The sage was determined to die.

Ji Bai remained silent for a long time.

He looked at the old woman beside him who was having a heart-to-heart talk, and said, "This will work?"

The old woman stopped eating sunflower seeds, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "What was the assessment task for this round again?"

"Solve the famine," Ji Bai said.

The mother-in-law breathed a sigh of relief after the heart-to-heart talk.

She said, "Once the famine has been resolved, the famine will naturally cease to exist."

Ji Bai: "..."

What you said makes so much sense, I can't even refute it.

The second round of assessment was obviously much more difficult than the first. This assessment contained many hidden test points. For example, if the candidates did not make a decision immediately, the starving people would not be able to endure it and would choose to rebel, disperse, or even starve to death.

If a few candidates hesitate for even a moment and fail to make their decision in time, they will be eliminated.

Looking at the few survivors, Ji Bai hesitated repeatedly during the third round of assessments, and did not make a selection for a long time.

In the third round of assessments, he didn't have many options to choose from.

Only when he considered the choice of "the Way" did Wenxin, placed in his heart, suddenly burn him.

Ji Bai reached out and covered Wen Xin's hand, circling the choice with his pen.

He turned his head to look at the chatty old woman who was eating sunflower seeds and said, "This time it's our turn to step in."

……

Chu Ze opened his eyes again.

He instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes from the scorching sun overhead. Only then did he realize that half of his body was sunk into the soft sand, and not far away was a vast ocean, its blue waters resembling an inverted sky.

Chu Ze struggled to his feet from the sand and then realized that a red-faced man was sitting next to him. He was the examiner who was in charge of guarding Wenxin.

Ji Bai looked at the sea that he had created.

"I used to really enjoy spending time alone at the beach, and I even thought about walking into the sea and letting myself be submerged by the water."

Ji Bai looked at Chu Ze and said, "But I didn't do that because I can't swim."

The prince of Chu clenched his fist slightly, pondering the other's meaning. Finally, he politely bowed and asked, "May I ask, examiner, is this the final test?"

Ji Bai smiled but remained silent.

He pointed to the middle of the sea and said, "Wenxin is in the middle of the sea. As long as you can protect it, Wenxin is yours."

Without hesitation, Chu Ze turned and walked towards the middle of the sea.

He let the icy seawater submerge his calves, waist, and chest.

Finally, he plunged into the sea and began to swim. He wasn't a very good swimmer, but he still managed to open his eyes in the water and keep moving forward, searching.

Finally, he found the Wenxin at the bottom of the sea.

At this moment, even the usually calm Chu Ze could not hide his excitement. As a prince, no one understood the importance of Wen Xin better than him.

On the shore, Ji Bai rested his chin on his hand, as if talking to himself.

"This round of assessment is about the Dao, but what exactly is the Dao?"

His voice was blown away into the air, and his body gradually became transparent.

Chu Ze did not see Ji Bai when he went ashore.

Despite his cautious nature, he did not doubt the authenticity of Wenxin's heart at this moment.

"Is it enough to simply guard this literary heart?"

Chu Ze lowered his head slightly, watching the green Wenxin pierce his heart. At this moment, he felt a power he had never possessed before, a power that was definitely not something ordinary people could have. His very existence represented the extraordinary.

He slowly revealed a smile, but the next second, the smile froze on his face.

This is a person of exceptional literary talent.

No, it is even more precious than the first grade.

……

"you--"

Chu Xi clenched her fists, suppressing the urge to beat the old man, and forcibly swallowed the profanities that were about to spill out. She said, "Say what you just said again!"

The mother-in-law yawned during the heart-to-heart talk.

"Your final test is very simple: just kill your brother."

At this moment, the two of them stood in a stone cave. It was cold and damp. On the stone bed lay a person whose life or death was unknown. The person's eyes were closed and his face was pale. It was Chu Ze, who was unconscious.

The old woman, holding a dagger, said seductively, "I know this is your own brother, but the world of books is never short of brothers who turn against each other, is it?"

Chu Xi stood in front of Chu Ze, looking at her coldly: "What did you do to my brother?"

"What can I do?"

The old woman waved her hand and said, "Don't think of us examiners as too malicious. We are not completely opposed to each other."

What Chu Xi didn't notice was that a few drops of cold sweat trickled down the forehead of the old woman who was having a heart-to-heart talk.

She is illiterate, and the words she speaks now are all words that Ji Bai dictated to her, which she then memorized by rote.

That bastard didn't forget to pat her on the shoulder one last time, threatening, "Don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

The old woman naturally believed in Ji Bai's character.

This guy is probably spying on them right now.

"Your brother was injured in the last round of assessments and is currently unconscious."

The old woman placed the dagger beside the stone bed and said, "The final round of the test is very simple. The one who survives to the end will win the literary heart."

"You can choose not to kill your brother, but you will be trapped here forever."

The old woman looked at him with a mocking smile and said sarcastically, "You two brothers are really something, the only ones who survived to the end. Think of it on the bright side, your brother being in a coma now should be a good thing for you, right?"

Chu Xi's face darkened, and she gritted her teeth, saying, "What do you mean? What do you mean by 'benefiting me'?"

"Oh, then I'll just be more direct."

The old woman glanced at the unconscious Chu Ze and said, "Wenxin isn't so easy to obtain, especially high-grade Wenxin. You can guarantee you won't harm your brother, but can you guarantee that if your brother were awake, he wouldn't attack you because of this Wenxin?"

"You, you—"

Chu Xi stared intently at the old woman in front of her, her raised fist unable to strike, and she hesitated to utter a word of denial.

The old woman in front of him gave him a sarcastic smile.

The figure then vanished.

In the empty, cold cave, only the two brothers remained.

Chu Xi scratched her hair a few times, then slowly shifted her gaze to the sleeping Chu Ze.

Looking at his brother's pale face, his mind was filled with the last words of the old woman who had talked to him.

If your brother were awake, would he really not attack you?

……

"Brother, hurry up and do it! What are you waiting for?"

Chu Ze hugged his younger brother tightly. At this moment, Chu Xi was half injured and extremely weak, leaning against him, constantly spitting out blood.

Chu Xi gripped Chu Ze's collar tightly, her eyes already lifeless, and said in a weak voice, "Even if you give them this Wenxin, they...they won't let us go."

Chu Ze gripped his younger brother's hand tightly, his face as cold as ice.

He looked in the direction of the person who had come from. The person calmly straightened the corner of his clothes, showing no remorse whatsoever for injuring his brother.

"Chu Ze, are you really going to make an enemy of the entire Baiyujing for the sake of Wen Xin?"