This girl is indeed stunningly talented!

  Night.

  I have a posthumous holy title. The palace lanterns have been lit.

  Study Room

  The Holy Emperor has changed out of the more formal dragon robe he wore during the day and is now wearing a simple, clean gold-yellow robe that he usually wears when not attending early court sessions. He sits on the throne, carefully reading through the memorials, his expression calm.

  The eagle mask and the eagle-shaped ring on his right middle finger had already been removed.

  An Lin walked in quietly from outside the gate and stood one meter away from the imperial desk, bowing his waist and speaking in a low voice: "Your Majesty, General Shao, General Li, General Qin, General Shen, the four generals are already waiting outside, shall I have them come in now?"

  The calm and peaceful gaze of the Holy Lord remained on the memorial, faintly yet forcefully throwing a word at An Lin, "Pass it on?"

  "Yes?" An Lin bowed and responded, then stood aside, straightened up, and loudly shouted towards the door: "The Emperor's decree is transmitted. Summon Generals Shao, Li, Qin, and Shen to pay their respects!"

  As soon as Anlin finished speaking, the four generals who were summoned, wearing their military uniforms, walked into the imperial study one after another. The four of them lined up in a row, and at the same time, they knelt down on one knee about a meter away from the imperial desk, with their left hands grasping the hilts of their swords and their right hands placed on their knees, their heads slightly bowed.

  The four generals spoke in unison: "Your Majesty, we, your humble generals, request an audience."

  His Majesty put down his brush, slowly got up, and waved his hand. "A few beloved consorts, no need to be too polite, get up?"

  General Li, a man in his forties with a sturdy build, stood up and saluted the Emperor with a fist: "Your Majesty, I have something very important to tell you, all about today's match."

  The Holy Lord smiled and sat down on the throne, saying: "Li Ai, speak up. I called you four here today to ask what happened in the Imperial Forest?"

  "Your Majesty, what a talent!" General Shen was an old general who should have retired and returned to his hometown long ago. What he did to Tang Lin in the imperial forest today still lingered vividly in his mind, and he couldn't help but express his admiration for Tang Lin in front of the emperor, "That young brother, today is like a divine being descending from heaven, he really made everyone's eyes wide open with wonder and praise!"

  "Oh?" The Holy Lord slightly raised an eyebrow, showing thick interest, but he wasn't actually shocked by General Shen's two sentences. His mouth was only adorned with a faint, gentle smile. "General, please go on."

  Another Qin general, who was of similar age to Sha Qi but had a sturdy build, couldn't help but burst into praise for Tang Lin's deeds. "Your Majesty, General Shen spoke the truth! That young brother is indeed extraordinary!"

  His Majesty's lips curled up with a hint of interest, and he looked at Shao Qi standing on the edge, asking: "What do you think, Lord Shao?"

  "Your Majesty, I, the General-in-Chief, must admit that this is my first time entering the Imperial Forest. Before entering, I was confident in my ability to come out, but unexpectedly, even I got trapped inside. Before entering, I followed Your Majesty's arrangement, which stated that all contestants could bring their prey back to the finish line, except for me, because I know all of you generals. Your Majesty only hoped that I could emerge on time, but if it weren't for Little Tang's help, I really wouldn't have been able to make it out in time."

  His Majesty asked: "Tell me, what did Little Tang do?"

  Sha Qi replied, "Your Majesty, I and the two contestants I met today saw Little Tang in the woods. She said she would help us three find our prey and show us the way, but because we are men...". He hesitated to reveal what happened with Little Tang's daughter, fearing it might harm her.

  The king carefully observed Shao Qi's expression, and through his expression and hesitant tone, he saw through Shao Qi's thoughts at this moment. "You don't want to rely on a woman's help, do you?"

  At the sound, Shao Qi was shocked and his eyes widened as he stared at the Emperor, "Your Majesty knows that Xiao Tang is a girl."

  It turned out that the "one man guards the pass, ten thousand men cannot open" little brother in the Royal Forest was actually a girl. At this time, the other three generals began to discuss it in hushed tones.

  "What a girl!"

  "We were really blind, that little brother is actually a little girl?"

  "This girl, can be said to be a stunning talent?"

  After the murmurs of discussion died down, the Emperor finally replied to Shao Qi's question in a light and casual tone, "This young woman is surnamed Tang, named Lin, and was one of the contestants selected by General Zhang Xiangyang from among the common people. All the contestants that General Zhang chose from among the common people have been reported to me, which is how I came to know that this young Tang is actually a female, not a male. Just as you all said, such an astonishing talent, should I punish her for impersonating a member of the Imperial Guard? What I want to know now is, how did she manage to find those 300 martial artists among tens of thousands of people in such a short period of time?"

