Ze Tian Ji Chapter 141-142

Chapter 141 – No One Troubles the People Standing by the Forest

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

(TN: Way of Choices will be on break from December 25th, 2017 – January 7, 2018)

As he looked at the young Scholartree Manor scholar, Tang Thirty-Six raised his eyebrows very high and raised his chin up even higher. ‘Pick me’ had about the same meaning as ‘fight me’, and his expression was so smug and arrogant that it stirred in anyone the desire to give it a good thrashing, no matter how handsome this person’s face was. In fact, the more handsome the face, the more intense would be the desire to thrash it.

All the examinees followed the scholar’s gaze and understood the unspoken words in Tang Thirty-Six’s demeanor. If you don’t pick me, then you’re my grandson.

Scholartree Manor cultivated wisdom, so he would naturally not take such an action. His gaze had deliberately fallen upon the Orthodox Academy group because he wanted to make them nervous. However, when he saw how arrogantly provocative Tang Thirty-Six’s reaction was, his complexion instantly turned nasty. He also began to recall how he had argued over the path with Tang Thirty-Six in the sea of trees, as well as Tang Thirty-Six’s rather harsh and scathing words. His blood boiled and he could no longer control his emotions. His right arm rose to point at Tang Thirty-Six.

He was stopped by one of his schoolmates, a scholar with a rather childish appearance. Of the four people from Scholartree Manor taking part in the Grand Examination, this scholar seemed to be the youngest, but he also seemed to have the highest status. Earlier, on the northern shore of the Qu River, he had also been the one to prevent his schoolmate from going to the Orthodox Academy’s group to seek justice.

The scholar called Huo Guang coldly laughed at Tang Thirty-Six and then randomly picked an examinee from the lower forty-nine, upon which both of them walked into the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

Chen Changsheng was rather astonished by his sight, thinking to himself, the south truly is a different place. In the Mount Li Sword Sect and Scholartree Manor, it’s actually the youngest disciples whose words have the most power.

The second match concluded even more quickly than the first. It was so short that it was like the scholar Huo Guang had just walked into the Hall of Washing Away Dust to look around a bit and then pushed open the door to exit. His opponent did not emerge, as they had naturally lost and then been sent out of the Education Palace by the priests.

When crossing the Qu River during the martial test, the four scholars of Scholartree Manor had crossed the river at around the same time. After Huo Guang, the ones to step forward next were naturally his three schoolmates. Nothing unexpected occurred as each match concluded more quickly than the last. All four obtained victory in the first round and entered the second.

“Scholartree Manor…so it really was this strong,” Su Moyu sighed as he stood at the edge of the forest.

Tang Thirty-Six looked at the four scholars from Scholartree Manor, his expression having slowly turned rather grave. He did not like these scholars from Scholartree Manor. In his view, although these scholars seemed to value rules and knowledge, they actually liked to rat on others and play petty tricks. But he was forced to admit that they were truly very strong.

“That youngest scholar is called Zhong Hui. He’s ranked ninth on the Proclamation of Azure Sky.”

He knew that Su Moyu was well aware of this fact, but this fellow Chen Changsheng was not guaranteed to have much of an impression. He whispered, “The other two scholars are both on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, in the top one hundred. That guy Huo Guang isn’t on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, but he’s actually stronger than the other two. In the past few years, he’s been studying in Scholartree Manor the entire time, preparing to amaze the world with his performance today.”

Three people on the Proclamation of Azure Sky and one young expert who had been hiding his strength—Scholartree Manor’s strength was truly as unfathomable as expected. If one ranked the schools and sects present, excluding the Mount Li Sword Sect that reigned high over the entire lot, Scholartree Manor, the Heavenly Dao Academy, and the Orthodox Academy were the three strongest.

But in a rather interesting result, the four people from the Orthodox Academy were in the bottom forty-nine, so they could only wait to be challenged.

The literary test required contemplation and writing. The martial test required spiritual sense to probe things out, and it could also be prepared for. One-on-one matches only required choosing an opponent and then fighting. Moreover, in battles, victory and defeat could always be decided in the space of a few techniques. Even if the opponents were similar in strength, not much time would be needed for a victor to be decided.

