433 No Man At the Ferry, the Mausoleum Opens On Its Own

Early in the morning on the third day, Tianhai Ya'er and that tall manpromptly arrived in front of the Orthodox Academy's gate. Quite a fewspectators from the capital had also already arrived. In the previous two days, Chen Changsheng had severely exhausted his spiritualsense but had still failed to open that black monolith on the other side of theocean of sword intent. Today, he was prepared to temporarily halt his endeavorsfor a day. He sat in the library and began to read and study. There was a sudden wind, then it began to rain. The sound of the wind, thesound of the rain, and the sound as he read through books mingled with thesound of cursing from the other side of the walls; as one sound fell, anotherrose, but none of them clashed with the others. Chen Changsheng could shut out all disturbances from his mind, but otherpeople could not. The common folk of the capital already had an extremely awfulimpression of the Tianhai clan, and they were completely lacking in favorableopinions of Tianhai Ya'er, who had obtained an evil reputation early on. Bynoon, when those spectators drenched in the rain realized that Tianhai Ya'er'sobscenities were all the same old curses and had cycled around to the verybeginning, someone finally booed, followed by a few mocking laughs. Tianhai Ya'er sat in his wheelchair, his face getting increasingly pale andthe expression in his eyes growing increasingly ruthless. He raised his righthand. As a result, a conflict erupted between the crowd and the Tianhai clan'sfollowers. The priests of the Li Palace and the guards were a little late inrushing over. Two ordinary commoners were injured and one follower of theTianhai clan had been beaten up by the crowd until he was covered in blood. The priests were incensed and demanded that the guards immediately clear outHundred Flowers Lane. Simultaneously, they were no longer prepared to wait forthe discussion amongst their higher-ups to conclude, and decided to escortTianhai Ya'er and that other person away. At this very moment, Tianhai Ya'erslapped his injured leg and shrilly shouted, "Murder!" "The Li Palace is powerful, they're going to hound somebody to death! Theyhounded Liang Xiaoxiao to death, they hounded Zhuang Huanyu to death, and nowthey're going to hound me to death!" "Come, I'll be watching you! If you hound me to death, just how are you goingto explain it to my great-aunt!" The Li Palace priests were all enraged, but they couldn't lay a hand on him. Ever since the Divine Empress replaced Emperor Xian in reading memorials andtook hold of the Imperial Court, in the following two hundred years, theTianhai clan supplanted the Chen Imperial clan as the number one clan on thecontinent. The current Imperial Court of the Great Zhou was filled with thechildren and disciples of the Tianhai clan and their power had flourishedmagnificently. Crucially, all the juniors of the Tianhai clan shared a commongreat-aunt—the Divine Empress. Gazing around him at the eye-catching and brightly-colored plum blossoms andthen turning to the tired expression of the archbishop, Priest Xin felt acomplex set of emotions. He said, "If they continue to make such a ruckus,it'll be too much of a loss of face." Mei Lisha slowly opened his eyes and gazed out the window. "In any case, sincethe Tianhai clan has already lost their face for so many years, they won't careabout it." Priest Xin asked, "Just how do we take care of this matter? If there's reallyno other option, I will bring some people and drive Tianhai Ya'er away." Mei Lisha emotionlessly said, "Could it be that you cannot see that this isall a smoke screen?" "A smoke screen?" Priest Xin suddenly remembered that piece of news that hadcome from the Li Palace and asked in astonishment, "Is Your Eminence speakingof that matter the two archbishops brought up a few days ago?" Of the so-called Six Prefects of the Orthodoxy, in terms of qualifications andstatus, Mei Lisha was without question the head of the Six Prefects, but theother five were all considerably frightening personages. Mao Qiuyu was nolonger the Principal of the Heavenly Dao Academy. He had been appointed as theArchbishop of the Hall of Illustrious Persons and had become one of theOrthodoxy's Six Prefects. The two archbishops that Priest Xin was speaking ofnow were the archbishops of the Hall of Subjugation and the Hall of ShadowSteps. (TN: It was previously stated that Mao Qiuyu was appointed Archbishop ofthe Hall of Subjugation. From now on, the author states