Chapter 197 – Unexpected Apathy (2/2)
TL: That’s what the author wrote. Just keep reading and it might resolve itself.
The two ‘complete’s and the two ‘life’s within the question had two totally different meanings.
Thinking of this question, he left the Pavilion of Ascending Mist. He walked down along the extremely long stone steps, and even when he had set foot on the ground of the imperial palace, he still did not have an answer.
Most of the people within the capital were still asleep, but most of the people within the imperial palace had already awoken. Some examinees were very sleepy with dark circles forming around their eyes. They had obviously not slept very well. Other examinees had not even slept a wink that night due to being so nervous, but most of the examinees were well-rested.
As for those young examinees who had come from various academies and sects, the most important goal of the Grand Examination was to enter the top three grades. Thus, they could obtain the right to enter the Mausoleum of Books and view the tablets. They naturally made proper preparations and needed to guarantee nothing would affect them like becoming unfocused as they viewed the tablets.
The several dozen stagecoaches formed a group outside the palace waiting to be called. The unusually spirited horses were treading softly but impatiently. The examinees stood next to the stagecoaches and were waiting to set off. After watching Chen Changsheng who was slowly walking from the palace, some people also began to grow impatient, such as the young scholars from Scholartree Manor.
The examinees noticed that Chen Changsheng’s hair was somewhat messy, and his expression was exhausted like he was very sleepy. It even looked somewhat haggard. Knowing that he definitely did not rest well spending the night in the Pavilion of Ascending Mist, perhaps maybe not even sleeping at all, they could not help but feel somewhat puzzled. They thought to themselves, even if you could only meditate in there for one night, you did not have to make this that hard on yourself.
Tang Thirty-Six was able to discern something more. Somewhat worried, he asked softly: “What happened?”
“It’s fine.” Chen Changsheng shook his head and replied.
He would not tell anyone about the experience he went through last night——even if it was Tang Thirty-Six or even Luoluo——He had walked into learning history’s cruel truth. Although discovering the secret was still in the far off distance, he had already seen the door or perhaps even obtained the key.
Regardless if it was the examinee’s or official’s attention, both were on Chen Changsheng’s body.
The news of finding the Garden of Zhou had already been publicly announced, or it was more accurate to say that it had been announced in the court’s upper echelon and various academies and sects. Last night, the royal court was celebrating with a feast, and Lady Mo Yu who represented the Empress formally announced that the Garden of Zhou would be opened following a month’s time.
Who did not want to enter the Garden of Zhou? Who would not want an opportunity to obtain the inheritance of the continent’s strongest expert? However, only cultivators who had reached the ethereal opening could enter the Garden of Zhou.
In regards to cultivation, viewing the tablets inside the Mausoleum of Books, so that one could comprehend the Way was the most important. Now, it had become their last opportunity for the examinees to enter the Garden of Zhou. They had to make a breakthrough within one month and achieve their ethereal opening.
Under this dual pressure, the examinees were naturally very nervous. They knew they had to work extremely hard, even to the point where they would risk their lives inside the Mausoleum of Books. While thinking of this, Chen Changsheng’s gaze naturally became a bit perplexed.
Chen Changsheng had only just turned fifteen years old, and apart from a very small number of people like Qi Jian and Ye Xiaolian, he was younger than a majority of the Grand Examination’s examinees at the three ranks. However, he was currently the same as Gou Hanshi and Tianhai Shengxue and had already achieved ethereal opening. In other words, even if he did not travel an inch forwards in the Mausoleum of Books, he could still easily enter the Garden of Zhou a month later.
Thinking carefully, to achieve his ethereal opening at such an age, and even directly surpassing the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, he was already on some level that exceeded Xu Yourong. How could people not envy him? If it were not for Qiushan Jun’s performance on the matters relating to the Garden of Zhou to be overly dazzling, perhaps people would have felt Chen Changsheng’s performance was even more shocking.
The current Chen Changsheng was, without a doubt, the focus of the entire capital. However, he did not have this kind of self-awareness. Instead, he just sat silently next to the vehicle’s window and stared at the streets illuminated by the morning light. He was silent and appeared somewhat absent-minded.
Seeing Chen Changshang’s absent-minded state, Tang Thirty-Six said with his brows raised, “Indeed, I don’t know what kind of situations you’ve encountered. You don’t seem to need good luck from the Mausoleum of Books anymore as you can already directly enter the Garden of Zhou, but you need to get something straight. To us cultivators, the Mausoleum of Books is a matter of the utmost importance, even more important than the Grand Examination, the Garden of Zhou, or anything else.”
Chen Changsheng did not reply and continued to stare out the window.
Tang Thirty-Six continued to say, “You cannot necessarily see the immediate benefits of what you obtain from the Mausoleum of Books. Also, how far and to what extent we reach will still depend on how much of the Mausoleum of Books we comprehend. Countless people in the past have already long since proved this, and there have been no exceptions.”
Chen Changsheng understood what Tang Thirty-Six meant. Of course he knew how important the Mausoleum of Books was to cultivators. The issue was that he currently had insurmountable problems with his mindset.
Cultivating was obviously extremely important. If one reached the Concealed Spirit Realm, one could repeatedly replenish one’s meridians without ever needing to worry about the haunting shadow of death. If one managed to cultivate to the Grand Liberation Realm, a stretch of one’s hand was enough to pluck the stars. One could dictate one’s own fate and even become immortal, much less worry about other things.
The problem was that in the past, even Zhou Dufu could not even come in contact with the Concealed Spirit Realm spoken of in the legends, so how could he? As for his current ability, he had already placed first in the Grand Examination’s first rank and had begun to touch the secret of altering fate. Since he could not reach the Concealed Spirit Realm, was there still any point in him cultivating any more? He who had always been disciplined and hardworking suddenly began to grow lazy for some reason, even to the point where he thought living seemed pointless.
The morning sunlight was gradually flourishing, and the fifteen-year-old Chen Changsheng had suddenly lost all interest in cultivation. At that exact moment, he arrived at the only holy ground in any cultivator’s mind: the Mausoleum of Books.