Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

A year had already passed. The Orthodox Academy had not taken in any new students, but it had still been given new life. It was no longer that graveyard of the past. The inside of the academy was still cold and cheerless, but the outside had long since been placed under heavy guard. The priests of the Li Palace stood guard in Hundred Flowers Lane, not even leaving during the late night. It was simply impossible for any of the common folk to approach. However, when the priests saw that youth in the wheelchair, their eyes filled with vigilance and loathing, yet it was impossible for them to take action. The Tianhai clan possessed special status in the Great Zhou Dynasty. In addition, they did not act because Tianhai Ya’er was already a cripple.

Using the Divine Empress’s words, it was best for the actions of the people of the Orthodoxy to be deliberately mystifying. Those people of the Orthodoxy were concerned with justification and being honorable. It was very difficult for them to make the first move against this crippled youth. Apart from all this, there was still one other reason. It was that beside Tianhai Ya’er, there was one more person. That person seemed about thirty years old and had a tall and slender body. His face was gloomy and cold and his body exuded an extremely powerful Qi.

In the drizzle, Tianhai Ya’er’s sharp and resentful curses rang out without end, but that person kept his silence, not speaking a single word. He only calmly watched the tightly shut school gate, thinking about something or the other.

The new gate of the Orthodox Academy was pushed open from within. Chen Changsheng stood at the top of the stone steps. The first thing he noticed upon seeing Tianhai Ya’er was that he wasn’t holding an umbrella, nor was the person standing by the wheelchair holding an umbrella for him. He looked at that person and guessed that he probably wasn’t Tianhai Ya’er’s bodyguard, but he didn’t know about the person’s background.

Chen Changsheng turned his gaze back to Tianhai Ya’er in his wheelchair and said, "You probably clearly understand just why the elders of your clan asked you to yell curses in front of the Orthodox Academy!"

Tianhai Ya’er’s face had been drenched in the rain, making it seem even paler, but his expression was still fierce and arrogant. In addition, because Chen Changsheng had appeared, he became excited.

"Of course I know!" The youth’s voice was getting increasingly sharp, even somewhat shrill, like he was crying and laughing at the same time. "I’m already a piece of trash. It’s only natural that this piece of trash is used well! Are you looking for sympathy? Besides, the matter between us is only something between two children, just making trouble! Is His Holiness really going to say in good faith that my Tianhai clan is suppressing the Principal of the Orthodox Academy?"

After a moment of silence, Chen Changsheng replied, "But I don’t understand, what meaning is there in you stirring up this trouble? I can just ignore you."

Today was not like in the past. The gate to the Orthodox Academy was presently being guarded by a bishop and several dozen priests of the Li Palace, preventing those two from the Tianhai clan from entering. Putting aside the wheelchair-bound Tianhai Ya’er, even if Tianhai Shengxue brought the cavalry from Snowhold Pass to come and fight, they would also find themselves incapable of simply bursting through the gate of the Orthodox Academy as they had done in the past.

Tianhai Ya’er began to laugh, revealing his fine white teeth, looking like some injured cub. His sharp voice once more rang out, "Didn’t you just hear me curse your family to the eighteenth ancestor?"

Chen Changsheng once more fell into silence, then said, "And then? I have to curse your family to the eighteenth ancestor? I don’t intend to do that."

The ancestors of the Tianhai clan were precisely the Divine Empress’s ancestors.

He would not repeat his mistake from last year.

Tianhai Ya’er sneered and said, "I don’t dare to curse Luoluo...Her Highness, but I’m not afraid of you. I’m very interested to see just how long you can endure this."

"Then continue cursing." Saying this, Chen Changsheng turned back into the Orthodox Academy and left.

As he was opening the door and listening to Tianhai Ya’er disgracing his parents and ancestors, he really was very angry. He was prepared to disregard any consequences that the Tianhai clan would have, what plots they had concocted. He just wanted to educate this kid for a spell, but when he walked out the door and saw the crippled youth in the wheelchair, he changed his mind.

