Chapter 223 – The Cry of the Goose (Part One) (2/2)

In the blink of an eye, the tenth day had arrived.

At five in the morning, Chen Changsheng finally departed the grass hut and went to the monolith hut. He looked at black monolith in silence, his thoughts unknown.

The dawn light gradually flourished and the monolith viewers began to successively enter the mausoleum. Arriving before the monolith hut and seeing him sitting cross-legged under a tree, at first they were shocked, then they had a variety of emotions.

In their eyes, one could find sympathy, one could find mercy, and one could also find ridicule and schadenfreude.

Some people kept their distance from him and walked into the hut. Others purposely walked in front of him, almost seeming to saunter by, then along with the cool breeze that curled around the roof of the hut, they disappeared.

The group from the grass hut, after finishing their breakfast, also arrived.

Seeing this scene, Guan Feibai creased his brow. He said nothing, but touched the monolith and continued on his way.

Tang Thirty-Six stood in front of him and asked, “Do you need me to keep you company?”

Chen Changsheng lifted his head and seriously told him, “For the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, even a shorter amount of time would be precious. You have to treasure these moments.

Tang Thirty-Six was speechless. He thought to himself, “You’ve spent the last ten days playing tourist and cook, and you can still sincerely tell me that.”

Zhexiu said nothing, directly sitting next to Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng made no comment.

The morning wind swept through the trees, causing the green leaves to rest upon the roof of the hut.

“Thank you, it’s about time now.”Chen Changsheng sincerely said.

Zhexiu stood up and entered the monolith hut.

This “about time” was not about his hopes of comprehending the monolith, but for Zhexiu keeping him company.

On the twelfth day at noon, the spring sun was particularly luminous. Chen Changsheng sat in the monolith hut, borrowing the roof to keep the sun from hitting him.

With a cool breeze, two youths suddenly appeared in the monolith hut. One of these youths was called Guo En. He was a brilliant student from the Gentle Stream Monastery in the south, under the administration of the Holy Maiden Peak. In the previous year’s Grand Examination, he had placed third. The other person was called Mu Nu. Before Zhuang Huanyu, he had been the strongest student from the Heavenly Dao Academy. He had been viewing the monoliths in the Mausoleum of Books for about four years now.

These two youths were once geniuses on the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Yet as time passed and the days which they viewed the monoliths increased, they broke through into Ethereal Opening and had long since entered the Proclamation of Golden Distinction. The northern and southern sects had never gotten along. Outside the mausoleum, the two youths had a relationship like fire and water, but now their relationship was not that bad at all.

“You are Chen Changsheng?” Mu Nu expressionlessly asked him.

Ten days ago, when Zhong Hui had successfully comprehended the monolith, these two people were amongst the crowd, but Chen Changsheng did not recognize them, only knowing that they were probably older entrants of the mausoleum. “Correct. Do you two have some advice for me?”

The corner of Mu Nu’s lips moved, as if he was smiling, yet not smiling, but he did not answer.

Guo En shook his head and sighed. “A letter came from my sect saying that this year’s Grand Examination produced an extraordinary individual, but now that I see him, it seems that they really exaggerated it.”

Mu Nu replied, “Otherwise, for a fifteen-year-old to break into Ethereal Opening is truly amazing. It’s just that cultivation is like a sharp blade cutting through bamboo at first, but afterwards it’s stagnant like sand and stone and hard to proceed. In the course of history there have been many of these kinds of people. Keep in mind that the Mausoleum of Books is the real test. This person can’t even pass through the Reflecting Monolith, he may very well be that sort of person. It’s truly lamentable.”

They were looking right at Chen Changsheng, but they were talking to themselves, as if Chen Changsheng did not exist, or perhaps because they did not care for Chen Changsheng’s opinion.

Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment, then he returned to contemplating the monolith.

Guo En and Mu Nu chuckled to themselves, then turned around and began heading down the mountain, but their conversation continued.

“What sort of person is Xu Yourong that she got engaged to him.”

“This is the hope for the revival of the Orthodox Academy? Truly hysterical.”

Not knowing if it was on purpose, their conversation was incredibly clear, so that even Chen Changsheng could hear it.

A bout of laughter followed from the mountain path.

Chen Changsheng calmly viewed the monolith, as if he did not been affected in the least.

The spring atmosphere gradually deepened.

In the sky, there were several hundred snow geese, returning from some far away place.

They had originally come from the warm lands of the Great Western Continent, and now they were crossing the ocean to return. They were going to Heaven’s Pillar Peak to spend the long summer.

The cry of the geese was somewhat tired, but still clear and bright.

In the forest around the monolith hut, the various birds cried out in response. It was as if they were mocking the snow geese for bringing such trouble upon themselves, for being so unbearably stupid.

Chen Changsheng looked up into the blue sky at those two beautiful white lines, and thought about how, as a child in the mountain behind Xining Village, he would play around by chasing that flock of snow geese, and he smiled.