Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

In the following few days, the matches in front of the Orthodox Academy continued, and those new students were still the ones that represented the Orthodox Academy.

Those students had all succeeded in Purification, so it was naturally incorrect to say that they didn't have the strength to truss a chicken, but how could they be on par with the experts of the Tianhai clan and the Ivy Academies!

The new students clearly understood what level they were at. In accordance with Chen Changsheng's directions, they stepped into battle and displayed everything they had time to display, experienced everything they wanted to experience, then conceded. It was a little like taking a half-hearted dip, and one could also call it quitting while ahead.

In short, two or three attacks and then a straightforward concession became the most commonly-seen sight in front of the Orthodox Academy.

Until finally, the average experts of the Tianhai clan and the Ivy Academies had all won a round. Only the true experts were left.

The challenger that stepped onto the stage this time was a Star Condensation expert of the Temple Seminary. Originally, he had been in the northwest, cultivating his fleshly body, but then he was summoned back by those two Sacred Hall Archbishops.

This ascetic wore a bamboo hat and, even in the blazing heat of midsummer, still wore thick cotton clothes. His face was cloaked in the shadow of the bamboo hat, and only his eyes emitting a somber air could be seen.

He said emotionlessly to Tang Thirty-Six, "Today, Principal Chen should be personally coming to instruct, yes?"

From the method of address, one would actually be able to tell the true affiliation of these challengers. Those who were nominally under the Ivy Academies but were actually experts of the Tianhai clan would basically always address Chen Changsheng directly by his name. The true experts of the Ivy Academies, even if they had just as poor an impression of Chen Changsheng, would abide by the divine hierarchy of the Orthodox Academy and address him as Principal.

"My deepest apologies. These past few days have been too taxing on Principal Chen's mind. He's presently within the academy studying and resting."

Tang Thirty-Six gazed back at this ascetic whose famous name he had even once heard in Wenshui and smiled, "Priest Bei must have another opponent today."

The ascetic's gaze seemed to pierce through the shadow of the bamboo hat and rest on Tang Thirty-Six's face. He solemnly replied, "I hear that Young Master Tang successively broke through three thresholds in the Mausoleum of Books. If you were to instruct this one, then this trip will not have been made in vain."

The journey from the distant northwest to the capital was truly a long one.

One could also see from this that Daoist Siyuan and Linghai Zhiwang, these two Prefects of the Orthodoxy, had truly been preparing to suppress the Orthodox Academy for quite some time.

Tang Thirty-Six felt that this person's gaze was rather searing. Narrowing his eyes, he thought to himself, against a powerful opponent like you, I definitely don't have the confidence to win. Even if I could win, I'll probably suffer terrible injuries.

"Sir's opponent is not me, but him."

He solemnly introduced to the ascetic, "He is the student of the Orthodox Academy in this group with the greatest talent in cultivation."

With a gesture, a young student walked down the stone steps.

That student truly was very young, too young. It was more appropriate to call him a youngster, his appearance not exceeding that of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old. His expression was nervous and his normally quick-witted eyes were currently rather sluggish.

Seeing this youngster, the ascetic was stunned. "If I do not see wrongly, this child should barely have succeeded in Purification?"

Tang Thirty-Six praised, "Worthy of the ascetic who comprehends the Dao, Priest Bei! As expected, Sir's penetrating insight is like a torch. Sir did not see wrongly, this child succeeded in Purification three months ago. He came to the capital this time preparing to participate in the Grand Examination's preparatory exam and test his luck."

The area in front of the Orthodox Academy's gate was no longer as bustling as it was a few days ago, but there were still quite a few people. Previously when the renowned Priest Bei personally appeared, the excessively shocked crowd began to buzz with discussion. When they abruptly realized that the opponent the Orthodox Academy had arranged for Priest Bei was this sort of youngster, the place instantly grew extremely quiet. They thought to themselves, is the Orthodox Academy playing some sort of deceitful trick?

"Your meaning is…my opponent is this child?"

Priest Bei's voice rightfully grew angry. With a low voice, he yelled, "This is insulting to me!"

Tang Thirty-Six's expression did not change. Smiling, he replied, "The priest's words are mistaken! The meaning of the All-School Martial Exhibition, besides competing for the future, is also about seniors instructing juniors. This child truly does possess the most talent in cultivation amongst the new students of my Orthodox Academy. Although he's never swapped pointers before and is very nervous, he still chose to bravely step forward and request that his senior instruct him. How can this be considered an insult?"

A bold and powerful Qi spilled out from under the brim of the hat. Restraining his anger, Priest Bei said, "I ask that you respect me."

Tang Thirty-Six's smile slowly faded as he calmly said, "Priest's two statements sound rather familiar. They're quite similar to those of the officials of the Department for Purging Officials who flaunt themselves as honest and public-minded."

Priest Bei stared into his eyes and harshly yelled back, "You would dare to compare me to those savage officials!"

"I once respected Sir." Tang Thirty-Six paused, then continued to stare at him. "But Sir's return to the capital this time means that I truly can't respect Sir anymore."

Priest Bei's gaze moved between him and that youngster of the Orthodox Academy. "You know full well that I can't attack him."

Tang Thirty-Six replied, "Because Sir is a gentleman."

Priest Bei asked, "So you chose this child in particular to deal with me?"

Tang Thirty-Six did not deny it, saying, "I will not conceal it from Sir. The vast majority of the names on this list of opponents were set by Chen Changsheng. Only Sir's match was decided by me."

