478 Sword Techniques Originate from the Mouth I

The Orthodox Academy began its one day of enrolling new students and it onlyaccepted applicants for one day. In the end, more than six hundred peopleapplied. With the Orthodoxy cavalry patrolling and guarding all sides, the Li Palacepriests maintaining order, the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education personallydrawing up the questions, and Priest Xin overseeing it all, both theapplication period and the exam on the next day went extremely smoothly. Besides the grades from the examination, those who wanted to become newstudents of the Orthodox Academy had to pass through two more steps. The firstwas an investigation of identity, with the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Educationprimarily responsible for this task. With the involvement of the Li Palace,investigating the details of these examinees was exceptionally simple. In theend, six examinees were eliminated in this phase. The second step was aninterview, with Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six personally carrying it out.As for Xuanyuan Po, he had no interest whatsoever. It could even be said thathe was so attached to the head chef of Clear Lake Restaurant that it wasnigh-impossible to pull him away. The contents of the interview were extremely simple. It was just a greetingand then a random chat. Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six's passing standardswere also very simple. They just looked at the way the examinees spoke. Ofcourse, what was most important was whether they liked the look of them or not.As he looked at the figures of those examinees who had been eliminated at theinterview phase walk away while hiding their faces, Chen Changsheng thought ofhow, last year, he had also been one of these examinees. Upon thinking of howhe had applied to school after school but had his efforts sabotaged by theDivine General of the East's estate, he couldn't help but sigh at how quicklythe situation had changed. He had actually turned from an examinee to theexaminer, and he felt it rather unbearable. A hundred examinees passed these three assessments, and these became the newstudents the Orthodox Academy accepted this year. Rather surprisingly, thelevel of these new students was actually relatively good. Even though theyoriginated from the more remote counties and provinces, they had all actuallysuccessfully undergone Purification. There were even forty-odd students thathad successfully entered the initial level of Meditation. Chen Changsheng evenfelt that there were a few students with decent talent in cultivation. What wasmost shocking was that amongst these one hundred new students, twenty-somestudents were actually transferring from other academies. It was shocking because the ‘other academies’ mentioned here naturally did notmean the regular schools of the capital, but rather the Heavenly Dao Academy,the Temple Seminary, and the other such schools of the Ivy Academies that werejust as famous as the Orthodox Academy. Gazing at those names on the list, Priest Xin was rather worried, wondering ifthis might cause some problems or stir up some trouble… "These students are, for the most part, already in the initial level ofMeditation. While they can be considered decent when compared to the studentsfrom the counties, they aren't much in a place like the Heavenly Dao Academyand definitely wouldn't be given any special attention. It's only because ofthat they would think about transferring to us. Since they weren't valued inthe first place, these schools which they came shouldn't care that much," TangThirty-Six concluded. "But still…stolen food still tastes good." Priest Xin choked his way throughthis rather graceless set of words, then continued, "Moreover, the situationrecently has been rather tense." "The so-called All-School Martial Exhibition is truthfully just the Tianhaiclan using its authority to suppress others. It doesn't really have much to dowith the schools themselves." Tang Thirty-Six added, "In addition, Chen Changsheng is the future Pope, andthe Six Ivies will all belong to him. If he were to ask for a few students inadvance, what's so extraordinary about that?" Hearing these words and then recalling how Tang Thirty-Six had stood in frontof the Orthodox Academy and cursed two Storms of the Eight Directions whilepointing at Bie Tianxin, Priest Xin realized that Tang Thirty-Six really didn'tcare. Shaking his head, he ceased discussing the topic. Enrolling new students was naturally not so simple as just taking a test. In the next few days, the Orthodox Academy became a hive of activity. TheBureau of Ecclesiastic Education sent over many artisans and laborers,transforming the once-lifeless school grounds into a humming construction site.Fortunately, the academy had already undergone a complete renovation in thespring of last year. The foundation had already been laid, so only a briefamount of time was needed to bring the project to a smooth conclusion. The Orthodox Academy had vast tracts of unused land, but not all of it wasneeded. Only a small portion was needed to accommodate these one hundred newstudents. The small building that Chen Changsheng and the rest had grown usedto living in, as well as the lake and forest which held a special significanceto them, were partitioned off by a newly-built wall. It maintained for them arelative sense of independence, and it would also presumably be less noisy inthe future. The library had an array and the books within were not easily moved. As aresult, it was left outside the walls, open for all students to use. The gardens partitioned off by the wall, close to the Hundred Herb Garden andthe Imperial Palace, now received a new name: the Separate (Bie) Garden. The first time Priest Xin heard this name, he had the burning desire to askwhether this name had anything to do with that Bie Tianxin who departed indisgrace the other day. Brand new bedding was sent over, brand new copies of the Orthodoxy's rules andteaching materials were transported within, and brand new school uniforms weredistributed to the students. Smoke began to rise from the chimneys of thecafeteria and the fountain began to shoot water into the air, greatly coolingthe sizzling heat of the summer nights. Everything had been made ready. The newstudents nervously and excitedly waited for the day when classes would formallybegin. Tomorrow, the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education would send over the lecturersand teachers it had selected in the past few days. Simultaneously, it wouldalso be sending over a big list of expenses. Tonight, Chen Changsheng took a stroll around the Orthodox Academy, looking tosee if there was any place that wasn't right. It was only then that he realizedthat the Orthodox Academy was actually