462 The Start of the Drowning

One summer's day this year, Tang Thirty-Six severed the hand of that lecturerfrom the Li Palace Academy. On the next day, he used a single strike to heavilyinjure that expert from the Tianhai clan and then won two more matches afterthat. On the third day, he cleanly and neatly won two more matches. On thefourth day, he won another match as easily as taking a walk on a fine day. Onthe fifth day, like a tiger swallowing up ten thousand li, he won four matchesin a row. All in all, he represented the Orthodox Academy in twelve matcheswithout suffering a single defeat. The area in front of the Orthodox Academy's gate had become a sea of flowers.For the first time, the reality of the Hundred Flowers Lane finally coincidedwith its name. Even more joyous were the peddlers hawking flowers outside thelane and the bankers of the Four Great Markets that were taking bets. No matterhow the odds changed or the contents of the bets adjusted, as long as peoplepaid more and more attention, a businessman could always derive great profitsfrom it. Everyone was discussing just how long Tang Thirty-Six could keep up hisunbroken stretch of victories. Simultaneously, they also discussed how thecommentary the Divination Elder had given on this talented and famous youngmaster of the Wenshui Tangs during last year's announcement of the Proclamationof Azure Sky was truly accurate. As long as he diligently cultivated, hiscultivation and strength truly could easily rise by leaps and bounds, crossinga thousand li in a single day. There were even some that began to ponder, ifthere were a changing of the ranks this year in the Proclamation of GoldenDistinction, just where would this seventeen-year-old end up? As he had done for the past few days, Tang Thirty-Six stood amidst the sea offlowers, his expression calm, as if he wasn't moved in the slightest by thisbeautiful scene and the cries of those maidens. Meanwhile, his mind wasoccupied with rather trivial concerns—the past few days had been rather hot andthe flowers brought in by those peddlers from the hills were a bit too lush.Standing in the sea of flowers, he felt like he was standing in a pile of fatand tender marbled pork. "Truly extraordinary." From the crowd came a cold and indifferent voice. "I'mvery interested to see, if there is a change in the rankings for GoldenDistinction, just where you will be able to rank." Along with this voice, a man dressed in black, his body exuding a chillyatmosphere, slowly stepped up to the gate of the Orthodox Academy. This was a question that many people in the capital were curious to know theanswer to, but no one could ask this question as well as this man, nor asforcefully. Because this black-clothed man was an expert of the Proclamation ofGolden Distinction, ranked twenty-seventh and at the initial level of StarCondensation. His surname was Mu and his name Laoban, and he was called MuLaoban. In fact, he truly was the owner of a business involved in graves andtombs. (TN: Mu '墓' means grave/tomb, and Laoban '老板' means boss/business owner, sohis name literally translated to 'Grave Boss'.) Mu Laoban grew up in the south, in the Youling region. He cultivated in thesinister earthfire and his fighting techniques were strange and inscrutable.Even experts on the same level of cultivation found it hard to obtain victoryagainst him in a one-on-one match. He was an honored guest of the Tianhai clan,just like Zhou Ziheng, and he also had the identity as a teacher of the TempleSeminary. As a result, he had the qualifications to challenge the OrthodoxAcademy! Upon Mu Laoban's arrival, the temperature around the Orthodox Academy's gateinstantly dropped quite a few degrees and a few hints of chill appeared fromout of nowhere in the height of summer. The crowd subconsciously edged outwards and the cries of maidens transformedinto concerned whispers. Those people who came forward to challenge the Orthodox Academy today were allpeople that had sent over letters of challenge the night before. TangThirty-Six cared little about this person's appearance and he had already madeample preparation. He knew that he was not Mu Laoban's opponent because he wasnot a freak like Chen Changsheng, able to surpass cultivation levels and defeata Star Condensation expert. Thus, he was not prepared to fight this person. He removed from his bosom athick pile of silver banknotes. "In one year, the Tianhai clan gives you three thousand taels of silver andone bag of crystals. At the moment, I don't have any crystals on hand, onlythirty thousand silver banknotes." Precisely as had been described in the report delivered by the HeavenlyFragrance Market, when Mu Laoban saw that thick stack of silver banknotes, hisface immediately changed. His eyes grew bright and blazing and even the coldand sinister aura around him seemed to be greatly cut back. Just as expected ofthe extremely greedy, Tang Thirty-Six thought with a smile on his face as hewatched the struggle taking place on Mu Laoban's face. He then thought of how he had only needed one roast chicken during the GrandExamination to settle Zhexiu, and then he thought, with my exquisite bonestructure and unique bloodline, I really am a genius at business. At this scene, the spectators were all stupefied as they thought, you can alsodo it this way? What made Tang