216 Viewing the Monoliths in the Night by Lantern Light Part One

The night was dark. Unlike last night, there were no longer many people sitting intoxicated beforethe monolith unwilling to leave. Those who still remained in front of themonolith all had relatively strong spiritual senses, thus being able to holdout until now. Chen Changsheng looked as far out as he could and saw twostudents from the Star Seizer Academy: the senior sister from the Holy MaidenPeak, as well as that girl called Ye Xiaolian. There were also severalexaminees from the Grand Examination that Chen Changsheng had seen before, buthad failed to remember the names or origins of. The most prominent ones werethe three scholars from Scholartree Manor that had ended up closest to themonolith. In the dark, their plain white robes were especially eye-catching. With only a glance, one could tell that there was a problem with thisscene——the farther one was from the monolith hut, the stronger their level ofcultivation was. He did not know if this was some hidden rule, or if somedispute had already taken place. The three scholars from Scholartree Manor were closest to the monolith hut. Zhong Hui stood in front of the hut, viewing the monolith in silence. His twoschoolmates stood at his side, watching Chen Changsheng warily. Chen Changshengwas not surprised by this. In the Grand Examination, Zhong Hui had beendefeated by Luo Luo, while Huo Guang had been severely injured by ChenChangsheng to the point where Huo Guang had been unable to continue. TheScholartree Manor’s hostility towards the Orthodox Academy was well-deserved. Gou Hanshi and he had read the experiences that Xun Mei had concealed in hisnotebook. They had come to view the monolith by the starlight, so theynaturally began to move towards the hut. To their surprise, their movement gaverise to another disturbance. A dozen pairs of eyes followed their footsteps,each filled with  different emotions——in order to stand in front of theHeavenly Tome Monolith, they would have to take the places currently occupiedby the three from Scholartree Manor. Two Scholartree Manor scholars did not let them through. Looking at Gou Hanshiand Chen Changsheng, they coldly said, “First come, first served.” These words seemed to be very reasonable, but the crowd outside the hut couldonly sneer. “Before, you wanted us to let you through because you said thatyour senior was on the Grand Examination’s First Banner. Why didn’t you sayanything about ‘first come, first served’ then? Now, that the GrandExamination’s first and second place holders have arrived, are you really notgoing to let them through?” The two scholars from Scholartree Manor were infuriated by these words. Only now did Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng realize what had happened here.They both disapproved of the conduct of the two scholars from Scholartree Manorand continued walking forward, not even glancing at them. Proceeding directlyto the front of the monolith hut, they took up positions behind Zhong Hui. Those two scholars were even more enraged by this. Just as they seemed aboutto say something, they suddenly remembered the jeers from the crowd. They didnot dare speak, much less personally take action. Zhong Hui took his eyes off the monolith, then turned around and saluted GouHanshi. However,  when he looked at Chen Changsheng by his side, his eyes didnot carry any traces of respect. No long-reputed young geniuses like Zhong Hui would ever have very goodimpressions of Chen Changsheng even if Chen Changsheng had broken through intothe Ethereal Opening level during the Grand Examination, thus surpassing themin level of cultivation. Instead, they continued to feel that he had merelygotten lucky. It was either that or because he had received the care andattention of several powerful figures in the Orthodoxy. “I didn’t see you during these past two days, is it that you’re confidentyou’ll be able to comprehend the monoliths? Or is it that you’ve realized thatyou’ve used up all your luck, like a fragile, damaged vase that has finallyfallen to pieces?” Zhong Hui looked at him with an indifferent expression. “In previous years,the first rank in the First Banner of the Grand Examination took, at the veryleast, five days to comprehend this first Heavenly Tome Monolith. You are thisyear’s first rank of the First Banner. If you spend too much time on this, itwill cause the rest of us to lose face. I hope you don’t disappoint me.” Chen Changsheng had been viewing the starlit monolith, his heart and soulengrossed in studying the changes amongst those complex lines. Chen Changshengwas very perplexed by what Zhong Hui had said, so he very casually asked, “Wedon’t really know each other, so even if I can’t comprehend this Heavenly TomeMonolith, what does that have to do with you? Why would you be disappointed?” Zhong Hui was stunned by these words. Taking