233 The Grand Display of Fireworks Makes a Nightless Day

The starlight that covered the Mausoleum of Books, shining in sync with thestarlight that rushed into his Ethereal Palace. The starlight was like snow,blanketing both Chen Changsheng and the broken monolith. His spiritual sensewas carried along with the wind and snow, being taken off to some placeunknown. The starlight also fell on other places, such as the ReflectingMonolith. The lines on the monolith became increasingly brighter and they wouldoccasionally sparkle. It was just like as if mercury was flowing through thoselines. Although he could not see the Reflecting Monolith, he could see theinscriptions on it. He was insensible to the world, but his true essence flowedlike the mercury-like starlight that flowed through the monolith inscriptions.The true essence began to flow through his meridians, allowing those onceparched rivers and streams to flourish with life once more. Ultimately, thoseclear waters poured off the steep cliffs into the abyss below. It seemedidentical to what had happened in the past, but now, there seemed to be a faintglimmer of hope. Even if the abyss was even deeper, as long as the water flowed without end,presumably, there would be a day in which it was filled, right? The starlight also fell upon the second Heavenly Tome Monolith. The lines onthe monolith seemed to fluctuate between bright and dim, like the spiritualsense was floating in the void, its position was unfathomable. ChenChangsheng’s spiritual sense shifted, moving off to some distant riverbank,then suddenly arrived in front of the River Guiding Monolith. In the midst ofhis sojourn, an indescribable rule had been branded onto his soul. The starlight fell on each of the seventeen Heavenly Tome Monoliths of thefront mausoleum. Like falling snow and like drifting leaves, the countlessmethods for comprehending the monoliths thought by his worthy predecessorsappeared in his sea of consciousness, one after the other, and in his body,they began to display their purposes. His meridians became saturated with trueessence like never before, his spiritual sense was nourished like never before,and his Qi constantly increased in power. Time slowly passed. He sat in front ot the broken monolith with eyes closed,waiting for that moment to come. The starlight continued to illuminate the capital, and the Dew Platformcontinued to blaze, except the light it gave off were cold like flames made ofice. The Divine Empress stood in the middle of the indescribably beautiful flamesof ice, looking at the Mausoleum of Books in silence. That monolith hadvanished from the Mausoleum of Books long ago, so how did Chen Changshengcomplete the starry sky? The Mausoleum of Books was enveloped in that snow-like starlight. There wassilence all around the monolith hut. As Gou Hanshi, Zhuang Huanyu, TangThirty-Six, and the other young monolith viewers saw the mercury-like starlightflow through the lines on that monolith, they each had their own expression.Although they could never know for sure what had happened here tonight, theyknew that it definitely had something to do with Chen Changsheng. Gou Hanshi suddenly lifted his head to look at the star-filled region in thesoutheast part of the sky, then he began walking towards the monolith hut.Zhexiu followed him. Then Tang Thirty-Six, Qi Jian, and the rest followedwithout hesitation. They all entered the hut, then they disappeared, goingtowards their respective monoliths. They did not know why tonight, the Mausoleum of Books was illuminated to be asbright as day. However, they knew that many years ago, when Wang Zhice hadbroken through, the capital had experienced a similar strange phenomena. They could clearly sense that the starlight tonight was much richer than onnormal days. Even their own Fated Stars were much brighter than usual, likethey were waiting for them. To cultivators, how could they pass on such anopportunity? Especially since after twenty odd days, the vast majority of themwere on the verge of breaking through. They had to take advantage of everychance and opportunity. Not long after Gou Hanshi and the others had entered the monolith hut anddisappeared from the Reflecting Monolith, a clear and long cry suddenly arosefrom within the mountain mausoleum. This clear cry came from the East Pavilion Monolith. The Divine State’s Third Law, Liang Xiaoxiao, stood in front of the monolithhut, his expression has an icy arrogance as ever, only his trembling right handbetrayed his excitement. After he had broken through all those months ago, hiscultivation had become stuck in a rut. Even his viewing of the monoliths hadceased to progress. Yet tonight, borrowing this