Chapter 552 – Life is Difficult to Bear… (1/2)
Chapter 552 - Life is Difficult to Bear…
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”I will learn how to grow accustomed to treating these stone pearls as beautiful pieces of jewelry and not Heavenly Tome Monoliths.”
Xu Yourong looked at Chen Changsheng and calmly continued, ”And now, I'm somewhat hungry.”
No one had lived in Xun Mei's grass hut for a long time, so it was covered in dust, but all sorts of tools and utensils were still at the ready.
Chen Changsheng picked two cabbages and a dozen or so peppers from the garden, covered a few slices of dried meat in honey, and steamed them. Adding on some white rice, he cooked a fragrant meal.
Xu Yourong ate very contentedly, but also with some embarrassment.
Afterwards, they discussed the next Grand Examination and next year's Boiling Stone Summit, as well as how they would leave the Mausoleum of Books.
In order to avoid being seen by others and prevent anybody from guessing, thus allowing the capital to continue to buzz with rumors, the two agreed to leave separately. Xu Yourong would leave first while Chen Changsheng would stay in the Mausoleum of Books for another day. However, they failed to understand that attempting to hide it only made it more conspicuous and that this would utterly fail to conceal their relationship from others.
One might even consider it as deceiving themselves.
Yet before Xu Yourong could leave, the small yard received an uninvited visitor.
The visitor was the Monolith Guardian from Scholartree Manor, Ji Jin. Perhaps it was because he had recognized Xu Yourong's identity or had guessed at something, but he stood on the other side of the fence, his expression rather desolate and his face rather pale. The hatred and unwillingness in his eyes were no more, replaced with complex and indescribable emotions.
Chen Changsheng was prepared to speak when Xu Yourong indicated that he should hold.
Her sleeves fluttering, she walked to the fence. Gazing at Ji Jin, she indifferently said, ”I will propose to cancel your qualifications to be Monolith Guardian and have you expelled from the Mausoleum of Books.”
Sunlight leaked through the branches of the plum and orange trees and fell upon her face.
This sublimely beautiful face was instantly suffused with a divine and august majesty.
Because as she spoke, she was the Holy Maiden of the south that reigned above.
To become a Monolith Guardian of the Mausoleum of Books was an incredibly difficult task. One needed to swear an incredibly extreme blood oath that seemed to contain some of the power of the Heavenly Dao.
Once one swore the blood oath and became a Monolith Guardian, one would possess the lifelong dream of cultivators, the freedom to interact with the Heavenly Tome Monoliths at any time of day. Simultaneously, they would also lose the freedom to leave the Mausoleum of Books. For the rest of their lives, they could only research and study the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, forbidden from taking one step outside the Mausoleum of Books.
From the time the Orthodoxy established this rule to now, countless years had passed, but this rule had only been broken once—that was the time when Su Li invaded the Mausoleum of Books and poured a torrent of abuse on those two Monolith Guardians that had come from the Mount Li Sword Sect, then forcefully brought them back to Mount Li.
Those two Monolith Guardians later on became the two elders of Mount Li's Discipline Hall and were also one of the principal causes of Mount Li's internal strife.
The allure of the Mausoleum of Books to cultivators was far too powerful, just like a dream that was impossible to end.
The more profound one's insights into the Dao, the more one researched the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, the less one was willing to leave.
Even a great Daoist possessing such extraordinary talent as Xun Mei took several decades to wake up.
To cancel out the blood oath of a Monolith Guardian and expel him from the Mausoleum of Books was something only the Pope and the Holy Maiden were qualified to do, and this Monolith Guardian would suffer the backlash of the blood oath and suffer extreme pains.
Upon hearing Xu Yourong's words and seeing Ji Jin's face instantly pale and body incessantly shudder, Chen Changsheng became vigilant.
In his view, for Ji Jin to be humiliated in this way, to receive so harsh a punishment, he would be so furious that he might even go mad and attack Xu Yourong.
But Ji Jin did not angrily lash out. After a moment, he gradually calmed. Separated from Xu Yourong by the fence, he bowed.
He clasped his hands and raised them up, seeming exceptionally reverential.
His voice trembled, clearly very excited and also somewhat disappointed.