Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

The voice was very clear and distinct, coming from a deeper part of Li Palace; judging from the direction, it probably came from the Hall of Oration, making use of a sound projecting array.

Everyone present was certain that they didn’t hear wrongly, and thus both sides of the divine avenue became silent. After a while, private chatter started and eventually, a thunderclap-like realisation brought people back to their senses before they started to understand what was going on; the previous Red Goose that came from afar was actually bearing a new proclamation.

“The Azure Clouds has a new proclamation!” the youths excitedly exclaimed.

Yet, it was still late autumn, why would the Proclamation of Azure Clouds have a change?

Countless years ago, the demon race invaded South, in order to compel the younger generation of talent to cultivate harder and acclimatise themselves to competition, starting with the Orthodoxy, various powers and organisations started creating rankings and eventually also started including cultivators from the yao race. With the Council of Divine Ordinance being in charge of proclaiming the rankings, no one questioned its impartiality as it was personally validated by Elder Tian Ji (Divine Ordinance).

As the leading luminary of the Eight Storms, Elder Tian Ji had impeccable intellect and an abundance of knowledge, alongside a highly regarded reputation.

Amongst all the rankings issued by the Council of Divine Ordinance, the Liberation, Golden Distinction and Azure Cloud proclamations were the most famous, reverently referred to by the masses as the Three Rankings between Heaven, Earth and Humanity.

In order to maintain the original intention of the rankings and prevent fighters within humanity from killing each other over fame and glory, which would have weakened humanity’s fighting force against the demon race, the Proclamation of Liberation was restricted to select circles through word of mouth, while the Proclamation of Golden Distinction was only posted; the Proclamation of Azure Clouds alone, in order to encourage competition amongst young geniuses, was proclaimed across the entire world, being displayed prominently on stone walls at the gates of the Ivy League schools and Longevity Sect.

The schedule for a new Proclamation of the Azure Clouds was not set, but for countless years, it was usually updated after the yearly Grand Examination, and once every 3-5 years after the Grand Meeting of Zhu Shi; this meant the proclamation was effectively updated once a year.

Especially within the last 20 years, the Proclamation of Azure Clouds had only been updated early twice.

For both times, it was under special circumstances; two geniuses had suddenly appeared, their emergence was too eye-catching, without promptly changing the proclamation, its accuracy would have been negatively affected and could have also impacted the standing of Elder Tian Ji, and caused the young geniuses who were already ranked upon the proclamation to question the legitimacy of their own standing.

The former of the two early updates was due to Qiu Shan Jun, while the latter was due to Xu You Rong… this year’s Grand Examination had already resulted in a change to the Proclamation and there wasn’t a Grand Meeting of Zhu Shi this year, what could have elicited an update in late autumn? Could it be an emergence of someone comparable to Qiu Shan Jun and Xu You Rong?

The excited chatter surrounding the divine avenue died down, everyone felt a discomfort in their hearts: what had happened recently? The Ivy League gathering? No, the gathering was held every year, and was only a trial performance for the Grand Examination, it had never been able to affect the Proclamation of Azure Clouds; some eyes began gathering on Xuan Yuan Po, with ever increasing uncertainty and confusion.

Xuan Yuan Po was shocked himself, he was a simple yao youth that had grown up in a remote mountain tribe, but no matter how ignorant he might be, he knew about the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, this proclamation represented the desires and dreams of many young geniuses and was also a target he had striven towards himself; what he didn’t understand was his inclusion upon its rankings.

His ranking was at 148, which, judging by past cases, should be the last ranking on the list and couldn’t have been considered overly special, what had to be kept in consideration however, was that apart from the demon race, only human and yao youths 20 years of age and under were eligible to be ranked on the Azure Clouds. Placing upon the proclamation is incredibly difficult, a saying amongst the schools of the Capital was that placing upon the Proclamation of Azure Clouds was as hard as stepping onto the Azure Clouds above, just being able to rank on the proclamation was an achievement in and of itself.

Of course, for figures such as Qiu Shan Jun, Gou Han Shi or some others who could be considered monsters amongst geniuses; those who had already managed to enter the Proclamation of Golden Distinction before the age of 20 were in an entirely different league.

Even Xuan Yuan Po himself didn’t understand how he was placed upon the proclamation, let alone others; a lot of the students knew of Xuan Yuan Po and that he was a promising student of Star Seizer Academy, but he didn’t perform anything on the first night of the Ivy League gathering before being crippled by Tian Hai Ya’er, imperial court doctors and professors of Star Seizer Academy had both admitted to his condition being unrecoverable, so why would he suddenly be ranked on the Azure Clouds?

Tang Thirty-Six stood on his toes to raise himself and patted Xuan Yuan Po around the waist, rousing the stunned youth from his stupor, before asking with much doubt: “What’s going on? What have you been up to lately? Have you been secretly traversing the academy walls at night and going out for duels? Don’t tell me you’ve been going to Star Seizer Academy looking for matches?”

A lot of the people present were having the same thoughts as Tang Thirty-Six; Xuan Yuan Po’s injury should have already healed and he secretly had a match against some youth that is already ranked on the proclamation, only this could explain current events. As for how the Council of Divine Ordinance came across this secret; with the full backing of various human powers and White Emperor City, what kind of secrets in this world could be hidden from the council?

Tang Thirty-Six turned his gaze towards Chen Chang Sheng and said: “When did you finish healing his injury? You could have at least told me; this requires some alcohol to celebrate at the very least.”

