The Red Mansion in its bustling glory

Jia Jue has already started taking the exam.

He skimmed through the questions the examiner had given him, and while reading, he roughly sketched out an outline in his mind.

It's alright. At least for someone of his level, passing this exam shouldn't be difficult.

This is the first session, also called the main session. The subjects are two essays from the Four Books plus a five-character, six-line poem. The main session is the first and most important session of the entire county examination.

After the main exam session ends, the examiners will receive and grade the candidates' answer sheets. If a candidate fails to collect their answer sheet during the main exam session, they will not be allowed to participate in the subsequent exam sessions.

Although the acceptance rate for the main round is relatively lenient, it's not uncommon for people to leave in disgrace during this round.

To take a recent example, there's this old gentleman named Jia Dairu, a teacher at the Jia family school. He's now a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations). The first time he took the county-level exam, he failed the main examination and went home the next morning.

Furthermore, this county examination was divided into two groups: "adults" and "children." Relatively speaking, the questions for the "children" group were simpler, and the examiners were more lenient in grading the papers. Jia Jue was only thirteen years old at the time, so he naturally belonged to the "children" group.

Looking at the official paper with its red lines and the much rougher coarse paper in front of him, Jia Jue took a deep breath, picked up his pen and began to write: "Shangyuan County, Yingtian Prefecture, young scholar, studying the Analects."

Then he began to write on scrap paper.

The first question is: "To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned, is that not a pleasure?", from the Analects, Book 1, Chapter 1; the second question is: "A great man is one who does not lose his pure heart.", from Mencius, Book 4, Chapter 2.

The third question was a poem, titled "The sound of reading aloud from a sunny window," which rhymed with the "seventh yang" rhyme.

Once Jia Jue began to write, his accumulated knowledge and experience burst forth like a spring breaking through the ground, flowing endlessly.

In no time, he wrote with lightning speed, and in just a short while, he had finished two articles and a poem.

After finishing writing, Jia Jue let out a heavy sigh of relief, feeling as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders, leaving him feeling incredibly light.

However, he could not relax yet. Although he was already a little hungry, he still persevered and meticulously copied the text into the official paper using the official script.

After finishing writing, he put the brush aside and was about to take some snacks from the food box when he suddenly felt dizzy and everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a place shrouded in mist and filled with ethereal beauty.

All around, trees reached for the sky, flowers bloomed in profusion, birds soared high, and beasts ran swiftly. In the distance, one could vaguely see magnificent palaces and pavilions nestled among the mountains.

Looking up, one can faintly see celestial light flowing, as if immortals are floating among it, riding on clouds.

Even though Jia Jue had lived two lifetimes, he had never seen such a beautiful and wondrous sight.

If you had to describe it in one word, it would probably be "fairyland".

In this situation, Jia Jue was so dazed that he forgot he was still taking an exam in the examination hall. His legs involuntarily stepped forward, following the sudden stream of light that appeared before him.

As Jia Jue moved forward, his appearance gradually changed.

Originally, Jia Jue was just a boy, but as he walked, he seemed to grow older and taller.

The blue robe she wore gradually faded away, turning into a snow-white feather robe.

His appearance gradually matured, but his previous appearance could still be vaguely seen in his eyebrows and eyes.

Suddenly, Jia Jue leaped up, and a cloud of auspiciousness appeared out of thin air beneath him, carrying him westward.

Jia Jue no longer knew where he was, what he was doing, or who he was; he was simply acting on instinct.

He rode the clouds all the way until he stopped at the bank of a river that reached the heavens.

This river is unlike any other river in the world. This difference is not only reflected in the river's size, nor solely in the clarity of its water.

What makes this difference is that the river's flow is almost stagnant, the river sand beneath the riverbed glows with starlight, and the sounds of laughter and tears that occasionally emanate from it.

"Linghe".

Before he knew it, such a name appeared in Jia Jue's mind.

His gaze shifted again, landing on a large rock standing by the river.

The stone seemed infinitely large, yet also infinitely small. Its shape was indistinct, but one could intuitively tell that it was a stone.

The sounds of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness that I just heard came from this stone.

"The Stone of Three Lives".

Another name surfaced in his mind.

The gaze continued to move, finally landing on a bright red grass next to the Three Lives Stone.

Apart from this grass, there is no other life near the Three Lives Stone.

This crimson fairy herb may have once been full of vitality, but now it is listless and almost withered.

Jia Jue's body moved uncontrollably, and suddenly the Spirit River surged and rushed.

The river water shot into the sky, gathering in the air to form a huge droplet.

Then the water droplet grew smaller and smaller until it was compressed into the size of an ordinary raindrop.

Jia Jue waved his hand again, and the drop of water fell onto the magical herb.

Almost the instant the water droplets fell, the previously listless Crimson Pearl Grass came back to life.

Jia Jue opened and closed his mouth, saying, "I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Then he raised his hand again, and a cloud of auspiciousness gathered in his palm.

As a gust of wind rose, the cloud enveloped the Crimson Pearl Grass, drifting slowly around it.

Just then, someone suddenly ran up from behind Jia Jue.

"It's already healed."

Jia Jue heard such a sound.

A familiar voice.

Jia Jue turned his head to look at the person who had come.

And so, another name appeared in his mind.

"Shenying Attendant".

"Did you save this immortal herb, fellow Daoist?" Shenying Attendant asked him.

"It wasn't really a rescue; it just proved itself," Jia Jue said. "I only gave it some dew."

Shenying Attendant smiled and said, "In that case, I must thank you, fellow Daoist."

Why are you thanking me?

"Of course, I thank you for saving it," said Shenying Attendant, pointing to the Crimson Pearl Grass.

"I saved it, why are you thanking me?"

"There's no 'why' involved. Don't you deserve my gratitude for saving it?"

Jia Jue suddenly smiled.

"He is indeed sincere; he has a good eye for people."

Jia Jue muttered to himself.

Then, with a wave of his hand, a colorless jade appeared in his palm.

"Are you a celestial official of the Crimson Cloud Palace, the Divine Stone Attendant?" he asked.

"How did you know, fellow Daoist?" Shenying Attendant was taken aback.

"Since you are called Divine Stone Attendant, you naturally cannot be without jade." Jia Jue did not answer him, but continued to speak to himself, "This jade is something I obtained from the bottom of the Wuji Cliff in the Great Wilderness Mountain. It is a precious jade left behind by the Goddess Nuwa when she mended the sky. Now I will give it to you."

As he spoke, he flicked his hand, and a hole appeared in the jade, from which a five-colored cord was hung, and it was placed around the neck of Shenying Attendant.

Ignoring the stunned Shenying attendant, Jia Jue simply smiled and left.