Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 43: Heaven-Reaching List

"For now, I still need to figure out—what are the variables in martial arts?"

Lu Chang’sheng held his stance for a while, reached his limit, and finally straightened up and walked away.

In the kitchen, Li Nangua was busy preparing food.

"Where’s Dazhuang?"

Lu Chang’sheng asked.

You had to know, it was always Dazhuang who handled the cooking before. Today, it was Li Nangua instead.

"Dazhuang went out with Black Monkey and the others!"

Lu Chang’sheng nodded, glanced around, and felt that this place was just too cramped. With one or two people, it wasn’t a big deal, but add a few more, and it got crowded fast. These past days, Wang Heihou, Zhao Hu, and Niu Dazhuang had all been sleeping in the main hall.

"We really need to move to a bigger place!"

If it was before becoming a Child Scholar, changing houses would’ve been hard. But now, it was much easier.

So, after breakfast, he and Li Nangua left the house and went to the prefecture office to ask about lodging.

As a Child Scholar, he was half a scholar in title, and the emperor of Great Yuan favored scholars. Naturally, they wouldn’t let Child Scholars struggle with housing like commoners.

The Junior Official in charge said it would take a while to check. Lu Chang’sheng understood the hint and slipped the man over a dozen copper coins. Not long after that, the official pulled out a map.

He pointed out several locations—one in each of the four gates: east, south, west, and north.

Black Mountain Prefecture strictly controlled housing in the city. Any property sale had to be registered, so they knew clearly where vacancies were.

Still, the fees had to be paid.

And it wasn’t cheap.

According to Lu Chang’sheng’s requirements, a courtyard with at least five entrances cost no less than ten taels of silver.

Luckily, as a Child Scholar, you could advance your future stipend to pay for a house like this.

So, Lu Chang’sheng chose to borrow against his future stipends and bought a courtyard by the East Gate.

"Chang’sheng, you can’t be the only one paying for the house!" As soon as they stepped outside, Li Nangua hurried to say so.

She didn’t earn as much of a cut as Lu Chang’sheng, but her expenses were much lower. She still had a tael or two of silver on her.

"It’s fine! The world’s unsettled these days—who knows how long they’ll keep paying those stipends. Better to use them early while we can!"

After reassuring her, Lu Chang’sheng and Li Nangua followed a Junior Official to inspect the courtyard by the East Gate.

It wasn’t bad—not remote, but not exactly prime location either. The place was pretty dusty—looked like no one had lived there for a long time.

Seeing this, Li Nangua quickly found a wooden basin, fetched water, and started cleaning up the yard.

In the days that followed, Lu Chang’sheng headed to the Lin Mansion every morning to train in Martial Arts and gradually figured out which variables affected his training time.

The first was training duration.

The longer you trained, the shorter your effective sessions became.

But there was a hard limit to training time.

Once you hit the limit, you had to stop—or you’d get diminishing returns, or even regress.

For Lu Chang’sheng, the limit right now was two hours a day.

The second variable was medicinal meals.

Medicinal food helps smooth blood and qi, strengthens the kidneys, boosts strength, and has an undeniable effect on physical recovery.

Plus, it helps repair the body on a deeper level.

The third factor was diet.

Martial Artists had to eat more, and they needed meat.

Didn’t matter if you were a man or woman—if you were practicing martial arts, you had to do it. Otherwise, you were burning your life away.

That’s where the saying "Poor scholars, rich warriors" comes from.

"With what we’re making from the Archery Practice Ground now, it’s nowhere near enough to support my martial arts training!"

Not to mention, supporting others in training down the road.

Fortunately, after a few days, Wang Heihou, Zhao Hu, and the others had already returned to the East Gate Traveler’s Inn and restarted the Archery Practice Ground.

As time went on, old students started coming back, and revenue finally began to pick up.

In a blink, August slipped by quietly, and September arrived.

Black Mountain Prefecture grew noticeably solemn.

Especially over at the Jixia Academy—the crowds were bigger than ever.

Champion Scholar Tower and Champion Scholar Pavilion blazed with lights day and night.

Many prominent figures stayed there, just waiting for the results of the Imperial Examination!

The status of Advanced Scholar was far different from that of a Child Scholar. Once you passed, you truly achieved fame and gained Official Status!

In an instant, you’d become one of the new nobles—better even than Mr. Chen or the Lin Mansion!

That’s why any new noble instantly became a hot commodity among all the prominent families and old aristocrats.

"Titles really do matter a lot!"

At the end of September, drums and gongs erupted all at once.

From the top of the Champion Scholar Tower, a professor from Jixia Academy struck the drum and gong.

All of Black Mountain Prefecture was thrown into an uproar.

The month-long Imperial Examination was officially over. Tonight, the Jixia Academy would announce the results.

Lu Chang’sheng, Zhao Hu, Li Nangua, and the others stood in the crowd. After a while, a huge list was unfurled from the Champion Scholar Tower, one end hanging from the pavilion, quickly unrolling.

Revealing name after name, written one after another!

This was the list of Advanced Scholars!

The list was issued from above, then finalized by every Jixia Academy and local office. Among the common people, it was known as the Heaven-Reaching List.

"First on the Heaven-Reaching List is Qingming from Jinghua Prefecture!"

"No wonder he’s a Jinghua prodigy! They say he could talk at one, run at three, write at five, and passed the Child Examination at eleven. And now, he took first place in the Advanced Scholar exam at just twenty!"

"Impressive, really impressive!"

······

The top scorer among Advanced Scholars drew all eyes—even people thousands of miles away had heard the name.

Lu Chang’sheng felt a wave of emotion, and after a while, someone finally spotted the names from Black Mountain Prefecture on the list.

Ranked 23rd was a local named Di Jinqiu.

Next was another local, also from Black Mountain Prefecture—Qin Ming.

"Looks like the Qin Family is back on the rise!"

Lu Chang’sheng turned to look, listening as an elderly Child Scholar sighed and said so.

"Sir, what’s the story with the Qin Family?"

"The Qin Family was once a noble house, even more powerful than the Xuns and Gaos these days! But things went wrong, and they fell on hard times. Now, they can barely compete with the big households. But with an Advanced Scholar in the family this generation, they’re rising again!"

Instantly, envy sparkled in everyone’s eyes.

"It’s just—becoming an Advanced Scholar isn’t easy. Black Mountain Prefecture is poor and barren. Even two people making the list this year is rare!" the elderly Child Scholar sighed.

Lu Chang’sheng looked ahead. A pale, clean-cut young man was inside the Champion Scholar Pavilion, clutching the Advanced Scholars list, body trembling with excitement.

Those well-off households that had once kept their distance now completely lowered their standards, crowding around him in the throng.

"If we could make it through the Advanced Scholar exam, things would get so much easier!" Lu Chang’sheng thought to himself.

Everyone turned to him with expectant faces. Lu Chang’sheng gave a wry smile and said, "It’s not that easy to pass the Advanced Scholar exam. All I can do is give it everything I’ve got!"

The next day was the start of Jixia Academy. He had no idea what awaited him inside!

Still, for the first time, he felt a bit of anticipation in his heart.