223 The Teenager who Embraced the Monolith

Seeing Chen Changsheng’s figure hurry down the mountain, Tang Thirty-Six had asort of indescribable feeling. Zhexiu felt the same way, and on his normallyexpressionless face a hint of doubt could be seen. He silently thought tohimself, could it be that Chen Changsheng was running away from something? Butwhen he thought about all the storms that had brewed over the Orthodox Academyduring this past year, no matter what he thought about. he could not imagineChen Changsheng as that sort of person. Gou Hanshi looked away from the mountain path, no longer concerning himselfwith Chen Changsheng’s plans. He spoke to his fellow disciples, “Last night, Ionly let you see a section of Senior Xun Mei’s notebook because I didn’t wantall of you to be distracted. After you saw the notebook, all of you should haveknown that there are many angles through which one can comprehend the HeavenlyTome Monoliths. Then, what do you all think about all this?” Guan Feibai thought it over before saying, “In Senior Xun Mei’s notebook, onlyfor the Reflecting Monolith did he leave behind more than a dozen trains ofthought. After looking over each one carefully, I have come to the conclusionthat, in reality, they are all extremely reasonable. It’s just that my Mount LiSword Sect is located in the south, so I’m used to taking the idea to stimulatethe spiritual sense. With a bit more time, I will probably be able tocomprehend this monolith.” Qi Jian and Liang Banhu had the same opinion, but Gou Hanshi said, “If you canforget every one of those trains of thought, or so to say experiences, inSenior Xun Mei’s notebook, then maybe you’ll be able to comprehend themonolith.” Once he finished speaking, he very naturally thought back to the conversationhe had with Chen Changsheng last night. To him, Chen Changsheng had veryclearly separated those concepts, otherwise he would not have chosen to searchfor the true meaning within the changes and attempt to open up a new idea. Itwas just that this sort of method for comprehending the monoliths was almosttoo new. To open a new path was really not an easy affair. Guan Feibai and the others were somewhat shocked at his words, but aftercalming down and contemplating for a moment, they vaguely understood theirsenior’s meaning. They walked before the monolith hut and each found a placethat was relatively flat to sit down. Then they stared at the black monolithand began to silently pour out all the words in Xun Mei’s notebooks onto themonolith, gradually expelling them from their minds. Zhexiu and Tang Thiry-Sixglanced at each other, before also walking forward. Many of the students fromthe Grand Examination’s Three Banners, who had entered the mausoleum this year,also sat cross-legged in front of the monolith hut. Only Gou Hanshi remainedstanding in the distance, calmly and silently gazing at the distant mountains,his thoughts an enigma. Time slowly passed, but the space in front of the monolith remained silent andsoundless. At some point, someone removed the oil lantern from the tree. Thenewly lightened tree branch swayed lightly in the spring wind. From time totime, it would spring up a few inches towards the blue sky. Occasionally itwould shed a leaf, which would flutter in the wind to land in front of the hut. Qi Jian suddenly opened his eyes, brushed off the leaf that had landed on hisslim shoulder, then stood up. After a moment’s hesitation, he walked over tothe monolith hut. As members of the group that lived in Xun Mei’s grass hut, they were theobject of attention for all the students viewing the monoliths; otherwise, howwould the name Grass Hut Seven have come about? In that quiet period of time,who knew how many gazes had, from time to time, glanced at those seven. Seeingthat Qi Jian was seemingly moving to comprehend the monolith, the previouslytranquil surroundings could not help but begin to buzz with activity again. Zhong Hui was the first to comprehend the monolith, so many people wanted toknow, who would be the second? The vast majority of people felt that the secondperson would be Gou Hanshi, because Chen Changsheng was not present. If not forhim, then the next most likely person to succeed would likely be Zhexiu, orperhaps Guan Feibai or Liang Banhu, who had both cultivated for a relativelylonger amount of time. No one thought it would actually be the still-young QiJian. Qi Jian walked up to the Reflecting Monolith before glancing behind him, hisyoung and tender face