Chapter 13: A Friend Who Leaves You Speechless
“If I’m not mistaken, you should be… an ordinary person!”
“Yes, I haven’t truly begun cultivation yet.”
“The Grand Examination… top of the list?”
“Yes, I can only take first place.”
Tang Thirty-Six’s questions were direct and sharp. Chen Changsheng’s answers were earnest and calm, as if he were describing something very simple—like how meals should balance meat and vegetables, not be too salty or oily, and how one should sleep early and rise early to maintain a healthy body. Life is about eating, drinking, and daily routines—that’s not wrong, and this lighthearted, down-to-earth attitude was also fine. The problem was that taking first place in the Grand Examination wasn’t really the same as eating and drinking.
Because he could only take first, he would take first. Such a breezy, matter-of-fact statement had no real logic behind it. It was like a child with no strength to truss a chicken trying to pluck the whiskers of the world’s most powerful golden dragon to use as a sword—a beautiful fairy tale, but in reality, anyone who said such things would be dismissed as talking in their sleep.
That person would surely be seen as a madman or an idiot, or of course, possibly a peerless genius.
Between genius and idiot lay only a thin line, and that line was possibility.
So where did someone like Chen Changsheng, who completely ignored that line and believed in himself without a doubt, belong?
Tang Thirty-Six was proud and narcissistic, but today he had discovered someone who, though calm to the point of dullness and naive to the point of childishness, could deliver a devastating blow to his pride and self-love. Logically, the ravings of an idiot couldn’t threaten a true genius like him. But the problem was—when Chen Changsheng spoke such absurdities with a serious, determined gaze, Tang Thirty-Six couldn’t refute or mock him. Deep down, he felt that impossible possibility might actually exist!
Why was this? He had never met anyone like Chen Changsheng—upright in conduct, thus justified in reasoning, thus bold in spirit—leaving you with no way to respond. This was being left speechless, so he had nothing to say, suffocating from internal injury. If he had known that Chen Changsheng had once left Lady Xu of the Eastern Divine General’s Mansion, that other woman, and the maid Shuang’er all speechless, he might have felt much more comforted and developed a sense of shared misery.
After finishing the fragrant tea, Tang Thirty-Six even unconsciously chewed the leaves before snapping out of his earlier shock. Looking at Chen Changsheng, whose expression hadn’t changed at all, as if he had never spoken those words, he couldn’t help shaking his head, thinking that this guy’s level of interest far exceeded his expectations.
“You only have one year… I admire your ambition, but rationally, I can’t really support you, so I won’t offer any blessings—that would make me seem too hypocritical. I just want to warn you that the Eastern Divine General’s Mansion won’t let go easily.”
Tang Thirty-Six didn’t know what grudge existed between Chen Changsheng and the Eastern Divine General’s Mansion. In his view, the capital was the premier city under the Saint Empress’s rule, and even if the mansion secretly schemed to hinder Chen Changsheng’s future, they couldn’t go too far.
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment, then said, “I’ll try to avoid them.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “Can you avoid them? Even Starfall Academy didn’t admit you.”
Chen Changsheng said, “That’s something I don’t understand either.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “The Eastern Divine General’s Mansion can’t influence Starfall Academy. Xu Shiji doesn’t have that ability. I heard… someone in the palace spoke up, so I’m really curious about what’s between you and the mansion, and what secret involves the palace.”
Chen Changsheng only then learned that Starfall Academy’s rejection had such hidden details behind it. He was very surprised, momentarily lost for words. When he came to his senses, he actually felt a bit better—the academy he respected had faced an irresistible force, leading them to do things unworthy of respect.
The next question was why that irresistible force existed.
Leaving aside the distant and mysterious Western Continent, the Central Continent had many lofty, untouchable places, like the mountain gates of certain southern sects, the northern Snow City… and with the Great Zhou leading humanity to ultimate victory in the war against the demons, the Great Zhou capital’s imperial palace had become the most remarkable place.
Legend said that palace had countless masters of the Penetrating Realm as servants, that an old eunuch there was a Star Gathering Realm expert, that there was a green bamboo sedan chair in the palace, and that the palace even housed a majestic, loyal, thousand-year-old peerless dragon!
In the fourteen years of his life so far, Chen Changsheng had learned much about the Great Zhou palace through books, but he had never imagined his life would connect with such a lofty, mysterious, and terrifying place. Thinking of Tang Thirty-Six’s words, he fell silent, unable to understand no matter how hard he tried.
