Chapter 144: What Did You Do in Your Past Life?
A punch, another punch, and yet again, just a single punch. There were no techniques, no regard for magical artifacts, no visible manifestation of true essence—only strength and speed. What kind of approach was this?
One had to remember that the former National Academy was nothing like this. In those days, whether teachers or students, all were profound and exquisite in their Daoist arts, their actions carrying an air of transcendence and the bearing of Daoist masters.
This year, the National Academy had reopened its doors for enrollment. For many old-timers associated with the academy, this signified many things. They had thought that over a decade was but a speck of dust in the long river of time, that many things remained unchanged. As long as the National Academy was revived, they could once again witness the glorious scenes of yesteryear. Who would have imagined that the current National Academy was no longer the one they had envisioned? Although Xuan Yuan Po and Chen Changsheng had won consecutively, the former elegance of the National Academy had long since vanished. At the thought of this, the minds of that priest from the Palace of Departure and many examiners in the Dust-Washing Pavilion inevitably grew complicated.
In midair above the Zhaowen Hall, a light mirror floated. In the lower right corner of its surface were painted several green leaves, and what it displayed was precisely the scene inside the Dust-Washing Pavilion. The people in the hall watched Chen Changsheng’s retreating figure as he walked out of the building, watched the slowly closing door, and couldn’t help but feel the same sentiment.
Prince Chenliu and Mo Yu, the Archbishop Meri Sar, the deans and archbishops of the various Green Vine Academies in the capital, Xue Xingchuan and Xu Shiji representing the military, Lord Zhou Tong sitting alone in a corner, and several representatives from southern sects—there were many important figures in the Zhaowen Hall at this moment. They were now looking at Mao Qiuyu, the dean of the Heavenly Dao Academy, whose student had just suffered a crushing defeat at Chen Changsheng’s hands. Some even recognized that the oil-paper umbrella was Mao Qiuyu’s personal magical artifact from his youth when he traveled the continent, and they thought his mood must be extremely terrible right now. However, contrary to what people imagined, there was no anger on Mao Qiuyu’s face; his expression was calm as usual.
Seeing nothing on Mao Qiuyu’s face, people instinctively turned to look at the Archbishop. Yet they found that the old man still had his eyes closed, as if asleep. This was naturally a display of great confidence in Chen Changsheng and the National Academy. Earlier, some had thought this confidence would become a joke, but who could have imagined that Chen Changsheng would achieve such a clean and decisive victory in his first match? They couldn’t help but worry whether they themselves might become the joke.
Whether it was the examiners in the Dust-Washing Pavilion or the important figures in the Zhaowen Hall watching the matches through the light mirror, they were all stunned by Chen Changsheng’s performance. People found it hard to understand: this young man from the National Academy had only recently succeeded in marrow cleansing, and his true essence reserves were quite ordinary, so why did he possess such astonishing strength?
“His strength has nothing to do with the amount of true essence. It should be that his marrow cleansing was exceptionally perfect, or perhaps he’s had some fortuitous encounter these past days. That is pure, absolute strength.”
As the second-ranked divine general on the continent, Xue Xingchuan had experienced countless battles and had a particularly profound understanding of strength. Seeing the puzzled expressions of the crowd, he spoke calmly.
As he said this, he glanced at the Archbishop. A perfect-level marrow cleansing was extremely rare, and if fortuitous encounters were so common, how could they be called extraordinary? In his mind, whether Chen Changsheng had obtained such pure, absolute strength through one means or another, it must have been a blessing bestowed by the Archbishop.
But for Chen Changsheng to accept and digest it well was also no easy feat. Xue Xingchuan turned to look at Xu Shiji, who sat on his left with a cold, silent expression. He thought to himself that such a son-in-law, though not as good as Qiu Shan Jun, was still decent enough. As the two divine generals most trusted by Her Holiness the Saint Empress in the military, he wondered if he should advise Xu Shiji when the time was right.
