The Divine Martial Stars

ngers were in the uniforms of the disciples of the Heaven Sword Martial Club, he hesitated.
Upon a closer look, they were all wearing soft armor made of rare materials and seemed to be the elite disciples.
The six of them all had quite high cultivation, only that from their behaviors, they did not know Li Mu.
Obviously, they were not on the scene when Li Mu turned the Heaven Sword Martial Club upside down.

After figuring out their identities, Li Mu felt like doing kind of a prank.
An evil plan surfaced in his mind, and he decided not to fly off the handle but to keep sitting there, void of expression.

Zheng Cunjian was baffled by Li Mu ’s quietness.
He was under the impression that Li Mu had never been so good-tempered and tolerant.
He must have his reasons for doing it.
Thus, the Heartless Scholar also stifled down his anger and sat in his seat without comment.

On the other side, when the scholars from the Fengming Academy and the Hanshan Academy saw what just happened, they all broke into a roar of laughter and started a new round of mocking towards Li Mu and Zheng Cunjian.

The other guests in the hall also began to cast pitying, sympathetic, and dismissive looks at Li Mu and Zheng Cunjian.
Most of them probably thought they were just poor scholars or people without any background who hoped to come to fame by taking advantage of Miss.
Hua ’s opening day.

That kind of thing had already occurred before.
Some pedantic penniless scholars carried the poems that they composed by racking their brains to Miss.
Hua ’s opening day, wishing to achieve instant fame.
No wonder there was a theory that a man of letters was destined to be with a famous prostitute.
Wen Zongfu, an impoverished scholar, was said to become well-known and rise to power since he happened to strike Madam Gongsun, the most popular prostitute in Qin City back then.
His way of making his mark had been followed by many other men of letters.
However, the results they obtained varied.

Today, right here in the hall, there were a good number of ordinary-looking scholars waiting for the beginning of the opening moment.

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One of them was even wearing ragged clothes, his ear matted with dirt, and his face clearly unwashed for days.
But his eyes were gleaming greedily, while transfixed on a certain position on the third floor, as if he were a wolf that could not wait to swoop on its prey.

Finally, when a dancing performance finished, the moment that everyone had been looking forward to tonight arrived.

The opening hours of Miss.
Hua Xiangrong finally came.

People in the hall, and even those in the private rooms on the second floor, all had been put on edge.

Madam Bai Xuan, the master of the Holy House, came out first and said a few welcome lines, and then she went straight to announce that the opening hours officially started.
Next, ten maids who were all dressed in male scholar dressings in light green came down from the third floor and stood in a line.
In front of each maid, a desk was set up, and the writing brushes, ink sticks, paper, and inkstones were put on them.

”Tonight, the theme Miss.
Hua selected is one word—woman.
Everyone, please show your talent with a poem base on this theme. ”

A good-looking madame at the landing of the second floor released the theme with a smile.

The hall instantly was drowned by surprised yells.

Some guest looked quite chagrined and disappointed, for the excellent works they had composed or acquired with effort beforehand were utterly different from what Miss.
Hua was asking them to create.
It seemed that they did not have a chance.
They might as well scratch their heads and concoct some ragged verses, but those works were not suited to be displayed on this serious occasion, which would render them being laughed at.

”Damn it, didn ’t the source say tonight ’s theme is an ode to the moon? ”

”Well, what I learned is praising the plum blossom… ”

”That darned Zhang Guigong swindled ten pounds out of me.
What a bastard.
Well, I got no shots this time. ”

Some guests started to curse.

Seeing the various reactions of the guests, Li Mu was forcibly intrigued about Hua Xiangrong, the top star in the Holy House.

That woman appeared to be quite influential.
She was almost as charming as the superb celebrities back on Earth.
No, even those superb celebrities were not that appealing.
Miss.
Hua could attract half of the entire famous people and the nobles in Chang ’an on each of her opening days, which was held three times a month.
Li Mu noticed that those in the hall had all come here with some preparation.
Now that they did so, he could imagine how much effort those more distinguished in the private rooms on the second floor had put for tonight ’s event.
Perhaps they had spent a thousand pound of gold for a win.

Shortly after the theme was released, a man came up to one of the desks and wrote down a poem.

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”There was a beauty in the south.
Her face would make flowers blush.
Looking in the mirror in the morning, and leaning against the window at sunset.
All men loved her beautiful faces, but who could she confide in? Soon she would bid her youth, and her glory was not going to last for long. ”

The one who wrote it was exactly the unshaven man in rags that Li Mu had spotted before.
After finishing the last word, he laughed out loud and tossed the writing brush onto the ground, seemingly unperturbed by the result.

”Brilliant work! ” Someone from the crowd complimented.

”It ’s surely a good poem.
The name of the place and the character all fit in.
And the conception is special. ”

”Hum, though the poem is fine, the idea behind it is too arrogant.
It indirectly satirizes that Miss.
Hua ’s beauty cannot last long.
So, how can it make to the next round? ”

”You rogue, are you playing the hard-to-get game to draw Miss.
Hua ’s attention? ”

Guests muttered their varied comments.

Those fans of Miss.
Hua felt quite indignant, because they thought the arrogant man was scoffing at Hua Xiangrong for making profits by her beauty.
Some even had an impulse to punch him.
Only that arrogant man was still laughing, standing behind the desk with a sneer on his face.

At the sight, Li Mu shook his head dismissively.

Regardless of the quality of the poem, the behavior of this arrogant man was really too much.

When he took a careful look, Li Mu detected that his legs were shaking behind his saggy robe.
Evidently, he was putting on a show.
Although his acting was good, he did not seem to have any guts.

After a while, the review was completed.
A maid coming down from the third floor announced that the ’beauty poem ’ had been selected to enter the next round.
It had gained the acknowledgement of Hua Xiangrong.
When the maid dried the ink, it was hung up on the second floor.

It was the first poem that had been chosen tonight.

Now, that unshaven man laughed more wildly.
He was then led to a round table that was placed by the side in advance to take a rest and have some tasty food.

The rest of the guests immediately began to envy that man in rags.