The door to the Hall of Washing Away Dust was opened and then closed, closed and then opened. The oil on the hinges of the door was gradually being whittled away, probably because of the frequency at which the door was being opened and closed. Gradually, the hinges began to creak, and it was with the accompaniment of these creaks that the first round of matches quickly advanced. In a flash, several dozen matches concluded. Some of the examinees ranked in front had gained victory, but no small number of those examinees ranked at the bottom had also won.

The examinees ranked in front had the right to choose their opponent, so they could choose the opponent that they believed to be the weakest. However, for the sake of the Grand Examination, the young cultivators of the continent had prepared for an entire year, so the information and impressions they had left had ceased to be accurate. It was difficult to discern the weak from the strong, so the final outcome was naturally difficult to predict as well.

The impromptu revision of the Proclamation of Azure Sky this autumn had become the most reliable reference material. Primarily, this was because the Proclamation of Azure Sky was sufficiently authoritative, the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets’ judgments worthy of trust. Secondly, the Proclamation of Azure Sky had just been updated, so the people on the ranking should not have changed too much in strength. After all, situations like Xu Yourong’s and Luoluo’s were not very commonplace.

Consequently, no examinee chose Su Moyu as their challenger. As thirty-third on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, if one excluded the top fifteen examinees and the four people from Scholartree Manor, Su Moyu would definitely rank in the top five of the remaining examinees. As for the Orthodox Academy’s group, nobody took any interest in them. Only the insane would choose Princess Luoluo, and as for Tang Thirty-Six, not even the scholars of Scholartree Manor chose him, so who would be so idiotic as to have him take the stage?

Not even Xuanyuan Po was picked as an opponent. Although he was last on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, he was still in the rankings. Moreover, demi-humans cultivated in a completely different manner from humans and their talent was difficult to predict. For the sake of reliability, the examinees in the higher ranks were willing to pick an examinee that was ranked higher on the Proclamation of Azure Sky as their opponent over Xuanyuan Po.

Rather interestingly, or perhaps strangely, nobody chose Chen Changsheng, who had not even entered the Proclamation of Azure Sky.

All the examinees were keenly aware that when the Proclamation of Azure Sky was updated, Chen Changsheng had not even succeeded at Purification. Even if he had encountered a miracle afterwards and succeeded at Purification by some fluke, this short period of cultivation was far from enough to advance his strength by leaps and bounds. He should have been the weakest person present, but…no one dared to pick him.

It was very lively outside the Hall of Washing Away Dust, but very quiet at the edge of the forest.

Luoluo hugged Chen Changsheng’s arm and leaned against his body, on the verge of falling asleep.

Xuanyuan Po yawned, his mouth large enough to stuff an entire deer leg inside.

Tang Thirty-Six was speaking with Su Moyu about something, and Su Moyu’s face was utterly stupefied.

The youths of the Orthodox Academy were truly quite bored.

Thankfully, according to the rules, their bored waiting would inevitably end.

The wooden door of the Hall of Washing Away Dust once more creaked open. The childish girl from Gentle Stream Monastery walked out, her small face covered in tears from the joy of her victory. She rushed into the bosom of her senior sister, thinking to whine to her. However, upon noticing the rather strange mood, she subconsciously wiped her tears and looked at the crowd.

An examinee walked out with slow and heavy steps. He turned his gaze to the stone plaza on the west side of the Hall of Washing Away Dust, turned his gaze to the edge of the forest, his face somewhat pale.

There were only five people left. Right now, he needed to choose an opponent from amongst these five.

Chapter 142 – The Advancing Fist

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

(TN: Way of Choices will be on break from December 25th, 2017 – January 7, 2018)

The examinee suddenly turned around to the supervising Li Palace priest and pointed at the four examinees behind him, asking, “Can I challenge one of them?”

These four examinees were the last four people from the first sixty-four examinees to cross the Qu River. When they heard that this person wanted to challenge them, not only were they not angry, they actually revealed expressions of joy and immediately voiced their willingness.

