Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

The Orthodox Academy began its one day of enrolling new students and it only accepted applicants for one day. In the end, more than six hundred people applied.

With the Orthodoxy cavalry patrolling and guarding all sides, the Li Palace priests maintaining order, the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education personally drawing up the questions, and Priest Xin overseeing it all, both the application period and the exam on the next day went extremely smoothly.

Besides the grades from the examination, those who wanted to become new students of the Orthodox Academy had to pass through two more steps. The first was an investigation of identity, with the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education primarily responsible for this task. With the involvement of the Li Palace, investigating the details of these examinees was exceptionally simple. In the end, six examinees were eliminated in this phase. The second step was an interview, with Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six personally carrying it out. As for Xuanyuan Po, he had no interest whatsoever. It could even be said that he was so attached to the head chef of Clear Lake Restaurant that it was nigh-impossible to pull him away.

The contents of the interview were extremely simple. It was just a greeting and then a random chat. Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six’s passing standards were also very simple. They just looked at the way the examinees spoke. Of course, what was most important was whether they liked the look of them or not. As he looked at the figures of those examinees who had been eliminated at the interview phase walk away while hiding their faces, Chen Changsheng thought of how, last year, he had also been one of these examinees. Upon thinking of how he had applied to school after school but had his efforts sabotaged by the Divine General of the East’s estate, he couldn’t help but sigh at how quickly the situation had changed. He had actually turned from an examinee to the examiner, and he felt it rather unbearable.

A hundred examinees passed these three assessments, and these became the new students the Orthodox Academy accepted this year. Rather surprisingly, the level of these new students was actually relatively good. Even though they originated from the more remote counties and provinces, they had all actually successfully undergone Purification. There were even forty-odd students that had successfully entered the initial level of Meditation. Chen Changsheng even felt that there were a few students with decent talent in cultivation. What was most shocking was that amongst these one hundred new students, twenty-some students were actually transferring from other academies.

It was shocking because the ‘other academies’ mentioned here naturally did not mean the regular schools of the capital, but rather the Heavenly Dao Academy, the Temple Seminary, and the other such schools of the Ivy Academies that were just as famous as the Orthodox Academy.

Gazing at those names on the list, Priest Xin was rather worried, wondering if this might cause some problems or stir up some trouble...

"These students are, for the most part, already in the initial level of Meditation. While they can be considered decent when compared to the students from the counties, they aren’t much in a place like the Heavenly Dao Academy and definitely wouldn’t be given any special attention. It’s only because of that they would think about transferring to us. Since they weren’t valued in the first place, these schools which they came shouldn’t care that much," Tang Thirty-Six concluded.

"But still...stolen food still tastes good." Priest Xin choked his way through this rather graceless set of words, then continued, "Moreover, the situation recently has been rather tense."

"The so-called All-School Martial Exhibition is truthfully just the Tianhai clan using its authority to suppress others. It doesn’t really have much to do with the schools themselves."

Tang Thirty-Six added, "In addition, Chen Changsheng is the future Pope, and the Six Ivies will all belong to him. If he were to ask for a few students in advance, what’s so extraordinary about that?"

Hearing these words and then recalling how Tang Thirty-Six had stood in front of the Orthodox Academy and cursed two Storms of the Eight Directions while pointing at Bie Tianxin, Priest Xin realized that Tang Thirty-Six really didn’t care. Shaking his head, he ceased discussing the topic.

Enrolling new students was naturally not so simple as just taking a test.

In the next few days, the Orthodox Academy became a hive of activity. The Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education sent over many artisans and laborers, transforming the once-lifeless school grounds into a humming construction site. Fortunately, the academy had already undergone a complete renovation in the spring of last year. The foundation had already been laid, so only a brief amount of time was needed to bring the project to a smooth conclusion.

The Orthodox Academy had vast tracts of unused land, but not all of it was needed. Only a small portion was needed to accommodate these one hundred new students. The small building that Chen Changsheng and the rest had grown used to living in, as well as the lake and forest which held a special significance to them, were partitioned off by a newly-built wall. It maintained for them a relative sense of independence, and it would also presumably be less noisy in the future.

The library had an array and the books within were not easily moved. As a result, it was left outside the walls, open for all students to use.

The gardens partitioned off by the wall, close to the Hundred Herb Garden and the Imperial Palace, now received a new name: the Separate (Bie) Garden.

The first time Priest Xin heard this name, he had the burning desire to ask whether this name had anything to do with that Bie Tianxin who departed in disgrace the other day.

Brand new bedding was sent over, brand new copies of the Orthodoxy’s rules and teaching materials were transported within, and brand new school uniforms were distributed to the students. Smoke began to rise from the chimneys of the cafeteria and the fountain began to shoot water into the air, greatly cooling the sizzling heat of the summer nights. Everything had been made ready. The new students nervously and excitedly waited for the day when classes would formally begin.

Tomorrow, the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education would send over the lecturers and teachers it had selected in the past few days. Simultaneously, it would also be sending over a big list of expenses.

Tonight, Chen Changsheng took a stroll around the Orthodox Academy, looking to see if there was any place that wasn’t right. It was only then that he realized that the Orthodox Academy was actually so big. He had lived there for an entire year, but he had only lived in an area tantamount to one-tenth of the school.

Seeing the brightly lit library and looking through the windows at those students eagerly studying the books of the Orthodox Academy, he felt very good.

His teacher was the previous Principal of the Orthodox Academy. He was the current Principal of the Orthodox Academy.

Under his teacher’s hands, the Orthodox Academy had fallen into ruin. Now it seemed that the Orthodox Academy was on the verge of being reborn under his hands.

This sort of feeling really was very good, even though he still was completely mystified as to why Tang Thirty-Six wanted to do all of this.

