Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

Three days later.

The preliminary examination of the Imperial Academy of Immortal Cultivation officially began on a spacious training ground outside the city of Shuntian Prefecture.

This great test had no rigid, formulaic exam papers, and no Confucian classics.

The drill ground was filled with thousands of long wooden tables.

Scholars, craftsmen, and even some villagers dressed in short clothes all gathered here, carrying their own self-made mechanisms, ritual implements, or simply a carving knife or an iron ingot.

The examiners were the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and two master craftsmen from the Imperial Observatory.

In a corner of the training ground, Shen You, wearing a faded blue robe, stood nervously in front of a wooden table.

In front of him was an object wrapped in rags.

"Next up, Shen You, a student from Xuanwu Gate."

An examiner walked up to the table and looked expressionlessly at the poorly dressed scholar.

"What have you brought? What are the wonders of its formation?" the examiner asked routinely.

Shen You took a deep breath and, with trembling hands, untied the tattered cloth.

What was revealed was a palm-sized model of a waterwheel, carved entirely from ordinary jujube wood.

The core gear of the waterwheel is engraved with dense, yet flowing, natural patterns.

The array patterns did not damage the original texture of the jujube wood; on the contrary, they seemed to grow out of the wood itself, exuding a strange and natural beauty.

Several wealthy young men taking the exam nearby couldn't help but sneer softly when they saw the crude wooden object.

"Is this some kind of child's toy? It doesn't even have a scrap of low-grade spirit stone embedded in it, yet they dare to use it for the Imperial Academy exam?"

Shen You ignored the mockery.

He closed his eyes and silently practiced the breathing technique from the "First Chapter." He forced out an extremely faint wisp of energy from his fingertips and gently touched the eye of the wooden gear array.

In an instant.

"Buzz".

A very faint yet exceptionally clear buzzing sound came from the wooden waterwheel.

Under the examiner's shocked gaze.

The wooden waterwheel, though not connected to any water source, began to slowly turn under the influence of an invisible water elemental energy.

As the gears meshed, the free water vapor in the surrounding air was forcibly gathered by the formation, condensing into glistening droplets on the blades of the waterwheel.

Water droplets fell as the leaves turned, as if a miniature spring rain was falling on the parched training ground.

"This...this is a water-gathering formation?!"

The examiner gasped, rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and picked up the wooden waterwheel.

"How is this possible! It's just ordinary wood, without any spirit stones embedded in it, yet it can withstand the flow of energy from the water-gathering array without breaking?!"

The examiner's voice became shrill with excitement, instantly attracting the attention of the master craftsman from the Qintian Pavilion in the distance.

The master craftsman strode over, snatched the waterwheel from his hand, and examined it closely for a moment. His calloused hands began to tremble violently.

"Following the principles of wood, guiding the energy according to the terrain! Such an ingenious formation design is simply unheard of! Who taught you this?!"

The master craftsman stared intently at Shen You, as if he were looking at a peerless piece of uncut jade.

Shen You swallowed hard, and the image of the scholar in blue robes chatting idly while cracking melon seeds at the tea stall came to mind.

"Replying to...Replying to Your Excellency. A few days ago, I happened to meet a gentleman in a blue robe at a tea stall. He gave me a few words of guidance, and that's how I suddenly understood."

The master craftsman and the examiner exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

With just a few words, he was able to point out a prodigy who could break the shackles of ordinary wood bearing arrays?

What extraordinary talents are still hidden in this capital city?

"Excellent! What a wonderful example of following the natural order!"

The master craftsman patted Shen You heavily on the shoulder and laughed heartily.

"Shen You! This item of yours may look crude, but if we apply this principle to the giant wooden keel of our Great Ming treasure ship, we can save countless spiritual materials! I've decided to grant you your place as a student of the Imperial Academy!"

An uproar erupted on the drill ground.

Those wealthy young men who had previously mocked Shen You now looked ashen-faced and lowered their heads in shame.

Shen You stood there blankly, listening to the words "given," his eyes instantly reddened, and two lines of hot tears slid down his cheeks.

He turned his head and looked in the direction of Xuanwu Gate.

In the heart of that bustling marketplace, who exactly was that gentleman in the blue robe who left no name?

……

Inside the courtyard house.

The spring rain has just stopped, and the sky is a clear, azure blue, as if it has been washed clean.

Li Changqing sat under the eaves, his carving knife gently falling, blowing away the last piece of wood shavings.

On the desk, the colossal starship carved from sandalwood was finally completed.

The ship was long and slender, with its sails billowing high. The cannons at the bow and the array patterns on the hull were meticulously carved with his finesse, exuding a grand and majestic aura of riding the wind and waves, ready to conquer the endless galaxy.

He put down his carving knife, picked up the cup of tea that had long since gone cold, and drank it all in one gulp.

Hearing the faint cries of peddler hawking his wares coming from outside the alley, Li Changqing smiled contentedly.

The seeds of this mortal realm have sprouted, and the gates of the Imperial Academy have been erected.

After a century of accumulation, the great Ming Dynasty's colossal ship finally raised its sails to conquer the world.

"Long life is a long journey, and this mortal world is truly a sight to behold."

He opened the Xiangfei bamboo folding fan and gently swayed the fan surface.

A gentle breeze swept through the courtyard, stirring up a few fallen petals.

The figure in the blue robe, sitting idly, seemed to have become one with the mighty tide of the times at this moment, serene yet indispensable.