Chapter 157 - Man, You're Really Powerful! (1)

Looking at the various articles in her hands, Baili Anning couldn’t help but sigh. There were quite a number of well-written articles, which contained sparkling ideas and beautiful sentences. She didn’t know which to choose.

“Ninghua, have you made your choice?” Baili Anning couldn’t help but turn her head to ask Shen Ninghua. To her surprise, she saw Shen Ninghua flipping through an article in her hand with a faint smile. The smile was extremely light, but it seemed to be even more brilliant than usual. “Ninghua, what kind of article are you reading that made you smile like this?”

Shen Ninghua subconsciously wanted to cover the paper in her hand, but she immediately felt that it was inappropriate after making a slight movement of her hand, so she quickly stopped her move. Baili Anning didn’t care at all. She reached out her hand and pulled away the paper.

“There is a beauty that I would never forget after a glimpse of her. The elapse of one day without seeing her would drive me nuts…”

After reading the first sentence, Baili Anning couldn’t help but laugh. She lowered her head to see the signature at the bottom. It was actually Chu Junyi. Today, in order to echo with the theme set by His Majesty, the contestants were all writing about military and political affairs. Even if some people didn’t write within this scope, most of them expressed in the articles their concern for the country and the people. This article was the only one that praised Shen Ninghua like that.

“She knits her eyebrows smilingly; she moves her lips but says nothing; she walks with elegant steps, her body waving like lotus dancing in the wind. How I admire her fine temperament, which is as clean as ice and as glossy as jade; how dazzling is her gorgeous dress, which captures my eyes like a magnificent essay.”

With such a straightforward confession, he simply treated Shen Ninghua as a goddess in his heart. No wonder he was so affectionate and didn’t regret it. It was said that he didn’t eat or drink for seven days in a row and pondered over His Majesty’s proposition all day. He got so exhausted that he spat blood several times, and story about him had spread throughout the entire Palace. She couldn’t help but admire him. No wonder Ninghua publicly expressed her willingness to marry him. If someone was willing to vomit blood for her, then she would definitely marry him.

She did not continue to read the rest of the article. When she handed the article to Shen Ninghua, she directly put it in the place for the top three articles.

“Ninghua, there’s no need to think about this article. It would definitely be selected as one of the top three. Have you selected the other two?”

Facing her teasing gaze, Shen Ninghua blinked her eyes slightly, and then her gaze landed on the table. “Whether a person is suitable or not can’t be judged by the article alone, so having this article is enough.”

“Ah?” Baili Anning cried out in surprise. Then, she fell silent. Yes, she was choosing a husband. How could she really choose a number of candidates and give them different grades? To a woman, getting married was a lifetime matter. If people could find out whether a person was suitable by just reading an article, then there wouldn’t be so many unhappy couples in the world.

Baili Anning raised the corners of her lips and secretly inhaled as if to comfort herself. “Well, you have saved yourself a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, I am still at a loss. Help me take a look. Is there a suitable article?”

Shen Ninghua lowered her head and looked at the people standing upright outside the hall. She quickly flipped through the papers and picked out two articles. “This Qu Yi is a grade-four officer. Although his rank is not high, he earned it by risking his life on the battlefield. Although the article he wrote is not gorgeous enough and there are not many pompous words, it is the most practical one among all the contestants’ articles on military strategy.”

Baili Anning turned to look at the crowd and saw where Qu Yi was standing. He was slightly older than the others, already twenty-one. He had remained single because he had been fighting on the battlefield, and he had no concubine or bedroom maid either. This was an honest and dutiful person.

Seeing her withdraw her gaze, Shen Ninghua continued, “This person is called Su Zibo. He is the only son of Commander-in-Chief Su Tong. He has been known as a prodigy since he was a kid. As far as I know, he somehow admires you in his heart. You can also consider him.”

Baili Anning’s face turned red. She clenched her fist and lightly hammered Shen Ninghua in the arm, “You bad girl, you don’t need to help me pick anymore. Hurry up and make your own selection.”

Shen Ninghua smiled nonchalantly. She lowered her head and continued to flip through the articles in her hand. Although she selected Chu Junyi only, it would be good if she went over the other articles to know about the characters of other contestants. Who knew if she would have to deal with some of them one day.

Baili Anning went over the articles in her hand and thought carefully for a long time. In the end, she only picked out Qu Yi’s article and placed it in the upper left corner of the writing desk.

Very quickly, Baili Qingcang opened his mouth and asked, “Have you made your choices?”

“Yes, Father emperor.”

The eunuch hurriedly stepped forward and handed over the articles in front of the three of them to Baili Qingcang.

Baili Qingcang was slightly stunned when he saw the results. “Ninghua, Anning, you two actually selected only one article?”

Baili Anqing turned to look at the two of them and clenched her fists tightly. She had been too concentrated when making her choice and did not notice Baili Anning and Shen Ninghua at all. Both of them had chosen only one article, and only she chose three articles. Wouldn’t this give people the impression that she was too greedy and even indecent? Thinking about it, she felt a bit more hatred in her heart for the two of them. They must have done this to embarrass her!

Upon hearing the results, the young masters below were slightly excited. They all hoped that they could be chosen by the princesses.

However, Baili Jinchuan’s face darkened. The article Shen Ninghua chose must be Chu Junyi’s! She didn’t even give him a chance. How on earth would he be inferior to Chu Junyi?

