Chapter 53: The Stone-Brewing Assembly
To steady one’s heart with strong liquor and enemy blood—when you savor those words, how bold and heroic they sound.
Chen Chou was silent for a moment, then said, “I know that at the very beginning, you were drowning your sorrows over a woman.”
The young officer smiled and said, “Yesterday I received a letter she sent from the south. She found the person she thought had died long ago, and… quite coincidentally, that person is the fiancé she used to dislike the most. Tell me, should I congratulate them, or should I congratulate them?”
Chen Chou looked at him, his gaze now filled with much more sympathy. He patted him on the shoulder and said consolingly, “Then it’s truly over. Don’t think about it anymore.”
Back on that night in the snowy plains when they were besieged by wolf cavalry, they had talked about many things—mostly about men and women. He roughly knew the outline of that story.
The young officer’s eyes suddenly grew bright, as if trying to illuminate the darkness before him, the wind and snow within that darkness, and the road ahead through that wind and snow. He said calmly and firmly, “No. If that person had truly died, I naturally couldn’t compete and would have no hope. But now that he’s come back to life, to me, that means hope has reappeared.”
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At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the Stone-Brewing Assembly was about to convene, and people from all over the continent began to set out.
Unlike the Grand Examination or the Zhou Garden, the Stone-Brewing Assembly was not well-known. It was only circulated among the upper echelons of the cultivation world, and only those who were qualified to receive invitations knew that each assembly was held at the Heavenly Lake deep in the Cold Mountains of the continent’s far northeast. Whether departing from the capital, from Tianliang Commandery, or rushing up from the south, reaching the Heavenly Lake was a long journey. For many, the Stone-Brewing Assembly was less a grand gathering of the cultivation world and more a pilgrimage.
Of course, for cultivators of that level, a journey itself was a form of cultivation. So few would use immortal birds or formations. Instead, they would travel along the continent’s interconnected official roads, cross rivers as dense as a spider’s web, take in the scenery, and walk forward with sincerity.
Legend had it that countless ages ago, countless meteorites fell to the continent as streaks of fire. Many of those meteorites landed where the capital now stands, the yellow earth forming the highest mounds. Those meteorites became the Heavenly Book Monoliths, awakening life and wisdom on the continent—this is now the Heavenly Book Mausoleum. Besides those that fell at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, many meteorites turned to ash in the sky, and many others returned to the sea of stars. Some, fortunate or unfortunate, did not fall into the Heavenly Book Mausoleum nor burn up completely. They became incomplete, genuine stones that landed on the earth, known as Heavenly Stones.
Strangely enough, these Heavenly Stones were not scattered across the continent. Like the situation at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, the vast majority fell in the same place.
That place was the Cold Mountains in the continent’s northeast, especially around the Heavenly Lake at the peak.
Those Heavenly Stones had burned too fiercely, leaving no mysterious lines on their surfaces, nor any of the wondrous properties of the Heavenly Book Monoliths. But since they shared the same origin as the monoliths, they were still incredibly precious to cultivators. It was said that many powerful figures had successfully broken through their original realms by relying on these stones.
The Stone-Brewing Assembly “brewed” these Heavenly Stones—though, of course, they didn’t set up countless stoves by the lake to boil water. The brewing was done in the Heavenly Lake itself, because the lake’s water was formed from hot springs, reaching extremely high temperatures, as if it were a furnace created by heaven and earth.
The Stone-Brewing Assembly was a grand event held by the human world to accelerate the cultivation speed of its practitioners. Any cultivator who ranked among the top at the assembly was entitled to a Heavenly Stone for contemplation and perception. The Heavenly Stones were far less wondrous than the Heavenly Book Monoliths, but the monoliths were locked in the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, while the stones could be kept by one’s side day and night. Thus, for cultivators, the importance of the Heavenly Stones was not inferior to that of the monoliths—and for some, they were even more valuable.
When to hold the Stone-Brewing Assembly, after the Taizong Emperor returned to the sea of stars, was jointly decided by the Five Saints and the Eight Winds and Rains, and organized by the Old Man of Fate. The specific timing depended on the cultivation progress of the younger generation of experts in the cultivation world at the time. The assembly would only be held when it was confirmed that their realms were sufficient to comprehend the Heavenly Stones.
After the generation of the Taizong Emperor gradually withdrew from the stage of history, the cultivation world grew increasingly quiet. The Stone-Brewing Assembly was often not held for decades at a time. It wasn’t until the year Wang Po made his stunning debut that the cultivation world entered an era of blooming wildflowers, and the frequency of the assembly gradually increased.
The most important purpose of the Stone-Brewing Assembly was to help the cultivation geniuses of the human world at critical moments in their training, enabling them to break through the barrier of knowledge and perception as quickly as possible and achieve advancement. Therefore, the number of invitees was very small. This year, for example, there were only a little over thirty young cultivators on the list.
On that list was the great name of Guan Bai from the Heavenly Dao Academy, naturally Qiu Shan Jun, and of course Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng. There was also Gou Hanshi, and Zhong Hui from Huaiyuan Academy, who was fourth on the Gilt Rankings. Zhe Xiu and Tang Thirty-Six hadn’t made it onto the Gilt Rankings, but that didn’t mean the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion didn’t think highly of them, so they were also on the list.
