Those standing on the Sleeping Dragon Stone couldn’t help it either as they were assigned this spot by the temple attendants upon arrival. In fact, some were visibly dejected when they found out about their unique tile. After all, this Sleeping Dragon Stone had never been chosen for several hundred years now. Though there were clever people who would say, “There are many other tiles that hadn’t been picked before too. It’s only because of its size that this specific tile got a bad rep. It gave everyone the misconception that the Sleeping Dragon Stone would never be drawn when in fact, the chances of it being selected were the same as everyone else.”
“Quick, look! His Majesty is drawing the third lot,” someone exclaimed in excitement.
The hundred or so people remaining in the narrowed-down area held their breaths. Everyone was obviously hoping to get picked as having their pet beasts promoted to the next rank was a godsend opportunity.
At the same time, there were some who were perfectly aware that the higher the pet beast’s rank was, the lower the chances of it being promoted successfully. Although it was rare, there had been instances in the past when the appraiser was given a pet beast that was unusually hard to evolve. However, such cases were rare, and as a precaution, headquarters would usually assign only the most experienced Rank 3 beast appraisers for the task.
Everyone watched as His Majesty He Qian gleefully shook out the third lot.
The temple attendant picked it up and smiled. “The third lot His Majesty has drawn is the ‘Modest’ lot…”
A moment later, the temple attendant’s expression changed, as if he had suddenly realized something. He Qian didn’t give it much thought because he was merely participating in a formality.
“Temple Attendant, go ahead and announce which tile was selected,” He Qian said with a smile before he noticed the anxious look on the temple attendant’s face.
“What’s wrong?” He Qian asked. “Did I draw a bad lot?”
The temple attendant quickly shook his head. He stole a glance at Lin Jin, and there was a look of sympathy on his face. As the temple attendant, he was naturally able to work out which tile had been selected. The impossible had occurred. The tile this year was the largest ‘Sleeping Dragon Stone’ tile.
This temple attendant had experienced ten Jade Dragon Festivals now but this was his first time seeing this tile being drawn.
Fortunately, his mind remained nimble and he said, “The lots Your Majesty has drawn are all upper lots which are very auspicious. However, please give us a moment to calculate the tile’s position from these three lots.”
The temple attendant figured he might just have recalled wrongly as this combination of lots has never been drawn before. That might just be the case so this lucky tile may not be the ‘Sleeping Dragon Stone’.
Subsequently, the temple attendant verified the location together with the temple stewards and event officers. Sure enough, his memory didn’t deceive him. The three lots His Majesty had drawn pointed to the ‘Sleeping Dragon Tile’.
Under the watchful eyes of the people, it was impossible for anyone to have rigged the game. After all, the lots’ explanations were carved on the stone tablet before the temple’s hall and anyone could see it with their own eyes.
By now, some nosy folks had deciphered the lots themselves as gasps of surprise could be heard among the crowd.
The temple attendant knew he couldn’t cheat his way out of this now.
“Forget it, I won’t be the one troubled anyway, why should I worry so much?” the temple attendant mumbled to himself before announcing the results.
By now, even Emperor He Qian realized what tile they had selected this year.
Looking up, he saw how excited the few people standing on the Sleeping Dragon Stone were.
‘It’s no wonder the temple attendant reacted so strangely. So this is the reason,’ He Qian thought inwardly. In hindsight, it was definitely inappropriate of him to issue a royal decree for Lin Jin’s exceptional promotion to Rank 3. He only did it to befriend ‘Curator’ after all.
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He wasn’t able to give Curator any benefits but He Qian figured he could at least help Curator’s disciple.
He recalled quite clearly that one morning, as he had a meeting with his ministers, one of them mentioned that His Majesty’s selfish request may disquiet the beast appraisers of their kingdom, and advised His Majesty to abandon his plan.
However, He Qian simply refuted the minister’s claim and insisted on doing it.
Curator was worth that much. Even if Lin Jin wasn’t worthy, He Qian would promote him as a gesture of friendship towards Curator.
He Qian understood fairly well how inappropriate his actions were too. Hence, He Qian was delighted to find out that Lin Jin would be hosting the blessing event for this year’s Jade Dragon Festival. He could finally prove his worth as a Rank 3 beast appraiser. After all, the host had always been a Rank 3 beast appraiser, and any lower than that meant that the event would probably end in failure.
So long as Lin Jin passed, no one would find his previous decree inappropriate. They might even start to think it was a wise decision too.
He Qian had carried out an investigation, which reported how skillful Lin Jin was at appraising beasts. To have the ‘Sleeping Dragon Stone’ picked for the first time in hundreds of years, while it was surely a challenge, it was also an opportunity.
Hence, He Qian planned to see how Lin Jin would react to this. If the latter was wary, He Qian wouldn’t force him to continue playing his role. He would just have to think of an idea to draw another round of lots.
He Qian had even come up with an excuse. He made a mental note that if Lin Jin frowned, he would restart the process
Lin Jin was unfazed by the announcement.
He didn’t find it troubling, nor was he afraid or worried. His reaction was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Unbeknownst to him, Tan Xun and the others were sweating buckets below the platform.
News of His Majesty drawing the Sleeping Dragon Stone started spreading like wildfire. Tan Xun looked over to see at least five people standing on the tile. A minimum of two possessed Rank 2 pet beasts.
Despite how experienced Tan Xun was, he too was sweating bullets. He couldn’t help but feel anxious because the rule dictated that Lin Jin had to evolve these pet beasts on the spot. If Lin Jin couldn’t do it, he would be utterly humiliated.
In the past, there had been appraisers who failed as well. Their failure would almost always throw them into despair, destroying many talented individuals who just couldn’t perform at the right moment.
Keep in mind that these failures would occur, even when regular tiles were chosen. This time, there were five pet beasts and from what Tan Xun could tell, there were a few highly challenging pet beasts. Even if Tan Xun was left to perform the evolution inside headquarters, he might require several days of preparation and even then, there were no guarantees of success.
Now, to evolve five different pet beasts of completely different attributes in a short time during this ritual was practically impossible.
‘This is bad.’
While Tan Xun had such thoughts, there were those enjoying Lin Jin’s misfortune too.
Once Yu Mantang learned of the situation, he started cackling madly on the inside.
“Hahaha, oh Lin Jin, looks like your glory has come to an end. I can’t wait to see how badly you’ll handle this. These are all premium pet beasts, and reaching heaven is easier than promoting even a single one of them! How terrible is your luck to be assigned this tile?”
There were people who were worried too.
The palace officials and royal descendants started whispering to each other as well. They were all excited to see Lin Jin screw up in front of everyone, as it would make a pretty entertaining show.