When Chen Xu stepped down from the carriage with his cane, he happened to see the silhouette of Cui Yunqi and his group entering the bamboo forest.
Xu Wenyuan, at a loss, wanted to support him, while the students from the County School and Lin County all cast complex glances in their direction. Each gaze held a different story.
"Brother Chen..." Xu Wenyuan grew even more embarrassed, his cheeks burning and even the roots of his neck flushed red.
The greatest humiliation in the world isn't when others openly look down on you, but when they don't care at all, and you suddenly feel the enormous gap between people.
Xu Wenyuan thought Chen Xu would feel as self-conscious as he did, but surprisingly, Chen Xu seemed completely unaffected by the strange looks around him.
Though walking with a limp and using a cane, he appeared much more composed than Xu Wenyuan, who had all limbs intact.
Among the County School students, someone cleared his throat, then stepped forward with a smile, bowing to Chen Xu and saying, "Brother Chen, you came at the right time. This great array set by Mr. Zhou has truly stumped us.
Now, we can only hope on Brother Chen to lead the way for us. Let's let those talents in Prefecture City know that Jichuan County is not without people."
The speaker appeared to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, much more composed than the teenagers.
It was Wang Mochuan, who was already well-regarded at the County School. Although he had obtained the title of Scholar, for various reasons, he hadn't gone to Prefecture City to study but stayed in Jichuan County.
Surprised once again, Xu Wenyuan looked at Wang Mochuan, thinking that Chen Xu, with his limp, would surely be ridiculed by his County School peers again.
Unexpectedly, Wang Mochuan stood up and defused the situation with a single sentence.
These people had spoken poorly of Chen Xu before, so how did they suddenly change their attitude to being so amiable?
Xu Wenyuan felt an indescribable anger, watching Chen Xu gracefully return the courtesy with a bow, smiling slightly as he said, "Brother Wang, flattery should be avoided. If esteemed talents find it difficult, what makes me any different? I'm merely doing my best for this grand event."
As soon as he finished, Wang Mochuan laughed heartily in response.
Just as the laughter was dying down, someone suddenly pointed to the bamboo forest and exclaimed, "Look, the bamboo forest, it's moving..."
The bamboo forest moved?
How is it moving?
Everyone quickly turned their gaze, then witnessed a scene that left a lifelong impression on them.
Mist began to rise from within the bamboo forest, with leaves rustling in the mist.
Soon after, the bamboo began to move vividly, as if they had grown legs and turned into living entities!
Before long, the previously somewhat disorganized small bamboo forest transformed into constellations, forming a military array.
Crowding and intermingling, above and below, resembling the Nine Palaces, complex and intricate.
None of the County School students had ever seen such a transformation before.
Someone murmured, "When we entered the array, the bamboo forest didn't move at all. Why this change now?"
Someone replied in a daze, "It's because people like Cui Yunqi from the Prefecture City have entered."
"So this is the real first trial of the bamboo forest? Truly mysterious."
Most astonishingly, the gap between people can sometimes be larger than the gap between a man and a dog.
As the mist rose, light points like stars fell like fine rain, lightly drifting down.
These light points transformed into lines of text in mid-air, like:
"There is a field composed of right triangles and oblique triangles, with the southern width of the right triangle shorter by three steps and the northern width narrower by four steps, totaling thirty steps; the oblique triangle has one end thirty steps wide, the other forty-two steps wide, and it has a true height of sixty-four steps.
Question: What is the hypotenuse of the right triangle? How many acres does the total area of the two fields combine to form?"
And: "There are nine hundred hu of official grain to be distributed among three granaries, A, B, and C. Granary A's distribution ratio is seven, B's is five, and C's is three..."
The text fell at a rapid pace, disappearing equally fast. People had to focus intensely to read them clearly.
Some people's reading speed couldn't keep up with the speed of the disappearing text, and soon someone started sweating, exclaiming urgently, "What does the latter part say? I can't see clearly."
Wang Mochuan's forehead also broke out in sweat, but with greater knowledge than others, he quickly realized the purpose of these questions and said, "So the first trial requires us to memorize the questions before answering them.
It not only tests answering skills but also memory ability."
He asked those around him, "How much have you remembered?"
Those around looked at each other in dismay. Remembered how much? They couldn't even clearly see them, so what could they remember?
A cautious voice suddenly rose, "I... I remembered three questions."
The speaker was Xu Wenyuan, who then pointed forward, saying, "Brother Chen, Brother Chen went in."
Only then did the crowd notice that Chen Xu, who was just outside the bamboo forest with everyone, had disappeared.
Xu Wenyuan murmured again, "After remembering three questions, I also tried to walk into the bamboo forest to answer, but a voice sounded in my ear saying that if the memory were less than nine questions, entrance into the bamboo forest was forbidden."
Outside the bamboo forest, there was an immediate silence, as quiet as a mouse.
No one knew that at that very moment, Chen Xu was also sweating, struggling to remember.
For him, the questions floating out of the bamboo forest were not difficult. Problems lay not with the questions, but rather with memorization.
Remembering nine questions in one go proved to be very challenging.
Chen Xu activated his Divine Thought, focusing his mind to its utmost speed, while summoning the Food Cauldron Celestial Book without hesitation, and added points!
[Total Likes: 579]
[Free Attribute Points: 14]
[Fireworks Value: 222]
On the way to North City, up to the present moment, Chen Xu's accumulated likes had increased by 125 points.
The Free Attribute Points had also increased by 12 points.
Lai Granny truly deserved to be called diligent, almost a genius in small business transactions.
With plenty of Free Points, Chen Xu was decisive and added two points to his Divine Soul.
With the addition of two Divine Soul points, a clear and ethereal feeling surged straight to his brain.
In an instant, Chen Xu's thoughts elevated to unprecedented heights, his mind clear and focused.
At that moment, remembering nine questions posed no problem, even if twenty-nine or thirty-nine questions, it wouldn't be an obstacle for him.
[Right Triangle Field Question], remembered!
[Distribution Question], remembered!
...
Chen Xu, using a cane, stepped into the bamboo forest, when suddenly, blank bamboo slips flew towards him.
Immediately, a clear, youthful voice rang beside his ear, this childlike voice solemnly declared, "Students entering the bamboo forest, if you've remembered fewer than nine questions, please exit on your own."
Chen Xu raised his hand, grasped a handful of bamboo slips, and smiled faintly, saying, "Fortunately, this student's memorization capability is quite satisfactory, so there's no need to exit."
He then slid the bamboo slips through his hand, counting quickly that there were only twenty.
Chen Xu then said, "I kindly ask for more bamboo slips from you."