Chapter 245 – Outside the Garden of Zhou, a Storm Came (Part Two) (1/2)
Chapter 245 - Outside the Garden of Zhou, a Storm Came (Part Two)
So you are Chen Changsheng? He is Chen Changsheng? Who is Chen Changsheng? From the Ivy Festival, or to be more precise, from the time that the news of his engagement with Xu Yourong spread to the entire continent, these were the three phrases that Chen Changsheng had heard the most often. As time passed, this situation had not improved one bit. Contrarily, as his name became more and more famous, there were times where he was not sure who he was.
The curiosity of humans was not too different from a cat’s. Not even the Divine Empress could block up the mouths of all the people in the world. Ever since he had begun to hear those comments and see those gazes filled with nervousness and caution, he had slowly become silent and numb to them. Only now he was unable to treat this as he had done before, because the man who had asked the question was Zhu Luo, the Solitary Drunk Under the Moon. He was a powerful personage that even the Li Palace had to treat with extreme courtesy.
He took several steps forward and bowed to that distant grass hut, dignified and orderly.
The peace and quiet gradually began to grow restless. Many pairs of eyes fell upon his body.
Chen Changsheng’s expression was calm, but how could he be calm? When he thought about that scene in Wenshui City, or how on the road some people would flatter him while others would give him a cool eye, he felt extremely helpless. He began to have the feeling that being famous really was not that fortunate after all. How could Xu Yourong have borne this for so many years?
Compared to liveliness of the capital and Wenshui City, the crowd outside the forest was much faster in calming down. Zhu Luo was asking a question to Chen Changsheng, who would dare to disturb them?
The Eight Storms of the Cardinal Directions stood at the peak of human experts. In terms of strength, they were not necessarily below the Five Saints. Although the opening of the Garden of Zhou was very important, it was enough for just Zhu Luo to be overseeing it. With one of the world’s most powerful experts here, unless the Demon Lord or Black Robe personally came, there would be no problems.
Zhu Luo did not look at Chen Changsheng. Instead, he looked at the snowy peak. In the twilight, his long hair that fell to his shoulders seemed to blaze with that snowy peak. It made him give off an especially wild feeling.
“Has Mei Lisha gone senile? He actually let a child like you become Principal of the Orthodox Academy.”
Hearing these words, it became even more quiet. Many people turned towards Chen Changsheng, their eyes showing all sort of expressions. Some had pity, but naturally there was also scorn and pleasure in his misery.
Even though he had performed that great merit of summoning the starlight in the Mausoleum of Books, in the end, he was only fifteen. To become the Principal of the Orthodox Academy at such an age, this decision had been discussed and censured all across the world. It was just nobody dared to oppose the Pope’s decision in public
Even though Zhu Luo was a member of the Eight Storms, not even he would defy the Pope’s will in public. So although he said Mei Lisha, everyone knew who he was really talking about.
Mei Lisha was the archbishop of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education and one of the Six Prefects of the Orthodoxy. His position had a similar status to that of Zhu Luo’s. Zhu Luo’s taunting words were not necessarily provoking the Orthodoxy, nor was it bullying a weak child.
Priest Xin walked over to Chen Changsheng and whispered a few sentences into his ear. Only then did Chen Changsheng know that as master of the Tianliang’s second most powerful family, he had built a very close relationship with the imperial family of Chen over the past several hundred years. Because the Divine Empress had ascended to the throne and suppressed the imperial family, this peerless expert’s relationships took a turn for the worse and his relationship with the Li Palace became cold. On the other hand, he was very close with the Orthodoxy’s conservative faction which Mei Lisha represented, and he was old friends with Mei Lisha. Reasonably, he should have been looking after Chen Changsheng.
Why did this supreme expert say these words which made things difficult for Chen Changsheng?
Chen Changsheng seriously pondered this question, then he realized that Zhu Luo was jeering at the archbishop, not him. Regardless of his age, status, or strength, he was obviously a child in Zhu Luo’s eyes.
To the world, the Orthodox Academy had fallen into ruin long ago. Chen Changsheng was its principal in name only. Perhaps they did not know that the academy, deep within the Hundred Flowers Lane, only had three students? However, to a worthy senior like Zhu Luo, this was a far cry from the Orthodox Academy of old. Under the leadership of that principal, the Orthodox Academy of the past could be considered to have limitless potential. Not even the current Mount Li Sword Sect could compare. Seeing that Chen Changsheng had actually been made the principal of this academy, Zhu Luo naturally felt somewhat sorrowful or even uneasy. For such a powerful person as he, not even he could imagined that the words he had said without thinking would place such great pressure on Chen Changsheng, and such great expectation in the minds of the spectators.
The crowd was silent as they looked at Chen Changsheng, waiting for his answer to Zhu Luo’s question. Some were scornful, some took pity on him, but very few people were worried about him. Just at this moment, Chen Changsheng recalled the words that the Pope had said to him during the Grand Examination’s announcement of the ranking——lower your head, so that I might crown you.
Upon which he made a slight bow, then lowered his head.
He paid his respects once more to Zhu Luo, not saying anything, then returned to the carriage.
What was this? Was it disregard? The scene once again grew restless. They all thought that Chen Changsheng was about to meet with tragedy for offending Zhu Luo. Everyone knew that amongst the continent’s peak experts, Zhu Luo’s temperament was the harshest. How would he discipline Chen Changsheng?
Against all their expectations, Zhu Luo was not angry, nor did he say anything. Using two of his fingers, he brought up a flask of wine to his lips and took a drink, then he looked up in silence at the gradually emerging stars.
The words that he had said were for the Li Palace, for Mei Lisha, and also for the Pope. He wanted to make his dissatisfaction known, but none of his words had ever been directed at Chen Changsheng.
Naturally, Chen Changsheng did not need to answer.
To not answer turned out to be the best answer.