Who Let Him Cultivate?!
Chapter 1136 - 1135: Does Ancestral Blessing Work Wonders?

"I suppose so…" Emperor Xia hesitated before nodding.

He had come up with the questions himself to prevent the examiners from leaking them.

The problem was that he hadn't considered that he would have to answer the questions himself.

However, he had become the Emperor through true merit; his cultural level among the emperors of Great Xia was exceptionally high, so he was definitely capable of answering the questions.

"Then stop dawdling and write!" Jiang Pingan glared. "Out of us three, you're the only one with any education. What are you waiting for, me to write it for you?"

Fairy Eternity felt her governance philosophies were quite sound.

As the ruler of a country, why should she know everything? She was responsible for setting policies and directing the overall strategy—like defeating Miss Yun, for example.

As for the trivial matter of the Imperial Examination, that was for her subordinates to handle.

"Oh right, you must copy the handwriting from this."

Fairy Eternity pulled out notes that Man Gu had made and instructed Emperor Xia to imitate them. She was meticulous and left no loopholes.

Man Gu might look rough and hulking, like he could eat three Emperor Xias in one sitting, but as a Confucian Cultivator, his handwriting was actually quite beautiful—neat with a grand and powerful aura.

Emperor Xia: "..."

Facing his ancestor and immediate superior, Emperor Xia had no choice but to put aside the memorial and start answering questions on Man Gu's behalf.

When he had come up with the questions, Emperor Xia had a rough idea about them and only needed a bit of thought to smoothly write out the answers.

Jiang Pingan and Fairy Eternity were waiting for the answers while casually chatting on the side.

Jiang Pingan slapped his thigh, agreeing wholeheartedly with Fairy Eternity, "I told you, 'the esteemed of ninety-five' refers to Immortal Jiuchong inventing the game of Five-in-a-Row. The officials of Great Yu are uneducated. They stubbornly argued with me, claiming that it referred to the Emperor, causing me to fail even the county examination."

He felt as though a wrong had been righted. See, as an Ancient Immortal, one simply knew more.

"I've always thought that the Five Immortals of Ancient Times symbolize the heavens and the earth on a chessboard. Forming a line with five pieces signifies victory, representing that when the Five Immortals unite, they can conquer any obstacle!"

"Tsk, no one believed me back then. They even accused me of being uneducated, of being jealous of the virtuous."

Jiang Pingan thought the state of affairs at the end of the Great Yu period was deplorable, forcing a scholar like him to become the founding Emperor.

Emperor Xia listened to their conversation while writing. He thought to himself, if you, ancestor, believe you're educated, why don't you come answer the questions? Do you even understand them?

"Are you badmouthing me, boy?" Jiang Pingan looked suspiciously at Emperor Xia.

"How could I dare to?" Emperor Xia replied with a placating smile and handed the completed examination to Jiang Pingan, "Please review it, great ancestor."

Jiang Pingan glanced at the paper and, not understanding what Emperor Xia had written, patted the saintly grandson's shoulder, "Hey, what are you looking at? I trust you!"

Jiang Pingan passed the paper to Fairy Eternity, "Daoist Immortal, does this mean I've passed the exam?"

Fairy Eternity didn't understand what Emperor Xia had written either. His level was far below that of Little Yang—had Little Yang been here, she certainly would have understood.

But she couldn't show weakness and had to pretend that Emperor Xia had written excellently.

"Of course, you are now the Imperial College Sacrificial Officer of the Great Bean Dynasty!"

Jiang Pingan's eyes lit up with joy. The Imperial College Sacrificial Officer was a high-ranking official of the most prestigious educational institution, a position that could only be held by the truly gifted.

Although he could have claimed the title himself in Great Xia, nothing compared to being acknowledged by the chief of the Five Ancient Immortals.

"Daoist Immortal, let's chat more some other time."

Knowing Fairy Eternity was busy, Jiang Pingan didn't try to detain her.

