Chapter 1054 – The Return of the Pope (1/2)

Chapter 1054 – The Return of the Pope

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The Orthodox Academy was one of the Six Ivies and had an extremely long history. For a time, it had prospered and flourished to incredible levels within the capital.

Twenty-some years ago, a bloody incident took place in the Orthodox Academy, with countless teachers and students dying. From that day, the Orthodox Academy became a graveyard, left to gradually fade away in the flow of history. Those people of the capital who still remembered did not dare mention it.

Only when Chen Changsheng came from Xining Village to the capital did the Orthodox Academy once more appear in the world.

And there was the coup of the Mausoleum of Books.

The status of the Orthodox Academy now was very special.

Both the Imperial Court and the Li Palace treated the Orthodox Academy extremely well.

Countless resources of all types flowed in an unending stream into that place deep within Hundred Flowers Lane.

In a short three years, the Orthodox Academy had regained its former grandeur, its status beginning to surpass that of the other Ivy Academies and on the verge of standing level with the Heavenly Dao Academy. Otherwise, why would those teachers and students who had once fled waste so much strength in an attempt to return?

History had always been written by the victors, and glory would always belong only to that person who stood at the very peak of the Mausoleum of Books.

The Orthodox Academy had been reborn and regained its glory because of Chen Changsheng. He still held the post of Principal of the Orthodox Academy. But many people believed that the Orthodox Academy was still Shang Xingzhou's Orthodox Academy.

The brilliance of the Orthodox Academy in the Grand Examination and in the Mausoleum of Books had also been attributed by many to Shang Xingzhou.

Because Shang Xingzhou was the most important and most influential principal in the history of the Orthodox Academy.

And Chen Changsheng was his student.

His journey from Xining to the capital, his entry into the Orthodox Academy, and everything else had all been arranged by Shang Xingzhou.

This was an extremely explicit lineage.

The scholars of the Imperial Court had written all sorts of fine essays about it.

The Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education had even prepared to set up a stele outside the academy gate to record this period of history.

To the Orthodoxy's conservative faction, this was just a return to the fundamentals.

To the Orthodox Academy, this was unquestionably an erosion.

If not for Su Moyu's staunch defense, if not for the Li Palace's unending vigilance, if not for the certain restrictions Mao Qiuyu had placed on the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education before entering seclusion, perhaps the marks that Chen Changsheng had left on the Orthodox Academy would have already been wiped clean.

At this time, Chen Changsheng returned to the capital.

The hand that the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education had extended into the Orthodox Academy had been calmly cut off by Xu Yourong.

Tang Thirty-Six had made a declaration to the capital and the entire continent.

It was a declaration as forceful as a thunderclap, exploding in the snowstorm and swiftly spreading to every nook and cranny of the capital.

The current Orthodox Academy had cleanly and resolutely cut itself off from the old Orthodox Academy.

Upon hearing this news, the pacifistic faction that had hoped for Shang Xingzhou and Chen Changsheng to make amends was deeply disappointed. Those ambitious individuals who hoped to see the teacher and disciple continue to clash, and even hoped to gain some benefits for themselves in the conflict, were also deeply shocked.

Because the Orthodox Academy's stance had been too firm.

One could criticize this as not understanding the principle of respecting one's teacher, and one could even go so far as to criticize this as deceiving one's teachers and betraying one's ancestors.

But what sort of person was Tang Thirty-Six?

In his months within the ancestral hall, he had earnestly set about creating a cold and insidious plan to overturn the entire Tang clan.

He simply didn't care.

As for whether he could make a decision for the Orthodox Academy, whether he could make a decision for Chen Changsheng, that was another question.

Many people believed that this had always been Chen Changsheng's intention.

……

……

Chen Changsheng did not know that Tang Thirty-Six would say such things once he left the Orthodox Academy. He also did not have such intentions, because he simply had not imagined the sort of effect the ownership of the Orthodox Academy would have on the situation.

But upon learning of this matter, he was not surprised, and he certainly did not object.

He and Tang Thirty-Six had not communicated on this matter beforehand, but in the last few years, whether it was by the lake or on the great banyan tree, they had talked far too many times, discussed far too many futures. In every future that they sketched out, the Orthodox Academy was in all of them.

And he also knew that Tang Thirty-Six was helping him make a choice.

Xu Yourong, by killing Bishop Mei Chuan in the Orthodox Academy, had also been helping him make a choice.

Making a choice was one of the world's most difficult and most painful of tasks.

Xu Yourong and Tang Thirty-Six were the two people closest to him beneath the starry sky.