Seeing the suspicious gazes directed at him, Yi Danwang smiled and said, "Among our panel of judges, there has been a minor dispute. This time, we need all of you to serve as the judges. You will grade these exam questions. You received a total of eight questions. Please select the one that benefited you the most, the one you consider to be the highest quality. Write down the question number, and we will tally the results."
The contestants below erupted in commotion, finding this extremely amusing. They laughed among themselves with great enthusiasm.
Having the judges decide their fates had always weighed heavily on them.
Now, they finally had a chance to settle the judges' dispute — and naturally, no one was going to pass up the opportunity to flip roles and become a judge themselves. One by one, they began filling in their selections.
In truth, most of them had already settled on an answer in their hearts. They simply hadn't expected this kind of survey to take place.
Almost every contestant picked up their pen and filled in their answer without any hesitation. In no time, everyone had submitted their choices.
Yi Danwang noticed this detail and asked with curiosity, "You've all filled in your answers so quickly? Don't you need to think it over carefully?"
Up on the stage, Bu Danwang gripped the armrests of his chair so tightly that they were nearly cracking, his expression complicated and his sharp gaze sweeping over the contestants below.
Clearly, he was burning with curiosity — which question would these examinees choose? Why had they decided so quickly? And without a shred of hesitation?
For reasons he couldn't explain, watching everyone fill in their answers so decisively filled Bu Danwang with an inexplicable sense of dread.
He believed his question was of the highest caliber, capable of outshining all others. But he was self-aware enough to know that even the most brilliant question couldn't hold an absolute advantage — it couldn't possibly make everyone unanimously choose his question without even thinking about it.
Suddenly, he had a foreboding premonition, and his eyelid began twitching uncontrollably.
Down among the contestants, someone called out, "All of the questions were impressive this time, but when it comes to choosing the best one, there's really no need to think twice."
"Exactly. One question struck me so deeply that I'm definitely going with that one."
The contestants chattered among themselves, sharing their thoughts.
Hearing the murmurings from below, the judges on the panel exchanged glances. Judging by what the contestants were saying, their choices seemed effortless — as if among those eight questions, one stood out so far above the rest that it had earned universal recognition? An advantage as stark as a crane standing among chickens?
Each judge reflected privately and felt that none of them possessed that kind of overwhelming edge.
Yi Danwang quickly collected all two hundred ballots and brought them to the judges' panel.
Jiang Chen and Bu Danwang, as the two parties in the wager, naturally had no right to look at them.
The other six judges began the tally.
After counting just a dozen or so, every single one of them wore a bizarre expression. Yi Danwang's face bore a strange smile that seemed to be fighting its way to the surface, as if he could barely contain it.
One by one, they swept their peculiar gazes over to Bu Danwang.
As the count continued, the judges' expressions grew increasingly strange, until at last, every one of them looked absolutely astonished.
When the tally was finally complete, all the judges looked as though they had just finished something enormously exhausting. They slumped back in their chairs, each one beading with cold sweat on their forehead.
It was unbelievable.
Every single ballot had voted for the same answer.
That's right — not a single exception.
All of them had chosen Question Number Eight. That is to say, the question set by Zhen Danwang. The unanimous choice!
This outcome was something even Yi Danwang hadn't anticipated. He may have considered the possibility that Zhen Danwang would win — but no one could have imagined he would win in such a fashion.
A complete victory. A veritable massacre.
Confident as Bu Danwang had been, he hadn't received a single vote. Every last ballot, without exception, had selected Question Number Eight. Every single one had chosen Zhen Danwang's question.
And even the elite young alchemists from the Shura Great Emperor's faction had voted the same way. Perhaps, when it came to this particular matter, they hadn't considered factional loyalties at all — only the quality of the work.
Watching the barely suppressed grin on Yi Danwang's face, Bu Danwang felt as though he had plunged into an icy abyss. In this moment, even a fool could read from the other judges' expressions that the situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable to him.
The only question was just how bad it was — and right now, he had no idea.
He darted a glance at Zhen Danwang. The young man sat there perfectly composed, as though he weren't a participant in the wager at all — as though he had always been this certain of the outcome.
Jiang Chen's calm confidence pierced straight through Bu Danwang's pride.
"Bu Danwang, I regret to inform you — you have lost." Yi Danwang wasn't particularly cruel about it. He simply announced that Bu Danwang had lost the bet.
Bu Danwang's heart lurched. His face drained of color, and he stammered, "Impossible... How could I possibly lose? There must be some mistake."
"There is no mistake." Yi Danwang let out a soft sigh and shook his head. One or two ballots might be wrong, but two hundred ballots all showing the exact same result — how could that possibly be wrong?
Bu Danwang clearly wasn't the type to admit defeat without seeing proof. He raised his voice, "I refuse to believe I lost. I want to see the ballots."