Ze Tian Ji Chapter 155-156

Chapter 155 – Normal

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The Hall of Washing Away Dust opened, and Liang Banhu and Qi Jian walked out. The Li Palace priest announced that Qi Jian was the winner, causing the crowd to erupt with surprise, yet the two contenders seemed to have no reaction. They kept their heads low as they chatted, seemingly caring not for their torn clothes covered in blood, their sleeves still carrying traces of Sacred Light.

They descended the stone steps and walked to the stream, whispering to each other the entire time.

A few examinees who were somewhat closer could hear that these two martial brothers were actually discussing their match. “You didn’t use this technique correctly. Senior Brother, you were too slow in using this technique…”

In the past few years, the Divine Kingdom’s Seven Laws had served as the idol or goal of many cultivators of the younger generation. The reports on the fights of these seven Mount Li Sword Sect disciples were spread around the world and had become topics of enthusiastic conversation for many people. Qi Jian’s loss against Zhuang Huanyu, a rare defeat for the Divine Kingdom’s Seven Laws, was even more talked about and researched.

But very rarely did people see these martial brothers fight against each other.

It was only today that people finally knew why the younger generation of the Mount Li Sword Sect was so strong, why the light of the Divine Kingdom’s Seven Laws was so dazzling.

When these fellow disciples fought, they went all-out, but they bore no grudges after the battle, because in their view, all this was normal.

An extraordinary matter performed every day would become extremely normal, so how could Mount Li not be strong?

Tang Thirty-Six looked at the four Mount Li Sword Sect disciples by the stream, somewhat dejected. “It turns out that my loss to Liang Banhu was the right and proper outcome. Qi Jian is also far stronger than me.”

‘Losing’ and ‘strength’ did not refer to cultivation level, but other aspects.

Chen Changsheng said, “We can learn from them.”

Tang Thirty-Six glanced at him and said, “How can we learn from them? Do you not see how happy Liang Banhu is after losing? And it’s true happiness, not feigned.”

“Hm?”

“In the Grand Examination, they can fight as hard as they want without worrying about being crippled or dying. This makes them very happy.”

“So?”

“I’m not that sort of monster, so I can’t learn it. I concede.”

From the morning entry into the Li Palace to the entry into the Education Palace of the Green Leaf World, from the Hall of Shining Words to the Hall of Washing Away Dust, not many Li Palace priests had appeared before the examinees. However, in reality, the entire Li Palace, or to be more precise, the entire system of the Orthodoxy, was working to serve the Grand Examination. Many Li Palace priests were working behind the scenes at various duties. In the Grand Examination, even if one wanted to die, they would find it very difficult.

Upon entering the Hall of Washing Away Dust, Chen Changsheng took the time to glance at the second floor, but he saw no one. Then he saw his opponent.

In the third round of matches, his opponent was a girl. It was precisely the girl who had jeered at him on the Divine Avenue and then ultimately been scolded into tears by Tang Thirty-Six: the junior sister from Holy Maiden Peak, Ye Xiaolian.

Holy Maiden Peak was like the Longevity Sect in that both were large systems of sects in the south, with many sects subordinate to them. Ye Xiaolian was from Gentle Stream Monastery, and in the information provided to the Orthodox Academy by the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, it was clearly indicated that this girl’s potential in cultivation was quite good. Once she reached the proper age, there was a good chance that she would directly enter South Stream Temple. Of course, she could only cultivate in the outer sect.

No matter how excellent her potential, Ye Xiaolian was too young. As she was one of the youngest participants of this year’s Grand Examination, her cultivation was unstable. Logically speaking, it should have been very difficult for her to get into the third round, but her luck in drawing lots was extremely good. She had very smoothly gained victory in the first round, and in the second round, her opponent was a student from the normal population who had only managed to gain entry into the Grand Examination through the pre-examination. Her cultivation level was the same as her opponent’s and her true essence was not any more plentiful, and it was only by using the magical artifact given to her by the sect that she had managed to pull off a win. After exiting the Hall of Washing Away Dust, she had buried herself in her senior sister’s chest and had a good cry, her happiness difficult to suppress.

In the third round of drawing lots, she heard Chen Changsheng’s name and knew that her good luck had finally come to an end.

Ye Xiaolian looked at Chen Changsheng, her young and tender face slightly pale, fraught with tension and anxiety.

On the Divine Avenue that day, she had cursed Chen Changsheng as a toad who wanted to eat Phoenix flesh. She always believed that Chen Changsheng was a useless piece of trash, but to her surprise, Chen Changsheng had won two rounds, and had even defeated Scholartree Manor’s Huo Guang. He relied on his own strength, not on an extremely good draw as she had.

