Chapter 2: The Ranking Ceremony, Martial Dao Ninth Rank
Xu Yongsheng opened his eyes but did not get up.
In the darkness, he lay still on his back, staring at the roof.
Similar events had been ongoing for many days.
Diting.
In the storybooks Xu Yongsheng read on Blue Star, Diting was the Spirit Beast of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, capable of discerning all things in the world, hearing people's thoughts, and perceiving all hidden secrets.
He did not know the origin of this illusory book and the diting diagram.
Current observations indicated he could not communicate with Diting. It would leave precisely at midnight every night, vanishing upon exiting the room, making it impossible to track. Its return time was uncertain, but never later than before sunrise.
Each time, it brought back a piece of news, as if it were Diting's observations from its travels.
Over the years, the information accumulated was vast and varied, mostly trivial matters and everyday gossip, often making Xu Yongsheng laugh and cry.
But sifting through the sand, there were also precious tidbits that made his eyes light up:
【Light qianyun ink, practice Mingde Blade while bathed in its smoke, and rapidly accumulate the scholar's Body Qi.】
【Method for preparing qianyun ink: mix pine soot with iron frost, then mix with white barley husk.】
【Method for preparing iron frost: the residue obtained from refining Qingliu iron is sealed with the urine of five livestock in red clay and heated. After one night, remove it, peel off the clay shell, and white frost can be scraped from the iron residue, which is iron frost.】
The three messages were not obtained on three consecutive days; the intervals between them varied.
Mingde Blade was a uniform blade technique taught in the Academy Outer Courtyard, capable of cultivating both Confucian Body Qi and Martial Artist's Blood Qi, used for foundational cultivation and preliminary assessment for specialization.
qianyun ink could assist Mingde Blade in cultivating Confucian Body Qi, but it was highly sought after by literati and poets, making it extremely expensive, with one tael of gold barely able to buy one tael of ink.
Xu Yongsheng, using the method provided by the diting diagram, successfully produced qianyun ink and rapidly accumulated Confucian Body Qi, thereby qualifying for this "early admission" Ranking Ceremony.
This also meant he had verified the accuracy of the diting diagram's messages repeatedly.
The entire process took considerable effort, but the cost was much cheaper than directly purchasing qianyun ink.
Unfortunately, the businesses selling qianyun ink had deep backgrounds; otherwise, even if it offered no benefit to cultivation, this could have been a way to generate wealth.
Regarding the mysterious book and the diting diagram, Xu Yongsheng currently had no intention of acting rashly. He only focused on his own cultivation and improving his environment and conditions.
His trip to the North Market this morning to buy red silver was also due to an earlier message from the diting diagram.
Tonight, the illusory Diting returned near dawn.
A halo of light in Xu Yongsheng's body condensed into a book. The first page opened, and Diting reverted to a drawing.
Next to the drawing, a large section of text and an accompanying diagram had been newly added, revealing a unique martial art.
“Gale Fast Blade… a unique art of the Martial Artist path.” Xu Yongsheng nodded slightly.
The value of the messages brought back by Diting varied greatly.
Aside from important messages like qianyun ink and Gale Fast Blade, one night it even brought back a Breakthrough method for a Martial Artist to go from unranked to Ninth Rank.
Unfortunately, this method carried extremely high risks of Qi Deviation and severe after-effects.
Not to mention it was inferior to the Confucian sacrificial rituals taught in the Academy Outer Courtyard, even the Breakthrough methods reserved by the Academy for the Martial Artist path were safer than the one Diting brought back.
Xu Yongsheng's attempts to communicate with Diting and the book were unsuccessful, so he couldn't convey his requests to Diting, nor could he control what messages Diting brought back.
Given this, it was naturally better to strive for further studies at the Academy.
The qianyun ink and other Spirit Beasts prepared with Diting's help could provide auxiliary support.
Another day passed, and the Spring Festival, the twenty-second day of the second month, arrived.
This temporary, special "early admission" examination was held on this day.
Several others, like Xu Yongsheng, were also present.
Scanning them, Zheng, Xu, Cao, Chen, Cai, Deng… all were scions of prominent River Luo Families.
However, those young people were more surprised at this moment.
How was this usually inconspicuous young blacksmith also here?
Today was a ranking ceremony specifically for Confucian Martial Artists.
Even if he had accumulated sufficient Martial Artist's Blood Qi, it had nothing to do with today's event.
But if this young blacksmith had also achieved something in cultivating Qi… how did he do it?
One person blurted out, “A golden pheasant flew out of a chicken coop, how rare!”
Xu Yongsheng remained calm.
