The sage was determined to die.

In the seventh year of Jian'an, the Ministry of Justice issued an edict to the prison.

In a cramped cell, sunlight streamed through the tiny iron window, stirring up clouds of dust.

The burly man leaning against the cell door, with a full beard, was sizing up the new prisoner. Seeing the prisoner trembling like a leaf, his eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he raised his voice.

"What's your name? What do you do for a living?"

"My name is Zhao Er, and I'm just a vegetable vendor carrying a load on a shoulder pole."

"What did you do to get here?"

"I don't know either. I heard that I blocked the way of the Imperial Preceptor's servant when I was selling vegetables, and the government sent people to arrest me."

"You little rascal, how dare you, a vegetable seller, be punished the same as an adult?"

The bearded man laughed heartily, then reached out and gestured for Zhao Er to look towards the corner, where a person was sitting upright.

The man looked to be no more than eighteen or nineteen years old. He was sitting cross-legged on the straw with his eyes closed, seemingly resting. Despite being in a prison cell, he showed no fear whatsoever. He had a fair and handsome face and an elegant and refined demeanor.

The bearded man sighed, "This lord is a former Imperial Scholar, and will soon be selected for the Imperial Examination at the Mountain of Books. You only offended the Imperial Preceptor's servant, but do you know what this lord has done?"

Zhao Er asked cautiously, "What did you do?"

"He broke the leg of the Imperial Advisor's own grandson!"

"What? This... this is courting death!" Zhao Er almost cried out in alarm.

Everyone in the Great Qi Kingdom knows that the Grand Preceptor Wei Huan wields immense power and is backed by a powerful immortal family. Even His Majesty dares not easily offend him. Someone abandoned his future as a Palace Attendant and dared to beat up the Grand Preceptor's most beloved grandson in the street, even breaking his leg with a kick.

That's it, now I can't even save my life, let alone go to the Imperial Academy.

Ji Bai opened his eyes.

It's been seven days since I transmigrated to this world.

On the first day, the system, a staple of transmigration novels, told him that as long as he could commit a great death in this world, he could return to the modern world with a fortune, immortality, and other cheat-like abilities. The more sensational his death, the richer the reward.

Ji Bai was immediately stunned. The words sounded so familiar. It was as if he had heard someone die surrounded by a crowd.

Of course, the system warned him more than once that he must not commit suicide, or he would really die.

On the fourth day, after spending three days getting familiar with this world, he used his identity to get close to the grandson of the Imperial Advisor. The two hit it off immediately, found they were kindred spirits, and drank until they were drunk, becoming close friends.

On the fifth day, he broke the leg of the Grand Tutor's grandson.

On the seventh day, Ji Bai got up from the haystack and calculated that in two days at most, he would be swiftly executed on suspicion of "murdering a relative of an important official of the State of Qi".

Seeing Ji Bai stand up, the surrounding prisoners all tacitly made way for him. Ji Bai lived up to expectations, raised his hand, coughed weakly a few times, stood with his hands behind his back in front of the cell door, looked at the narrow window, and began to sigh deeply.

The prisoners were jolted awake, thinking that this was the beginning again.

The bearded man stepped forward at the opportune moment, displaying a remarkable ability to play the straight man: "Why does Your Excellency sigh?"

Ji Bai glanced at him, thinking that this man was really shrewd, and then said in a voice that the jailer outside the door could hear, "I am just expressing my grievances. It is just a pity that we scholars have studied hard for more than ten years, only to end up in prison for doing a good deed. Before, I studied only to serve my country, but I never thought that the officialdom of my Qi state had become as dark as the sunlight in this prison. It is truly laughable."

Without a doubt, every word he uttered was a reckless act of courting death.

As if afraid of dying too slowly, Ji Bai added, "The State of Qi is doomed."

The bearded man's eyes gleamed with a sharp light. He thought to himself that scholars were indeed different. Ji Bai looked to be only a teenager, yet he had already studied for over a decade. Had he started reading in the womb?

