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2.36% Way of Choices / Chapter 28: Already Many Years

Chapitre 28: Already Many Years

At five o'clock in the morning, Chen Changsheng opened his eyes. He wasn't waking up from his sleep, but from his state of meditation. After confirming that there was still no change with his body, he shook his head and returned to his room to take a bath. As he leaned against the edge of the wooden basin and allowed the slightly hot water to wash over his exhausted body and mind, the sighs passing through the wet towel became a mumbled question, "When will I be able to find a way?"

This wooden basin was around half the height of a human and was placed very close to the academy wall behind the house. In the next moment, he heard an extremely faint sigh from the other side of the wall, accompanied by a statement brimming with anxiety, "When will I be able to find that person?"

Chen Changsheng thought of that sigh he had heard last morning and took the wet towel off his face to turn and gaze at the wall. What confronted his eyes was a tangle of green ivy. The academy wall was very high, so he could not see the other side to know who was speaking.

It had been a very immature voice, most likely that of a female child. Every person's sorrows were not necessarily the same, but they were all sorrows nonetheless. Chen Changsheng suddenly sympathized with the girl on the other side of the wall, but he soon after realized that in his current situation, he wasn't qualified to sympathize with anyone else.

The following days passed in peaceful serenity. Every day, he would read books in the library, and when night fell, he would draw the radiance of the stars into his body for Purification. Over the course of this Purification, he would always have his eyes closed in meditation, naturally unaware that the radiance had all seeped into his body. From an exterior perspective, there truly had been no change. This result was unavoidably rather discouraging, but he continued to diligently and incessantly cultivate, not affected in the slightest.

Just like his cultivation, the repairs of the Orthodox Academy progressed in a methodical manner. Although that Priest Xin of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education did not manage things from the front, there was no shortage of funds, and it all arrived promptly. Naturally, the artisans and laborers did not dare to slacken their pace.

As this academy wall that had been worn away by years of non-maintenance could not even block out sound, wind could also naturally pass through.

(TN: Wind, 风, can also mean news.)

The news that the Orthodox Academy was being repaired quickly spread throughout the capital. The matter of the Orthodox Academy gaining a new student was also gradually known to the populace. However, true reason for the Orthodox Academy's decline meant that people only dared to discuss these pieces of news in private. Nobody dared to inquire about this publicly, so the only effect of these pieces of news was to add to the number of conversation topics over the dining and tea tables.

Chen Changsheng did not know that a storm was gradually building in the world outside. He continued to silently study and cultivate in that school in the depths of Hundred Flowers Lane, repeating a similar life and simply not feeling that his days were passing very dryly and monotonously.

On the surface, it seemed that he had stopped caring about whether he could succeed or not in cultivation. In reality, his mind was completely tied up with this matter. The proof was that it had already been several days since he had wiped the floorboards of the library, a rare occurrence for someone as obsessed with cleanliness as him.

That he had not succeeded in Purification did not mean that he had obtained nothing from this life of studying.

He read many books in the library, the majority of which he had already read in Xining Village, while there were some books regarding cultivation that he was reading for the first time. Upon comparing the two, he realized to his surprise that many of the words that he had read when he was small were related to cultivation.

When he was memorizing those Daoist scriptures as a child, he had no idea what those nigh incomprehensible words meant, nor was he able to obtain any definite explanation from his senior or master. He thought that they were words related to metaphysics and stopped brooding over them. Only after coming to the capital and reading these books on the initial phase of cultivation like On Purification in the Orthodox Academy did he understand. Originally, all the cultivation methods of the world, the precious experiences left behind by past experts, the techniques of certain major sects not meant to be transmitted to the outside world, and even a few secrets of demon experts were all contained in the three thousand scriptures of the Daoist Canon in Xining Village's old temple!

What did this mean?

Who said that he didn't know how to cultivate? He just had not begun to cultivate, or at least this was what he originally thought. Now, he knew that this argument was incorrect. Who said that he had not begun to cultivate? No, from the moment he could speak, he had begun, he was already cultivating!

The three thousand scriptures of the Daoist Canon contained in Xining Village's old temple were countless fragments of knowledge related to cultivation. In the past, these fragments had been a thick fog within his spiritual world, but the cultivation techniques that he now understood had become extremely small specks of dust that formed nuclei in the fog. The vapor began to crystallize around these cores, bringing down a boundless downpour.

