440 Eating, Drinking, Whoring, Gambling; Being Born, Growing Old, Getting Sick, and Dying

Zhou Ziheng stood at his original position, still not quite recognizing whathad just occurred. He had originally believed that the Orthodox Academy would act as it had inthe preceding days, thinking of ways to delay and then going off to think ofways to confront this challenge—for example, the Orthodox Academy couldpossibly invite Princess Luoluo to come out of the Li Palace. If that were thecase, then his only choices were naturally to concede or avoid the battle.However, the Tianhai clan had prepared a contingency plan for this. If theOrthodox Academy really did have Princess Luoluo appear, then the Tianhai clanwould certainly use this as a pretext to stir up even greater winds and waves.But he had never expected Chen Changsheng to actually agree. After a moment, he was finally able to awake from his stupor. He looked atChen Changsheng with a grave expression and asked, "Who will battle for theOrthodox Academy?" Chen Changsheng replied, "Me." As he said the word 'me', there was no pause and naturally no pretense ofthought. It seemed simply to be a matter of course. Yes, he was the Principal of the Orthodox Academy. When the Orthodox Academywas challenged, it was only right that he face it. Zhou Ziheng suddenly realized that the current Chen Changsheng, when comparedto the Chen Changsheng of the past few days, was somewhat different. But hecouldn't quite tell just where he was different. "Very good." He looked at Chen Changsheng and asked, "Since the time has beendecided, is any place fine?" Chen Changsheng answered, "According to the regulation in the proposal setforth by the two archbishops of the Sacred Halls, since the time was set by theOrthodox Academy, the location is naturally for the Temple Seminary to decide." Zhou Ziheng turned his gaze to the dense crowd outside Hundred Flowers Laneand then said emotionlessly, "Since there are already so many people, we mightas well just do it here." Chen Changsheng nodded his head to indicate he had no objection. He shiftedhis gaze to Tang Thirty-Six, who had at some point gone and bought soy milk andyoutiao. Shaking his head helplessly, Chen Changsheng asked, "Is eating anddrinking so important?" Tang Thirty-Six replied, "Eating and drinking isn't life or death, it'sabove life and death." The gate to the Orthodox Academy closed once more, but this separation wasdifferent from that of the last few days. Everyone knew that tomorrow thistightly closed gate would open once more! The crowd outside the Hundred Flowers Lane was in a continuous uproar, andconsequently, the entire capital turned into an uproar. The Temple Seminary had challenged the Orthodox Academy. This was about to bethe first battle held in the All-School Martial Exhibition. It had nothing to with the far-reaching intention of the Orthodoxy's new ruleto help the humans resist the demons. All the people knew that this challengesignified that the Tianhai clan and the new faction within the Orthodoxy werefinally beginning to make themselves heard to the Li Palace. It didn't take long before this news was spread throughout the capital. Manyworkmen quickly arrived on the scene with all sorts of construction materials,and in a brief moment, a simple awning began to take shape. Soon after, severaldozen carriages made their way to Hundred Flowers Lane and from these carriagesemerged many people. Some were painters, some were storytellers, and some weremerchants. There were also experts that were honored guests of the Four GreatMarkets. Yes, these people that had reacted even faster than the aristocracy of thecapital were all from the famed Four Great Markets of the capital. The Four Great Markets were involved in every business: eateries, restaurants,brothels, foodstuffs, luxury goods, textiles. But the business that brought inthe most money had always been gambling. The annual Grand Examination was often the time when the Four Great Marketsmade the most money. It was out of the question for them to pass on thisAll-School Martial Exhibition that was naturally meant for betting on. In fact,there were many people that suspected that, for the Li Palace to so swiftlydisregard the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education's objections and pass theproposal of the two Sacred Hall archbishops, the masters of the Four GreatMarkets must have been pushing it behind the