Chapter 11: Discussing Matters Together
“You don’t need to worry about it. I’ll handle it,” Tang Thirty-Six said directly, without much explanation. “If I can’t even solve this, then I’m not worthy of being called Tang Thirty-Six.”
These words were spoken with immense confidence, but Chen Changsheng and Xuan Yuan Po were more concerned about three other issues. First, this bowl of soy milk had collected a lot of rainwater—how diluted must it be? Second, the fried dough stick he’d been holding in his hand for so long—how dirty was it? And finally, Tang Thirty-Six changing his name was a common occurrence; how reliable did this promise really sound?
He wasn’t originally called Tang Thirty-Six. His real name was Tang Tang. And now that he had entered the upper level of Penetrating Darkness, he would inevitably leave the Azure Cloud List and enter the Gold Touch List. It was just unknown what rank he’d hold. It couldn’t possibly be as coincidental as thirty-six again, could it? Last time, when the Azure Cloud List was updated, he used the excuse that the rank didn’t sound good to avoid changing his name. This time, he couldn’t fool them with the same excuse.
Xuan Yuan Po felt Tang Thirty-Six’s words lacked sincerity. Shaking his head, he walked out.
Chen Changsheng wanted to ask for clarification, but then thought better of it. He truly didn’t understand these matters, so why trouble himself? He asked, “What do you think your new name will be this time?”
“I figure… at least I should make it into the top thirty, right?”
“That’s the Gold Touch List, not the Azure Cloud List.”
“So what? I’m at the upper level of Penetrating Darkness now. As long as I don’t slack off, I’ll catch up to you in no time,” Tang Thirty-Six said smugly.
His face was covered in dust, but one could still see his skin had grown paler, and he’d lost a lot of weight. Clearly, his training at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum had been extremely grueling.
To enter the Gold Touch List at this age, and with the confidence to rank in the top thirty, was an exceedingly rare feat. He had every right to be proud.
Chen Changsheng was genuinely happy for him and said, “Keep up the hard work.”
Tang Thirty-Six found the remark a bit off-putting and said, “You really think you’re the dean, don’t you?”
Chen Changsheng chuckled, about to apologize, but Tang Thirty-Six suddenly sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Thinking about you and Xu Yourong charging ahead so fast, my incredible achievement can’t even shake the world—only my relatives in Wenchuan. It’s really boring.”
After saying this, Tang Thirty-Six stood up, glanced around the library, and suddenly asked, “I can accept that Princess Luoluo didn’t come to welcome me, but what about Zhe Xiu?”
In his mind, the wolf-clan youth Zhe Xiu was a top-quality recruit he’d bought for the National Academy with a hefty sum. Now that the National Academy faced problems that needed solving, he couldn’t let him slip away.
Chen Changsheng said, “There’s something I haven’t had a chance to tell you.”
Tang Thirty-Six turned to face him and asked, “What is it?”
Chen Changsheng replied, “Zhe Xiu is currently in the Zhou Prison.”
From the time Chen Changsheng and Zhe Xiu left the Heavenly Book Mausoleum and entered the Zhou Garden until today, this story seemed long, but telling it didn’t take much time—not even enough for the fried dough stick in the soy milk to soften completely.
“So… that many things happened,” Tang Thirty-Six said. “Let’s set other matters aside for now. But we paid for Zhe Xiu, so we need to get him out as soon as possible.”
Since Zhe Xiu was bought with the National Academy’s money, he belonged to the National Academy. And if he belonged to the National Academy, the National Academy had to protect him. It was a simple principle.
Moreover, the Zhou Prison was a terrifying place. Every day spent there felt like a year in the abyss of hell.
Chen Changsheng was also very worried about Zhe Xiu. But with the National Church and the imperial court locked in a standoff, and internal issues within the Li Palace, and Cardinal Meilisha’s failing health, he didn’t know what to do.
“In a way, Zhou Tong is like Tianhai Ya’er, whom you couldn’t handle—just infinitely more terrifying and powerful. To achieve his goals, he’ll do anything, no matter how cruel or disgusting. Everyone knows he’s Her Holiness’s mad dog. Whoever she tells him to bite, he bites. Against someone like that, no strategy or scheme is useful.”
“But why is he fixated on the National Academy?”
“Because His Holiness the Pope has stated that the Great Zhou throne should be returned to the imperial clan. But Her Holiness clearly doesn’t think so.”
Chen Changsheng lowered his head and said, “Actually… I don’t really understand what’s so important about the throne.”
Tang Thirty-Six stared at him as if he were a monster and said, “That’s the Great Zhou throne. That’s supreme power. That’s a temptation no one can resist.”
Chen Changsheng looked up at him and said, “But I truly don’t see what’s so good about it. I just think spending time and energy on such things is really pointless.”
Tang Thirty-Six looked into his eyes—so clear and pure, without any pretense—and couldn’t help but be moved. “Do you really think that way?”
“Yes,” Chen Changsheng said.
“Chen Changsheng, you really are a monster—a true monster, not a freak like Tianhai Ya’er.”