so big. He had lived there for an entireyear, but he had only lived in an area tantamount to one-tenth of the school. Seeing the brightly lit library and looking through the windows at thosestudents eagerly studying the books of the Orthodox Academy, he felt very good. His teacher was the previous Principal of the Orthodox Academy. He was thecurrent Principal of the Orthodox Academy. Under his teacher's hands, the Orthodox Academy had fallen into ruin. Now itseemed that the Orthodox Academy was on the verge of being reborn under hishands. This sort of feeling really was very good, even though he still was completelymystified as to why Tang Thirty-Six wanted to do all of this. Returning to the small building, he treated Zhexiu's injuries, and then he andTang Thirty-Six gave a final lookover of the register of new students.Surprisingly, they saw a very familiar name on it and couldn't help but beshocked. "Did he come?" Chen Changsheng pointed at the name and asked to TangThirty-Six. "I didn't see the person. I heard he's still in the Mausoleum of Books.Apparently, he had one of his juniors of the Li Palace Academy come and applyin his place." Tang Thirty-Six offered, "If you think it's against the rules, I'll havesomeone send a message and tell him not to come." Chen Changsheng replied, "Other transfer students are fine, but if he reallydid come, the Li Palace Academy would definitely be unwilling to accept it." Tang Thirty-Six answered, "It's not like we went crying and yelling to pleadhim to come. Why are you worrying so much?" Chen Changsheng thought this was right, so he changed the subject. "What aboutthe matter of Bie Tianxin?" They were both keenly aware of the enormous humiliation Bie Tianxin hadsuffered that day. It was inevitable that after restraining himself for awhile, he would want to return the favor through a match. Tang Thirty-Six pointed at the pile of letters of challenge on the bookshelf,noting, "We already have one-hundred-and-thirty-four matches waiting for us; ifwe throw on another louse, will it make us itch any more?" "Where did the Tianhai clan get all these experts from?" Chen Changsheng wasrather confused, thinking to himself,with all these cultivation experts obeyingthe orders of the Tianhai clan, couldn't they destroy a country? "If it was one of those small kingdoms in the northwest, the Tianhai clancould destroy them with a wave of the hand. But if this number of experts wereplaced amongst the entire continent, it would be too exaggerated of a number.The Mount Li Sword Sect could definitely send out this many people," TangThirty-Six noted. "In addition, this should be about it. Probably, after wedeal with this batch, there will be a pause." Chen Changsheng asked, "Can we deal with them?" "Of course we can't, even if we disregard the fact that there are experts likeBie Tianxin within that pile. Or else why would we need to enroll so many newstudents?" Tang Thirty-Six said. Chen Changsheng thought it over, saying, "It's best not to fight. I'm worriedthat there will be injuries." Tang Thirty-Six argued, "Without experiencing battle, how can they quicklymature? Their foundation was already lacking, so it's only right that they workeven harder. Moreover, this matter still primarily rests on you." Saying this, the two brought down that pile of letters from the bookshelf andthen began to arrange them. Chen Changsheng seriously performed calculationswhile Tang Thirty-Six recorded with a brush on the side. They first picked outall the challengers at Ethereal Opening and below and then Chen Changshengpicked a corresponding student to fight in the match. As for how and why thestudent was chosen, Tang Thirty-Six did not understand. Precisely as he hadsaid, this matter rested on Chen Changsheng because only he knew theIntellectual Sword. What Chen Changsheng was doing at this very moment was taking thesehundred-plus matches of the All-School Martial Exhibition and converting theminto a single battle. His sword was all the students of the Orthodox Academy. How those new students would fight depended on the quality of ChenChangsheng's swordplay. Watching Chen Changsheng perform these calculations with such single-mindeddevotion, Tang Thirty-Six suddenly sighed, "Your fate really is good." This was not the first time someone had said Chen Changsheng's fate was good,nor was it the first time Tang Thirty-Six had said that his fate was good. Chen Changsheng knew that Tang Thirty-Six was sighing about all of his luckyencounters. He was able to discover the Sword Pool in the Garden of Zhou, ableto battle with those demon experts, able to meet with Su Li and carry him backsouth and thus learn those three swords. Shaking his head, he suddenly thoughtof something. Raising his head, he asked Tang Thirty-Six, "Do you want tolearn?" Naturally, he was speaking of those three swords. After all, when Su Li was teaching him those three swords on their journey,there was nothing about not being able to pass the swords down to others. He had even wondered if he could make these three swords part of the requiredcurriculum of the Orthodox Academy. As for whether Su Li would be angry or not, that would be something toconsider in the future… Tang Thirty-Six did not reveal a joyous expression, nor did he seem excited.Instead, he looked as if he was staring at an idiot. Chen Changsheng asked anxiously, "What's up? What did I say wrong?" Tang Thirty-Six sighed, "If I didn't know you so well, I would definitelythink you were deliberately humiliating me." Chen Changsheng felt very wronged. How did his good intentions become ahumiliation? "I can't learn these three swords," Tang Thirty-Six said, "so in the future, Iask that you please not bring up this matter anymore to humiliate myintelligence, do you get it?" Chen Changsheng's eyes widened as he asked, "Why can't you learn it?" Tang Thirty-Six furiously replied, "I just can't stand that innocent face ofyours! Why can't I learn it? You ask me, I ask who can? You think that if youcan learn, everyone in the world can learn it? Then why is it that Su Li, inhis entire life, only taught you three? Besides you and Qiushan Jun as well ashis own daughter, why didn't he go and teach it to his disciples andgranddisciples in the Mount Li Sword Sect?" At this moment, for some inexplicable reason, Zhexiu, while lying on the bed,suddenly opened his eyes. Tang Thirty-Six was currently in a terrible mood, so he yelled at Zhexiu, "Youknow how to wake up on hearing her name? Not playing dead anymore? Pervert!" Zhexiu fell into thought, then replied, "When I'm recovered, I'm going to beatyou up." Tang Thirty-Six had no fear of him. Sneering, he replied, "Then if you havethe capability, hurry up and do it! Don't say so many useless things! I'mdiscussing things with Chen Changsheng, you just go to sleep!"