starlight, he had brokenthrough to the middle level of Ethereal Opening in one stroke. In front of another monolith hut. Tang Thirty-Six took the medicine box that Chen Changsheng had given himseveral days ago out of his bosom. He took some pills from the box and heoffered them to Zhexiu. Then, he swallowed down the rest of the pills andclosed his eyes. Zhexiu shot him a glance, and then in the same way, he swallowed the pills. Glancing at Guan Feibai and Liang Banhu, Gou Hanshi distributed the medicinesprepared by the Mount Li Sword Sect, then without any further delay, he movedon to the next monolith hut. Only after he delivered the rest of the pills toQi Jian would he slowly take his leave. This was the third Heavenly Tome Monolith, Bent Osmanthus Monolith. It was spring, so there were no osmanthus flowers blooming on the mountain.There were no golden petals, nor was there any of that sweet cloying fragranceof osmanthus flowers most detested by Tang Thirty-Six. And yet for some reason, around the Bent Osmanthus Monolith, an intensefragrance suddenly appeared. Perhaps it was because all those shockingly talented youth were using theirtrue essence to digest the pills, thus releasing this fragrance. Pop, pop, pop, pop. A fine, yet extremely disturbing breaking sound arose from Zhexiu’s body. It seemed like the sound of all of his bones being broken. Soon after, the sound of boiling water arose from his body. Following this, more and more sounds of boiling water began to arise from allaround the monolith. The cross-legged youths, eyes shut, slowly began to bewrapped in a white mist as they broke though. The boiling was the sound of the radiance of the stars igniting into trueessence, the sound of the gate of the Ethereal Palace in the Spirit Mountainslowly being pushed open. After an unknown amount of time, Tang Thirty-Six opened his eyes. The joking expression that was usually seen in his eyes long ago haddisappeared, it was replaced with solemnity, peace and an incomparable serenity. In the deepest depths of his black pupils, there still seemed to be theafterglow from the radiance of the stars. This was proof that his Ethereal Palace had been opened. Tang Thirty-Six had entered Ethereal Opening. Guan Feibai opened his eyes next. He spat out a mouthful of impure Qi, and ahot vapor rising from the corner of his lips. Liang Banhu opened his eyes, then he looked around with a look of naïve joy.He seemed extremely peaceful and happy. The two disciple from Mount Li Sword Sect had entered Ethereal Opening. Next, Su Moyu had entered Ethereal Opening. The senior sister from Holy Maiden Peak entered Ethereal Opening. The students from Star Seizer Academy entered Ethereal Opening. The two scholars from Scholartree Manor entered Ethereal Opening. Around the Bent Osmanthus Monolith, people successively entered EtherealOpening. In front of the River Guiding Monolith, Qi Jian entered Ethereal Opening. In the front mausoleum, every person had entered Ethereal Opening. Like snow, the starlight fell over the Mausoleum of Books. When some people broke into Ethereal Opening, the Qi around the monolith hutbecame disturbed. This caused the starlight snow falling down to bend andscatter, like flowers blooming. It was particularly beautiful. Tang Thirty-Six stood in front of the Bent Osmanthus Monolith, lightly rubbinghis fingers and taking in that sweet and cloying fragrance. Suddenly, herealized that the osmanthus flowers were not so unbearable after all. The starlight fell on his body, then like water, it sputtered apart andscattered back into the night sky. Not too far off, where Liang Banhu and Guan Feibai stood, starlight was alsosputtering apart and then scattering back into the night sky. Outside the Bent Osmanthus Monolith, ten odd rays of starlight sputtered intothe night, there were figures of people standing in them. An identical scene was occurring in many places in the front mausoleum. The luxuriant forests of the Mausoleum of Books, even when enveloped instarlight, were still somewhat gloomy. Suddenly, from the mountain rose dozens of strands of sputtering starlight,blooming into silver flowers. A more beautiful sight could not be imagined. Tang Thirty-Six looked at Zhexiu. Under the snow white starlight, Zhexiu’s face was all the paler. An incidentalflush of red was a sign of the Tide Rush of Blood. His true essence had been brought under control by Chen Changsheng’s copperneedles. Before when he had taken those pills, it was exceptionally dangerous. This was also the principal reason why compared to the other monolith viewers,he had not yet been able to enter Ethereal Opening. The other was naturally his demi-human blood. Suddenly, the