Wayfarer

Chapter 718: Shenfeng's Imperial Examination

It had been a month since Shenfeng sent out invitations to the various Immortal sects about its upcoming imperial examination.

During that month, Shenfeng had taken down its six neighboring empires, and had pretty much finished off its forty neighboring kingdoms as well.

Forty kingdoms seemed like a large number, but Shenfeng's troops only had to strike at their capitals. Kingdoms weren't bolstered by fortune, and their kings couldn't even draw on imperial might. How could such kings defend against Shenfeng's onslaught?

Over twenty kingdoms surrendered immediately. Those who stubbornly resisted found their capitals destroyed.

Shenfeng had managed to take down a vast expanse of territory, but the administration required to integrate all these territories into Shenfeng was no easy task. Shenfeng had borrowed tens of thousands of officials from Dazheng, but even that was insufficient.

Shenfeng now had over a hundred Immortal cities and countless ordinary ones. Each required a significant number of officials.

Even though Shenfeng had done its best to nurture new officials over the last few months, it still had far fewer than were necessary.

Digesting such large tracts of territory required time—and a large standing army. Otherwise, bandits and robbers would appear and pillage what was left unprotected.

It was under this backdrop that Shenfeng's imperial examination took place.

Officials shouted loudly by the palace, "Martial candidates shall be divided by cultivation across the various drill grounds outside Shenfeng's capital. All martial registrants, head to your respective drill ground!"

"Understood!" chorused a group of cultivators from within and without Shenfeng's capital.

"Scholarly candidates, be you cultivator or citizen, gather at the central plazas within the capital and prepare for the examination!" the official continued.

"Understood!" chorused the candidates from across a hundred testing grounds.

The martial examination would take place outside the capital, and the scholarly examination inside. The large-scale imperial examination commenced immediately.

Of course, considering that the examination had been scheduled in haste for the first time, there were sure to be plenty of deficiencies and even instances of cheating. However, Shenfeng was in need of talent, and a few cheaters could be overlooked for the time being. Once everything had settled, Shenfeng would re-examine the results of the imperial examination. The priority now was recruiting as many experts as possible.

A tense atmosphere befell Shenfeng's capital.

Countless candidates were fighting and writing intently. Many ordinary citizens were participating in the scholarly examination and were treating it with utmost concentration. They had never before been treated on equal footing with Immortal cultivators.

The whole world seemed to be watching as Shenfeng's imperial examination unfolded.

The courtly officials watched on in excitement.

They had been with Shenfeng for almost two years, but even they couldn't have imagined how rapidly Shenfeng would grow. They glanced at the Divine Emperor with reverence.

She was dressed in draconic robes with black brocade and gold motifs, with a crown of black jade on her head. She watched on dispassionately from her throne, though inwardly she was worried about Xiao Nanfeng being in the black coffin hidden realm.

Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes and stood up frostily.

"Your Majesty? Is something the matter?" an official ventured.

"We have guests. Follow me out and we'll receive them together," the Divine Emperor commanded.

She strode toward the entrance to the palace. The courtly officials' eyes widened, all having guessed that enemies were approaching. None cowered; they all followed the Divine Emperor out of the palace.

Just then, a huge commotion rang out from outside the city.

A huge elephant spirit was sent flying into the air.

"Someone's causing trouble during the imperial examination!" a cultivator shouted from afar.

Everyone glanced over at the commotion to see a golden cultivator shoot into the air and catch the elephant spirit that was sent flying. He shouted, "Those who dare disrupt Shenfeng's imperial examination shall be killed!"

"Save me!" the elephant spirit cried out in fear.

A blade struck at the golden cultivator from afar, but the golden cultivator ignored it and punched the elephant's head instead.

The elephant spirit's head burst apart with a splat as the blade struck the golden cultivator's body—to no avail.

The golden cultivator turned toward the source of the attack to see a man staring at his blade in disbelief. He didn't understand how the golden cultivator had withstood his attack.

"You have helpers? Very well. Send them all out!" the golden cultivator shouted as he charged forward.

The blade-wielding cultivator reared back in shock. "Help me!"

"Die!"

A group of cultivators transformed into spirits as they shot toward the golden cultivator, who yelled out and sent them flying.

The same situation was occurring all over Shenfeng's capital. Spirits had gathered en masse to attack the examination grounds. As the fighting intensified, formations suddenly sprung up all around Shenfeng, while the spirits were held back by Shenfeng's troops that had been lying in ambush.

Countless Immortal spirits had flocked to Shenfeng with killing intent, causing many of the candidates to glance up in shock.

"This was bound to happen at some point. I wonder who's attacking Shenfeng?"

"Who else? It has to be Hongyue. Don't you recognize that Immortal spirit taking on Ye Dafu?"

"Hongyue really is strong. Will the Divine Emperor be able to hold them back?"

