145: Chapter 145 Examination of Imperial Examination Skills

"It's time." Ye Yisong quickly sorted the newly created Talismans and stored them into his Storage Pouch before opening the Restriction of the secret chamber and stepping out.

Ye Yitian and the others had been ready for a while. It wasn't until Grandfather Ye Tuantu sent a message urging them to hurry that they triggered the Restriction to wake Ye Yisong from his Talisman Making.

Ye Yisong had been in the secret chamber, hidden from the light of day, and six days had passed without him realizing it. If not for Ye Yitian and the others being there, he likely would have missed something important.

It was just that this world lacked clocks, making it impossible to accurately track the passage of time, which caused some trouble in daily life. Ye Yisong had been troubled by this ever since he arrived in this world. Recently, with his Talisman-making Technique advancing by leaps and bounds, he already had some ideas in mind; once the Prefecture Examination ended, he was determined to make a clock for himself.

"Let's go."

Ye Yisong walked out of the secret chamber, took a pastry from Ye Yiguang's hand, swallowed it in two or three bites, and led the group to rendezvous with their clansmen.

"Grandfather."

Upon arriving at the assembly point, Ye Yisong bowed to Grandfather Ye Tuantu.

"Mm, everyone is here. Let's set off." Grandfather Ye Tuantu stroked his beard and instructed the group with a smile.

This time, a total of twenty-five people from the Cangjiang Ye Family had advanced to the top one hundred of the Prefecture Examination martial arts competition. Among these twenty-five, ten could continue to participate in the next round, the Crafting Assessment. While this ratio might seem low, it was actually quite astonishing.

For a Martial Artist to achieve Dual Cultivation of both martial arts and crafting was not easy; talent, Comprehension Ability, time, resources, and renowned teachers were all indispensable.

Even for a power as strong as the Cangjiang Ye Family, cultivating such a Martial Artist was not easy. Only with a series of arrangements, such as increasing annual stipends and guidance from renowned teachers, was there a twenty or thirty percent chance of success.

It was only because the Ye Family's fourth-tier crafting art was the Talisman-making Technique, which lowered the requirements for Martial Artists to learn it, that they could achieve such a high ratio.

Out of the ten, six were Talisman Makers, two were Alchemists, one was an Artifact Refiner, and one was a Spirit Planter.

Among them, only Ye Yisong had reached the third-tier level. The only ones who had reached the second-tier level were the Talisman Maker Ye Jiexuan and the Alchemist Ye Jiening. The remaining seven were still only at the first-tier level.

It could not be ignored that more than half of these ten Martial Artists were already approaching fifty years of age. In other words, each of them had spent decades honing their skills in their respective fields, yet they remained at the first-tier level, and it was likely they would remain at the first-tier level in the future.

It was evident that to achieve anything on the path of crafting, one needed excellent Comprehension Ability to even get started, and undergo thousands of trials to reach Minor Achievement. As for Major Achievement, that would depend on one's own destiny.

Under the leadership of Grandfather Ye Tuantu, Ye Yisong and the others returned to the rest area of the Prefecture Office to wait for the final assessment.

Looking around, Ye Yisong noticed that his Family had arrived quite early; the people from the Wei Family and the Wang Family had not yet appeared. Around the arena were many Loose Cultivators who had come to watch the excitement. The once-in-a-decade Prefecture Examination event gathered a large number of Prodigies from Cangjiang Prefecture. Understanding the strength of various parties in advance would make it easier to assess the situation and avoid risks when traveling outside in the future.

Mixed among them were some experts from Martial Artist families, intending to recruit Loose Cultivators who had performed outstandingly in the Prefecture Examination to replenish their Family's fresh blood. Of course, most of these Martial Artists would join the various great families by marrying into them.

Sometimes, the three giants of Cangjiang Prefecture would also extend an olive branch to exceptionally outstanding Loose Cultivators; such situations were rare to see in a hundred years.

