Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Although Tang Thirty-Six currently possessed a completely disgusting appearance and was dressed very shabbily, totally unlike his rumored appearance, his sharp and unkind words and that free and uncaring energy about his appearance let Tianhai Ya'er recognize who he was very quickly. His face quickly became extremely ugly.

Back then, he had gone to the Heavenly Dao Academy to take part in the Ivy Festival precisely because Tang Thirty-Six had announced to the entire capital that he was going to cripple Tianhai Ya'er.

The final outcome of this affair was that because of the restriction of the teachers of the Heavenly Dao Academy, Tang Thirty-Six, was unable to participate in the Ivy Festival. Tianhai Ya'er, looking for an excuse to act violently, crippled one of Xuanyuan Po's arms, but then was soon after crippled by Luoluo.

The two individuals had never been able to formally meet, but did this not hinder Tianhai Ya'er from placing the blame for his crippled status on Tang Thirty-Six.

He stared at Tang Thirty-Six, his face pale and his eyes chock-full of bitter resentment, wishing that he could just destroy him. But he did nothing. On the contrary, hearing Tang Thirty-Six's words and associating them with this guy's rumored temperament, an inauspicious omen appeared in his heart. With his sharp voice, he rushed to say, "I was talking to Chen Changsheng! It has nothing to do with you!"

There was a sort of 'just come and hit me' feeling to it as well.

Tianhai Ya'er was a scoundrel, shameless and sinister. He was daring enough to say these words to anyone, including Chen Changsheng, but Tang Thirty-Six was the sole exception.

Because he knew Tang Thirty-Six really could discard any sense of shame and strike him.

Tang Thirty-Six was a little surprised, finding it a little hard to believe that this guy could respond so quickly. He couldn't think of a better method, so he decided to just be unreasonable. "I don't care. In any case, I want to fight with you."

Saying this, he turned to Chen Changsheng and said, "Help me roll up my sleeves."

Right now, his left hand was holding a bowl of soy milk and his right hand was holding half of a youtiao. It really was impossible for him to roll up his sleeves on his own.

Rolling up the sleeves was an action that everyone understood the significance of. It was a signal to begin something.

Tianhai Ya'er's complexion was a little pale. "I definitely won't fight with you. In any case, I'm a cripple. If you're not afraid of losing face, then you can do it yourself."

Chen Changsheng was precisely pondering whether to roll up Tang Thirty-Six's sleeves or not, but when he heard the words 'not afraid of losing face', he thought to himself, it's fine, I don't need to think about it anymore.

Just as expected, when Tang Thirty-Six heard these words, not only did he lack any hesitation, his eyes shone. He asked, "What is face?"

Tianhai Ya'er looked at him uneasily and said, "What are you thinking of doing? Don't tell me you plan to bully a cripple like me in front of so many people?"

The misty rain shrouded Hundred Flowers Lane. The force of the rain was not very great and was even gradually weakening. The priests and guards responsible for keeping the peace had already blockaded the lane against the many spectators.

Tianhai Ya'er's reputation in the capital was extremely awful, but he was still only a youth that hadn't even reached the age of fourteen. Moreover, he had already been a cripple for almost a year, his two legs now so thin that they looked like two beanpoles. He looked very pitiful. If someone were to attack him, wheelchair-bound as he was, they might provoke many criticisms. But how could Tang Thirty-Six fear any criticisms or censure?

He looked at Tianhai Ya'er and smiled. "Did you know, when I was very small, there was one thing that I loved to do the most."

Tianhai Ya'er stared into his eyes, his voice slightly shaky. "What thing?"

Tang Thirty-Six answered, "My favorite thing to do was take up a staff and chase around dogs that had fallen into the river, hitting them nonstop."

Tianhai Ya'er understood his meaning and a cold shiver ran through him. In his shaky voice, he shouted, "Someone come quickly! The sole grandson of the Wenshui Tangs is beating someone up! He wants to use some underhanded method on a cripple like me!"

Tang Thirty-Six was also in no hurry, allowing him to yell. Only after Tianhai Ya'er's voice had finally come to a stop did he turn to the crowd outside the street and declare, "Everyone has clearly seen that I haven't hit him with my hands."

He truly hadn't hit Tianhai Ya'er, not even brushed his clothes.

As he spoke, he even raised up his the soy milk and youtiao in his two hands, indicating to the crowd that even if he wanted to, he couldn't hit Tianhai Ya'er.

Then his expression suddenly turned cold, and his foot delivered a ruthless kick to Tianhai Ya'er's chest!

Thud!

Tianhai Ya'er was kicked with his wheelchair into the rainwater, and his head began to bleed from the fall.

Tang Thirty-Six had kicked too ruthlessly. The crippled youth was curled up like a shrimp, his face extremely pale and in so much pain that he couldn't even speak.

The area in front of the Orthodox Academy's gate and the outside of the Hundred Flowers Lane were both deathly still. Nobody said anything.

Nobody had thought that this youth who had been smiling at them while holding up the soy milk and youtiao, chuckling like an idiot, would in the next moment deliver such a fierce blow to the crippled youth in the wheelchair!

The Tianhai clan bodyguards and Zhou Ziheng also had not imagined this, so they were far too late to stop it.

With the whistling of the wind, the Tianhai clan's bodyguards quickly rushed onto the scene and placed Tianhai Ya'er under their protection.

Zhou Ziheng had tossed away that paper umbrella a while ago, his right hand already gripping the hilt of his sword. With an expression of fury, he glared at Tang Thirty-Six, apparently ready to attack in the next moment.

Tang Thirty-Six continued to ignore this Star Condensation expert. Looking around at the crowd, he raised the soy milk and the youtiao in his hands even higher and declared, "Everyone can clearly see, I really didn't use my hands, much less attack with them. I used a kick."

