432 It Will Only Be Overcast for Two or Three Days

A year had already passed. The Orthodox Academy had not taken in any newstudents, but it had still been given new life. It was no longer that graveyardof the past. The inside of the academy was still cold and cheerless, but theoutside had long since been placed under heavy guard. The priests of the LiPalace stood guard in Hundred Flowers Lane, not even leaving during the latenight. It was simply impossible for any of the common folk to approach.However, when the priests saw that youth in the wheelchair, their eyes filledwith vigilance and loathing, yet it was impossible for them to take action. TheTianhai clan possessed special status in the Great Zhou Dynasty. In addition,they did not act because Tianhai Ya'er was already a cripple. Using the Divine Empress's words, it was best for the actions of the people ofthe Orthodoxy to be deliberately mystifying. Those people of the Orthodoxy wereconcerned with justification and being honorable. It was very difficult forthem to make the first move against this crippled youth. Apart from all this,there was still one other reason. It was that beside Tianhai Ya'er, there wasone more person. That person seemed about thirty years old and had a tall andslender body. His face was gloomy and cold and his body exuded an extremelypowerful Qi. In the drizzle, Tianhai Ya'er's sharp and resentful curses rang out withoutend, but that person kept his silence, not speaking a single word. He onlycalmly watched the tightly shut school gate, thinking about something or theother. The new gate of the Orthodox Academy was pushed open from within. ChenChangsheng stood at the top of the stone steps. The first thing he noticed uponseeing Tianhai Ya'er was that he wasn't holding an umbrella, nor was the personstanding by the wheelchair holding an umbrella for him. He looked at thatperson and guessed that he probably wasn't Tianhai Ya'er's bodyguard, but hedidn't know about the person's background. Chen Changsheng turned his gaze back to Tianhai Ya'er in his wheelchair andsaid, "You probably clearly understand just why the elders of your clan askedyou to yell curses in front of the Orthodox Academy!" Tianhai Ya'er's face had been drenched in the rain, making it seem even paler,but his expression was still fierce and arrogant. In addition, because ChenChangsheng had appeared, he became excited. "Of course I know!" The youth's voice was getting increasingly sharp, evensomewhat shrill, like he was crying and laughing at the same time. "I'm alreadya piece of trash. It's only natural that this piece of trash is used well! Areyou looking for sympathy? Besides, the matter between us is only somethingbetween two children, just making trouble! Is His Holiness really going to sayin good faith that my Tianhai clan is suppressing the Principal of the OrthodoxAcademy?" After a moment of silence, Chen Changsheng replied, "But I don't understand,what meaning is there in you stirring up this trouble? I can just ignore you." Today was not like in the past. The gate to the Orthodox Academy was presentlybeing guarded by a bishop and several dozen priests of the Li Palace,preventing those two from the Tianhai clan from entering. Putting aside thewheelchair-bound Tianhai Ya'er, even if Tianhai Shengxue brought the cavalryfrom Snowhold Pass to come and fight, they would also find themselves incapableof simply bursting through the gate of the Orthodox Academy as they had done inthe past.  Tianhai Ya'er began to laugh, revealing his fine white teeth, looking likesome injured cub. His sharp voice once more rang out, "Didn't you just hear mecurse your family to the eighteenth ancestor?" Chen Changsheng once more fell into silence, then said, "And then? I have tocurse your family to the eighteenth ancestor? I don't intend to do that." The ancestors of the Tianhai clan were precisely the Divine Empress'sancestors. He would not repeat his mistake from last year. Tianhai Ya'er sneered and said, "I don't dare to curse Luoluo…Her Highness,but I'm not afraid of you. I'm very interested to see just how long you canendure this." "Then continue cursing." Saying this, Chen Changsheng turned back into theOrthodox Academy and left. As he was opening the door and listening to Tianhai Ya'er disgracing hisparents and ancestors, he really was very angry. He was prepared to disregardany consequences that the Tianhai clan would have, what plots they hadconcocted. He just wanted to educate this kid for a spell, but when he