Choose the sky

Am I doing something wrong?

Like every morning for the past fourteen years, Chen Changsheng woke up at five o'clock, opened his eyes immediately, spent five breaths of meditation, turned over, put on his overshoes, made the bed and folded the quilt, and began to wash. In the front hall of the inn, I ate a bowl of duck congee and four hot steamed meat buns from the first cage. After returning to the guest room, I rinsed my mouth again with last night’s old tea, adjusted my clothes in front of the bronze mirror, and then walked to the small courtyard. ——Now he is not in the small temple in Xining Town, and he does not need to chop firewood and carry water. He closes his eyes and begins to meditate in front of the early morning mist and the distant sky light. When you feel refreshed, you have completed your homework. Walk from the side door to the gradually bustling streets of Kyoto, merge into the crowd very unremarkably, and start your day's life. He had a list in his hand with the names of several colleges in Kyoto, and after asking Fangshi steward for the address of the first college, he quickened his pace. He didn't notice that there was a carriage following him behind him, and he didn't notice that the horse had unicorn blood

Not to mention the somewhat concealed blood phoenix logo on the shaft. Countless years ago, the heavenly book came to the world, the wisdom of the people was opened, and countless schools of mathematics were developed, but all changes remained the same, and their origins were all included in Taoist classics, agriculture, business and science, and the criteria for judging these , now recognized as the most authoritative, is the Great Zhou Dynasty's annual Great Court Examination. The Great Court Examination was created by Emperor Taizu of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Whether you enter the court as an official, join the army as a general, or enter the state religion as a priest, the results of the Great Court Examination are the most important criteria. The most important thing is that the Emperor Taizu made a decree that only those who entered the top three in the Great Court Examination are eligible to enter the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books to view the Books of Heaven—because of this regulation, many powerful people in the world will come to Kyoto at the beginning of each year—the first time that year. During a grand imperial examination, Emperor Taizu stood on the city wall, watching the geniuses from various sects in the mainland rush in like crucian carp, smiled and said a very famous sentence, which established the status of the grand imperial examination. The southern countries, especially the Changshengzong and other sects outside the world, are naturally extremely dissatisfied with this rule. In their view, although the Mausoleum of the Book of Heaven is located in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Book of Heaven is a divine stone descended into the world, and of course it is the common wealth of the whole continent. For this reason, the South has boycotted the Great Court Test several times, and the relationship between the two sides has become extremely tense. It's just that the Tianshu Mausoleum is too important to practitioners. Although the Great Zhou Dynasty is strong, it has no way to risk the world's disgrace and monopolize it. The southern forces have no way to resist the temptation to enter the Tianshu Mausoleum to view the stele. Even after the demons are repelled During the years when the two sides drifted apart, the South publicly resisted, and there were still many powerful southern sects who participated in the Great Court Examination in their own names. After the supreme sage came to power, the Great Zhou Dynasty finally reached an agreement with the southern powers. The sects of the southern countries can send missions to participate in the Great Zhou Dynasty's Great Court Examination. The officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty were rewarded with honors, while the rest were treated equally. Furthermore, the Dachao Trial had a brand new name in this new agreement. For countless years, the Great Court Examination has selected countless strong men. It is said that the most powerful men on the mainland have all had the experience of coming to the capital of the Zhou Dynasty to participate in the Great Court Examination. The more well-known fact is: the contemporary state religion Pope, the Southern Saint The elders of Nvfeng used to be the best in the imperial examination, not to mention some geniuses of the Western Monster Race once incarnated as humans to participate in the imperial examination. The acting Pope saw through Xingzang, and directly suppressed it into green smoke with great magic. That was a story many years ago. Now people are more concerned about next year's imperial examination, whether Qiushan Jun of the Changshengzong will participate, how many of the Seven Laws of the Divine Kingdom will be able to enter the first class, and whether Xu Yourong will make a breakthrough ahead of time, leave the Saintess Peak and return to Kyoto, who In the wilderness of the demons, will the powerful genius who is known for his coldness and mystery appear in front of the world for the first time, or will he continue to chase each other bloodily with the powerful demons? Apart from these, the people in Kyoto are most concerned about which talents will appear in the Kyoto Academy. Yes, there are many academies in Kyoto. The Holy Empress is in power, the government is strict, the officials are clear, and the people's lives are getting better. In the past few decades, Haiyan and Heqing have been called prosperous times. All kinds of academies have sprung up like mushrooms after the spring rain. Even a few years ago, there were many private academies specially aimed at the imperial examinations and secretly taught by the strong state religion. Of course, the most famous and powerful academies are the ones with the longest history, and two of them have a history even longer than that of the Great Zhou Dynasty. There were six academies on Chen Changsheng's list, and the Tiandao Academy he went to at this time ranked first. In fact, in the entire continent, Tiandaoyuan is qualified to be ranked in the top position - in the past two hundred years, the students of Tiandaoyuan have won the first place 24 times in the grand imperial examination. The students are all talented without exception. This academy has sent many important priests to the state religion, and has dedicated countless spiritual geniuses to various sects. The most important thing is that the contemporary pope of the state religion was once a student of this academy . Tiandaoyuan has the best score in the history of the Great Court Examination, and naturally it is also the most difficult to enter, but the number of applicants is still the largest. Chen Changsheng walked to the entrance of Tiandaoyuan, looked at the majestic and majestic black jade courtyard gate, and looked at the name of the courtyard inscribed by Emperor Taizu himself. Dispelled by the bustling environment of the courtyard like a vegetable market and the pungent smell of sweat and ink, he lowered his head subconsciously. When he left Xining, he had already calculated the time correctly. When he arrived in Kyoto, it was the spring enrollment date of the various colleges. He could also imagine that the number of applicants for the Tiandao Academy would inevitably be extremely large, but he did not expect that the number would be so terrifying. . Especially the group of young people at the gate of the courtyard who looked tired, stood crookedly, and pointed at the crowd, which made him a little uncomfortable. The clothes worn by those youths were similar in style, generally black, with a gold belt around their waists, which should be the uniforms of the Heavenly Dao Academy. Chen Changsheng knew that these people should be old-year students who failed the imperial examination at the beginning of the year.