Within half an hour of the Ye Family arriving at the Prefecture Office, the Martial Artists from the Wang Family and the Wei Family arrived one after another at the place where they had previously rested.

When the Wang Family arrived through the main gate, Ye Yisong clearly felt several powerful auras sweep over him. They flashed and vanished, dissipating upon contact, making it impossible to fathom, as if they had just swept over Ye Yisong unintentionally.

Relying on his own powerful Mental Energy, Ye Yisong could be certain that among the several auras, one clearly carried intense killing intent. Although this killing intent was as thin as water and hidden extremely well, it did not escape Ye Yisong's perception.

Having experienced the ambush of the two great Yao Beasts, the Flower Snake and the Fire Cloud Crocodile, Ye Yisong was exceptionally sensitive to this feeling and would absolutely not sense it incorrectly.

Ye Yisong scanned the members of the Wang Family without restraint, searching for the source of that killing intent, but ultimately found nothing.

To be safe, Ye Yisong secretly transmitted a message to Grandfather Ye Tuantu to tell him his discovery. After hearing this, Grandfather Ye Tuantu calmly and carefully observed every person from the Wang Family, especially those Martial Artists who were not competing today.

That killing intent must have come from among these Martial Artists.

When the Wei Family entered through the main gate, the look they cast toward Ye Yisong actually made him feel like he was bathed in a spring breeze; they were all looks of admiration and envy.

This instead sounded an even louder alarm for Ye Yisong. These two families were definitely brewing something big for him, perhaps right after the Prefecture Examination.

"Will all candidates participating in the Crafting Assessment please gather on the arena." Before Ye Yisong could continue to think deeper, Official Wu Tian had arrived at the center of the arena at some point.

Martial Artists walked toward the arena one after another from all sides. Until the last person stepped onto the arena, Ye Yisong shook his head and looked around, discovering that out of the eighty-four Martial Artists who had advanced to the top one hundred, fifty-three were standing on the arena.

The Prefecture Examination was indeed incomparable to the County Exam; the elites of the entire prefecture were gathered here, hiding tigers and crouching dragons.

He wondered if, in the Provincial Examination five years from now, all those who advanced to the top one hundred would have mastered a crafting skill.

"The Crafting Assessment will be in groups of one hundred, with each person in their own space, not interfering with one another. Each person will have a total of ten days to complete their work."

"Each person must provide their own Materials. After they are inspected and confirmed to be correct, and permission is granted, you may begin refining or cultivating your Materials."

"After refining or cultivation is completed, the work must be submitted to the Cangjiang Prefecture Office for record-keeping and inspection; it cannot be taken back."

The rules for the Prefecture Examination Crafting Assessment were not much different from the rules for the County Exam; they were almost exactly the same.

The only difference was that the venue for the Prefecture Examination assessment was large enough to accommodate one hundred people for the assessment at the same time.

Official Wu Tian divided the fifty-three people into four areas: the east side for Talisman Makers, the south side for Alchemists, the west side for Artifact Refiners and Formation Masters, and the north side for Spirit Planters, Spirit Wine Makers, and Beast Tamers.

From this zoning, Ye Yisong realized that the level of the Prefecture Examination Crafting Assessment had been raised by several notches.

Among the fifty-three people, twenty-three were Talisman Makers, eleven were Alchemists, twelve were Artifact Refiners, and among the remaining seven, there were two Formation Masters, three Spirit Planters, one Spirit Wine Maker, and one Beast Tamer.

Among these fifty-three, the vast majority of people's crafting level was still at the first-tier level. A few had reached the second-tier level, and those who reached the third-tier were even fewer. According to intelligence from various families, only four people had reached this level.

They were the Alchemists Young Master Qi and Wang Xianliang, the Talisman Maker Ye Yisong, and the Spirit Planter Fu Yihang.

If there were no surprises, the first place in this year's Prefecture Examination Crafting Assessment would be produced from among these four people.