Chương 43: Laughter

The Orthodox Academy's position was on an equal level with the other five academies of the Six Ivies, but it was in the corner and very out of the way, and only had one table. It couldn't avoid seeming rather lonely and shabby, but Chen Changsheng and Luoluo were people that didn't care much about these sorts of things and casually sat down.

"You know that student of the Heavenly Dao Academy from just now?" Chen Changsheng asked.

Luoluo thought this question over then responded, "When I came to the Heavenly Dao Academy in the past, I saw him a few times."

Chen Changsheng thought of that previous scene that was like a constellation of stars ringing the North Star and said, "It seems that he must be very famous?"

This time, Luoluo did not need to use any extra time to think, saying, "Zhuang Huanyu, but many people call him Lord Huanyu."

Chen Changsheng recalled that he seemed to have seen this name on the stone wall of the Temple Seminary, that it was placed very high on the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Thinking about how Luoluo had instantly said this person's name, he teased, "I didn't expect that you would actually know his name."

Luoluo pouted and said, "Teacher, you also just said it, he's very famous."

Chen Changsheng replied, "With your personality, an even more famous person might not be recognized by you."

Luoluo somewhat embarrassedly stuck out her tongue, then said, "It's been too soon, it's truly impossible for me to forget his name."

Chen Changsheng did not truly understand her words, believing that she was speaking about how she had once attended classes in the Heavenly Dao Academy. He gazed at the Heavenly Dao Academy's seating area and confirmed that he had not seen wrong. Somewhat puzzled, he said, "That guy really didn't come."

Luoluo knew who he was speaking of. She curiously asked, "Teacher, you really know Tang Thirty-Six?"

Chen Changsheng replied, "Although even I don't know how I came to know him…but I really do know him."

As they conversed, the preparations for the Ivy Festival were all completed. The tables amongst the curtains were all packed, and the professors and students of the Six Ivies had all arrived. The last to enter were the overseer of the Heavenly Dao Academy responsible for supervising this year's Ivy Festival, and the two important personages respectively representing the Orthodoxy and the Imperial Court.

The Orthodoxy's Archbishop of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, Mei Lisha, and…the Divine General of the East, Xu Shiji.

When these two grand figures entered, all the professors and students in the hall rose up like a tide to pay their respects.

Mei Lisha had managed the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education for many years and possessed enormous influence over the schools of the capital. Crucially, he was a confidant of the Pope. Xu Shiji's rank of Divine General of the East was inferior to the archbishop's, but his record of military service in the past few years had been impressive and he was trusted and valued by the Divine Empress. Furthermore, the entire continent knew that he had fathered an excellent daughter.

The Ivy Festival was a grand meeting of the Great Zhou Dynasty's young talents and a youthful genius sat at every seat, but when they thought of that fourteen-year-old girl and raised their head to that indelible name that seemed carved in bronze at the top of the Proclamation of Azure Sky, who dared to call themselves a genius?

Chen Changsheng gazed at Xu Shiji, who was seated at the highest position, with a calm expression as if he had never even heard the name before. Only Luoluo noticed that his breathing had become somewhat more hurried than usual. It was still steady, but it was still more hurried than usual. Having been with him for so many days, she knew that this signified that his emotions were somewhat disorganized.

This was the first time Chen Changsheng had seen Xu Shiji.

In reality, one the reasons he was willing to participate in the Ivy Festival was because Priest Xin had told him that Xu Shiji would be attending. He wished to see what this person looked like, this person that had almost become his father-in-law, that had almost consigned him to eternal damnation.

Xu Shiji looked just like a normal middle-aged man, but he was naturally not ordinary. Chen Changsheng gazed at him from afar, sensing that concealed aura of stern dignity as well as that extremely faint scent of blood, and his clear and straight eyebrows slowly began to rise as his nostrils slightly flared—this was not a scent that he liked.

And then he thought of the Madam Xu that he had met in the Divine General's estate, of the humiliations and setbacks he had been inflicted with after coming to the capital, and his two eyebrows rose higher, the speed at which his nostrils flared getting faster and faster, his breathing getting heavier and heavier at the same time.

The daughter born from this sort of husband and wife was actually the reincarnation of the true Phoenix. It was truly difficult to describe the Heavenly Dao as fair.

Luoluo had been paying attention to his reaction this entire time and knew that his mood was currently very poor, but, in the end, she could not restrain herself. Ever so cautiously, she asked in a low voice, "Teacher, it seems that your relationship with Xu Yourong truly isn't very good…just why is this?"

Chen Changsheng froze, and then said, "I still thought that you could keep restraining yourself and never ask."

Luoluo pulled on his sleeve and teasingly rocked back and forth, saying, "I'm really curious."

Chen Changsheng helplessly replied, "I promised someone else, so I really can't talk about this matter."

They naturally did not know how intimate they seemed, huddling together and whispering, and were even more clueless to the fact that this sight had already been completely taken in by Zhuang Huanyu's peripheral vision.

Zhuang Huanyu's expression was still as calm as usual.

There was yet another person who had seen Chen Changsheng and Luoluo's whispered conversation, but his expression was not so calm.

The Heavenly Dao Academy overseer withdrew his gaze from that corner, his complexion icy to the extreme. Strangely enough, he did not reprimand Chen Changsheng and Luoluo, nor did he stir any trouble over this matter and completely vent out his loathing towards the Orthodox Academy. Instead, he calmly continued to preside over the Ivy Festival.

