Chapter 180: Approaching the Supreme God (Part 2)
Forty seconds in the high dimension passed quickly, yet also stretched on.
Liu Sheng couldn't remember anything concrete, only countless distorted corridors and doors distributed above, below, left, and right. She didn't know if they were real doors, but it seemed like a reasonable interpretation.
She hadn't expected to enter such a strange and confined space while still facing the Supreme God's true form.
But she had no idea what to do, as there was no sense of direction here, or perhaps she just couldn't perceive the direction yet.
From beginning to end, only the World's voice calmly guided her.
After a few turns and a few slopes, she seemed to see a book behind one of the doors.
She couldn't comprehend the existence within this space, so she could only let the World quickly flip through it.
Then, she returned to the pitch-black Void Realm. This time, before she could even glance at the Supreme God, she was directly expelled.
When she asked the World what it was, the World told her four words: 【Work Log】.
...
From the start of meditation to entering the Void Realm, and then from the Void Realm to forty seconds in the high dimension, it was clearly a very short time, yet Liu Sheng saw that the sky was already faintly bright, the heavy rain had stopped, and a whole night had passed just like that.
Liu Sheng looked down and saw her clothes were soaked. She quickly slipped back into her room from the rooftop before Wang Dongdong woke up.
Lest she be misunderstood as running out to get drenched in the rain to relieve her anxiety over the Examination, that would be something she'd be mocked for her entire life!
She used the Cleanliness Technique to take a bath, washed up, changed into the Toad Palace Folding Laurel Skirt meticulously sewn for her by Liu Ruhai for the Examination, and tied her hair into a neat ponytail. At this point, Liu Sheng could finally go back to sleep.
Liu Sheng on duty!
She opened the door with a refreshed spirit, and the exceptionally fresh negative oxygen ions, ionized by lightning after the thunderstorm, wafted towards her.
Liu Sheng greeted Wang Dongdong, who also opened her door across the way, with a sunny expression, embarking on the most important day of her life under Wang Dongdong's complex gaze.
...
While queuing amidst the low Qi of the other examinees, with most of the queue progress completed, Liu Sheng suddenly heard another burst of girlish cheers from behind her. The atmosphere instantly became uplifted and anxious, with a hint of budding spring amidst the summer heat.
Liu Sheng could guess who had arrived without even turning around.
"Is he also participating in the imperial Examination this year?" Liu Sheng asked.
Wang Dongdong, like many others in the front half of the queue, turned around, stood on tiptoe, and craned her neck over the heads of others, confirming that the person was Wen Xuanning.
Wang Dongdong immediately lost interest, turned back, and replied, "He must have entered early, since he's already in the Mingzhen Realm."
"Speaking of which, he looks as ambitious as you do!"
Liu Sheng was curious after hearing this, so she turned around to look. She saw Wen Xuanning in a white robe, unblemished by mud, his feet hovering slightly above the muddy ground.
His exceptionally handsome face held a faint expression, but Liu Sheng could still discern an air of confident determination.
He truly was a young man riding on the spring breeze, full of triumph.
If he were on horseback, his horse's hooves would probably gallop so fast they wouldn't touch a speck of mud.
She didn't know why he was so relaxed and at ease, completely different from the demeanor of the other examinees.
"Could he be cheating?" one of the Liu Shengs maliciously speculated.
"Perhaps it's just natural, inborn confidence," the gentle Liu Sheng corrected.
After queuing for a long time, Liu Sheng and Wang Dongdong finally saw the Tribute Yard gate.
"Oh?" Wang Dongdong spotted a familiar figure.
"Cai Zhi Gege?" She was about to call out, but remembered it would be inappropriate and quickly stifled the sound.
Jiang Cai Zhi, dressed in official robes, looked stern as he supervised the officials at the gate, inspecting the examinees' identity credentials and Examination permits.
When it was Wang Dongdong's turn, he merely glanced indifferently at her, then his gaze swept over to Liu Sheng.
Wang Dongdong's identity was verified correctly, and she could finally enter. Jiang Cai Zhi almost imperceptibly nodded slightly at her, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Wang Dongdong knew this was a sign of encouragement, so she replied, "Thank you, Officer."
But towards Liu Sheng, Jiang Cai Zhi showed no such expression, his face indifferent, as if he didn't recognize her.
Liu Sheng thought this was reasonable, after all, they had only shared one meal, and she had almost killed his brother—a perfectly ordinary relationship.
Her identity credential and Examination permit were swiped across a jade tablet, which glowed green, indicating a correct identity match. The official nodded to Liu Sheng and returned her items.
Liu Sheng thanked him and put away her credentials.
She stepped forward, crossing the threshold.
Finally, she was inside the Tribute Yard.
She didn't know how long she had waited for this step.
She had almost thought she would never have the chance to see what the inside of the Tribute Yard looked like in this lifetime.
Upon entering the main gate, the courtyard was packed with examinees, divided into male and female lines to enter rooms for body searches, to prevent them from bringing in anything they shouldn't.
Although by now, cheating was already very difficult to achieve.
The Tang Country's imperial Examination did not require examinees to bring their own pens, ink, paper, or inkstones; everything was provided in the Examination hall.
This included food for the entire day, from morning till night, which would be delivered to their desks by junior officials at regular intervals, though it was only enough to satisfy basic hunger; deliciousness was not to be expected.
Liu Sheng saw a few familiar faces on the female side.
Lin Shuying and Senior Sister Qu Chunyan were queuing together, clearly having come as companions, and smiled warmly as soon as they saw her.
However, their faces also showed a hint of fatigue, indicating they had likely spent a lot of effort in the past few days.
Liu Sheng remembered that Song Ru was also taking the imperial Examination this year, but she didn't see her, perhaps she had already entered earlier.
And Wang Dongdong also saw Ling Yuke queuing ahead, who merely gave Wang Dongdong a haughty nod, as if acknowledging her presence.
"Hmph, she's getting more and more ill-tempered," Wang Dongdong grumbled in a low voice, a bit annoyed. "Her father hasn't been promoted for so many years, I don't know what she's being so arrogant about."
"Why hasn't he been promoted? Isn't Ling Shangshu a capable and effective minister?" Liu Sheng was surprised and puzzled by this.
"Precisely because he's too capable, and his personality is aloof..." Wang Dongdong explained quietly to Liu Sheng.
Liu Sheng understood, and couldn't help but sigh. Indeed, "the capable rise to the top" was not a universally applicable truth everywhere.
"So pitiful, should we visit after the Examination?"
"Mother's instructions, you haven't done them. If Mother found out, she'd nag us to death."
"As long as that old man doesn't complain, how would Mother know?"
"It sounds like they haven't been in contact for a long time either, we're perfectly safe!"
"In any case, I don't want to see him. I always feel that person is deeply cunning, even though we haven't met."
"You're just suspecting he harmed you, it might not be true."
But the Liu Shengs simply avoided the matter, discussing it, and before they knew it, the line reached its end, and it was Liu Sheng and Wang Dongdong's turn to enter.
Inside the room were individual screens, behind which female officials waited.
Liu Sheng walked behind one of the screens. The female official silently swept a glowing jade ruyi she held over Liu Sheng's entire body. The ruyi shimmered with a gentle green light, detecting no abnormalities.
After passing this hurdle, there was still a Dragon Gate.
Beyond the Dragon Gate lay the official Examination hall.