Ye Xiaolian knew that she was not Chen Changsheng’s match. When she thought of how she had offended him before, she felt even more nervous.

The voice of the examiner came from the second floor. “If you’re ready, begin.”

Chen Changsheng gazed at Ye Xiaolian and nodded his head in greeting.

This simple gaze actually made Ye Xiaolian feel an irrepressible fear. Her eyes slightly reddened and her dress began to tremble.

Chen Changsheng was slightly startled, mystified as to what was happening.

Ye Xiaolian was truly very afraid, her body constantly trembling. The string of little bells on her wrist trembled along with her, crisply jingling.

The jingling brought her to her senses. She gathered her courage and cast the string of bells at Chen Changsheng.

She and Chen Changsheng were separated by ten-some zhang, but those bells needed only an instant to reach Chen Changsheng.

This string of bells was a magical artifact belonging to Gentle Stream Monastery, the Chanting Bells. It wasn’t even worth mentioning alongside a legendary magical artifact like the Thousand Li Button, but it was still extremely powerful, not much weaker than the umbrella used by that Heavenly Dao Academy student that faced Chen Changsheng in the first round. Otherwise, she would not have been able to rely solely on this magical artifact in the second round to defeat her opponent.

The bells were made of some unknown metal, the string tying them together concealing a fierce sword intent. The jingling sound also held some sort of Qi that could interfere with the movement of a cultivator’s true essence. However, it seemed that Ye Xiaolian’s luck truly had been all used up in the first two rounds. Chen Changsheng’s weakest aspect was in quantity of true essence, and his methods of fighting did not require true essence.

His right hand advanced forward as a fist, and then his fingers spread apart in the air like a blooming flower, accurately snatching up the Chanting Bells.

The Chanting Bells incessantly trembled in his palm as if struggling. They sent out a powerful energy into their surroundings. At the same time, the Qi that disturbed the flow of true essence also grew much fiercer.

The flow of true essence in Chen Changsheng’s body truly was greatly affected. The problem was that even if the Chanting Bells had done nothing at all, his true essence would still find it very difficult to traverse his body, as his meridians would still be broken.

Without using true essence, only relying on the strength of his body, he wanted to tightly hold the Chanting Bells in his hand.

Bong! Bong! Bong!

The Chanting Bells fiercely shook and struggled, wanting to leap out of his hand, but failed.

After a few seconds, the Chanting Bells finally fell silent and came to a stop in his hands.

As she watched this sight, Ye Xiaolian utterly forgot that she was in a match, her hand covering her mouth in complete astonishment.

The Chanting Bells had been given to her by Gentle Stream Monastery’s elder. She was well aware of how much strength they held when they flew through the air and how difficult to control they were. She had imagined that Chen Changsheng had many methods to easily render the Chanting Bells powerless, but she had never imagined that Chen Changsheng would use his hand to grasp the Chanting Bells.

With the cessation of the jingling bells, the Hall of Washing Away Dust fell silent.

Ye Xiaolian was shocked speechless. She simply had no moves left.

Chen Changsheng did not continue to attack. Grasping the Chanting Bells, he looked up to the second floor.

The room on the second floor remained silent. Perhaps because Chen Changsheng’s inhuman strength was too shocking or for some other reason, nobody spoke.

Finally, Mo Yu indifferently said, “Do you really think that he will humiliate a girl? He isn’t Tang Tang.”

These words were meant to expose a few secrets and to make a decision.

A Li Palace priest appeared on the railing of the second floor and asked Ye Xiaolian, “Do you concede?”

Ye Xiaolian nodded, her eyes slightly red.

Chen Changsheng placed the Chanting Bells on the sand by his feet, and then walked out of the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

He said no insults to this girl who had once humiliated him, nor did he pay her any attention.

Ye Xiaolian watched vacantly as he left and suddenly felt rather helpless.

She had already prepared herself to lose to Chen Changsheng, prepared herself to be humiliated, but was surprised that he chose not to.

After emerging from the Hall of Washing Away Dust, Chen Changsheng walked to the forest’s edge.

Ye Xiaolian walked back to her senior sister, raising her sleeves to wipe at her tears.

“Being kind to women, eh?”

Tang Thirty-Six sneered at Chen Changsheng, “Then what does that make me?”

Chen Changsheng asked, “Then if it were you, what would you do?”

Tang Thirty-Six pondered this question and realized that he also wouldn’t be able to do much. He didn’t like the girl called Ye Xiaolian. It was fine to scold her with harsh words, because quarreling relied on one’s skill in words, the capacity of one’s lungs, and the level of one’s shamelessness. But could he truly say that he could beat her up? Wasn’t that just the strong bullying the weak?

