章 13: Imperial Examination, Military Examination
編集者: Dragon Boat Translation
"Squeak squeak squeak squeak..."
After the chaos in the backyard, the chefs originally in the kitchen lined up and hugged each other as they looked at the Insect Queen with tears in their eyes.
"Who wants to do it? Tell me." Aunt looked at the chefs and said.
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
The spirit monkeys looked at each other, and their faces were filled with grief and indignation. One of them ran back to the kitchen like a human and took out the pine resin used to remove the feathers of chickens and ducks. As the older spirit monkey ignited a fire in the backyard, the pine resin on its fur began to melt.
"Squeak!"
However, the little spirit monkey's hair remained intact, unaffected by the heat. Instead, it seemed like the pine resin had pulled out its soul. It fell weakly and could not help but moan as if its soul had flown out of its body.
After the older spirit monkey plucked the fur of the two younger spirit monkeys, it switched roles. The two younger spirit monkeys grinned as they watched the older spirit monkey smear pine resin all over its body.
"Hiss..."
As a fox with fur, Su Yan looked at the actions of the spirit monkeys and could not help but feel phantom limb pain. He gasped.
"Can't you use a knife to scrape it? Do I need to use turpentine to remove the fur?"
After the three monkey leaders were done with their hair removal, they wore a slightly loose dress and ran to Chong Qiong to report. Their faces were proud as if they had done something big.
"Hmm... After cleaning the kitchen, go rest!"
Looking at the three monkeys who were very particular about hygiene, Aunt gently nodded and did not pursue the matter of the hair in the dishes. She let them go to the kitchen to clean up before they could rest.
The spirit monkey was a very magical creature. Apart from being extremely human, they also had strong learning abilities.
In addition, they were hardworking and tough. They were often used as servants in the homes of cultivators. However, spirit monkeys were not captured. They liked to sell their beasts. They got spirit stones every month as a salary to work in a cultivator's house.
If they did not get spirit stones, they would stop working.
Once they were given spirit stones, they could work even harder than human servants.
When Chong Qiong opened the brothel, she considered that humans were particular about men and women not being close to each other, so she did not hire male workers. Instead, she bought three spiritual monkeys for cooking and doing heavy work.
Su Yan called the spirit monkey as cultivations forced them to work.
Monkeys hoped to sell themselves for a good price and then live on the salary of the cultivator. Moreover, cultivators also liked to use spirit monkeys to do some killing and corpse disposal work.
Monkeys not being able to speak was an advantage because the spirit monkeys knew quite a few secrets about their owners.
...
After supper, Su Yan began to practice the Transformation of Water and only returned to his room to rest after midnight.
He sat on the bed and breathed in and out awake. When his aunt saw that Jiao Nanwu was still sleeping in the corner, she kindly took her in for the night.
After a night and an early morning, Su Yan woke up from his meditative state. He washed up as usual and went to his aunt's bedroom. He looked at his aunt sitting on the bed and meditating.
"What is it? Tell me."
As a powerful beast, Aunt could sense everything in the brothel even if she did not activate her perception.
When Su Yan ran to her room, she already knew but did not say anything. It was until the little fox squatted pitifully by the bed, staring at her without saying a word, that her aunt had no choice but to ask Su Yan what he was doing here so early in the morning.
"I want to go shopping. I want to go to the Imperial City. Xiao Jin told me that there is a very good textile workshop there. I want to process the silk thread that little aunt spat to weave into cloth."
Su Yan stated his reason for coming.
Xia Yu's main city was incredibly vast. In a world where transportation was underdeveloped, the direct distance from the brothel to the Imperial City was estimated to be over thirty miles.
Although Su Yan had the physical ability to cover such a distance on foot, he was unsure of the route to take.
The main city of Xia Yu was too big. Su Yan was only familiar with the way to the Ten Thousand Flower Pavilion or Rouge Street.
There was no map for the other locations.
"Alright then! Auntie will go with you."
Aunt looked at Su Yan and agreed helplessly, "If it wasn't for your lovely face, I would not be willing. Going to the Imperial City now is simply looking for trouble."
"Why?"
Su Yan did not quite understand what his aunt meant.
However, as Aunt led Su Yan out and strolled through the clouds toward the Imperial City, Su Yan finally understood why Aunt was unwilling to come to the Imperial City.
The streets of the Imperial City were packed with people. Even the windows and observation platforms of the buildings were filled with people. There were also many cultivators in the sky, blocking more than ten streets near the front gate of the Imperial City.
Even on the walls of the Imperial City, it was a spectacular scene of people squeezing together.
The waves of cheers grew higher and higher, but there were also some angry curses.
"This is…"
Su Yan looked at the tens of thousands of people gathered and looked at his aunt in surprise.
"The Martial Arts Examination held once every five years is a national entertainment for the citizens of Xia Yu City. The imperial court will open a betting table for the citizens."
"I used to like to come here to make bets," Aunt said with a gloomy face, "But I lost more than I won. Their cultivation is too weak."
A cultivator's cultivation level was not equivalent to their actual combat capability. Cultivation level only determined their combat capability on paper. One still needed to measure the mutual promotion and restriction of the five elements, secret techniques, divine arts, and magical tools to truly measure a cultivator's actual combat capability.
During the martial arts examination, the imperial court only announced the candidates' cultivation, the five elements, and age. It would not announce whether they had family secret techniques or inherited divine powers. As for whether the candidates used them or not, it was up to the examinees to decide.
As a grand event held once every five years, Chong Qiong attended it when she first settled down in Xiayu.
Ultimately, she lost so badly that she had to teach the young cultivators a lesson about gambling.
Chong Qiong was furious when she saw the martial arts examination. Thus, she did not want to come when the Imperial City held the martial arts examination.
Money was not important. What was important was she felt humiliated!
It was a great humiliation for her to fall into a pit. She still felt embarrassed to tell others she had lost six hundred days here.
One dan was equivalent to 50 kilograms in Xia Yu, and he had lost 30,000 kilograms of spirit stones in the two Martial Examinations.
Aunt had been broken down.
"Yes. Yu Yanning!"
Su Yan was not interested in gambling. He had lost many times in the lottery since he was young and had never even won a scratch ticket. He naturally did not care about the martial arts examination, but he still liked to join in the fun.
When he saw the crowd, he squeezed through the crowd in the sky and walked forward.
"Hey! Kid, the scenery here is good."
Su Yan's push made some cultivators flying in the air unhappy.
The cultivator was about to curse.
Aunt raised her hand to slap his face.
The cultivator's tone became extremely elegant as he invited the little fox to sit on his shoulder and watch the competition.
-- 贈り物
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