Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

After Song Zhiyuan finished explaining the process of the supplementary examination for candidates for the imperial examination, it was getting late. Chen Zhuo bid farewell and hurried home.

According to Song Zhiyuan, the preliminary examination for candidates for the imperial examination consisted of three parts: testing literary talent, examining literary skills, and answering questions about the classics.

The first two are objective tests, and the last one is a subjective test.

Chen Zhuo was full of confidence because he had already obtained the subjective exam questions in advance.

Upon returning to the gate of the Chen residence, he found several soldiers in fine armor standing outside.

Judging from their aura, they were all ranked as Rank 10 Martial Apprentices.

"Did some important person come to visit?"

Chen Zhuo pondered this in his mind.

In these remote county towns near the long night, it was legal for aristocratic families to maintain private armies.

The Chen family, a prominent family that started out as merchants, is one of the best in the field, with many martial arts apprentices at the tenth rank and several martial artists at the ninth rank.

Upon entering the main hall, one sees the elder brother, Chen Zheng, sitting upright, his gaze occasionally drifting towards the inner room.

"Ah Zhuo is back? Did you gain anything from this trip?"

"I have successfully completed my mission."

Upon hearing Chen Zhuo's reply, Chen Zheng's face lit up with joy.

"Good lad, I knew you could do it! Our Chen family has produced a scholar!"

Chen Zhuo looked towards a corner of the lobby, where some gift boxes were neatly arranged.

So he asked in a low voice:

"Brother, do we have guests at home today?"

Chen Zheng glanced at the inner room again, then pulled Chen Zhuo outside.

"The magistrate has come. Those things are ostensibly gifts of comfort, but in reality, they're here to win over my father," he said, lowering his voice.

"He wants our caravan to make one last trip to Shengtian Prefecture before the Long Night truly engulfs us!"

Hearing this, Chen Zhuo frowned.

"The long night will inevitably come, lasting at least a month, and at most two months. It takes a caravan more than a month to travel to and from Shengtian Prefecture. If they don't return before the long night arrives, won't the caravan be in danger?"

"That's right, that's also Father's concern, but the magistrate..."

Chen Zheng didn't finish speaking, but Chen Zhuo understood what he meant.

If the magistrate visits late at night, it's either because of a particularly urgent matter or because of some private matter that he doesn't want to be seen by others.

The latter seems to be the most likely.

As the two were discussing, Chen Tiansheng and Magistrate Zhou Wenyuan came out from the inner room.

"Brother Chen, please wait a moment and take good care of your injuries. You should carefully consider the matters we discussed earlier," Zhou Wenyuan said with a smile, his eyes narrowed.

Chen Tiansheng bowed respectfully, saying, "I will certainly keep the matter of the county magistrate firmly in mind."

Zhou Wenyuan nodded, then suddenly looked at Chen Zhuo, releasing his aura almost imperceptibly, his eyes filled with inquiry.

"Your son possesses a natural talent for literature; I wonder if he has any plans to serve as an official in the county government?"

"My son is foolish and has no talent for officialdom, but he has now become a disciple of Scholar Song."

After hearing the words "Song Juren," Zhou Wenyuan said nothing more.

The Academy and the County Government have two different cultivation philosophies, and besides, he was just trying to win them over on a whim.

Although there is no age limit for becoming a student in the imperial examination system, it is still better to be as young as possible.

In the eyes of this genius, Chen Zhuo, at his age, should at least be a ninth-rank scholar (xiucai) to be considered qualified.

At his age, I was already striving towards the eighth level: becoming a Juren (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).

After Zhou Wenyuan left, Chen Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief.

The way he looked at me just now was as if I were being stared at by a vicious tiger, making it hard to breathe.

The feeling he gave himself was the opposite of the feeling his master gave him: one was arrogant and domineering, the other was gentle and refined.

Seeing that the atmosphere had quieted down, Chen Zhuo looked at Chen Tiansheng.

