Ze Tian Ji Way Of Choices Chapter 137 – The Shallow River

Chapter 137 – The Shallow River

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

(TN: Way of Choices will be on break from December 25th, 2017 – January 7, 2018)

In this year's Grand Examination, the martial test phase was precisely meant for eliminating examinees. To many people, the Dallying Forest and the Qu River were natural moats that were exceedingly difficult to cross. The Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education had privately leaked the details of this phase to the Orthodox Academy. Tang Thirty-Six and Xuanyuan Po had long since made preparations for the sake of helping Chen Changsheng enter the final phase of one-on-one matches. Even though they were clearly aware that his chances of getting first rank of the first banner were almost ethereal, they were still willing to do a few things and pay some price. However, when they were making these preparations, they, like many other people, did not think that Princess Luoluo would be taking part in this year's Grand Examination.

Thus, they had not antic.i.p.ated that Princess Luoluo would insert herself in the proceedings and grab Xuanyuan Po's hand.

"Did none of you think about why I wanted to partic.i.p.ate in the Grand Examination? I'm also a student of the Orthodox Academy. That none of you thought that I could also do a few things makes me rather disappointed."

When Luoluo looked at Xuanyuan Po and Tang Thirty-Six and spoke of disappointment, her two eyes twinkled like stars, not looking disappointed at all.

After saying this, she lightly shook her sleeve, her hand holding Xuanyuan Po's hand suddenly exerting strength.

With a whoosh, Xuanyuan Po vanished from where he was standing, becoming a black silhouette in the sky.

The abruptness of it all left him completely unprepared. He hollered out in panic midair, attracting the gazes of many examinees on both sides of the Qu River.

The Qu River that ran through the Garden of the Morning Sun was at its widest point—several dozen zhang separated the sea of trees from the meadows and open forest on the opposite sh.o.r.e.

Watched by countless gazes, Xuanyuan Po whistled through the air, his hands and legs flailing as his body drew a long arc through the sky and eventually fell into the gra.s.s on the southern sh.o.r.e.

Both sh.o.r.es of the Qu River were very quiet, the only sound being his panicked shouts. One could vaguely hear that he had apparently called for his mother.

Crash.

The meadow on the southern sh.o.r.e of the Qu River momentarily shook and vast amounts of dust were sent flying into the air. The slightly yellowed gra.s.s of early spring was completely overturned and black dirt splattered everywhere like splas.h.i.+ng water.

Xuanyuan Po crashed to the ground like a heavy stone.

After a moment, the dust settled and Xuanyuan Po stood up. Patting the dust and gra.s.s of his body, he looked around in bewilderment. He looked rather dazed from his fall, but he was otherwise uninjured.

At this sight, the Li Palace priests and examinees on both sides of the river were shocked speechless, thinking to themselves, just what is this demi-human youth's body made of? It's actually this st.u.r.dy?

Gou Hans.h.i.+, Zhuang Huanyu and the others, on the other hand, were looking towards the other sh.o.r.e at that pet.i.te figure, their expressions abnormally complex.

This display was truly worthy of the second-ranked expert on the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Princess Luoluo had needed only a casual toss to show off her power. It was truly too magical.

On the northern sh.o.r.e of the Qu River, Luoluo turned to Tang Thirty-Six, her slender brows rising as she used her eyes to state her intentions.

Tang Thirty-Six hurriedly backed away from Chen Changsheng and hastily said, "I certainly don't need help."

He certainly had no wish to be thrown across the river like Xuanyuan Po. That there might be problems with the landing was one thing, but the crucial reason was that it was just too ugly.

"Then I'll leave first."

Tang Thirty-Six said to Chen Changsheng. It was only now that he came to his senses and realized that he and Xuanyuan Po had forgotten Princess Luoluo's existence when making their plans. Since Princess Luoluo was now taking action, he no longer needed to worry. He was only worried that Luoluo might develop a habit of throwing people and do so despite his protests. Like an escapee, he charged towards the Qu River.