scenes. Of course, although the area outside Hundred Flowers Lane was now bustlingbeyond compare, the people of the Four Great Markets did not dare to disturbthe tranquility of the Orthodox Academy. Business people were still businesspeople. What occurred soon after somewhat surpassed people's expectations. A steward of the Heavenly Fragrance Market, completely ignoring the vigilantstares of the Li Palace priests and imperial guards, slowly made his way up tothe gate of the Orthodox Academy. Seeing this scene, the crowd was very muchpuzzled and perplexed. Just what was this steward up to? It must be known thatthe Heavenly Fragrance Market was the weakest of the Four Great Markets, alwaysranking last. The sudden emergence of a dark horse in this year's GrandExamination, Chen Changsheng's inconceivable feat of taking first rank of thefirst banner, had inflicted disastrous losses on the Heavenly Fragrance Market,so much so that there were even rumors that the Heavenly Fragrance Market hadchanged owners. Just where did this steward's confidence come from? Something happened which took the crowd even more by surprise. The gate of theOrthodox Academy actually opened and that steward walked inside. "You're saying…the Heavenly Fragrance Market is your Tang clan's property?" Chen Changsheng looked at that incomparably reverential steward in front ofTang Thirty-Six and said in shock, "Why haven't I ever heard about this?" Tang Thirty-Six said, "It was only done after the Grand Examination." Chen Changsheng replied, "I heard that the backing of each of the Four GreatMarkets is extremely deep. It seems that the Pavilion of Divination might evenown some. Why would the Heavenly Fragrance Market's previous master be willingto sell!" Everyone knew that the Wenshui Tangs were the world's wealthiest clan. Theproblem was that the relationship between the Tianhai clan and the Tang clanwas somewhat of a wreck. In the past few years, the Tianhai clan had beenincessantly working in the dark to prevent the Tang clan's influence fromspreading into the capital. If the Heavenly Fragrance Market really did belongto the Tang clan, then the efforts of the Tianhai clan had all been fornothing. For this reason, he was rather perplexed at how the Tang clan hadmanaged to accomplish this task. Tang Thirty-Six chuckled, but didn't explain. Chen Changsheng was somewhat lost in the dark. The steward gave Chen Changsheng a rather peculiar look. He thought tohimself, if the Wenshui Tangs had not placed such a large stake on Sir, howcould the Heavenly Fragrance Market have lost so much that it would be forcedto sell? Of course, he didn't dare to say this out loud. Turning deferentiallytowards Tang Thirty-Six, he said, "Young master, according to the laws of theclan, the money within the market cannot be moved. I could only take Master'sown silver currently being stored with us and bet it all." Tang Thirty-Six did some mental calculations, then thought to himself, even ifI won, it won't be enough to buy Clear Lake Restaurant. Turning to ChenChangsheng and Xuanyuan Po, he said, "How much money do you guys have? Give itall to me." When he borrowed money from others, it was only natural that he not write anysort of IOU. As for what he was borrowing money for, he was also too lazy toexplain. When he borrowed money from someone, it showed his high regard forthat person. Most regretfully, these two schoolmates of his in the Orthodox Academy were solacking in this aspect that it really made one look down on them. Xuanyuan Po rummaged all throughout his luggage and found around seventy taelsof silver. Chen Changsheng was even more miserable. After searching all over, he couldn'teven produce a single piece of paper. Tang Thirty-Six was very sympathetic to Xuanyuan Po, but he was extremelyangry towards Chen Changsheng. "What about those silver ingots I gave you? Andthe treasures Princess Luoluo gave you? After the Grand Examination, theOrthodox Academy took in so many presents; where did all those things run offto?" Chen Changsheng said awkwardly, "Those things…they were all lost in the Gardenof Zhou." Tang Thirty-Six was keenly aware of just what assets Chen Changsheng possessedbefore entering the Garden of Zhou. Let alone the box of silver ingots, thetreasures Luoluo had gifted were to be envied. In the end…they had all beenlost in the Garden of Zhou that was already destroyed. There was no hope offinding those assets