The eight grades of Confucianism.
For the realm of body cultivation.
Cultivating the body, cultivating the qi and considering it as the essence.
The greatest benefit of arriving at this realm is that all diseases are not invaded and evil spirits do not enter.
The Confucian system, itself, is not as direct as the martial arts, and its main focus is still on ruling the country and pacifying the world, and then a bit on demons and evil spirits, and it cannot do that kind of lip-smacking and poetry to suppress demons.
It is difficult to prolong one’s life, and it is already considered the limit of one’s ability to avoid all diseases.
If one could control the natural forces of heaven and earth and prolong one’s life, then everyone would be practising the Confucian Way, and who would be practising the Immortal Way and the Martial Way.
Every Dao has its advantages and disadvantages, and some people tread on both.
The first stage is fine, but once you cross the seventh grade, you will be dragged to your death even if you are extremely gifted.
Xu Qingnian’s kind did not count.
Twenty-nine days, promoted to the third rank, straight to the eighth rank body cultivation realm, can cultivate two dao at the same time, but at the later stage, still have to choose a main path, it is sooner or later.
In the middle of the examination hall.
The crowd really didn’t know what to say.
Zhao Yuan was speechless, Xu Qingnian was promoted to the eighth rank, but in terms of rank he was only the ninth rank, although he came from the Hanlin Academy, but the Hanlin Academy does not exactly depend on rank.
In the whole of South Yu Province, there are only three masters of the eighth rank, and now there is another one, and he is so young that people have to pay attention to him.
But what shocked Zhao Yuan even more was that Xu Qingnian had written a masterpiece.
This is what shocked him.
“Xu Qingnian …… No, Mr. Xu, can you let me have a look at the article?”
After coming back to his senses, Zhao Yuan came in front of Xu Qingnian, and he directly opened his mouth to call out Xu Qingnian, only to think that now Xu Qingnian was already of the eighth rank, so he changed his title and called him sir.
There was no point of disobedience.
What was there not to be convinced about when Heaven and Earth recognized it?
“Your Excellency is very kind, I can’t bear the word sir, just call me by my real name.”
Xu Qingnian had not been arrogant, being able to promote to the eighth rank so quickly was mainly due to the Heaven and Earth Wen Palace, how could he be arrogant.
“No, no, the eighth grade body cultivation is recognized by Heaven and Earth, your Excellency can afford the word sir.”
Zhao Yuan shook his head as he respectfully bowed towards Xu Qingnian, and then bowed towards the article on the desk.
To worship Xu Qingnian was to honour heaven and earth.
To worship the article was to honour the Way of Heaven and Earth.
After the two obeisances, Zhao Yuan turned his gaze to the white paper, yet it was still suffused with rainbow light, revealing no script.
“Ugh.”
Sighing, Zhao Yuan could not help but speak.
“Mr. Xu has written a superb essay, an essay that will astonish the heavens and the earth, cry to the gods and the goddesses, or be of benefit to the people of the world, or to the dynasty of the country, such an essay cannot be read by mere mortals such as myself.
Zhao Yuan spoke up and said so, explaining why there was still rainbow light on this white paper.
When this was said, the crowd was once again surprised, they had not thought that there was such a statement.
A supreme article was not trivial, and could not be viewed by people of equal rank.
“Then does junior still need to transcribe a copy?”
Xu Qingnian asked.
“No need, the supreme article, it’s all natural, Mr. Xu, I, Zhao, intend to seal the article in a box, then present it to the court and ask the great scholars to escort it personally.”
Zhao Yuan opened his mouth, and with this one sentence, the hall was shocked.
Inviting a great scholar to escort the article?
How dare you be so dignified?
“Is inviting a great scholar to come here a bit too …… pompous?”
Xu Qingnian frowned slightly.
Two points, one, the appearance is too big, a little pompous.
Secondly, what is a great scholar? This is a real scholar, an existence that can impeach the emperor, not to mention the prefect of South Yu, even the county king of Changping County, when he sees the great scholar, he has to be respectful.
There was no way around it, the status of a scholar was too high, but what Xu Qingnian feared was that if he invited the great scholar to come, it would be troublesome if he detected that he had practiced a different art.
“No, it’s not pompous at all.”
“Mr Xu doesn’t know, but all great essays are either a chapter of establishment or a chapter of ruling the country, today’s government test, its title is An Guo, so I think what Mr Xu has written should be an essay on ruling the country.”
“To be recognised by heaven and earth, this essay is too important and affects the national fortunes of the Great Wei, and this matter will probably spread throughout the entire South Yu Province in less than half a day, and it won’t take long for it to become famous throughout the world.”
“If we don’t ask the great scholars to suppress it, I am sure that the article will not reach His Majesty.”
Zhao Yuan said with a serious face.
He was extremely serious, word for word.
After hearing these words, Xu Qingnian understood.
Indeed, the fact that the article of governance could be recognised by heaven and earth was proof enough that the article could strengthen Wei’s national fortunes, but the entire world was not a single one.
Although Great Wei is the strongest, however, the seven Northern Expeditions have emptied the family base and weakened the heyday of its prestige.
To put it simply, when Emperor Wu was alive, especially during the first few Northern Expeditions, the world was not in such chaos, and there was no such thing as a demon in the world.
It doesn’t matter who it is, but it proves one thing: someone doesn’t want to restore the fortunes of Great Wei.
