Ethan Brooks listened to those words and laughter, yet his expression did not change at all. He truly did not look like a fourteen-year-old boy, his calmness making others feel at a loss. He looked at the teacher, bowed once more with great courtesy, and said in an orderly manner, “I have not practiced cultivation, but I can still apply for the Tiandao Institute.”

The teacher was stunned, not knowing what this boy meant. Since you haven’t even succeeded in cleansing your marrow, how could you possibly be qualified to continue the exam? Has there ever been an exception in all these years? And even if there was, why would it be you?

Ethan Brooks said, “According to Chapter Seventeen, Article Four, Note Eight of the Tiandao Institute’s regulations, the entrance exam paper is the only standard. Eleven years ago, the Qinglisi also had a precedent.”

Looking at his plain clothes, the teacher instinctively prepared to scold him—not out of disdain for the poor, but simply because he could not believe that this boy, clearly from a remote and impoverished area, could possibly know the Tiandao Institute’s regulations better than someone like himself, who had overseen the first round of admissions for years. What note… Was there such a rule in the regulations? Why did he have no recollection of it?

Yet just as he was about to have someone escort the boy away, he suddenly heard the word “Qinglisi” and was startled, swallowing back the words he was about to say.

The Qinglisi was originally an unremarkable office under the Ministry of Personnel in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but ever since the Empress began her reign, and with the infamous disciplinarian Henry Cooper—whom she favored—managing it, the Qinglisi became something entirely different. Countless old ministers and generals loyal to the royal family had mysteriously died in those seemingly ordinary buildings. Gradually, the very name struck fear into the hearts of all officials and nobles of Zhou.

Although the Tiandao Institute was not under the jurisdiction of the Qinglisi, it was hard not to be wary. What made this teacher especially uneasy was that, in order to wash away its notorious reputation, the Qinglisi cared greatly about its reputation among the people, and when it came to grievances from the populace, it was most particular about “reason.” If the regulation the boy mentioned really did exist, there could indeed be trouble…

Looking at Ethan Brooks’s calm expression, the teacher suddenly felt a bit uncertain. After hesitating for a while, he frowned and barked a few orders to the back of the line, then turned and left, destination unknown. The jeers and mocking voices in the crowd gradually faded, turning into hushed whispers, as no one knew what was happening.

After quite some time, the teacher finally returned, his gaze toward Ethan Brooks now somewhat complicated.

Ethan Brooks knew the teacher must have gone to check the regulations and had seen the note he mentioned—since childhood, he had studied tirelessly in the temple, with the three thousand volumes of the Dao imprinted in his mind, able to recite countless classics and texts backwards, and even the rules and etiquette of various nations he had read countless times. Naturally, he would not remember it wrong.

“Even if you continue the exam, you have no chance at all. Why waste your time?”

The teacher looked at Ethan Brooks expressionlessly, his tone very stern.

Ethan Brooks said, “I would still like to try.”

The teacher said, “You haven’t succeeded in cleansing your marrow, so how could you possibly answer those questions? Besides, it will harm your mind. Are you sure you want to take the exam?”

This was not untrue. After cleansing the marrow and clearing the mind, the greatest difference from ordinary people, aside from physical strength, was the strength of the spirit. This was a matter of innate fortune and could not be changed by human effort. Without cleansing the marrow, it was impossible to answer those difficult questions, and there was even a high risk of serious harm—thus, the small table and the black sensing stone on it in the bamboo shed had become a necessary part of the exam. If one could not make the black stone light up, they would be eliminated. This had become routine, or even common sense, so no previous failures had ever objected—until the appearance of an outlier like Ethan Brooks.

Ethan Brooks bowed and said, “I am sure I want to take the exam.”

The teacher’s face darkened. He thought, since you just happened to see that regulation by chance and want to waste my time, as well as everyone else’s, then do as you wish. If your mind is truly damaged and you become an idiot, you’ll have only yourself to blame.

“Go ahead, then.”

Ethan Brooks bowed once more, said nothing further, and walked out of the bamboo shed, heading toward the building deep within the Tiandao Institute.

The teacher said nothing more, looked at the remaining students, and said coldly, “Next.”

……

……

Failing the sensing stone test yet still continuing with the Tiandao Institute’s entrance exam—for more than ten years, Ethan Brooks was the first. The other examinees, watching him walk away in the distance, could not understand what had happened. Those who knew some of the inside story did not take it seriously either—exploiting a loophole was still just exploiting a loophole. Without cleansing the marrow, both memory and analytical ability were ordinary, so it was simply impossible to answer the Tiandao Institute’s entrance questions. Ethan Brooks’s actions were, at most, an interesting little episode.