502 The Past, Soaked and Rotted by the Passage of Time

He realized that compared to yesterday, today's wind seemed to carry differentscents. It was moister and also carried the smells of mud and fish, and thatwasn't a bad thing. How can the canals be so clear? Because water comes flowingfrom the source. The canals around the Divine Path of the Mausoleum of Bookswere so spotlessly clear due to this principle. With the reopening of theGarden of Zhou, it should have begun to develop in a positive direction. (TN: "How can the canals be so clear? Because water comes flowing from thesource" is a line from a poem/song called 观书有感二首, which roughly translates to"Two Songs on Feelings from Reading Books", authored Zhu Xi, a famous scholarof the Song Dynasty.) The group of monsters had gotten somewhat closer to the mausoleum. They stillseemed like a dense mass, but from a distance, he could still perceive thatthere had been some sort of change. Reaching the plain and gazing at the tens of thousands of monsters kneelingbefore him, Chen Changsheng was rather astonished. Yesterday, he had onlybrought a few medicines with him, so he had not imagined that theMountain-toppling Fiend and the Monster Bull's injuries would recover so much.As for the other monsters, they also seemed much more vigorous. Today, the Earth Monkey did not hide itself in the horn of theMountain-toppling Fiend. Instead, it was hiding in the middle of the crowd ofmonsters, watching him from the distance. Its eyes seemed to roll around intheir sockets. He didn't know what it was thinking, but it seemed to hold nomurderous intent. Chen Changsheng took some medicinal herbs and placed them on the ground beforehim. Seeing this sight, the Monster Bull slowly nodded its head in gratitude, thenraised its tail straight up like a flagpole. The Mountain-toppling Fiend stood up and let out a harsh howl towards the vastplains. The group of monsters began to surge like the tide and then organizeitself into groups, seeming very orderly and obedient. Even those monsters thatwere old enemies with each other and would usually fight each other to thedeath when meeting dared not move, even when they were squeezed right next toeach other. Chen Changsheng found this all rather unexpected. He blankly stared for awhile before continuing his actions. It didn't take much time for a smallmountain of medicinal herbs to be piled in front of him. Staring at the small mountain of herbs, even though the Monster Bull andMountain-toppling Fiend had once accompanied Zhou Dufu and seen much of theworld, their eyes couldn't help but become a little lifeless. The Earth Monkeyfound it even more unbearable. It roughly pushed itself away from the dragonserpent and its forelegs incessantly pushed against the ground. Like a bolt oflightning, it plunged to the very front of the group of monsters, then fell atChen Changsheng's feet with a plop. It fell with exquisite care. Its forelegs were raised up high while itscrippled lower half gently slapped against the ground. It raised up a smallcloud of dust and seemed particularly respectful and lovable. Last time, it had also kissed the ground at Chen Changsheng's feat, but thathad been an act, a far cry from its current heartfelt sincerity. This was because it had confirmed that Chen Changsheng really was willing tohelp these monsters. Even more importantly, he actually possessed the abilityto help these monsters. "All of you…split it up amongst yourselves, still according to yesterday'srules." Chen Changsheng didn't know how to communicate with these monsters. Afterthinking it over, he said these words then headed towards the outskirts of theplain. Behind him, the group of monsters that was like a tide bowed their heads tosend him off. He had already made a careful search of the Garden of Zhou yesterday. He didnot repeat this today, instead going straight to the lake and mountains on theother side of the cold pool. In the depths of the lake, he found the Night Pearl Luoluo had gifted him aswell as the three thousand scriptures of the Daoist Canon that he had broughtfrom Xining Village to the capital. Finally, he took out from the mud the boxof silver ingots and treasure. As for the food he had brought for the BlackDragon to snack on, it had long since been completely eaten by the fish orother beings of the lake. He brought these things to the shore and then took a glance at the sky. Hebegan to place those books soaked by the lake water on the rocks to dry. Heknew that this was a very bothersome task, requiring a great deal of time andpatience, so he was in no rush. It was very difficult to open these soakedbooks, putting aside the sheer number of books. He continuously made his wayalong the shore, his movements seeming just like he was performing some grandceremony. A stretch of the rocky shore about a li long was covered in books. Under thesun, the water in the books began to gradually evaporate. Chen Changsheng took this moment of rest to take out the treasure and silverfrom the box and wipe them clean with a handkerchief. Suddenly, he saw a small object. It was a bamboo dragonfly. It was already very old, and now because it hadspent so long in the water, it had lost color. There were even a few placesthat were on the verge of rotting away. Many years ago, when he still lived in Xining Village, he exchanged letterswith a certain person. This bamboo dragonfly served as evidence of that, and itwas also a part of his childhood memories. Chen Changsheng gazed in silence at the bamboo dragonfly. Those books had notrotted away, but it was unable to endure. As expected, compared to materials,the span of time was even more important. Nothing was able to endure the test of time. That engagement had been ended. He and she from here on would have no moreconnection. Upon realizing this, his mind became more relaxed, as if he had been relievedof a great burden. But for some reason, he also felt like he had lost something, like there wasan empty space in his heart. …… …… The summer gradually retreated and autumn began to pervade the air. Winter wasalso no longer that far off. The area in front of the gate of the Orthodox Academy became much more quiet.Very few matches took place there now, and the common people of the capitalgradually lost interest. The awning across the street was finally taken down atthe Star Autumn Festival. As for why it was taken down, it might have beenbecause the weather had gotten colder and the sun less scorching, or perhapssome other reason. On the other hand, the Orthodox Academy