The Li Palace priest coldly asked, “Do all of you think that the Grand Examination is a game? I earlier said loud and clear that the first forty-nine examinees could choose any person from the bottom forty-nine examinees as their opponent and that the winner would advance into the next round. Did none of you understand?”

There was a long period of silence, after which the examinee suddenly said, “This isn’t fair!”

He turned his gaze to those examinees who had been ranked behind and won in their matches and angrily roared, “I had better grades in the martial test than them, I crossed the river before them, but now why do I have to challenge even stronger opponents? The Grand Examination is naturally no game, but doesn’t Sir think that these rules are too unreasonable?”

The Li Palace priest’s face was still expressionless as he indifferently said, “This only means that your luck is poor. Who made it that you just so happened to be one of the people who were sixtieth to sixty-fourth to cross the river?”

The crowd was in an uproar at these words, with some people thinking, is something like luck also tested in the Grand Examination? This priest’s words are far too unreasonable.

The priest knew what these young cultivators were thinking. With a somewhat chilly expression, he said to them, “Just what in this world is absolutely fair? On the battlefield, if you are put in the rear and ordered to stop the most powerful demon expert, even if you think it’s unfair, can you refuse the order? If you want to survive, luck will always be the most important factor.”

The examinees were all silent. They still did not agree with this argument, but they did not know how to respond.

Helpless, the examinee could only accept this sorrowful fact. He found solace in the fact that he had more choices to pick from than the four examinees behind him.

He turned once more to the forest, his gaze moving back and forth across Chen Changsheng and the others, hesitating as to who to choose.

The area in front of the Hall of Washing Away Dust was quiet; even the atmosphere seemed to chill. Several dozen examinees nervously waited for his final decision.

In contrast, those who should have been the most nervous, those fellows who could only wait by the forest to be challenged, seemed rather calm and unperturbed.

For some reason, the Li Palace priest did not urge him to choose as he had done in previous cases. Perhaps he and the other examiners were also very interested as to what he would choose.

Ultimately, the examinee decided and pointed at Xuanyuan Po, declaring, “It’s you.”

The silence was broken, replaced by the buzz of discussion. Any other examinee would probably also be clueless as to who to choose.

Xuanyuan Po froze for a few moments, then came to his senses and said to Luoluo, “Teacher, I’m departing.”

On the side, Tang Thirty-Six arched his brows and said, “The word ‘departing’ isn’t lucky; change it.”

Xuanyuan Po ignored him. He bowed to Chen Changsheng and said, “I’m departing.”

Logically speaking, he should have addressed Chen Changsheng as Grandteacher, but although he deeply admired and respected Chen Changsheng, he still could not bring himself to call him that.

The ignored Tang Thirty-Six was not angry. He raised his hand high and patted the demi-human youth on his broad shoulder, whispering, “Do you still remember what we spoke about last night?”

Xuanyuan Po grunted in affirmation, then recited, “‘Don’t give the opponent a single chance to think. Close the distance as quickly as possible and then knock him over.'”

After saying this, he suddenly realized that something was off about Tang Thirty-Six’s expression. He then realized that Luoluo and Chen Changsheng were also looking different, and even Su Moyu had his mouth agape as if in a state of extreme shock.

“What’s wrong?” He rubbed the back of his head in bewilderment. “Did I say something wrong?”

Tang Thirty-Six sighed and patted him on the shoulder again, saying, “You said nothing wrong, but you spoke a little too loudly.”

At this time, Xuanyuan Po noticed that the area around the Hall of Washing Away Dust was utterly silent. Everyone was looking at him, and the expressions on their faces were quite splendid to behold.

His voice was loud and clear, and he had responded to Tang Thirty-Six very naturally, not even attempting to control his volume.

Thus, he had told the strategy that the Orthodox Academy had prepared for him to everyone, including his opponent.

Then would this strategy still be useful?

Chen Changsheng shook his head and placed two crystals in Xuanyuan Po’s pocket, then offered up the water pouch to his mouth to let him take a few sips.