"Wei Zhiyuan, relying on being the grandson of the Imperial Preceptor, commits all sorts of crimes and evil deeds, and few dare to oppose him."

The bearded man gently advised, "Sir, with such great talent, why not be patient for now? Once you've conquered the mountain of books and become the top scholar, you might be able to change the future of the State of Qi..."

Ji Bai sneered, his eyes filled with genuine anger: "At the beginning of the month, an orphan girl sold herself to bury her father near a restaurant. Wei Zhiyuan, annoyed that she was disturbing his peace, sent men to beat her to death and then wrapped the bodies of the father and daughter in straw mats and dumped them in a mass grave."

"When I asked him about this while we were drinking, he didn't remember killing such a person at all. He even said that talking about dead people was bad luck and invited me to go shoot Mengzi with him."

The game known as "blindfolded archery" is a recent popular pastime among the wealthy and powerful in the capital. A group of servants balance porcelain bowls on their heads, while the wealthy and powerful blindfold themselves with silk and shoot blindfolded. If they hit a bowl, the servants receive a reward; if they hit a person—

Then he can only be considered unlucky.

Ji Bai still remembers that scene. Wei Zhiyuan was so drunk that he could barely walk and reeked of alcohol. Yet, when he invited him to shoot 'Mengzi' (a type of Chinese archery), he was overjoyed and said he would show him his skills.

Ji Bai felt the time was ripe, and without giving Wei Zhiyuan a chance to show his skills, he let him show his legs first.

Then he took a deep breath and, with all the strength his body could muster, broke Wei Zhiyuan's leg.

The pig-like screams still echoed in my ears.

The bearded man listened with indignation, but saw that Ji Bai had a calm expression, as if he didn't care about life and death at all, and said lightly: "Moreover, a good bird chooses a good tree to perch on, and a ruler chooses a subject, and a subject also chooses a ruler."

The bearded man suddenly realized what was going on.

"I understand what you mean, sir. You mean you are a good bird."

Ji Bai: "..."

He was wrong; he shouldn't have given this person the opportunity to overinterpret.

Ji Bai further elaborated on his persona, saying, "Before coming to the capital, I had already heard of Wei Zhiyuan's infamous reputation. He bullies men and women by taking advantage of his status, and he is illiterate yet he can hold a sixth-rank official seal. Such a person who is neither virtuous nor talented, yet the current emperor once praised him as a pillar of the country, simply because his grandfather was the national teacher appointed by the immortal sect."

"Although I am not some extraordinary genius, I am still a scholar who has passed the imperial examination through hard work. If breaking a rich kid's leg means sending him to his death, I don't know how I can serve such a country."

All the prisoners were shocked by his words, and even the jailers outside the door were secretly alarmed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ji Bai caught a glimpse of a prison guard quietly moving away, which put him at ease. He used to slack off in class watching spy movies all the time, so he knew perfectly well that the guard had gone to deliver a message.

The bearded man looked at Ji Bai with a hesitant expression, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, finally unable to hold back his question: "But sir, what if you don't die...?"

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

Ji Bai gave him a look that said, "You're still too naive."

Based on his understanding of the world, the Imperial Advisor would never allow someone who wanted his precious grandson to live. The only one who could protect him was the royal family, in case he himself still had a chance to live. He had been cursing the Emperor quite a bit these past few days.

Of course, with such a minor offense, how could the emperor possibly know who he was?

Although he had mentally celebrated his own death, Ji Bai's eyes still showed grief, and he made a solemn vow:

"If the imperial court does not investigate my mistakes, then I will have no choice but to—"

"As long as I am not dead, I will do my utmost to repay the world."

Ji Bai racked his brains and came up with half a line of ancient poetry.

