Chapter 158: Lone Star of Doom
The Academy was the Pope’s Green Leaf World. This world should also have day and night, but during the Grand Examination, the candidates could not see them. They could only rely on their senses to guess what time it was in the real world. They did not know that outside it was already late at night, but fatigue and drowsiness still arrived as expected.
Before the fifth round of the Grand Examination duels, there was a supplementary match. From thirty-third to sixty-fourth place, except for Tianhai Shengxue and a few candidates who were too injured to continue, the remaining twenty or so candidates still had to make their final efforts for their ultimate rankings in the Grand Examination. However, before this, there was a period of rest.
The priests of the Li Palace distributed food, water, and pills to the candidates. The National Academy had Luo Luo making arrangements, so naturally, their provisions were more abundant. The four of them sat by the forest, eating their meals while discussing the upcoming duels in low voices. Tang Thirty-Six and Xuanyuan Po’s supplementary matches were nothing much to talk about; their main focus was analyzing Chen Changsheng’s opponents.
Gou Hanshi appeared calm and composed, giving off an aura of invincibility. Besides him, the wolf clan youth Zheshe was undoubtedly the most dangerous opponent. Although he had fought fiercely against Guan Feibai and Qijian in two consecutive battles, suffering considerable losses and some serious injuries, he could still not be underestimated.
If Chen Changsheng wanted to secure a high rank in the Grand Examination, these two were the peaks he had to overcome.
Thinking of this, Tang Thirty-Six suddenly lost interest in the matter, because no matter how he looked at it, Chen Changsheng couldn’t possibly defeat these two.
He looked toward the stream bank and suddenly said, “Don’t you think those four from Li Mountain are very similar to our four?”
The four from the Li Mountain Sword Sect were eating and chatting by the stream, the atmosphere seeming quite pleasant.
Far away from the crowd, Zheshe was also eating.
He ate in silence, his movements very slow, appearing exceptionally serious, as if the ordinary food provided by the Li Palace was the most delicious delicacy in the world.
Tang Thirty-Six looked at that spot and said with a hint of mockery, “I thought this wolf cub wouldn’t eat.”
Xuanyuan Po was puzzled and said, “How can he not eat?”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “I thought he only ate ice and snow, chewed on raw meat, or drank blood or something.”
Chen Changsheng said, “That’s a monster.”
Tang Thirty-Six asked very seriously, “Don’t you think he’s a monster?”
Xuanyuan Po thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, “I think he’s okay.”
Tang Thirty-Six couldn’t be bothered with him and turned to ask, “Chen Changsheng, you can’t beat him, can you?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, “Maybe.”
Tang Thirty-Six looked at Zheshe in the distance and suddenly said, “I suddenly have an urge.”
Chen Changsheng asked curiously, “What urge?”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “The urge to make friends with this wolf cub.”
Chen Changsheng stared at him for a long time, confirmed he was serious, and was quite surprised. After thinking it over, he said, “Does he look like someone who needs friends?”
Before the Grand Examination began, the area outside the Li Palace was packed with people. Zheshe watched the sunrise alone. After entering the Zhaowen Hall, he directly left the written exam site, walked alone through that forest, crossed that green river, stood in the pavilion on the mountain, with his back to all the candidates, as lonely as if he had no mother. Would someone like that need friends?
“Don’t you think he’s solitary?” Tang Thirty-Six asked Chen Changsheng and the others.
Here, he said “solitary,” not “lonely” or “isolated,” just the single word “solitary,” making it seem even more profound.
Chen Changsheng was stunned for a moment and said, “Anyone can see that, so I don’t think he needs friends.”
Tang Thirty-Six wagged his finger and said, “I completely disagree with you. I think someone as solitary as him needs friends the most.”
Xuanyuan Po asked curiously from the side, “You want to be friends with Zheshe?”
“Is that not allowed?” Tang Thirty-Six retorted.
Chen Changsheng’s gaze fell on the outskirts of the crowd, looking at the wolf clan youth who was eating in silence with his head down. After a moment of silence, he said, “I thought you didn’t like people like him.”
Tang Thirty-Six’s gaze followed his, also landing on Zheshe, and he said, “Yes, imitating solitude, pretending to be hopeless—I used to do that kind of thing often… You know, I detest that version of myself, so naturally, I wouldn’t like him either.”
Chen Changsheng withdrew his gaze, looked at him, and asked, “Then you still insist on being friends with him?”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “If he becomes our friend, would he still have the nerve to be too harsh on you and Princess Luo Luo?”
Xuanyuan Po couldn’t help but sigh, “The elders in the tribe were right… humans really are all bad people.”
“Not humans,” Chen Changsheng corrected. “It’s a human named Tang Tang.”
Tang Thirty-Six couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. He stood up, patted the grass clippings off his pants, and said, “It can’t hurt to try. He can’t just kill me in front of so many people, can he?”
Luo Luo hadn’t spoken until now, when she softly said, “The teacher is right. Solitary people don’t necessarily need friends… at least… Zhefu Zheshe wouldn’t be that kind of person.”
Chen Changsheng glanced at her but didn’t say anything.