The next to fight was Luoluo.

Of the four scholars of Scholartree Manor taking part in this year’s Grand Examination, only two remained. Her opponent was the one that was not Zhong Hui.

She and the scholar walked into the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

The sounds of footsteps could be heard on the second floor.

A few important personages had walked up to the window to see the match. They were truly very curious as to just how powerful Princess Luoluo was right now that she could cause the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets to revise the Proclamation of Azure Sky especially for her. In the first match, Luoluo’s opponent had been too weak, and in the second match, Tianhai Shengxue had conceded, but she had to fight this match, right?

Luoluo took the Falling Rain Whip from her waist and said to the Scholartree Manor student, “You attack first.”

In the Orthodox Academy, she was respectful and well-mannered to Chen Changsheng, incredibly obedient, and would throw the occasional tantrum, but her attitude to others was completely different. In the Ivy Festival, neither the Education Overseer of the Heavenly Dao Academy nor Elder Xiao Songgong of Mount Li was worthy of her gaze, much less this scholar of Scholartree Manor.

She was not intentionally acting arrogant and overbearing, but her natural composure and indifferent words possessed an innate nobility and might.

The scholar’s expression slightly shifted and he slowly drew a longsword from its sheath.

His movements were very slow, but the sound of the longsword being drawn from its sheath was very clear.

Zeng!

A bright sword glow instantly crossed ten-some zhang and reached Luoluo.

Luoluo did not even blink, not a single eyelash trembling.

Rising Flurry!

The Falling Rain Whip in her hand madly danced.

The Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong, carrying a boundless true essence, easily destroyed the sword glow and then assailed the scholar standing across from her.

In the miniature world that was the Education Palace, the world was even more sensitive. When she used the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong, the deep blue sky began to exhibit a phenomenon.

A dark cloud drifted over and enveloped the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

And then it began to rain.

Just like at the very start, the black eaves of the Hall of Washing Away Dust were washed once more.

She used the Falling Rain Whip, and the points of rain were the head of the whip.

The rain slapped on the eaves and the sand.

It sounded just like a whip striking someone’s body.

The rain gradually intensified, transforming into a downpour, a dense curtain of rain that made the battleground impossible to see.

The occasional flash of a sword glow would be instantly swallowed by the rain.

After a few moments, there was an extremely crisp pop!

The downpour suddenly came to a stop.

The scholar from Scholartree Manor lay collapsed in a corner, his body covered in wounds, blood and water mixing together.

His face was pale, his somewhat blue lips slightly trembling, his eyes filled with despair.

It was the despair that came from being crushed by absolute power.

Chapter 156 – The Winning Streaks of Two Youths

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The torrential downpour suddenly ceased and clear light returned. The rain had dug out many gorges in the sandy ground, making the place look just like the famous plateau in the northwest that overlooked the sea.

The scholar from Scholartree Manor lay collapsed in a corner, his long gown drenched in rain and blood.

Luoluo put away her whip and quietly stood, acting like she had never struck. She exuded an aura of nobility and absolute tyranny.

“Her Highness…is only fourteen this year, right?”

The Principal of the Star Seizer Academy stood by the window and looked down below, sighing, “This is a little ridiculous.”

It truly was very ridiculous, but that wasn’t to say that Luoluo had displayed some extremely exquisite techniques in this match. On the contrary, she had struck without the slightest refinement, causing a fierce storm, using absolute power to crush her opponent, the simplest of all possible methods. This was what it meant when one said that a king’s efforts to dominate the world were carried out in a storm.

If Luoluo had encountered a higher level of opponent, like Gou Hanshi or someone else who was already at Ethereal Opening, she could not have so tyrannically suppressed her opponent. However, against cultivators of the same level, whether it was in quantity or purity of true essence or in the ability to fiercely output, she held the absolute advantage and could be regarded as almost unrivaled.

The bloodline of the White Emperor clan was truly absolutely tyrannical. The powerful figures on the second floor were all stunned, thinking to themselves, the assessment of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets was truly correct. Amongst the younger generation, only Xu Yourong and Qiushan Jun can be compared to her. There exists no one else with comparable talent to Her Highness’s.

The Grand Examination matches were finally reaching a climax, with several excellent fights occurring in succession.

Luoluo’s victory over the student from Scholartree Manor was immediately followed by the wolf youth Zhexiu’s match with Guan Feibai. This match had attracted everyone’s interest, and Chen Changsheng was no exception. He was paying even more attention to it than other examinees. With Tianhai Shengxue withdrawing from the competition, the only person left who made him wary and that he felt could threaten or harm Luoluo was Zhexiu.