As soon as he finished speaking, two feet of his talent floated out from the top of his head, folded into a transparent paper crane, spread its wings and flew towards the sky, aiming at the Kui Xing Pavilion, a building taller than the imperial palace, with layers of glazed tiles.

The Kui Xing Pavilion is in charge of the imperial examinations throughout the land, selecting talents for the Book Mountain and the Holy Path. Neither the royal family nor the immortal clans have the right to interfere.

Inside the pavilion, the Grand Secretary opened his eyes.

Before him lay eighty wooden identity plaques, representing the scholars selected from the State of Qi this year. However, Qi only had eighteen places available for the Scholars' Mountain this time.

At this moment, the wooden plaque bearing the words "Ji Bai" turned from black to red, instantly giving him a talent that was one dou more than others.

The Grand Scholar was somewhat surprised, as this was a rare occurrence in the State of Qi.

The representative of Shushan approved the early admission of this Jinshi named "Ji Bai".

The Grand Scholar's mind stirred, and moments later, two scholars in blue robes, holding scrolls, gracefully appeared before him, bowing and saying, "Teacher, what guidance do you have for us?"

The scholar, who was over eighty years old, looked like a wise and venerable immortal. He said, "Qi Guoji Bai has already been admitted to the Shushan Academy and there is no need for him to occupy this year's quota. Let him prepare to go to the Shushan Academy. He will definitely gain something from this trip."

The two students exchanged a strange look, then forced themselves to say, "Ji Bai broke the Grand Preceptor's grandson's leg and is now in prison. The Grand Preceptor... wants him to pay with his life."

The Grand Secretary was immediately enraged. He reached out and slapped the jade pen in his hand, breaking it in two.

"The opening of the Book Mountain is imminent, and there can be no mistakes. Since the Book Mountain has chosen Ji Bai, what does it matter if he kills that grandson Wei Huan?" the Grand Scholar sneered. "Besides, even I have heard of that grandson's infamy."

"Yes, student understands."

After the students left, the Grand Scholar closed his eyes again, but his consciousness wandered through the city in the darkness, landing in the Ministry of Justice's prison.

At the same time, the broken jade pen on the table was put back together, showing no trace of its previous breakage. No one held the pen; it began to write on the blank pages on its own.

A moment later, Ji Bai's conversation in prison was written down in full. The Grand Secretary looked at the words without saying a word, and after a long while, he suddenly said:

"This young man is so young, yet his willpower is so strong, as if there's something he absolutely has to accomplish."

"As long as I am not dead, I will do my utmost to repay the world."

The Grand Secretary pondered, "Is he really that patriotic?"

.

After a while, Ji Bai's mouth was dry.

Acting is really tiring work, but luckily he is single-mindedly focused on money and his will is as firm as a rock.

Ji Bai leaned against the wall and sat down, pretending to be dejected and shaking his head. In reality, he was secretly delighted, feeling that he was only one step away from death. When he returned to the modern world, the only question surrounding his life would be how to spend all the money the system had given him.

The heavy iron door creaked so hard it made your teeth ache, interrupting Ji Bai's fantasy. He looked up and saw that the cell door had been opened by two unfamiliar jailers.

The two jailers were tall and burly, one with dark skin and the other with fair skin; at first glance, they looked like a pair of ghosts.

Black Impermanence quickly scanned the cell and spotted Ji Bai, who had the best appearance, at a glance. He said, "You're the scholar who passed the imperial examination, aren't you? Come with us."

Ji Bai sprang up from the ground instantly.

Haha, I'm going to my death.

Ji Bai forced a smile, turned to his fellow inmates he had spent two days with, suppressed his laughter, and put on a compassionate expression: "Gentlemen, I'm leaving now, even if we are separated by death in the future—"

"Where did you go? Are you trying to escape from prison?"

Bai Wuchang slapped him hard on the back and laughed loudly, "You're not allowed to escape from prison, kid. Kui Xing Pavilion has ordered that you are released without charge."

Ji Bai: "???"