Chen Changsheng had begun an extremely fantastical trip, a wondrous journey. It could be said that he had comprehended by analogy, and it could also be said that he had been suddenly enlightened, like he had been jolted awake by a whack to the head. But in reality, the most ideal descriptor of the truth was those five words: rising abruptly through accumulated strength.

A bit more than fourteen years had passed since Daoist Ji had picked him up from the stream, and every day and every night of those fourteen years had been spent on relentless reading. Those fourteen years of reading were a process of accumulation. He had already laid down an extremely thick foundation. Ultimately, all he needed was an opportunity, and then he could convert this knowledge that he had grasped over his fourteen years entirely into his own understanding of the world, and later on convert it into his own strength.

Just like a jar of gunpowder ignited by a spark.

A massive explosion occurred in Chen Changsheng's spiritual world. He voraciously read all the books in the library, grasping the laws of cultivation. Those fragments of information he had obtained from the Daoist scriptures of Xining Village were once more reassembled, once more reviewed, and then truly understood. With almost unimaginable speed, he comprehended the secrets of the cultivation world, grasped the details of those cultivation techniques. Solely in terms of cultivation knowledge, there were already frighteningly few people in the world with a more extensive understanding than him.

To be unable to succeed in Purification and yet suddenly obtain such a great harvest was a very delightful occurrence to Chen Changsheng, and also a consolation. Once his emotions settled down, he once more grew uneasy and confused. He walked to the window of the library and gazed in the direction of Xining Village in silence. The Daoist scriptures in that old temple were no ordinary objects, and his master was also naturally no ordinary man. He had helped him lay down such a firm foundation for cultivation, but why didn't he just teach him how to cultivate, rather than insisting that he only begin after coming to the capital? Was it just because his body's illness was not easy to treat and he wanted to see if he would have any lucky encounters in this place?

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, ten-odd days had gone by. No one from the Divine General of the East's estate appeared again, nor did that maid called Shuang'er come again. He was quite pleased that his calm life was not disturbed. But he was somewhat displeased that Tang Thirty-Six also never appeared. He had left his address behind at the inn, presuming that he would be able to find him. Fine, that fellow might be bitterly cultivating in the Heavenly Dao Academy.

The Orthodox Academy had only Chen Changsheng as its sole inhabitant. This was his own academy.

He quietly read and silently cultivated, gradually forgetting the world outside. He had already been forgotten by the outside world. On occasion, he would recall that conversation he had overheard in the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, think about the excitement of those initiation activities held by the Heavenly Dao Academy and Star Seizer Academy and feel somewhat envious, but he did not care too much. He had long grown used to this sort of dull and monotonous life—in Xining Village's old temple, when he was reading together with his senior, his voice was the only sound.

It was just that he had attempted Purification for so many days, but his body still remained unchanging. He could see no hope of success, but he would not give up. In the end, however, he had grown somewhat more indifferent. He decided that if he still could not succeed in the next few days, he would have to search the books for another method.

Indifference often made people lose a little drive, but it would make some people become more cool-headed—precisely Chen Changsheng's current mental state. He could not be said to have returned to his original mindset, but he had returned to his mindset at the very beginning of this process. Now that he looked at the floor covered in a shallow layer of dust, the brow of this youth that so dearly loved cleanliness creased in deep displeasure.

Most of this displeasure was aimed at himself. He felt that he had grown lazy.

He brought up some clear water from the well and began to clean the floorboards. As the dust was gradually cleaned, the floorboards that were wiped clean with water began to exude an extremely faint aroma. He was unaware of the sweat he had perspired on the night that he had lit up his Fated Star, so he was somewhat puzzled. This aroma was truly very faint. A single gust of the night wind was enough to make it vanish.

After he finished cleaning, he casually sat down and began to draw in starlight for Purification.

The Orthodox Academy was a picture of tranquil silence. He closed his eyes in meditation, utterly forgetting all things. He naturally could not hear the night birds in the forest that should have been resting but suddenly began to chirp, the sound crisp and moving. The croaks of frogs that had halted for several days also began to ring out once more, happy beyond compare.