became much more active. Every day inthe morning, one could hear the clear sounds of books being read. Only atmealtime could one hear the sounds of students beating on their lunchboxes. Ofcourse, there was even more laughter and cheers. As for the Hundred Herb Garden separated from the Orthodox Academy by a wall,it went through the most intense changes. It was just that people rarelyentered it, so these changes were not discovered. The countless fruit trees andherbal gardens within were all picked clean until one day, a eunuch from thepalace was ordered to find an herb. This was an extremely precious herb. It was said that it possessed miraculouseffects with regards to regenerating flesh. If mixed with the proper herbs andrefined into a pill, it could even regrow bones. The reason the palace was in arush to find this herb was that a pimple had grown on the Princess of Ping'sface. She was so angry that she couldn't even eat, especially when she heardthat Xu Yourong was on the verge of returning to the capital. The eunuch failed to find the herb. He looked at the Hundred Herb Garden thatwas clearly much more desolate and withered away than before, his face pale tothe extreme. He thought to himself, this year's autumn is really rather fierce,isn't it? The medicinal herbs and spirit fruits of the Hundred Herb Garden had naturallybeen swept through by the autumn wind known as Chen Changsheng. In these past few days, he lived out his life as calmly and studiously as hehad lived the past sixteen years: reading, cultivating, practicing the sword,and then experiencing his sixteenth birthday. A little different from the past few years was that on the third day after hisbirthday, he did not remember the person that was celebrating their birthday onthat day. He also very studiously researched the string of stone pearls, wanting tocomprehend something from these Heavenly Tome Monoliths. However, for themoment, he had not discovered anything. His cultivation was gradually growing more stable, growing ever closer to thepeak of Ethereal Opening, but the problems with his body never improved. Thatshadow before him continued to quietly watch him. With his research and guidance, a formal breakthrough was made with theproblem of Luoluo's meridians. Cultivating in human techniques would no longerpose too much of a problem for her. Importantly, with the resolution of thisproblem, as long as her blood was stimulated once more, then she would have ahigh chance of breaking through the demi-human imperial household's greatestobstruction. As a female, she would be able to learn the tyrannical techniquesof the White Emperor. For the demi-humans, it didn't even need to be asked to know how important itwas. It was said that upon the news being relayed to the demi-humans, thetribes along the eight hundred li of the Red River rejoiced for three days andnights. Moreover, White Emperor City sent out a diplomatic mission to deliverto Chen Changsheng a huge set of gifts impossible for any normal person toobtain. As he was able to resolve Luoluo's problem, he was naturally able to resolveXuanyuan Po's problem. After his right arm was completely recovered, the bearyouth began to cultivate the Heavenly Thunder Bringer and his strength advancedby leaps and bounds. His two iron fists were able to attract thunder andlightning, tyrannical beyond compare. Jin Yulu had come over to the OrthodoxAcademy just to take a look and was full of admiration. He decided on the spotthat upon returning to White Emperor City, he would bestow a generous reward onthe bear tribe. Xuanyuan Po was so moved that tears poured from his eyes. He would no longerhave to feel ashamed that he could eat blue lobster in the capital every daywhile his elders and fellow villagers back home could only live arduous livesof hunting in the mountains. Chen Changsheng was also very happy for him, but he failed to recognize theother piece of information in Jin Yulu's words. Zhexiu's injuries were also gradually recovering. Different from otherpatients who would lie in bed and rely on time to heal their wounds, althoughhe seemed to lie unmoving on the bed, he was at every moment using his trueessence to charge at his blocked and wounded meridians. This was a pain thatonly he could stand, and the only thing Chen Changsheng could do to assist wasapply metal needles to somewhat alleviate the pain. Just as Zhexiu had said before, pain was the force best able to stimulatevitality. One autumn's day, without assistance from anyone else, he was able toget out of bed. Using half the night, he was able to go downstairs and reachthe lake shore, then let loose a cold and harsh howl towards the star-filledsky. Everyone in the Orthodox Academy was roused from their sleep. Chen Changshengand Tang Thirty-Six rushed to the lake. Seeing Zhexiu's lanky body, they werefilled with some indescribable emotion and couldn't speak. Zhexiu hadcompletely recovered, and he had even used the opportunity to open up theseventeen Qi channels that were unique to the bodies of the human–demi-humanhybrids. As long as he was given sufficient time to stabilize, his strengthwould inevitably rise to a frightening level. The entire capital heard this howl. The principal alley of the Northern Military Department was silent as a grave.Zhou Tong, who seemed to have just begun recovering from a serious illness,glanced in the direction of the Orthodox Academy, his expression indifferent,as if he couldn't care less. Zhou Tong had recently been very busy. He was busy with matters of theImperial Court, communicating with people in the south and preparing to welcomea massive change with the new year. Yes, many people had already sensed that anundercurrent was surging forward such that the entire temple had become veryquiet. However, this wasn't a bad thing. On the contrary, it brought a sort ofhope. The confluence of north and south really did seem on the verge of being put onthe agenda. No one understood why this was the case. Su Li was still at Mount Li. Mount Li was still in the south. Why had so many people determined that regardless of whether Su Li was atMount Li or not, he would not put a stop to this project? The war with the demons was the greatest concern of the humans anddemi-humans. No other matter was worthy of being discussed at the same level.The confluence of north and south was, without question, a most importantcomponent of this concern. Whether it was the capital, the south, or White Emperor City, they all had tomake their corresponding preparations for this matter.