The door to the Hall of Washing Away Dust closed once more, and the match began.

The moment this match between Zhexiu and Guan Feibai began, it entered its most intense phase. The sound-obstructing array over the Hall of Washing Away Dust was instantly shattered, and before the examinees outside had time to mentally prepare themselves, they heard sound after sound, each louder than the last. Those examinees with somewhat weaker spiritual senses instantly paled, their seas of consciousness almost injured by the jolting of these sounds.

The loud sounds were not the sounds of slapping or crashing. There was a shrillness about them, so they were probably the sounds of the edge of a sword cutting against the air.

The southern diplomatic mission had been in the capital for many days, and great focus had been placed on the four disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect. By now, many people knew that Qi Jian was using the rumored relic sword of Mount Li’s Discipline Hall while Guan Feibai’s was actually a very normal sword worth only five taels of silver. Upon hearing the shrill sounds of the sword, the examinees outside were flabbergasted. To be able to use an ordinary sword worth only five taels of silver and create such shrill howls, just how forceful was Guan Feibai’s true essence! Even more stunning was that the wolf youth Zhexiu had no weapons, so just how was he blocking this terrifying sword?

The howls of the sword were growing increasingly shrill, and the world of the Education Palace was beginning to respond. The layer of clouds in the blue sky began to slowly move, going through countless transformations. One moment it was a rugged cliff, the next turbid waves beating against a shore, a most somber sword intent weaving through the clouds the entire time. Yet these clouds were never able to settle into a shape, as if disrupted by some wind roaring across the plains or the howling of a pack of wolves.

The crowd outside the Hall of Washing Away Dust was silent. Many examinees were pale from shock at the sounds from the hall and the phenomena in the sky. They found it impossible to imagine just what they could do if they were the ones in that hall, whether it was confronting those clouds interwoven with sword energy or those terrifyingly shrill howls of wind, other than conceding on the spot.

The expression on Chen Changsheng’s face grew graver and graver.

In the Ivy Festival, Guan Feibai had engaged in a competition of sword techniques with Luoluo. Although no true essence had been used at the time, Chen Changsheng could clearly tell that Guan Feibai was extremely talented and had cultivated very diligently. His accomplishments on the path of the sword were outstanding, and it was rumored that amongst the Divine Kingdom’s Seven Laws, he was only second in the sword to Qiushan Jun, which was very reasonable. And yet it was plain to see that he was completely incapable of controlling his current opponent.

Just how strong was this wolf youth Zhexiu?

After some time, the shrill whistles of the sword gradually vanished, as did the howling of the wind. What came next was a creak.

The door of the Hall of Washing Away Dust had opened.

Zhexiu walked out from the hall. His face was slightly pale, but his expression was as indifferent as ever, and his frigid eyes were devoid of emotion. He didn’t even look like a human.

He walked down the steps at a slow pace, and there seemed to be a few problems every time he raised a knee.

The examinees finally noticed that there was a faint bloodstain on his left knee.

After a moment, a trickle of blood flowed down from his pants onto his ankle.

He was not wearing shoes, remaining barefooted this whole time, so this trickle of blood was very evident.

Guan Feibai followed him out of the Hall of Washing Away Dust. His posture was still erect, and his clothes which were losing color from being washed too much were free of any tears, much less bloodstains. It seemed like he was uninjured.

The crowd watched him walk back to the stream, somewhat surprised. Had he simply just won?

Zhexiu walked to the grass on the outer edge of the crowd and sat down. He began to adjust his breathing, closing his eyes and ignoring all the discussion around him.

His sitting posture was rather weird. He didn’t sit cross-legged, but sat on his ankles, looking more like he was squatting.

Guan Feibai had reached the stream bank at this time. He looked at Gou Hanshi, preparing to say something.

Gou Hanshi shook his head, indicating that he didn’t need to say anything. He raised his right hand and his finger moved like the wind, striking like lightning at three points on his chest, sending true Qi into Guan Feibai’s body.

Guan Feibai’s complexion slightly reddened and then paled. This process repeated three times, and then there was a squelch as blood spurted out of his mouth.

The blood sprinkled over a few stalks of grass growing by the stream. With a rip, those stalks of grass wilted and then snapped.

The crowd exploded, the examinees finally understanding that Guan Feibai had actually suffered such heavy injuries. He had just managed to hold them until now, when the injuries finally broke out.

