Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Besides the wall in front of the Mausoleum of the Book, what did the Destiny Pavilion care about the most when evaluating honor rolls such as the Honor Roll of Green Cloud and the Honor Roll of Midas? The answer is the fights between elites on the honor rolls. Anyone that got on the honor roll, regardless of background, would have experienced at least one battle.

Chen Chang Sheng who did not have experience asked, “Then, how do we fight? Who do we fight?”

Luo Luo’s eyes lit up and she held onto the handle of her Falling Rain Whip using her right hand. She walked up and said, “When master has a problem, his disciple will solve it.”

Of course, Tang Thirty Six wouldn’t let her take advantage of such a great opportunity to fight and said, “I am new… so you should let me prove myself.”

Nowadays, the Li Palace Sword sect possessed a special status because its current young generation was very strong. Certainly Tang Thirty Six was a genius, but he still couldn’t compare to his opponents. That is not to say Gou Han Shi or even the three young disciples of the Li Mountain could defeat him easily.

The Seven Rulings were all from the Li Mountain. Everyone of their rank on the Honor Roll of Green Cloud ranked much higher than Tang Thirty Six.

Yet Tang Thirty Six seemed to never think about the difference in ranks. When he looked at Gou Han Shi, his eyes lit up and he became excited.

The word fear was never in his dictionary. He originally wanted to challenge Zhuang Huan Yu who ranked tenth on the Honor Roll of Green Cloud on the second night of the Ivy Festival. His fight was rejected only because the school objected to it. Tonight, he decided to join the Tradition Academy but he immediately got a chance to fight the Seven Rulings. He didn’t want to miss this chance.

Yes, this was a good opportunity.

“If I didn’t remember incorrectly, the third night of the Ivy Festival is the literary test.”

Gou Han Shi didn’t look at Tang Thirty Six, but only quietly looked at Chen Chang Sheng. “Since even the princess became your apprentice, then you should be very knowledgeable. Also I heard you still haven’t successfully purified yet, so I think the literacy competition would be a good option.”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone understood it.

Li Mountain Sword sect challenging the Tradition Academy was basically Gou Han Shi challenging Chen Chang Sheng.

The palace was silent. Gou Han Shi sounded very reasonable and showed Li Mountain Sword sect’s pity for the weak and pursuit for equity. Gou Han Shi’s comment meant that since the third night was a literacy competition, Chen Chang Sheng didn’t have an excuse to not compete with him even if he didn’t purify successfully yet.

However, this suggestion was in truth not pitiful or fair.

Gou Han Shi read three thousand Scrolls of the Way and learned all the teachings from both the North and the South. Even the old professors who studied the Scrolls of the Way for their entire life in the Li Palace couldn’t score better than him on the literacy test. This was a fact acknowledged by the entire continent. If they were only talking about xiuxing, Gou Han Shi wasn’t strong compared to those elders who had xiuxinged for hundreds of years because he was younger, but in regards to knowledge, he was the most knowledgeable.

He wanted to compete against Chen Chang Sheng in the literacy competition. How was this fair? This was completely bullying and would be utter dominance by the strong elite.

Luo Luo’s look became sharp and she stared at Gou Han Shi. She shouted, “Nonsense!”

Gou Han Shi’s expression didn’t change. He first made a salute to her and then said, “May I ask, what is nonsense?”

Tang Thirty Six laughed contemptuously. “The entire continent knows that you have read all of the Scrolls of Way and that you are the most knowledgeable. Where can we find someone comparable to you? You actually want to compete with that kid in knowledge? Don’t you feel any shame? To actually suggest it, how is it not nonsense?”

Gou Han Shi looked at him and said calmly, “I am also a commoner. My memory skills are not better or superior to than others’. Since I was a child, my family was very poor. Also I couldn’t begin reading (supposed to be xiuxing?) right after I was born. The only thing I can do is read. Reading is my xiuxing. Knowledge is my strength like power is a tiger’s strength. I am representing Li Mountain in this challenge to the Tradition Academy. Should I really abandon my strength? I use my strength to live on. Why should I feel shameful? I use my strength to defeat my opponent. How is it nonsense?”

“What a stupid argument! I am best at sleeping. If I want to compete with you on who could sleep longer, will you also agree?” Tang Thirty Six said.

Gou Han Shi smiled and said, “If there is such a competition as the Sleeping Competition in the Ivy Festival, then I will.”

Tang Thirty Six got stuck but after a while, he laughed contemptuously, “Then how is the literacy competition going to be? Do you actually want the Bishop to give us tests? Why do we have to get so complicated? Since we all didn’t participate in the second night of Ivy Festival, isn’t it more straightforward to just have a fight?”

Gou Han Shi spoke calmly, “If you insist, I have no problem with it…You can decide both competition type and who competes.”

People all felt a little surprised, even Tang Thirty Six didn’t expect Gou Han Shi’s sudden change of attitude.

Following Gou Han Shi’s sentence, Guan Fei Bai and other two young disciples of Li Mountain walked up to him with empty expressions.

Seeing this, people then realized that they misunderstood Gou Han Shi before.

The so called literacy competition, indeed was an automatic win for the Li Mountain, but fighting would be even worse for Chen Chang Sheng because he would have even fewer chances to win.

Among the Southern Ambassadors, there weren’t many people coming from the Li Mountain Sword Sect. Beside the elder Xiao Song Gong, there were only four other youngsters.

They were four of the Seven Rulings.

At this moment, Chen Chang Sheng spoke again.