Ping, for the freshmen who came to apply for the Tiandao Academy today, he would definitely not have a good face. Hearing those harsh words and seeing the mockery in the eyes of those young people, he lowered his head subconsciously. He bowed his head not because he was afraid of anything, but because he had some mild cleanliness, no matter physical or psychological, so he didn't want to smell the sweat smell from the crowd, and he didn't want to hear those words. "Look at that i***t, who looks like a pig, with a few pockmarks on his face, but still wants to stick a fan in his neck, thinking he is a moulting son? Don't even think about it, the thousand layers of meat on the girl's neck I almost broke my fan!" "That's right, seeing his sloppy footsteps, he has only just washed his marrow within two months at most, and he is afraid that his muscles and bones have not been beaten, yet he dares to apply for my Heavenly Dao Academy? He thinks Where are we here? Orthodox Academy? Haha... I don't understand what these idiots are thinking, do they think that they can understand Daozang with their weak and pitiful spiritual consciousness?" Don’t you dare to say this? You sympathize with that i***t for a while, but I sympathize with his parents. Humiliation for a while is the next best thing. The money spent before can’t be recovered. If I were that i***t Fatty’s parents, why don’t you use the money to go to the teaching altar to ask for some pills to eat, lose some fat, and at least marry a wife.” “So what if you marry a wife? Even Hanmei Dan will only take care of himself. Eight sons and daughters will be fat and stupid like him. Is it a good thing to raise a litter of pigs?" The students laughed and talked about the applicants without any scruples. Controlling the volume, maybe even deliberately trying to make the person being discussed listen, is extremely hateful. The fat boy who was being discussed was blushing, but he didn't dare to resist at all, because those students were telling the truth, he had just washed his marrow more than ten days ago, and it was basically impossible for him to be admitted to the Heavenly Dao Academy. The most important thing is that even if he is lucky enough to enter the academy, he cannot offend these seniors. Chen Changsheng walked through the crowd, listening to those obscenities, raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking that if he was the one being talked about, he wondered if he could hold back. Fortunately, he lowered his head, and his breath was too ordinary, so inconspicuous in the crowd, it was difficult to be noticed, so he was lucky to avoid being ridiculed, passed through the gate of Moyu courtyard smoothly, and left go in. Because he was thinking about these things and lowered his head, he didn't notice that there were two huge stone walls on both sides of the stone path leading to the entrance of Tiandaoyuan, with strange flowers and gods carved on them, and hundreds of names densely written in the middle , it seems to be some kind of list, many eyes fall on those names, with enthusiasm and admiration. The family servants who came with the freshmen who applied for the examination were not allowed to enter the Tiandao Temple, so the environment suddenly became quieter after entering the courtyard. Chen Changsheng took out a clean white handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped off the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, and exhaled, feeling a little more relaxed. Follow the student in front to the back of the long queue. There are a lot of people applying for the Tiandao Temple, and the queue is very long. It looks like the legendary Baizhang Qi snake in the Western Demon Realm. It extends from the distant building to the grassland, and even passes a clear stream in the middle. The freshmen who applied for the exam were all standing on the wooden bridge on the river, blown by the cold wind in early spring, their faces turned livid. Soon, some people came out of that building. They were all teenagers and girls. Their faces were as green as their companions on the bridge. They were very ugly. Since they were not frozen, it must be that the exam was not going well. The people who were still waiting in line saw their distraught appearance and suddenly became nervous, and they were no longer in the mood to chat. Chen Changsheng didn't know anyone, so naturally he didn't chat. He looked at the building in the distance, and seemed a little curious. He only cared about the entrance examination of Tiandaoyuan now, whether it was the same method as mentioned in the book, and why did those who failed pass so quickly? Lost? Or is it true that the exams at the Heavenly Dao Academy have changed? The crowd kept moving