485 The Ascetic Priest, The Youthful Master Teacher

In the following few days, the matches in front of the Orthodox Academycontinued, and those new students were still the ones that represented theOrthodox Academy. Those students had all succeeded in Purification, so it was naturallyincorrect to say that they didn't have the strength to truss a chicken, but howcould they be on par with the experts of the Tianhai clan and the Ivy Academies! The new students clearly understood what level they were at. In accordancewith Chen Changsheng's directions, they stepped into battle and displayedeverything they had time to display, experienced everything they wanted toexperience, then conceded. It was a little like taking a half-hearted dip, andone could also call it quitting while ahead. In short, two or three attacks and then a straightforward concession becamethe most commonly-seen sight in front of the Orthodox Academy. Until finally, the average experts of the Tianhai clan and the Ivy Academieshad all won a round. Only the true experts were left. The challenger that stepped onto the stage this time was a Star Condensationexpert of the Temple Seminary. Originally, he had been in the northwest,cultivating his fleshly body, but then he was summoned back by those two SacredHall Archbishops. This ascetic wore a bamboo hat and, even in the blazing heat of midsummer,still wore thick cotton clothes. His face was cloaked in the shadow of thebamboo hat, and only his eyes emitting a somber air could be seen. He said emotionlessly to Tang Thirty-Six, "Today, Principal Chen should bepersonally coming to instruct, yes?" From the method of address, one would actually be able to tell the trueaffiliation of these challengers. Those who were nominally under the IvyAcademies but were actually experts of the Tianhai clan would basically alwaysaddress Chen Changsheng directly by his name. The true experts of the IvyAcademies, even if they had just as poor an impression of Chen Changsheng,would abide by the divine hierarchy of the Orthodox Academy and address him asPrincipal. "My deepest apologies. These past few days have been too taxing on PrincipalChen's mind. He's presently within the academy studying and resting." Tang Thirty-Six gazed back at this ascetic whose famous name he had even onceheard in Wenshui and smiled, "Priest Bei must have another opponent today." The ascetic's gaze seemed to pierce through the shadow of the bamboo hat andrest on Tang Thirty-Six's face. He solemnly replied, "I hear that Young MasterTang successively broke through three thresholds in the Mausoleum of Books. Ifyou were to instruct this one, then this trip will not have been made in vain." The journey from the distant northwest to the capital was truly a long one. One could also see from this that Daoist Siyuan and Linghai Zhiwang, these twoPrefects of the Orthodoxy, had truly been preparing to suppress the OrthodoxAcademy for quite some time. Tang Thirty-Six felt that this person's gaze was rather searing. Narrowing hiseyes, he thought to himself, against a powerful opponent like you, I definitelydon't have the confidence to win. Even if I could win, I'll probably sufferterrible injuries. "Sir's opponent is not me, but him." He solemnly introduced to the ascetic, "He is the student of the OrthodoxAcademy in this group with the greatest talent in cultivation." With a gesture, a young student walked down the stone steps. That student truly was very young, too young. It was more appropriate to callhim a youngster, his appearance not exceeding that of a thirteen- orfourteen-year-old. His expression was nervous and his normally quick-wittedeyes were currently rather sluggish. Seeing this youngster, the ascetic was stunned. "If I do not see wrongly, thischild should barely have succeeded in Purification?" Tang Thirty-Six praised, "Worthy of the ascetic who comprehends the Dao,Priest Bei! As expected, Sir's penetrating insight is like a torch. Sir did notsee wrongly, this child succeeded in Purification three months ago. He came tothe capital this time preparing to participate in the Grand Examination'spreparatory exam and test his luck." The area in front of the Orthodox Academy's gate was no longer as bustling asit was a few days ago, but there were still quite a few people. Previously whenthe renowned Priest Bei personally appeared, the excessively shocked crowdbegan to buzz with discussion. When they abruptly realized that the opponentthe Orthodox Academy had arranged for Priest Bei was this sort of youngster,the place instantly grew extremely quiet. They thought to themselves, is theOrthodox Academy playing some sort of deceitful trick? "Your meaning is…my opponent is this child?" Priest Bei's voice rightfully grew angry. With a low voice, he yelled, "Thisis insulting to me!" Tang Thirty-Six's expression did not change. Smiling, he replied, "Thepriest's words are mistaken! The meaning of the All-School Martial Exhibition,besides competing for the future, is also about seniors instructing juniors.This child truly does possess the most talent in cultivation amongst the newstudents of my Orthodox Academy. Although he's never swapped pointers beforeand is very nervous, he still chose to bravely step forward and request thathis senior instruct him. How can this be considered an insult?" A bold and powerful Qi spilled out from under the brim of the hat. Restraininghis anger, Priest Bei said, "I ask that you respect me." Tang Thirty-Six's smile slowly faded as he calmly said, "Priest's twostatements sound rather familiar. They're quite similar to those of theofficials of the Department for Purging Officials who flaunt themselves ashonest and public-minded." Priest Bei stared into his eyes and harshly yelled back, "You would dare tocompare me to those savage officials!" "I once respected Sir." Tang Thirty-Six paused, then continued to stare athim. "But Sir's return to the capital this time means that I truly can'trespect Sir anymore." Priest Bei's gaze moved between him and that youngster of the OrthodoxAcademy. "You know full well that I can't attack him." Tang Thirty-Six replied, "Because Sir is a gentleman." Priest Bei asked, "So you chose this child in particular to deal with me?" Tang Thirty-Six did not deny it, saying, "I will not conceal it from Sir. Thevast majority of the names on this list of opponents were set by ChenChangsheng. Only Sir's match was decided by me." Priest Bei fell silent, and