only sound that could be heard around the monolith hut was thatof a mournful wind. On the roof of the hut appeared many deep knife cuts. Extremely sharp claws extended from Zhexiu’s fingers, suffused with a metallicluster. His face grew many gray hairs and his eyes turn red. He gave a bloodthirstyfeeling. Suddenly, a powerful Qi emanated from his body. He lifted his head and howled into the night. Arooooo! This howl was filled with unwillingness and anger, it was also filled withcontempt and pride. This howl was directed to the vast sky of stars, but it was even more directedto that luminous ball at the extreme ends of the north. It said: I have won. Within the Mausoleum of Books, the starlight fell upon the bodies of thoseyouth breaking into Ethereal Opening, then it sputtered back up into the nightair. It was just like a display of fireworks, truly beautiful. If one looked at it from outside the mausoleum, one would think the entireMausoleum of Books was releasing fireworks. While the scene was beautiful, it was also incredibly shocking. In the Mausoleum of Books, in front of the Divine Path, sat a pavilion. All around this pavilion were shallow canals. Within those canals flowed clearwater. Tonight, the clear waters of the canal had been covered with a thin layer offrost and then it was illuminated by the countless fireworks rising from themausoleum. Under the pavilion, that dust-covered suit of armor was also illuminated bythose fireworks. The rust-covered helmet flashed with light. The man in the armor had woken up. An extremely transformative voice flowed out of the helmet, his tone somewhatoppressive. “As expected, the season of blossoming flowers has finally come.” As the continent’s number one Divine General, this old man had left thefrontlines of the war with the demons and guarded the Mausoleum for severalhundred years. What he guarded was humanity’s future. As he saw tonight’sdisplay of fireworks over the Mausoleum of Books, he was naturally gratified.In his heart, he silently thanked two people. One these people was called XunMei. The other was called Chen Changsheng. Those powerful figures outside the mausoleum had come to see Chen Changsheng.They had simply not imagined that they would able to see such a shockingspectacle. In one night, dozens of monolith viewers collectively entered into EtherealOpening. In all of humanity’s history, this sort of scene had never been seen before. The gardens outside the mausoleum were silent, punctuated by the occasionaldeep sigh. The fireworks gradually died down, the radiance of the stars dimmed, and theMausoleum of Books returned to normal. The powerful figures of the Orthodoxy, the Imperial Court, and the varioussects and academies made an exception and they entered the Mausoleum of Booksto wait at the foot of the mountain. Tonight, the young cultivators that had broken through were too many. Some hadentered Ethereal Opening, others had entered the middle level of EtherealOpening, and there were still others that succeeded in entering StarCondensation! To humanity, this was undoubtedly a fruitful night. It wasabsolutely necessary that they handle the following matters personally. Not asingle problem could be allowed to arise. Chen Changsheng woke up and realized that he was sitting cross-legged in frontof the broken monolith. He took a look at the color of the sky and he confirmedthat it was five in the morning. It was the time right before dawn. He stood up and walked through the meadow to the edge of the cliff. The waterfall under the cliff still made its soul-shaking sounds. He did not sweat, he did not feel exhausted nor did he ache anywhere. It waslike nothing had happened. However, he knew that many things had already happened. It was darkest before dawn. The starlight was insufficient to illuminate thedistant capital. Yet in his eyes, his view of the capital was crystal clear. It was like everystreet and alley, even the great banyan tree in the courtyard of the OrthodoxAcademy, was right in front of his eyes. The dawn light gradually drew closer. Line by line, the stars in the skygradually vanished. But he knew that those stars all still hung up above his head. He could clearly sense his Fated Star. This was the first time that he was able to sense his Fated Star in thedaytime. The morning sun appeared over the horizon. The warm and red rays of light caressed his face. He did not know why. He could not explain why. He was completely unaware of the magnificent spectacle that had occurred inthe Mausoleum of Books last night. He was unaware that he had become the youngest cultivator in history to reachthe upper level of Ethereal Opening. Yet, he felt deeply moved.