Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 118 Even Trials Can Be Solved Using the Eight-Legged Essay Method
Zhu Ye closed his folding fan, cupped his hands in a frank and open manner, and said, "I'm sorry, the three of us just happened to be passing by and heard you arguing. We really couldn't step in, so we stopped for a moment. If we have offended you, please forgive us."

Seeing that Zhu Ye had a good attitude and an extraordinary temperament, and more importantly, they could not tell his cultivation level, the two groups of people who had just spoken returned the greeting.

Among them, Baishan Zhaluo spoke first: "Since you are just passing by, that's fine. May I ask if this gentleman is also here to participate in the Immortal Fate Assembly? Do you have any leads?"

Zhu Ye replied, "We entered after you all. Since we had only been here a short time, we saw a red square pool, which was very strange. It seemed to be made of flesh and blood... Apart from this, we haven't encountered anything else."

Bai Shan Zhalo also shared: "We did encounter a monster. The monster claimed that it was captured by a sect called Shushan. It also told us that there was a teleportation array in the northeast. Monsters could not enter, but humans could. Once we entered the teleportation array, we could go to the next level, and so on until we reached the ninth level, where we could leave. This means we had passed the trial."

Thinking of the patterns of the many stone walls on the ground that he had just observed on the stone platform, Zhu Ye pondered for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Can we really trust what this monster says?"

Although Bai Shan Zhalo hesitated for a moment, he then smiled wryly and said, "Since we don't have any other clues right now, we might as well go and take a look. Even if there is danger, with my fifth-grade cultivation, I should be able to protect everyone."

Zhu Ye thought for a moment and had no choice but to explain: "To be honest, when I was observing from the top of the wall just now, the distribution of these red walls was like a Bagua diagram. If we take the Blood Pool as the base, facing south, and then look at the trend of the red walls... I'm afraid the Gen trigram is in the southeast, while the northeast... is the Xun trigram, which is the Du Gate."

Upon hearing this, several martial artists with considerable skill immediately took to the air, climbed onto the red wall, looked around, and then landed back on the ground.

One of them nodded to Baishan Zhalo and said, "It does indeed resemble the Bagua diagram. The southeast is the Gen trigram, the gate of life, and the northeast is the Xun trigram, the gate of blockage."

Upon hearing this, Bai Shan Zhalo took out an exquisite golden compass from his bosom and held it in his palm. On the compass, a small red needle trembled slightly, pointing in a direction.

"Is this the Gen trigram position you mentioned?"

Baishan Zhalo pointed to a direction that was completely opposite to, yet slightly off from, the direction indicated by the compass needle, and asked a question.

Zhu Ye glanced at the compass. The cinnabar needle on the compass pointed north, and Bai Shan Zhaluo was indeed pointing southeast.

He nodded: "Exactly."

Heshilie suddenly spoke up and asked, "Well? Zhalo, do you still insist on going to the place that monster mentioned?"

Baishan Zhalo glanced coldly at Heshilie abruptly, ignoring him, and instead formally bowed to Zhu Ye again, saying, "I am Baishan Zhalo from the Imperial Academy. May I ask who you are, sir..."

Zhu Ye hurriedly returned the greeting, saying, "Jiangnan, Zhu Ye."

"So it's Mr. Zhu, the 'Know-it-all'!"

Almost every martial artist knows Zhu Ye's name, so Bai Shan Zhalo suddenly realized, "I didn't expect Mr. Zhu to be interested in the Dao of Immortality. That's quite a surprise. But since we've met, why don't you come with us? That way we can look after each other in this trial formation."

Zhu Ye turned her head and glanced at Huang Wu, who was completely unable to understand what everyone was saying, and Lu Lin, who seemed to have no expression and no objection. She readily nodded and said, "I would be honored to comply."

Bai Shan Zhalo then said, "Since that's the case, then let's follow Mr. Zhu's suggestion and go explore the southeast first."

He Shilie suddenly said, "Then let us wait here for a while. If there is nothing wrong, we will be happy. If there is any trouble, we can help you."

"Hmph, then you can stay here! Coward!"

Bai Shan Zhalo snorted coldly, uttered a curse, and then beckoned Zhu Ye and the others to head southeast. After Bai Shan Zhalo and the others had completely disappeared, He Shilie suddenly waved his hand, signaling everyone to follow, but he headed back the way he came.

Although the number of people coming from the Imperial Academy was much larger than that from the Imperial College, the number of people who followed Heshilie Tudi was much smaller.

Because Baishan Zhaluo came from the Baishan clan, a powerful family related to the Empress Dowager, and was very noble, many of the students from the Imperial Academy who had originally followed Heshilie Tudi had long been eager to curry favor with him. The rest were either from good families or had become too close to Heshilie Tudi to sever ties with him, which is why only about ten people remained.

Heshilie was the youngest son of Heshilie Renxian, and logically he should have gone to the Imperial Academy.

However, He Shilie was stubborn and insisted on taking the exams himself, refusing to use his privileges to enter the Imperial Academy. That's why he went to the Imperial Academy and became a leader among the students there.

A student from the Imperial Academy who was on good terms with Heshilie Tudi followed him back without hesitation, but asked:
Suddenly, what are we going to do?

Suddenly, He Shilie smiled confidently and asked, "Qiqi Ke, do you remember what this Immortal Fate Gathering is for us to do?"

Qiqi Ke, puzzled, replied, "By passing through the trial formation?"

"Since it is a trial, it is a kind of test of knowledge. Since it is a test of knowledge, we must naturally submit a paper that satisfies His Majesty to repay the Emperor's grace."

He Shilie suddenly stopped and turned to look at the dozen or so Imperial Academy students who were following him. He explained, "The trial is about leaving the Demon Locking Tower. I suppose anyone can get that information. But if everyone can leave, what's the difference? How can we distinguish between superiors and inferiors?"

As soon as He Shilie finished speaking, everyone was stunned.

One of the students from the Imperial Academy suddenly realized: "Suddenly, you mean we should start with that monster?"

"Of course!"

He Shilie smiled and replied, "Since she says she is innocent and that the people from Shu Mountain arrested her, then we must act as fair judges and find out whether she is truly innocent or not."

Everyone clapped their hands in agreement and began discussing it with beaming smiles.

"How do we decide? She's a demon, and we're human. Even if she's lying, we have no way of knowing..."

“When my uncle worked at the Dali Temple, I heard him mention some methods for solving cases. In general, it involved repeated questioning to deduce the circumstances at the time…”

"So, this question should be answered by asking, 'Is it a demon? Or a human? What wrong has the heavens done?'"

"We should also start with policy discussions and come up with a way to properly handle the affairs between humans and demons, in preparation for the questions to be asked at the Immortal Affinity Conference."

"That makes sense!"

……

(End of this chapter)