Now that the Jedi articles have been revealed, will these people take action?
The answer is obvious.
“Since that’s the case, wouldn’t it be a solution if junior could write a few more volumes?”
Xu Qingnian pondered, since he was worried that someone would ruin the article, he could write a few more volumes and send them over, the big deal would be to divide the troops into a hundred ways, just to tire himself out.
“Not also.”
Zhao Yuan still shook his head, but he did not elaborate, instead he spoke.
“Mr. Xu, there are some things that cannot be said for the time being, so Zhao first sealed the box.”
Zhao Yuan did not reply, after all, there were still many candidates here, although they were all talented readers from all over the world, it did not mean that their character was necessarily good.
This kind of thing definitely couldn’t be said indiscriminately, it was too involved and knew all about it.
“Good.”
Xu Qingnian nodded, and at that moment Zhao Yuan ordered someone to bring a pair of jade boxes, raised the white paper up, solemn and sacred, and then slowly placed it in the box and affixed the ancient talisman of the Great Wei Imperial Way, before he was relieved.
“Lord Zhao, having just broken through the realm, junior wants to leave first and go back to the inn to rest and adjust his body.”
Xu Qingnian used the excuse that he had just broken through to the eighth rank and wanted to hurry back and engrave the article.
“Mr Xu, there is a resting place in the courtyard of the residence, please also invite Mr Xu to enter and rest.”
Zhao Yuan did not say anything, but Xu Qingnian understood what he meant.
After nodding, Xu Qingnian got up and followed Zhao Yuan.
“The rest of the candidates, continue with the examination, no one is allowed to go out after this examination, and all meals are arranged by the Tribute House.”
Zhao Yuan’s voice rang out, reminding the crowd that they had to continue with their exams.
Once this was said, the crowd did not dare to delay and hastily put up their pens, except that all the things Xu Qingnian had done just now were imprinted on his mind, and it was difficult to regain his composure and take the exam seriously for a while.
The inner courtyard.
Xu Qingnian arrived at his residence. Zhao Yuan and the others could not leave the examination hall, it was their duty, so they sent someone to bring themselves into the room to rest.
“Mr Xu, this place is clean, there will be no outsiders to disturb you, Lord Zhao has said that if Mr Xu is recuperating, all he needs to do is shout outside and his subordinates will invite Lord Zhao to come and discuss some matters with you, it is vital.”
The subordinate leading the way spoke up, informing Xu Qingnian that Zhao Yuan had something important to do.
“Good.”
Xu Qingnian nodded.
Making a superb article today had attracted extraordinary, but likewise it would definitely attract some trouble, just what exactly would happen was still to wait for Zhao Yuan to come over personally.
“Sir rest.”
After the latter said this, he closed the door to his room for Xu Qingnian and left.
After the person had left.
Inside the room.
Xu Qingnian took a short rest for half a quarter of an hour, then closed his eyes and entered the Heaven and Earth Literature Palace.
The Heaven and Earth Palace of Literature.
Xu Qingnian walked into the middle of the main hall. At this time, Chao Ge did not evolve into his original form, but stood in it as a statue.
Perhaps he was still thinking about his memories.
Xu Qingnian did not shout to wake him up either, but took a step to jump into the Wen Pond.
He had been promoted to the eighth grade.
Xu Qingnian needed to engrave another article and poem in his body.
The Tenth Grade Righteousness Song.
The Ninth Grade Man Jiang Hong.
For the eighth grade, Xu Qingnian had thought about it before, but now that he was relying on the articles to enter the grade, Xu Qingnian could only give up.
Xu Qingnian did not know what the benefits of having an article engraved in his body would be for the time being.
Xu Qingnian has quite a few poems from a thousand years ago, but the eighth grade relies on articles of governance, so after thinking about it Xu Qingnian plans to carve them in response to the scene.
The eighth grade is not a poem, nor an article, but a song.
[The Goat on the Hill – Tongguan Huai Gu]
Just by looking at the name, many people may not know it, but there is an extremely cla*sic line in it, which is considered to be the finishing touch.
“When the people rise, they suffer; when they fall, they suffer.”
It fits the theme of one’s article.
The dynasties under the sky, whether they flourish or fall, it is the people of the world who suffer after all.
The Eight Pillars of Cultivation, Xu Qingnian took the suffering of the world’s people as a wake-up call, and was constantly vigilant that he must not forget his original heart as a scholar.
With this, Xu Qingnian induced Qi to engrave the seal.
Article engraved seal.
A terrifyingly powerful Qi swept through the entire Palace of Literature.
In an instant, a deafening roar came from the Palace of Literature.
However, Xu Qingnian was so preoccupied with engraving the article that he did not notice anything.
After the article had been engraved, all the Hao Rong Qi automatically coalesced at this moment, turning into a green-coloured ancient bell.
On the ancient bell, the rise and fall of the dynasty and the rise and fall of the people are engraved.
This is a literary artefact of the eighth grade.
Only this time, it did not need to be observed by oneself, but automatically condensed.
In an instant, Xu Qingnian understood that he should have chosen the right topic.
It was also at this moment that he did not wait for Xu Qingnian to carefully observe the artifact.
A familiar voice rang out.
“I remember.”
“I remember.”
“I finally remember.”
As this extremely excited voice rang out, Xu Qingnian also became excited.
This was Brother Chao Ge’s voice.
