Great Zhou’s clerk examination system, the temple examination was the final hurdle.
At Mao Hour on February third, Zhao Xing left his home and hurried to the Minister of Agriculture Supervision.
By 5:45 AM, all fifteen examinees had arrived, including Zong Shichang, Xiao Ze, Wen Nanxing, and Ding Shan.
Chen Shijie and the other assistant officers of the Minister of Agriculture Supervision had been waiting for a long time.
Seeing that everyone was present, Chen Shijie spoke, "Whether you can be appointed as officials depends on today."
"You all have the potential to pass. Do not get nervous, keep a calm heart, and perform as usual."
"I, along with the other officials, wish you all the best of luck."
"Thank you, Your Excellency," the clerks replied in unison, bowing to express their gratitude.
After the pleasantries, Chen Shijie continued,
"At the back, there is a washroom with a set of examination-specific clothing."
"Remove your current clothes, and bring nothing else with you."
"There are three quarters of an hour remaining, so go and change your clothes now."
The clerks, well-acquainted with the rules of the temple examination, immediately went inside to change.
Zhao Xing also went in and changed into a long robe.
He had brought nothing with him. Even his Sixth Rank Soul Armor had been removed and hidden within the Dream Palace, entrusted to the Mechanical Beast Xiezhi for safekeeping.
Originally, the Dream Palace did not offer this functionality. All other items were strictly to be handed out, not brought in, but the Soul Armor was an exception.
As for other items, such as the Calendar of Evil and the Thousand-Mile Token, they had been borrowed initially and returned to the internal treasury of the Minister of Agriculture following the Xuantian Sect incident.
He left the Wind Crystal earrings at home, standing now with nothing but himself.
After changing, Zhao Xing and the other clerks came out to wait.
At this moment, none of them conversed, simply waiting in silence.
At 6:35 AM, a Cloud Rain Ship arrived from the south, landing at the Gucheng Minister of Agriculture Supervision.
Four officials descended from it.
Among them, two temple masters carried four divine statues of the County Prince.
The other two were seventh-rank proctors.
After the customary reading of the rules.
At 7:00 AM, they led fifteen clerks of the Minister of Agriculture Supervision into the divine temple of Gucheng.
Under the emcee’s guidance,
the clerks first paid respects to the various halls of the temple, such as the East Lake True Monarch Temple, the Caoxi True Monarch Temple, and the All Saints Hall.
This process was to express gratitude to the Yin Gods for passing down the teachings.
Zhao Xing mainly paid respects to Caoxi and Zheng Lun.
Most of his spells were taught by these two Yin Gods.
After the worship process was complete,
the fifteen clerks then stood in the central Sky Heart Square of the divine temple.
At 7:45 AM, the two emcees from the commandery placed the County Prince’s statues at the four corners of the square.
With the golden light shining, a new palace suddenly appeared at the location of Sky Heart Square.
The fifteen examinees, who had been standing in the center of the square, found themselves suddenly inside this new palace in the next moment.
Tianxin Hall, where Great Zhou’s Grand Ancestor was worshipped.
It was activated only for significant events such as the temple examination and the Emperor’s sacrificial rites.
The emcee led the examinees in burning incense and bowing to the Ancestor’s Statue.
They expressed gratitude to him for establishing the divine temple and passing down myriad teachings, as well as for setting up the clerk examination system, providing a pathway for lower officials to move up.
The emcee threw the yellow paper, representing the clerks’ names, into the bronze incense burner before the Ancestor’s Spirit Platform.
In the next moment, fifteen desks and chairs emerged from the ground.
"Clerks, please take your assigned seats."
Zhao Xing found the desk with his name and sat down.
As soon as he sat, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones appeared.
Looking up, he saw that the other examinees’ and officials’ figures were fading away.
The theoretical part of the temple examination officially began.
It lasted a total of 72 hours.
Leaving the seating area would count as submitting the exam early.
Once the time was up, no more answers could be written.
"Finally, it’s here,"
Zhao Xing slowly exhaled, then picked up the exam paper and began to review it thoroughly.
The exam paper consisted of forty sheets.
Thirty of them were questions, and ten were blank.
Just like the Bailu seasonal examination, the questions were set by Chen Shijie according to court regulations.
The first ten sheets were basic questions, which could be answered through rote memorization. Compared to the Bailu examination, the number of basic questions had decreased by a third.
Since the temple examination was tied to official appointments, the easy questions had been reduced.
Zhao Xing glanced through them briefly and began answering the basic questions.
[In which dynasty, year, and month was "Heavenly Time Hundred Solutions" compiled, and by whom was it authored? Which position does it hold in the All Saints Hall of this dynasty?]
Zhao Xing quickly wrote the answer: [Qian Dynasty, July of the 149th Year of Zhiyuan, authored by Grand Minister of Agriculture Chen Yi, holding the twenty-seventh position in the All Saints Hall of this dynasty.]
On the Day of Great Heat, rotten grass transforms into fireflies. _______ After five more days, the heavy rain sets in.
Answer: After five more days, the soil moistens in the humid heat.
If the rotten grass does not transform into fireflies, the valley yields scant. _______
Answer: The soil moistens without humid heat, objects are not subject to punishment. If the heavy rain does not set in, the nation will lack grace.
Zhao Xing smoothly answered, quickly finishing the basic easy questions.
He then moved on to the situational advanced questions designed to filter out candidates.
["In the land of Nan Zheng, seeking to take its soil, the loose earth lacks strength, instead aiding the fire in generating soil; using gold to drain the essence, dry soil makes brittle gold, making it difficult to function. How to resolve?"]
Upon seeing this question, Zhao Xing slightly frowned.
He hadn’t expected the first situational question on the eleventh sheet to already be so challenging.
["This question tests the method of soil extraction, but why is there a situation where using gold to drain the essence results in dry soil making brittle gold?"]
Extracting soil required specific considerations, so this question should be answered according to the "Monthly Soil Extraction Method" for spring, summer, autumn, and winter soils.
Loose soil lacking strength, instead aiding the fire in generating soil, indicated it was ’summer soil.’
Using the gold element power from the earth veins to drain the essence was supposed to be the method mentioned in "Monthly Soil Extraction Method." So why did it result in the earth vein power making dry soil brittle gold, difficult to extract?
Zhao Xing’s gaze swept back and forth across the question, landing on the words ’Nan Zheng.’ Two seconds later, he suddenly understood.