Although his escape was rather embarra.s.sing and his figure rather comical, the instant he stepped on the Qu River, he immediately regained his elegance.

Gathering Evening Clouds.

The Wenshui Sword was still in its sheath at his waist, so he used the Three Forms of Wenshui with his bare hands.

A blazing Qi instantly enveloped the northern sh.o.r.e of the Qu River. It was clearly still rather bright out, yet the sun seemed to be setting.

His body was within the sunset, a golden light das.h.i.+ng several dozen zhang across the surface of the river. In a flash, he had arrived on the southern sh.o.r.e.

Besides the four disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect, he had been the only examinee today to directly use sword energy to cross the river.

At this sight, Zhuang Huanyu's expression turned grave while Guan Feibai and Liang Banhu seemed rather surprised.

Not too many days had pa.s.sed since that final night of the Ivy Festival, but the increase in Tang Thirty-Six's strength surpa.s.sed what many had imagined. When they thought about the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets's commentary on this youth from Wenshui during the changing of the Proclamation of Azure Sky, the examinees standing on the southern sh.o.r.e all felt rather perturbed. They silently thought, could it be that as long as he diligently cultivates, he really does have the strength to enter the Proclamation of Azure Sky's top ten?

"Teacher, I'll have to be rude." Luoluo walked up to Chen Changsheng and bowed.

She did not know how tough Chen Changsheng's body was after his Purification, but it was presumably far weaker than Xuanyuan Po's. However, other than throwing him across to the opposite sh.o.r.e, she couldn't think of any other method. Moreover, Tang Thirty-Six had already gone across, so he should be able to think of a method to catch him. Her only concern was that she was a student throwing a teacher, so she couldn't help but be worried that Chen Changsheng might be unhappy.

Before Chen Changsheng had time to say anything, an examiner hurriedly walked up and stopped Luoluo.

The Li Palace priest somewhat nervously said to Luoluo, "Your Highness, these actions of yours violate the rules of the Grand Examination, so…"

Luoluo noticed that on the southern sh.o.r.e, those several scholars from Scholartree Manor were currently speaking with the proctor and she vaguely understood what was going on. Slightly arching her brows, she somewhat unhappily said, "Earlier when I listened to the rules of the martial test, I did not hear of such a rule. Moreover, I've already thrown someone across, so are you saying that doesn't count?"

When designing this year's Grand Examination, no one had imagined that the Orthodox Academy would use this sort of method. The examiners did not dare to offend Luoluo, yet they felt that this truly went against the Grand Examination's spirit of forbidding examinees from the same sect or school from a.s.sisting each other. Added together with the fact that many examinees, along with the scholars from Scholartree Manor, were beginning to ask questions, they inevitably felt themselves in an awkward situation.

It did not take long before the final decision was sent down from the Hall of s.h.i.+ning Words. Since Xuanyuan Po had already been thrown across the Qu River by Princess Luoluo and the examiner had not clearly stated the rules beforehand, it was best to just accept the result. In the future, however, it was absolutely forbidden for any examinee to a.s.sist another. One could only rely on their own strength to cross the river, and it was reiterated once more that the use of any magical artifact was strictly forbidden.

It was very obvious that people like Mo Yu and the Princ.i.p.al of the Li Palace Academy had remembered that Princess Luoluo was always carrying numerous treasures on her person. If she were to give Chen Changsheng a Thousand Li b.u.t.ton, let alone crossing the Qu River, even crossing the River of Oblivion in an instant would not present a problem.

Luoluo was very angry and said, "I would really like to see who would dare to try and control me."

After saying this, she made to grab Chen Changsheng's hand.

Just when Tang Thirty-Six had used Gathering Evening Clouds to elegantly cross the river, the toll of a bell had come from the sea of trees. This signified that the two hours were up and all the examinees still in the sea of trees had been disqualified. Afterwards, all the examinees still on the northern sh.o.r.e made their final attempt, but they all fell in the deep green waters of the river.