Tang Thirty-Six picked up the half-eaten roast chicken from the mat, grabbed two pieces of oil paper to wrap it up haphazardly, and walked toward the outskirts of the crowd.
The conversation among the National Academy members hadn’t attracted attention, but when he suddenly left the forest bank, and judging by his direction, he seemed to be heading toward Zhefu Zheshe, it immediately drew everyone’s gaze. The candidates were very surprised, wondering what he was doing. The girls from the Qingyao Thirteen Division and the Holy Maiden Peak even showed worried expressions.
In these girls’ eyes, no matter how harsh Tang Thirty-Six’s words were or how arrogant his actions, he was always an ethereal and refined young noble. And no matter how silent Zheshe was or how many merits he had earned for humans and demons, he was always a cold-blooded monster with blood on his hands. Seeing him walking toward Zheshe now, they couldn’t help but worry.
This world that judges by appearance really isn’t fair.
The four from the Li Mountain Sword Sect, who were eating and chatting by the stream, were also surprised. Guan Feibai looked at Tang Thirty-Six with a strange expression and asked, “What kind of madness is this guy up to now?”
During the Green Vine Banquet, Tang Thirty-Six had cursed Li Mountain too harshly, so Guan Feibai had no goodwill toward him. Qijian looked at the wolf clan youth on the outskirts of the crowd, his nostrils flaring slightly, his breathing becoming heavier, clearly very angry. Gou Hanshi was puzzled, wondering what had happened between his junior brother and Zheshe in that previous battle to make him so angry.
The stone square in front of the Xichen Building was vast, with lush trees and a babbling stream. The place where Zheshe sat had nothing but a smooth rock.
Tang Thirty-Six walked up to that rock, looked at Zheshe, who was kneeling or rather crouching on the ground in that strange posture, and suddenly hesitated.
Zheshe ignored him, eating in silence.
Tang Thirty-Six watched him silently for a while, then suddenly said, “If others noticed the details of how you eat, they would definitely think you’re terrifying.”
Zheshe took a sip of the juice provided by the Li Palace, then raised his head to look at him.
From the start of the Grand Examination until now, Tang Thirty-Six was the first person to actively speak to him.
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and said, “You eat very slowly, not at all generously, more like a young lady in her boudoir. When you chew, you’re very serious—twelve times for rice, thirty times for beef… This isn’t interesting; it only proves that you’re extremely self-disciplined. In other words, you’re very harsh on yourself.”
Zheshe stared at him quietly, his eyes devoid of any emotion, but he didn’t lower his head to continue eating, ending this one-sided conversation.
“Maybe it’s because there’s too little food on the snow plains, or because there’s a lack of medicine there, and no female priests from the Qingyao Thirteen Division to treat your injuries at any time, so you’ve lived a hard life. You cherish every bit of food you can get, but you never overeat to avoid physical problems. In that kind of godforsaken place, even a simple stomach ache could make life worse than death.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “But I don’t find you terrifying because of this, because I’ve met someone very similar to you. That guy also pays attention to every detail in life. I often think that people like you, people who are so afraid of death, really should get to know each other.”
He was, of course, referring to Chen Changsheng.
Zheshe followed his finger to look toward the forest bank, was silent for a moment, then lowered his head to continue eating, ignoring him.
Tang Thirty-Six placed the oil paper bundle in front of him, unwrapped it, and asked, “Do you need friends?”
Inside the oil paper was half a roast chicken. Half a roast chicken had only one drumstick, which Chen Changsheng had already given to Luo Luo earlier, so it was incomplete. It had been sitting for a while, the chicken had cooled, and the chicken fat had congealed on the greasy skin, making it look not very appealing. The most critical issue was that roast chicken really wasn’t healthy food.
Yet, for some reason, after seeing this roast chicken, Zheshe actually spoke.
Since the Grand Examination began, he had only spoken two sentences, and most people hadn’t heard them. No one knew what his voice sounded like. It was only now that Tang Thirty-Six realized his voice wasn’t hoarse or unpleasant, with no resemblance to the legendary wolf howl.
Zheshe’s voice was very cold, his speech very slow, with long pauses between words, like a child just learning to speak or a mute who had suddenly found his voice.
He looked at Tang Thirty-Six expressionlessly and said, extremely slowly, “My fate is cursed with a lone star of doom, destined to be alone for life. So, I have no friends.”
In the sky, there were countless stars. Perhaps one star was far from the sea of stars, in a corner easily overlooked, utterly solitary.
Or perhaps that star was truly named the Lone Star of Doom.
Or perhaps the destiny star that Zheshe had ignited was really that Lone Star of Doom.
But regardless of whether any of this was true, the coldness in his words was very clear. He didn’t need friends; he wanted to push everyone away.
If it were an ordinary person, they might back down at this point.
But Tang Tang was no ordinary person; he was a chatterbox.
After befriending Chen Changsheng, especially after officially entering the National Academy, this hidden trait of his had been fully unleashed.
“Having no friends doesn’t mean you don’t need them. What do you think of me?”
He looked at Zheshe with sincere emotion.