199 Mausoleum of Books

There was a river south of the capital and on the north side of the river,there was a straight path. Looking southwards from the the riverbank, a large,verdant and lush park could be seen. Deep within the garden, a green mountainwas hidden. This green mountain was the legendary Mausoleum of Books——thestagecoaches stopped on the road, and the examinees peered through thecurtains. They looked at that green mountain and revealed an expression ofyearning. During the first few days when Chen Changsheng had arrived at the capital, hehad always stayed at the Plum Garden Inn, just outside of the Mausoleum ofBooks. Many times, he had observed the Mausoleum of Books from far away, so hewas not as excited as the examinees, especially those peers from the south. Theinn only had one room remaining. The Green Vines of Li Palace, the Bridge of Lamentation, and the Mausoleum ofBooks were all well-renowned places in the capital, and the Mausoleum of Bookswas where all the tourists wanted to visit. It was also very lively like the LiPalace, and there were stalls lining both sides of the path on the riverbank.The stall keepers yelled constantly, and it was already crowded although it wasstill early in the morning. On the main streets slightly north, many offices ofgovernment officials could be seen, as well as the offices of many variousacademies and sects. The stagecoaches did not stop on the street for too long. Under the directionof the officials and priests, they crossed a wide wooden bridge above theriver, and they arrived at the green park outside of the Mausoleum of Books.They also did not stop here for too long, but instead they directly traveleddown the path leading towards the tombs between the ancient and lush cypresstrees. Under the one hundred and eight statues of virtuous people’s gazes fromthe older generations, they continued traveling towards the green mountain. There were already many tourists in the Mausoleum of Books’ outer park, andmany citizens of the capital were taking a stroll. They currently watched asthe coaches traveled directly towards the Mausoleum of Books. They couldquickly guess the identities of the people within the coaches, and they knewthat they must have been the examinees of the top three grades. They could nothelp but reveal an envious expression. The ancient trees obstructed the morning sun and formed shadows, making itseem extremely quiet and beautiful. The deeper they went, the quieter itbecame. And in the end, they could only hear the sound of the faintly greenrocks grinding against each other under the wheels on the path leading to thetombs. A stone gate was at the end of the dim path leading towards the tombs. Thestagecoaches stopped in front of the stone gate, and the officials and priestswalked out in front of the gate, carrying official required documents. Theywere responsible for the affairs regarding viewing the tombs in the Mausoleumof Books. They began speaking with the soldiers guarding the Mausoleum ofBooks, and the students all exited the coaches one by one, lining up andwaiting for entry. Not long after, the stone gate slowly opened, and the examinees could feelslight tremors from the ground. They could not help but be very startled. Theywondered to themselves how this heavy, unimpressive gate was able to cause theground to tremble. They also thought about what type of magic formation couldopen such a heavy gate. With a low rumble, the heavy stone gate stopped moving, and the entire greenmountain appeared in front of everybody’s gaze. Thus, the Mausoleum of Books appeared in front of everybody. A mausoleum normally referred to a tomb, but only the tombs of emperors orsaints had the right to be called mausoleums. The Mausoleum of Books indeed was like a tomb. The mausoleum was very clearcut and square, and it was overgrown with countless green trees. So it seemedlike a green mountain. Due to those dense green trees, the examinees could notsee those legendary stone monoliths and did not know where the Heavenly Tomeswere hidden. However, they knew that the Heavenly Tomes were inside. So forjust a moment, the path became abnormally silent, and everybody’s facesrevealed a devoted expression. As for Chen Changsheng, his current state of mind was wrought with a fewproblems. His thoughts were in a mess, and he had a difficult time calmingdown. He truly was not excited like the first time he had entered the city andseen the green mountain from far away in the inn. However, he still felt anindescribable reverent feeling as he actually arrived in front of the Mausoleumfor the first time. He looked at those green trees around the Mausoleum ofBooks and stayed very silent. The capital was always the center of the continent. It