The Ivy Festival was held according to every rule of the Grand Examination and was separated into three stages: a literary test, a martial test, and one-on-one matches. The order of these stages could be adjusted at will, but there were still many other rules with regards to these stages. At this time, all these rules were delivered at once from the mouth of this overseer.

The students seated at the tables dispersed amongst the curtains all earnestly listened. Unlike the students of the Six Ivies, they did not have teachers or seniors to give them detailed explanations on the process and rules of the Grand Examination. Today's Ivy Festival was essentially a rehearsal given to them by the Imperial Court, so they naturally needed to act with diligence.

Chen Changsheng also listened very attentively, not missing a single word. Although the Orthodox Academy was one of the Six Ivies, he had no teachers and had to rely on himself for everything. The primary reason he had attended today's Ivy Festival, besides seeing Xu Yourong's father, was for the sake of this explanation.

The Ivy Festival was nominally a party, but in reality, it was a rehearsal for the Grand Examination, a weathervane for its results. Excluding the geniuses and disciples of the southern sects, the final ranking of the Ivy Festival was basically in accord with the ranking of the Grand Examination. Even if there were some changes, they would not be too significant. Cultivation relied on the accumulation of years, the honing of time. There was only half a year between the Ivy Festival and the Grand Examination, so how could a person's strength possibly undergo such world-shaking change in between?

At this year's Ivy Festival, Chen Changsheng had not even succeeded at Purification, was still an ordinary person that did not know how to cultivate, yet he wanted to obtain the first rank of the first banner in next year's Grand Examination. It was no wonder that Tang Thirty-Six thought him an idiot or that he himself was an idiot. Besides Luoluo, who would dare believe in him?

Regarding the Ivy Festival, although the students who had passed the pre-examination would occasionally deliver a pleasant surprise to the human world, in the vast majority of cases, the students of those grand academies were still the ones playing the main role. The last ten Ivy Festivals had all ultimately become a competition between the Ivy Academies.

The Ivy Festival was held for three nights, and tonight was the first night, which happened to be the night of fighting, so it could be imagined how extremely lively it would soon be. The spectators, including Xu Shiji and the other officials, were thinking about how the Heavenly Dao Academy was supervising the Ivy Festival this year and were curious to know whether it would put down its aloofness and let Zhuang Huanyu step on stage.

Zhuang Huanyu was ranked tenth on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, already extremely outstanding, but when associated with the fact that the Heavenly Dao Academy was regarded as the most powerful school on the continent and that he was the representative of the Heavenly Dao Academy, this rank was rather inexcusable. Even if he could not surpass a unique bloodline like Xu Yourong, this rank was still a little too low.

Only important figures like Xu Shiji understood that this was because after that time two years ago when Zhuang Huanyu challenged one of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws to a match and affirmed his position as tenth rank on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, he ceased to challenge any of the geniuses ranked above him.

In no way did this mean that he was conservative or timid, only that two years ago, he was already fifteen. At that point, Qiushan Jun had already left the Proclamation of Azure Sky and was beginning to forge ahead towards the top of the Proclamation of Golden Distinction. Zhuang Huanyu felt that in this sort of situation, the Proclamation of Azure Sky already had no meaning to him.

Then tonight, would Zhuang Huanyu step forward?

...

The students seated amongst the tables could voluntarily register for tonight's matches. Although they clearly understood that it would be very difficult to defeat these students of the Six Ivies that had received the instruction of famous teachers, when they thought about how serious accidents rarely occurred in the Ivy Festival and about how difficult it was to get such a chance to improve themselves, they were still rather eager to register. After them, the rest of the Six Ivies registered the students that would be taking part from their respective schools. However, other than the overseer from the Heavenly Dao Academy and those two prestigious figures, no one knew who had actually registered.

Finally, only the Orthodox Academy remained.

Chen Changsheng had obtained confirmation from Priest Xin and had also heard clearly from the Heavenly Dao Academy overseer's explanation of the rules that he and Luoluo participating in the Ivy Festival was in accordance with the rules. Thus, they could take part in the matches, but this did not mean that they needed to.

After all, the Ivy Festival was not the Grand Examination. With Chen Changsheng's current level, participating…would definitely not result in any good end, so he would naturally not participate.

This was his view, yet some people wanted to force him to take part, force him to have a poor end.

The Heavenly Dao Academy overseer turned to that corner and expressionlessly asked, "The list from the Orthodox Academy?"

Based on rules of past Ivy Festivals, not registering was acknowledging that one was no match, admitting defeat. It was just a way to save more face. No one had ever so bluntly pointed out this matter because it involved the dignity of a school, and no one could predict the result of directly forcing a school into desperation.

Tonight, the Heavenly Dao Academy overseer had bluntly pointed it out. He did not care about the Orthodox Academy's face, and cared even less about any sort of result. Could an Orthodox Academy with only two children suddenly be able to burst forth with some astonishing strength after being humiliated? That was a joke.

The overseer's words echoed through the hall.

Silence.

After a while, perhaps because they had seen that lonely young man and woman in the shabby seating area of the Orthodox Academy, perhaps because they had thought of the Orthodox Academy's reality of decline and its tragic history, or perhaps because they had thought of the attitude the Divine Empress and the Pope held towards this academy…

The hall resounded with laughter.

Some laughed because they could not help themselves, some out of ridicule.

Some laughter was unintentional, while some was intentional.

But it was all grating to the ear.

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