555 Vanished Names

The new Proclamation of Azure Sky had nothing new about it. The most famousperson on it was actually Xuanyuan Po. In the Elder of Heavenly Secrets'concise and comprehensive commentary, this bear youth's techniques wereextremely compatible with his body and were given an incredibly highassessment. As for the other new names, the vast majority were young men andwomen of not even fifteen and not many people recognized their names. On that night last year, Chen Changsheng had drawn down an entire sky ofstarlight in the Mausoleum of Books, allowing many people to easily pass thatmost difficult barrier that was the threshold of Ethereal Opening. That bitterand miserable scene that would occur three or four times out of ten in the pastyears did not occur. Those familiar names once on the Proclamation of Azure Skyhad all been removed and gone to the Proclamation of Golden Distinction. Tang Thirty-Six had left the Proclamation of Azure Sky, but he was unable toenter the Proclamation of Golden Distinction. With his current position at theupper level of Ethereal Opening, this was an almost unimaginable occurrence.Upon hearing this news, he remained silent in the Orthodox Academy for a verylong time. Only when he heard that Zhexiu and Su Moyu had also failed to makethe list did he grow happy again. With Chen Changsheng's assistance, although Zhexiu's Tide Rush of Blood hadnot been cured, he had once more made a breakthrough in cultivation. Coupledwith his innately powerful and fearsome fighting power, the only reason he wasnot able to enter the Proclamation of Golden Distinction was that he had beentoo heavily injured in Zhou Prison and had not displayed his strength for avery long time. Tang Thirty-Six and Su Moyu were unable to enter the proclamation only becausethe competition for this year's Proclamation of Golden Distinction was toofierce. The demi-humans, who were scarcely visible on the Proclamation of Azure Sky,gave a full display of the particular characteristic of their race to explodein strength in the middle phase of their cultivation. They took up a fullquarter of the rankings, and those three young demi-human experts ranked at thefront were even rated by the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets as having a futurechance of threatening the fifth-ranked demi-human expert on the Proclamation ofLiberation, Xiao De. The most shocking of all was Zhong Hui. This youth who had obtained third rankon the first banner in last year's Grand Examination had been cast into thegloom by the radiance of Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi, so much so that manypeople found it hard to remember his name. Who could have imagined that in thisshort span of a year, he had actually been able to break into the peak ofEthereal Opening! As a result, he seized fourth place on the Proclamation ofGolden Distinction. It was a pity that no matter how outstanding this Scholartree Manor student'sperformance was, it was still unable to completely suppress the dazzlingradiance of a few certain individuals. Gou Hanshi had viewed the monoliths in the Mausoleum of Books for half a year.After returning to Mount Li, he engaged in a duel by a cold stream with aninitial level Star Condensation expert belonging to Xiao Songgong's faction andeasily won. This battle alone sufficed to have the Elder of Heavenly Secrets personallyplace him on the third rank of the Proclamation of Golden Distinction. There was no second, because the first rank was shared by two people. Upon seeing those two names, whether it was the denizens of the capital or thefemale disciples of South Stream Temple's outer sect, all were filled withemotion and shook their heads in silence. Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong. Whether or not that marriage contract had really been rendered invalid, itseemed that these two names would appear together until the end of time. Many people thought that this was not predestination, but the entanglements offate, not anything good to talk about. Then what of the name that had always been tied to Xu Yourong's in the past? Qiushan Jun had already successfully broken into Star Condensation, so henaturally could not remain on the Proclamation of Golden Distinction. He cededthe first rank to Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong. But what stunned the entire continent was that his name was not to be found onthe Proclamation of Liberation. Qiushan Jun was too young, so it was only natural that he could not be put onthe same level as those experts on the Proclamation of Liberation's upperranks. Nobody believed that he could challenge powerful figures like Wang Poand Xiao Zhang, but given his current level of strength, he should still havebeen able to enter the tail end of the Proclamation of Liberation. If he were truly able to enter the Proclamation of Liberation, even at itsbottom-most rank, he would still be the youngest expert on the Proclamation ofLiberation in the past one hundred years. The entire continent had anticipated the arrival of this day, but all theirhopes had come to naught. The explanation the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets had for this was that becauseof the opening of the Garden of Zhou and the following demon conspiracy, andthen adding on the self-stabbing during the internal strife of Mount Li,Qiushan Jun had been severely wounded and had not displayed his abilities foran entire year. As a consequence, it was impossible to appraise his currentlevel of strength, so it could only be saved for later. This explanation was very clear, but it was utterly lacking in persuasiveness.What sort of place was the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets? Even if Qiushan Junhad not confronted an enemy, could it be impossible to assess his level? Thiswasn't even discussing the fact that last year, Xuanyuan Po had entered theProclamation of Azure Sky similarly without a single fight, so how was he ableto be ranked? The Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets gave no further explanation and very fewpeople knew the real reason. …… …… The world was very lively, but Mount Li was very quiet. Before Su Li left, he had left a message: the disciples of the Mount Li SwordSect should not be afraid of getting into trouble, but they shouldn't cause anytrouble either. "With the confluence of the north and south, the situation is unstable andthose Zhou people and noble families of the south are too crafty and secretive.Since we're not their match, just live quietly in the mountain." These were his original words. After Su Li left, there was a feeling of sinking down to the bottom and thenrising up once more. The second generation experts of the Sword Hall, Mount Li's most powerfulexperts, were all quietly resting due to their injuries. At present, Gou Hanshiand the other third generation disciples