When Fairy Eternity returned to the Imperial Examination Hall with the perfect score paper, Lu Yang and Man Gu were still busy with their Tribulation. Man Gu was disheveled from the Thunder Tribulation but still alive and vigorous, able to continue resisting.

She put down the examination paper and slipped back into Lu Yang's Spiritual Space.

"Fairy, where did you run off to?" Lu Yang was puzzled. The Fairy had been gone for nearly half a day, and the lack of chatter in the Spiritual Space was oddly unsettling.

"Fairy Eternity was of course looking out for Junior Brother Man while also paying a visit to Jiang Pingan. Let me tell you, Jiang Pingan's level of education is not low. He's on par with me, so I appointed him as the Imperial College Sacrificial Officer," Fairy Eternity gestured flamboyantly. Even without Little Yang's help, she felt like she was already quite remarkable at appointing officials on her own.

She looked at Lu Yang expectantly.

Lu Yang: "..."

What do you want me to say, Fairy? I think this Great Bean Dynasty is doomed sooner or later.

Fortunately, he still belonged to Eldest Senior Sister. If the Great Bean Dynasty fell, he could still take Fairy Eternity and seek refuge with Eldest Senior Sister.

"Fairy is really awesome!" Lu Yang understood Fairy Eternity's expression and gave a heartfelt thumbs-up.

"That's for sure. Who do you think I am?"

Fairy Eternity's face beamed with delight.

Although she could praise herself, it wasn't as genuine as being praised by a great loyalist like Little Yang.

Lu Yang faced the Thunder Tribulation in the Imperial City for three days, making quite a scene.

Of course, the main reason was to help Man Gu's body become tempered by the heavenly thunder. The longer the body tempering, the better the effect, and making a scene was something he had to do.

"Junior Brother Man, I'm leaving first. Oh, he passed out."

Lu Yang noticed his power dissipating, which meant that even with Man Gu's summoning spell, this clone could only be sustained for three days.

It was time to leave.

Before leaving, Lu Yang calculated the time for the Heavenly Tribulation to disperse and, like a giant towering into the sky, he pointed at the tribulation clouds and issued a word with an arrogant and unruly tone.

"Disperse!"

The word 'disperse' spread throughout the entire Imperial City, deafeningly loud. The tribulation clouds were affected by this force, turning from black to white, and the Heavenly Tribulation vanished.

Man Gu was struck unconscious by the heavenly thunder, and divine rain descended, healing his wounds. After Lu Yang and Fairy Eternity left, he woke up in a daze, looking at the fully written exam paper in confusion.

"Do I still have a habit of sleepwalking?"

"Your Majesty, this is the top scorer of this Imperial Examination." The chief examiner presented Emperor Xia with a clean and tidy exam paper.

Emperor Xia saw that it was the exact one he had written and felt great.

His abilities had not declined after all.

"Minister Chu, what do you think of how this exam paper is answered?"

The chief examiner replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, this candidate has average ability, with obscure reasoning and vague explanations that are incomprehensible. His becoming top scorer is just a matter of luck."

Click—

Emperor Xia's veins bulged as he quietly snapped the writing brush, asking with a smile that did not reach his eyes, "Luck?"

"Because during this top scorer examination, we encountered a Pass Tribulation, resulting in only this candidate completing all the questions, while the other candidates had only blank papers, which were not included in the scoring."

"In such a case, even if this candidate's answers were a complete mess, he would still receive some marks for completing the paper, allowing him to become the top scorer."

Emperor Xia maintained a subtle smile, not letting anyone catch on.

"Is that so? Well, I find this exam paper to be well answered and quite pleasing to me."

"Let's do this. This candidate will be the top scholar of this Imperial Examination. I will set a new set of questions, and the other candidates can retake the examination in three days."

...

"Ah? I'm the top scholar?"

Man Gu learned of his rank as the top scholar while he was reminiscing about the taste of his hometown at a barbecue shop.

"Are the blessings from the ancestors that effective?"