It really was like this. He hadn't used any underhanded methods against Tianhai Ya'er. He had used his foot.

With an angry roar, Zhou Ziheng pulled his sword out of its sheath. His sword intent abruptly soared, reverberating in that space in front of the Orthodox Academy.

The target of this powerful sword intent was obviously Tang Thirty-Six.

In viewing the monoliths and comprehending the Dao in the Mausoleum of Books and through diligent cultivation, Tang Thirty-Six's level had advanced rapidly. At his age, he performed the unimaginable feat of cultivating to the upper level of Ethereal Opening. But he was still not an opponent for someone at the Star Condensation Realm.

And yet, he still continued to ignore Zhou Ziheng, entering through the gate of the Orthodox Academy without even looking at him.

From the moment he walked into Hundred Flowers Lane and set eyes on Zhou Ziheng, he understood that this person desperately wanted to be seen by the world. Thereby, from that moment on, he didn't even glance at him.

Of course, this was a humiliation.

Zhou Ziheng was a priest of the Hall of Subjugation, an honored guest of the Tianhai clan, and also a teacher of the Temple Seminary. He had the right to be arrogant about any one of these identities.

How could an arrogant man possibly endure such humiliation? So even though he already knew of Tang Thirty-Six's identity, he still took out his sword.

He could not take out his sword.

There was only the sound of many bowstrings being drawn taut.

Several dozen guards stood in front of Tang Thirty-Six's back, the divine crossbows in their hands held level, the crossbow darts sharp and carrying the fluctuations of Qi. They were extremely frightening.

A deputy general stood behind, his face austere. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword as he stared into Zhou Ziheng's eyes. The warning was exceptionally clear: if he moved, he would die.

Tang Thirty-Six and Chen Changsheng entered the Orthodox Academy. As the gates closed, they clapped.

Just like the sound of a crisp slap.

Tianhai Ya'er was helped up by the bodyguards. His face was pale and his suffering unbearable.

Zhou Ziheng stood in the fine rain, his face pale. He coldly asked that deputy general, "I would like to know, does Divine General Xue know of this matter?"

As everyone knew, the guards responsible for the safety of the capital were all under the command of the second-ranked Divine General, Xue Xingchuan, and that Divine General had always been loyal to the Divine Empress.

Today, the attitude the guards had displayed before the gate of the Orthodox Academy was clearly hostile to the Tianhai clan.

The deputy general looked at Zhou Ziheng like he was an idiot. "The family of my maternal grandfather only has this single child. If I don't block you, does that mean you want your entire family to be killed?"

Saying this, he waved his hand, indicating that his subordinates should disperse. He then walked over to the inn across the road from the Orthodox Academy to continue drinking tea and gazing off into the distance.

Inside the Orthodox Academy, Xuanyuan Po and Chen Changsheng enthusiastically sandwiched Tang Thirty-Six as they walked into the library.

"All this enthusiasm from you guys really makes me feel uncomfortable." Tang Thirty-Six looked at the expressions on their faces and thought it somewhat strange.

Chen Changsheng's face was one of complete relief and Xuanyuan Po also looked as if a great burden had been lifted.

"You don't know, these past few days, that crippled little monster was out there in front of the gate every day yelling abuse and profanity. We really almost couldn't take it, so we just looked forward to your return."

Chen Changsheng said to him in gratitude, "As expected, the moment you came back, you completely settled the matter, or else I really wouldn't know what to do."

Tang Thirty-Six was somewhat proud and also somewhat irritated. "You just let him sit in front of the gate and curse? Grow up!"

Chen Changsheng said awkwardly, "I really don't have any experience dealing with this sort of thing."

Beside him, Xuanyuan Po added, "Tianhai Ya'er wielded his crippled status to blindly curse at us. He doesn't even care about his pride, what could we do? Are you saying we really should have just beaten him up?"

Tang Thirty-Six thought to himself, didn't I just give him a good kick? I kicked very happily, so why can't you?

Chen Changsheng said helplessly, "That guy right now is just like a pile of feces. No matter how you handle it, you can't avoid getting your hands dirty, so we were forced to wait for your return."

Tang Thirty-Six asked, "Why did you need to wait for me to come back?"

Chen Changsheng turned around and looked out the window at the scenery.

Xuanyuan Po was more honest. "You have more experience in this aspect. In addition, we also know that you care even less about your pride than he does."

Tang Thirty-Six was a little astonished when hearing this, and then became furious. "What does that mean? You two both better tell me clearly what this means! Could it be that in your view, I'm also just a pile of shit?"

Xuanyuan Po was momentarily speechless, not knowing how to explain. He wanted to say a few words to clarify, but then he realized he didn't know how to say it.

Chen Changsheng said consolingly, "Our meaning is that your ability to pester endlessly and be unafraid of filth just happens to be of use against this sort of person."

Tang Thirty-Six reconstructed this sentence in his mind and got even angrier. "Isn't that just a stick that you use to move around shit? How is that any better!"

Of course, he wasn't really angry, just playing around. Chen Changsheng and Xuanyuan Po truly could only wait for Tang Thirty-Six's return. Neither of them was good with words, much less scheming. Luoluo naturally had that ability, but her status was far too sensitive. Thus, if they wanted to solve the problem currently confronting the Orthodox Academy, they could only place their hopes on Tang Thirty-Six. In fact, there were very few people that noticed that Tang Thirty-Six had been responsible for solving many of the problems the Orthodox Academy had faced.

Hearing Chen Changsheng explain the new rule of the Orthodoxy, Tang Thirty-Six pondered it, then dunked the youtiao in his hands into the bowl of soy milk and declared, "Drown them to death."

Chen Changsheng and Xuanyuan Po didn't understand—what did he mean by drowning them to death?