“Countless dogs kneel before the Saint Empress’s curtain. Xu Shiji is one of the more vicious ones, but even he couldn’t get the palace to pressure Starfall Academy. Even if he could, he wouldn’t waste such a cost. So, without him paying much, the noble in the palace willingly acted…”
Here, Tang Thirty-Six’s previously vague conjectures suddenly became clear, but looking at Chen Changsheng’s still childish face, he found his thoughts tangled—could this guy, who didn’t even know how to treat someone to a meal, really… have something to do with that phoenix?
He really wanted to ask Chen Changsheng what was going on, but from today’s interactions, he knew Chen Changsheng’s temperament well—if he didn’t want to say something, he never would. So in the end, he could only say, “…The truly important person in the Eastern Divine General’s Mansion has always been her. You need to understand that.”
As he said this, he kept his eyes on Chen Changsheng’s.
Chen Changsheng was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Her… what kind of person is she really?”
Tang Thirty-Six’s expression didn’t change, but inside, a storm was raging. From Chen Changsheng’s question and the subtle changes in his expression as he spoke, he could be certain that something was going on between Chen Changsheng and that phoenix, though he didn’t know what.
“It’s hard to describe what kind of person she is. Whether from rumors or others’ accounts, she doesn’t have any particularly peculiar traits in temperament.”
Tang Thirty-Six paused here, finding it truly difficult to explain. He looked into Chen Changsheng’s eyes and suddenly understood something.
“She… is very much like you.”
“She, too, is someone who leaves you speechless.”
“Of course, you leave people speechless because your attitude is too calm, your tone too annoying, making people so frustrated they want to spit blood… In the rumors, she doesn’t talk much and rarely appears before the world, but like you, she easily makes people so frustrated they want to spit blood.”
Chen Changsheng looked puzzled.
“She doesn’t need to speak, doesn’t need to mock, doesn’t need to show contempt, doesn’t need to look down on anyone… She just needs to exist, to stand there, and that’s enough to make many people so frustrated they want to spit blood. I admit, I’m among those people. Possessing the Heavenly Phoenix bloodline, awakening on her own at a very young age, cultivating with incredible smoothness, and on top of that, having extraordinary comprehension and strong willpower—she excels at everything… Don’t you think someone like that is too much? Even a genius like me feels despair in front of her. This kind of person who leaves you speechless is really infuriating.”
Tang Thirty-Six glanced at him and said, “Both you and she are friends who leave people speechless, but your methods are completely different. She really is… too special. In fact, many people think that only Autumn Mountain Jun could face a girl like that and remain calm as usual, right?”
After saying this, seeing that Chen Changsheng had no response, he took his leave and left the inn.
After the young man in blue left, Chen Changsheng wiped the table until it was spotless. Rarely, he didn’t bathe, and unusually, he didn’t read. Instead, he walked into the courtyard, dragged a bamboo recliner under the tree, and through the sparse petals and thickening green leaves, gazed at the beautiful stars in the night sky, his face expressionless.
Hearing the names Xu Yourong and Autumn Mountain Jun again, his expression didn’t change, but his emotions inevitably stirred. After all, he was only a fourteen-year-old boy. That faintly sour, melancholy feeling was something he had always rejected in the past, but since entering the capital, he had already experienced it twice.
Failing four consecutive academy exams because of the Eastern Divine General’s Mansion made him angry. The palace suppressing Starfall Academy’s decision wasn’t due to the mansion but surely because of her, which made him even angrier. Coupled with this sour mood, he found himself increasingly disliking that girl named Xu Yourong.
Back in the temple as a child, he had told his senior brother that he might learn to hate, but he would never learn to dislike.
Now, however, he was beginning to dislike that girl.
Yes, even the Heavenly Phoenix True Maiden, who silenced countless sect geniuses and snowfield youths, was just a girl in Chen Changsheng’s mind.
He remembered very clearly: she was born on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, three days younger than him.
One day was still a difference, let alone three.
That woman named Xu Yourong was really annoying.
Chen Changsheng’s mood grew worse and worse. He thought, why did his master arrange such a marriage for him? He jumped up from the recliner, untied a bamboo object from his belt, and placed it into the deepest box in his luggage. Then he washed his face and hands, scrubbing himself clean, and finally felt much better.
In that box was a marriage contract. The bamboo object was something sent from the capital when he was eleven. He remembered the white crane that delivered it, the letter that came with it, the words in that letter, and he remembered very clearly that after that day, the white crane never came again.
That night.
A white crane landed on the peak of the Southern Sacred Maiden Peak.
Under a sky full of stars, a young girl sat by the cliff.