On the sixth day of October, it rained in Yishui County.

The autumn rain washed away the dust from the eaves and filled the air with damp coolness.

As soon as the day dawned, Gu Xu had already come to the Yamen Chef of the Exorcism Division, and spent eight copper coins to buy a pancake and a fritters.

Today is the day he takes the test.

As long as he is recognized by the examiners in the capital, he will be able to take off the simple and old green cloth shirt on his body and change it into a gorgeous black robe embroidered with the sun, moon and stars, and officially become a respected official of the Exorcism Division.

This is a hard-earned opportunity.

Although Gu Xu had been practicing all night for several days in a row and had made full preparations, he still had an extremely cautious attitude towards this assessment and did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

At this moment, while eating breakfast, he silently recalled in his mind the various ghost cases recorded in the books.

His experience in killing demons was certainly not as good as that of Namachin. If he wants to win in the competition, he can only rely on knowledge to bridge the gap in experience.

At this moment, Shi Xiaohan suddenly appeared in front of him and snatched the fritters and baked cakes from his hand.

"Gu Xu, how many times have I told you! You are not in good health, don't eat this unhealthy food! ”

Gu Xu spread his hands: "Then what do you say I should eat, Lord Woman?" ”

"You're going to take the test today, and you have to eat something good. So I asked my chef to make an extra breakfast for you. ”

Shi Xiaohan said as he placed a delicate food box in front of Gu Xu.

There are three layers of food boxes, which contain yusheng porridge, osmanthus cake and soup dumplings, exuding an extremely attractive aroma.

"Thank you!" Gu Xu looked at her and said sincerely, "Your chef's skills are really good!" ”

"Do you like it?"

"I like it."

"It's good to like it," Shi Xiaohan raised his chin proudly, "This is what I asked my chef to make after studying the snacks of Jiangnan and Nanyue - yusheng porridge symbolizes 'wind and water', osmanthus cake represents 'step by step', and xiaolongbao is 'thriving'."

"Gu Xu, you must work hard for today's assessment!"

"Definitely!" Gu Xu nodded seriously.

…………

Meanwhile.

Gu Xu's rival Ma Qin also set off from the inn early, holding an oil-paper umbrella and stepping on the wet bluestone road to the Yamen of the Exorcism Division.

When he set off, he deliberately wrapped his head tightly in a turban to prevent others from seeing the top of his sparse head and high hairline.

This assessment is also an extremely rare opportunity for Ma Qin.

He made careful preparations for this, only hoping to stand out and get the coveted official position, and completely get rid of the status of an unpopular official.

As early as half a month ago, Ma Qin had already lived in Yishui County.

But he didn't report to the Exorcism Division.

Instead, he has been secretly visiting the field to investigate the people's situation.

After all, Machin is an outsider and unfamiliar with Yishui's situation - this may well be his biggest disadvantage in the competition, aside from age and talent.

"Gu Xu, Gu Xu, I want to take a good look today, are you as good as the rumors?" Machin thought to himself silently.

For the genius boy who was in the first realm in less than a year, Ma Qin had long wanted to meet him.

He was very curious, if that freak had grown up with the elixir since he was a child, otherwise how could he have such a terrifying cultivation speed?

…………

A few minutes later, Machin arrived at the Yamen of the Exorcist Division.

Compared with the tall lintel of the Qingzhou Mansion Exorcism Division in my impression, the yamen in Yishui County looks much simpler and shabby.

Ma Qin put away the oil-paper umbrella, passed between the two stone statues, and walked into the yamen.

As soon as he entered the gate, he saw Chen Jisheng, the governor of Yishui County, sitting behind the public case.

Since Chen Jisheng was immersed in work, Ma Qin didn't dare to come forward to disturb him, but just stood respectfully on the side of the desk and waited quietly.

At the same time, he couldn't help but quietly look around and observe the environment in the yamen hall-

It's an unpretentious room.

On the roof hangs a plaque that reads "Helping the World and the People".

And on the wall on the side of the lobby, there is also a framed calligraphy work, on which is written in a straight and rigorous block script -

"Those who enjoy the benefits of the world will be the troubles of the world; Those who live in the joy of the world share the worries of the world".

Seeing this, Ma Qin was stunned for two seconds, and a trace of guilt sprouted in his heart.

He slashed demons and eliminated demons in the Exorcism Division for ten years, leading the court's fortunes, the purpose was just to eat and clothe himself, support himself, and be a decent person.

I have never worried about the world, and I have no time to take care of people's livelihood.

If this sentence was written by the Lord Chen in front of him, then his ideological realm is so high and his mind is open-minded that it is enough to make many officials, including Ma Qin, ashamed of themselves.

A few minutes later, Chen Jisheng put away the official documents on the table, and finally looked up and saw Ma Qin waiting on the side.

"You are Ma Qin from Qingzhou Mansion?"

"The lowly Ma Qin has seen Lord Chen." Ma Qin clasped his hands into fists and bowed.

"It will take half an hour for the examiner from Luo Jing to arrive here. Ma Qin, you can feel free to wander around the yamen first! I still have official business to do. If you don't have any other questions, I won't talk to you. Chen Jisheng's tone sounded a little cold.

As soon as he finished speaking, he took out another official document from the drawer and began to read it intently.

Master Chen is really conscientious and dedicated! He is worthy of being a model official who can write sentences such as "let the world suffer" and "worry about the world"!

Ma Qin sighed silently in his heart.

Thinking of this, he bowed and retired, and left the yamen lobby with respect, without disturbing Chen Jisheng, who was concentrating on his work.

…………

A moment later, Ma Qin came to the inner courtyard of the Yamen.

There is a pavilion in the center of the inner courtyard, and a tall stone tablet is erected in the pavilion.

On the top of this stone stele, there are three large golden characters engraved -

"Meritorious Service List".

Ma Qin knew that the "merit list" in the Yamen of the Exorcism Division was a magical magic weapon. It can not only display the merit rankings of all practitioners in the yamen, but also dynamically update them in real time.

It's just that the number of places on this list is limited, and only the names of the top 10 monks in the meritorious ranking can be displayed.

Due to the abundance of talents and strong people in Qingzhou Mansion, Ma Qin has worked for ten years and has never been on the list.

For him, every name on the list is an existence that needs to be looked up.

"Yishui County is a small and remote place, and there shouldn't be too many perverts. Maybe in the future, I will have a chance to be on the list. Machin thought to himself silently.

His gaze quickly fell on the top of the list, only to see that it read:

"No. 1, Shi Xiaohan (inspection), 32,640 meritorious service."

The number of merits on the list is the total number of mission rewards accumulated over the course of a year. Exchanging merit for elixir or magic weapon will not affect the numbers and rankings on the list.

That is to say, if a person obtains 10,000 merits in a year, even if he uses all these merits to exchange for pills, the number of merits on his list is "10,000".

Only on the first day of the first lunar month of each year, the merit list will be cleared and recounted.

But even so, Shi Xiaohan was able to obtain more than 30,000 meritorious services in less than a year, which was enough to make Ma Qin dumbfounded.

This means that Shi Xiaohan can earn about 120 meritorious deeds on average every day - still without deducting rest days.

Even in Qingzhou Mansion, where geniuses gather, this number is enough to be described as "terrifying".

"At this time, Xiaohan, how many ghosts did she hack to death?" Ma Qin couldn't help but gasp, "The rumored 'Yishui County ghost is worried', is that her?" ”

Ma Qin finally regained his composure and continued to look down the list.

It's just that when he saw the name of the second list, he was stunned again -

"The second on the list, Gu Xu (warden), 17,680 meritorious service."