Chapter 38: Upgrading Various Items
After all, as the saying goes, there are three great joys in ancient times, and passing the imperial examination with top honors is undeniably one of them. The sense of accomplishment from achieving the highest rank in all three levels of the imperial examinations—a lifelong honor that would be recorded in the annals of history—is immense. Who wouldn't be happy?
Xu Ning then took the imperial list and walked over to Tie Dan and Yingying Monster, who were practicing martial arts in the corner of the room. He asked, beaming, "How about it? Am I handsome or what?"
Tie Dan immediately turned his head away in mock disgust. "I refuse to admit it! You're insufferable."
Yingying Monster nodded in agreement, clicking its beak. "You're happy, but you're making us suffer through your bragging!"
Xu Ning then reached out and forcibly turned their heads to face him, making them look at the list. "I don't care, you two have to be happy for me! Smile!"
The two beasts struggled, their heads pressed down by Xu Ning's insistent grip, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge his achievement with anything but grumpy faces.
---
At the same time, the news of Xu Ning's triple success spread like wildfire immediately after the results were officially announced.
In an instant, the entire capital city was in an uproar.
Triple success! This had never happened since the beginning of the Da Xuan imperial examinations. It was unprecedented.
Meanwhile, Meng Lingzhu and Meng Yangming were quietly drinking tea in their inn when they overheard the news from the bustling streets below. Their eyes widened in shock and disbelief! Their faces were filled with pure astonishment.
Until the moment they heard the news, neither grandfather nor granddaughter had ever imagined this outcome. It was too unbelievable, too extraordinary.
After a long, stunned silence, they both reacted simultaneously, then sighed in unison.
"Granddaughter," Meng Yangming said quietly, his voice heavy with resignation. "Even if he weren't already married, you still wouldn't be good enough for him. A man like that... he's in a different world."
Saying this, Meng Yangming seemed to age several years before her eyes. His shoulders slumped.
He always felt he owed his granddaughter a happy life, and at this moment, watching her silent disappointment, he felt especially guilty and helpless.
Seeing this, Meng Lingzhu quickly tried to comfort him. "Grandpa, you can't think like that. Please don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. And I don't want you to think like that either."
But her kind words couldn't change the sad look in Meng Yangming's eyes. The guilt remained.
Finally, Meng Lingzhu sighed deeply, accepting the reality. "Grandpa, let's go. There's nothing left for us here."
Originally, the two had stayed in Mingdu City specifically to wait for the results of the palace examination. Now that the results were announced and Xu Ning's future was secured, there was no need for them to stay any longer.
Meng Yangming nodded silently, and they began to pack.
Early the next morning, before the city gates were even fully open, Meng Yangming and Meng Lingzhu left Mingdu City, disappearing into the morning mist.
---
At the same time, Xu Ning also arrived at the imperial palace for his audience with the Emperor.
Today, Emperor Xuan looked even weaker than before. His face was ashen, and his breathing was labored. He seemed to be holding on by sheer willpower alone.
A senior eunuch read out the imperial edict beside the throne, his voice echoing in the great hall.
Xu Ning was appointed a Compiler in the prestigious Hanlin Academy, a sixth-rank official position. He was formally awarded the title of "Top Scholar" of this examination cycle. In addition, as a special honor, he was granted a residence in the capital city and a reward of two hundred taels of silver.
This suited Xu Ning perfectly. His initial purpose in participating in the examinations was to gain entry into the Hanlin Academy and access its vast library. This was exactly what he wanted.
The additional rewards, however, genuinely surprised him. Most top scholars didn't receive such generous personal gifts from the Emperor. It was a sign of special favor.
As for Emperor Xuan's true intentions in granting such favor, Xu Ning couldn't yet fathom them. Perhaps the Emperor was simply rewarding excellence. Or perhaps there was more to it.
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Since he wouldn't officially take up his post for three days, Xu Ning and the other successful candidates were dismissed to return home and prepare.
Along the way back to his inn, many people approached Xu Ning to chat and congratulate him. He responded with a polite smile and a brief greeting, but then refrained from further interaction. He kept his responses minimal.
As for deeper connections or friendships, Xu Ning neither wanted nor dared to pursue them at this time.
Most of these people belonged to their own established factions in the court. Their visits to Xu Ning were simply attempts to sound him out and potentially win him over to their side.
At this critical juncture, with the Emperor's health failing and succession looming, Xu Ning dared not easily take sides. It was too dangerous.
After all, he couldn't afford to run away anytime soon. He had finally secured a place in the Hanlin Academy, his primary goal. He naturally wanted to stay and enjoy the benefits of that position.
Not long after returning to the inn, more officials arrived to see Xu Ning. These were from the Ministry of Rites, bringing the silver reward and to take him to see his new official residence.
This was a gift of silver as a reward, and they would be taking Xu Ning to the official residence to formally hand it over to him.
Xu Ning accepted the silver with proper thanks, then quickly took out some of his own money to generously tip the officials, as was customary. He then followed them to inspect and confirm the residence.
The residence wasn't large. After all, given Xu Ning's current rank of sixth grade, he shouldn't have been entitled to an official residence at all. Being given one as a special reward was already quite generous.