was filled with uncertainty. Gou Hanshi stood under a distant pine tree. He said nothing, but a smileappeared on his face. This caused Qi Jian to also smile and the expression ofuncertainty disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only happiness. He took another step towards the Reflecting Monolith, before carefully placinghis right hand on the edge of the monolith. He did not touch a single line onthe surface of the monolith. A cool breeze swept up from the cliff behind the monolith, brushing against QiJian which caused his hair to float lightly in the breeze. It flitted acrosshis young and elegant face, and then he vanished. The monolith hut grew deathly silent. The lively discussion that had just beentaking place had vanished without a trace, just like Qi Jian’s petite form.Just like that, the second person to comprehend the Reflecting Monolith hadappeared. Before the onlookers had even awoken from their shock, Guan Feibai suddenlystood up and began to walk towards the monolith hut. Compared to Qi Jian, this cold and arrogant Fourth Law of the Divine State wastruly casual, even if what he faced was this hallowed Heavenly Tome Monolith. He placed his right hand on the Reflecting Monolith, not even caring to glanceat where it fell. It was as if he was randomly patting a railing, ready todiscuss the day’s weather. The cool breeze rose up again, and with another flash of bright light, hisfigure also disappeared. All those people, who were still bitterly attempting to comprehend the truemeaning of the monolith, were incomparably shocked by this development. Theyfelt even more helpless as Liang Banhu also stood up and walked to the monolithhut. This peasant child, who kept the lowest profile and was the most taciturnof the Divine State’s Seven Laws, carefully tidied his clothes, clasped hishands in respect, and then very seriously placed his hand on the monolith’ssurface. Without a break, without an interval, these three Mount Li Sword Sectdisciples, one after the other, comprehended the Reflecting Monolith anddeparted for the second Heavenly Tome Monolith. After a moment of silence, several sighs arose from the front of the monolithhut. These sighs were full of admiration, and also disappointment. Their talent in cultivating the Dao indeed was not the same. The Mount Li Sword Sect indeed was exceptional. Compared to Zhong Hui’s breakthrough that morning, the success of these threeMount Li Sword Sect Disciples did not cause much of a stir. Yet they also didnot have a senior from their school protecting them, nor had they brokenthrough into Ethereal Opening. They had just very ordinarily stood up, walkedup to the hut, then before everyone’s eyes, disappeared. This was truly to actas freely as one wished. Of the four disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect that had entered themausoleum, only Gou Hanshi remained. Many people subconsciously looked towardshim and thought it quite strange. His level of cultivation and knowledge wasfar and above these three juniors. How could it be that his comprehension speedwas slower? Some of them guessed at a reason, and when they saw Gou Hanshifinally leave the shade of the pine tree and walk towards the monolith, theyfelt that they guessed correctly. Gou Hanshi walked in front of the Reflecting Monolith, yet he did not closehis eyes in thought, nor did he examine those lines on the monolith. Gazing, asalways, at the distant mountain, he placed his right hand on the monolith. The cool breeze blew again. The birds in forest took flight, and with thefluttering of their wings, his figure had already ceased to be. At this point, everyone there finally understood that Gou Hanshi had long agocomprehended the Reflecting Monolith. He had only been waiting for his threejuniors to comprehend it too. In other words, did it not mean that as he long as he wanted to, he could havevery easily become the first this year to comprehend a monolith? They thoughtback to how, in the early morning after Zhong Hui had successfully comprehendedthe monolith, when those two Scholartree Manor students were so excited andproud, and they could not help but feel that it was now somewhat embarrassing.At this time, those two young Scholartree Manor scholars that still remained infront of the monolith truly did seem rather embarrassed. The reason Gou Hanshi could comprehend the monolith but choose not to move onwas because he was waiting for his fellow disciples. Then what about ChenChangsheng? Very