118: Chapter 118 Bye

The registration process for the Prefecture Examination was very similar to the County Exam. The Martial Artists no longer produced their household registration; instead, they presented the proof of having reached the top 100 in the County Exam from various counties in Cangjiang Prefecture. Then, they verified three key pieces of information in sequence: fingerprints, pupils, and spiritual imprints. Once verified, the registration was considered successful.

The County Exam is held every five years, and according to regulations, the participating Martial Artists must not be over 20 years old. The Prefecture Examination is held every ten years, and the age limit is 50.

Some Martial Artists, in order to achieve a better ranking in the Prefecture Examination, would often wait until the very edge of the age limit to participate in their final Prefecture Examination, which sometimes resulted in an unprecedented number of participants.

Just like this session, when Ye Yisong walked to the assembly area on the east side of the arena, over a thousand people were already lined up neatly. Standing in an empty spot, he saw a continuous stream of Martial Artists coming toward the arena. It looked like the number of Martial Artists participating in this Prefecture Examination might break three thousand.

The entire registration process took over an hour to finish. Official Wu Tian scanned the Martial Artists waiting on the east side, and he already had a count in his mind: there were a total of 3,178 Martial Artists participating in this Prefecture Examination.

According to the statistics from the Civil Office, Official Wu Tian had long known that the number of participants in this Prefecture Examination would be much higher than in previous years; this situation could be said to be expected.

"Candidates who achieved first place in the County Exam, please step forward," Official Wu Tian said, his military boots thumping rhythmically, the sound echoing in everyone's ears as he walked to the front of the group and gave the command.

Hearing Official Wu Tian's command, thirty-one people, including Ye Yisong, stepped forward and waited for his next instruction.

"You are granted a bye for the first three rounds, so go rest outside the arena. Go!" Official Wu Tian said, looking at the thirty-one people in front of him with appreciation and a pleasant expression.

If there were no surprises, the first place of this Prefecture Examination would also emerge from among them.

The rules of the Prefecture Examination had long since been clearly explained to everyone by the Family. Achieving first place in the County Exam allowed one to directly skip three rounds of matches, which was considered a small benefit for the first place of the County Exam.

It also served as a reminder for the Martial Artists participating in the Prefecture Examination to be cautious when encountering these people and to cut their losses in time.

"Yes."

Receiving Official Wu Tian's order, Ye Yisong and the four other Disciples from the Family walked toward the Ye Family's resting area below the arena. Upon returning to their original seats, they found that Grandfather Ye Tuantu and Patriarch Ye Tuanzhang had already gone somewhere.

Ye Yisong sat in his seat, listening to Official Wu Tian explain the rules for the first stage of the Prefecture Examination while recalling the thirty-one people he had just observed on the arena.

He had gained a new understanding of the strength of the Wei Family and the Wang Family. Among the thirty-one people, the Wei Family alone accounted for ten, the Wang Family had seven, while the Ye Family had only five.

In comparison, the difference was immediately obvious; among the three giants of Cangjiang Prefecture, the Ye Family was in an absolutely disadvantaged position.

And this was even after the flourishing development of the Ye Family over the last century.

He dared not imagine how miserable it was a hundred years ago!

The responsibility was heavy and the road was long!

It seemed that if the Ye Family wanted to compete with these two families, the Family needed more people like Ye Jiexin in order to have hope of gradually closing the gap with the two families.

"For the first three rounds of the competition, it is a single-elimination format."

"During the competition, no external items are allowed, and casualties are not held against the opponent."

"If one side admits defeat, the other side must immediately stop attacking, otherwise they will bear the consequences themselves."

Official Wu Tian read the rules of the Prefecture Examination to the remaining three thousand-plus people, and finally, with one sentence, completely ignited the passion, desire, and excitement of everyone: "The top 100 in the Prefecture Examination may be granted official positions in various counties as appropriate; the top 10 in the Prefecture Examination may be granted official positions within the prefecture administration as appropriate."