Tang Thirty-Six scooted up to Xuanyuan Po and whispered a few words to him.

The Li Palace priest looked to the Orthodox Academy’s group, wanting to smile but successfully suppressing it as he said, “Quickly.”

Xuanyuan Po was somewhat nervous at being urged on, and almost choked on the water. Chen Changsheng quickly patted him on the back and Tang Thirty-Six began to talk faster, reminding of what he needed to pay attention to in the match. The scene seemed very rushed and muddled, and Su Moyu couldn’t help but shake his head at what he was seeing. “All of you spent such a long time being bored and loafing around; it’s a bit too late to be in a hurry.”

“You don’t understand—if we talked about it earlier, he might have forgotten. And besides, we didn’t know who he was going to fight, so what could we teach him?” Tang Thirty-Six defended without turning his head.

Luoluo walked up to Xuanyuan Po and said, “Since your victory is certain, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

Xuanyuan Po stammered, “There…there…there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Chen Changsheng stared into his eyes and said, “Remember Thirty-Six’s words and your victory is certain.”

Xuanyuan Po forcefully nodded his head.

Tang Thirty-Six finally finished his impromptu instructions and threw a fist into his chest, saying, “Have a good first match.”

……

……

Xuanyuan Po stood on the sand-covered ground, raising his head to the surrounding circle of black eaves and that circle of blue sky. He suddenly recalled the porcelain used to hold food in the Hundred Herb Garden.

With a creak, the door to the Hall of Washing Away Dust closed behind him.

He came to his senses and realized that his mind had been wandering just now. He was not panicked by this fact. On the contrary, he recalled what Tang Thirty-Six had said a few nights ago and thought to himself, this means I’m not nervous, right?

He looked across and clasped his hands to his opponent.

At the moment, the floor of the Hall of Washing Away Dust contained only him and the other examinee. There was no examiner, nor could any sound be heard from outside. It seemed that some sort of sound-blocking array was in use.

It was at this point that an emotionless voice came from the upper floor of the hall.

“If you are ready, just begin.”

Xuanyuan Po looked up but saw no one, and he saw no windows either. He couldn’t help but be curious about where the examiners were hiding. He suddenly recalled something that Chen Changsheng had warned him about and hurriedly asked, “What…what happens if someone dies?”

The hall was silent as the hidden examiners pondered this question.

His opponent had a very ugly expression.

The examiner’s voice rang out again. “No one will die.”

“Oh.” Xuanyuan Po turned to his opponent and asked, “Are you ready?”

His opponent was an examinee from Yellow Mountain Valley.

Yellow Mountain Valley was in the south.

Not every sect of the south could have a disciple participate in the Grand Examination. Just like the pre-examination for the Grand Examination held in the capital, the south would hold a similar test. That this examinee from Yellow Mountain Valley was able to pass this pre-examination was proof of his ability. And he had also completed the martial test faster than the majority of examinees outside the top fifteen, which meant that the strength of his spiritual sense and quantity of true essence were quite excellent.

He had earlier seemed to struggle over which opponent to choose because the Orthodox Academy’s fame as of late had been far too great, but this did not mean that he lacked confidence. Moreover, that he ultimately chose Xuanyuan Po meant that he had a certain confidence, or countermeasures, against Xuanyuan Po.

Upon entering the Hall of Washing Away Dust, Xuanyuan Po had first blankly gazed at the sky and then said those sorts of words to him. This disciple of Yellow Mountain Valley had no idea that Xuanyuan Po was naturally simple and honest, only that he was being deliberately humiliated. His mood had already been quite disastrous, and now his rage instantly exploded. He wanted nothing more than to chop this fellow in half with a single strike of his sword.

“I heard that you were crippled, so are you prepared to lose?”

The Yellow Mountain Valley disciple sneered at Xuanyuan Po.

He sneered, but he did not take the initiative to attack.

This was because everyone outside the Hall of Washing Away Dust had clearly heard this sturdy demi-human youth use his thunderous voice to declare that he would attack first, closing the distance with his opponent.