Chen Changsheng’s unexpected display of strength had made the Zhaowen Hall fall silent. After Xue Xingchuan spoke, no one said anything for a long time, until Mo Yu’s cold voice broke the silence.
“Relying solely on strength will never get you very far.”
The Zhaowen Hall fell silent again. Everyone knew her words were not wrong—without the support of cultivation realms and sufficient true essence reserves, no matter how great the strength, it could only be effective in low-level battles. Once faced with a higher realm, it would be directly crushed. If Chen Changsheng had no other tricks up his sleeve, he definitely wouldn’t be able to make it to the end in the matches, and it was even highly possible he would lose in the very next round.
A piercing howl came from within the Dust-Washing Pavilion.
The candidates’ expressions changed abruptly, unsure of what had happened inside. Gou Han Shi and Tianhai Shengxue’s faces grew serious. Clearly, these two young experts who had already reached the Tongyou realm perceived things more clearly.
Not long after, the door of the Dust-Washing Pavilion opened again, and Chen Changsheng walked out. His right foot was bare, his boot nowhere to be seen, making him look somewhat disheveled. But aside from that, there was no trace of intense battle on him, as if he had just taken a stroll inside.
Outside the Dust-Washing Pavilion, it was utterly silent. Not a single candidate spoke, their emotions complex. Their gazes followed him as he walked down the stone steps and all the way to the edge of the grove.
“Not bad at all!” Tang Thirty-Six reached out and patted him on the shoulder in praise.
Xuan Yuan Po looked at him without speaking, his eyes full of admiration.
Su Moyu thought to himself that although that student from the Heavenly Dao Academy had an ordinary cultivation realm and wasn’t particularly strong, if he had been the one facing him, he could have won easily too, but it would have been hard to do it as quickly as Chen Changsheng. It seemed that some classmates’ private speculations before the Grand Examination were correct—he had indeed been hiding his strength all along.
Luo Luo laughed happily, her giggles as crisp as silver bells.
The little girl wanted to wipe Chen Changsheng’s sweat for him, but found that he hadn’t sweated at all, making her even more proud. She thought to herself that her teacher was indeed no ordinary person, just as she had imagined months ago.
She was very curious about how Chen Changsheng had defeated his opponent, so she asked. Chen Changsheng briefly recounted what had happened, without explaining too much.
Xuan Yuan Po handed the two top-grade spirit stones to Chen Changsheng, but Chen Changsheng shook his head, indicating they weren’t needed. He hadn’t consumed any true essence in that match, so there was no need for replenishment.
The candidates’ gazes still lingered on Chen Changsheng. Not long ago, he had been a cultivation beginner who couldn’t even succeed in marrow cleansing, yet today he had so easily defeated the personal disciple of the Heavenly Dao Academy’s dean. Logically, they should have been more shocked. But from the Green Vine Banquet to the reshuffling of the Azure Cloud Rankings, and then to the Archbishop’s declaration on Chen Changsheng’s behalf, Chen Changsheng had already been pushed to a very high position. Though people had no evidence, they always felt he must have some hidden strength. With that psychological preparation or expectation, they were indeed surprised now, but not to the point of losing composure.
What people were more concerned about now was his true level of strength and cultivation realm, and how he had managed to defeat that Heavenly Dao Academy student in such a short time. After all, discerning young cultivators like Gou Han Shi had long realized that the umbrella was a very powerful magical artifact.
Speaking of which, Chen Changsheng was very grateful that the first round of today’s matches was a closed-door trial. The losers would be directly sent out of the academy, unable to report the details of the match to their classmates. The methods used by the victors would remain unknown to others, which greatly helped him keep his secrets and techniques.
The Grand Examination continued. The sixty-second candidate reluctantly chose Su Moyu, and then the next candidate chose Tang Thirty-Six. These two matches proceeded without a hitch, with no surprises. Su Moyu and Tang Thirty-Six both emerged victorious.
