Chapter 216 – Viewing the Monoliths in the Night by Lantern Light (Part Two) (1/2)
Chapter 216 - Viewing the Monoliths in the Night by Lantern Light (Part Two)
Now that the middle-aged man had appeared, one of the Scholartree Manor’s students regained his arrogance. He introduced the man to the surrounding onlookers. “This is my martial uncle from Scholartree Manor, Ji Jin. More than twenty years have passed since he offered his Dao to the Mausoleum of Books.”
The young examinees were all startled by these words and one by one stepped forward to pay their respects. It must be known that in the past, Ji Jin had been one of the south’s most famous scholars, possessing exceptional gifts. Who would have thought that he had actually become a Monolith Guardian?
This martial uncle, from the Scholartree Manor, called Ji Jin paid no attention to the respects and bows of these juniors. While throwing Chen Changsheng an exceptionally cold stare, he strode before him and Gou Hanshi.
“To take the shape is to refine true essence, to take the idea is to stimulate the spiritual sense, to take the form is to imitate sword moves; the world only recognizes these three methods as authentic. All other methods, regardless of how bizarre they are, equally serve as the foundation for these three. If you really plan on discarding them all, then I want to know, what sort of method do you have? In the many years past, there have been countless people overconfident in their intelligence, always thinking that their predecessors were only mediocre and that they could easily surpass them. How could these people understand that with such an unrealistic mindset, that they were already travelling down a limited path?”
He stared at Chen Changsheng, his voice harsh and uncompromising. “Don’t think that just because you obtained first place on the first banner in the Grand Examination that you’re entitled to look down on all these others in this holy and sacred Mausoleum of Books, that has attained first rank on the first banner and more! Who would dare to be as arrogant as you, wanting to reach enlightenment as fast possible. Otherwise you would definitely be battered and bruised here.”
Everything around the monolith hut sat in silence. Only Ji Jin’s cold and oppressive voice rang out. In the eyes of the senior from the Holy Maiden Peak, the two students from the Star Seizer Academy, as well as all the other students present, Senior Ji Jin was a Monolith Guardian worthy of great respect from all Daoists. His understanding of the Heavenly Tome Monoliths was far beyond that of anyone outside the mausoleum. Although his words were harsh, they were also reasonable. Although Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi could be considered well-read, even erudite, in the Daoist Canons, they were still young. Especially in the domain of the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, when faced with such harsh yet substantive criticisms, what else could do they except humbly receive this advice?
Yet as time passed, the atmosphere in front of the monolith hut grew increasingly tense.
Because while Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi had not said anything, they also had not clearly acknowledged their mistakes.
The Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education’s building was not very eye-catching. It was completely engulfed by the dozens of tall red fir trees around it, but even those trees were incapable of shutting out the night sky. This was why the dozens of stone steps were illuminated by the starlight, as if covered by a layer of snow.
His Eminence, Archbishop Mei Lisha, stood in front of the window, gazing at the white steps as his right hand twirled a winter plum flower behind him. It was the beginning of spring, but for some reason this winter plum flower had just blossomed.
“The Empress’ mind was vast and broad, able to hold the entire world, thus she needn’t care about the Orthodox Academy, needn’t care about how far that child called Chen Changsheng could go…of course, most importantly, the Empress was too powerful. Even if that child were to come across a stroke of luck, he would still be but an ant in the Empress’ eyes. If she wanted to crush him, she could do so at any time, but there were still many people that were not as strong as the Empress, so naturally they cannot be as open-minded. So they will fear, they will be afraid of those matters of the past, such as the reversal of the verdict in the Orthodox Academy.”
Mei Lisha’s wizened face exuded a faint sense of ridicule. “No matter if it’s people from the Tianhai clan or those dogs that the Empress uses to gnaw people to death, along with the Pope’s attitude, the fear in their hearts grows ever stronger and they grow increasingly wary of the Orthodox Academy and Chen Changsheng. Naturally, they have no desire to see him continue to shine. Since they themselves are unable to act, they invited a southerner that they had known for many years, yet this is to be expected. It’s just that I didn’t think that a person like Ji Jin would deign to act.”