A butterfly fluttered in from the window and rested on the floor beside him, unwilling to depart.

It was the piece of floor that he had just wiped clean.

...

...

Hundred Flowers Lane was a very ordinary street of the capital. Of course, it had once been very famous because the Orthodox Academy in its depths had once been very famous. Additionally, the Hundred Herb Garden at that end had also been very famous. That place was the Imperial Garden of the previous dynasty.

The most famous rebellion in the Great Zhou Dynasty's history had also occurred in the Hundred Herb Garden. At the time, Emperor Taizong, who was still a prince, was galloping his horse from his estate to the Imperial Palace but was ambushed at this place by the other princes. At that moment, Emperor Taizong had still been dressed in his night gown.

The ultimate conclusion of that rebellion was known by the entire continent: Emperor Taizong narrowly obtained the final victory and his imperial brothers were all executed on the spot, with several hundred of their followers simultaneously being beheaded.

Because of this bloody, rather inglorious history, the Hundred Herb Garden lost its status as an Imperial Garden and was placed under the custody of the Orthodoxy's Hall of Heavenly Virtue, to be used for growing medicinal herbs and spirit fruits. Perhaps because the soil of the Hundred Herb Garden had absorbed too many nutrients from the blood, or perhaps because too many corpses had been buried beneath it, the medicinal herbs and spirit fruits planted here flourished. It once more became valued by the Imperial Court and was placed under strict guard.

In reality, extremely few people knew that the reason the Hundred Herb Garden was so heavily guarded, besides the precious medicinal herbs and spirit fruits growing within, was that it would often be used as a residence for important and powerful figures that would find it inconvenient to appear in public. For example, when the Divine Empress was first expelled from the Imperial Palace, she resided in the temple here in cultivation. It was also precisely for this reason that the Hall of Heavenly Virtue later on received enormous benefits.

At present, the Hundred Herb Garden was inhabited by another noble.

Under the old walls crawling with ivy was a table made of stone. A tea cup was on the table, and the cup contained the rarely seen and precious tea brewed from tea leaves freshly picked in the rain this spring.

A little lady was drinking tea.

Her face was childish, her pupils like black stars, her lips like red plums. She had long and slender eyelashes, and her pale white cheeks had two faint patches of red. She was a picture of astonishing beauty.

It was an extremely healthy sort of beauty, delighting both the body and mind of others, but never giving them any sort of distracting thoughts.

The girl herself was not much delighted. Her face was one of deep distress because she still had not found that person.


Chapitre 29: Climbing over the Wall and Seeing a Black Robe

This young girl was called Luoheng, but her nickname was Luoluo. This was because ever since she was very young, she had a habit of adding a few words before her sentences. For example, when she was calling at the goshawk to land on her little hand or when she was calling for the enormous crocodile in the river to quickly take her to the other side, she would always say, "Lah lah, faster!"

Luoluo was fourteen this year, still very young. For certain reasons, her appearance and figure seemed somewhat younger than her actual age, charmingly childish. Just like her innocent appearance, from the moment she was born, she enjoyed riches, glory, and status, living a carefree life without any worries. This was still the case, even after leaving her homeland for the faraway capital.

She had already lived in the Hundred Herb Garden for almost a year. She rarely had contact with the outside world, so it was hard for her to not feel somewhat lonely.

She didn't much care about this, because the only thing she cared about was how to cultivate—in the aspect of cultivation, she had a few problems that she had been unable to resolve. Even her seemingly omnipotent father had been unable to resolve them, resulting in her journey of over a thousand li to the capital.

She had concealed her identity and attended classes in the Heavenly Dao Academy and Star Seizer Academy, even consulting those brilliant instructors in private. She had even discussed related problems with the Guardians of the Imperial Palace. Regretfully, those problems continued to have no solution.

In her hour of deepest despair, she suddenly sensed one night that a star in the depths of the night sky had been lit up. She did not know where this star was, but she knew that the spiritual sense that had lit was very powerful, very serene. Moreover, there was clearly something different about this spiritual sense compared to those sent out by normal human cultivators. That she could sense all of this was purely because of her innate gift, so upon confirming that everything she sensed had been real, she wanted to find that person.

She wanted to place those questions that had perplexed her for so many years before that person, hoping that she would be able to get an answer.

