as high a score as possible in the first round of the palace examination.
If Ye Fan fails in the first round of the literary test, it will be difficult later.
If the monarch forcibly improves Ye Fan's ranking in the second round of the palace examination, it will undoubtedly cause great damage to Ye Fan's reputation.
But if Ye Fan is not promoted to the top three, then it will be difficult for Ye Fan to become an important minister of the Canglan court.
This is undoubtedly a situation that the monarch does not want to see, and neither do Liu Guoliang, Cao Hao, Ling Hong and other examiners.
…
Outside the main hall of Chongwen Pavilion.
Almost all the aristocratic families and wealthy dignitaries in the royal city sent their young men to the Imperial Academy to see with their own eyes the most important imperial examination of the Canglan Kingdom. There are countless monks in the martial arts realm.
Ye Fan, Rui Zifan and others who participated in the big exam this time have extremely high prestige in the royal city and naturally affect many people's hearts.
"In the first round of the literary test, Rui Zifan must be ranked number one!"
"It goes without saying! Although Rui Shangshu participated in the rebellion, there is no denying his talent. Rui Zifan has the best foundation and the most profound knowledge among the supervisors of this generation, far surpassing other Wuhou supervisors."
"It's hard to say for the second round of the palace examination, but for the first round of this palace examination, it must be Rui Zifan."
Everyone was talking about it.
…
In the main hall of Chongwen Pavilion.
The palace examination is still in progress.
Many of Wuhou's supervisors frowned when they looked at the five examination questions on the file, and even gritted their teeth with hatred, secretly cursing the examiner for making the questions too difficult.
Many supervisors have pondered for a long time but have been unable to write.
The Wuhou-level palace examination is far more difficult than any previous examination, and it is not simply a test of memory and knowledge. It was Wu Houqi's cultivation theory and the advanced application of various combat techniques.
"The first round of the Canglan Palace Examination, the first question of the Martial Arts Literature Examination: Write down the strange martial arts you know (including their characteristics and at least five combat skills they can display, otherwise the writing will be invalid), what you wrote The more exotic martial souls, the better. The full score for this question is one hundred points. The answer of the proctor in this examination room who has the greatest number of answers will be the standard for full marks. Points will be reduced based on the number."
"Damn it, who asked this question? It's so wicked!"
When all the supervisors in the hall saw the first question of the literary test, they were so angry that they almost bled, and they were cursing loudly in their hearts.
Martial spirits are divided into normal martial spirits and abnormal martial spirits. The eight most common natural martial spirits of the human race, as well as the beast clan martial spirits, ghost clan martial spirits, spirit clan martial spirits, etc., are all normal martial spirits.
Alien martial souls are abnormal martial souls, which means extremely rare martial souls.
When the martial princes practice in their daily life, of course they focus on the common martial spirits of the four major clans: humans, beasts, spirits, and ghosts, so that they can fight well in the future.
If the school had a normal martial arts test, it is estimated that most of the supervisors would be able to write a lot. It is not too difficult for Wuhou Jiansheng, who has an excellent memory.
But who has nothing to do to study strange martial arts spirits that he may never come across in his entire life? And the more you write, the better!
However, this test question will test how much they know about exotic martial spirits, including their characteristics and combat skills.
And the most annoying thing is that even the judging scores are floating. There is no requirement to write down a fixed number, but the candidate with the highest number of different martial arts answers in the examination room is used as the criterion for a perfect score.
If someone in the examination room writes up to twenty different martial souls, the full score will be twenty. Candidates who write ten different martial souls can get fifty points.
If someone writes fifty, the full score becomes fifty. Candidates who wrote ten different martial souls could only get a meager 20 points, and their scores dropped drastically.
The supervisors couldn't help but have a headache, and they were trying hard to collect the memories of the exotic martial spirits in their minds, and try to write down as many exotic martial spirits as possible, as well as their characteristics and combat skills.
However, no matter how hard they try, their understanding of the exotic martial souls is still pitiful and they have almost no impression.
Being able to write ten different martial souls is already very good.
The only prayer in their hearts is that others do less, so as not to lower their scores too low. Otherwise, just this question alone can increase the score hugely.
…
When the five examiners saw the faces of the supervisors in the hall, they couldn't help but smile at each other and whisper in low voices.
"Liu Cheng, is the test question you asked about the strange martial soul too difficult?"
"Hey, this is nothing. We were tortured to death by the five examiners during the imperial examination! Ling Daqing, the test questions you asked were not easy!"
"Haha, each other! I was finally appointed by the monarch as one of the examiners for the first round of the palace examination. Of course, I have to come up with some high-level examination questions to let them know that there are people outside the world. Otherwise, they will not raise their tails! "
…
Ye Fan pondered for a while, then picked up his pen and began to answer the test questions. He didn't answer the questions very quickly, but he wasn't slow either. He started writing the answers almost without thinking.
It took him about an hour to answer the five questions in the literary test. However, he was not in a hurry to hand in the papers and continued to close his eyes and meditate in the hall so as not to disturb other supervisors' answers.
"snort!"
Rui Zifan sneered, writing as fast as he could.
Although the test questions are difficult, the difficulty depends on the person. It might be hard for others to be stunned, but for him it was nothing.
"Five examiners, I have finished my answers, please take a look!"
In an hour, Rui Zifan finished answering all five questions, closed the file, and handed it to the five examiners at the front of the hall, becoming the first supervisor to submit the paper in the Chongwen Pavilion literary examination.
The supervisors were immersed in answering the questions when they suddenly saw Rui Zifan standing up and handing in the paper. They couldn't help but be stunned, extremely shocked and stunned.
It has only been less than an hour, and you have finished the answer so quickly?
They have just figured out two or three questions and are still racking their brains to think of the answers.
Even the best among the Imperial Academy students, Qin Ning, Ling Qingshan and others, have only just finished answering three questions.
"Have you answered all five questions? No need to think about it any more. Could you please add some more?"
"Yes, if you think about it more! Maybe you can come up with more!"
The five examiners were also surprised. They knew very well the difficulty of the questions they asked. Moreover, there is no standard answer to the questions in this imperial examination. The more answers, the higher the score.
The first round of the imperial examination lasted for three hours, and it was just less than an hour. We have plenty of time, so of course it's better to think more about it.
"No need! I have always thought clearly and have a photographic memory, and my memory has never made any mistakes! I have answered everything that can be answered. It is a waste of time to spend time in this hall if I cannot answer it. I will wait outside the hall for five days. An examiner will judge the paper."
Rui Zifan turned around and glanced at the supervisors in the hall, then fell on Ye Fan with a slight sneer.
After saying that, he cupped his hands and turned around and left Chongwen Pavilion.
He just wants to use this undisputed method to let everyone know who is the most powerful Wuhou Supervisor in this Canglan Palace Examination.
This made Ye Fan even more humiliated when the monarch forced him to be promoted to the leader of the palace examination in the second round of the palace examination. He was despised and cast aside by the entire Canglan Kingdom, and became a villain to please the monarch.
So what if you have the support of the monarch! You can't stop the mouths of the world!
Outside the main hall, the Imperial College was crowded with people. When they saw Rui Zifan being the first to walk out of the Chongwen Pavilion examination room, there was an uproar.
"I finished the first round of the literary test in one hour! The first one to walk out of Chongwen Pavilion is worthy of being the most outstanding genius among the Imperial Academy of our Canglan City!"
"He has always been so talented, and he is the best in the royal city. Who doesn't know about it in Canglan Royal City!"
"In the first round of the imperial examination, Rui Zifan will definitely get the first place in the total score!"