Chen Changsheng and Luoluo were the only two examinees left on the northern sh.o.r.e.

Besides them, there were also several dozen Li Palace priests. Those priests did not dare to use force to stop her and so could only attempt to strenuously persuade her on the side.

Chen Changsheng also attempted to persuade her. "I have a means of crossing the river. You don't need to worry."

No one noticed that as he spoke, he secretly put a Thousand Li b.u.t.ton into his sleeve. But he wasn't lying. Priest Xin had leaked the question in advance, so how could he have failed to prepare? With his current level of strength, he had at least three ways of crossing the river, but he wanted to leave these cards hidden so that he could use them in the matches.

Luoluo opened her eyes wide and seriously asked him, "Teacher, are you really confident?"

Chen Changsheng rubbed her head and said, "Haven't you always had the most confidence in me? If I can't even cross this river, how can I take first rank of the first banner?"

The Li Palace priests were all stunned when they saw how close he was with Luoluo and they were all speechless when they heard what he said. However, when they saw that Princess Luoluo was apparently almost convinced, they relaxed and left the riverbank, returning to their positions to await the final moment of the martial test.

Luoluo had always obeyed Chen Changsheng's words. Since he had made his decision, she said no more. She stood on a rock on the sh.o.r.e, bent her knees, and then pushed.

With a light crack, the rock half-covered in moss split in two.

An ear-piercing howl resounded through the blue sky.

An invisible bell seemed to have been struck on the southern sh.o.r.e.

This was the sound of air being pushed apart.

A dress slightly lifted in the air and then descended.

Luoluo appeared in the meadow, two plumes of smoke rising from beneath her dress like flowers.

The Li Palace priests and examinees were all stunned at this sight, their mouths agape. She was truly too powerful.

Luoluo completely ignored the shocked gazes aimed at her. The first thing she did was turn around to the opposite sh.o.r.e, her eyes filled with concern.

She had always believed in Chen Changsheng's strength, even wors.h.i.+pped it, and she always believed that her teacher was hiding many things. But she was still very worried, because she couldn't think of how her teacher could possibly get across.

Tang Thirty-Six and Xuanyuan Po walked up to her side and also looked at the opposite sh.o.r.e.

Gou Hans.h.i.+, Tianhai Shengxue, Zhuang Huanyu, Qi Jian…all the examinees that had already pa.s.sed the martial test had appeared by the river and were looking at the northern sh.o.r.e.

There, Chen Changsheng stood alone.

Even Luoluo was worried about him, let alone other people.

No one could understand what sort of method Chen Changsheng could use to cross the river.

Even if he had succeeded in Purification, even if his spiritual sense was powerful, if he did not have enough true essence, he could not break through this natural limit placed down by the world.

Some examinees revealed expressions of joy at his future failure.

The four scholars from Scholartree Manor had apathetic expressions, but their eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with disdain and ridicule.

The junior sister from Holy Maiden Peak's Gentle Stream Monastery happily laughed.

The entire continent knew that Chen Changsheng wanted to get first rank of the first banner in the Grand Examination. If he could not even make it past this river, then such a claim would truly be a joke.

Guan Feibai suddenly said, "I hope that he can cross."

Qi Jian and Liang Banhu nodded.

Gou Hans.h.i.+ commented, "I've never worried that he might be unable to make it across."

Qi Jian and his other martial brothers turned to look at their senior, somewhat confused.

Gou Hans.h.i.+ said, "Those who truly have high aspirations will never neglect a single detail. He wants to take first rank of the first banner, so how could he not be able to cross this shallow river?"

Just then, Chen Changsheng finally began to move.

Under the gazes of countless others, he did not walk towards the Qu River, but raised his head up towards the blue sky.

He seemed to be searching for something amongst the white clouds of the early spring sky.

At this moment, the cry of a crane could be heard in the distance.