The entire residence consisted of a small but pleasant courtyard, a modest main hall for receiving guests, two decent-sized bedrooms, two smaller side rooms, a woodshed, and a latrine in the back.
After the palace officials left, Xu Ning immediately returned to the inn to move all his belongings over and officially checked out.
Having his own private courtyard made Xu Ning feel much more comfortable and secure. He immediately released the legendary thatched hut from his storage and placed it discreetly in a corner of the courtyard.
This made it much more convenient to practice martial arts and cultivate inside the hut without prying eyes.
Then he released Tie Dan and Yingying Monster from the hut's interior space.
The two beasts, after coming out, looked at the unfamiliar courtyard before them, somewhat bewildered at first.
Xu Ning was overjoyed by their confused expressions and couldn't help but laugh. "Hahaha, from now on, this is our new home! What do you think?"
Instantly, the two beasts' eyes lit up with understanding and excitement. They immediately began frolicking and exploring the courtyard, Tie Dan sniffing every corner and Yingying Monster hopping from spot to spot.
In the following days, Xu Ning's life returned to its comfortable, regular routine.
After officially taking up his post at the Hanlin Academy, Xu Ning got up early every day to practice his martial arts. Then he would go to work at the Academy. In his spare time, he either stayed in the Academy's vast library reading or strolled around the capital city, discreetly buying a few kilograms of pig iron here and there from different blacksmiths.
His axe and hoe needed a tremendous amount of pig iron for their upcoming upgrades, from top-grade mortal to legendary mortal.
Xu Ning's plan was to first buy pig iron in small, unremarkable quantities. He would upgrade the pig iron itself to top-grade mortal quality, and then feed that upgraded iron to the axe and hoe. That was the only way the energy would be effective.
A single piece of pig iron required ten kilograms to go from low-grade to mid-grade, fifty kilograms to reach high-grade, and a full five hundred kilograms to achieve top-grade.
To upgrade the axe itself to the Legendary Mortal Rank, he would need a total of five thousand kilograms of top-grade Mortal Rank pig iron as fuel. Since each individual piece of pig iron weighed around ten kilograms, Xu Ning would theoretically need to upgrade five hundred separate pieces—an astronomical and impractical sum.
Of course, the calculation wasn't that simple. Xu Ning couldn't upgrade just one piece of pig iron at a time; that would be far too slow and inefficient.
Since Xu Ning's upgrade ability was calculated on an individual basis, he could instead forge a large quantity of raw pig iron into a single, large object. Then he could upgrade that one object to top-grade Mortal Rank in a single upgrade before feeding it to the axe.
In this way, if Xu Ning forged a single five-thousand-kilogram iron block, he would only need to upgrade it once. Then, feeding that one massive, top-grade object to the axe would elevate the top-grade Mortal Rank axe directly to Legendary Mortal Rank.
However, Xu Ning couldn't forge something so obviously massive and heavy right away. It would attract far too much unwanted attention and suspicion.
Ultimately, Xu Ning decided on a patient, long-term approach. He would first buy small amounts of pig iron over time and use them to upgrade all the items that required it—the axe, the hoe, the kitchen knife—to the highest mortal grade.
As for the final, massive upgrade to Legendary, Xu Ning decided to do that later when he had a better opportunity. For now, he would simply continue collecting pig iron discreetly. When he had accumulated enough, he could forge a large item in one go and upgrade it in a single, efficient step.
With everything planned out, Xu Ning was no longer in a hurry. He proceeded methodically each day, patient as always.
Unbeknownst to him, half a year had already passed in this comfortable routine.
Xu Ning read books daily without interruption at the Hanlin Academy. His cultivation techniques gradually, steadily improved.
His Thousand Shadows Transformation technique had reached the level where he could now cultivate it to the theoretical seventh level.
While Iron Shirt, Vajra Indestructible Divine Art, and Snow Shadow Step hadn't formally upgraded to a new numbered level, they had become much more profound and nuanced in his understanding.
Xu Ning wasn't actually in a hurry regarding his cultivation techniques. There were still many, many books in the Imperial Academy's library to read and absorb! In the past six months, Xu Ning estimated he had only read less than one-thousandth of the available collection. The potential was enormous.
Besides the improvement in his cultivation techniques, all kinds of ironware—the axe, the hoe, the kitchen knife, even some spare parts—had, under Xu Ning's continuous nourishment, all successfully reached the highest mortal grade.
Tie Dan and the Yingying Monster also underwent major transformations.
Xu Ning seized the opportunity he had been planning for. With a single, massive feeding, he elevated both beasts directly to the Legendary Mortal level.
Xu Ning had been patiently accumulating the materials for their advancement for a long time.
For Tie Dan, needless to say, he had a whole room in the hut filled with top-grade Mortal fodder, all carefully stockpiled.
Since the Yingying Monster needed meat, Xu Ning had been discreetly buying whole pigs, one at a time, over many months. He would upgrade each pig's meat to top-grade before feeding it to the Yingying Monster all at once, concentrating the energy for a breakthrough.