didn’t matter which dynasty fell. When the flames of war raged on withoutstopping or when the time was filled with national peace and order, the capitalwas always the center. Those various sects and aristocratic families of thesouth also believed this. Even the Fae race in the White Emperor City and thepeople on the Great Western Continent agreed. The reason why the main altar ofthe Orthodoxy was here, as well as the Li Palace, was because the Mausoleum ofBooks was here. TL: The book only mentions that there are five continents in the world. TheGreat Western Continent is not one of the five. It is mentioned later on in thebook that the Great Western Continent was originally part of the EasternContinent and split off later. That’s why you still have humans cultivating,which the Heavenly Tomes brought to the world. Countless tens of thousands of years ago, the Heavenly Tomes descended inrolling flames from beyond, which the heavens had bestowed upon the lands. Fromthat day onwards, the Heavenly Tomes awakened the intelligence of humans, whichallowed them to learn how to use fire, how to create and use tools, and how totie knots to record history. They invented the written language, and becausethey had invented the written language, it allowed them even to begin studyingthe mysteries of nature. This caused them to begin questioning their place inthe world. They began to look up at the starry skies, began to guide Starlightfor purification, and officially stepped onto the road of cultivation. Thisgreen mountain was the original source for all of this and everything else. What was the Mausoleum of Books? Mausoleum did not mean “tomb” here, butrather it meant “flat”. TL: The Mausoleum of Books (???) can also be known as a mound (?). In thiscase, it says ‘flat’ (?) is referring to a rather planar, flat and level mound. When the Heavenly Tomes emerged, all of the directions “flattened”. TheMausoleum of Books was where the Heavenly Tomes were, and the center of theworld was where the Mausoleum of Books were. The Orthodoxy could only originatefrom the capital where the human empire was founded. As a result, the southernreligious sects fought with the northerners for many years. They were actuallyself-governing, but they still had to acknowledge the Zhou Dynasty as the maincountry due to this principle. During the waiting period, the silent park slowly became noisy. Many touristsand citizens of the capital followed the stagecoaches here. If it was anordinary day, they could not even approach the Mausoleum of Books at all beforebeing stopped by the guards. However, as today was a special circumstance, theyhad the opportunity to approach the Mausoleum of Books’ front gate. Their faceswere full of envy while looking at those youngsters who were preparing to enterthe mausoleum. The tourists and citizens could freely enter or leave the Mausoleum of Books’outer park, but they could not enter the mausoleum itself at all. Many years before, it was said that the mausoleum was open to the public, soanybody could enter, explore, and sit down in front of those stone monoliths.It would be overcrowded and overburdened everyday as the green mountain wasflooded with people. Several thousand years ago, there was once an emperor whowanted to control the world by controlling the rights to enter the Mausoleum ofBooks. He had issued an imperial edict that only people who obeyed him couldenter the mausoleum. Such an action offended all of the various sects, schools,and academies of the continent, and this emperor was very quickly overthrown bythe anger of everyone in the world. Afterwards, the entire continent hadreached a conclusion that the Heavenly Tomes from the celestial beings wereobjects to be shared, and nobody would be able to monopolize it. Although it had never been said that the mausoleum’s stone monolithts weredamaged, there was a different perspective, so the experts of the continentdecided to set some rules for entering and leaving the Mausoleum of Books. Inthe previous dynasty’s era, only cultivators who had received specialpermission could obtain the opportunity to enter the mausoleum. However, thiscondition was extremely vague. After the Zhou Dynasty was founded, the rulesfor entering the Mausoleum of Books were simplified and was rumored to bestrengthened. Only the examinees who had passed the Grand Examination or peoplewho had great merit could be allowed to enter. As an alliance was formed withthe Fae race to fight the demon race, the Fae race and the people of Great Xialso gained similar rights——the so called rules were actually just acompromise. Of course, since the Mausoleum of Books resided within the ZhouDynasty’s capital, people who lived there naturally held