Chapter 45: Submitting Early

Through the Five Elements, Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and Four Seasons, establishing a comprehensive theory that can explain the mysteries of heaven and earth, the cycle of life and death of all things, has always been the ultimate goal of the agricultural school of thought. This topic is too grand and profound. It is impossible to truly answer it, even for a Great Sinoong of the highest caliber. However, because of this, anyone can get some points from the final question.

Candidates only need to answer according to the current theories, writing down the memorized content, and they can easily get two or three points out of twenty. If they can slightly connect the Five Elements, Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and Four Seasons, they can get half of the points. To score higher, they need to provide some new insights. But they can't go too far off track; they still need to base their answers on existing theories, otherwise, it would be considered 'nonsense,' something even experienced Sinoong officials might not achieve.

So why pose such a difficult question if it's hard to provide new insights? Because the Theory of Five Elements and Four Seasons is extremely important. All Sinoong, when practicing Seasonal Order, will refer to the Theory of Five Elements and Four Seasons to perform their methods. If the Four Seasons are not clear, then they must be defined. How to define them? They must be determined using the Five Elements. If the Four Seasons are chaotic, then they must be corrected. How to correct them? Again, using the power of the Five Elements.

Therefore, this topic is essentially timeless.

"Candidates can freely answer, writing their own views and guesses, but the answers must also align with the examiner's preferences."

"If the examiner is from the Heavenly Timing Sect, they will naturally use the theories from the 'Great Five Elements of Heavenly Time' book to evaluate. If the examiner is from the 'Earthly Advantage Sect,' then 'Earth Wang Ji Xia Theory' would be most appropriate."

"What if it's from our own school? Then it would be the 'Yin Yang Five Elements Self-Classic.' However, our school is weak, and its ideas are not popular, not aligning with mainstream theories, so using it to answer would be considered a bold move," Zhao Xing thought to himself.

The Self-School believes that within the living body, there is a set of heavenly operations, essentially a 'biological clock,' matching the five organs with the Five Elements, and using other body organs to match the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. This theory is called the 'Small Theory of Five Elements and Four Seasons,' also known as the 'Internal Theory of Five Elements and Four Seasons.' From the name, it's clear that it is not accepted by the mainstream, being rather obscure and niche.

However, when the Su Dynasty version emerged, the Self-School rose, and this theory became widely accepted, even overshadowing other schools. Because 'the body can open pure Yuan soil,' 'Dantian can nurture original seeds,' and even internally observe heaven and earth, forming a world of its own. But if you write this now, even people from the Self-School would think you're crazy, because currently, the most you can achieve is 'opening pure Yuan soil.' Forming a world within the body? Are you mad?

So Zhao Xing directly dismissed it.

"The earliest Five Elements chapter matched Jia with wood, Yi with fire, Bing with earth, Ding with gold, and Wu with water. But the connections were too weak, not considering the coordination of the Four Seasons at all."

"Later, the Four Seasons were divided into 'Meng,' 'Zhong,' and 'Ji' months."

"Spring season's Meng Spring, Mid-Spring, and Ji Spring months are located in the East, belonging to wood, matched with Jia and Yi."

"Summer season's Meng Xia and Zhong Xia months are located in the South, belonging to fire, matched with Bing and Ding."

"The third month of the summer season, 'Ji Xia,' is located in the Center, belonging to earth, matched with Bing and Ji."

"Autumn season's Meng Qiu, Zhong Qiu, and Ji Qiu months are located in the West, belonging to gold, matched with Geng and Xin."

"Winter season's Meng Winter, Zhong Winter, and Ji Dong months are located in the North, belonging to water, matched with Ren and Gui."

This is the mainstream 'Earth Wang Ji Xia Theory.'

Zhao Xing didn't plan to give an outstanding answer because he wouldn't lose points on the basics, which was enough to pass this exam. So he just copied the mainstream theories without any changes.

This way, he could at least get a score of three Cheng.

"If this were a formal temple exam, I could add a bit of improvement. The current Five Elements monthly distribution is unbalanced, with fire and earth being too weak, only matched with two months."

"Should I reveal a little bit of my method?" Zhao Xing pondered for half a moment, his pen unmoving.

In the end, he decided to write a couple more sentences.

"The Five Elements value earth the most, earth governs the Four Seasons, and nothing is not commanded by it, not sharing the fame with fire."

"With wood, fire, gold, and water each governing a season, earth resides in the Center, controlling the Four Directions."

After writing these two sentences, Zhao Xing didn't answer further. This was just a slight improvement on the imbalance of the Five Elements monthly distribution, not considered a significant change.

In reality, it excluded 'earth' from 'governing the Four Seasons,' giving it a nominal 'controlling the Four Directions.'

But it was enough. For a small candidate to write this much already showed considerable thought.

In reality, this was the embryonic form of the later 'Earth Wang Four Seasons Theory,' but Zhao Xing didn't plan to reveal the later improved 'Earth Wang Four Seasons Theory' now, as he wasn't in a position to do so, and speaking too much would invite trouble.

After finishing the last question, Zhao Xing realized that the sky had already brightened, and it was already the second day.

"The exam that started in the afternoon is now the next morning, did I really take this long to answer? It seems I spent too much time considering the last question."

A true scholar must consider the impact of their answers. In the last exam, Zhao Xing not only controlled his own score but also others'.

This time, he wanted to consider the practical impact, so he thought for a longer time.

"I'm starving, I haven't even eaten, and the food delivered is already cold."

After the river robbery, Zhao Xing couldn't even look at the cold 'staff meal.'

He planned to submit early and leave the exam hall to go downstairs.

Zhao Xing organized his answer sheet, not missing a single page, and walked towards the examination hall.

The early morning sky was not yet fully bright, but the patrol and supervision were not lax. If it were a formal temple exam, even the underworld gods would come to supervise, preventing any ghostly assistance!

"Hmm? Why are you submitting so early?" Xue Wen Zhong, sitting inside the hall, looked at Zhao Xing, who walked in with the guard, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

He thought Zhao Xing was too arrogant. The exam time wasn't even halfway through, and he had already finished?

Xue Wen Zhong knew the difficulty of the questions he set, meant to select talents for the county, with each subsequent exam being harder than the last.

Zhao Xing's aptitude in magic arts was good, but theory was another matter. A muscular man might not necessarily produce a brilliant essay.

"Twice Jia on top, could it be that he has developed an arrogant heart?"

Zhao Xing handed in his answer sheet and performed the ritual: "Great people, I am here to submit my paper."

Gao Linong, Tang Wan Chun, and Pang Yuan found this unusual. Their thoughts were not much different from Xue Wen Zhong's. Finished already at this time?

But they immediately regained their composure, showing no sadness or joy, each with a thought in mind:

Good, good, good, not afraid of your madness, just afraid you're not mad enough. Being the first to submit, I must carefully review, absolutely no leniency!

Chen Shi's view was different from theirs. He had far more confidence in Zhao Xing than others, stemming from a natural trust in his 'confidant.'

"Good, the first to submit, I indeed didn't misjudge you. You are also waiting for this moment, I will immediately review your results." (End of Chapter)