Chapter 114 — Died on the Spot

By the next day, he had cured his own qi deviation without leaving any lingering harm, and only then did he continue diagnosing and treating others. Before long, the flower lanes were once again filled with long queues. Fu Qingyun secretly fretted — this place of hers was a brothel, and she had never expected it to become a clinic.

By afternoon, Fu Qingyun said in alarm, "Young Master, tomorrow is the Grand Academy's entrance examination. You cannot keep treating patients. You had best save your strength to deal with tomorrow's examination!"

Shen Mu nodded and said, "Very well. After the examination, I will treat these people again."

Fu Qingyun was caught between laughter and tears. She said in a low voice, "Young Master, your duty is not to be an alchemist!"

Shen Mu said, "I am not merely treating people for their illnesses. Though I have learned much of the medical way, my experience is too shallow. Treating these people can broaden my understanding. Grandfather Alchemist taught me countless principles of pharmacology, and in more than ten years in the Desolate Ruins I never had the chance to test them. Now, in just over a day, I have tested a thousand principles of pharmacology."

Fu Qingyun had a headache. How could the young Cult Leader of the幽 Demon Cult run off like a wandering physician to the flower lanes to treat courtesans?

At last, the day of the Grand Academy's examination arrived. Shen Mu left the flower lanes early and asked the way to the Grand Academy at every turn.

"The Grand Academy? On the mountain in the city — that is where it is!"

Shen Mu arrived before the Grand Academy's gate and looked up. He praised it inwardly. The Grand Academy was the Empire's supreme academy, and truly magnificent. This academy was actually built upon a mountain of jade. The mountain stood at the center of the Nine Dragons Mountain Range, at the position where the dragon's mouth holds the pearl.

Nine dragons, together holding the Mystic Water Dragon Pearl — one could well imagine how wondrous it was.

The qi of the nine dragons converged here, and naturally the place was blessed with outstanding people and spirits. The dragon qi had turned even the mountain's body into jade; the whole was formed of flawless beautiful jade.

Upon the mountain were many palaces — some with blue tiles, some with red — and near the palaces several great ships floated in the air, their sails not yet furled.

At this moment, before the Grand Academy's mountain gate gathered thousands of scholars from every region, all waiting to enter the Grand Academy. Beneath the towering gate, more than a dozen registrars of the Grand Academy were recording the names, noting from what place each examination candidate came and from which academy or school.

Shen Mu queued and stepped forward. By the time it was his turn to register, the sun was already high.

Shen Mu produced his travel permit and said, "This student comes from Li Prefecture—"

"No, no, he is not from Li Prefecture!"

Suddenly, a plump youth squeezed in beside Shen Mu and said with a laugh, "He is like me — from Jiangling. Registrar, sir, write Jiangling!"

The registrar looked up and said coldly, "Wherever the travel permit says he is from, that is what is written. Household registration cannot be altered at random."

That youth was none other than Wei Yong. Watching Shen Mu finish registering his name and household, he said in vexation, "This is bad. We came on the same ship. If you were also from Jiangling, it would be easier to get into the Grand Academy."

Shen Mu asked in puzzlement, "Why?"

Wei Yong glanced around and said in a low voice, "Have you not heard the news these past days? Most of the scholars from Jiangling died on the road. Apart from our ship being attacked by the Dragon Taming Sect, the others who took the land route or the sky route all met with attacks. Few who came to the capital alive remain. They say some rebellious sects intended to cut deeply into the prestige of Imperial Preceptor Jingping — after all, Imperial Preceptor Jingping hails from Jiangling..."

"From which academy are you? What is your cultivation?" the registrar asked.

Shen Mu said, "Family schooling. No academy. The day before yesterday I just cultivated to the Five Luminaries realm."

The registrar shook his head. "Just entered the Five Luminaries realm and you dare come to take the examination..."

After Shen Mu and Wei Yong finished registering, they walked through the mountain gate. Many scholars crowded there. When all the scholars had been registered, a Daoist priest said in a loud voice, "Those with divine abilities, go up the mountain. The rest remain."

Before long, at the foot of the mountain, only martial artists of the Spirit Embryo realm and the Five Luminaries realm remained — some two thousand or more.

The middle-aged Daoist led the crowd deeper into the mountain. They had not gone far when a cliff face rose before them, some thirty or forty zhang high.

This cliff had no steps and no ropeway. One either flew up or ran up. If one had the ability to leap thirty or forty zhang in a single bound, one could jump up as well.

"Those who cannot get up may go home." The middle-aged Daoist stood at the cliff's edge, looking at the scholars from every region, and said coldly.

"Is this not simple?"

One scholar retreated several steps, then suddenly surged forward at a dead run, charging straight at the cliff, attempting to run up to its top. But the moment his foot landed on the cliff wall, he slipped, and his whole body slapped against the jade wall with a smack, his head split and bleeding.

That cliff face was flawless beautiful jade throughout. His blood fell upon the cliff wall and actually slid straight down, leaving not the slightest trace of a bloodstain.

The scholars beneath the cliff all felt a chill in their hearts: "How slippery!"