advantages. Thosevarious sects and aristocratic families from the south all raised this issue,so there were always many complaints. The priests and officials led the young examinees to the area outside of thestone gate, and they remained there as they did not have the right to enter theMausoleum of Books. After checking the examinees’ identities, they let thementer in a proper order. The ground once again began to rumble with a clear,loud sound, and as some people turned around to look, they only saw the stonegate slowly closing again. After a deep rumble, the Mausoleum of Books and the outside world wereseparated once again. Forty odd, young students looked at the Mausoleum of Books before them, andthey all carried different expressions. Some were very nervous, and some werevery excited. Some were very silent, and others were burning with eagerness.However, everybody had their eyes wide open——at this moment, they had arrivedin front of the Mausoleum of Books. However, they still could not see the trueappearance of the mausoleum properly as there were just too many green trees.This view of the trees had blocked too many other sights. Just at this moment, several white robed males appeared in front of them. Manyof them carried an indifferent expression, and their eyes did not reveal anyspecific attitudes either. They spoke with a very calm voice, and they spokevery slow, just as if they lacked the opportunity to speak on a normal basis.Looking at them, Chen Changsheng very naturally thought of that Wolf Tribe’steenager, Zhexiu. Tang Thirty-Six said: “These people are the legendary Monolith Guardians.” Chen Changsheng asked: “Monolith Guardians?” Tang Thirty-Six said: “Just like those Monolith Comprehenders from thesouthern Holy Maiden Peak, they aim to understand the secret of the HeavenlyTomes their whole lives. They have even sworn a blood oath to never leave theMausoleum of Books even beyond a single step. Chen Changsheng was a little surprised. He thought that spending one’s entirelife in the Mausoleum of Books was just a little too lonely and plain. He thenlooked into the eyes of those white robed males and naturally began to feel alittle sympathetic. Tang Thirty-Six saw the expression of his face and sneered slightly: “They areperfectly happy to offer their lives to the Mausoleum of Books, so why wouldthey still need your sympathy? Also, who knows how many cultivators in theworld would rather be like them and have the opportunity to view the HeavenlyTomes whenever they wanted. They are beyond enviable.” Chen Changsheng still could not understand. He liked to read books and explorethe true meaning of the Daoist Canons, but was life not supposed to havefreedom and joy? How could they devote almost all of it to this green mountain? Perhaps, because they spent most of their time studying within the Mausoleumof Books and were not good at communicating with people, the several MonolithGuardians only muttered a few words. They explained the facilities around theMausoleum of Books to the young students before preparing to turn around andleave. However, one Monolith Guardian thought of something and said: “Don’tforget, the Garden of Zhou opens in one month.” After these explanations, the several Monolith Guardians left in a swiftmanner. There was a period of silence. The young examinees were speechless at what hadjust happened. They were all at a loss for what to do. That was it? What should they do next? “Just don’t forget that the Garden of Zhou opens in one month.” Guan Feibai said to those disciples of the southern sects indifferently,before stepping away quickly, and he followed Gou Hanshi towards the greenmountain. The four disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect were the first ones to leave,and the examinees separated slowly, treating them as examples. In thebeginning, those examinees still walked at a steady pace. Occasionally, a fewof them hurried along, which was normal, but once people entered the woodedmountain, immediately there were countless loud sounds. They had actually usedmotion techniques. After hearing the sounds echo from the green mountain, Chen Changsheng wasconfused and asked, “Why is everyone in such a hurry?” “Didn’t you hear what Guan Feibai said just now? The Garden of Zhou will openin a month. If they wanted to enter the Garden of Zhou, they had to breakthrough to the Ethereal Opening Realm. Every slow step was a delayed step. Ifthey viewed the stone monoliths a little later than others, it could delay themby several dozens of years on the path of cultivation in the future. Obviously,everyone is using all their energy to be first.” Tang Thirty-Six looked at him, and said: “Rather, you are the one who isweird. Why aren’t you hurrying?”