Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

"What do you mean?"

"Tomorrow, if you strive to use three moves...no, if you persevere and use four moves and then defeat your opponent, that would be best."

Tang Thirty-Six moved close to his ear and whispered, "There’s someone in the Celestial Pole Market that made a big wager, betting that if you appear tomorrow, you won’t use more than three moves."

Chen Changsheng was startled, asking, "The Celestial Pole Market is the business group backed by the Pavilion of Divination?"

Tang Thirty-Six nodded his head.

Chen Changsheng asked, "If you do this...won’t the Pavilion of Divination get angry?"

Tang Thirty-Six gazed at him as if he was staring at an idiot. "This year, my family took over the Heavenly Fragrance Market. The Celestial Pole Market wants to show their goodwill, so they released this information to us, or else how do you think I got ahold of this information?"

Chen Changsheng was rather shocked, asking, "Could it be that you and the rest of the Four Great Markets have all been colluding?"

"No kidding! How else are we going to make money?"

"This...isn’t this cheating those people?"

"Nonsense! When those people throw down their money, isn’t that just waiting for people like us to cheat them?

Chen Changsheng was absolutely speechless. Only after a very long time did he ask rather awkwardly, "How many moves?"

Tang Thirty-Six said, "Four moves is enough."

Chen Changsheng thought it over, then continued to ask awkwardly, "Then...what percentage?"

Tang Thirty-Six gazed at him as if he was looking at a whole new person. "Pretty good! If I knew beforehand, I would have discussed the price."

Chen Changsheng replied, "When we left Zhou Prison, Zhexiu said he wanted to add money...I think that this money should still come from my end."

Tang Thirty-Six thought it over, then said, "That’s reasonable. Out of the total profits, I’ll give you forty percent."

Chen Changsheng thought this was okay and indicated his agreement.

On the side, Xuanyuan Po commented, "I really don’t know what Zhexiu and the two of you want to do with so much money. For simple and honest kids like us that live in the mountains, if we have meat to eat and fur skins to wear, we’re really satisfied."

Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and teased, "Seeing your appearance now that doesn’t know the meaning of shame, you still have the nerve to call yourself that simple and honest?"

Xuanyuan Po was quite angry, retorting, "Just how am I anything like what you’re saying? I could search high and low and not find a person as crafty as you in my hometown."

Chen Changsheng did not want to hear Xuanyuan Po wildly yelling such phrases as ’The capital isn’t my home!’, or ’My home doesn’t even have this many people!’ while standing on the great banyan tree. He hurriedly took on the role of mediator, saying, "You really are different from before."

Tang Thirty-Six roared with laughter. "You see, even Chen Changsheng has noticed."

Xuanyuan Po felt extremely wronged.

Chen Changsheng patted his waist and said consolingly, "But I also don’t blame you. Anyone who sticks around with someone like Tang Tang for too long would become a little narcissistic, and even forget a little of what shame means."

Tang Thirty-Six’s smile instantly vanished into the fires of rage, and it was now time for Xuanyuan Po to heartily laugh.

At this moment, from the other side of the academy’s wall opposite the lake came the faint sounds of laughter.

"Hahahaha, quickly come...the three people on top of the tree are the three heroes of the Orthodox Academy."

"What three heroes...Little Principal Chen and Prince Tang sure, but that guy that looks like a bear certainly doesn’t count."

"That guy is Xuanyuan Po? That willow tree was the one he pulled out of the ground? Did he pull it out straight or did he do it facing backwards? That guy’s like a mountain, just think of how heavy he is! How can that tree stand it? Aren’t they afraid it’s going to snap?"

"The trees of the Orthodox Academy naturally aren’t ordinary trees."

Chen Changsheng, Tang Thirty-Six, and Xuanyuan Po were all dumbfounded.

This was not the first time something like this had happened.

Recently, the people that had come to see the Orthodox Academy had been too numerous, especially the many tourists that came from other counties. Without any understanding of the capital’s laws, they actually managed to furtively avoid the gazes of the Li Palace priests and Orthodoxy cavalry and stroll through the Orthodox Academy’s backyard.

