Era of Mist

For the next two days, Shi Tiexin once again threw himself into intense training. His accumulation of primitive vital essence grew steadily and methodically, quickly surpassing eighty strands. As his primitive vital essence approached its maximum, Shi Tiexin’s weight also increased rapidly. He had weighed himself recently—he was already at ninety kilograms.

’Ninety kilograms... I guess it’ll have to do!’

In terms of his mind arts cultivation, his progress in Rhetoric was advancing by leaps and bounds. Perhaps it was the spiritual encouragement and insight from the *Selected Anthology of Ancient Prose*, but Shi Tiexin’s Rhetoric was improving at an incredible rate. In just two days, it had surpassed the ninetieth mark of the Profound Realm and was rapidly approaching the limit of ninety-nine.

Now when he practiced his standard script with a pen, he no longer needed to trace the characters in Wang Xingshun’s copybook. He had grown particularly fond of the ancient prose anthology and would start copying from it during his morning reading sessions. The anthology was printed in Song typeface, but as Shi Tiexin’s pen danced across the paper, what emerged was all standard script.

The local thugs marveled at Shi Tiexin’s standard script. They were just surprised that Brother Tie had this kind of skill up his sleeve. ’As expected of Champion Scholar Stone, who came from the elite class. His writing... the horizontal and vertical strokes are so neat, each one so deliberate. It’s way better than my own chicken scratch!’

Of course, these thugs had extremely limited knowledge and couldn’t see the profound secrets hidden in Brother Tie’s skill. If someone who understood calligraphy were to look, they would discover that ever since Shi Tiexin’s enlightenment on Sunday, his script had begun to conceal its power while carrying a spiritual verve, possessing a dignified structure. The techniques of calligraphy were gradually merging with his own personality, forming a unique style.

The "Air of a Great Master" attribute was already taking effect.

The strange thing was, ever since Shi Tiexin’s handwriting had become well-formed, the writing on that ostentatious inscription board had also become much more beautiful, as if it were progressing in sync with him.

Besides Rhetoric, his other subjects were also improving rapidly. Compared to Mathematics and Rhetoric, the other four subjects were inherently less difficult to learn and master. Moreover, Champion Scholar Stone’s foundation was extremely solid—he had scored full marks in every subject on the high school entrance exam—which helped Shi Tiexin’s scores climb at a blistering pace.

Within a few days, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology had all successively entered the Profound Realm. Natural History was a little slower, but it was expected to reach the Profound Realm in another two days.

Shi Tiexin was lost in the joy of his rapid progress, completely oblivious to the world around him.

Of course, while Shi Tiexin was sweating buckets, another group of people was also sweating buckets. These people were the math teachers of Fengming First Middle School.

An exam, of course, has to produce results. And to get results, the papers must be graded. Students only had to endure the exam itself, but the teachers’ work was a protracted affair. Fengming First Middle School had many exams, so the pressure of grading was immense.

And for this particular exam, the grading pressure was especially huge.

The large number of questions, high difficulty, and long duration left students bewildered while taking the test. The teachers felt their eyes were about to pop out of their sockets while grading. All the math teachers from the three grade levels working together were still overwhelmed. Because grading the four basic arithmetic operations was simple—the answers were either right or wrong and didn’t require experienced judgment—the school even organized some staff members into a "grading army" to help out.

Even so, grading the papers for roughly five thousand students across three grade levels was enough to make one’s head spin.

One had an aching back, another had sore eyes. Legs went numb from sitting too long, and necks ached from looking down. The teachers, already unhappy with this exam, complained endlessly. The Head of the Education Department could only keep consoling them. "A new type of grading machine has appeared on the market. The school is planning to spend a large sum to purchase a few, which will definitely lighten the grading burden for all of you."

After exhausting all pleasantries and promising bonuses, the teachers’ dissatisfaction was finally suppressed.

But the Head of the Education Department was also sweating. Whether Principal Liu’s new approach could be implemented all depended on the success of this exam. If it succeeded, all the teachers would be won over, and the subsequent reforms would naturally proceed smoothly. If it failed, if it was a mess, then all their plans would be severely delayed and become difficult to execute.

As for what constituted a successful exam, there was no precise measure. However, an exam was, in the end, meant to measure a student’s academic progress. It was meant to help students understand their own level and help teachers identify gaps and problems in their teaching.

If an exam was too easy and everyone got high scores, it would be meaningless. Conversely, if an exam was so difficult that everyone failed, it couldn’t be called a success either.

Since an exam was a measuring stick, it was best not to let any of its markings exist in vain. Ideally, the students should be widely and regularly distributed across every mark on the scale. Only then would both teachers and students acknowledge the exam’s authority. That was the art of testing, and that was the most successful kind of exam.

The Head of the Education Department also knew how difficult the test was. He was constantly praying for at least a few high scores across the school. As long as a few students could score above three hundred and eighty, it would be preliminary proof that the test wasn’t just arbitrarily difficult, but truly had substance.

It wasn’t just the Head of the Education Department. The teachers, stealing moments of leisure, were also constantly passing along news. They were all curious about what results this exam would ultimately yield. This was especially true for the teachers grading the last few pages of the test; whenever they came across a particularly outstanding paper, it would be singled out and discussed with great relish.

Through this continuous chatter, the teachers gradually discovered that the students who managed to get good scores on this exam were indeed those with exceptionally solid fundamentals. All the students who scored above three hundred and twenty began to enter the teachers’ Dharma Eye.

Meanwhile, the math teachers of the elite classes began to secretly compete, comparing the average scores of their respective classes. Through this comparison, the quality and authority of the exam were gradually accepted. The elite class teachers were giving it their all, hoping to claim the highest score in the entire grade.

Compared to the clusters of perfect scores that used to appear all the time, a high score on this exam was worth much more.

On Tuesday, a piece of news that shocked all the math teachers came from the third-year grade department.

On this test, a third-year student at Fengming First Middle School had scored full marks.

A smile immediately appeared on the face of the Head of the Education Department. ’We’re in the clear.’

Although specific details hadn’t been disclosed, the teachers were all astonished. Everyone who truly understood the difficulty of this test was desperate to know what kind of person could possibly achieve a perfect score.

Not long after, news came from the second-year grade level: a second-year had also gotten a perfect score.

Suddenly, everyone was dying of curiosity.

Wednesday morning was the math department’s faculty meeting. This time, teacher representatives from all three grade levels were present. The Head of the Education Department presided over the meeting. "Thanks to the diligent grading of all our teachers, and after repeated verification, the results of this math fundamentals test have all been compiled and are in my hands."

He brandished a set of statistics in his hand, a playful look on his face. "In the results of this exam, a few very unexpected things have occurred."