Confucianism under Heaven

Chapter 469 The Joy of the Six Arts

Chapter 469 The Music of the Six Arts

Xie Ming's words aroused curiosity on everyone's faces, and their gazes turned towards the talented scholars from various noble families.

This scene piqued the interest of everyone present, who could guess that the first place would likely be chosen from among the sage families of Jin.

Because the students of Jin State emphasized the Six Arts, rather than other things, their understanding of the Six Arts should be more profound.

"The winner of first place is..."

Xie Ming glanced at the first name on the list, somewhat surprised, and then, under the expectant gaze of everyone, slowly said:

"Yanhuang Kingdom, Ye Ru!"

The words echoed throughout the land, and everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering who this Ye Ru was.

"Everyone may not recognize this person, but he was the first to submit his answer."

A faint laugh reached everyone's ears, causing a series of blank stares on their faces.

No one could have imagined that the first person to hand in their paper would receive the highest score in the entire session!

And it's number one!

The students from those aristocratic families were also somewhat surprised when they heard the news. Although victory and defeat are common occurrences in war, being suppressed to such an extent by a foreign country in their own country was a blow to their pride.

Xie Ming's eyes still held a hint of surprise. Ye Ru's earlier submission of his paper had made him pay more attention to Ye Ru. At first, he thought that Ye Ru was just trying to gain fame and reputation by taking advantage of this opportunity to improve his literary reputation. But now it seemed that Ye Ru did indeed have some talent.

The Jin scholar's expression also turned somewhat unpleasant. He then spat and said:

"Hmph, it's only the first game, it's just good luck."

"Second place, Kong Jie from the family of Confucius."

Third place: Yanming of Shu.

Upon seeing the third place, Xie Ming's eyes narrowed. Why was the name so strange, and why was the person from an unknown family in the Shu Kingdom?

"Fourth place, Yan Feng of Shu Kingdom."

"Fifth place, Yan Jin of Shu Kingdom."

But when Xie Ming read out the top five, his face turned somewhat ugly.

Who exactly are these three members of the Yan family, that they were able to take all five spots in the top five?

"Who are these three men in black robes?"

Zhang Dong's gaze sharpened, then he said solemnly, his face showing a thoughtful expression. After all, these three men in black robes were extremely strange, and the Star Ape King had even said that they possessed the aura of a demon race.

Everyone was astonished that the literary gathering of Jin had turned into a literary gathering of Shu.

"These three are a bit strange."

After reading out the top 500 names, Xie Ming pointed to the list and spoke again.

"what happened?"

The elder from the Confucian family asked.

“Look at these three people from Shu. Logically speaking, Shu has never had a deep understanding of the Six Arts. How could they suddenly produce three such outstanding talents?”

"Moreover, the Yan family is not among the holy families and powerful clans. How is that possible?"

"It's probably quite difficult to produce three such outstanding scholars."

Shaking his head, Xie Ming took a deep breath and expressed his thoughts.

"I'll check it out."

Shi Tianze pondered for a moment before speaking, saying that their mission was to write books and establish doctrines, especially to have a thorough understanding of the power dynamics of aristocratic families and powerful clans.

"Okay, then it's hard work."

Xie Ming nodded. Although this matter concerned the State of Jin, such a strange scene needed to be thoroughly investigated.

After a while, Shi Tianze walked over with a heavy expression, then looked at the three mysterious men in black robes and said in a low voice:

"We found out, but..."

"But what?"

Xie Ming pressed further, knowing that anything that could make the Shi family head look so solemn must be extraordinary.

"However, they are already dead."

These words made Xie Ming gasp. He looked at the man in black robes and swallowed hard.

"No way, how is that possible!"

His lips twitched slightly, causing everyone present to look on in disbelief.

"But that is indeed the case."

Shi Tianze shook his head and said.

"Then who are they? They can't be ghosts, can they? The Master said, 'The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits.' Haven't you heard of that saying?"

The Kong family elder said in a deep voice.

"Something's fishy. The identities of these three people aren't as simple as they seem."

Seemingly having sorted out his thoughts, Xie Ming pointed to three people on the list and then continued:

"He might be a demon scholar..."

"Impossible, a demon scholar? We've held this literary gathering before, and a demon scholar has never come before. Even if one did, he probably wouldn't dare to come."

"Even if we don't know how he gets here or how he leaves, he can't escape our senses."

Shi Tianze said in a deep voice that although his attention was on Ye Ru this time, he would put Ye Ru's matter aside for the time being after this incident.

"Not necessarily, some people are able to do this kind of disguise."

The Kong family elder squinted slightly as he spoke.

"A member of the Poison Family."

Two words came to everyone's mind, and then they looked at each other and said in unison.

"We can't investigate their identities in public during this match. Since they were able to get in here, they must have a way to hide their faces."

One of the gentlemen from the Meng family shook his head.

"Let's wait until the conference is over before we talk about it. It's too late to say anything now. Although these three are stronger, we're not without our own strengths."

Xie Ming sighed, shifted his gaze to Kong Ling and Ye Ru, and suddenly said with a hint of sadness.

If anyone could possibly withstand these three men in black, it would probably be Kong Ling and Ye Ru.

While everyone was looking at each other wondering how the conference was going, Ye Ru also noticed something. Then he looked at the three men in black robes, and their eyes met.

"Alright, now let's move on to the second round, the Six Arts of Music. According to the competition's advancement rules, everyone present must play a piece at the same time for the Six Arts of Music. Whoever has the most unique sound and the highest score will be the winner. We will have a special machine to judge the results."

At the scene, the platform where people had been writing slowly lowered, and because there were far fewer people, the space became much more spacious.

After the platform was lowered, an even larger platform rose up again.

Below the stone platform was a screen made of a special material, displaying scores. Seeing this, Ye Ru could guess that it must be used to assign scores.

"Alright, let's begin the competition."

After Xie Ming explained the rules, he slowly raised his hand and then suddenly brought it down!