Seeing the academy’s walls, they would naturally want to see what the Orthodox Academy looked like. Thus, they would begin to climb over the walls.

The laughter and discussion taking place on the other side of the wall suddenly came to a halt, replaced with the stamping of hooves and cries of reprimand. Presumably, those tourists had all been captured by the Orthodoxy cavalry.

The Orthodox Academy returned to its former peace, but the three suddenly lost all interest in any further chat.

"I don’t really like this lifestyle we’ve been living over the past few days," Chen Changsheng declared.

From the moment he began to cultivate the Dao as a child, he cultivated his heart’s desire in pursuit of the Dao of longevity. He had a natural disposition for peace and quiet. Although Tang Thirty-Six and Xuanyuan Po were at the age in which they loved fun and excitement the most, they also found it all rather annoying. These past few days had truthfully been too exciting, such that even they almost couldn’t stand it anymore. Tang Thirty-Six shook his head and chided, "I said that you should act with a heavier hand, but you refused to listen to me."

In his first match representing the Orthodox Academy, Tang Thirty-Six had severed that Li Palace Academy lecturer’s hand with one blow, but at Chen Changsheng’s request, he had exercised a much lighter hand in subsequent battles. Gazing at Chen Changsheng, who had his head lowered in silence, he continued, "If...you really did agree with me and kill a few people, it would definitely alleviate the current situation somewhat. You don’t kill and won’t let me kill, then what do those people have to be afraid of? It’s only a given that they would come one after the other. And doesn’t the Tianhai clan precisely want to see us run around to and fro until we drop dead from exhaustion?"

Chen Changsheng replied, "But don’t you feel that if we keep fighting this way, it might actually help us mature?"

Tang Thirty-Six said, "If that’s how you think of it, it’s not wrong, but...you said it yourself, you don’t like this sort of lifestyle."

Chen Changsheng stared into his eyes, saying, "As you said a few days ago, if you can’t resolve this problem, you have to change your name."

Tang Thirty-Six was rather irritated and no longer attempted to persuade him. Instead, he silently pondered on what Chen Changsheng had said before, then shook his head and said, "There really must be some problems. For His Holiness to continue to ignore this matter, we have to look into it."

Chen Changsheng added, "There’s something else that I would like you to look into for me."

"What thing?"

"Was Mu Laoban really wearing the legendary Six Protections Divine Armor under his clothes?"

After that battle had concluded, Tang Thirty-Six had told him of this conjecture. Upon hearing his question, Tang Thirty-Six replied, "If there’s nothing unusual, then it should be the case."

Chen Changsheng said nothing for a few moments, then asked, "How can we get our hands on the Six Protections Divine Armor?"

When speaking of his conjecture, Tang Thirty-Six had naturally explained the history of the Six Protections Divine Armor, that it had originally been a treasure of the Tianliang Wangs, then it had been confiscated by the Imperial Palace, and it was now in the hands of the Tianhai clan.

Tang Thirty-Six was rather perplexed, asking, "What do you want to do?"

"I want to return it to Wang Po," Chen Changsheng explained. "To thank him for his assistance in Xunyang City."

Tang Thirty-Six said rather unhappily, "I’ve helped you so much, why haven’t you ever thought about giving me anything?"

"Unhappiness, anger, resentment, the urge to kill...once bullied or provoked, these are the emotions that are the easiest to stir."

Tianhai Chenwu stood at the edge of the balcony, looking out at the lake shrouded in fog. He sighed ruefully, "I just wanted to see Chen Changsheng kill someone, whether he was forced into it or it was the result of some sudden impulse. As long as he killed someone, it would be fine. If he kept on killing, if his hands became stained with blood, if he became a person like Su Li, then what qualifications would he have to compete with our people? What possibility would there be of him becoming the next Pope? Who could have imagined that at his tender age, with his powerful strength and luck, he has still been able to completely control his heart. Even now, he still hasn’t killed anyone."

He turned to the person sitting at the table and said, "I’m very curious as to just what you think of him."