walkedout the door and saw the crippled youth in the wheelchair, he changed his mind. Tianhai Ya'er was cruel and cold-blooded. He had once been a very terrifyingperson. Now that he was a cripple, he was still very frightening, but this fearcame from the fact that he had no sense of honor, no reverence, no goals topursue, and now he didn't even have any ambitions. The current was a pool ofmud. If Chen Changsheng and the Orthodox Academy did not want to stick theirfeet into this swamp and from then on be slowed by this swamp, then they couldonly ignore it, or else use sand and stone to directly fill up this swamp. Since they couldn't just go and kill Tianhai Ya'er, to do anything else wasmeaningless. Consequently, there was no need to stand in front of the gate andlisten to these words. As he gazed at Chen Changsheng's back, Tianhai Ya'er froze. He grew even morefurious and began to curse without end in his shrill voice, every sort offilthy obscenity and curse spewing out of his mouth in an unending stream. Chen Changsheng acted like he couldn't even hear. His steps did not get anyfaster nor did they slow. With a steady pace, he walked back into the academy. The priests were all incredibly astonished at this scene and were also filledwith admiration. They thought to themselves, he truly is worthy of being HisHoliness's most cherished junior, worthy of being the youngest Principal of theOrthodox Academy in history. The man standing next to the wheelchair raised his eyebrows slightly as hewatched Chen Changsheng's back, like he was somewhat surprised. But soon after,the surprise transformed into disdain. Compared to his peers, Chen Changsheng truly was rather mature and steady, orperhaps too excessively calm and quiet. He didn't seem at all like asixteen-year-old youth. Xuanyuan Po seemed even older, but in reality, he was only a fourteen-year-oldbear youth. As a result, he couldn't understand how Chen Changsheng could standit. He rather angrily asked, "That's it?" Chen Changsheng glanced at him and replied, "What else is there to do? Killhim?" Xuanyuan Po seemed to consider the idea and said, "It's not out of thequestion." Chen Changsheng refuted, "He is a person of the Tianhai clan. Unless the LiPalace personally issues a decree, no one can do anything. In addition, there'salways someone at his side, didn't you see?" Xuanyuan Po asked, "Is that person very strong?" Chen Changsheng said, "Star Condensation Realm." Xuanyuan Po sucked in a breath of cold air. That tall and slender man thatseemed only around thirty was actually an expert of the Star Condensation Realm? "But, we can't just let Tianhai Ya'er keep cursing outside forever, right?" "I have more important things to do." Yes, Chen Changsheng had more important things to do. Compared to those things, this strategy of the Tianhai clan of sending someoneto say loathsome things and the malice concealed behind it was insignificant.In the past, the most important thing to him had naturally been cultivating.However, besides cultivating, there was now one other matter that was importantto him. It was precisely finding out whether that black monolith he had foundon the other side of the ocean of sword intent while he was honing his swordheart actually led to the Garden of Zhou. If it did, then he wanted to enterthe Garden of Zhou and take a look. His spiritual sense landed on the illusion of the black monolith and then wasinstantly jolted into countless strands by that terrifying energy containedwithin. This energy which the world could not possibly contain thus transformedhis spiritual sense into nothingness. A sudden gust blew through the libraryand Qi spurted out of his body, wafting up his sleeves as well as the littledust on the bookshelves. He had made three successive attempts but all of them had ultimately ended infailure. His face was as pale as the sheet of paper on Xiao Zhang's face and hecould no longer bear the shocks to his sea of consciousness and the backlashfrom that vigorous energy. Pushing open the door to the library, he rushed overto the edge of the lake and then, holding his stomach, began to vomit on thegrass. It was quite a miserable scene. Xuanyuan Po was at the moment striking trees. He was flabbergasted at thisscene and walked over to support Chen Changsheng. Looking at the damp spot onthe grass, he said worriedly, "Fortunately, you haven't eaten breakfast, orelse this would look far too nasty." Chen Changsheng had always paid attention to taking three meals every day.This