He looked at Gou Han Shi, “I agree with you. Anything obtained from xiuxing is their own ability. Just like how when rice eaten, it turns into energy. It’s our freedom to use the energy to do what we want. Fortunately….I am also a commoner and I also have read some books.”

Both were commoners and both had read some books, which was really coincidental. Therefore it’s good for them to compete.

“After all you are unwilling.”

The Bishop looked at Chen Chang Sheng and laughed, hiding deep meaning within.

Then he looked outside of the palace.

The fall wind was a little cold. The lights of the Seventh of July were only in the ordinary families, but not in the royal palace making it even colder.

The old man wore his clothes tighter and said, “If the event ends without a fight, Qiu Shan Jun will definitely feel unwilling later when he finds out. Since Tang Thirty Six could not participate in the first two nights of the Ivy Festival, he has been feeling unwilling. Also since the southerners didn’t participate in the first two nights of the Ivy Festival, why don’t you guys just fight? Since it is already so late, please make it fast.”

…………………………..

The door was opened and the lights from the Night Pearls emitted in the darkness. The square in front of the palace became very bright.

Outside of the royal palace, the the streets in the capital were still crowded. Far away there were people igniting the Eternal Fires. In the southwest corner, there were fireworks burning.

There were hundreds of people who stood on the staircase in front of the palace. They were all looking at the two groups divided into the east and west of the square. They all had feelings. Some were indifferent, some felt worried, some felt happy, but none of them were nervous.

In the Ivy Festival in the recent years, the competitions between schools in the capital hadn’t stopped. There were always some dramatic events occurring. In the Ivy Festival this year, the first night was forced to end early because Luo Luo destoryed Tian Hai Ya Er. There wasn’t anything exciting that happened on the second night. The third night, everyone thought the main scene would the proposal from the Southern Ambassadors, but an exciting event had happened. Now, they were finally facing the real fight.

But unfortunately before the fight even began, the result was already known. Because the results were known, none could get nervous.

Gou Han Shi wouldn’t fight himself. His xiuxing stage was already much higher than others in his age. Like Qiu Shan Jun, he was no longer in the Honor Roll of Green Cloud but in the Honor Roll of Midas. If he fought Luo Luo or Tang Thirty Six, the match would be unfair.

Previously he suggested to have a literacy competition with Chen Chang Sheng because of the inequity in regards of strength. Since in the literacy competition people only need to speak, there would be victory and loss but no wounds and death.

In the competition between the Tradition Academy and the Li Mountain Sword sect, the Tradition Academy was allowed to choose both how and who to compete. The Li Mountain Sword Sect seemed to act generous, but actually there’s no difference. The disciples from the Li Mountain Sword sect who came to the capital, were all among the Seven Rulings. It’s difficult for the Tradition Academy to win anyone of them.

“Originally I was going to challenge the fourth ruling…….this kid know about this.”

Tang Thirty Six pointed at Chen Chang Sheng and said to Luo Luo, “But since tonight is a fight between schools, then I can’t just do whatever I want. The fourth ruling is the strongest, obviously I will let you take over. I want to try to defeat the kid named Qi Jian.”

Luo Luo said, “I am fine with it.”

Chen Chang Sheng thought a bit and said, “If we do this, the chance to win is small.”

Tang Thirty Six looked at him and said sarcastically, “I wanted to use the ancient horse race method. Let our weakest fight their strongest……but the problem is you are way too weak. We can’t even let you get on the field. Obviously we can only try to win two fights continuously, so you don’t have to get out and lose face.”

Luo Luo actually felt very confident about Chen Chang Sheng even though she didn’t even know where her confidence came from.

At the moment, the people from the Li Mountain Sword sect walked out.

The one who walked in the front was a young man. He was not even fully grown yet but actually looked even smaller than Luo Luo.

He’s Qi Jian, ranked last, and also was the weakest among the Seven Rulings.

Qi Jian was Li Mountain Sword sect master’s close-door disciple(last disciple he would take). He was very young, but had ranked in the top ten on the Honor Roll of Green Cloud, until on one meeting two years ago. He barely lost to Zhuang Huan Yu, so he was dropped to eleventh, but no one dared to look down on him.

Because he’s really small.

His rope appeared very loose, blowing up by wind, Hoo Hoo, looked somewhat cute.

Tang Thirty Six saw this scene, sighed and said, “How can I even hit him?”

Chen Chang Sheng sighed and said, “Sounds like you can actually beat him.”

Tang Thirty Six felt very angry, stared at him.

Tang Thirty Six laughed, didn’t speak.

Tang Thirty Six suddenly remained silent for a while, then said, “If we can fortunately win two fights, this kid doesn’t have to get on. If I lose, then Luo Luo you should just surrender, so we lose two fights continuously, then this kid no longer needs to fight.”

Chen Chang Sheng noticed his word “fortunately.”

Although he’s fearless, but it doesn’t mean he was blinded by his own enthusiasm.

Tang Thirty Six knew the opponent was strong.

Luo Luo didn’t understand, why if he lost, she had to surrender too?

Was it really more important for master to not go up than the loss of the Tradition Academy?

“Yes, the Tradition Academy only got a few sparrows like us, is it really shameful to lose to the Li Mountain Sword sect? Fine, it’s certainly shameful, but that doesn’t matter, as long as you don’t go up…..If you don’t go up, then they can’t get back the reputation they lost today.”

Tang Thirty Six looked at the calm person standing in the opposite at the square, said, “Let them feel unwilling!”

After saying this, he held on to the handle of his sword, walked towards the opposite side.