But quite a few days had passed, and she had still not been able to find that person. Those subordinates she had dispatched, and even the Guardians and experts of the Imperial Palace assisting her, had not been able to find a single clue, which made her grow even more depressed.

Luoluo's mood was rather downcast, the expensive tea in the cup unable to attract any of her attention. In normal times, how could someone as skilled in the tea ceremony as her treat such fragrant and delightful tea with such disregard? How could she perform such an unreasonable action?

At this moment, she smelled an aroma.

Luoluo widened her eyes, her body growing somewhat stiff.

This was a very faint aroma, but upon entering her nose, it instantly bloomed, becoming extremely distinct, enchanting her like a bottle of fine wine. The Hundred Herb Garden contained countless rare treasures and strange fruits which produced all sorts of scents in the night, yet none of them could suppress this aroma!

When she was small, the valley she lived in was filled with wildflowers. Even in the early summer when the sun was beginning to rise and all those wildflowers bloomed at the same time, not even that aroma was this fragrant!

She was even willing to swear an oath to the profuse stars in the sky that she had never smelled something so good in all her life.

But this aroma was still so faint.

What sort of aroma was this? Where did this aroma come from?

As Luoluo thought of these things, she abruptly realized that the aroma had vanished. In but an instant, that aroma had drifted away, leaving not a single trace behind. She felt lost and disappointed, as if she had missed out on something very important in her life.

She walked several dozen steps west along the wall, towards the place where flowers were blossoming amidst the ivy. She realized that the aroma was not coming from here and inadvertently turned her gaze to the wall overgrown with ivy. She faintly sensed that the aroma had come from the other side of the wall.

What was on the other side of the wall? Apparently it was the abandoned Orthodox Academy. Ever since she took up residence in the Hundred Herb Garden, that side had always been quiet and noiseless, just like a graveyard. However, from a certain day onwards, it began to grow livelier, as if something was going on over there.

Did she want to go over and see?

She had this vague feeling that this aroma was somehow connected to the person that she had been searching for.

The hand in Luoluo's broad sleeve slightly tightened, her emotions growing rather tense. Without turning around, she looked out of the corner of her eyes into the darkness.

The light emitted by the oil lamp behind that hanging basket of flowers fell into the darkness, seeming to deform somewhat before disappearing.

This meant that there was someone there, perhaps some powerful existence.

She knew who those people were. They were the clansmen responsible for protecting her. At the same time, however, they were also the clansmen that limited her activities. Every time she wanted to go to the Heavenly Dao Academy or Star Seizer Academy, she would require a long period of preparation, and they would certainly not let her depart so late in the night.

Luoluo gazed at her shadow on the wall and felt herself very useless, very cowardly.

She suddenly began to giggle, shook her head, plucked a button from her left lapel, and then opened her palm.

This perfectly round button, ground from a rhinoceros horn, fell from her small hand to the floor.

There was a light clap.

Smoke enveloped the area by the academy wall, boring in and out of the ivy.

Swishswishswishswish, ten-odd figures shot out like arrows from various places in the darkness.

The middle-aged man at their head waved his palm, completely banishing the smoke, but realized that no one was by the wall.

These ten-odd people clearly possessed extraordinary cultivations. In the world, there wouldn't be many experts of their caliber. Yet now, their faces were abnormally pale and exceptionally fearful.

A person said with a trembling voice, "Prin…the young lady…she's gone."

The middle-aged man had an exceptionally gloomy expression. He softly yelled out, "Quickly report this to the palace!"

...

...

Luoluo had not gone far, she had just gone to the other side of the wall.

She believed that those clansmen of hers would not be able to find her in such a short span of time—because the seemingly ordinary button she had used was a Thousand Li Button.

The Thousand Li Button was a sort of magical artifact that could allow someone to instantly travel vast distances. Even when confronting an incredibly powerful enemy, one could use this button to escape. It was extremely precious, even worth the price of a life. Even places like the Great Zhou Imperial Palace and the Longevity Sect would only possess a few of these buttons.

Yet she had used one so casually, and she had used it to get past a wall.

Without a doubt, this was a recklessly wasteful way of doing things, and it was precisely for this reason that she was so sure her clansmen would not expect her to use a Thousand Li Button to simply climb over a wall. She should have enough time to find the source of that aroma.