"Father, what goods is the magistrate ordering to transport?"

Chen Tiansheng glanced at him, hesitated, and finally spoke after a moment of internal struggle:

"Follow me!"

The two brothers exchanged a glance and followed Chen Tiansheng into the inner room.

Inside the room, Chen Tiansheng took out a piece of drawing paper from a drawer.

Chen Zhuo looked at it and saw that it depicted truckloads of stone tablets.

"These are the goods the magistrate ordered to be transported: a batch of stone tablets of unknown origin."

"Ha, he talks so righteously, what do you mean by 'related to the safety of Qingshan County'? If that's true, why doesn't he escort it himself? Why does he come to us instead?"

"I fell for that old devil's trick last time!" Chen Tiansheng said, then realized something was off, "Pah, I meant the brat's trick!"

"Young in age, but cunning! A treacherous scholar!"

Hearing his father's evaluation, Chen Zhuo stood aside without changing his expression; the term "cunning scholar" had nothing to do with him.

He was just an honest and kind-hearted man.

After Chen Tiansheng finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Chen Zhuo.

"Now that you have become a disciple of Scholar Song..."

"Father, how did you know?"

Chen Zhuo couldn't help but interrupt. He had wanted to ask this question just now. He remembered that he hadn't told Chen Tiansheng about this matter yet. How could he be so sure?

Chen Tiansheng wasn't annoyed at all, and said with a smile, "It would be strange if it didn't succeed!"

"Let's not talk about that anymore, look at this." Chen Tiansheng mysteriously took out a stone.

Upon closer inspection, the character "噬" (shì) is also engraved on it.

"This thing is the culprit behind my attack. Everyone thought it was stolen by the demon cultivator, but who would have guessed that I had something up my sleeve."

He then tossed the item to Chen Zhuo.

"This is clearly something scholars would use. I'm leaving it to you to study!"

Chen Zhuo picked it up, and a faint scholarly aura emanated from it.

[Unknown Engraving Stone (Green): None, equipment effect unknown.]

"An item that can be equipped even though it has no effect?" Chen Zhuo looked at the prompt in the equipment bar, lost in thought.

My equipment slots are almost ready to cool down, I can try it out later.

"In short, this is the current situation. Eldest brother, you focus on honing your martial arts skills and see if you can reach the threshold of Sequence Eight: Martial Master. Second brother, you focus on preparing for the preliminary examination."

"You don't need to worry about the county magistrate's affairs. I'll think about it some more."

After briefly explaining the magistrate's purpose, Chen Tiansheng made arrangements.

Chen Zhuo took the green-quality stone back to his room.

Inside the room, Qingluo had already prepared hot water.

"Young master, it's time for your bath."

Chen Zhuo glanced at the panel and suddenly realized that the analysis of the Moon chapter was almost complete.

Name: Chen Zhuo

[Textual quality: 10 points]

[Literature: Sun (Level 2 Proficient), War (Beginner)]

[Remaining equipment slots: 0]

[Current Equipment: Sun and Moon Sutra (White)]

[Equipment Effects (Basic): Automatically analyzes the content.]

[Current progress: Daily chapter (100%), Monthly chapter (93%)]

He glanced at the cooldown time for unequipping items; there was still half an hour left, just enough time for him to take a bath.

Chen Zhuo lay comfortably in the wooden tub, while Qingluo's soft little hands rhythmically massaged his shoulders.

The force was just right, not too strong, not too weak.

I must say, this kind of enjoyment is truly top-notch.

The voice of Qingluo reached my ears, telling me interesting stories about Qingshan County, such as whose young master had been jilted by someone, and I heard that the person was of very high status.

Who has hired a few new gatekeepers? Whose young master has composed another poem?

"By the way, young master, I heard that the head of the Wang family has recently adopted a goddaughter. She is very beautiful and has the makings of a beauty."