Earlier, he had discovered that among the students of Dongdu Academy, those from prominent noble Families and meritorious aristocratic backgrounds seemed to have more Martial Dao Geniuses, while people from urban households like him, or even commoners, were mostly of mediocre talent, with few outstanding individuals.
Even more, the scions of aristocratic Families who entered the Academy to study martial arts were mostly not the most outstanding among their peers in the Family.
The core scions groomed as Family successors were often educated separately within the Family, with resources poured into them, and their talent and potential were even greater than that of Academy students.
It was as if Dragons begot Dragons, Phoenixes begot Phoenixes, and rat's sons only knew how to dig holes.
Until one night, Diting brought back this message:
【Prominent Families gather literary pulse to condense the spiritual essence of the four directions, blessing their descendants, producing a continuous stream of talented individuals. Outside their gates, the spiritual essence gradually diminishes, making it difficult to nurture outstanding people.】
Although he didn't yet understand the details, after reading this message, Xu Yongsheng knew how scions of prominent Families produced so many Geniuses and outstanding individuals.
Damming a river to fill an inner lake naturally caused the surrounding ditches to dry up. No wonder the probability of commoners, despite their large population, producing talented individuals was extremely low.
Of course, on another note, there were those even above these prominent Families.
Qian Emperor was the strongest person in the current era.
The Imperial Family was the number one Family in this Great Qian, with resources beyond ordinary imagination…
Let's proceed step by step, focusing on the path ahead, starting with passing today's "Palace" examination… Xu Yongsheng's face remained unperturbed as he watched today's examiners approach their group of students.
The leader was a young scholar who appeared to be around thirty years old, named Wang Chan.
He was the Academy lecturer who had inspected Xu Yongsheng's four treasures of the study two days prior and approved his participation in today's Ranking Ceremony.
The other lecturers beside him, though already informed before coming, still curiously observed Xu Yongsheng.
As a city dweller from a commoner background, it was generally difficult to gain direct admission to the Academy; most were accommodated by prefectural or County Academies.
Xu Yongsheng's admission back then had involved some luck.
But now, seeing him cultivate Mingde Blade to accumulate Confucian Body Qi and reach the ranking standard so quickly, his talent and spiritual sensitivity seemed far from ordinary?
This was indeed rare among students from commoner backgrounds… The lecturers first exchanged glances, then all looked at Wang Chan, who stood at the head.
After calmly announcing all the procedural points, Wang Chan declared, “The Enlightenment Ranking Ceremony begins.”
Xu Yongsheng and the others responded in unison, then changed their clothes and entered the Mingde Pool in the courtyard.
The pool contained a cleansing bath concocted from mugwort, cypress leaves, realgar, and other ingredients.
After bathing and changing, Xu Yongsheng and his group followed Wang Chan and the other lecturers to pay respects to the sacred position and enter the Outer Courtyard's Literary Palace.
The second step after paying respects to the sacred position was to take their seats. Everyone had to use the four treasures of the study, refined with their own Body Qi, to draw the Gentleman's Nine Contemplations Diagram.
The so-called Nine Contemplations are: seeing, think clearly; listening, think acutely; demeanor, think warmly; appearance, think respectfully; words, think faithfully; actions, think reverently; doubt, think to question; anger, think of consequences; gain, think of righteousness.
Xu Yongsheng drew at a moderate pace, finishing and waiting for the others.
Once everyone had completed their drawings, Wang Chan stepped forward with a ruler.
Xu Yongsheng extended his hand, and the ruler tapped his palm three times, neither too lightly nor too heavily. Then, he and the other students lined up and presented their respective Gentleman's Nine Contemplations Diagrams to be burned in the bronze censer.
The other lecturers, in turn, hung one of each of the five constant virtues bells—Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Wisdom, and Trust—on the eaves of the Literary Palace.
Finally, Xu Yongsheng and the others offered incense in sequence, then paid homage to the ancient sages.
At this point, the ceremony was complete.
At this moment, Xu Yongsheng suddenly felt a vast, flowing sensation of Body Qi within him, surging through his body.
From the top of his head downwards, a single stream flowed through, and three positions—his glabella, chest, and the center of his lumbar spine—each formed an illusory pavilion, currently all at the first floor.
Heaven Pavilion at the glabella.
Human Pavilion at the chest.
Earth Pavilion at the lumbar spine.
This was known as the Martial Dao Confucian Three Talents Pavilion.
As soon as the Three Talents Pavilion formed, Xu Yongsheng immediately felt a comprehensive and significant improvement in his strength, reaction speed, endurance, vitality, and even observational skills compared to before!
Martial Dao Confucian Ninth Rank, achieved.