247 Outside the Garden of Zhou, a Storm Comes Part Three

As Mei Lisha said these words, he looked at the several hundred cultivatorsthat were prepared to enter the Garden of Zhou. All of these cultivators wereat Ethereal Opening, as such, they were already considered experts. None ofthem were that old. It could be said that these several hundred EtherealOpening cultivators were the future of humanity. Chen Changsheng stood amongst these several hundred people. He understood thatthe archbishop’s words were directed at him and slightly nodded his head inunderstanding. Afterwards, he followed the crowd in entering the forest. The forest at dawn was extremely peaceful and quiet. Perhaps it was because ofthe appearance of the Garden of Zhou, not even the twittering of birds could beheard. The only sound was that of the rustling produced as people stepped onthe fallen leaves. Not too much later, the several hundred cultivators arrived at where the fogwas thickest. The faintly discernible quiet garden in the fog had becomeclearer. It seemed to be right in front of their eyes, yet it also seemed to beat the ends of the earth. Many cultivators had gradually begun to sense that this fog was filled with arich energy, similar to the radiance of the stars, and even more similar to theenergy contained in the crystals. The cultivators could not absorb this energydirectly, but it provided enormous benefits, greatly assisting in calming theirsouls. However, the fog instead concealed a hidden danger deep within. Thosecultivators with good eyesight could faintly make out that outside that realand yet illusory garden, and the extremely short and thick bolts of lightningthat flashed before disappearing. The priests from the Orthodoxy and the teachers and seniors from the varioussects and schools all remained outside the fog, not taking a single stepforward. Perhaps that lightning flashes in the fog had some responses tocultivators above Ethereal Opening, which could bring about some disastrousconsequence. This was already the outer garden of the Garden of Zhou. There were several hundred cultivators from the schools and sects of the northand south as well as several dozen loose cultivators and shamans. Despite theirnumbers, the fog-covered woods were very quiet. No one spoke a word. All these people were waiting for the Garden of Zhou to open. Every ten years, the Garden of Zhou would appear once. Each time it appeared,it would open for exactly one hundred days. However, that did not mean that itsappearance would necessarily be sensed by humans. In the past few decades, ithad not appeared once. That the Garden of Zhou would appear this year outside Hanqiu City was alsonot something that the humans had discovered. Rather, it had been thatenigmatic advisor of the Demon Race, Black Robe, that had confirmed this.Fortunately, a subordinate of Black Robe’s had attempted and failed toassassinate Luoluo in the Orthodox Academy. As he was reluctant to die and hadnot been allowed to commit suicide, Xue Xingchuan had been able to capture himalive. Afterwards, Zhou Tong used his unparalleled methods of torture toextract information, actually finding a spy organization that Black Robe hadplanted in the human society. Following this trail of clues, Zhou Tong was ableto discover the location and time at which the Garden of Zhou would open. To control the Garden of Zhou, the most important matter was not its location.The most important matter was to hold the key to the Garden of Zhou. In thatperiod of time in which the common people were not aware of the opening of theGarden of Zhou, the Demons had sent several experts at the upper level ofEthereal Opening to Hanqiu City with the intent of snatching the keybeforehand. Humanity, also knowing about the opening of the Garden of Zhou,feigned ignorance, yet in reality, they also sent people to quietly infiltratethe outer garden of the Garden of Zhou. To hide from the attention of theDemons and noiselessly steal the key, humanity had sent only one person. For such an important matter, the Five Saints themselves made the decision.The person they sent was Qiushan Jun — Whether it was the humans, the demons,or the demi-humans, in the Ethereal Opening realm, Mount Li’s eldest martialbrother was without equal. Qiushan Jun’s situation seemed to be rather perilous, but in fact, his successwas not at all a surprise. He had suffered a heavy injury for it, but he hadused it as an opportunity and became the world’s youngest Star Condensationcultivator. The world had just begun to admit that Chen Changsheng had the qualificationsto be compared on the same footing with Qiushan Jun. However, obtaining thefirst rank of the First Banner in the Grand Examination was an event thathappened every year, whereas obtaining the key to the Garden of Zhou was amomentous event could only occur once in a decade. Ignoring the differencebetween Star Condensation and Ethereal Opening, the most important fact wasthat Qiushan Jun had battled against the demons to obtain the glory. Even ifChen Changsheng’s performance had been even more world-shaking, it would stillbe a matter in the human world. The significance of the two events werecompletely different. If Chen Changsheng had not viewed the entire frontmausoleum in one day and then been appointed as Principal of the OrthodoxAcademy, then perhaps his image would have been even more lost in Qiushan Jun’sshadow. In this brief period of time before the Garden of Zhou opened, many peoplesubconsciously looked at Chen Changsheng. Chen Changsheng paid no attention to these matters. His mind was still on XuYourong. He had confirmed that Xu Yourong was not amongst these several hundredcultivators, and this fact for some reason made him feel much more relaxed.According to the records in the Daoist Canon, there were some cultivators whowould choose to wait a few days before entering the Garden of Zhou. Xu Yourongwas probably following such a plan, but why did she want to purposefully arrivelate? Was it because she wanted to avoid those passionate and adoring gazes, orwas it because she wanted to avoid him? That aside, how would the Garden of Zhou open? The key that Qiushan Jun had obtained was probably handed over to Mount Li,yet the only senior expert to come to the Garden of Zhou was an elder from theLongevity Sect. There was no representative from Mount Li. Chen Changsheng stood at the front of the crowd thinking, watching as thelightning threw the space in front of him into turmoil, seeing that sometimesclose and sometimes far garden. Just at this moment, a rainbow fell from the sky. The origin of this rainbow was a mystery. It fell from high in the sky andfell through the fog to land in front of them. When the rainbow touched the lightning flashing in the fog and the turbulentair, it caused them to gradually dissolve into nothingness. The fog also began to lift, allowing the scene behind the fog to become muchclearer. In front of that small bridge and gallery, a whitewashed wall began to appear. In that wall, and in front of the hundreds of cultivators, a round arched gateappeared. On the board above the arched door were inscribed two words: Ethereal Opening ( 通幽). Behind the arched gate was a limestone path, its surface covered with lightmoss. Further along, the path bended into the depths of the fog. There wereoverhanging eaves joined together as well as many points of scenery. Standing in the forest, it was impossible to take in all the scenery at aglance. The scenery’s end lay behind the wall. A winding path leads to Ethereal Opening. Who once maintained the Garden ofZhou? (TN: The line is a reference to a Chinese poem where 通幽处 means secluded place) The fog gradually dispersed and the scenery became more real. The water vaporgradually condensed, leading to the pitter patter of rain. The spring wind blew the rain into Chen Changsheng’s face. He stood around calmly for a while, then he began to walk towards the archedgate called Ethereal Opening. Several hundred cultivators followed him into the Garden of Zhou. The spring rain fell on the outside of the forest as well. The threadlike rain fell with a steady pitter patter. Coming from Hanqiu City, several girls dressed in white walked through thedrizzle, In front of the forest, the priests of the Orthodoxy confirmed theiridentities as members of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green. There had been a plague in the south. On the orders of the Pope, they hadaccompanied the medical officials of the court in treating the disease, so theyhad come somewhat late. As Zhu Luo watched the group of girls walk into the forest, a look ofunderstanding appeared on his face… Amongst the group was a girl dressed in the ceremonial white garb of theThirteen Divisions of Radiant Green. Her appearance could be considered to bedelicate and pretty, and her temperament seemed ordinary. Sensing Zhu Luo’s gaze, the girl calmly bowed in respect, then she continuedto walk forward. Zhu Luo smiled, but said nothing.