The candidates murmured to themselves as they watched the spectacle unfold.

"There's nothing to gawk at!" an official exclaimed. "Shenfeng's soldiers will guard you for the period of the examination. Return to your tests!"

The candidates were taken aback.

Hongyue had come to attack them in force. Would the Shenfeng Empire really be able to withstand their onslaught? What if the entire empire were destroyed? What would be the point of the imperial examination then?

However, no one contradicted the officials. They returned to their examination papers even as they furtively glanced up at the sky from time to time.

By then, the Divine Emperor had emerged from her palace. As she eyed the fighting unfolding all across Shenfeng, she scoffed. "Since you're already here, what's the point of skulking about in the shadows? Or are you too ashamed to reveal yourselves?!"

The Divine Emperor glanced at the fog-shrouded peak of a mountain far in the distance outside the capital.

A gust of wind blew by, dissipating the fog and revealing a group of figures.

In the lead was a woman dressed in a white gown, a phoenix's crown on her head. She looked particularly elegant and graceful. Behind her were a group of her subordinates.

"It's the empress of Hongyue, Tu Jiuniang! She's a Boundless Immortal. How could she have shown up herself?!" exclaimed cultivators from within the city.

"A Boundless Immortal? How can Shenfeng defend against her?"

"Perhaps by invoking the empire's might..."

"Will the Divine Emperor be able to withstand her attacks?"

The citizens of Shenfeng glanced at each other fearfully. Some were expectant, others worried.

"You're the Divine Emperor? You are a pretty thing, but you shouldn't have joined forces with Xiao Nanfeng." Tu Jiuniang laughed slyly.

The Divine Emperor scoffed. "How dare a vile-smelling fox like you criticize me? A den of foxes sought to submit to me in the past, but I couldn't stand their stench. To think another one would appear before me!"

"You wench! I was going to give you the opportunity to draw on your imperial might. Forget it, then!"

Tu Jiuniang pointed at the Divine Emperor. The image of a white fox's tail, hundreds of meters long, appeared in the air above Shenfeng's capital and whipped at the Divine Emperor.

A Boundless Immortal's techniques were fearsome indeed. The tail swept downward, trailed by two gusts of wind. Such was the force of the attack that Shenfeng's cultivators shook their heads in despair.

"We're done for. The Divine Emperor hasn't even had time to draw on Shenfeng's might! How can she withstand the attack?!" someone exclaimed.

Just then, the Divine Emperor reached out for the heavens. She manifested a giant palm that curled around the tail. The two techniques met in a shockwave of energy.

Everyone was taken aback. They stared at the Divine Emperor in shock.

"She... caught the tail? So easily?"

"The Divine Emperor must be a Boundless Immortal herself!"

"Thank goodness I didn't flee! I ignored those idiots and came to participate in the imperial examination. I'm going to witness Shenfeng's rise into a divine empire!"

"Well done!"

The cultivators of Shenfeng cheered in excitement.

A monarch's individual strength determined the limit of her empire. Many cultivators from Immortal sects had been worried that the Divine Emperor wouldn't be strong enough to support Shenfeng's growth, but their worries had clearly been for naught.

The masters of the various Immortal sects sighed in relief—then frowned.

"We were far too conservative. We should have had more of our disciples participate in this imperial examination. Even if they decide they don't want to stay in Shenfeng, it would be far better to give up on a position as an official than to have to fight for one in the future."

"The sect grandmaster's a Golden Immortal who was too embarrassed to participate in the imperial examination given his cultivation, but I registered him for it anyway. Quick, have him head to the Golden Immortal examination grounds immediately! Have him tell the examiners that he arrived late!"

Opposite the Divine Emperor, Tu Jiuniang gaped in shock. "Impossible. How could you be a Boundless Immortal?"

She waved a hand. Eight more gigantic fox's tails appeared amidst the void, sweeping toward the Divine Emperor with overwhelming might.

"A nine-tailed heavenly fox? I've killed more than my fair share of them in the past. Do you really expect to be able to show off in front of me?" the Divine Emperor demanded coolly.

She punched forward. A fist of incredible proportions shot toward Tu Jiuniang, causing eight of the tails to dissipate in a whirlwind and sending Hongyue's spirits flying. The Divine Emperor's palm technique jerked on Tu Jiuniang's final tail, tearing it off.

Then, she flashed forward right up to Tu Jiuniang.

"Be careful!" those cultivators behind Tu Jiuniang shouted.

Tu Jiuniang gasped in shock. She instinctively threw out a punch.

A huge tempest formed around the two female cultivators. Mountains underfoot were crushed into powder, and Tu Jiuniang's subordinates were all sent flying. They fell to the ground, vomiting out blood. A particularly weak cultivator among them simply exploded.

The fight between the two Boundless Immortals was so intense that countless cultivators were watching with bated breath.