that Mao Qiuyu wasappointed Archbishop of the Hall of Illustrious Persons.) Several years ago, these two archbishops had grown concerned that the Demonrace was flourishing by the day. In order that the Orthodoxy could increase thebattle prowess of human cultivators, they put forth a proposal—amongst the SixIvies, excluding Star Seizer Academy, the teachers and students of theseacademies could challenge each other as long as they were of the samecultivation level. Without ample reason or an exception from the Li Palace, thetarget of this challenge could not refuse. Of course, there were also manyadditional rules and limitations. No matter which angle you examined it from, this proposal was very reasonableand necessary. As a result, when it was first suggested, it received thesupport of all the halls and schools. The Imperial Court also praised it andStar Seizer Academy even demanded to be added into it. The problem was thatthose two archbishops that had made this proposal had been the Pope's mostloyal assistants, but now, the entire continent knew that they firmly stood onthe side of the Divine Empress—yes, these two archbishops were exactly the twothat Mei Lisha had said had not yet made the turn few days ago. Now that theentire continent, especially the priests of the Li Palace, were all focused onthe ruckus in front of the gate of the Orthodox Academy, these two archbishopswere once more preparing to promote this plan. Just what were they up to? Priest Xin suddenly understood and his heart chilled. "His Holiness…will notagree." "But is there a reason not to agree?" Mei Lisha's voice was rather exhausted. "The Orthodox Academy currently only has Chen Changsheng and Xuanyuan Po. Evenif Tang Tang comes out of the Mausoleum of Books, there are still too fewstudents. According to the rules of that proposal, the Orthodox Academy is toodisadvantaged…" "Two years ago when this proposal was made, the Orthodox Academy didn't have asingle person, so you cannot accuse them of deliberately targeting the OrthodoxAcademy." Finally, Mei Lisha added, "Currently, the Orthodox Academy only has three anda half students, but that is the Orthodox Academy's own problem to address." At night, Priest Xin went to the Orthodox Academy and relayed the situation toChen Changsheng. "That person is called Zhou Ziheng (自横). He came from the Temple Seminary andis a priest of the Hall of Subjugation. He is a teacher at the Temple Seminaryas well as an honored guest of the Tianhai clan." "No man at the ferry, the boat drifts there, on its own?" (野渡无人舟自横) "Zhou (周), the Zhou from ‘careful’ (周密)." "Which 'heng' is it?" "It's that 'heng' (横)." Chen Changsheng thought about that tall and thin man next to the wheelchairand remembered the faint sense of ridicule on his face. He thought to himselfthat this truly was a very arrogant (骄横) individual. "Zhou Ziheng has three identities, and any one of them is enough for him totake action if you move against Tianhai Ya'er." Priest Xin said with heartfeltsincerity, "Since you've already endured for three days, you might well as bearwith it for a few more. If the Hall of Subjugation's proposal passes, we'lltalk about how to deal with it when the time comes." "Because Zhou Ziheng is a priest of the Hall of Subjugation, it’s notconvenient for the Li Palace priests guarding the Orthodox Academy to doanything against him…" Chen Changsheng fell silent for a few moments, thenraised his head and seriously asked, "Then if that proposal really does passand Zhou Ziheng challenges me, the Li Palace will also not do anything?" Priest Xin affirmed, "Correct." Chen Changsheng replied, "But he is at Star Condensation, one realm higherthan me. According to the rules, I can reject it." Priest Xin looked into his eyes and said, "He would challenge the OrthodoxAcademy and you are its principal. Or perhaps the Orthodox Academy has someoneelse that can take the challenge?" Chen Changsheng looked back at him and said, "This position of principal wasdone by His Holiness and His Eminence. As for the Orthodox Academy having noother students, Sir most keenly understands the reason why." Priest Xin felt somewhat embarrassed and said, "In short, as long as youendure for a few more days, His Holiness will definitely not leave you at adisadvantage." Chen Changsheng said nothing more. After seeing him out of the academy, hewalked back into the library and began to take in starlight and undergoPurification. He continued to cultivate his swordplay and continued hisattempts to break through the secrets of