Chapter 486 – Two Wildflowers Fill the Cliff (II) (1/2)

Chapter 486 - Two Wildflowers Fill the Cliff (II)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

”I said I was going to drown them, and this is precisely the 'Drowning of Seven Armies'.” At some point, the folding fan in Tang Thirty-Six's hand had been exchanged for a green apple. He used the apple to gesture at the lights of library and the silhouettes left by the new students as he said, ”The Orthodox Academy now has so many people that it won't be so easy for our opponent to waste us to death. On the contrary, we can waste them to death.”

Chen Changsheng shook his head. ”I don't believe you.”

After a moment of silence, Tang Thirty-Six replied, ”This is the beginning.”

”The beginning?” Chen Changsheng was truly confused.

”Your beginning is also the Orthodox Academy's beginning, and this place will always have to get new students…” Tang Thirty-Six looked over the academy in the night and said, ”One person's Orthodox Academy sounds very cool, but in reality, that's not the Orthodox Academy. It's just one person. In the future, if it becomes two people, three people, three or four people…none of these is the Orthodox Academy. Only the current academy is the Orthodox Academy.”

As the night deepened, the lanterns remained brightly lit. Chen Changsheng followed his gaze and muttered, ”But what do we need all these people for?”

”There is strength in numbers,” Tang Thirty-Six explained, turning to him. ”At the moment, they're still very weak, very young, but in the future?”

”The future huh…” Chen Changsheng had a rough idea. It was just that he really had not considered matters of the future, because he was accustomed to placing his gaze on the time before he reached the age of twenty. But when he looked at the brightly lit Orthodox Academy, at those new students sitting by the window quietly reading their books, at the backs of those young men and women by the lake, he recalled those old scenes that had come to mind when he had just entered the Orthodox Academy, those scenes from several decades ago of those young men and women in this academy studying and gazing at the lake. As he thought of all this, a smile gradually revealed itself on his face. He thought to himself, no matter what happens in the future, this is also rather nice. And doesn’t it seem like those trees that had only seen silence for so many years have woken up?

Tang Thirty-Six spoke, ”Don't forget, in the future, you will be the Pope.”

The entire continent knew that Chen Changsheng would become the Pope in the future. Only he himself was not so sure about it, thinking it far too remote. He had not thought that he was already the Principal of the Orthodox Academy, only several steps away from ascending to the endlessly radiant throne of the Pope. Of course, his true power was far from the likes of Prefects such as Mao Qiuyu and Daoist Siyuan, but purely based off the divine hierarchy, he was already their complete equal. As Archbishop Mei Lisha had said back then, Chen Changsheng only needed to bow to the Pope. To do so for others was not necessary.

”The Pope…it's not that great.”

”Of course it's not that great.” Tang Thirty-Six explained, ”If His Holiness were not standing behind you, a powerful figure like Daoist Siyuan or Linghai Zhiwang would be able to render you into dust with a single finger! In fact, amongst the reasons they so stubbornly persist in standing by the Tianhai clan, I believe the most important is that His Holiness chose you as his successor. In the future, if you plan to become Pope, it won't be a simple affair.”

Chen Changsheng recalled the undercurrent that been running within the Orthodoxy in these past few days and the All-School Martial Exhibition proposal that had clearly been targeted at the Orthodox Academy, and he knew that Tang Thirty-Six's conjecture was correct. Compared to the true powers of the Orthodox Academy like Linghai Zhiwang, he had no foundation in the Orthodoxy other than the Pope's support and the favor Archbishop Mei Lisha had bequeathed upon him. If he wished to become the next Pope, he would inevitably suffer countless complications and challenges in the coming years. How could he respond to them?

”Orthodox Academy is precisely your foundation. In the coming decades, the students and teachers that emerge from the Orthodox Academy will all be regarded as your people, whether they want to or not.”

Tang Thirty-Six turned to him and said, ”The Tianhai clan and those two archbishops definitely have many contingency plans. There's even a chance that they want to borrow this matter of challenging the Orthodox Academy to directly revolt against his Holiness. But now, our messing around has confined their efforts to the gate of the Orthodox Academy, so all the pressure will necessarily also be borne by only the Orthodox Academy. You must become used to this fact, because in the coming decades, you could confront similar difficulties at any time.”

It was only upon hearing this explanation that Chen Changsheng realized how complex the matter was. Ashamedly, he said, ”I really don't understand these things. If this is the case, was it lucky that I didn't go to the Li Palace?”

”Even if you did go the Li Palace and seek the aid of His Holiness, if his elderly self decided that the Orthodox Academy was still able to endure, he wouldn't say anything.”

Tang Thirty-Six stared him in the eyes. ”Because His Holiness thinks the same as the rest of us. We all hope that you can grow accustomed to this pressure as quickly as possible and then quickly mature.”

”All of this…it's too complicated.” Chen Changsheng said from the bottom of his heart, ”I could never think of all these things. How are you all able to understand this?”

To make painstaking investigations and ascertain the minds of others, these were things that people like the Demon Commander, Black Robe, and Zhou Tong were most skilled at.

Chen Changsheng had always felt that these were the most difficult matters of the human world, innumerable times more difficult than the Intellectual Sword.

It just so happened that Tang Thirty-Six was also thinking of the sword Su Li had taught Chen Changsheng. ”You're even able to learn the Intellectual Sword, so how can you not understand these things? It's just that you're too lazy to think about them.”

Chen Changsheng shook his head.

”I'm not comforting you,” Tang Thirty-Six said, and stared at him. ”The other day, you said that I and Su Li are very similar. In fact, I also remembered that there's a person very similar to you.”

”Wang Po?” Chen Changsheng looked back expectantly.

”That guy with his constantly worried look…just where is he similar to you? I'm speaking about His Holiness,” Tang Thirty-Six declared.

Chen Changsheng was a little taken aback at these words, not able to see just where he and the Pope were similar.