“Alcohol is bad for your health.” Chen Chang Sheng answered in habit, before coming back to his senses and shaking his head, stating: “Xuan Yuan Po’s injury is in the process of healing, but it’s not completely healed.”

Tang Thirty-Six lightly crossed his eyebrows and said to Xuan Yuan Po: “If your injury is still healing, then you shouldn’t be fighting, competing for a such a fickle spot on the rankings is not worth it.”

Xuan Yuan Po shook his head, replying: “I’ve been with all of you at Orthodox Academy every day, eating and cooking, I haven’t left at all.”

Tang Thirty-Six felt shocked: “How did you manage to get onto the proclamation then?”

Xuan Yuan Po gave his honest reply: “I don’t know.”

Tang Thirty-Six was too shocked for words, thinking that this yao youth had only recently travelled from far away to human lands and while still recovering from an injury, had managed to enter the Proclamation of Azure clouds within half a year, without having had a single battle. Had Elder Tian Ji lost his senses, or was he implying that this youth was a secret child of the White Emperor? That would make him Luo Luo’s brother from a different mother, but from looking at them that night, it didn’t seem likely.

…..

His imagination began running wild, alongside the imaginations of a lot of the people present, their thoughts had begun to reach some far off tangent.

Thoughts are a fast process, so in truth, not much time had passed, after a brief period of commotion, the divine avenue had once again returned to being quiet.

The Hall of Oration’s sound projecting array continued to broadcast its message.

Akin to the autumn wind, the sound was crisp and clear.

The Council of Divine Ordinance’s evaluation of Xuan Yuan Po was exceedingly simple and clear-cut.

“An abundance of True Essence, great strength, injury recoverable, possible to find a suitable secret art, alas, has great fortune, met an able teacher in the Capital, thus, honourable last mention upon the proclamation.”

The Proclamation of Azure Cloud’s main aim was to encourage young geniuses to continually strive forwards, therefore, every time a new proclamation was issued, in order to avoid controversy, it would also include an evaluation, a reason. The evaluations were only a few short words, but exceedingly concise, being able to convince everyone, this was because those few words were personally from Elder Tian Ji.

The evaluation given meant he had a very high talent for cultivation, shocking strength and that his injury from Tian Hai Ya’er was treatable. After recovering, if he was to find a suitable secret art for yao cultivation, then his future was favourable. The most important part of the evaluation was that he had already met a suitable teacher in the Capital.

Xuan Yuan Po listened to the evaluation seriously, thinking to himself that his teacher was Her Highness, Luo Luo, therefore it naturally good fortune, as for Her Highness’ teacher being Chen Chang Sheng… he unconsciously looked towards him, upon this moment, Tang Thirty-Six finally understood the meaning behind the Council of Divine Ordinance’s evaluation; he looked towards Chen Chang Sheng and couldn’t stop himself pensively shaking his head a few times.

Only those from Orthodox Academy would have understood the situation, outsiders would be unclear; upon thinking about the identity of Xuan Yuan Po’s teacher and thinking of the words referring to a secret art for yao cultivation, people started paying attention to the Jin Yu Lu, who was besides the three youths and immediately started having feelings of realisation, believing that they had finally understood the meaning behind the evaluation.

Even though a lot of people did not understand the Council’s reasoning for placing Xuan Yuan Po upon the proclamation, upon hearing Elder Tian Ji’s evaluation, no one dared to question his judgement, regardless of any lingering feelings of unease or dissatisfaction; not to mention it was hardly the time to care about Xuan Yuan Po and Orthodox Academy.

Be it Orthodox Academy’s enmity with the Ivy League schools, Chen Chang Sheng’s engagement with Xu You Rong, or even the back and forth delving between the tradition and new factions of the Zhou Empire; for today, all of these topics were unimportant; from the Capital to White Emperor City; from Holy Maiden Peak to Limitless Valley (Wu Ya Valley); from Li Mountain to Scholartree Manor, or even that far away Old Snow City; everyone’s attention was only drawn to one thing.

The same as it has always been, when the Proclamation of Azure Clouds is changed, the entire continent’s attention would be focused upon it. Everyone would only listen to each name on the ranking as they were listed; let alone on such an occasion where the proclamation was being changed in late autumn, such a situation portended great changes and further captured the attention of the masses.

The autumn woods surrounding the divine avenue were silent, with only the sound of swaying trees in the wind and the occasionally pecking of birds; students and teachers from the schools located here and the clergy that had come to join the crowds had turned towards the direction of the Hall of Oration, giving their undivided attention towards listening to the proclamation, for fear of missing even a single word.

Sounds continued to travel from the Hall of Oration, with the entire Capital able to hear the names of youths that were being listed one by one.

Within those names, some were familiar, some were not; some were young geniuses that had already managed to establish themselves some time ago and some were like Xuan Yuan Po, individuals that had managed to suddenly emerge out of some remote wilderness. A lecturer from Li Palace even heard the name of an individual who had suddenly transferred into Li Palace College after passing the foundation trial of the Grand Examination and was so startled, he almost wrung off his beard in shock.

Apart from these names, the entire continent was in a state of calm.

Today, at Li Palace, at Scholartree Manor, at White Emperor City, at countless locations on the continent, countless youths were currently listening to these names in trepidation and anticipation; these names would cause some to cry, some to rejoice, some to fantasise, some to lose control; no one would deny themselves the chance to be ranked, and for those who had once been ranked, they couldn’t possibly accept the shock of being unlisted.

This, was the Proclamation of Azure Clouds.