Chapter Thirteen: The First Trial

  Yu Xuanji was about to put on a stern face and lecture Xu Xian, but looking at his pitiful appearance, she felt a little soft. No, of course not, it's just that she needed to progress gradually, couldn't let Xu Xian get bored with the Taoist methods. She thought so, and suddenly remembered her own experience when learning to draw talismans.

  "Pick up your pen."

  Xu Xian immediately picked up his brush, and then Yu Xuanji grabbed Xu Xian's hand and said: "I'll help you with the strokes, just focus on spreading your spiritual energy."

  Her slender fingers covered Xu Xian's hand, smooth as the finest porcelain. Xu Xian was taken aback, seeing Yu Xuanji's expressionless face, seemingly unbothered, thinking that as a cultivator she probably didn't care about such things. He suppressed the scattered thoughts in his mind and focused on transmitting spiritual energy. This method was quite effective, and indeed, after one try, he succeeded, although it wasn't possible for Xu Xian to immediately learn how to paint himself, but he vaguely grasped many principles. This is the difference between having a teacher and not having one, with just a little guidance at the critical point, saving countless effort.

  Just as Xian Ru turned back, she saw a faint blush on Yu Xuanji's face. As a cultivator, she didn't care about worldly etiquette, so she took Xian Ru's hand. But Yu Xuanji's master was also a woman, and at that time, being held by the hand didn't feel anything special. However, this was her first time having physical contact with a man since birth. No matter how high her cultivation was, before becoming an emotionless and sexless great Dao, she was still a woman after all. Only through experience did she understand that it wasn't as simple as she had imagined.

  Just once and then refused to hold on, let Xu Xian practice by himself. Although Xu Xian had some small regrets, his mind was attracted to the wonderful Taoist method, so he didn't care much about it.

  Finally, Xu Xian's brush strokes were complete, and the yellow paper talisman was full. This concealment talisman was considered finished, and it was in a completely independent state. Yu Xuanji looked at it and nodded in satisfaction, "En, not bad, although the duration won't be too long, but it indeed worked."

  Xu Xian looked up at the sky, the red glow was like a fire, the cold crows returned to their nests, it was already dusk. "Sister, it's getting late." After bidding farewell, he hastily left.

  Yu Xuanji shook her head, although she wasn't very hungry yet, it was time to prepare dinner. She didn't need to make anything for the bamboo shoots, just something for herself would do. However, thinking about what she usually made, she didn't think much of it before, just wanting to fill her stomach, but now she felt a slight dislike. Her cultivation method didn't restrict her diet, and she was used to being content with whatever came her way, not paying much attention to desires of the tongue, but now it seemed like she had become accustomed to luxury and found it hard to be frugal.

  Entering the kitchen, the pot was bubbling away. Opening the bamboo steamer revealed several small dishes inside. Suddenly, a little boy who had been nowhere to be seen all afternoon popped out and giggled: "Thanks for what Master prepared earlier."

  Yu Xuanji only then remembered that earlier, Xu Xian had excused himself to fetch some paper and didn't return until a while later. She had thought he was deliberately shirking his duties, but hadn't expected him to come here instead. The dishes were all her favorites, so she must have paid attention to her tastes at noon and intentionally made them lighter.

  Savoring slowly, the food is fragrant and sweet, how many people in the world can still surprise her?

  Back at the academy, Xu Xian lazily fell onto his bed, feeling a bit sore in his hands. He had eaten too much at noon and didn't feel hungry, but instead felt drowsy.

  Pan Yutui pushed open the door and came in, smiling: "Hanwen, you've been running around all day today?" Today, with Xu Xian not by her side, she knew he had gone to find Yuexian, and her heart was uneasy. Sometimes when she turned back to say something, she found herself alone.

  That smile made Xu Xian feel a little inexplicably nervous in his heart, but he thought he hadn't done anything wrong, so he spoke frankly.

  Pan Yumou was silent for a long time, then suddenly smiled and said: "I was just thinking of saying that you missed the beautiful woman's poetry recital today, but unexpectedly spent the whole day with another beauty."

  "That's my senior sister, I learned Tao from her."

  Pan Yuzhang hummed and hesitated for a moment before asking, "Hanwen, do you really want to cultivate immortality?" She had often heard that some people would abandon their families and careers to search for immortals and seek the Tao, diving deep into the mountains. It was unknown whether they truly attained the Tao and became immortals or ended up as beasts with empty bellies. In any case, they could no longer be seen in the mortal world. If Hanwen really wanted to cultivate immortality, she couldn't bear to stop him.

  "I've just learned some skills, I never thought of living forever. Don't worry, I won't leave Hangzhou City."

  Pan Yu excitedly said: "The first snow trial is coming soon, stop running around everywhere and come help me!"

  "Where do you need me to help? Besides, I've already made an appointment with someone else."

  "Alright, let's go as agreed."

