Chapter 12: The Straw Figures Show Their Might

Zhao Xing's actions on the grass field caught the attention of the three examiners aboard the flying vessel.

Mainly because he was among the clerks who reacted fastest and began making straw figures, and both his speed and the quality of his work were quite impressive.

Others' straw figures wobbled unsteadily, but Zhao Xing's could run and jump, vivid and lifelike.

"Hmm? The Eighty-One Weaving Method of Liu Chuan — is this lad a clerk under Lord Gao or Lord Tang?" Chen Shijie asked.

Gao Li and Tang Wanchun exchanged glances, because what they knew wasn't complete to begin with; at first they hadn't even recognized what technique it was, let alone taught it — they didn't even know it themselves, so how could they teach it?

"He's not a clerk under me."

"Nor mine."

"Oh? This lad's straw-figure spell is rather exquisite, yet I wonder whose clerk he actually is."

Tang Wanchun pondered: "The complete Eighty-One Weaving Method of Liu Chuan — besides Lord Chen, probably only Elder Xue the Minister of Agriculture would know it."

Chen Shijie nodded slightly. Xue Wenzhong had served as Minister of Agriculture for over a full sixty-year cycle; it was only natural he knew a bit more.

Prompted by his reminder, Tang and Gao also began observing Zhao Xing.

But before long they witnessed the scene of Zhao Xing fighting over grass with someone, hurling stones at them, and driving his colleague back.

Gao Li snorted: "Hmph, this man's temperament is unruly — over a single haystack he actually laid hands on a colleague, truly contemptible."

Tang Wanchun glanced over without a word; he was watching Chen Shijie's reaction. The chief had just praised this clerk moments ago — for you, Gao, to play the contrarian now was rather tactless.

Chen Shijie said lightly: "A Minister of Agriculture wrestles sustenance from Heaven and Earth; a bit of edge is perfectly normal. Take the clerk Li Chengfeng under Lord Gao — I observe he's usually quite flashy himself."

Gao Li's eyelid twitched, and he suddenly realized in his heart that he had misspoken just now — even if he thought so, he shouldn't have said it to their faces.

"Chen Shijie comes from the northern barren mountains, has weathered many natural disasters — perhaps this lad's way of doing things actually suits his taste." Thinking this, Gao Li immediately changed his tune.

"Lord Chen's insight is profound; it was I who saw things too shallowly. Besides, he reached that haystack first, so he was in the right to begin with."

What do they mean by 'one rank above is enough to crush you'? This is exactly it.

Chen Shijie gave a light tap, and Gao Li immediately had to chime in — because he was a Vice, while Chen Shijie was the Chief.

Zhao Xing was entirely unaware of the three examiners' discussion aboard the flying vessel. After using up his third haystack as well, he finally left the grass field.

By now, the straw-figure puppets he had made numbered as many as seventy-six!

Under pressure, he threw himself in even more; by the time he reached the sixtieth straw figure—

The proficiency of 【Repeat-Weave Straw Figure】 had already broken through 1000, reaching the level of a 'First-Tier Spell'.

Hence the sixteen straw figures after that were faster, more agile, and stronger.

"That's about enough."

At the edge of his assigned field, seventy-six straw figures stepped into the field, standing with bamboo poles in hand, like soldiers braced for battle.

Zhao Xing checked his panel.

Vitality had fallen back below 50.

"Given the current situation, the 【Roving Clouds】 and 【Thunderstrike】 spells won't hold up much longer either. The cost of maintaining these two spells is far greater than that of the straw figures."

After all, straw figures are supported by materials — once made, they no longer require Vitality, whereas Roving Clouds and Thunderstrike consume considerably more.

Still, Zhao Xing decided to keep pushing through, until he couldn't anymore.

Straw figures were ultimately not as effective as Roving Clouds and Thunderstrike; there would surely be many gaps and oversights.

…………

In the first quarter-hour of the Lesser Heat examination, 【Roving Clouds】 and 【Thunderstrike】 blocked nearly all of the 'Grain-Eating Birds'.

In the second quarter-hour, the straw figures arrived at the assigned field and stood by.

