Chapter Ninety-Three: Everyone Pressed for Answers

After a few more questions, everyone realized they would not be able to pry the details of Song Mu’s policy essay out of him, and so they had no choice but to let the matter drop.

Even Xue Kaiwen, by then, had lost any desire to challenge Song Mu’s essay. A policy essay that had moved the examination commissioner to close the volume in admiration—clearly, Song Mu had surpassed him by a good measure.

Seeing the crowd grow listless, Song Mu promptly changed the subject and turned his gaze to the poetry and rhyme compositions nearby.

There, all of his poems were on the board except for his own prose-poem, which was nowhere to be found.

Song Mu swept his eyes over the list and saw that these nine poems and rhymed essays had been written by five different people, making the rankings especially mixed. His own “Wujiang” and “Nanjingzi” were tied for first among the poems.

At the sight of this, Song Mu could not help shaking his head.

It seemed his skill was still not quite refined. At the time, unable to think of a famous prose-poem on the spot, he had intended to use one of his own pieces as filler. Looking back now, that had been a little risky, a little overconfident.

Still, the others who were studying the two poems he had written were all pouting in resentment.

Though “Wujiang” was not as expansive and distilled in mood as “Nanjingzi,” both poems were clearly of superior quality. “Wujiang,” especially, contained the famous line: One should live as a hero, and die as a spirit among ghosts.

Both poems were excellent works, and they had drawn the largest crowd.

People pointed and discussed them, yet all the while kept nodding in admiration.

Poetry had long held a place in the examinations. In the early Tang dynasty, the jinshi examination was even called the poetry examination, because the court placed great emphasis on verse when selecting talent. At that time, those who passed the jinshi were even known as poetry graduates.

Poetry was also the most concentrated form of writing. Compared with lengthy discourse, it was easier to recite and remember, and thus most beloved by all.

Kong Zong had already stood there for a long time. One of his prose-poems ranked second on the board, but at the moment his attention was fixed entirely on Song Mu’s masterpieces.

When Song Mu arrived, Kong Zong said, “Brother Song, these two poems of yours truly open up the mind and stir a great sense of heroism.”

At that moment, Zhang Yiqi beside him could only laugh bitterly. He finally understood why, on that day, literary aura had kept surging from the neighboring examination cubicle.

Poems of this caliber would naturally produce an enormous amount of literary aura.

Cui Kexing, who had also been standing nearby, finished reading and then frowned. Suddenly, he snapped shut his folding fan and looked at Song Mu with a sharp gaze.

Song Mu turned to look at him, and Cui Kexing asked, “Brother Song, could that strange scene from the other day have been caused by this poem?”

His words instantly aroused everyone’s curiosity. In truth, they had already begun to suspect as much. The scene that day had been far too shocking, and everyone had personally witnessed the landscape within it. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the poem before them.

Seeing the question, Song Mu no longer intended to brush it aside with a smile.

As fellow students and scholars, they were all intelligent enough to discern a few things. Some matters simply could not be concealed from them.

So Song Mu only smiled and nodded. Cui Kexing’s face, meanwhile, was already filled with disbelief and astonishment.

“So... you... really have mental power?”

Cui Kexing asked again, voicing the question that had been on everyone’s mind.

Mental power was the key to a scholar’s ability to manifest a mystic realm. Such a talent was rare beyond measure. In the Prefectural Academy of Jizhou, the number of students who had developed mental power over the past few years could be counted on one hand.

And at higher levels, this power had even more exquisite uses.

Especially among the border armies, the people most prized were scholars who possessed mental power.

It was said that with the blessing of a great expert, the mystic realm they unleashed could even directly affect the minds of demons and barbarian tribes. A jinshi endowed with mental power could, in an instant, release a mystic realm spanning several miles.

Then, with other graduates joining in to fight within it, victory could be won almost effortlessly.

In short, anyone with mental power was already a cut above the rest.

They could not help feeling unwilling. This man, who had already stolen the spotlight before everyone’s eyes, actually possessed yet another ability envied by all.

Even Kong Zong could not help looking at Song Mu, while Xue Kaiwen, standing farther away, quickly walked over as well.

“Brother Song, have you really condensed mental power?” Zhang Yiqi could no longer hold back and asked first.

Song Mu simply wore a smile and gave another slight nod.

This time, some were delighted, some were deflated, and already one or two had stepped forward to ask him, “Brother Song, what exactly is mental power? And what marvelous uses does it have?”

Others immediately echoed the question, all of them eager to know how mental power could be obtained, and whether they themselves might one day achieve the wondrous scene they had seen that day.

They had come to admire the essays and poems, but now their attention had completely shifted.

Seeing so many burning, eager eyes upon him, Song Mu felt somewhat at a loss, yet he could only smile and shake his head.

“Everyone, mental power arises within the mind. As for how one attains it, I cannot say for certain. I only remember that the books say this: read widely, let the heart be moved, and when thought reaches its destined point, mental power will appear.”

His words immediately caused some faces to darken. They were rather disappointed.

What Song Mu had said was no different from what they already knew about the formation of mental power. They had thought that Song Mu, having uniquely obtained mental power as a licentiate, might know some hidden trick.

Now they were quite disheartened.

Yet some people felt relief. What Song Mu said was, after all, true. A thing even more mysterious than literary force could hardly be attained through some convenient shortcut; that would be nothing but wishful thinking.

Only Song Mu quietly flexed his fingers.

He knew better than anyone how he had gained this mental power, and that method was simple to the point of being unbelievable.

If they learned that he had already obtained mental power back when he was merely a child student, they would likely dig to the roots of it, perhaps even wanting to peel open his head to find out.

An innocent man can be ruined by a treasure.

This new method of mental power was far too astonishing, and its significance to the world was self-evident.

But such a thing was not something Song Mu could reveal now.

No matter how kind and harmless the people around him might seem, he would never do such a thing.

Besides, this was the lifelong labor of his ancestor, Song Wenrong. As his descendant, he had no reason to hand it over so readily.

If it was ever to be spread, it would have to wait until he was much stronger.

Song Mu understood deeply that this new method of mental power was a secret trump card he could never afford to reveal.

The crowd continued chatting for a while more about the allure of mental power, before finally turning their attention back to the essays before them.

Not long after, once the attendants and horses were ready, the group of scholars lined up in order and set off slowly along the city streets amid a grand display of banners and the thunder of gongs and drums.

Wherever they passed, the vast procession and clamor drew townsfolk to stop and watch. When they learned these were the newly minted scholars from the academy examination, their eyes filled at once with reverence and longing.

And Song Mu, walking at the very front, naturally became the image of a scholar in the memories of countless people for the rest of their lives.

That day, his handsome face and those exquisite poems spread through the mouths of countless scholars and young women alike.

That day, countless people found themselves imagining just what sort of man Song Mu truly was.