were administering affairs. Manypeople believed that these young swordsmen would find it very challenging tostabilize Mount Li. However, after that bloody battle in the mountain creek inwhich Guan Feibai severed sixteen hands, the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws provedto the entire south why they were called the Seven Laws. This was because theystrictly maintained discipline, their Dao hearts brightly lit. In the future,they would assuredly enter the Divine Kingdom amongst the sea of stars. After removing the final effects of the internal strife, Mount Li finallyreturned to peace. Gou Hanshi and the rest attentively studied, cultivated, planted crops, and inthese calm days, comprehended the true meaning of the path of the sword. On a certain night, Gou Hanshi awoke from his meditation and gazed off at thedistant mountains. He only saw the silver starlight, but the once-familiarscene was suddenly accompanied by many different meanings and sounds. He thought of his childhood, those difficult days in which the feeble motherand only son accompanied each other, and a sparkling and translucent auraappeared in his eyes. His body seemed to leak starlight and was also sparkling and translucent. "Congratulations to Second Elder Brother!" Guan Feibai, Liang Banhu, Bai Cai, and several dozen more of the Mount LiSword Sect's third generation disciples happily called out as they gazed at thebeautiful sight on the cliff edge. Gou Hanshi turned around to look at his junior brothers, saying, "The sea ofswords is boundless, but all of us must dauntlessly move forward." Guan Feibai replied, "Back at the Grand Examination, if Chen Changsheng hadnot gone crazy and put his life on the line and Senior Brother had not takenpity on him for his difficulties in cultivating, how could he have snatchedfirst rank of the first banner? Today, Senior Brother has succeeded in enteringStar Condensation, but I don't know if he'll have the face to mention this whenwe meet again at the Boiling Stone Summit." Gou Hanshi calmly replied, "Chen Changsheng has not even learned of thismatter yet. In addition, a defeat is a defeat, and is it glorious to not dareto put one's life on the line? Let alone the fact that I'm older than him, astep ahead on my path of cultivation. On what aspect should I be proud? JuniorBrother, these words of yours are extremely improper." "Although he hasn't actually talked about it, everyone is saying…the futurePope, tsk tsk, truly grand." Cold arrogance on his face, Guan Feibai proclaimed, "Senior Brother isoverflowing with kindness and does not want to make him lose face, but I don'tcare. When the time comes, I will definitely fight a bout with him." Gou Hanshi shook his head, advising, "If you really have a mind to compete forsuperiority, there's no harm in waiting for the war with the demons to begin.You can compare with him to see who can kill the most demons." Upon hearing the word 'demons', Liang Banhu slightly lowered his head whileBai Cai worriedly glanced behind him at the dwelling illuminated under thestarlight. Liang Xiaoxiao had colluded with the demons. He was Liang Banhu's brother byblood. As for the person in the dwelling…her mother was a demon. Logically, Gou Hanshi should have paid more attention to such details, but hehad deliberately chosen to not refrain from using this word. In his view, sincethey were all disciples of Mount Li, fated to live and die together, tointeract with each other day and night, to speak out these things, tothoroughly discuss them, and to talk about them until no one cared, was trulyin accord with the path of the sword of Mount Li. Seeing that the mood was rather downcast, someone attempted to joke, "If we'rereally judging merit based on number of kills, then whether it's Fourth EldestBrother or Chen Changsheng, I'm afraid none of them can catch up to that wolfcub. After all, this sort of matter isn't based solely on whose swordplay isbetter." He had originally wanted to make a joke, but the result was an even gloomiermood. At present, there were several names that could not be mentioned in Mount Li. The door to the dwelling slowly opened and Qi Jian walked out. Currently, she was garbed in female clothes. There was still a juvenile airabout her and her body was very thin, causing others to feel pity for her. Guan Feibai said, "Junior…Sister, it's late and cold, and your illness is notcured. Why did you come out?" Qi Jian softly replied, "I heard all of you mention him." Guan Feibai consoled, "Even though he managed to win successive victories overus in the matches of the Grand Examination, I don't bear him any ill will. Onthe contrary, he's one of the people that has obtained my hard-won admiration.But Martial Granduncle is doing this for your sake. In the end, he's still ademi-human–human hybrid…" "And so what?" Qi Jian's pale and petite face was filled with stubbornness."My mother was a Demon Princess, but he could marry her, so why can't I marry ademi-human?" Guan Feibai was at a loss for words, mumbling, "But Martial Granduncle said,he doesn't have long to live." Qi Jian's petite face paled even more, asking, "Could it be that everything hesays is right?" From the moment Su Li had forbidden her from leaving, Qi Jian had not oncecalled him 'father'. Gou Hanshi sighed and prepared to say a few words of consolation. "There's no need to talk." Qi Jian said grievously, "If Eldest Brother were here, he would definitelyhelp me think of a way, not be like you lot, only thinking of staying penned upin this mountain." …… …… Mount Li's Martial Granduncle had left, Mount Li's Eldest Brother had alsoleft, and no one knew where he had gone. His name could not be found on the Proclamation of Liberation and he wasseemingly impossible to find in the world. In the distant snowy plains of the north, there was a rather obscure militaryfort called 'Seven Li Xi'. It was said that many years ago, this place was the territory of the Xi race.Later on, the Xi race was utterly wiped out by the demons as they encroachedsouthwards. When the human army triumphed in their northern expedition, theyended up occupying this area. This place was the closest to the Demon Army and farthest from the human world. Today, the general and his lieutenants were engaged in a night-long meeting.Amidst the curling smoke, their faces plastered with worried frowns could beseen. It wasn't because the demons' wolf cavalry had once again come harassing andkilling, nor was it because there was a problem in the supply chain. On thecontrary, in the past few days, Seven Li Xi had been very peaceful and secure.Even the taverns in the city were mixing much less water in their wine andthose cultivating experts who usually had nothing but cold expressions were allsmiles. When encountering the demons' wolf cavalry, Seven Li Xi's roaming cavalry hadobtained victory after inconceivable victory.