The blood he spit out contained no poison, only traces of energy left by Zhexiu’s fierce true essence. If Gou Hanshi had not acted so promptly, this energy would have hidden itself in Guan Feibai’s body and might have affected his cultivation. Even so, Guan Feibai had a wan and haggard complexion, as if he had come down with some severe illness.

Thinking of how insidiously this wolf youth had acted, Liang Banhu looked over, his gaze chilly, while Qi Jian’s small face was red from anger.

Guan Feibai wiped the blood from his lip and said, “Since my skill was inferior, he can’t be blamed.”

Gou Hanshi patted him on the shoulder out of both comfort and praise.

At this moment, the Li Palace priest appeared on the stone steps and announced, “Star Seizer Academy, Zhang Tingtao wins.”

With this, the third round of matches came to an end.

All was quiet outside the Hall of Washing Away Dust. There were no cheers or even chatter.

This was because everyone could already see that the matches were growing fiercer and fiercer, and naturally bloodier and crueler as well.

Under this oppressive and tense atmosphere, the sixteen strongest in the matches of the Grand Examination were determined, after which the fourth round began.

To everyone’s surprise, Zhexiu was immediately called upon to take the stage, and his opponent was the other young expert of the Mount Li Sword Sect, Qi Jian.

To face two powerful foes in a row and to have no time to rest in between…although this was just the result of drawing lots, it was still rather unfair. A normal examinee might have requested the examiner for a little more time to recover, but Zhexiu remained silent, walking with an indifferent expression to the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

……

……

It was very quiet within the hall. The battle had already ended. Zhexiu looked at the sand covering the floor, recalling his home in the summertime. Behind Deer Cry Hill was a river, and they grew soybeans and sorghum there. One could fill one’s belly without needing to hunt, but no matter how fragrantly one cooked sorghum, it still could not match up to the aroma of meat.

I am a wolf from the north.

A wolf traveling a thousand li to eat meat is a principle of the heavens and earth.

Although you are a child, since you are my opponent, I naturally can’t go easy, so why are you so angry?

He looked across, and for the first time, an emotion appeared on his indifferent face. This a very strange emotion, very difficult to describe in words.

Qi Jian stood across from him. His black hair had come untied in the battle and was now draped over his shoulders, making him seem even thinner and frailer.

He, Gentle Stream Monastery’s Ye Xiaolian, and the Orthodox Academy’s Xuanyuan Po were the three youngest people participating in this year’s Grand Examination.

His face was very young and tender, and burning with rage.

Zhexiu did not understand Qi Jian’s fury. Although some of the techniques he had used in close combat had been rather sinister…battles were matters of life-or-death, so what did it matter if one was a little sinister? Did your seniors of the Mount Li Sword Sect not teach you how to fight? Your senior brother from earlier acted much more elegant than you have.

Earlier when he had used those sinister techniques, Qi Jian inexplicably became furious. He no longer acted with caution, his true essence exploding as he madly struck out with several dozen sword techniques, engaging in a melee with Zhexiu like a madman. If Zhexiu had not walked the line between life and death for so many years, he might have been hacked to death by this sword.

If Gou Hanshi were to know that his junior brother had acted so, he would assuredly feel very gratified.

Even a monster like Zhexiu felt a little lingering fear when thinking about Qi Jian’s explosive hurricane of sword techniques.

At times, anger truly was a sort of strength.

Regretfully, the strength of anger was very difficult to sustain. Since Qi Jian’s hurricane of sword techniques had been unable to hack Zhexiu to death, Zhexiu had still managed to gain the final victory.

Qi Jian walked out of the Hall of Washing Away Dust and returned to Gou Hanshi. His lips were a little dry and his eyes a little red, and he looked deeply aggrieved.

“What happened?” Gou Hanshi slightly raised his brow. It was very obvious that for the first time, he was truly angry.

Qi Jian wiped away his tears. “It’s nothing. Senior Brother, you have to help me get revenge.”

Gou Hanshi glanced at the distant Zhexiu and said, “Okay.”

……

……

The wolf youth Zhexiu won two consecutive victories, astonishing many people by consecutively eliminating two of the Divine Kingdom’s Seven Laws.

But even more astonishing was that Chen Changsheng had won again.

In the first three rounds, his first and third opponents had been too weak. His second opponent was Huo Guang of Scholartree Manor, who, although strong, was not ranked on the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Many people could not accurately determine Chen Changsheng’s level, but in this round, his opponent was a young expert from Shuang City.

This young expert from Shuang City had a rank in the twenties of the Proclamation of Azure Sky.

Just when everyone thought that Chen Changsheng’s story in the Grand Examination was about to come to a close, he once more shocked everyone, defeating his opponent.

The crowd found it difficult to comprehend just how he had managed to win.