As long as she could find that person, what did the use of a single Thousand Li Button matter?

She had always been a very generous person.

In the almost a year's worth of time that she had lived in the Hundred Herb Garden, she had once peeked her head over the wall to get a look at the Orthodox Academy, curious about that incident from ten-odd years ago. Several months had passed since then, and now that she had truly entered this place for the first time, she discovered that things had changed greatly.

It was still very peaceful, but the weeds growing along the lake had been cut down into a flat lawn. Through the starlight, one could see that the water grass in the lake had also been cleared up. The greatest change had to be the buildings. Other than the main hall, which had been damaged far too fiercely, the other buildings and pavilions were almost repaired like new.

In the deep darkness, only the library had lights.

Luoluo took a few steps in that direction but was suddenly confronted by a gust of wind. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and finally seized upon a hint of that aroma in the wind. Her face instantly revealed an expression of reverie, knowing that she had not found the wrong place.

When she opened her eyes, her reverie had become vigilance, her childish beauty tinged with frost.

A person slowly walked out from the trees by the lake.

This person was dressed in a black robe that reached to the knees, the two sleeves also reaching the knees. The person seemed extremely neat and orderly, yet the head and face were covered by the black robe's hood, making the person seem completely mysterious.

Luoluo faintly smiled at this person as her right hand slowly moved to her left lapel, and secretly plucked off a button made of rhinoceros horn.

This was also a Thousand Li Button.

She did not know who this black-robed person was, but it was plain to see that this person had been waiting all this time for her to appear. That was the problem.

Ever since she was small, she had been taught to never place herself in any sort of danger. In addition, she could clearly sense that this black-robed man…especially the pitch-black object gripped tightly in his hands, posed a very serious threat to her.

So she prepared without hesitation to use a second Thousand Li Button.

She truly was very generous, very wasteful, because she had the right.

She opened her palm, and the button dropped to the floor.

Yet at that very moment, the man shrouded in a black robe also opened his palm.

The pitch-black object in his palm seemed to be made of metal. Its two ends were very sharp, its middle a little thick, and its surface was smooth. It looked very much like a shuttle.

This pitch-black metal weapon fell even faster than the button, and its sharp end deeply thrust into the loose, soft soil of the lawn.

With a burst of clacks, the smooth surface of the metal weapon was quickly covered in countless fine scales. These scales then burst apart and transformed into countless tiny pieces of metal that noiselessly shot off into the night sky.

With the shooting off of those pieces of metal, a powerful Qi instantly enveloped a circle several hundred zhang in circumference, the Orthodox Academy at its center.

The smoke gradually dispersed.

Luoluo's figure was still in its original position, a trickle of blood seeping from her lips!

The Thousand Li Button had not helped her depart!

She raised her head up to the night sky and saw that the descending starlight seemed to be slightly twisted.

She didn't know what sort of magical artifact that shuttle-like metal weapon was, but it had actually been able to seal off such a large space!

Her smile had already faded. She looked at the black-robed man by the tree and seriously asked, "To bitterly cultivate until the upper level of Ethereal Opening…oh, I forgot…you don't have that way of speaking on your side, but in brief, it's no easy task. You're sure that you want to be rendered into scattered ash and dispersed smoke, and for your family and relatives to be chased down and slaughtered for the rest of their lives until not a single one remains? To pay such an enormous price, is it worth it?"

This was not a threat, but a guaranteed outcome, so it was particularly forceful.

Any person that attempted to inflict harm upon her would inevitably have to suffer the boundless rage of the eight hundred li of the Red River.

"Then, they would first have to know who I am."

The black-robed man slowly removed his hood, revealing a plain and unremarkable face.

It was a middle-aged man possessing no special features whatsoever. If he were to be thrown into the crowds of the capital, absolutely no one would be able to recall his appearance.

Especially when he combed his hair into a bun.

Tonight, he did not disguise himself. His black hair spilled onto his shoulders, thus revealing those two black demon horns, exceptionally clear in the starlight.

This middle-aged man that was a demon said with unquestionable sincerity:

"Moreover, if I can kill Your Highness in the capital of the humans, let alone my life, I'm even willing to sacrifice my soul."


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