  "Your Majesty," General Li said, "Little Tang has a natural talent, a keen sense of military bearing. As long as she's been trained in the army, she can spot it at first glance. She said that, firstly, an officer has a dignity that is different from ordinary people; secondly, she judges whether someone is a martial general by looking at their physique; thirdly, she judges each person by their height. Thus, Little Tang easily picked out three hundred martial generals, and even us old veterans with deep strategies were seen through by her sharp eyes."

  An Lin interrupted, "Your Majesty, among all the contestants, except for General Shao, not a single one knew that you ordered 300 generals to disguise themselves as civilians and mix in with the contestants. How did this young Tang lady know?"

  "Your Majesty, I was the first one Little Tang found. I remember when she told her two friends that all the contestants had been deceived by you, and that you had not hidden 300 warriors in the forest, but rather had them disguise themselves as contestants among the tens of thousands of participants. She also said that having experienced similar tests before, she knew how you arranged the prey."

  His Majesty laughed heartily, "I must say, this little girl is indeed a talent!" After a while, he composed himself and raised an eyebrow, "She said she had experienced similar competitions before."

  General Qin nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty. I heard it clearly, that's what Little Tang said. Your Majesty, judging from this, Miss Tang must be a descendant of a military family. Otherwise, how could she be so familiar with your array?"

  The Holy Emperor continued: "Regardless of whether she is the future queen, tell me how she broke through the formation in the forest. Inside were the Bagua Formation and the Qiankun Formation, each one not something ordinary people can break through. Even you all couldn't break through them, so how did that little girl manage to walk out?"

  General Shen said, "To report to Your Majesty, I, General Mo, accompanied Miss Tang out of the shortcut. However, this shortcut was not the one that Your Majesty told us about, but rather the last path that Your Majesty personally saw, which was the route that General Shao took from the ground to reach the endpoint directly."

  The Holy Lord said, "More than two thousand years ago, this was the residence of a certain tribe. It's not surprising that there is such a passage here, it's just that we haven't discovered it until now. You say, how did she discover the passage?"

  "It wasn't even necessary to discover," General Shen summarized the events at that time, "Miss Tang found us and led us to a corner of the mountain wall by the stream. The mountain wall was made of granite, which had withstood the wind and rain for centuries and remained unchanged. Miss Tang seemed to know where there was a passageway and easily found the switch, opening the entrance to the tunnel and leading us seven people all the way to the end of the tunnel. At that time, we were very curious why she didn't take the mountain road but instead took the underground tunnel. I still remember Miss Tang's explanation at that time. She said that all the contestants were only two or three mountains away from the finish line, and as long as they walked out of those two or three mountains, they could see the finish line. However, she said that there were many arrays set up in the mountain forest that she could decipher, but it would take a lot of time to walk out, so taking the underground tunnel was more direct. Therefore, Miss Tang was the first person to reach the finish line, and at that time, she hid behind us, so Your Majesty didn't see her? It seemed that Miss Tang didn't want Your Majesty to discover her, so she only appeared at the last moment?"

  General Li smiled and said: "This little Tang girl, she's so mischievous, even daring to tease the Emperor?"

  The Holy Emperor let out a soft sigh, and at the same time, he couldn't help but laugh, "The first round of questions that I carefully thought out was actually solved by her alone, but through her performance, I understood one thing, except for her, all the other candidates failed to pass?"

  "Your Majesty..." General Li had something to say, but was afraid that if he spoke out, he would be punished by the Emperor, so he hesitated.

  His Majesty said: "You may speak freely, Minister Li; I won't blame you."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty?" Having obtained the emperor's guarantee, General Li dared to speak out what was in his heart. "Your Majesty, it's not that those contestants are too stupid, but rather... Your Majesty is too intelligent, exceeding their acceptable range. If the content of the questions were a bit simpler, perhaps many contestants would be able to pass?"

  After listening to General Li's words, the emperor's eyes became somewhat deep and his tone of voice also turned cold. "This world has many people who are smarter than me, I'm not being unreasonable by setting this question, if it wasn't a bit complicated, how would there be someone as talented as Little Tang? Alright, I've finished asking questions and understand the situation, you all can go home and rest now. Shao Qi, stay behind, I have something to say to you."

  "Is it time for us to withdraw?" Except for Shao Qi, the other three generals walked out of the imperial study together.

  ——

  I'm very grateful to [Taotao] for rewarding 18 coins, and also very grateful to [Yu Shui Zi Chen] for rewarding 5 coins. I love you guys so much, ahhhhh~