  The next day, Xu Xian got up in a daze after sleeping till he was half asleep.

  Xu Xian yawned and asked: "Ming Yu, where's breakfast?"

  "Oh, I'm too busy, forgot to bring it."

  "What am I going to eat then." Xu Xian was also used to relying on her.

  "Go ask Fish Daozhang to eat some, isn't she very good at making pastries?"

  For over a dozen days, Xu Xian went to the Xuanji Temple every day to learn talismans and also helped his master solve the problem of food. He only returned at dusk. The talismans gradually became familiar to him, but his master no longer held his hand to teach him, saying that he wanted him to understand on his own.

  Pan Yu glared at Xu Xian, who had just returned: "Hanwen, tomorrow is the first snow trial, you won't go to that Xuanji Observatory again!" Even she herself felt like a resentful wife, her husband going out to flirt with other women while she stayed home gnashing her teeth and guarding an empty room. But her identity made it difficult for her to find any reason to restrain him, which was really frustrating.

  Xu Xian originally didn't care, and he wouldn't have been invited to participate in the first snow trial anyway. It was just a matter of reciting poetry and making couplets, which wasn't very interesting. But after hearing Pan Yu's words, he had a feeling that if he didn't agree, something terrible would happen, so he nodded: "Okay, let's go see the excitement tomorrow."

  Pan Yu smiled lightly: "Well, if you want to see, come and take a look!"

  The next day, Xu Xian finally had a long-awaited breakfast. "Mingyu, are you not busy today? Do you have time to bring lunch back?"

  Pan Yu smiled wryly, watching him eat with relish, and felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She hated herself for being so unreasonable and starving him, but it wasn't his fault. It was all that sly fox, Yu Xuanji's doing. Alas, how could he have known? When would he ever find out? No, he would never know! All she could do was silently watch him like this.

  Although it was already winter, Pan Yu looked up and saw that the sky was cloudless for thousands of miles, not looking like it would snow at all. If the first snow didn't fall, it would be a joke. But Xu Xian reassured her with full confidence: "Don't worry, Master won't be wrong." He had just gone to the Xuanji Observatory and said that he wouldn't come for the next few days.

  Listening to his comfort, I also like it in my heart. It's just that hearing him call his sister-in-law so intimately, I couldn't help but glare at him. Seeing his inexplicably wronged and aggrieved expression, I found it funny again, and pulled on his sleeve as a way of comforting him.

  Xu Xian had no idea what was going on in this instant, the woman in front of him had turned around many times, and inexplicably followed her to the square where he first arrived at the academy. The square was packed with people, with over a hundred people present. Xu Xian had been leaving early and returning late these days, and didn't expect so many people to have come. And there were countless onlookers surrounding the square, with the masters from each academy sitting high up on the platform, looking like examiners.

  It's a prosperous era, and the literary style of Jiangnan is flourishing again. There are countless academies, and who wouldn't want to participate in such a grand event as the First Snow Trial? Being invited to attend the First Snow Trial proves that an academy has a certain standard, and it's something to brag about when you return home. If you don't participate, you're considered second-rate. So even if you're not wealthy, you'll still try to send one or two people to take part, and if they really win a prize and make it into the top three, the academy's reputation will immediately soar, and you won't have to worry about finding rich patrons to spend money on sending their sons there.

  "You've been working hard these days!" Xu Xian also regretted not coming over to help her.

  Pan Yude heard this and felt like she had eaten honey, but didn't say much more. She pulled him into the arena with big strides. Immediately, it caused a stir among the crowd. All these scholars saw Pan Yu and bowed to greet her, not only because they knew her identity, but also because her elegant demeanor was truly captivating.

  She was a northerner by birth, trained in martial arts since childhood, with a tall and slender figure. Normally, she wouldn't notice it, but now among this crowd, she truly stood out like a wild crane among chickens, or a pearl among tiles and stones. People couldn't help but admire her.

  Xu Xian originally wanted to blend into the crowd and quickly become a passerby, but didn't expect Pan Yu to tightly grab onto him from head to toe. Xu Xian could only accompany her with a smile. However, not everyone can participate, Xiaoshuyuan of course had all the brothers join in, even the masters wanted to go help out. But Dashuyuan couldn't just rely on having more people. Therefore, in order to show fairness, at most only five people could be sent.

  Among the five people in the Tianxue Academy, Pan Yu naturally couldn't run away. With Pan Yu here, Xu Xian also didn't run away. They said they came to watch the excitement, but had already been arranged to participate. The wooden nameplate was already hung on the wall, and at this time, it was natural that they couldn't escape at the last minute. Moreover, it is said that someone outside has already opened a betting odds, although I don't know how to calculate it specifically, but I'm sure someone will make a fortune from it!

  The final instructions were given, and someone read out the rules, which were nothing more than not being allowed to whisper to each other, and anyone found doing so would be immediately expelled.

  Someone shouted loudly, "The test has begun, students pay attention."

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