Today, Emily Grant was in charge of guarding the Literati Garden, managing the clan members who came to challenge the Sacred Dao Stele, and distributing the queue number tokens.

"Young Master Bai isn't a fool. He's failed four years in a row—why would he overestimate himself and try to challenge the Superior Grade Green Lotus Sacred Dao Stele again?"

The group of youths nearby all burst out laughing, with a few even mocking Charles Baker.

As a son-in-law who married into the family, Charles Baker's position in the The Grant Family was already awkward. Moreover, he had married the The Grant Family's pride, Susan Grant. At his age, he still hadn't obtained even a Superior Grade True Fate Dao Seal, making the The Grant Family clan members look down on him even more.

"Go ahead and laugh for now. Just wait and see how I shock you all later."

Charles Baker swallowed his anger for the moment. After receiving his number token, he looked into the Literati Garden, where he saw stone steles of various heights, sizes, and shapes standing throughout the garden, making it look like a graveyard from a distance.

Each stele was inscribed with words or pictures. At that moment, a tall and sturdy youth of about sixteen or seventeen entered the garden, craning his neck and looking around for a while before finally stopping in front of a half-man-tall, worn-out stele.

Charles Baker's gaze fell on the stele in front of the youth. At the top of the stele were the words "Inferior Grade" and "Literatus," and below was a carving of a big wild boar with a fat head and large ears.

The sturdy youth took his stance in front of the stele, gathered his strength, focused his energy at his fingertips, and began to carve into the stele, leaving some words in the blank space.

"On the ground, a pig,

Born afraid of the butcher.

If you want to live long,

Never get any fatter."

After carving these four lines, the sturdy youth was already drenched in sweat, his fingers trembling uncontrollably. The last stroke of the word "fatter" was so faint it was almost invisible.

The sturdy youth stepped back and nervously watched the Inferior Grade Literatus Sacred Dao Stele. Suddenly, the four lines he had carved shone brightly, detached themselves from the stele, and transformed into a large wild boar made of white mist, which lunged at the youth.

The sturdy youth was overjoyed, stretching out his body to meet the wild boar formed from the white mist. Only after all the mist had poured into his body did he excitedly run out of the Literati Garden, shouting, "Dad...

Mom...

I did it...

I'm a literatus now..." "David Carter, successfully promoted to literatus, Inferior Grade Wild Boar True Fate Dao Seal."

Emma Grant recorded and announced.

"What kind of Sacred Dao Stele trial is this? Isn't it just elementary school picture composition? And those doggerel verses actually count as passing?"

Charles Baker secretly grumbled in his heart.

After that, many more youths entered the Literati Garden in order according to their number tokens to challenge the Sacred Dao Stele. Some succeeded, others failed.

Those who failed either didn't have enough strength to fully carve their thoughts or verses onto the stele, or their writings didn't meet the stele's requirements. The words they carved didn't transform into a True Fate Dao Seal, but simply disappeared.

Charles Baker watched for quite a while. Quite a few youths managed to become literati—more than half, in fact. However, most only obtained Inferior Grade True Fate Dao Seals. Of the twenty-some successful youths, only one direct descendant of the The Grant Family obtained a Middle Grade True Fate Dao Seal, and not a single one got a Superior Grade True Fate Dao Seal.

"Why is Master Blackriver here?"

"You didn't know?

Master Blackriver's son, Michael Carter, is also participating in the Sacred Stele trial this year. I heard he's going to challenge the Superior Grade Sacred Dao Stele, the Green Lotus. Master Blackriver dotes on his son, so of course he came to watch."

"Green Lotus?

Isn't that the Superior Grade Sacred Dao Stele that Charles Baker has failed to challenge four times?

Can Michael Carter do it?"

"Why not?

Don't compare Charles Baker to him. Although Michael Carter isn't a direct descendant of the The Grant Family, his father, Master Blackriver, is one of the eight True Men of the The Grant Family. He's trained in superior techniques since childhood, studied literature and martial arts under famous teachers, and is said to be exceptionally talented. Not only has he mastered superior techniques, but his literary talent is also outstanding. Aside from a few The Grant Family geniuses who have already become literati, no one in the younger generation can match him. He might very well become the sixth young person to obtain a Superior Grade True Fate Dao Seal."

Chapter 3: Superior Grade Green Lotus

"Why is Miss Susan here with Master Blackriver?

That middle-aged man beside her looks unfamiliar—he doesn't seem to be from our The Grant Family."

"Of course he's not from our The Grant Family. That's Master Yanshan from Nanli Academy. I heard he's here to select students from our The Grant Family. Out of all the literati in the The Grant Family, only Miss Susan and Miss Emily caught his eye. Miss Emily has already agreed to enroll, but I heard Miss Susan is still considering. Now that they're here together, could it be that Miss Susan has also agreed to go to Nanli Academy?"

"With Miss Susan's peerless beauty and talent, of course she should go to Nanli Academy and make a name for herself. Who knows, she might become the second sage of our The Grant Family in the future. That's much better than staying home with that useless Bai family boy."

Charles Baker, drawn by the commotion, looked in the direction of Susan Grant and also saw Master Blackriver and Master Yanshan, as well as a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old youth bowing to Master Blackriver and Master Yanshan.

"Master Yanshan, this is my son, Michael Carter."