Chapter 42: Laughter
The National Teaching Academy was positioned on the same level as the other five schools of the Ivy Six, but it was tucked away in the most remote corner, extremely secluded. Moreover, it had only one mat, making it look rather desolate and shabby. However, Chen Changsheng and Luoluo were not the type of people to care about such things, so they casually sat down.
"Do you know that student from the Heavenly Dao Academy from earlier?" Chen Changsheng asked.
Luoluo thought for a moment and said, "When I came to the Heavenly Dao Academy before, I saw him a few times."
Chen Changsheng recalled the scene of him being surrounded like stars around the moon and said, "He seems quite famous, doesn't he?"
This time, Luoluo didn't need time to think. "Zhuang Huanyu. Many people call him Young Master Huanyu."
Chen Changsheng remembered that he seemed to have seen this name on the stone wall of the Ancestral Temple. It ranked very high on the Azure Cloud List. Thinking that Luoluo had blurted out the person's name without hesitation, he teased, "I didn't expect you to know his name."
Luoluo pouted and said, "Teacher, you just said it yourself—he's very famous."
Chen Changsheng said, "Given your personality, even the most famous person might not be someone you'd recognize."
Luoluo stuck out her tongue sheepishly and said, "He's too close by. There's really no way I couldn't know his name."
Chen Changsheng didn't fully grasp what she meant by that. He thought she was referring to the time she had studied at the Heavenly Dao Academy. He looked toward the seating area of the Heavenly Dao Academy, confirmed that he hadn't missed anything earlier, and said with some confusion, "That guy really didn't come after all."
Luoluo knew who he was talking about and asked curiously, "Teacher, do you really know Tang Thirty-Six?"
Chen Changsheng said, "Even though I have no idea how I came to know him... I do indeed know him."
As they spoke, the preparations for the Ivy Banquet were fully complete. All the seats beneath the drapes were filled, and the professors and students of the Ivy Six had all arrived. The last to enter were the instructor of the Heavenly Dao Academy, who was hosting this year's Ivy Banquet, and two important figures representing the imperial court and the state religion.
The Archdeacon of the State Religion's Ecclesiastical Office, Lord Merisa, and... the Eastern Divine General, Xu Shiji.
When the two important figures entered the hall, all the professors and students inside rose to pay their respects, like a surging tide.
Merisa had presided over the Ecclesiastical Office for many years and wielded immense influence among the various academies in the capital. Most importantly, he was a trusted confidant of His Holiness the Pope. The Eastern Divine General, Xu Shiji, held a lower rank than the Archdeacon, but he had achieved remarkable military exploits over the years and was greatly trusted and valued by Her Holiness the Empress. Moreover, the entire continent knew that he had fathered an exceptional daughter.
The Ivy Banquet was a grand gathering of the Zhou Dynasty's young prodigies. The entire hall was filled with outstanding youths, but when they thought of that fourteen-year-old girl on the Sacred Maiden Peak, and looked up at that name on the Azure Cloud List—a name that seemed carved into bronze, indelible—who dared to call themselves a prodigy?
Chen Changsheng looked at Xu Shiji, seated at the highest position, his expression calm, as if he had never heard that name before. Only Luoluo noticed that his breathing was slightly quicker than usual. It was still steady, but it was indeed a bit faster. Having spent many days with him, she knew this meant his emotions were somewhat unsettled.
This was Chen Changsheng's first time seeing Xu Shiji.
In fact, one of the reasons he had agreed to attend today's Ivy Banquet was that Priest Xin had told him Xu Shiji would be present to observe. He wanted to see what the man who had nearly become his father-in-law, and who had nearly plunged him into an abyss of ruin, looked like.
Xu Shiji appeared to be just an ordinary middle-aged man, but of course, he was anything but ordinary. Chen Changsheng looked at him from afar, sensing that restrained yet imposing aura of majesty and slaughter, along with a very faint smell of blood. His clear, straight brows slowly rose, and his nostrils flared slightly—this was not a scent he liked.
He thought again of the Lady Xu he had met in the Divine General's Mansion, and of the humiliations and setbacks he had suffered since arriving in the capital. His brows rose even higher, his nostrils flared faster and faster, and his breathing grew heavier and heavier.
That such a couple could have a daughter who was the reincarnation of the True Phoenix—truly, the Heavenly Way was hard to call fair.
Luoluo had been watching his reaction all along. She knew his mood was very bad at this moment, but she still couldn't hold back. She lowered her voice cautiously and asked, "Teacher, it really seems like you and Xu Yourong don't get along... Why is that?"
Chen Changsheng was startled for a moment, then said, "I thought you could hold back and not ask."
Luoluo tugged at his sleeve, shaking it coquettishly, and said, "I'm just curious."
Chen Changsheng said helplessly, "I promised someone. I really can't talk about this."
They naturally had no idea how affectionate their hushed conversation looked from the outside, nor did they know that Zhuang Huanyu had caught every bit of it in his peripheral vision.
Zhuang Huanyu's expression remained as calm as usual.
There was another person who also saw Chen Changsheng and Luoluo talking privately, but his expression was far from calm.
The instructor of the Heavenly Dao Academy withdrew his gaze from the corner. His face was cold to the extreme, but strangely enough, he did not reprimand Chen Changsheng and Luoluo, nor did he use the opportunity to vent all his resentment toward the National Teaching Academy. Instead, he calmly continued to preside over the proceedings.