again and he felt a deep grief in his heart. He said toChen Changsheng in vexation, "Truly a guy that could cause his family to gobankrupt." As Chen Changsheng thought of those boxes and books in the depths of that lakein the Garden of Zhou, he also was filled with regret. He thought that it wouldbe best to think of a way to bring those things back. In the past two day, hehad attempted several more times, but after his spiritual sense crossedthrough the ocean of sword intent, it was still incapable of entering theillusion of the black monolith. To rediscover the path to the Garden of Zhouwas seemingly destined to be a long and endless journey. Xuanyuan Po suddenly thought of a problem. Glancing at that Heavenly FragranceMarket steward who was checking over the silver, he asked Tang Thirty-Six, "Youwant to take the money to bet?" Tang Thirty-Six asked, "What else? Take it to a brothel?" Xuanyuan Po shook his head, "It's said in my tribe, humans are the mostdeceitful, you can't bet with them. It'd be better if I just kept the money andused it as a little capital to start a business." As he spoke, he prepared to take back his silver taels. "You really are a dumb bear." Tang Thirty-Six was not in a pleasant mood. "Inonly two days' time, you can turn one silver tael into eleven. Just whatbusiness can generate more profit than that?" Xuanyuan Po paused, and asked in some disbelief, "What pays out that much?" Demi-humans didn't like to gamble with humans, but that didn't mean theydidn't like to gamble. Even the most honest bear youth at least understood theconcept of odds. Tang Thirty-Six answered, "The Four Great Markets just calculated the odds.The highest odds are one-to-eleven, the lowest is still one-to-nine." Xuanyuan Po suddenly felt that something wasn't quite right. He askeduncertainly, "This is for us winning?" Tang Thirty-Six looked back like he was gazing at an idiot. "Zhou Ziheng is inthe Star Condensation Realm, Chen Changsheng is in the Ethereal Opening Realm.Do you think the Four Great Markets would give Zhou Ziheng odds ofone-to-eleven?" Xuanyuan Po was stunned, and then sighed, "You actually want to use my moneyto bet on Chen Changsheng!" It must be known that these taels of silver, other than the part that was theallowance provided by the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, were silver he hadbitterly earned through washing dishes in the night market. He was veryunwilling to let all this money be thrown away. Tang Thirty-Six sneered at him, "You have to understand, he used his identityas Principal to give you shoes to wear, so if he were to complain about youto Princess Luoluo, what would happen to you?" Xuanyuan Po was helpless at these words and felt very pained. ------ The plum blossoms filling the room were still blooming. It was as if the fourseasons really were within these simple walls. Regretfully, it was impossible for the life of humans to be as beautiful andmagical as this scene. Once they reached the stern winter, it was no longerpossible to return to the spring. Mei Lisha's illness was severe. The matters of the Bureau of EcclesiasticEducation had all been handed over to his subordinates to handle, while some ofthe matters had been given over to Mao Qiuyu. In fact, he knew very well that he wasn't ill, just old. If it were an illness, it could be treated, especially since the patient washim. As long as he wished it, every teacher and student of the ThirteenDivisions of Radiant Green would come over and use the Sacred Light technique. No one could treat old age. The Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green could not,the Holy Maiden could not, and the Pope also could not. As one grew old and was on the verge of returning to the sea of stars,different people would display different attitudes. Mei Lisha had spent his time in the Orthodoxy studying ancient scriptures andmanaging the educational bureaucracy. He had lived a solitary life for severalhundred years, so at this time, what he loved the most was excitement. Especially excitement that involved Chen Changsheng and the Orthodox Academy. After hearing Priest Xin's narrative of what had happened this morning, MeiLisha laughed as the wrinkles on his face smoothed. "Ah, truly exciting." As he said the word 'exciting', his elderly face was full of smiles.Even those liver spots on his face seemed to fade away somewhat, and yet PriestXin heard loneliness in that voice.