the black monolith. A night's time passed wordlessly and morning came once again. Tianhai Ya'erand that expert from the Hall of Subjugation called Zhou Ziheng also came. Today, there was still a light wind, a fine drizzle, and also obscene languageand abuse. Chen Changsheng could bear it. In the end, those filthy obscenities were notheavily seasoned and fatty foods, and they were also not a bed filthy withdust. There was nothing in them that he could not bear. Yet at dusk, somerather unpleasant news came from the Li Palace. The proposal of those twoarchbishops had passed. Whether he could bear it or not was no longer important. A letter of challenge was passed into the Orthodox Academy. On it wasprecisely the name of Zhou Ziheng. Chen Changsheng gazed at that name in silence for a few moments, then hecontinued his Purification and continued to observe that black monolith. At the moment, he could already clearly make out the lines on the monolith andhad confirmed that it was the Heavenly Tome Monolith that Wang Zhice had leftbehind in Lingyan Pavilion. He could even distinctly sense that on the otherend of the black monolith was truly the Qi of the Garden of Zhou. Compared to the Heavenly Tome Monoliths and the Garden of Zhou, the tricks andplans of some people within the Tianhai clan and the Orthodoxy really didn'tamount to much. However, when his spiritual sense strenuously crossedthrough that ocean of sword intent, he always felt like he could see a littleboat in that vast ocean. That little boat swayed to and fro with the waves andseemed like it could be destroyed at any moment, yet it was not. It made himfeel somewhat agitated. He had always thought that the endless abuse being hurled out by Tianhai Ya'erand that incident last year where the gate to the academy had been knocked downwere exactly the same. They were all disgracing the Tianhai clan. But now he realized that even though he still believed his view to be correct,in the face of this sort of situation, just who wouldn't be angry? On the morning of the next day, Priest Xin came with two more pieces of badnews. Zhou Tong had refused to release Zhexiu; Zhexiu was still imprisoned in thatsinister jail and nobody knew when he would come out. The entire continent knewthat Zhou Tong was the Divine Empress's most loyal and most frightening dog.Compared to him, Xu Shiji was nothing much. Zhou Tong's unyielding attitude inthis matter was an extremely ill omen to many people. A storm was about toengulf the city—could it really be that the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxywould come into open conflict with each other? Chen Changsheng asked, "This is the desire of His Holiness. His Eminencepersonally paid a visit and Zhou Tong still refused to release Zhexiu? Justwhat does he want to do?" Priest Xin then relayed the second bad piece of news. "His Eminence's healthhas not been good. It might be a few days before he can pay a visit to ZhouTong." There was still some good news. Zhexiu had not come out, but a certain person was about to come out. At five o'clock in the morning, Chen Changsheng promptly woke up and left withXuanyuan Po out the academy's gate. At this time, Tianhai Ya'er and Zhou Zihenghad not arrived. To travel from the Orthodox Academy to the Mausoleum of Books was quite thedistance. By the time they had reached that small river and arrived at thefront gate of the Mausoleum of Books, it was already well into the morning. Gazing at the verdant and lush green mountain, Chen Changsheng naturally beganto think back to the first time he had come here to view the monoliths andcomprehend the Dao. And then, for some reason, he began to think of thatmausoleum in the Plains of the Unsetting Sun. Soon after, he thought of thatnight several months ago, Wang Po and Mao Qiuyu standing where he was standingright now while he, Gou Hanshi and the others stood inside, carrying Xun Meiwho was on the verge of death. Mao Qiuyu was no longer the Principal of the Heavenly Dao Academy. He had beenappointed Archbishop of the Hall of Illustrious Persons and his status andauthority were even greater. And yet he had been quiet for a very long time andit had been many days since the capital had heard any news of him. Thinking of Zhuang Huanyu's death and the recent silence from the Heavenly DaoAcademy, he felt like he vaguely understood the reason why. His mood couldn'thelp but become somewhat serious. A rumbling noise roused him. With the shaking of the ground, the heavy stonedoors of the Mausoleum of Books slowly opened.