The candidates outside the building only faintly heard the second losing candidate angrily shout “unfair” a few times. It was indeed hard to call it fair when someone who had performed well in the martial exam and ranked in the first half ended up facing young prodigies like Su Moyu and Tang Thirty-Six. One could only say that these two candidates had exceptionally bad luck.
The first round of matches finally reached its last moment. The final candidate looked at the presiding priest from the Palace of Departure and asked, “Her Highness’s ranking doesn’t count toward the results. How is this calculated?”
The candidate looked dejected, evoking sympathy.
The priest from the Palace of Departure said expressionlessly, “That’s not something you need to worry about.”
The candidate had no choice but to turn and bow to Luo Luo, saying, “Please grant me your guidance, Your Highness.”
A few claps sounded from the crowd. At such a moment, facing an opponent like Her Highness Luo Luo, this candidate hadn’t directly given up or conceded, which was indeed worthy of applause.
Unfortunately, whether worthy of sympathy or applause, it couldn’t change the outcome.
A tremendous roar came from within the Dust-Washing Pavilion, as if a mountain had collapsed.
The next moment, Luo Luo walked out of the Dust-Washing Pavilion, came to Chen Changsheng, her small face full of joy, and said, “Teacher, I only used one punch too.”
She wasn’t being smug—ranked second on the Azure Cloud Rankings, at the peak among the younger generation of cultivators, defeating an ordinary candidate was nothing to boast about. She was happy because she had ended her match in the same way Chen Changsheng had.
Xuan Yuan Po, Chen Changsheng, and Luo Luo had each ended their matches with just one punch. The candidates outside the Dust-Washing Pavilion had heard three sounds: thunder, a dragon’s roar, and a mountain falling.
Tang Thirty-Six hadn’t used his fist; he had directly employed the most powerful move among the Wenshui Three Styles. At that time, the candidates outside the Listening Dust Pavilion heard the sound of swords from inside and thought the river had burst its banks.
“Is that really necessary?” Guan Feibai looked at the three youths and the girl by the grove, raising an eyebrow.
He and the other three senior brothers of the Lishan Sword Sect could have ended their matches just as quickly, or even faster, and made an even bigger commotion if they had needed to step into the arena. But as he said, it was just an ordinary match—did they need to make such a big fuss?
Regardless of how it looked or what they thought, the fact was that all four members of the National Academy had passed the first round of the Grand Examination matches. Thus, the sixty-four candidates advancing to the second round were all selected.
Some candidates were confident in their written exam scores and, considering the overall results, believed they could make it into the top forty-three. Having achieved their goal of reaching the top three in the Grand Examination, they naturally relaxed, happy smiles spreading across their faces. Others, who felt their written exam scores were mediocre, grew even more silent and tense, even anxious. If they wanted to reach the top three, they needed to perform better in the matches, winning at least one more round to have a chance. But just like cultivation, the further one went in the matches, the stronger the opponents became, and the harder it was to advance.
After the first round of matches, there was a brief rest period. The candidates sat on the ground outside the Dust-Washing Pavilion, eating the dry rations they had brought. Some seized the opportunity to meditate and recover their true essence.
Lady Li led several maids to the front of the Dust-Washing Pavilion, spread out a picnic cloth, and laid out various delicacies. Since they were already living in the academy with Luo Luo, perhaps that was why no priest stopped them.
Was this the Grand Examination or a picnic? Watching the scenes by the grove, the candidates found the dry rations in their mouths growing increasingly bland, and envy welled up within them. Especially when they saw Her Highness Luo Luo kneeling beside Chen Changsheng, feeding him roasted meat with an ebony chopstick, that envy naturally escalated into jealousy.
Guan Feibai looked over there and sighed deeply, saying, “Chen Changsheng must have saved the entire human world in his past life.”
Gou Han Shi smiled and said, “Then he should have saved White Emperor City first.”
(What did everyone do in their past lives? I was going to say I don’t know what evil deeds I did in my past life... but then I glanced back at my boss, spread my hands, and withdrew that statement. Just one chapter today.)