However, this journey is very dangerous. Even when taking the post roads, it's hard to avoid encountering Evil Spirits. Hence, scholars traveling on foot often gather in groups of three to five to look out for each other.
Some are in their twenties or thirties, others are in their forties or fifties, and there are even those with white hair, aged and frail, heading to the Western Capital.
"Those walking to the capital to take the exam must travel continuously for more than three months, but only about forty to fifty percent of them actually make it there alive," Sun Yisheng said.
Chen Shi looked at those dusty scholars, men and women among them, some with their faces sunburnt to a dark red, sweat droplets hanging on their faces, and the white salt stains left by evaporated sweat, and said, "Since the journey is so perilous, why do they still head to the capital?"
"Because it can change one's destiny."