then sighed. "Is the world nowadays really ruledby lowly people?" Saying this, he turned and prepared to leave. Tang Thirty-Six had originally planned to say nothing more, but upon seeingthe rather melancholy back of this ascetic renowned in the northwest, hecouldn't help but open his mouth. "A gentleman can deceive in the pursuit ofuprightness. Of course, I'm not saying this is right. Although I'm not agentleman, I'm not a lowly person either. But as a once-gentleman like Sir isbeing used by a lowly person for an ungentlemanly matter, I can naturally onlyuse the ways of a lowly person to respond." Priest Bei seemed to have been struck by a thunderbolt upon hearing thesewords. His body stiffened, and only after a while was he able to raise his feetonce more and walk into the crowd. As that figure and the bamboo hat atop it proceeded further away, TangThirty-Six calmly watched on in silence. "Put down that this match was our Orthodox Academy's victory." Not waiting for the surrounding spectators to boo, he calmly declared, “Next.” Not all matches had a story, and not all stories left behind a profoundconclusion. The matches before the gates of the Orthodox Academy continued.With no blood and no shadow of death, there was naturally much less excitementas well. For those ordinary common folk, without these qualities, without anyheaven-breaking or mountain-toppling scenes, what difference would there bebetween the fight of those experts of the continent in the Divine Domain andthe fight of those urchins down the street? They merely used a little morestrength. Only the more enlightened people were able to understand the message revealedby these matches. Those new students that represented the Orthodox Academy in matches, besidesSu Moyu with his special circumstances and that youngster, were not able toobtain a single victory, or even the possibility of victory. However, in theextremely brief span of those battles, those students would often displaytechniques and transformations that were simply unimaginable. Although everyoneknew that these students had received Chen Changsheng's direction, that thesestudents were able to realize these instructions revealed a certain possibility. These children from the counties and the countryside, these weak studentsdisregarded by the Ivy Academies, had suddenly become different. Besides those common folk that had come to see the fun, the spectators of thematches taking place in front of the Orthodox Academy also included lecturersand students of the Ivy Academies who had changed out of their uniforms. Whenthey saw the students on the steps of the Orthodox Academy, they scarcely daredto believe their eyes. Was that the incomparably stubborn and mischievous WeiZhuang that I once taught? Is that really that Chu Wenbin who only knew how tosleep every day!? When compared to their past selves, the new students of the Orthodox Academyseemed to have a sort of luster about them. Crucially, their mindset wasdifferent. They were confident and calm, as if nothing could confound them.They weren't even afraid of the seemingly endless string of losses. They stillfirmly believed that they would be able to obtain the final success. When allthis was put together, they gave form to what was called an easygoingtemperament. Because they were easygoing, they could remain calm and collected, could talkand laugh naturally in front of the crowd. It was absolutely impossible forthem to become nervous or inferior because of the jeering and disregard of thecrowd. If it were said that last year when Chen Changsheng became a new student ofthe Orthodox Academy—followed by Luoluo, Xuanyuan Po, Tang Thirty-Six andZhexiu—was an indication of new life, then this year's Orthodox Academy couldbe said to have been reborn, just like these young students—or perhaps it wasprecisely because they had arrived. The changes in these new students naturally originated from the OrthodoxAcademy. The two most pivotal figures were Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six. Tang Thirty-Six need not be discussed for the moment, but anyone could seeChen Changsheng's importance. If it were not for him relentlessly givingdirection and consuming vast amounts of mental strength every night to researchthe techniques and weaknesses of those experts, how could those new studentspossibly have had the nerve to directly confront those experts who were manylevels of cultivation above them? How could they possibly possess suchself-confidence? After the Orthodox Academy recruited new students, Chen Changsheng no longeremerged to take part in a match and didn't even come out to take a look at whatwas going on outside the school's gates. However, all the capital knew thatfrom within the Orthodox Academy, he was always looking outward. Through theseseveral dozen matches, he revealed as much as he liked of his unimaginableinnate skill and talent in the path of the sword. That innate skill in the path of the sword was so powerful, that talent sodazzling, that the entire capital was once more shocked. From a similar time in last year's summer to now, he had already given thecapital and the entire human world far too many shocks. The Ivy Festival, theGrand Examination, the Mausoleum of Books, the Garden of Zhou, XunyangCity…many people had thought that they had almost grown numb to the shocksdelivered by Chen Changsheng. No matter what else he did, it would not beenough to catch them by surprise. Yet this time, they were still shocked. At his age, for Chen Changsheng to possess such an unfathomable cultivation inthe path of the sword was nigh-impossible to imagine. What was even moreimpossible to imagine was that he could instruct others in the sword. It mustbe known that this wasn't a task as simple as teaching a child to write. Tolecture, to teach, to dispel doubts: this was a teacher. Currently, Chen Changsheng already vaguely possessed the demeanor of a masterteacher—because he was too young, whenever this thought came up in the minds ofothers, they would always shake their heads in denial. But no one dared to denythat if he were given more time,  perhaps ten-odd years, and he was to trulymature, perhaps he really would be able to live up to his title as Principal ofthe Orthodox Academy. While all eyes were fixed on the Orthodox Academy and praising ChenChangsheng's cultivation in the path of the sword in shock, only one personstill dismissed him. "It's just messing around."