naturally, they were drawn to this question. Was he like GouHanshi and had deciphered this Heavenly Tome Monolith long ago? If that weretrue, then who was he waiting for? Or was it as Zhong Hui had said, that he hadinsufficient skill to comprehend the monoliths? Discussion gradually stirred, then gradually died down once more. After not much time had passed, Zhuang Huanyu walked up to the monolith hut.As this year’s strongest student from the Heavenly Dao Academy, many peoplerecognized him. It was just that for some reason, after he entered theMausoleum of Books, he had disappeared. No one knew where he had gone, or whathe had been doing. Even in the early morning when Zhong Hui was breakingthrough, he was nowhere to be seen. They could not help but feel surprised. Zhuang Huanyu’s shirt was covered with grass and leaves, as if he had actuallyspent two nights out in the woods. He cut a somewhat sorry figure, but hisexpression was extremely calm and there was a sense of self-confidence abouthis appearance. Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and asked, “You didn’t go to the Green ForestDorm?” The Six Ivies had always been in the capital, thus they were extremely closeto the Mausoleum of Books and could obtain many conveniences. In the past fewyears, the Heavenly Dao Academy had been the most well-off of all the academiesin the Zhou Dynasty, so naturally they would have made previous arrangementsfor their students in the mausoleum. The Green Forest Dorm was the dormitoryfor the Heavenly Dao Academy’s students within the mausoleum. The otheracademies, like the Temple Seminary and Star Seizer Academy, also had similararrangements. “I didn’t go to the Green Forest Dorm, because I had no time.” Zhuang Huanyu brushed the dirt and leaves off of his body, before walkinginside the monolith hut. Tang Thirty-Six looked at his back and said, “Even if you succeed now, you canonly be placed sixth. Is it really worth all the trouble?” Zhuang Huanyu held his right hand in front of the monolith and said, “But atthe very least, I’m still in front of Chen Changsheng, right?” Saying this, he rested his right hand on the monolith. Not long after, Su Moyu stood up and walked to the monolith hut, becoming theseventh person this year to succeed at comprehending the monoliths. Seeing one person after another succeed, how could such a proud person as TangThirty-Six not feel nervous? Especially since Su Moyu had placed behind him inthe Proclamation of Azure Sky, he became even more pressured. After a moment, he sobered up, slightly frowned, then closed his eyes, nolonger thinking about these matters. He sent his consciousness out of his body,not dwelling on the monolith. At some moments it even seemed like he hadactually fallen asleep. When he woke up, it was already twilight. The glow of the sunset suffused thesky and the mausoleum’s vibrant forest seemed to burn in the light. He stood up and began to walk towards the monolith hut. As he passed Zhexiu,he said “Tell Chen Changsheng that he can start eating without me.” He walked up to the monolith and happily laughed. He spread his arms wide thengave that ice-cold monolith a giant embrace. To comprehend the Heavenly Tome Monoliths would give off a sort ofindescribable feeling. To cultivators, this feeling was more delicious thandragon marrow, more fascinating than the stars. There was a sense of immensesatisfaction, the so-called only after eating the marrow does one know thetaste. The vast majority of cultivators, after comprehending the first monolithand arriving at the second, would lose themselves in the monoliths and forgetthe passage of time. (TL Note: 食髓知味 is an idiom that translates to “Eating the marrow to know thetaste”. It means that once one eats the bone marrow, it tastes so good thatthey want to immediately eat it again.) Tang Thirty-Six knew that he was powerless to resist such intoxication. Heknew that he would spend the night in the company of the stars embracing thesecond monolith until he fell asleep, thus he told Zhexiu to bring a messageback to Chen Changsheng to eat without him. Just like him, Zhong Hui, ZhuangHuanyu, Qi Jian, and the rest were all sitting in front of the second monolith,not knowing how to even write the two words “go back”. However, the world always would have people that stood out from the masses.The exceptionally gifted and strong-willed would never be confused by externalforces. Accompanied by the sunset, Gou Hanshi returned to the grass hut.