morning, because he was impatient, he didn't eat breakfast. He still hadto eat lunch and dinner, but he somehow felt like he didn't have much of anappetite. There was some sort of revulsion in his stomach that was extremely unbearable.Everything he ate seemed to have no taste. "This boiled cauliflower…did you forget to add salt?" Xuanyuan Po felt very wronged. He thought to himself, in the entire OrthodoxAcademy, only I am making the food, and you still act so picky! In addition,your complaints don't have any logic! He angrily shouted: "You yourself said to use less oil and salt when cooking!" Chen Changsheng held up his bowl with both hands and feebly said, "Fordinner…cook some food with a bit more taste." Xuanyuan Po looked at him and thought, I guess he's really sick, or else howcould these words possibly come out of this guy's mouth? He asked, "Do you wantme to invite Her Highness to check up on you?" Chen Changsheng shook his head. Luoluo was the princess of the demi-humans andher status was too sensitive. He hoped that she would not get involved in thisconfrontation between the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy. On the second day, it did not rain in the morning. Thereby, the late springonce again returned to the beginning of summer. The weather in the capital inthe fifth and sixth months of the year had always been this hard to pin down.Tianhai Ya'er was also a person that was very difficult to pin down. He hadonce been cold-blooded, murderous and cruel, wielding the power of the Tianhaiclan and his own talent in cultivation to commit every sort of unspeakablecrime. Later on, after he had been crippled by Luoluo, he had vanished for thegreater part of a year. When he appeared once more before the people of thecapital, he actually displayed a rarely-seen patience and perseverance, eventhough what he was doing seemed to have nothing to do with the twoaforementioned traits. The wheelchair rolled over the gray stone and arrived at the entrance of theOrthodox Academy. The crippled youth took a sip of tea to moisten his throat,then under the strange and attentive gazes of the priests, continued hiscursing. Yesterday, he had cursed for the entire day. It seemed that Orthodox Academywould still be shrouded in these filthy obscenities today as well. However, there was a difference from yesterday. Today, a bustling crowd ofspectators had also come. The crowd could not walk any further into Hundred Flowers Lane, being barredby the priests and those soldiers that had come to maintain order. However,they could hear Tianhai Ya'er's insults loud and clear. In truth, there was nothing fresh about Tianhai Ya'er's insults. They merelysent greetings to Chen Changsheng's elders, especially his female familymembers. "Chen Changsheng, your mother." "Chen Changsheng, I'll f*** your daughter to death." Hearing these filthy words, the crowd outside the street fell into a murmur ofdiscussion, some people shaking their heads in silence. Although none of themwas pleased, no one dared to say anything. That tall and slender man still stood by the wheelchair, watching the tightlyshut gate to the academy. Although what he was thinking was a mystery, thecorners of his lips still revealed that faint smile of derision. It seemed tobe mocking Chen Changsheng's timidity, but it also seemed to hold some othermeaning. "Do you really not care? Even if you don't tell Her Highness, you should stillhave the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education appear and take care of things." Xuanyuan Po said this to Chen Changsheng, his face thoroughly red as helistened to Tianhai Ya'er's vile words coming from outside. Chen Changsheng replied, "Back then when the Orthodox Academy's gate wasknocked down by Tianhai Shengxue's men, who ultimately fixed it?" Xuanyuan Po thought he understood what Chen Changsheng was getting at, so heasked, "Then what should we do next?" "Wait a few more days." Chen Changsheng paused, then said, "…wait three moredays." After saying this, he glanced outside and saw that the light was a bit gloomy.He realized that today was overcast. If he ignored it, the days would continue as usual. Time would not change itsspeed as it did in the Plains of the Unsetting Sun. One day's time passed in avery regular fashion. Tianhai Ya'er blocked up the gate of the Orthodox Academy for two whole dayswith his cursing. The Li Palace and Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education maintainedtheir silence and they sent out no messages.