This was the biggest difference between the Prefecture Examination and the County Exam, and it was a path of advancement that many Martial Artists longed for.

Joining the government and joining a sect were completely different!

Major sects were absolutely secretive about their own Cultivation Techniques, Martial Skills, and various crafting techniques; they were never passed on to anyone other than their own Core Disciples, and before the Legacy was passed on, one had to swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao to prevent them from spreading it.

It could be said that becoming a Core Disciple of a sect was equivalent to leaving the Family to seek another path.

Joining the government was different; all inheritable Cultivation Techniques, Martial Skills, and crafting techniques were recorded in a merit book. It included many high-level Cultivation Techniques and Martial Skills, and even fourth-tier crafting Legacies were available, all with clearly marked prices.

As long as you could complete the tasks assigned by your superiors and accumulate enough points, everything in the merit book could be exchanged.

The Great Wei Imperial Court was not afraid of you exchanging them; they were only afraid that you couldn't afford them.

Moreover, joining the government did not require leaving the Family; you could serve both sides simultaneously and obtain double the resources, which was simply too good.

Many Martial Artists from the Ye Family who achieved the top 100 in the Prefecture Examination had basically embarked on this path.

Actually, Ye Yisong also had ideas about this. If he could sit in the position of Prefect of Cangjiang Prefecture, he wondered if the 798 Navigation System could display the map of Cangjiang Prefecture; if it could, that would be even better.

In order to obtain the map, Ye Yisong couldn't really go and assassinate the officials of each administrative region, could he? Even if he were asked to go, he wouldn't be able to win!

Or, perhaps, did he have to reach the position of Prefect to display the map? Would reaching the positions of Vice-Prefect or Prefectural Commandant work?

Ye Yisong had too many ideas in his heart that he wanted to test.

Although there were far more Martial Artists participating in the Prefecture Examination than in the County Exam, the competition venue for the Prefecture Examination was large, and the entire arena was divided into a hundred sections, allowing a hundred matches to be held simultaneously.

In the sky to the left of the arena was a huge light screen, displaying the names of the Martial Artists participating in this Prefecture Examination in dense, paired lists; it was clear at a glance who was competing against whom, and now the names on it were disappearing rapidly at a rate of one hundred at a time.

On the right was a light screen divided into a hundred sections for combat scenes, which was very thoughtful, allowing everyone to see the competition scenes in various parts of the arena more clearly.

Ye Yisong watched the names flashing by on the screen, trying hard to find the names of Ye Yitian and Uncle Jiefu, but there were simply too many names, and they were constantly changing, making his eyes blur.

Before Ye Yisong could find their names, Uncle Jiefu had already returned, dejected; it looked like he had been eliminated, as his cultivation as a Martial Artist was ultimately a bit too low.

"Uncle Jiefu, you aren't hurt, are you?" Ye Yisong asked.

"No, sigh! I ran into a Martial Master powerhouse in the first round and was eliminated immediately." Uncle Jiefu's fantasies were shattered; every session there were a few lucky ones who, despite not having strong strength, managed to enter the top 100 of the Prefecture Examination, but clearly, Uncle Jiefu was not one of those lucky ones.

Ye Yisong patted Uncle Jiefu's shoulder to comfort him. Uncle Jiefu was also someone who could let things go; he didn't dwell on it for too long. After being sad for a while, he threw himself into watching the competitions everywhere, as he hadn't held much hope before coming anyway.

Near noon, Ye Yitian returned. His luck was good; he encountered second-tier Martial Artists in the first two rounds, and only in the third round did he meet a two-star Martial Master. He seized a flaw in his opponent and easily defeated them, earning a spot to advance.

After a day of competition, the first three rounds finally ended, and only less than four hundred people remained out of the three thousand-plus.

Including the thirty-one people who had a bye, more than a dozen second-tier Martial Artists remained among the four hundred-plus people. It was unknown whether they would be able to have such good luck in the subsequent competitions.