In Zhou Wenhai’s study, the scent of tea remained unchanged.

He looked at Su Ming before him, his gaze openly full of admiration. The boy sitting there had finished growing; he was a head taller than two years ago, his shoulders broader, all traces of awkward youth gone. He was steady now, like a stone that had lain motionless at the bottom of a river for a hundred years.

“Su Ming, you’ve been at the school for nearly three years.” Zhou Wenhai pushed a cup of warm tea toward him, “In these three years, your progress has been clear to me. Whether in Classics or policy essays, you’ve already surpassed your peers by far. Your timing is ripe.”

He paused, eyes burning as he stared at Su Ming.

“The provincial exam is near. I have already registered you. For the Yunshuo Prefecture autumn session, you must take part.”

Zhou Wenhai’s tone was not a suggestion; it carried an unequivocal certainty.

“With your talent, you will surely seize first place and win for our Qingshi County School a top scorer the county hasn’t seen in decades!”

Top scorer.

First in the provincial exam.

Those three words meant supreme honor to any scholar.

Su Ming lowered his eyes, long lashes hiding all emotion. He did not reply at once. He lifted the teacup and felt its warmth.

“Teacher’s high expectations—this student is… unworthy,” he said slowly, his voice calm and even.

“You are not unworthy, you are fully deserving!” Zhou Wenhai waved his hand, his tone infused with strong confidence, “Go home and prepare well. Do not let your mind wander on trifles. I will be expecting good news.”

Stepping out of the study, the autumn sunlight touched him, but it brought little warmth.

Su Ming walked along the academy path at an even pace.

“Master,” he called in his heart.

Lin Yu’s soul body drifted excitedly in the ring.

Great! Finally leaving! The spiritual energy in this rotten well is like squeezing toothpaste—just a trickle a day!

“Disciple, what do you think of this?” On the surface, Lin Yu retained his usual composed, strategist’s tone.

“The teacher is right. Qingshi County no longer has what I need.” Su Ming answered bluntly.

He needed a bigger pond.

“Good, progress. You know how to assess the situation.” Lin Yu nodded approvingly, then his voice dropped a notch, “But Zhou Wenhai wanting you to go for the top scorer… that needs to be discussed.”

“What does Master mean?”

“Going for top scorer? To be a target?” Lin Yu mentally scoffed, though he spoke enigmatically, “Disciple, have you forgotten the first maxim of my Way of Survival?”

“A tall tree invites the wind,” Su Ming finished for him.

“Exactly!” Lin Yu’s voice carried the tone of a patient teacher, “You were the county’s top scorer at fourteen—you’re already a figure on the edge of public attention. Now you’re only sixteen. If at sixteen you become provincial top scorer, what do you think will happen?”

“Then all of Yunshuo Prefecture, and places even farther, will swarm over you like flies to blood. People will pry into your family background, your teacher’s lineage, what color pants you wore as a child—they’ll strip you bare. Do you think our current stature can withstand the intensity of that spotlight?”

Lin Yu thought: Give me a break. I finally raised this little ancestor into a decent portable power bank; I’m not sending him out to be a celebrity corpse! Keep low-key! Must be low-key!

Su Ming fell silent.

He remembered the policy essay rejected by the county magistrate, and Zhou Wenhai’s talk about the deep waters of officialdom.

“I understand.” Su Ming said, “For this provincial exam I will aim to pass it, not to seek fame.”

“Teachable child!” Lin Yu approved, “That’s called strategic concealment. Our goal is to obtain the provincial graduate status and the ticket into the prefectural city’s larger information platform. Rank does not matter. Middle is just right. You’ll still stand out a bit, but you won’t attract glaring attention. Like a hidden dragon among fish, quietly accumulating strength so no one notices you.”

“Once in the prefectural city, the mix of people is dangerous—far more perilous than Qingshi County. Your Aura Concealment Art is at the second level; it will be useful. Remember, restrain all your sharpness and present yourself as the most ordinary, most unremarkable exam candidate.”

“Disciple understands,” Su Ming replied inwardly.

The two reached a high degree of agreement on their Way of Survival strategy.