He did not know if Xuanyuan Po had said this intentionally to confuse or if he had really prepared to carry out this plan, but out of caution, he naturally had to consider retreating to defend himself, increasing the distance between them. Then, using his exquisite sword techniques, he could brawl with this demi-human youth.

The Yellow Mountain Valley disciple decided without hesitation to retreat, crossing five zhang in a single leap.

At the same time, he unsheathed his sword. A cool breeze wound around him, instantly forming a defense.

Xuanyuan Po was startled at this sight, thinking to himself, how does Tang Thirty-Six guess at everything?

Outside the hall, Tang Thirty-Six had said to him that once the match began, his opponent would absolutely retreat and absolutely put up a defense. Thus, he didn’t need to think. From the very start, he just needed to advance, burning all his true essence to advance. No matter how much his opponent’s sword danced, how much true essence his opponent released, now matter how solid his defense, he just needed to advance!

Xuanyuan Po truly did exactly as he was told.

When he asked if his opponent was ready and his opponent began to retreat, he began to advance.

When he was thinking about how Tang Thirty-Six was able to calculate everything and began to admire him, he had already advanced ten-some zhang.

Tang Thirty-Six had calculated very accurately and had spoken something close to a truth: retreat was always slower than advancing.

No one could expect that someone with as large and sturdy a body as Xuanyuan Po’s could possess such speed.

This was because no one knew that when Xuanyuan Po was small, he had to navigate his way through the precipitous mountains while he hunted down Red Minks that were as fast as lightning.

Retreating in defense? A brawl? After receiving Tang Thirty-Six’s instruction, Xuanyuan Po would not give his opponent a chance for any of this to happen.

The Yellow Mountain Valley disciple had retreated five zhang, but Xuanyuan Po had already advanced ten-some zhang, arriving right in front of the disciple.

He could clearly see that his opponent’s face was somewhat pale, could even see his reflection in his opponent’s eyes.

The Yellow Mountain Valley disciple howled, his sword rising like the wind as it chopped at him, the edge of the sword gleaming with an elegant light!

Xuanyuan Po remembered Tang Thirty-Six’s words. He thought of nothing but advancing.

He burned up all his true essence in this advance.

His opponent’s sword created a curtain in front of him.

He did not see it or care about it, but continued his advance.

His fist advanced faster than his body.

Buzz.

The wind raised by his fist glimmered with star radiance, tearing through the sword wind and blowing against the Yellow Mountain Valley disciple’s face.

The disciple’s eyes reflected countless motes of starlight, contained absolute shock and disbelief.

Wasn’t Xuanyuan Po a new student of Star Seizer Academy? Hadn’t he only entered the Orthodox Academy just a few months ago? Wasn’t he last on the Proclamation of Azure Sky? Wasn’t his right arm crippled?

Then how he was able to explode with such a fist? Wasn’t this star radiance something that only people at the upper level of Meditation could display?

The Yellow Mountain Valley disciple could no longer keep on this line of thought.

Xuanyuan Po’s fist had exploded past his sword and fallen on his body.

Boom!

The Yellow Mountain Valley disciple flew like a stone, eventually crashing several dozen zhang away into the wall of the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

The wind howled and dust flew.

The Yellow Mountain Valley disciple seemed to have dug into the wall. His clothes were torn and his body was covered in blood.

Xuanyuan Po stopped and stared at his own fist, his expression somewhat perplexed as he thought, why didn’t he block?

Hurried footsteps echoed through the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

Ten-some examiners arrived on the scene, hurriedly beginning treatment on the Yellow Mountain Valley disciple.

“You…”

An examiner walked up to Xuanyuan Po, pointing at him and wanting to say something, but he said nothing in the end.

Xuanyuan Po recognized that this examiner was the one who was speaking earlier and then turned to the Yellow Mountain Valley disciple currently being treated. Somewhat uneasy, he muttered out a question. “Did I do something wrong? Sir just said that no one would die. If…if something happens to him, it has nothing to do with me.”