Baili Qingcang went over the articles selected by the three of them and sighed slightly, “Well, since these are your own choices, I won’t say anything. The results of the literary round will be reserved for the time being, and I will consider them when making the final decision.” After he finished speaking, he raised his hands and clapped them.

A crisp sound rang out, and a shout of kill resounded from the surroundings of the hall that shook the clouds.

“Kill!”

The guards who had been standing around the hall tightened their grips on the spears in their hands. They pointed their spears at the young masters standing outside the hall and took a neat step forward. “Kill!”

Every contestant was stunned. They subconsciously began to prepare for the subsequent fight. However, they entered the Palace to participate in the contest and were not allowed to carry weapons. Therefore, everyone was bare-handed and could only clench their fists.

At this time, one contestant fished in troubled waters. Taking advantage of the chaos, he suddenly bumped into the person beside him, directly knocking the person to the ground.

The person who was knocked over immediately stood up, and the two of them were entangled in a fight, exchanging blows nonstop with each other.

Chu Junyi took two steps back, and he put on his best defensive posture. Beside him, a slightly dark-faced man stood side by side with him. He looked at the surrounding guards with a murderous look in his eyes.

The guards stepped forward step by step. Every step they took carried the aura of a powerful army. Especially the majestic shouting of “kill”, which made people feel extremely terrified.

Chu Junyi narrowed his eyes slightly and a smile appeared on his lips. In order to test them, the emperor had actually dispatched his personal guards, the Dragon Scale Army. These guards were all people who could kill without spilling blood, and they could triumph over enemies many times their size!

Quite a few contestants were already trembling from fear, and they desperately tried to hide in the middle of the crowd.

The Dragon Scale Army did not give them much time to react. The spears in their hands carried a sharp aura as they were stabbed towards the crowd!

“Ah!”

Someone didn’t dodge in time and was pierced through in the arm by a spear. He immediately cried out in alarm.

Chu Junyi’s expression darkened. These guards actually attacked mercilessly, as if they were treating the contestants as enemies. They would never stop unless the contestants were killed!

He suddenly jumped up, stepped on a spear that stabbed towards him, and landed behind the guard who attacked him. He raised his palm and slashed at the guard’s neck, directly hacking him unconscious. Then, he used his toe to kick up the spear and caught it. Once the spear was in his hand, it immediately moved like a spiritual snake, blasting away the guards of the Dragon Scale Army who were approaching him.

On the grandstand, Shen Ninghua focused her gaze on Chu Junyi’s movements, her palms slightly wet with sweat.

Baili Anning was even more nervous. She took Shen Ninghua’s sleeve for her silk handkerchief and held it tightly. After pulling it for quite a while, she realized that she had taken the sleeve by mistake. She quickly smoothed the wrinkles on the sleeve and put it down. “Ninghua, what do you think will happen this time?”

“I don’t know.”

On the arena, the young masters participating in the selection were gradually divided into several small teams, each of which was surrounded by guards.

Chu Junyi happened to be leaning against Baili Jinchuan, Qu Yi, and Su Zibo. The number of guards surrounding them was also the largest. The surroundings were densely packed with people. The four of them were trapped in the middle about two meters square. Chu Junyi was almost unable to wave the spear in his hand.

With a fierce punch, Chu Junyi sent a guard flying, but another guard immediately came up and attacked him with all his might. Every move was aimed at the fatal acupoint and was filled with killing intent!

Suddenly, one guard of the Dragon Scale Army on the other side seized an opportunity and slashed his hacking knife towards Su Zibo’s neck. If he made it, Su Zibo’s neck would probably be cut off. Baili Jinchuan suddenly stretched out his hand and pulled Su Zibo backwards. The tip of the knife slashed down Su Zibo’s chest, and fresh blood immediately flowed out.

“You stand in the middle of the three of us, don’t move.”

Baili Jinchuan moved to the right and leaned against Chu Junyi.

A trace of gratitude flashed through Su Zibo’s eyes, “Yes, I definitely won’t cause any trouble!”

The space between Chu Junyi’s eyebrows twitched slightly as a mocking smile flashed across his eyes. If Baili Jinchuan hadn’t acted before, his action of withdrawing the spear would have interrupted the guard’s movements. In that case, Su Zibo wouldn’t have been seriously injured at all. Baili Jinchuan really spared no effort to eradicate his opponents.

As more and more guards surrounded them, Chu Junyi gradually felt that something was wrong. Weren’t there too many guards who surrounded the four of them?

He waved his spear and knocked down a guard. A faint glint suddenly flashed through the corners of his eyes. A small black dot flew towards him, carrying traces of an air-piercing sound.

His gaze shivered as he hurriedly turned to dodge, but Baili Jinchuan, who was standing beside him, suddenly pushed him over, obviously determined to land him in a deathtrap!

A sharp light flashed in Chu Junyi’s eyes as he abruptly bent back. He raised the end of the spear in his hand and directly sent the little black dot flying back along the original path.

The little black dot was actually an extremely thin needle that was painted black!

The guard who threw the needle did not expect the needle to fly back. Without any precaution, he was stabbed by the needle in the forehead. He did not even have time to move his face before falling to the ground dead.

At this time, the guards showed no sign of stop and they continued to attack the four of them.

Baili Jinchuan’s expression was ferocious. Taking advantage of the fact that they were tightly blocked by the guards, he didn’t even try to cover up his movements. He directly and blatantly attacked Chu Junyi!