251 Going Upstream... Part Two

With a clank, the sword glow by the river suddenly disappeared, and a flyingsword returned to its sheath. Chen Changsheng and Zhexiu gazed across, and they saw that the one whoattacked was a middle-aged cultivator. His eyes were clear and deep, andspirited. Beside him was a young daoist, who probably was his companion. The hundreds of cultivators that had entered the Garden of Zhou were all inthe Ethereal Opening realm. Most of them were the backbone force of variousacademies and sects, so there were not many people like him that could havetheir age determined with a glance. Chen Changsheng thought that if he was nota loose cultivator, then he would belong to a slightly small sect. What he thought was correct. The middle-aged cultivator was called FuQiansong. He was a cultivator from a sect called the Clear Void Monastery inthe south. He was even the monastery master for the Clear Void Monastery, buthis cultivation was still at the middle level of Ethereal Opening. Placing himin groups like the Li Palace or the Longevity Sect, perhaps it was not veryspecial. However, in a normal sect, he could be considered to be an impressiveexpert. As for the young person, it was his eldest disciple who had justundergone Ethereal Opening. Seeing Chen Changsheng and Zhexiu suddenly appear, the young Daoist of theClear Void Monastery immediately began to grow nervous. His right hand trembledslightly, like he was prepared to summon his flying sword at any time. The middle-aged cultivator had recognised Chen Changsheng’s identity at firstglance, and he stuck out his hand to stop his disciple. Afterwards, he greetedChen Changsheng by clasping his hands, and said, “I greet Principal Chen.” This unknown small sect, the Clear Void Monastery, belonged to the system ofthe Orthodoxy. According to the rules in the Garden of Zhou, when thismiddle-aged cultivator moved against the disciples of Holy Maiden Peak, he didnot have any difficulties at heart at all, but when facing Chen Changsheng, heinstead became respectful and cautious. This was because he still had a lifeoutside of the Garden of Zhou after all, so how could he be daring enough to bedisrespectful to Chen Changsheng? Only after listening to the middle-aged cultivator’s self introduction didChen Changsheng understand what had happened. Looking at the fragmented magicalartifact in his hand, Chen Changsheng thought of how it was said that most ofthe legacies and treasures in the Garden of Zhou were already discovered, sohow could the two girls from the Holy Maiden Peak find it so easily? “It was a magical artifact found by a predecessor of my Gentle StreamMonastery eighty years ago. However, it was just that she was in a hurry whenshe left and she could not take it with her, so she hid it under the tree nextto the river.” Ye Xiaolian looked at that middle-aged cultivator and said angrily, “It wasoriginally mine. You actually ambushed me and forcefully stole it. Isn’t itembarrassing?” The middle-aged cultivator’s expression seemed slightly awkward. He was in hisfifties this year, and he had already undergone Ethereal Opening several yearsago. Facing these two girls that had only undergone Ethereal Opening not toolong ago, he had even used a method of ambush. If this news was spread outside,it definitely would not be too nice. As the Clear Void Monastery was one of branches of the Orthodoxy, he did notfear the retaliation after this matter had occurred. Even if it was thelegendary Holy Maiden Peak, the rules of the Garden of Zhou were set by theSaints. Since he had already destroyed his dignity, he definitely had to makehis opponents leave the Garden of Zhou as soon as possible. However, as ChenChangsheng and Zhexiu had appeared, he could only put his sword away. Eighty years ago, a preceding Daoist nun of the Gentle Stream Monastery hadentered the Garden of Zhou to discover mysteries. She found a fragmentedmagical artifact, but for some certain reason, she did not take it with her,and she instead hid it under a tree. After leaving the garden, she told thissecret to later disciples, and she made them retrieve it after entering theGarden of Zhou. It could be imagined that in order to retrieve it, this oldstory still hid many secrets, and it was even enough to let a few people sighwith emotion. Chen Changsheng looked at the injured girl from the Holy Maiden Peak andasked, “Senior Tong, are you alright?” Similar to the Longevity Sect, the Holy Maiden Peak also governed over manyother sects, such as the Gentle Stream Monastery that Ye Xiaolian came from. Asthe cultivation potential of the young girl was rather good, perhaps she wouldbe able to enter the Southern Stream Temple next year. The Southern StreamTemple did not have the rumored inner sect and outer sect separation. It wasonly Xu Yourong, who was the chosen successor of the Holy Maiden, who had somespecial