forward, crossing the grass and the river, before approaching the building, they came under a row of bamboo sheds. Looking at the stern-faced Tiandaoyuan teacher behind the stone table, and at the black volcanic block on the table, Chen Changsheng recognized what it was, and remembered an old year's pile he had seen in the Dao scroll. Litigation, slightly startled.Chen Changsheng successfully entered the official admissions examination of Star Reaching Academy. This time, instead of being greeted with banter or indifference in Tiandaoyuan, what awaited him was earnest expectations and gentle and persuasive eyes. For this reason, he felt very warm and determined, and he was in a very good state. The various academies in Kyoto have different emphases in recruiting students. Tiandao Academy focuses on the teachings of the national religion and talents in practice, while Zhaixing Academy doesn't pay too much attention to practice. The military of the Great Zhou always thought that practice was something that needed to be paid attention to after being admitted to the hospital. They cared more about the military accomplishment and discipline of those candidates. Therefore, the number of test questions in the Star Reaching Academy was not as large as that in the Heavenly Dao Academy, but they should deal with the format and even the writing method of the name. There are extremely strict requirements, and the content of the test questions basically focuses on battlefield simulation and case analysis. If Chen Changsheng had any talent, the tens of thousands of books he had memorized fluently since he was a child was his greatest talent. Just like the exam in Tiandao Academy, when he opened the exam paper, the first question he saw was very familiar. The Three Thousand Great Ways are all-encompassing. This sentence is not false at all. There are countless contents like star sand in the world. Naturally, it also includes the famous summary of the art of war and the famous battles in history. For the battle between humans and demons The war is described in an extremely detailed way. He remembered those, so he couldn't answer wrongly. Very smoothly, Chen Changsheng finished the exam, and the rest of his companions came to the military discipline building, waiting for the announcement of the final list. Standing in front of the sacred beast representing the strict military discipline of the Great Zhou army, he recalled the content of the test paper and confirmed that there should be no problem for him to be admitted to the Academy of Reaching the Stars. He relaxed a little, looked at the bitter-faced monster boy, and tiptoed kindly He patted the other party's shoulder to express his comfort - it was obvious that this young boy from the monster race who was gifted with supernatural power didn't know much about human warfare, so he did a bit badly in the exam. The setting sun was about to set, and the reddish light shone on the cold iron fence of the Divine Beast and the Junji Building, giving the environment a mysterious and mysterious feeling. Standing in the light and shadow, Chen Changsheng looked at the still empty stone wall and his immature face. Full of happy smiles and expectations for the future. However, he didn't know that he would still be greeted with bitter disappointment later on. ………… "Why?" The Dazhou military officer who presided over the initial examination of the millstone and another instructor with a serious expression stood in front of the desk and asked a middle-aged general behind the desk. His expression was livid, and it was obvious that he could hardly suppress the anger in his heart. The middle-aged general had no expression on his face, his brows were like black silkworms, and he was not angry but mighty. Hearing the subordinate's angry questioning, he frowned slightly and said, "Are you asking the superior?" One of them pointed to the sunset outside the building and said: "Although we were the only ones who saw that test paper, there are still many colleagues who pay attention to that candidate named Chen Changsheng. My attitude may be bad, but if my colleagues Knowing the ending, you will ask the same question." The middle-aged general said: "After all, he is just an ordinary boy who has not succeeded in washing his marrow, why do you value it so much?" The instructor stepped forward angrily, pointing at the person behind the case The test paper that was crumpled into waste paper said: "You have also read that test paper, and you should be very clear that in the past ten years, there has never been such a perfect test paper in the admissions examination, whether it is the answer standard or the combat example. Analysis, there are no loopholes, no typos, not even thicker strokes!