Returning to the small building, he treated Zhexiu’s injuries, and then he and Tang Thirty-Six gave a final lookover of the register of new students. Surprisingly, they saw a very familiar name on it and couldn’t help but be shocked.

"Did he come?" Chen Changsheng pointed at the name and asked to Tang Thirty-Six.

"I didn’t see the person. I heard he’s still in the Mausoleum of Books. Apparently, he had one of his juniors of the Li Palace Academy come and apply in his place."

Tang Thirty-Six offered, "If you think it’s against the rules, I’ll have someone send a message and tell him not to come."

Chen Changsheng replied, "Other transfer students are fine, but if he really did come, the Li Palace Academy would definitely be unwilling to accept it."

Tang Thirty-Six answered, "It’s not like we went crying and yelling to plead him to come. Why are you worrying so much?"

Chen Changsheng thought this was right, so he changed the subject. "What about the matter of Bie Tianxin?"

They were both keenly aware of the enormous humiliation Bie Tianxin had suffered that day. It was inevitable that after restraining himself for a while, he would want to return the favor through a match.

Tang Thirty-Six pointed at the pile of letters of challenge on the bookshelf, noting, "We already have one-hundred-and-thirty-four matches waiting for us; if we throw on another louse, will it make us itch any more?"

"Where did the Tianhai clan get all these experts from?" Chen Changsheng was rather confused, thinking to himself, with all these cultivation experts obeying the orders of the Tianhai clan, couldn’t they destroy a country?

"If it was one of those small kingdoms in the northwest, the Tianhai clan could destroy them with a wave of the hand. But if this number of experts were placed amongst the entire continent, it would be too exaggerated of a number. The Mount Li Sword Sect could definitely send out this many people," Tang Thirty-Six noted. "In addition, this should be about it. Probably, after we deal with this batch, there will be a pause."

Chen Changsheng asked, "Can we deal with them?"

"Of course we can’t, even if we disregard the fact that there are experts like Bie Tianxin within that pile. Or else why would we need to enroll so many new students?" Tang Thirty-Six said.

Chen Changsheng thought it over, saying, "It’s best not to fight. I’m worried that there will be injuries."

Tang Thirty-Six argued, "Without experiencing battle, how can they quickly mature? Their foundation was already lacking, so it’s only right that they work even harder. Moreover, this matter still primarily rests on you."

Saying this, the two brought down that pile of letters from the bookshelf and then began to arrange them. Chen Changsheng seriously performed calculations while Tang Thirty-Six recorded with a brush on the side. They first picked out all the challengers at Ethereal Opening and below and then Chen Changsheng picked a corresponding student to fight in the match. As for how and why the student was chosen, Tang Thirty-Six did not understand. Precisely as he had said, this matter rested on Chen Changsheng because only he knew the Intellectual Sword.

What Chen Changsheng was doing at this very moment was taking these hundred-plus matches of the All-School Martial Exhibition and converting them into a single battle.

His sword was all the students of the Orthodox Academy.

How those new students would fight depended on the quality of Chen Changsheng’s swordplay.

Watching Chen Changsheng perform these calculations with such single-minded devotion, Tang Thirty-Six suddenly sighed, "Your fate really is good."

This was not the first time someone had said Chen Changsheng’s fate was good, nor was it the first time Tang Thirty-Six had said that his fate was good.

Chen Changsheng knew that Tang Thirty-Six was sighing about all of his lucky encounters. He was able to discover the Sword Pool in the Garden of Zhou, able to battle with those demon experts, able to meet with Su Li and carry him back south and thus learn those three swords. Shaking his head, he suddenly thought of something. Raising his head, he asked Tang Thirty-Six, "Do you want to learn?"

Naturally, he was speaking of those three swords.

After all, when Su Li was teaching him those three swords on their journey, there was nothing about not being able to pass the swords down to others.

He had even wondered if he could make these three swords part of the required curriculum of the Orthodox Academy.

As for whether Su Li would be angry or not, that would be something to consider in the future...

Tang Thirty-Six did not reveal a joyous expression, nor did he seem excited. Instead, he looked as if he was staring at an idiot.

Chen Changsheng asked anxiously, "What’s up? What did I say wrong?"

Tang Thirty-Six sighed, "If I didn’t know you so well, I would definitely think you were deliberately humiliating me."

Chen Changsheng felt very wronged. How did his good intentions become a humiliation?

"I can’t learn these three swords," Tang Thirty-Six said, "so in the future, I ask that you please not bring up this matter anymore to humiliate my intelligence, do you get it?"

Chen Changsheng’s eyes widened as he asked, "Why can’t you learn it?"

Tang Thirty-Six furiously replied, "I just can’t stand that innocent face of yours! Why can’t I learn it? You ask me, I ask who can? You think that if you can learn, everyone in the world can learn it? Then why is it that Su Li, in his entire life, only taught you three? Besides you and Qiushan Jun as well as his own daughter, why didn’t he go and teach it to his disciples and granddisciples in the Mount Li Sword Sect?"

At this moment, for some inexplicable reason, Zhexiu, while lying on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes.

Tang Thirty-Six was currently in a terrible mood, so he yelled at Zhexiu, "You know how to wake up on hearing her name? Not playing dead anymore? Pervert!"

Zhexiu fell into thought, then replied, "When I’m recovered, I’m going to beat you up."

Tang Thirty-Six had no fear of him. Sneering, he replied, "Then if you have the capability, hurry up and do it! Don’t say so many useless things! I’m discussing things with Chen Changsheng, you just go to sleep!"

Zhexiu was rather straightforward and able to adapt to the circumstances. Seeing that they weren’t talking about Qi Jian, he truly did close his eyes and return to his rest.