In the third quarter-hour, the frequency of Thunderstrike weakened; some Grain-Eating Birds began breaking through the cloud layer to gnaw at the Vitality Rice, but were stopped by the straw figures.

In the fourth quarter-hour, Thunderstrike had been completely abandoned by Zhao Xing; using only Roving Clouds to block the Grain-Eating Birds, about a third broke through, and the straw figures began driving them off at full strength.

In the fifth quarter-hour, quite a few Grain-Eating Birds were shot down by the straw figures, but five straw figures were also destroyed.

In the sixth quarter-hour, a third of the Grain-Eating Birds that couldn't get food flew away, but the number of destroyed straw figures had also reached twenty-five.

In the seventh quarter-hour, Roving Clouds shrank; under the scorching heat, Zhao Xing's Vitality gradually gave out. He used the straw figures to lure the Grain-Eating Birds away — because the straw figures were also made from Vitality Rice stalks, which the birds loved to eat — but as a result, more than half of the straw figures were lost.

In the eighth quarter-hour, Roving Clouds shrank by another half; half the field was now exposed. Zhao Xing sent all the straw figures to act as 'sacrificial offerings', letting the remaining Grain-Eating Birds feed freely, while the field below also began to suffer damage.

From the ninth quarter-hour onward, a bell rang out across the sky; every Grain-Eating Bird above the public field flew away at once, vanishing into the white clouds.

"Hoo~ hoo~"

Zhao Xing's mouth was parched, his body drenched in sweat.

But he had no time to mind that, hurrying to inspect the condition of his assigned field.

"This southern half-acre suffered the worst damage, because it was exposed earliest and I used it as the sacrificial zone — I drew everything over here."

"The other few acres suffered only very minor losses."

Zhao Xing walked a full circuit, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Looking again at the straw figures, only eight remained, each damaged in some way. Had these eight not reached 'First-Tier' strength, they would have collapsed long ago.

"It's over, I can rest now." Zhao Xing waved his hand, and the remaining eight straw figures lost their luster and toppled at the field's edge.

The heat was stifling, and after a full hour of fierce fighting, Zhao Xing felt utterly spent in body and mind, wishing he could fall asleep on the spot.

All around came the wails of the clerks.

Because this examination was far more difficult than before, many people's assigned fields had suffered heavy losses.

The vast majority lost more than half; some had theirs gnawed clean.

"Over a month of hard work, just gone like that?"

"Damn those Grain-Eating Birds, how infuriating!"

"Sigh, my skills are lacking — who can I blame? I'll just honestly wait for the makeup exam."

"Even the makeup exam only gets you a Grade C Upper at best — that's just a pass, and it still wastes energy. When the next exam comes, how am I supposed to handle it?"

"How easy do you think a Ninth-Rank official post is? The Ministry of Agriculture is generous — only five hundred or so competing for three to five slots. Don't you know that for a Ninth-Rank Vice-Commander in the East Lake Army, a single slot has three to five thousand people fighting for it!"

"Don't even mention joining the army. Even a craftsman-official position at the Heavenly workshop has nearly a thousand people fighting for it."

"What a shame I'm not a woman. I hear the weaving workshop isn't nearly as competitive."

"Ugh~ you have no ambition at all."

"..."

Just then, dark clouds suddenly covered the sky, and rain began to fall.

"Pitter-patter~"

The raindrops were sparse and fine at first, but quickly grew large and dense.

The temperature in the air dropped sharply along with it.

Zhao Xing plopped down on the field, letting the rainwater wash over him.

The shower came quickly and left quickly.

Clearly, this was being controlled by someone.

After giving the clerks a quarter-hour to rest and recover, the sky suddenly cleared again—the dark clouds turned white, returning to the normal weather of the Minor Heat solar term.

A flying vessel descended from the clouds onto the grass field, with three people standing at its bow: the Director of the Agricultural Bureau, Chen Shijie, and his two deputies, Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun.

"Here they come. They're about to announce the results of the Minor Heat assessment." Zhao Xing roused himself and headed toward the grass field.