Tianhai Ya’er was cruel and cold-blooded. He had once been a very terrifying person. Now that he was a cripple, he was still very frightening, but this fear came from the fact that he had no sense of honor, no reverence, no goals to pursue, and now he didn’t even have any ambitions. The current was a pool of mud. If Chen Changsheng and the Orthodox Academy did not want to stick their feet into this swamp and from then on be slowed by this swamp, then they could only ignore it, or else use sand and stone to directly fill up this swamp.

Since they couldn’t just go and kill Tianhai Ya’er, to do anything else was meaningless. Consequently, there was no need to stand in front of the gate and listen to these words.

As he gazed at Chen Changsheng’s back, Tianhai Ya’er froze. He grew even more furious and began to curse without end in his shrill voice, every sort of filthy obscenity and curse spewing out of his mouth in an unending stream.

Chen Changsheng acted like he couldn’t even hear. His steps did not get any faster nor did they slow. With a steady pace, he walked back into the academy.

The priests were all incredibly astonished at this scene and were also filled with admiration. They thought to themselves, he truly is worthy of being His Holiness’s most cherished junior, worthy of being the youngest Principal of the Orthodox Academy in history.

The man standing next to the wheelchair raised his eyebrows slightly as he watched Chen Changsheng’s back, like he was somewhat surprised. But soon after, the surprise transformed into disdain.

Compared to his peers, Chen Changsheng truly was rather mature and steady, or perhaps too excessively calm and quiet. He didn’t seem at all like a sixteen-year-old youth.

Xuanyuan Po seemed even older, but in reality, he was only a fourteen-year-old bear youth. As a result, he couldn’t understand how Chen Changsheng could stand it. He rather angrily asked, "That’s it?"

Chen Changsheng glanced at him and replied, "What else is there to do? Kill him?"

Xuanyuan Po seemed to consider the idea and said, "It’s not out of the question."

Chen Changsheng refuted, "He is a person of the Tianhai clan. Unless the Li Palace personally issues a decree, no one can do anything. In addition, there’s always someone at his side, didn’t you see?"

Xuanyuan Po asked, "Is that person very strong?"

Chen Changsheng said, "Star Condensation Realm."

Xuanyuan Po sucked in a breath of cold air. That tall and slender man that seemed only around thirty was actually an expert of the Star Condensation Realm?

"But, we can’t just let Tianhai Ya’er keep cursing outside forever, right?"

"I have more important things to do."

Yes, Chen Changsheng had more important things to do.

Compared to those things, this strategy of the Tianhai clan of sending someone to say loathsome things and the malice concealed behind it was insignificant. In the past, the most important thing to him had naturally been cultivating. However, besides cultivating, there was now one other matter that was important to him. It was precisely finding out whether that black monolith he had found on the other side of the ocean of sword intent while he was honing his sword heart actually led to the Garden of Zhou. If it did, then he wanted to enter the Garden of Zhou and take a look.

His spiritual sense landed on the illusion of the black monolith and then was instantly jolted into countless strands by that terrifying energy contained within. This energy which the world could not possibly contain thus transformed his spiritual sense into nothingness. A sudden gust blew through the library and Qi spurted out of his body, wafting up his sleeves as well as the little dust on the bookshelves.

He had made three successive attempts but all of them had ultimately ended in failure. His face was as pale as the sheet of paper on Xiao Zhang’s face and he could no longer bear the shocks to his sea of consciousness and the backlash from that vigorous energy. Pushing open the door to the library, he rushed over to the edge of the lake and then, holding his stomach, began to vomit on the grass. It was quite a miserable scene.

Xuanyuan Po was at the moment striking trees. He was flabbergasted at this scene and walked over to support Chen Changsheng. Looking at the damp spot on the grass, he said worriedly, "Fortunately, you haven’t eaten breakfast, or else this would look far too nasty."

