Chapter 213 – A Myriad of Monolith Comprehension Methods (Part Three) (2/2)
“Yes.” Chen Changsheng continued, “The Prince of Ruyang used one year to grasp the meaning of seventeen monoliths. Amongst the imperial family, he would rank in the top ten.”
“I still believe that this method is not feasible.”
Chen Changsheng seriously asked, “Why?”
“Because the monoliths of the front mausoleum are already extremely complicated. A cool breeze, the starry sky, the scorching sun, the night snow; the changes in light are even harder to keep track of. It’s simply impossible to make a thorough examination. The sampling of one person’s observations is simply too small. Even if you disregarded all this, you would still need to select a target in order to determine any changes with time. How would you choose this?”
After a moment’s thought, Chen Changsheng replied, “Intuition.”
Gou Hanshi said nothing more.
The grass hut grew quiet once again.
The Heavenly Book was indecipherable, yet it could also be comprehended at any time. On the surface, it seemed like all the methods described by these youths were all reasonable.
Different cultivators had different methods of comprehending the monoliths, stating this sort of thing was meaningless.
After some hesitation, Qi Jian asked, “How did you think of this method?...It’s too far off the beaten path.”
Chen Changsheng chuckled. “The world has a myriad of monolith comprehension methods. I only have one question: are they easy to be used?”
“It makes sense. It’s just like the dried meat you cooked; regardless of whether it was cooked with sugar or onions and garlic, you only need to ask one question: does it taste good?”
Gou Hanshi smiled, but then he restrained himself. He sternly warned Chen Changsheng, “But I advise you not to tell anyone about this.”
Chen Changsheng was stunned by these words, but then realized what they meant.
If he was still that young daoist from Xining village that had just arrived at the capital, who would care about what method he used to comprehend the monoliths? No one would have paid him any attention. However, by this point his status had gone through a great transformation. In a variety of ways, he had been chosen by the Li Palace. To the eyes of the world, his many actions were possibly a reflection of the Orthodoxy’s will.
Zhexiu, who had remained silent this entire time, suddenly opened his mouth. He expressionlessly told the four from the Li Shan Sword Sect, “Now we have to see what you all think.”
Gou Hanshi laughed, but said nothing. Although his nature was mild, he still had his own pride.
They all stopped discussing it and began to wash their faces and prepare for bed.
As Chen Changsheng was putting away his notebook, he suddenly thought of something. Walking to the outer room, he handed his notebook over to Gou Hanshi. “Can you take a look at this? I drew it by relying on my senses.”
Gou Hanshi felt a bit uneasy. The debate before had been one thing, to give one’s notes on the Monolith Inscriptions to another was yet another thing. He thought it over, then took out a small booklet from his chest and handed it to Chen Changsheng. “Before I entered the Mausoleum of Books, I made some preparations. This booklet contains some of my notes.”
Chen Changsheng laughed, Gou Hanshi also laughed. The two exchanged glances, then suddenly went quiet. The smiles on their faces slowly disappeared, only to be replaced with expressions of shock.
The youths that had finished washing their faces saw this sort of scene upon returning to the room.
“It should be somewhere in the room.” Gou Hanshi said.
Chen Changsheng replied, “It’s not in the blankets. When I was folding them during the day, I didn’t see any sort of notes. I didn’t even see a sheet of paper.”
Puzzled, Tang Thirty-Six rubbed his wet hair. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Xun Mei’s notebook.” Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi chorused in unison.
Immediately afterwards, they simultaneously turned around to rummage through the things in the room.