…

Under the ancient locust tree at the west city corner.

“Brother Xu, I came today to ask you something,” Su Ming got straight to the point. “Will you take this year’s provincial exam?”

Xu Qing’s eyes brightened for a moment, then dimmed. He shook his head.

“My family wants me to try. But the road to the prefectural city is distant, and the travel expenses are heavy. If I go, my father will be left to run the book stall alone; it would be too hard on him.” His words were full of concern.

“I will also take the provincial exam.” Su Ming looked at him, sincerity in his tone, “We can travel together, so there will be someone to look out for you. As for expenses, I have some spare funds and can lend you some for now. As for your uncle, we can ask classmates from the County School to help at the stall daily so the business won’t suffer.”

Su Ming had thought through every problem.

Xu Qing fell silent. He looked at Su Ming—the boy’s gaze was clear, without a trace of pity, only honest friendship and help.

He knew Su Ming did not pity him.

Over the past two years, Su Ming came often—officially to read, in truth to discuss scholarship. Xu Qing’s memory was broad, and he could quote obscure stories and facts at will. Su Ming had original insights on Classics and policy essays. They often talked for hours and had become close friends. Su Ming also knew Xu Qing’s talent was not inferior—only stifled by his family’s situation, like uncut jade buried under thick dust.

“All right.” Xu Qing did not hedge; he nodded decisively, “Expenses aren’t necessary—my family has saved a bit these past two years. But please, Brother Su, trouble your father.”

“No need to thank me between us,” Su Ming smiled.

…

Half a month later, a blue homespun-covered carriage slowly rolled out of Qingshi County’s south gate in the morning mist.

The driver had been hired temporarily; inside sat only Su Ming and Xu Qing.

Their baggage was simple: a few sets of spare clothes and two full trunks of books, ink, brushes, and paper.

As the carriage traveled the official road, Qingshi County’s outline gradually receded until it became a blurred black dot.

Xu Qing lifted the curtain once to glance outside, then returned to his seat and unrolled a copy of Yunshuo Local Studies to read quietly. That composure came from years spent with books.

Su Ming closed his eyes as if napping, but his Aura Concealment Art was engaged to the extreme, folding his aura in like a roadside pebble. At the same time, his strong mental awareness radiated from the carriage.

Within a hundred-meter radius, rustling grass, flying birds, and buzzing insects were all clearly mapped in his mind.

“Master, this feeling is strange,” he said.

“Nonsense. The spiritual perception at Qi Refining second level is more than enough as a personal radar,” Lin Yu said lazily. “Stay alert. On the official road, highway bandits and malevolent entities abound. Our goal is to arrive safely in the prefectural city, not play hero on the way.”

“Disciple understands.”

They rode in silence.

Seven days later, when the road widened and became more level and travelers increased, a grand, towering city finally appeared on the horizon.

Yunshuo Prefectural City.

The walls rose more than ten zhang high, built of massive dark-blue-black stone blocks, sprawling endlessly like a dragon coiled upon the earth. Banners fluttered and armored soldiers stood in ranks atop the walls; a heavy air of both deadly seriousness and prosperity washed over them.

Xu Qing closed his book and gazed at the city. The prefectural grandeur he had read about in books had become reality. A flash of awe passed through his eyes, but he quickly composed himself and quietly put the book away.

Su Ming felt it more directly.

In his mental senses, the whole Yunshuo Prefectural City resembled a vast, chaotic energy field. Countless ordinary, mixed, and faint auras converged into a maelstrom.

“My, so crowded. Thoughts everywhere, this place interferes with low-level cultivators’ perception,” Lin Yu’s voice warned in Su Ming’s mind. “Disciple, retract! Pull your spiritual perception in! Keep only a three-to-five zhang alert radius around you! Don’t flail about like a headless fly in a place like this. You’ll waste spirit, and you might unintentionally touch things you shouldn’t, or be seen as a provocation by certain beings.”

Su Ming complied, withdrawing his outward mental force and leaving only a thin layer of awareness at his body surface.