Thirty-Six rather regretful, but made the spectators all thehappier, was that Mu Laoban was ultimately able to resist the allure of money. "I really do love money, but there are still many things in this world moreimportant than it." Mu Laoban sighed at Tang Thirty-Six with sorrow. "Youunderstand." Tang Thirty-Six understood. To a vile and lowly man like Mu Laoban, somethingmore important than money was naturally not anything like justice or promises.The only possibilities were that the Tianhai clan had some dirt on him, or elsehad more money. Mu Laoban took from his disciple a black short spear and walked to the edge ofthe sea of flowers. The short spear was forged from essence iron. For some reason, it wasespecially short. Presumably, the spear technique he used in battle wasextremely sinister, but the most sinister was the terrifying poison dying thetip of the spear. "Is this also okay?" Tang Thirty-Six yelled at the tea house across the lane. The Li Palace priests had the duty of ensuring the Orthodox Academy's safety,but the person who truly had the qualifications to judge what was fair andunfair in the All-School Martial Exhibition…was in that tea house. There were very few people in all of the capital who were aware of the factthat in the past few days, Archbishop of the Hall of Illustrious Persons MaoQiuyu and Archbishop of the Hall of Subjugation Daoist Siyuan would sometimessit in that tea house and drink tea. No voices emerged from the tea house, indicating that Daoist Siyuan and MaoQiuyu did not believe that the spear dipped in poison was against the rules. Mu Laoban gazed at Tang Thirty-Six and chuckled, those white teeth in hisfishy lips like the fossils of animals in the deepest depths of the ice. Hisvoice was similarly cold and threatening. "Please." "Please your ass," Tang Thirty-Six replied. Mu Laoban's expression flickered and the sinister chill in his eyes grewstronger. "Could it be…the Orthodox Academy wishes to concede?" "Idiot, the Orthodox Academy has more than just me." Without any hesitation, Tang Thirty-Six sheathed his sword, turned, and walkedto the gate, yelling, "Hurry and come out! This guy isn't willing to takemoney. I can't do anything else." The gate was pushed open and Chen Changsheng walked out. As he crossed pathswith Tang Thirty-Six, he couldn't help but grumble a little. "Back when you said you could solve this, is this what you were talking about?" "What did I do wrong? Drowning! When an army comes, you need a general toblock it, and if the flood comes, the earth drowns it out. But not even thirtythousand taels worth of silver banknotes could drown that greedy guy, and it'snot like I can beat him. So it has to be you." (TN: ‘When an army comes, you need a general to block it, and if the watercomes, the earth keeps it out’ is a Chinese idiom meaning that every problemhas its corresponding solution.) Chen Changsheng stopped and said rather helplessly, "Can we not do it?" Tang Thirty-Six very indifferently spread out his hands. "Don't forget what wediscussed." Chen Changsheng nodded. Over the past few days, it had seemed like only Tang Thirty-Six himself wasgoing up to fight. The truth of the matter was that every night, they wouldmeet in the library to discuss the next day's opponents. Even the heavilyinjured Zhexiu would occasionally offer a few incredibly incisive opinions.Together with the incessant flow of information from the Wenshui Tangs and theBureau of Ecclesiastic Education, they were able to produce those twelvesuccessive victories that shook the capital. But they would eventually encounter an opponent that both he and TangThirty-Six would find impossible to handle. What would they do then? They had established a single principle: no matter the outcome of the battle,they were not allowed to receive any irrecoverable injuries, such as damage tothe sea of consciousness or Ethereal Palace, or a severed arm. As for any otherinjuries, there was not much need for concern. The Li Palace had sent over thecardinals with an extremely profound understanding of the Sacred Lighttechnique to keep watch over the Orthodox Academy. Any minor injury was noproblem whatsoever. Seeing Chen Changsheng appear on the stone steps, the silent crowd suddenlyexploded into cheers even louder than before. Tang Thirty-Six, just about to enter the Orthodox Academy to rest, couldn'thelp but angrily mutter to himself upon hearing the cheers behind him. In the twelve successive victories of the Orthodox Academy over these past fewdays, Tang Thirty-Six had been able to bloom with an unprecedented splendor,such that the people of the capital had even somewhat forgotten ChenChangsheng's existence. Only when he splendidly took the stage once more didthey remember that it was he that was the Principal of the Orthodox Academy, itwas he that was the most crucial figure, nay, the linchpin, of the OrthodoxAcademy's revival. And as everyone knew, it was he that was the strongest ofthe Orthodox Academy, even once surpassing cultivation levels and defeating theStar Condensation expert Zhou Ziheng… Mu Laoban's complexion became more downcast. His eyes fixed upon the figure onthe stone steps, he said, "Should I feel honored, or should I feel sorry inyour place, Principal Chen?" Chen Changsheng did not answer him. Placing his sword before him, he said,"Please."