Chen Changsheng had always paid attention to taking three meals every day. This morning, because he was impatient, he didn’t eat breakfast. He still had to eat lunch and dinner, but he somehow felt like he didn’t have much of an appetite.

There was some sort of revulsion in his stomach that was extremely unbearable. Everything he ate seemed to have no taste.

"This boiled cauliflower...did you forget to add salt?"

Xuanyuan Po felt very wronged. He thought to himself, in the entire Orthodox Academy, only I am making the food, and you still act so picky! In addition, your complaints don’t have any logic! He angrily shouted:

"You yourself said to use less oil and salt when cooking!"

Chen Changsheng held up his bowl with both hands and feebly said, "For dinner...cook some food with a bit more taste."

Xuanyuan Po looked at him and thought, I guess he’s really sick, or else how could these words possibly come out of this guy’s mouth? He asked, "Do you want me to invite Her Highness to check up on you?"

Chen Changsheng shook his head. Luoluo was the princess of the demi-humans and her status was too sensitive. He hoped that she would not get involved in this confrontation between the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy.

On the second day, it did not rain in the morning. Thereby, the late spring once again returned to the beginning of summer. The weather in the capital in the fifth and sixth months of the year had always been this hard to pin down. Tianhai Ya’er was also a person that was very difficult to pin down. He had once been cold-blooded, murderous and cruel, wielding the power of the Tianhai clan and his own talent in cultivation to commit every sort of unspeakable crime. Later on, after he had been crippled by Luoluo, he had vanished for the greater part of a year. When he appeared once more before the people of the capital, he actually displayed a rarely-seen patience and perseverance, even though what he was doing seemed to have nothing to do with the two aforementioned traits.

The wheelchair rolled over the gray stone and arrived at the entrance of the Orthodox Academy. The crippled youth took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, then under the strange and attentive gazes of the priests, continued his cursing.

Yesterday, he had cursed for the entire day. It seemed that Orthodox Academy would still be shrouded in these filthy obscenities today as well.

However, there was a difference from yesterday. Today, a bustling crowd of spectators had also come.

The crowd could not walk any further into Hundred Flowers Lane, being barred by the priests and those soldiers that had come to maintain order. However, they could hear Tianhai Ya’er’s insults loud and clear.

In truth, there was nothing fresh about Tianhai Ya’er’s insults. They merely sent greetings to Chen Changsheng’s elders, especially his female family members.

"Chen Changsheng, your mother."

"Chen Changsheng, I’ll f*** your daughter to death."

Hearing these filthy words, the crowd outside the street fell into a murmur of discussion, some people shaking their heads in silence. Although none of them was pleased, no one dared to say anything.

That tall and slender man still stood by the wheelchair, watching the tightly shut gate to the academy. Although what he was thinking was a mystery, the corners of his lips still revealed that faint smile of derision. It seemed to be mocking Chen Changsheng’s timidity, but it also seemed to hold some other meaning.

"Do you really not care? Even if you don’t tell Her Highness, you should still have the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education appear and take care of things."

Xuanyuan Po said this to Chen Changsheng, his face thoroughly red as he listened to Tianhai Ya’er’s vile words coming from outside.

Chen Changsheng replied, "Back then when the Orthodox Academy’s gate was knocked down by Tianhai Shengxue’s men, who ultimately fixed it?"

Xuanyuan Po thought he understood what Chen Changsheng was getting at, so he asked, "Then what should we do next?"

"Wait a few more days." Chen Changsheng paused, then said, "...wait three more days."

After saying this, he glanced outside and saw that the light was a bit gloomy. He realized that today was overcast.

If he ignored it, the days would continue as usual. Time would not change its speed as it did in the Plains of the Unsetting Sun. One day’s time passed in a very regular fashion.

Tianhai Ya’er blocked up the gate of the Orthodox Academy for two whole days with his cursing. The Li Palace and Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education maintained their silence and they sent out no messages.

However, a message did come from the Mausoleum of Books. In another three days, a person would come out.