The Rise of Phoenixes

And then she waved a casual goodbye and walked quickly away.

She had finally made an intelligent decision… men… you really couldn’t just randomly drag one away…

She marched quickly in the moonlight, and she was somewhat surprised by how she seemed to be getting more and more energetic. She wasn’t tired at all, and her footsteps were so powerful.

powerful… footsteps.

Wasn’t the sound of her walking a little too loud?

She turned stiffly, and as she had guessed, that curtained hat young man was following behind her obediently, his sky cyan clothes like gentle and refined water.

Feng Zhiwei held her forehead for a long moment, and a despair filled her heart: this situation wouldn’t be so easily fixed.

“Why are you following me?”

The Jade Statue replied calmly, “You said you would lead me.”

“I was tricking you.” Feng Zhiwei replied in a soft and sweat tone.

“You said you would lead me.” The Jade Statue was unmoved.

“…”

Feng Zhiwei tried three or four other ways of getting rid of him when she finally concluded in dismay that she was stuck with this brat. From start to finish, he stuck to the same replay.

You said you would lead me!

Forget it. It was masochistic to even talk to him, and Feng Zhiwei finally gave up. She’d already marched through the countryside for half the night and was thirsty and hungry, so when she spotted a brook in the distance she walked over to drink some water and wash her face. She kneeled and took of her mask; the moon was bright, and her reflection stared at her in the clear water.

Something seemed off.

Feng Zhiwei examined herself in the water – the young girl’s face was clean and bright like the moon, and a small red beauty spot decorated the space between her eyebrows, adding a trace of seduction to her pure face.

She lifted her hand slowly to touch the redness, and it left some scarlet on her fingertip in the cold moonlight.

Feng Zhiwei grew absentminded, and that image of the moon-white cuff and the blooming light gold mandara flower filled her mind.

Ning Ying was hurt?

Feng Zhiwei immediately understood what had happened; it was extremely dangerous to be distracted for even a second while trading blows with martial experts like the jade statue. In those circumstances, it wasn’t rare for to lose one’s life.

She sat still in the moonlight. Time passed, and the silvered moonlight fell on her cheeks and the cuff of her sleeve, flowing gently in the wind, and it fell on her finger, quietly wiping away the scarlet mark…

The beauty mark had fallen between her eyebrows, but it wasn’t enough to mark her. (1)

Feng Zhiwei lifted her head and she spotted a building up in the trees, about halfway up the mountain.

An upturned cyan eave reached out above the trees and rocks; they had apparently walked their way to the Qing Ming Academy.

Qing Ming Academy was known as the “Top Academy Under the Heavens” and was considered the best academy in the world. Its predecessor was the Da Cheng First Academy which gathered all the talented scholars and exceptional students from the land, regardless of descent. After Tian Sheng was founded, with the new strict hierarchical law, Qing Ming Academy gradually transformed into an Imperial Academy reserved for the nobility. Finally, after Xin Ziyan became Head, with his insistence, every year the Academy would accept excellent students from poor families or business families. The road to the academy was long and difficult, but once they were accepted and graduated, their career as officials was set. It was not too rare that a random student with a mysterious identity could be from a high placed family. Even if a student didn’t graduate, the relationships alone could help guarantee a good life.

And so for the entrance examination every year, students from across the world would gather at Qing Ming Academy’s doorstep. Feng Zhiwei thought back to the conversation that day between her mother and brother; that group of people was probably from Qing Ming Academy as well.

She was very hungry and had nowhere to go, and there was also this statue following her, and so she went up to ask for something to eat.

She brought the jade statue with her to knock on the door, and after a moment the door opened. An old man stuck his graying head out of the crack. When Feng Zhiwei had explained her purpose, the old man rolled his eyes and snapped at her, “One hundred silver liang for a cup of water! One thousand liang for a piece of bread. If you can’t pay, then piss off!”

Feng Zhiwei was dumbfounded – was this water or the most precious wine? Or was the water elevated by the Qing Ming Academy’s fame?

But she was good tempered and it was not easy to upset her, so she smiled, “Senior … my older brother is sick, could you bend the rules ….”

“Yes, I know your elder brother is sick and I also know that you lost your father when you were young and was bullied by your relatives and eventually kicked out of your family. And then you were almost sold into a brothel while you struggled along alone in life…” The old man rolled his eyes and waved his hand around.

Feng Zhiwei looked at him in astonishment, sighing, “How do you know all of this? You’re right! But I wasn’t sold into a brothel…”

“If you weren’t then it was your sister! Who else could you be!”

Feng Zhiwei finally realized something was off and she took a good look around. There were many people sleeping on the ground clutching their thin blankets. Some of them wore beautiful clothes, but most wore tatters that barely covered their butts, and they looked dried up and even more sallow than her, with downcast and pitiful expressions that put hers to shame. All of them looked up at the old man with hope in their eyes.

Feng Zhiwei’s heart trembled slightly and she understood something, and the old man slammed the door shut.

With a bitter smile on her face, Feng Zhiwei turned to leave, but suddenly a young man stopped her with a gentile clasped-handed bow. “Brother.”

Feng Zhiwei didn’t know what to make of this fellow and returned the bow before examining him. The young man had a delicate and pretty face and remarkable eyes that shined as if with hidden stars.

The young man leaned in conspiratorially, “Brother, you’re confused about what just happened, right?”

Feng Zhiwei replied earnestly and solemnly, “Please share your knowledge.”

“Headmaster Xin was born in a poor family,” The youth said with a quiet smile, “and he cares for students from poor families, so…”

Feng Zhiwei understood – no matter whether they were poor or rich, they would all still dress up like the homeless, hoping that Headmaster Xin would notice them and let them enter the academy.

And that old man had thought that she was one of them and had shut her out.

What wrongful blame!

“Why doesn’t the academy stop them if they know there are so many fakes?”

The young man’s eyes seemed to fill with respect, “Headmaster Xin says that it is easy to get rid of them so that the academy could have peace, but what if there really are talented poor people here? Headmaster Xin doesn’t want to close the door on them, so he doesn’t stop the people from gathering and sometimes even comes over to pick. But just passing through this old geezer gateman’s test is difficult enough.”