However, after thinking for a moment, he ultimately chose to go to the inn first.

If the scholar’s exam lasted only one day, he would have followed that small group of people, but the proctor had given them seven days. In other words, they would likely have to arrange their own food and lodging for the next several days, and that modestly sized inn clearly wasn’t big enough to accommodate everyone—if it could fit a hundred people, that would already be impressive. This made it clear that guest rooms were a scarce resource, and most examinees would probably have to stay in those shabby houses outside.

As someone with plenty of experience wandering about, a “veteran,” Brian Carter knew all too well the difference between a comfortable house and a place that merely kept out the wind and rain. If mosquitoes were just a nuisance that made it hard to sleep, then all sorts of poisonous insects and snakes were a real threat. What’s more, they were now halfway up a mountain, surrounded by forest, and the temperature and humidity could change drastically after a single heavy rain. If one caught a chill, let alone making it through the exam, even surviving to return home would be a challenge.

Therefore, he decided to rent a room first and settle down.

Chapter Four: Fox

Facts proved that Brian Carter had made the right choice.

When he mentioned this to the innkeeper, he found that there were only a handful of vacant rooms left, most of which had already been reserved by those children of noble families. The remaining ones were either high-priced premium suites or small ground-floor rooms with poor ventilation and lighting.

Moreover, even the smallest single-bed room cost as much as one tael of silver per day—a price comparable to the grand inns of the capital, blatantly showing an intent to fleece their guests.

Now Brian Carter finally understood why the proctor had written “do not interfere with the villagers’ daily lives” into the exam rules. If such a “black shop” were set up outside, it would probably be smashed to pieces within a few days.

Following this line of thought, the inn’s three daily meals were probably also “scenic spot prices.” If he didn’t budget carefully, the ten taels of silver he’d brought might not last until the end of the exam.

Disciples from major sects didn’t lack money, but under the rules, silver had quietly become an important resource.

Whether to use it to maintain one’s own good condition or to exchange for information was up to each examinee to decide.

Brian Carter realized he seemed to have figured out the organizers’ intentions.

Compared to the question-and-answer format of the civil exam or the straightforward martial exam, the scholar’s exam clearly placed more emphasis on the examinees’ overall abilities.

It was more freeform, but also required more considerations, and there was never just one solution—as long as you didn’t break the rules, you could do things however you liked.

For people of this era, this kind of testing method might seem very strange, but for Brian Carter, it was nothing new—compared to simply testing magical skills, he much preferred this approach that depended entirely on individual performance.

He took out three and a half taels of silver and directly booked three days’ lodging, plus dinner for the night.

The journey from Fenghua County to Qingshan Town had been a long and tiring one. Since there was plenty of time, he might as well rest well for a night and restore himself to peak condition.

Back in his room, Brian Carter couldn’t help but curl his lips.

No wonder this was the room everyone else had passed over—he wasn’t even sure if it was five square meters. A narrow bed and a wooden table made up all the furniture. The ceiling was rather high, about three meters from the floor, so the window was set very high as well; without standing on the table, he couldn’t even reach it, so there was no hope of practicing while enjoying the view outside.

Still, the room was quite clean overall. There were no cobwebs in the corners of the beams, and no dust at the foot of the bed. Compared to those untended thatched huts, it was much better—clearly, the money from the Privy Council hadn’t been wasted. Another advantage was that it was located at the end of the first-floor corridor, in the corner of the inn, making it the quietest room in the place—perfect for cultivation.

Thinking of this, Brian Carter simply put down his bundle, climbed onto the bed, and sat cross-legged to meditate.

Ever since he’d been adopted by his cheap master, he had never stopped this kind of practice, no matter the weather, for fifteen years now.

This was also the entry method for all the world’s arts—guiding qi into the body.

It sounded old-fashioned, but the ancients believed that when the universe first formed, chaos split in two: the heavy became “mass,” sinking and gathering as dead matter; the light became “qi,” rising and spreading throughout the cosmos, eventually condensing into living beings. Although living things were born from qi, they lost the vitality of qi, so to strengthen oneself, one had to relearn the method of absorbing qi, letting it constantly cleanse the body, and thus reestablishing the connection with qi.

This theory was quite similar to the saying “the Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things.” It seemed very metaphysical, but the problem was, qi really did exist.

In fact, the ability to sense qi was the prerequisite for stepping into the ranks of a fangshi.

Brian Carter still remembered the night he “saw” qi under his master’s guidance—under the starry sky, something even brighter than the stars suddenly appeared. They didn’t look like clouds or mist, but more like another kind of star: points of light flickering, drifting with the wind, countless and dense. Only in the far distance did they merge into a sheet, forming the state of qi.

It was on that day that his previous understanding of the world was shattered.

A torrent of questions surged into his mind like an erupting volcano, and he had to use all his strength to keep these obviously age-inappropriate doubts from blurting out.