On the exam hall, could there actually be a ghostly shadow coming to cloud the students' eyes?

Chen Xu sat in the examination hall, and in an instant, a term popped into his mind: Bookworm!

Feng Yuanbai had once told him, "In some examination halls, if a student died there before, it's possible for a Bookworm to appear.

The Heaven-Equalizing Bell cannot suppress it, as Bookworm is neither human nor ghost, but an amalgamation of generations of students' obsessive intentions.

But even if you encounter this thing, don't panic.

This proves you are performing well since Bookworm only afflicts the best-performing student in the examination hall."

Chen Xu was used to hearing strange tales and wasn't surprised at the time. He simply asked, "Then if I encounter a Bookworm, what should I do?"

"Answer the paper." Feng Yuanbai replied, "Only by gathering your spirits and breaking through the dark haze with supreme will, writing the best essay, will the Bookworm naturally dissipate.

When the Bookworm dissipates, it will cause the Heaven-Equalizing Bell to ring loudly.

At that time, your paper doesn't need to be judged and can directly be named the top scholar's paper."

Feng Yuanbai laughed then, "After all, this is the choice of generations of determined students, who can say it's not the first?"

"And if you can't break through?"

"If you can't break through, you'll partially submit a blank paper, and then you're considered unfortunate. This exam definitely won't be passed.

Because the appearance of Bookworm is both a crisis and an opportunity, if you only want the benefits without facing the risks, how could it be possible?"

Feng Yuanbai sighed deeply, meaningfully, "Judging papers sometimes can be favorable or unfavorable.

But if the Bookworm rings the Heaven-Equalizing Bell, then it's certain to take the first place.

Xu, do you wish to encounter this Bookworm or not?"

Chen Xu did not answer Feng Yuanbai's question back then, because sometimes until you encounter something, you might not even know what the answer is yourself.

And now the Bookworm appeared vividly in front of Chen Xu, covering his eyes. After a fleeting emotional ripple, he immediately calmed down.

He gathered his spirit and thoughts, recalling Feng Yuanbai's advice to rely on supreme will to break through the haze before him—

But how should supreme will manifest?

As Chen Xu pondered, he suddenly felt something vibrant approaching his dusky sight.

His ear faintly echoed with several hazy voices.

An old tone was crying, "Forty years, oh, I've been trying for forty years and still not passed! Half a life wasted here, my wife and children all gone, what am I still trying for?

What good is it even if I pass?

Am I...have I been wrong?"

A young man's voice shouted in anger, "I'm unwilling! I'm unwilling...

How can I not take the exam? If I don't take it, how can my mother and I, as lonely ones, withstand those beasts?

They seize my lands, steal my assets, trample me into the dirt.

I can only take the exam, I must keep trying.

Cough...let me take it, I haven't cheated, I haven't cheated!"

A middle-aged voice, seeming a bit tipsy, chuckled, "Today is red plum, tomorrow I'll dream with the willow. One, two, three, four, five, all prettier than my wife.

Oh wife, I've let you down.

Can't take the exam anymore, don't urge me again, I'd rather be a loser..."

There were also voices of young men, women, and old women, various and bizarre.

Ghostly shadows layered thickly, seeming to surround Chen Xu from all sides.

They blindfold his eyes, tug his arms, like mountains pressing on him.

Even with a pen in hand, how could he open his eyes, break through the confusion, to face the exam paper before him now?

At this moment, daylight had just brightened.

At the very front of the exam hall, the Prefect Ding Qian suddenly opened his slightly closed eyes.

Ding Qian had not slept the entire night, sitting on that chair.

Entering this examination hall, he, as the main examiner, was more vigilant than anyone.

But there are times when he is powerless, for instance, facing these two vice examiners dispatched from above.

One is a sixth-ranked official from the Ministry of Rites, Luo Cong, the other is surprisingly a eunuch from the palace, given the title of Inspector, Shi Wentao.

What an Inspector.

Ding Qian had been an official for many years, and only now realized that palace eunuchs, apart from being dispatched to supervise military, can actually supervise exams too!

Luo Cong is a normal person, always diligently performing his duty as vice examiner, let's not mention him.

Shi Wentao, however, is extremely bothersome, constantly flaunting his scholarly airs from the palace, making anyone unfamiliar think he's some living Great Scholar.

Just the thought of judging papers together with this eunuch made Ding Qian find everything unpleasant.

What vexes him more is, an eunuch judging papers, this is definitely not a good omen.

Your Majesty has muddled to the extent of employing eunuchs to meddle in the imperial examinations, who knows what even more ludicrous thing might happen next?

Fretful inside yet with no one to tell, Ding Qian could only sit silently on the main examiner seat, enduring bitterly.

Suddenly, he noticed something unusual.

Over at the seventh row of the second section, an anomalous energy seemed to be surging.

Ding Qian widened his eyes, suddenly realizing something, instantaneously filled with joy.

It's Bookworm!

Unexpectedly, someone summoned the Bookworm in the exam hall.

Who could it be?

Ding Qian resisted standing up to inspect, seeing the two people beside him seemed completely unaware, he steadied his nerves and patiently waited.

The person who summoned the Bookworm, can they break through the confusion?

Suffering suddenly arose in Ding Qian's heart.

—Alas!

A voice seemed to be sighing in his heart, "Ding spent half his life studying, and never had a moment as stretched and lengthy as now..."

Meanwhile, another person was also suffering.

No, it should be said many people are.

After all, wherever there are exams, there will always be those worried about results.

But some are more typical, such as Cui Yunqi.

Now that celestial light is bright, groups of people passed back and forth outside the Imperial Examination Hall, many waiting.

Cui Yunqi was not on the street, he waited with servants in a teahouse across diagonally from the examination hall.

On the second floor by the window, he could observe the examination hall's movements anytime.

Cui Yunqi wouldn't tell anyone, he couldn't fall asleep by midnight, wanting to rush to the examination hall and see if when the third session poem was announced, a wisp of Cyan Smoke would rise.

If there's Cyan Smoke, it must be Chen Xu composing a poem!

If he could compose another Cyan Smoke Poem, although Chen Xu might not be the top scholar, it would likely be close.

Chen Xu's Ink Meaning Scripture, there shouldn't be any problem, right?

The prefecture exam is very simple—

Cui Yunqi was the top scholar in the prefecture exam two years ago.

He sat by the window on the second floor of the teahouse, eyes intensely focused on the examination hall.

Inside, numerous voices still whispered and shouted around Chen Xu.

"What's the use of exams? What's the use of studying? Studying for half a lifetime may still lead to nothing..."

"Come back, I don't want you earning fame anymore, I won't push you anymore, mother doesn't want you to die, oh my son! Boohoo..."

"Just a mere prefecture exam, and what then? After the prefecture exam is the academy exam; after the academy exam is the regional exam, national exam, palace exam...

Exam after exam, endless, when does it end?"

"So terrifying, look, what's that? It's going to swallow him...ah!"

In the dark haze, limitless shadows pressed him down, like a giant voracious mouth in the void, ready to engulf Chen Xu whole.

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