a deep breath, he could barelyrestrain his anger as he said, “It seems like you have quite the mouth.” Chen Changsheng did not respond, instead walking directly to his side andsaying, “Excuse me, could you move?” Zhong Hui had been standing in the best position. He was closest to themonolith and was not obstructing the starlight. At Chen Changsheng’s words, hecould no longer suppress the anger in his heart and clenched his hands intofists. To everyone there, Chen Changsheng’s first sentence was clearly to disregardZhong Hui, while the second sentence was to politely put his foot down. Eventhose people that had previously jeered and ridiculed those Scholartree Manorscholars also believed that Chen Changsheng was humiliating Zhong Hui. Only GouHanshi realized by looking at Chen Changsheng’s expression that he was notsetting out to humiliate Zhong Hui, but really just wanted Zhong Hui to move. He shook his head and followed Chen Changsheng to Zhong Hui’s side. His robe trembled in the night wind as Zhong Hui’s wrath reached a boilingpoint. His two fellow schoolmates were the same. The three were ready to attackChen Changsheng at any time. However, when Gou Hanshi walked up between themand Chen Changsheng, they had no choice but to cool their tempers somewhat asthey thought about the gap that lay between Meditation and EtherealOpening…They were no match for Gou Hanshi. In other words, they were also nomatch for Chen Changsheng. Since they could not beat him, their anger had no power. Although the twoscholars from Scholartree Manor remained furious, Zhong Hui forced himself tocalm down, then backed up several steps, letting Gou Hanshi and Chen Changshengthrough. Looking at Chen Changsheng’s back, Zhong Hui said nothing, but thesigns of a sneer appeared at the corners of his mouth. It was precisely as hehad said before: these past two days, Chen Changsheng had rarely been seen infront of the monolith hut. To him, this was definitely all a pretense. Hethought it impossible that Chen Changsheng would have the same sort of luckthat carried him through the Grand Examination. Could it be that he would stillbe able to see a pattern in this monolith? The starlight illuminated the Reflecting Monolith, making those complex linesseem lined with a layer of silver, as if mercury was slowly flowing throughthem. A vivid sensation that was hard to describe appeared before ChenChangsheng’s eyes. He did not use his spiritual sense, did not move his trueessence through his meridians in accordance with those lines, nor did heattempt to extract some sort of sword form from the direction of the lines; heonly calmly looked at it, perceived it, experienced it. He had confirmed thatthe picture he had seen at dawn was real, and that the picture made using hisspiritual sense while daydreaming in the afternoon in that courtyard was alsotrue. A smile gradually emerged on his face. “Did you get something?” Gou Hanshi asked, somewhat surprised in his change ofexpression. Chen Changsheng nodded. “I was originally a little hesitant because I felt itwas too simple, but there were parts in the notebook that reminded me ofsomething.” “You’re still persevering on using the most primitive method of understanding?” “It might be less intelligent it might be slower, but it fits me the best.” Silence reigned around the monolith hut. Everyone was listening in, includingZhong Hui. Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi were publicly acknowledged as two ofthe world’s most erudite scholars of the Daoist Canon. When discussing themethods to comprehend the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, how could they miss theexperience? Only, what was that notebook that Chen Changsheng had mentioned? “What is this most primitive method of comprehension? To make the lines intonumbers?” The senior sister from the Holy Maiden Peak, who knew Gou Hanshiwell, asked curiously as she stepped forward. Gou Hanshi glanced at Chen Changsheng. “We think that the most primitive method discards everything about trueessence, spiritual sense, and sword moves. It’s not turning lines into numbers,but…” Chen Changsheng turned around to look at the girl from Holy Maiden Peakas he seriously spoke. He was prepared to speak about his insights, explain histheories, that the true meaning of the Heavenly Tomes was hidden within thechanges, when unexpectedly… A cold admonishment rose up from the night. “Ridiculous!” A middle-aged man had at some point arrived, the expression on his faceabnormally cold. Upon seeing this man, Zhong Hui and the other two from Scholartree Manorsuddenly became happy. They rapidly approached and paid him respects. “We haveseen Martial Uncle.” Chen Changsheng realized that the middle-aged man was the Monolith Guardianthat had severely reprimanded him at dawn. Only now did he realize that thisman had originally been a senior from the Scholartree Manor.