treatment. Otherwise, according to the order of entering the sect, XuYourong should have called this girl surnamed Tong ‘Senior’. Chen Changshengdid not know why he called her ‘Senior’ so naturally but he had always calledher that from the Mausoleum of Books till now. That Senior Tong stood up with the support of Ye Xiaolian. Fresh blood flowedbetween the fingers of her hand which were pressed against her shoulder. Herface was somewhat pale, and said shaking her head, “There should be noproblems.” As she could break through to Ethereal Opening from one month of comprehendingmonoliths in the Mausoleum of Books, it could be said that her cultivationtalent was outstanding. Ye Xiaolian was actually also able to break through toEthereal Opening. Her luck was good, however, the main reason was the starlightChen Changsheng had drawn in that night. All of the examinees of the Grand Examination this year understood this veryclearly, so outside of envy, those disciples from the Star Seizer Academy, LiPalace Academy and the Temple Seminary all felt slightly but truly grateful tohim. However, for the two female disciples of the Holy Maiden Peak and otherdisciples of the southern sects, what they felt towards Chen Changsheng insteadwas more complex. No southerner liked Chen Changsheng, however, they had to accept what he haddone. Ye Xiaolian was only a young girl, so when she thought about matters, shewas much more immature and much more direct. In the beginning, she humiliatedChen Changsheng on the Divine Avenue, but afterwards, her attitude changedslowly. After that night in the mausoleum, the only feeling left wereadmiration and gratefulness. Looking at the back of Chen Changsheng, she feltthat her heart had calmed down a lot, like she had found something to rely on. She supported her senior and stood up behind Chen Changsheng. She stared atthe master and disciple from the Clear Void Monastery. The middle-aged cultivator naturally did not care about the anger in her eyes,and he only cared about Chen Changsheng’s attitude on this matter. He believedthat with his cultivation of middle level Ethereal Opening, no matter how greatChen Changsheng’s potential was, or that the indifferent looking teenagerbeside him may have been the legendary wolf cub, Chen Changsheng could not beathim. However, as he was a member of a branch of the Orthodoxy, how could he notworry about Chen Changsheng’s backing from the Li Palace? Taking advantage of the fact that Chen Changsheng could not say anything intime, he made a prompt decision, “The Garden of Zhou is extremely large. Thetwo of us still want to look around some more, so I shall be taking my leave,Principal Chen.” The Senior Tong looked at Chen Changsheng and said apologetically, “Findingtreasure in the Garden of Zhou relies on your own skills. Originally, I wouldnot ask Senior Chen for help, but it is only that that magical artifact is abeloved item of a predecessor in the temple. Before entering here, I wasspecially asked to bring it back for her. So I plead… ” She spoke up to there, and stopped, as she felt that this series of pleadingwas somewhat unjustified. Chen Changsheng indeed did not know what to do. What the master and discipleof the Clear Void Monastery had done, which was ambushing and forcefullytaking, naturally was disgraceful, but the Garden of Zhou’s rules were likethat. Also, the opposing was a part of the Orthodoxy and had not beendisrespectful to him at all. Contrarily, although Xu Yourong and he had anengagement, he did not have any affiliations with the Holy Maiden Peak at all.The north and the south were already going in different directions. Did he haveto move against a northerner for a southerner? This was the first time he had met such a difficult choice. He only felt that those Saints, who had set down the rules for the Garden ofZhou years ago, really did cause people to loathe them. Just at this moment, an extremely sharp sword intent erupted from the forestsfar away. The expression of the middle-aged cultivator changed slightly. He clasped hishands at Chen Changsheng with respect, and he was about to leave with hisdisciple. Senior Tong gave out a soft sigh, and she did not say anything more. YeXiaolian instead stared at Chen Changsheng with her eyes wide, like she did notunderstand why he had let this person go. She thought, “Are you really theson-in-law of the Holy Maiden Peak?”, and then instead, she suddenly realisedthat if she thought like this, Chen Changsheng had really replaced the QiushanJun’s once seemingly irreplaceable place in her heart. Chen Changsheng looked the master and disciple who had waded through the riverto the other side, and he finally made a decision. However, just at this moment, the tree leaves swayed slightly, and ZhuangHuanyu appeared on the riverbed. He looked at Chen Changsheng with an indifferent expression. He did not sayanything, but the meaning was very clear.