Tang Thirty-Six said to him, “You can’t understand people like us, and I find it hard to understand you. How can you truly not care about these things?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, “Maybe because I’ve seen something more important?”
“Like what?”
“…Life and death.”
Beyond life and death, all else is trivial.
Life and death are the great matters.
In life, there are no greater affairs—only life and death bind us.
These were words from ancient texts.
Chen Changsheng had read through the Daoist canon and remembered many things, but he didn’t need them. Remembering just the two words “life and death” was enough.
For ordinary people, life and death lay a hundred years away.
For cultivators, life and death lay centuries away.
For Chen Changsheng, life and death had always been right before his eyes, within a single thought, never leaving his mind.
With life and death in front of him, how could he be interested in the attachments of life? At least, not until he solved his own problem.
Tang Thirty-Six didn’t know about Chen Changsheng’s problem, but upon hearing the words “life and death,” he inexplicably felt that the rain outside the window brought a chill that didn’t belong to summer.
Chen Changsheng then thought of other things.
He thought of the ailing Cardinal, the internal strife within the National Church, and what Su Li had once said to him. “Is this world really so unbearable?”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “At least it won’t be as clean as we hope. No one understands why you became the dean of the National Academy.”
Even after his successive great contributions to the National Church and the Great Zhou at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum and the Zhou Garden, at sixteen years old, Chen Changsheng had no reason to become the dean of the National Academy.
In the eyes of Tang Thirty-Six and many others unaware of the inside story, there must be something fishy about this—some shady deals or hidden truths.
Chen Changsheng didn’t think those things couldn’t be brought to light. At least, he could tell Tang Thirty-Six.
“My teacher is the senior brother of His Holiness the Pope.”
His gaze passed through the window and fell on the lush, green campus of the National Academy. “He was the former dean of the National Academy.”
Tang Thirty-Six was stunned—more shocked than when he’d heard Chen Changsheng’s story about Su Li and the events in Xunyang City.
The bloodbath at the National Academy over a decade ago had directly or indirectly changed the entire human world, even greatly affecting the Eternal Life Sect and Li Mountain in the south.
The former dean of the National Academy was a figure no one could forget, though his name had long been erased from the National Church’s records and strictly forbidden to be mentioned in the capital.
“No wonder you, just a rural young Daoist, could read through the Daoist canon. His Holiness made you the dean of the National Academy to groom you as his successor… No wonder Zhou Tong is targeting the National Academy.” Tang Thirty-Six stared at him, murmuring. “So you’re the sole heir of that great figure.”
Chen Changsheng said, “No, I also have a senior brother.”
When he left Xining Town, his teacher had given him some instructions, so he rarely mentioned his senior brother in the capital. So far, he had only acknowledged it to a few people like Xu Yourong and Tang Thirty-Six.
Tang Thirty-Six asked, “You have a senior brother? What kind of person is he?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and found it hard to describe Yu Ren with words. Perhaps because his senior brother never spoke?
“Senior brother… is an extraordinary person.”
“How extraordinary? More extraordinary than me?”
“Senior brother is ten thousand times more extraordinary than the old you. Now that you’ve started working hard, he’s still a hundred times more extraordinary than you.”
Chen Changsheng said this without any deliberate mockery or disdain—it was a conclusion reached after careful thought.
Tang Thirty-Six was silent for a long time, then said, “He really does seem like an extraordinary person.”
Chen Changsheng said, “Yes, he’s my idol.”
Tang Thirty-Six suddenly asked, “What exactly does your teacher want to do?”
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
Tang Thirty-Six stared into his eyes. “You should understand very well what I mean.”
Since Ji Dao Ren was not just Ji Dao Ren but also the former dean of the National Academy and a leader opposing Tianhai Empress Dowager, then everything he did deserved careful consideration.
He should have known that Chen Changsheng’s origins couldn’t remain a secret forever. Through the attitudes of Meilisha and the Pope, it could even be confirmed that he had contacted the Li Palace before Chen Changsheng arrived in the capital. Then he should have known even more that Tianhai Empress Dowager would eventually learn of Chen Changsheng’s origins, sooner or later. This meant Chen Changsheng’s situation would become extremely difficult, even dangerous. Yet he still insisted on sending Chen Changsheng to the capital for the exams, without any explanation. Why? Just because of that marriage contract with Xu Yourong?
This was a very important question. Only Chen Changsheng had never thought about it—or rather, he deliberately avoided thinking about it.
Until Tang Thirty-Six pierced that window paper.
“Reporting to you, sir. The latest news from Hanshan Commandery confirms that a traveling doctor named Ji did pass through, but when the scouts arrived, he had vanished without a trace.”
“Someone like Dean Shang—Her Holiness couldn’t even kill him back then. How could people like us find him?”
Zhou Tong sat behind his desk, reviewing the dozen or so interrogation records sent from the front courtyard the previous night, not lifting his head.
The subordinate standing before the desk said in a low voice, “According to the information from Xining Town, we’ve verified that Ji Dao Ren… the traitor Shang indeed has another disciple.”
Zhou Tong’s finger, which was turning a page, paused. Then he lifted his head.
(Coming home really does make a huge difference in my state of mind.)