Yes, that kid may not be able to become a heroic and powerful general like you, but he can definitely become the best staff officer! "The middle-aged general said after a moment of silence: "This is an order from the palace, I don't need to explain it to you. "The instructor was startled when he heard the words, and it took a while to wake up, and said in a low voice: "But... I need to give the child an explanation. The middle-aged general raised his head, glanced at him, and said, "Then let him come over, and I'll explain to him." "...... Walking into the fortified pavilion, looking at the burning candles on the table, Chen Changsheng remained silent, his fists hanging by his sides were gradually clenched, his face was a little pale, he didn't know whether it was because of fatigue or anger, or It was a combination of both. When he saw that his name was still not on the stone wall, he was really angry, and he was countless times more angry than when he met the cold eyes and contempt yesterday in the God General's Mansion. He had great expectations, but all his expectations turned into disappointment the moment he saw the list, and the efforts he put in for it now seem like a joke. What is the reason for all this? An explanation is needed. The middle-aged general after the case said he was going to give him an explanation, and he wanted to know what it would be. "Sorry. The middle-aged general stood up and stared at him indifferently like a beast staring at a little white rabbit, but the words he said were sorry. . "My behavior may damage the reputation of the Star Reaching Academy, I'm sorry." " "You have talent and a future. You are just a child, but I have to temporarily suspend your future. I'm sorry." " "I can't tell you why, sorry." "But I think you will soon know why, so I hope you will give me a chance to correct my mistake." After hearing these words, Chen Changsheng was silent for a while, then turned and left....... At five o'clock in the morning the next day, Chen Changsheng woke up on time just like yesterday and every day for the past fourteen years, washed and dressed. After that, he left the inn and continued his study. He went to the other two colleges in the order on the list. What he encountered in Tiandao Academy and Zhaixing Academy naturally made him depressed, but He is the person who cherishes time the most in the world, he does not want to waste time in unnecessary anger and regret, he is only willing to use time in valuable places, this kind of performance sometimes gives people the feeling of perseverance. The encounter did not seem to have affected him in any way. He prepared carefully, took the exam carefully, and used the knowledge reserve and tenacity in his mind to successfully pass the entrance exams of the two colleges. Judging from the contents of the exam papers, he himself He thought he should be able to pass successfully—and then he failed the exam without any accidents. With the experience of the previous two times, Chen Changsheng was no longer so disappointed, or he was already numb. He knew very well that someone must be secretly targeting him. As for Who... the answer is also very clear. In the evening, he walked out of the fourth academy, and finally saw the carriage of the Divine General's Mansion for the first time, and saw the somewhat old but clear thrilling figure on the shaft. Of course, that was because the other party had parked the carriage in front of the courtyard specifically to let him see it. Looking at the carriage, Chen Changsheng knew that the answer was about to be revealed. Although he had already guessed the answer, he saw After all, the feeling of the test paper was a little different. The middle-aged woman got out of the car. "You are just a child... you have no right to let the Shenjiang Mansion do so many things. The middle-aged woman walked up to him and said with a blank expression: "But we still did so many things because we were worried that you would not have a clear understanding of the situation because you were too young, so we showed our strength very seriously." for you to see. You should be very clear by now, as long as we don't agree, you will never have a bright future in the Great Zhou Dynasty. "

Chen Changsheng remembered her. She was the first person he saw in the Divine General's Mansion. He saluted, then straightened up without saying a word. A strange look flashed in the eyes of the middle-aged woman. She never thought that even in such a situation, the boy could be so calm, and he didn't even forget to salute himself. Disturbing, but she had to get this done. "What we want, you know very well... If you agree, everything we have taken away from you can come back to you, Tiandao Academy, Star Picking Academy, Zongsi Temple... take your pick; want You can choose what you want to study; you can choose which gentleman you want to follow; after you finish your studies, whether you want to join the army, the state religion, or become an official in the court...all of them are up to you.” Middle-aged woman The man looked at him and said with a serious expression: "And if you disagree, the experience of the past two days will be a picture that keeps repeating in your life." Chen Changsheng remained silent and did not speak. The middle-aged woman said: "You are a smart person, so you should know how to choose." Chen Changsheng looked at her, and finally said the first sentence: "Brother wrote in his notes that smart people will not live happily. So it's rare to be confused." The middle-aged woman smiled and said, "But you are really obedient and smart, and you didn't tell anyone about the marriage contract... Otherwise, you would be dead now." Chen Changsheng finally confirmed it now In the past two days, Dong Yu Shen Jiang Mansion has been sending people to follow him. The middle-aged woman said: "Of course, don't get me wrong... I was just talking about a possibility earlier. The Holy Queen is above. The Divine General's Mansion has always obeyed the law and never bullied others. It is only willing to help others. You give something... what you were prepared to give, and we can help you get a lot." The thing that was ready to give was naturally the marriage certificate. Help you get a lot, but those are things that you can get. Chen Changsheng suddenly felt that compared with the bustling capital, the mountain forest full of beasts behind the old temple was so beautiful. He looked at the middle-aged woman, and suddenly said, "Mother-in-law, did I do something wrong?" The middle-aged woman was stunned, speechless for a moment. She has lived in the capital for more than a hundred years, watching the young lady marry into Xu's mansion, watching the uncle fight for a better and better future, getting used to seeing high-ranking officials in the court and powerful people outside the world, getting used to intrigues, intrigues and tricks, but she never I never thought that I would hear such words, such... seemingly naive, but extremely difficult to answer. So she couldn't answer.