Chapter 516: There's More Than Meets the Ear!

Everyone had gathered, Wu Shushan raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.

He spoke solemnly: "Ye Xiaohu, Ye Xiaochen, and Nanguo Buxie, Nanguo Qingyuan—I'll lay out the unpleasant truth up front: once the contest begins, there's no turning back. Have you thought it through clearly? If either side backs out, I'll announce the contest canceled, and it won't affect you at all."

"A gentleman's word cannot be taken back, like spilled water—how could you retrieve it? Xiao Hu, Xiao Chen, what do you say?"

Nanguo Buxie spoke first.

Obviously, he could never agree to cancel the contest.

After all, he had made thorough preparations; today's contest, they were destined to win!

Everyone turned their gaze to Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen again, awaiting their answer.

"Dean Grandfather, since many suspect we entered the Heaven Class because of our fathers, we'll use today's contest to prove ourselves—we can get into the Heaven Class solely through our own strength!"

Fearless, brimming with confidence.

Wu Shushan nodded slowly, thinking, "Indeed, worthy of the Emperor Sovereign's bloodline—naturally domineering, with a lofty bearing."

"If that's the case, then I'll announce the contest begins." Having come to this, Wu Shushan could only go along with it.

"This contest remains divided into literary and martial exams. The literary exam follows the same standards as the Heaven Class exam, with questions drawn from the question bank. For fairness, each of the twelve elders will contribute thirty questions, each of the twenty-four instructors twenty questions, and the remaining 160 questions will be randomly assigned to academy students on site to select from the bank."

This arrangement undoubtedly demonstrates fairness.

After all, the Nanguo family has close ties with many elders of the academy; if all the questions were set by the elders, it would be very unfair to the Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen brothers.

This arrangement, while unable to eradicate injustice at its root, is already much better.

"Any objections?"

"None!" Nanguo Buxie and Nanguo Qingyuan smiled, clearly having no objections.

Of the twelve elders and twenty-four instructors, most are either from the Nanguo family or Dan Valley, or otherwise deeply connected to them, so naturally they side with them.

They had long been in league with the elders and instructors, even having the questions prepared and handed to those elders and instructors.

Their questions are all difficult; thus, with advance knowledge of the questions, they could widen the gap against the completely unprepared Xiao Chen brother.

As for the academy students randomly called upon, they too had arrangements made.

Therefore, they were full of confidence for this literary exam.

This time, they aim to shatter Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen's perfect-score miracle, telling everyone that their perfect scores were obtained through cheating.

Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen shook their heads, saying, "We have no objections."

In fact, they had long suspected that the Nanguo Buxie siblings would play tricks behind the scenes, but they simply didn't care.

The brave fear nothing; the wise know no bounds.

Before true strength, all petty tricks are futile!

"All right, let's begin then."

At Wu Shushan's command, the literary exam officially began.

First, the elders each wrote out their questions and handed them to the four examinees to answer.

Upon receiving the questions, Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen couldn't help but frown.

Clearly, these questions are very difficult, far exceeding the difficulty of the Heaven Class literary exam; among the vast question bank, they belong to the highest difficulty tier.

In contrast, the Nanguo siblings remained calm and composed, exuding an air of assured victory.

Moreover, while answering, they never failed to throw provocative glances at Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen.

Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen understood clearly.

These elders surely set the questions on purpose, and Nanguo Buxie and Nanguo Qingyuan must have known in advance what questions they would pose, which is why they remained so composed.

But do they think this will stump them?

Dream on.

"Damn, these old fogeys are obviously up to something!"

Hong Wu keenly noticed that some elders and the two Nanguo children were exchanging glances—something was up.

She gritted her teeth, furious.

She already disliked such behind-the-scenes maneuvering, and when the victims were her two favorite little brothers, her anger was uncontainable.

She confirmed Ye Qingran's position, pushed through the crowd, and came to stand behind Ye Qingran.

"Instructor Ye, have you noticed? These elders are clearly off—obviously they've colluded with the Nanguo family!"

"I know."

"You know and yet you're so calm?"

"Only the weak need to cheat." Ye Qingran's lips parted slightly, nonchalant.

Hong Wu was stunned.

The implication: Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen are strong? So they don't need to cheat?

How imposing!

Seeing Ye Qingran so composed, Hong Wu also gradually calmed down.

"No wonder they're the little brothers I, Hong Wu, took a liking to!"

She wore an expression of shared pride.

After the twelve elders finished submitting their questions, it was the turn of the twenty-four instructors.

These twenty-four instructors are all senior Special Grade Instructors of the academy.

Among these instructors, about half set relatively easy questions, while most set difficult ones; indeed, a third of the instructors' questions were identical to some earlier elders' questions—so hard they seemed heavenly.

Since each sets their own questions, duplication is inevitable.

As time ticked by second by second, everyone's eyes remained fixed on the four figures on stage furiously writing.

Although they are only five or six years old, they represent the highest talent and deepest potential for their age group.

"Promising future"—they truly deserve that phrase.

Soon, the Instructors also finished posing their questions, leaving the final one hundred sixty questions, which will be handled by four examinees who will randomly pick sixteen Academy disciples, each to pose ten questions.

Each may select four Academy disciples.

Nanguo Buxie and Nanguo Qingyuan were the first to choose.

Their method of choosing was very clear, as if they already knew whom to pick.

The Academy disciples they selected quickly recited ten questions each; the speed was such that it seemed they hadn't even thought.

"Your turn now, Xiao Chen, Xiao Hu."

"No need to trouble you, let's just ask the eight people who just set questions."

When those words were spoken, the eight people were all stunned.

They didn't expect that Xiao Hu and Xiao Chen would also ask them to set questions?

A short distance away, Ye Qingran and Fu Hanxiu watched the eight, a cold chill flashing in their eyes.

Hong Wu also sensed something amiss and spoke without hesitation.

"What's this? When you were setting questions earlier you were all so slick, and now you've all become mute? Could it be that you only memorized ten questions?"

There's a hidden meaning!