The carriage entered the city gate and was instantly swallowed by an even louder bustle.

The main street was wide, filled with traffic and surging crowds. Lining the road were packed shops—inns, teahouses, pawnshops, silk stores—countless signs and banners fluttered in the wind, dazzling the eye.

The air blended the scents of food, livestock, sewage from drains, and the sweat and cosmetics of thousands of people, creating the complex, vibrant aroma unique to a big city.

Xu Qing’s eyes scanned the shop signs in quick, orderly motions, noting bookstores and the Wenbao Zhai’s placards in particular; he seemed to memorize their locations for later moves.

Su Ming’s face remained calm as he followed Xu Qing, eyes casually sweeping the surroundings.

“Let’s find a place to stay first,” Xu Qing told him.

He avoided the grand inns on the main street and led Su Ming into a quieter alley.

The alley held small inns and private residences.

After asking three or four places, they chose a modest inn called “Wenan Inn” mid-way down the alley.

The shop was small but clean. The owner, a lean middle-aged man, smiled upon seeing two scholarly-looking customers.

“You two are here for the exams, right?”

“Exactly.” Xu Qing stepped forward and negotiated expertly.

He asked carefully about price, meals, hot water, and provisions for ink and brushes. After some bargaining, they secured a fairly spacious second-floor room with two meals included for eighty wen per day.

For the space-starved prefectural city, that was a fair price.

Su Ming watched and inwardly admired. Xu Qing’s streetwise survival skills were something he lacked.

Their room was simply furnished: a wooden bed, a desk, two chairs, nothing more.

Xu Qing seemed content. He set down their luggage, checked the door and windows, tested the furniture’s stability, and then exhaled.

“Brother Su, we finally have a foothold in this prefectural city,” he said, tired yet bright-eyed.

Su Ming nodded and walked to the window. He pushed it open.

Outside were dense green-tiled roofs, and the faint drums of the prefectural office in the distance.

“What are your plans next?” Su Ming asked.

“I’ll rest a day. Tomorrow I’ll visit the city bookstores.” Xu Qing’s eyes sparkled. “Bookstores in the prefectural city conceal hidden talents. Not only can you buy books you can’t find in the county, they’re great for gathering intelligence. Who is on the exam panel this year, what literary tastes they prefer—this kind of information often passes through bookstore owners and old book customers’ chatter.”

That was Xu Qing’s strength—catching useful information from small details.

“I plan to check around the Prefectural School’s library tomorrow,” Su Ming said.

“The Prefectural School library?” Xu Qing was surprised. “That place isn’t easily entered unless you’re a student of the Prefectural School or recommended by a well-known scholar.”

“There are also bookstores and antique shops near the Prefectural School. Worth a look.” Xu Qing agreed. “We can act separately and share what we find in the evening.”

They split tasks clearly.

After settling, they ate simply and returned to their rooms.

Late at night, when the city fell silent, Su Ming sat cross-legged on his bed and slowly spread his mental awareness to cover the whole inn.

He ‘heard’ the crisp clack of the owner’s abacus downstairs as he tallied accounts.

He ‘heard’ an anxious exam candidate in the next room muttering Classics in his sleep.

He even ‘heard’ a mouse quietly nibbling wood on a beam.

“Master, my perception sinks in the prefectural city like wading through mud,” Su Ming said inwardly. He did not sense any clear cultivator auras, but the city’s sheer weight and noise pressed down on him.

“Normal.” Lin Yu’s voice came with understanding. “Large cities are full of people, with strong qi and messy thoughts that interfere. That’s good; it means the water here is murky enough to hide in. Remember, without sufficient strength, watch more and move less. Our primary goal is the provincial exam.”

“Disciple understands.”

Su Ming withdrew his perception and focused inward.

The Qihai in his dantian rotated slowly, several times larger than two years ago.

He knew this small Qihai was his greatest capital in a vast and dangerous city.

The provincial exam in three months would be another turning point in his life.

What he needed to do was quietly secure the ticket to a higher platform without attracting anyone’s attention.

As for being top scorer?

Leave that to the geniuses who like standing in the spotlight.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep