Chapter 155 – Normal

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust opened, and Liang Banhu and Qi Jian walked out. The Li Palace priest announced that Qi Jian was the winner, causing the crowd to erupt with surprise, yet the two contenders seemed to have no reaction. They kept their heads low as they chatted, seemingly caring not for their torn clothes covered in blood, their sleeves still carrying traces of Sacred Light.

They descended the stone steps and walked to the stream, whispering to each other the entire time.

A few examinees who were somewhat closer could hear that these two martial brothers were actually discussing their match. "You didn't use this technique correctly. Senior Brother, you were too slow in using this technique…"

In the past few years, the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws had served as the idol or goal of many cultivators of the younger generation. The reports on the fights of these seven Mount Li Sword Sect disciples were spread around the world and had become topics of enthusiastic conversation for many people. Qi Jian's loss against Zhuang Huanyu, a rare defeat for the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws, was even more talked about and researched.

But very rarely did people see these martial brothers fight against each other.

It was only today that people finally knew why the younger generation of the Mount Li Sword Sect was so strong, why the light of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws was so dazzling.

When these fellow disciples fought, they went all-out, but they bore no grudges after the battle, because in their view, all this was normal.

An extraordinary matter performed every day would become extremely normal, so how could Mount Li not be strong?

Tang Thirty-Six looked at the four Mount Li Sword Sect disciples by the stream, somewhat dejected. "It turns out that my loss to Liang Banhu was the right and proper outcome. Qi Jian is also far stronger than me."

'Losing' and 'strength' did not refer to cultivation level, but other aspects.

Chen Changsheng said, "We can learn from them."

Tang Thirty-Six glanced at him and said, "How can we learn from them? Do you not see how happy Liang Banhu is after losing? And it's true happiness, not feigned."

"Hm?"

"In the Grand Examination, they can fight as hard as they want without worrying about being crippled or dying. This makes them very happy."

"So?"

"I'm not that sort of monster, so I can't learn it. I concede."

From the morning entry into the Li Palace to the entry into the Education Palace of the Green Leaf World, from the Hall of s.h.i.+ning Words to the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust, not many Li Palace priests had appeared before the examinees. However, in reality, the entire Li Palace, or to be more precise, the entire system of the Orthodoxy, was working to serve the Grand Examination. Many Li Palace priests were working behind the scenes at various duties. In the Grand Examination, even if one wanted to die, they would find it very difficult.

Upon entering the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust, Chen Changsheng took the time to glance at the second floor, but he saw no one. Then he saw his opponent.

In the third round of matches, his opponent was a girl. It was precisely the girl who had jeered at him on the Divine Avenue and then ultimately been scolded into tears by Tang Thirty-Six: the junior sister from Holy Maiden Peak, Ye Xiaolian.

Holy Maiden Peak was like the Longevity Sect in that both were large systems of sects in the south, with many sects subordinate to them. Ye Xiaolian was from Gentle Stream Monastery, and in the information provided to the Orthodox Academy by the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, it was clearly indicated that this girl's potential in cultivation was quite good. Once she reached the proper age, there was a good chance that she would directly enter South Stream Temple. Of course, she could only cultivate in the outer sect.

No matter how excellent her potential, Ye Xiaolian was too young. As she was one of the youngest partic.i.p.ants of this year's Grand Examination, her cultivation was unstable. Logically speaking, it should have been very difficult for her to get into the third round, but her luck in drawing lots was extremely good. She had very smoothly gained victory in the first round, and in the second round, her opponent was a student from the normal population who had only managed to gain entry into the Grand Examination through the pre-examination. Her cultivation level was the same as her opponent's and her true essence was not any more plentiful, and it was only by using the magical artifact given to her by the sect that she had managed to pull off a win. After exiting the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust, she had buried herself in her senior sister's chest and had a good cry, her happiness difficult to suppress.

In the third round of drawing lots, she heard Chen Changsheng's name and knew that her good luck had finally come to an end.

Ye Xiaolian looked at Chen Changsheng, her young and tender face slightly pale, fraught with tension and anxiety.

On the Divine Avenue that day, she had cursed Chen Changsheng as a toad who wanted to eat Phoenix flesh. She always believed that Chen Changsheng was a useless piece of trash, but to her surprise, Chen Changsheng had won two rounds, and had even defeated Scholartree Manor's Huo Guang. He relied on his own strength, not on an extremely good draw as she had.

Ye Xiaolian knew that she was not Chen Changsheng's match. When she thought of how she had offended him before, she felt even more nervous.

The voice of the examiner came from the second floor. "If you're ready, begin."

Chen Changsheng gazed at Ye Xiaolian and nodded his head in greeting.

This simple gaze actually made Ye Xiaolian feel an irrepressible fear. Her eyes slightly reddened and her dress began to tremble.

Chen Changsheng was slightly startled, mystified as to what was happening.

Ye Xiaolian was truly very afraid, her body constantly trembling. The string of little bells on her wrist trembled along with her, crisply jingling.

The jingling brought her to her senses. She gathered her courage and cast the string of bells at Chen Changsheng.

She and Chen Changsheng were separated by ten-some zhang, but those bells needed only an instant to reach Chen Changsheng.

This string of bells was a magical artifact belonging to Gentle Stream Monastery, the Chanting Bells. It wasn't even worth mentioning alongside a legendary magical artifact like the Thousand Li b.u.t.ton, but it was still extremely powerful, not much weaker than the umbrella used by that Heavenly Dao Academy student that faced Chen Changsheng in the first round. Otherwise, she would not have been able to rely solely on this magical artifact in the second round to defeat her opponent.

The bells were made of some unknown metal, the string tying them together concealing a fierce sword intent. The jingling sound also held some sort of Qi that could interfere with the movement of a cultivator's true essence. However, it seemed that Ye Xiaolian's luck truly had been all used up in the first two rounds. Chen Changsheng's weakest aspect was in quant.i.ty of true essence, and his methods of fighting did not require true essence.

His right hand advanced forward as a fist, and then his fingers spread apart in the air like a blooming flower, accurately s.n.a.t.c.hing up the Chanting Bells.

The Chanting Bells incessantly trembled in his palm as if struggling. They sent out a powerful energy into their surroundings. At the same time, the Qi that disturbed the flow of true essence also grew much fiercer.

The flow of true essence in Chen Changsheng's body truly was greatly affected. The problem was that even if the Chanting Bells had done nothing at all, his true essence would still find it very difficult to traverse his body, as his meridians would still be broken.

Without using true essence, only relying on the strength of his body, he wanted to tightly hold the Chanting Bells in his hand.

Bong! Bong! Bong!

The Chanting Bells fiercely shook and struggled, wanting to leap out of his hand, but failed.

After a few seconds, the Chanting Bells finally fell silent and came to a stop in his hands.

As she watched this sight, Ye Xiaolian utterly forgot that she was in a match, her hand covering her mouth in complete astonishment.

The Chanting Bells had been given to her by Gentle Stream Monastery's elder. She was well aware of how much strength they held when they flew through the air and how difficult to control they were. She had imagined that Chen Changsheng had many methods to easily render the Chanting Bells powerless, but she had never imagined that Chen Changsheng would use his hand to grasp the Chanting Bells.

With the cessation of the jingling bells, the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust fell silent.

Ye Xiaolian was shocked speechless. She simply had no moves left.

Chen Changsheng did not continue to attack. Grasping the Chanting Bells, he looked up to the second floor.

The room on the second floor remained silent. Perhaps because Chen Changsheng's inhuman strength was too shocking or for some other reason, n.o.body spoke.

Finally, Mo Yu indifferently said, "Do you really think that he will humiliate a girl? He isn't Tang Tang."

These words were meant to expose a few secrets and to make a decision.

A Li Palace priest appeared on the railing of the second floor and asked Ye Xiaolian, "Do you concede?"

Ye Xiaolian nodded, her eyes slightly red.

Chen Changsheng placed the Chanting Bells on the sand by his feet, and then walked out of the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust.

He said no insults to this girl who had once humiliated him, nor did he pay her any attention.

Ye Xiaolian watched vacantly as he left and suddenly felt rather helpless.

She had already prepared herself to lose to Chen Changsheng, prepared herself to be humiliated, but was surprised that he chose not to.

After emerging from the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust, Chen Changsheng walked to the forest's edge.

Ye Xiaolian walked back to her senior sister, raising her sleeves to wipe at her tears.

"Being kind to women, eh?"

Tang Thirty-Six sneered at Chen Changsheng, "Then what does that make me?"

Chen Changsheng asked, "Then if it were you, what would you do?"

Tang Thirty-Six pondered this question and realized that he also wouldn't be able to do much. He didn't like the girl called Ye Xiaolian. It was fine to scold her with harsh words, because quarreling relied on one's skill in words, the capacity of one's lungs, and the level of one's shamelessness. But could he truly say that he could beat her up? Wasn't that just the strong bullying the weak?

The next to fight was Luoluo.

Of the four scholars of Scholartree Manor taking part in this year's Grand Examination, only two remained. Her opponent was the one that was not Zhong Hui.

She and the scholar walked into the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust.

The sounds of footsteps could be heard on the second floor.

A few important personages had walked up to the window to see the match. They were truly very curious as to just how powerful Princess Luoluo was right now that she could cause the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets to revise the Proclamation of Azure Sky especially for her. In the first match, Luoluo's opponent had been too weak, and in the second match, Tianhai Shengxue had conceded, but she had to fight this match, right?

Luoluo took the Falling Rain Whip from her waist and said to the Scholartree Manor student, "You attack first."

In the Orthodox Academy, she was respectful and well-mannered to Chen Changsheng, incredibly obedient, and would throw the occasional tantrum, but her att.i.tude to others was completely different. In the Ivy Festival, neither the Education Overseer of the Heavenly Dao Academy nor Elder Xiao Songgong of Mount Li was worthy of her gaze, much less this scholar of Scholartree Manor.

She was not intentionally acting arrogant and overbearing, but her natural composure and indifferent words possessed an innate n.o.bility and might.

The scholar's expression slightly s.h.i.+fted and he slowly drew a longsword from its sheath.

His movements were very slow, but the sound of the longsword being drawn from its sheath was very clear.

Zeng!

A bright sword glow instantly crossed ten-some zhang and reached Luoluo.

Luoluo did not even blink, not a single eyelash trembling.

Rising Flurry!

The Falling Rain Whip in her hand madly danced.

The Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong, carrying a boundless true essence, easily destroyed the sword glow and then a.s.sailed the scholar standing across from her.

In the miniature world that was the Education Palace, the world was even more sensitive. When she used the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong, the deep blue sky began to exhibit a phenomenon.

A dark cloud drifted over and enveloped the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust.

And then it began to rain.

Just like at the very start, the black eaves of the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust were washed once more.

She used the Falling Rain Whip, and the points of rain were the head of the whip.

The rain slapped on the eaves and the sand.

It sounded just like a whip striking someone's body.

The rain gradually intensified, transforming into a downpour, a dense curtain of rain that made the battleground impossible to see.

The occasional flash of a sword glow would be instantly swallowed by the rain.

After a few moments, there was an extremely crisp pop!

The downpour suddenly came to a stop.

The scholar from Scholartree Manor lay collapsed in a corner, his body covered in wounds, blood and water mixing together.

His face was pale, his somewhat blue lips slightly trembling, his eyes filled with despair.

It was the despair that came from being crushed by absolute power.