Priest Bei fell silent, and then sighed. "Is the world nowadays really ruled by lowly people?"

Saying this, he turned and prepared to leave.

Tang Thirty-Six had originally planned to say nothing more, but upon seeing the rather melancholy back of this ascetic renowned in the northwest, he couldn't help but open his mouth. "A gentleman can deceive in the pursuit of uprightness. Of course, I'm not saying this is right. Although I'm not a gentleman, I'm not a lowly person either. But as a once-gentleman like Sir is being used by a lowly person for an ungentlemanly matter, I can naturally only use the ways of a lowly person to respond."

Priest Bei seemed to have been struck by a thunderbolt upon hearing these words. His body stiffened, and only after a while was he able to raise his feet once more and walk into the crowd.

As that figure and the bamboo hat atop it proceeded further away, Tang Thirty-Six calmly watched on in silence.

"Put down that this match was our Orthodox Academy's victory."

Not waiting for the surrounding spectators to boo, he calmly declared, “Next.”

Not all matches had a story, and not all stories left behind a profound conclusion. The matches before the gates of the Orthodox Academy continued. With no blood and no shadow of death, there was naturally much less excitement as well. For those ordinary common folk, without these qualities, without any heaven-breaking or mountain-toppling scenes, what difference would there be between the fight of those experts of the continent in the Divine Domain and the fight of those urchins down the street? They merely used a little more strength.

Only the more enlightened people were able to understand the message revealed by these matches.

Those new students that represented the Orthodox Academy in matches, besides Su Moyu with his special circumstances and that youngster, were not able to obtain a single victory, or even the possibility of victory. However, in the extremely brief span of those battles, those students would often display techniques and transformations that were simply unimaginable. Although everyone knew that these students had received Chen Changsheng's direction, that these students were able to realize these instructions revealed a certain possibility.

These children from the counties and the countryside, these weak students disregarded by the Ivy Academies, had suddenly become different.

Besides those common folk that had come to see the fun, the spectators of the matches taking place in front of the Orthodox Academy also included lecturers and students of the Ivy Academies who had changed out of their uniforms. When they saw the students on the steps of the Orthodox Academy, they scarcely dared to believe their eyes. Was that the incomparably stubborn and mischievous Wei Zhuang that I once taught? Is that really that Chu Wenbin who only knew how to sleep every day!?

When compared to their past selves, the new students of the Orthodox Academy seemed to have a sort of luster about them. Crucially, their mindset was different. They were confident and calm, as if nothing could confound them. They weren't even afraid of the seemingly endless string of losses. They still firmly believed that they would be able to obtain the final success. When all this was put together, they gave form to what was called an easygoing temperament.

Because they were easygoing, they could remain calm and collected, could talk and laugh naturally in front of the crowd. It was absolutely impossible for them to become nervous or inferior because of the jeering and disregard of the crowd.

If it were said that last year when Chen Changsheng became a new student of the Orthodox Academy—followed by Luoluo, Xuanyuan Po, Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu—was an indication of new life, then this year's Orthodox Academy could be said to have been reborn, just like these young students—or perhaps it was precisely because they had arrived.

The changes in these new students naturally originated from the Orthodox Academy. The two most pivotal figures were Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six.

Tang Thirty-Six need not be discussed for the moment, but anyone could see Chen Changsheng's importance. If it were not for him relentlessly giving direction and consuming vast amounts of mental strength every night to research the techniques and weaknesses of those experts, how could those new students possibly have had the nerve to directly confront those experts who were many levels of cultivation above them? How could they possibly possess such self-confidence?

After the Orthodox Academy recruited new students, Chen Changsheng no longer emerged to take part in a match and didn't even come out to take a look at what was going on outside the school's gates. However, all the capital knew that from within the Orthodox Academy, he was always looking outward. Through these several dozen matches, he revealed as much as he liked of his unimaginable innate skill and talent in the path of the sword.

That innate skill in the path of the sword was so powerful, that talent so dazzling, that the entire capital was once more shocked.

From a similar time in last year's summer to now, he had already given the capital and the entire human world far too many shocks. The Ivy Festival, the Grand Examination, the Mausoleum of Books, the Garden of Zhou, Xunyang City…many people had thought that they had almost grown numb to the shocks delivered by Chen Changsheng. No matter what else he did, it would not be enough to catch them by surprise. Yet this time, they were still shocked.

At his age, for Chen Changsheng to possess such an unfathomable cultivation in the path of the sword was nigh-impossible to imagine. What was even more impossible to imagine was that he could instruct others in the sword. It must be known that this wasn't a task as simple as teaching a child to write. To lecture, to teach, to dispel doubts: this was a teacher.

Currently, Chen Changsheng already vaguely possessed the demeanor of a master teacher—because he was too young, whenever this thought came up in the minds of others, they would always shake their heads in denial. But no one dared to deny that if he were given more time, perhaps ten-odd years, and he was to truly mature, perhaps he really would be able to live up to his title as Principal of the Orthodox Academy.

While all eyes were fixed on the Orthodox Academy and praising Chen Changsheng's cultivation in the path of the sword in shock, only one person still dismissed him.

"It's just messing around."

Mo Yu gazed at the Empress's back, boredly fooling around with the ring of grass on her finger. "I also don't know why the people in the court and the Li Palace want to make such a big fuss over nothing."