Besides these familiar names, the list also included some lesser-known rogue cultivators and experts from minor sects. Those rogue cultivators and experts were probably around forty years old—still quite young among cultivators—but compared to the young geniuses above, they were noticeably older.
Several hundred cavalrymen of the State Religion escorted a few carriages through the capital.
These State Religion cavalrymen were expressionless and exuded a murderous aura, but they couldn’t stop the capital’s citizens from their determination and courage to watch the excitement.
Mao Qiuyu and the King of Linghai sat in two of the carriages, eyes closed in meditation, as if they couldn’t hear the shouts coming from outside.
Those shouts were all for the person in the carriage behind them.
Inside that carriage, Tang Thirty-Six put down the list in his hand, scratched his ear, which was itching from the noise, and shook his head. “They don’t even know what we’re going to do, so why are they shouting so loudly? And Rou’er… I only gave you a thousand taels of silver last night, and now you’re putting on this farewell-to-your-husband act again?”
He looked at the sorrowful young dancer leaning against the railing in a building by the street, his expression very awkward.
No one paid him any attention, and no one looked at him—otherwise, he might have been even more embarrassed.
Zhe Xiu had his eyes closed, resting. True essence scraped through his malformed meridians like a small knife, yet no pain showed on his face.
Chen Changsheng was reading a scroll of Daoist scriptures, his expression focused and serious. In his sea of consciousness, he was constantly calculating how to break the formation left by Wang Zhice.
Tang Thirty-Six felt a bit ashamed. Why couldn’t he be as detached from worldly affairs as they were?
“Listen… someone actually guessed you’re going to the Southern Creek Nunnery to propose!”
A sudden burst of shouting erupted from the crowd by the street. Tang Thirty-Six heard it and laughed so hard he nearly fell over, thoroughly amused.
“These people have quite the imagination. But the setup does look a bit like that. If you want to marry the Holy Maiden, of course you’d need two major figures from the State Religion to escort you.”
He was referring to Mao Qiuyu and the King of Linghai in the front carriages.
This trip to the Stone-Brewing Assembly only involved Chen Changsheng and the others, but the escort was enormous, with two Archbishops personally accompanying them.
This was because Chen Changsheng’s status was now different, and the journey was long. The Cold Mountains were not far from the demon territory. Who knew if the demons might try something against this future Pope? With two great experts at the peak of the Star-Gathering Realm guarding them, it should be much safer.
Chen Changsheng still had his head down, reading his book, showing no reaction.
Tang Thirty-Six finally felt something was off. He patted him and said, “What are you thinking about?”
Chen Changsheng looked up, took two balls of fur fluff out of his ears, and asked somewhat dazedly, “What’s wrong?”
Tang Thirty-Six was speechless. He pointed at the paper and said, “Shouldn’t you be concerned about what kind of opponents you’ll face at the Stone-Brewing Assembly?”
Chen Changsheng was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, “I don’t plan to participate.”
For cultivators, Heavenly Stones were indeed extremely precious objects for contemplation. But for him and Xu Yourong, the effect of such contemplation was nearly nonexistent.
The Heavenly Book Monoliths were in their arms—why would they care about some Heavenly Stones?
The reason he was going to the Stone-Brewing Assembly, aside from broadening his horizons, was also to meet some people. For example, Wang Po, who might show up at the Heavenly Lake because of Huaiyuan Academy’s Zhong Hui. Or Gou Hanshi and the other disciples of the Lishan Sword Sect, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. Or her, whom he had just parted with not long ago.
Tang Thirty-Six said, “That’s true. As the future Pope, it really isn’t suitable for you to compete with us anymore. Besides, you can enter the Heavenly Book Mausoleum whenever you want now, look at whichever monolith you like, and even bring a girl along to look at the monoliths together…”
Chen Changsheng glanced at Zhe Xiu and only relaxed when he saw that Zhe Xiu hadn’t paid any attention to their conversation.
Seeing his nervous expression, Tang Thirty-Six shook his head, handed the paper to him, and said, “Since you’re not going to compete, our strongest opponents will definitely be those guys from the Lishan Sword Sect. The demon race will also send people. I heard that even that Little De from the Carefree List is coming.”
At the name “Little De,” Zhe Xiu suddenly opened his eyes and asked, “Confirmed?”
“Basically confirmed.” Tang Thirty-Six looked at him with a frown and asked, “Do you have a grudge against that guy?”
Zhe Xiu asked, “If I did, would you help me?”
Tang Thirty-Six said matter-of-factly, “Of course not. That’s a top-five expert on the Carefree List. Are we that close?”
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The long journey brought fresh scenery but not many fresh stories.
Most of the time, Chen Changsheng spent reading, cultivating, and thinking in the carriage, treating Zhe Xiu’s injuries, and then the two of them watching Tang Thirty-Six grow increasingly sharp-tongued out of boredom. Occasionally, Mao Qiuyu would call him over to chat, but aside from eating in the wilderness, he never once saw the King of Linghai.
Just as summer was about to end, the convoy finally reached the Cold Mountains.
This place was already far north. Beyond the unbroken mountain range before them lay the snowy plains of the demon territory. Moreover, as the terrain rose with the mountains, the temperature dropped lower and lower, as if they had arrived in deep winter ahead of time. A thin layer of frost gradually formed on the armor of the State Religion cavalry.