The Ivy Banquet followed all the regulations of the Grand Examination, divided into three rounds: a literary test, a martial test, and a combat match. The order of the rounds could be adjusted freely, but there were still many rules, all of which the Heavenly Dao Academy instructor now recited one by one.
The students seated in the scattered seats beneath the drapes listened very attentively. Unlike the students of the Ivy Six, who had teachers and seniors to explain the procedures and rules of the Grand Examination in detail, this Ivy Banquet was essentially a rehearsal opportunity given to them by the court, so they naturally had to be more diligent.
Chen Changsheng also listened very carefully, not missing a single word. Although the National Teaching Academy was also part of the Ivy Six, he had no teacher and had to rely entirely on himself. Besides wanting to see Xu Yourong's father, the main reason he had come to today's Ivy Banquet was precisely this.
The Ivy Banquet was nominally a gathering, but in reality, it was a rehearsal for the Grand Examination, or rather, a weather vane. Except for the talented disciples of the southern sects, the final rankings of the Ivy Banquet were basically the same as the final rankings of the Grand Examination. Even if there were some changes, they wouldn't be too significant. Cultivation relied on the accumulation of years and the polishing of time. There was only half a year between the Ivy Banquet and the Grand Examination—how could a person's strength and realm undergo earth-shattering changes in that time?
At this year's Ivy Banquet, Chen Changsheng hadn't even succeeded in marrow cleansing yet. He was still an ordinary person who couldn't cultivate, yet he was thinking about taking the top spot in the Grand Examination at the beginning of next year. No wonder Tang Thirty-Six thought he was an idiot, or that he himself was an idiot. Who would believe him, besides Luoluo?
Getting back to the Ivy Banquet, although students taking the preparatory exams occasionally brought great surprises to the human world, most of the time, the students from the major academies still played the leading roles. In the last ten years, the Ivy Banquet had always ended up as a contest between the various academies.
The Ivy Banquet lasted for three days. Tonight was the first night, and it happened to be the combat match. It was easy to imagine that it would be very lively later on. Among the spectators, including officials like Xu Shiji, everyone was wondering whether the Heavenly Dao Academy, as the host this year, would put aside its reserve and let Zhuang Huanyu take the stage.
Zhuang Huanyu was ranked tenth on the Azure Cloud List. That seemed extremely impressive, but considering that the Heavenly Dao Academy was known as the strongest academy on the continent, and he was its representative, it was somewhat hard to justify. Even if he couldn't possibly surpass a peerless bloodline like Xu Yourong, this ranking was still too low.
Only important figures like Xu Shiji knew the reason: ever since Zhuang Huanyu fought a certain member of the Seven Laws of the Divine Kingdom two years ago and secured his tenth-place position on the Azure Cloud List, he had never again challenged those prodigies ranked above him.
This didn't mean he was conservative or timid. It was just that two years ago, he had already turned fifteen. By that time, Qiu Shanjun had already left the Azure Cloud List and was advancing toward the top of the Gilding List. Zhuang Huanyu felt that, under such circumstances, the Azure Cloud List no longer held any meaning for him.
So tonight, would Zhuang Huanyu take the stage?
...
...
The students seated in the scattered seats could voluntarily sign up for tonight's combat match. Although they knew it was extremely difficult to defeat the students of the Ivy Six, who had famous teachers guiding them, they also knew that the Ivy Banquet rarely saw accidents or bloodshed, and it was a rare opportunity for improvement. Therefore, the sign-ups were quite enthusiastic. Subsequently, the other schools of the Ivy Six also submitted the names of their participating students. However, apart from the Heavenly Dao Academy instructor and the two important figures, no one knew who had actually signed up.
Finally, only the National Teaching Academy remained.
Chen Changsheng had confirmed with Priest Xin earlier, and he had clearly heard the rules explained by the Heavenly Dao Academy instructor. He knew that he and Luoluo met the requirements to participate in the Ivy Banquet, so they could enter. But that didn't mean they had to take the stage.
After all, the Ivy Banquet was not the Grand Examination. Given Chen Changsheng's current level of cultivation, if he took the stage... there would definitely be no good outcome. So, of course, he wouldn't take the stage.
That was his plan. But someone wanted to force him to take the stage, to force him into a bad outcome.
The Heavenly Dao Academy instructor looked at the corner and said expressionlessly, "Where is the National Teaching Academy's list?"
According to the old rules of the Ivy Banquet, not signing up was equivalent to admitting defeat, conceding—just a slightly more face-saving method. No one had ever called this out, because it involved the dignity of an academy. If you really pushed the other side into a corner, no one knew what consequences might arise.
Tonight, the Heavenly Dao Academy instructor did exactly that. He didn't care about the National Teaching Academy's dignity, and he cared even less about what consequences might follow. An academy with only two children—after being humiliated, could it possibly unleash some astonishing power? That would be a joke.
The Heavenly Dao Academy instructor's words echoed through the hall.
A moment of silence.
After a while, perhaps seeing the shabby seating of the National Teaching Academy and that lonely pair of young boys and girls, or perhaps recalling the decayed reality and tragic history of the National Teaching Academy, along with the attitudes of Her Holiness the Empress and His Holiness the Pope toward this academy...
Laughter rang out through the hall.
There was amused laughter, and there was mocking laughter.
Some laughter was unintentional, some was deliberate.
But all of it was grating.