Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Chen Changsheng stopped and turned his head back at the teacher. He was somewhat puzzled, but when he remembered those previous scenes, he understood why the teacher was angry—those examinees that failed Purification, upon reaching this point, would retreat in disappointment. That teacher had thought that his response would be the same, but he had continued forward. Presumably, this had made the teacher somewhat unhappy.
He wasn't willing to waste time on meaningless arguments and misunderstanding. He sincerely bowed to the teacher who was just getting up and straightforwardly explained, "Teacher, I am not looking to make trouble."
The teacher had just been prepared to scold him and ask him just what he intended by making trouble in this dignified examination. When he suddenly heard these words that had come before he could say anything, he couldn't but be a little dazed and he choked somewhat on his words. He coughed twice, then shouted, "Then why aren't you quickly getting out!"
Those youths that were behind Chen Changsheng in line to take the test were already somewhat anxious and impatient. Seeing that he was unwilling to leave, they thought he was acting in a very shameless manner. They were very angry and added their own scolding to the teacher's shouts. There were also people that mocked him by saying that he had gone crazy from failure.
The ridicule and laughter fell upon Chen Changsheng's ear, but his expression did not change. He seemed nothing like a fourteen-year-old youth, so calm that it made others feel helpless. He looked at the teacher and gave him another extremely courteous bow, then said in a very orderly fashion, "I have not cultivated, but I can still take the Heavenly Dao Academy's entrance exam."
The teacher was at a loss, not understanding what this youth was trying to say. Since he hadn't even succeeded at Purification, how could he possibly have the qualifications to continue on to the exam? Had there ever been an exception in the past few years? Even if there had, just why should there be one for him?
Chen Changsheng explained, "According to the regulations of the Heavenly Dao Academy, chapter seventeen, law four, in a footnote for article eight, the entrance examination is the only criterion for entering the academy. Eleven years ago, the Department for Purging Officials also ruled as such."
Seeing his simple clothes, the teacher was subconsciously prepared to reprimand Chen Changsheng. It wasn't that he was a snob, but because he simply didn't believe it. How could this youth who had clearly come from the middle of nowhere know more about the regulations of the Heavenly Dao Academy than him who was the most specialized in recruitment and who had overseen this examination for many years? What footnote...did the academy regulations have such an article? Why didn't he have any inkling of it?
Yet just as he was about to call someone to take this youth away, he suddenly heard the words "Department for Purging Officials". He couldn't help but pause in shock and restrain the words that were about to leave his lips.
The Department for Purging Officials had originally been an unremarkable organization under the Ministry of Personnel. As the Divine Empress began to take the reins of power, she placed the department in the hands of a man she exceptionally favored, an official called Zhou Tong who was famed for his ruthlessness. Under his care, the Department for Purging Officials suddenly took on a completely different appearance. Who knew how many ministers and generals that were still loyal to the Imperial clan had died in that seemingly ordinary building? Gradually, this name caused all of the Zhou Dynasty's officials and ministers to tremble in fear.
Although the Heavenly Dao Academy was not under the jurisdiction of the Department for Purging Officials, it was difficult to not be somewhat afraid. What made this teacher feel most uneasy was that because the Department for Purging Officials wanted to wash away its vile reputation, it paid particular attention to its reputation amongst the common people. In redressing the wrongs of the people, it worked strictly by the book. If the regulations of the Heavenly Dao Academy really did have this article that the youth had mentioned, then there really might be some trouble...
Seeing Chen Changsheng's calm expression, this teacher suddenly lost some of his confidence. After a few moments of hesitation, he wrinkled his brow and yelled a few words of criticism towards the back of the line, then turned around and left, going off to some place. The crowd's scolding and teasing gradually ceased, devolving into hushed whispers. No one knew what was going on.
After quite a bit of time, the teacher finally returned, and the emotions in the eyes he turned to Chen Changsheng were somewhat more complex.
Chen Changsheng understood that the teacher most likely had gone to check the academy regulations and had seen the footnote he had mentioned. He had relentlessly read books in the temple ever since he was a child. All Three Thousand Scrolls of the Great Dao were in his head, countless books and chapters memorized until he could recite them from back to front. His reading was so extensive that he had even read the various laws and ceremonies of all the various kingdoms countless times. Naturally, he would not remember incorrectly.
"Even if you continue on to the examination, you still won't have any chance. Why waste your time?"
The teacher said to Chen Changsheng impassively, his expression very stern.
Chen Changsheng replied, "This student would still like to try."
The teacher asked, "You haven't succeeded at Purification, so how can you complete those questions? In addition, it could harm your mind. Are you sure you want to take it?"
These words were not false. Once a person had undergone Purification and cleared the heart, the greatest difference between them and a normal person, besides the strengthening of the body, was the disparity in the power of the spiritual sense. This was something that came naturally and could not be changed through human strength. Without Purification, it was assuredly impossible to work on these difficult problems. There was even a high chance of heavily injuring oneself. For this reason, this assessment, with the table in the bamboo shed and the Sensory Stone on the table, became an unavoidable hurdle. Anyone who could not make the black stone glow was eliminated. This had already become convention, or even common sense. This was why none of the failures had objected, until a special case like Chen Changsheng appeared.
Chen Changsheng bowed. "This student really does want to take the test."
The teacher's face was somewhat unsightly. He thought, since you've managed to waste your own time by luckily happening upon that rule as well as wasting everyone else's time, if you want to go, then go. And if your spiritual sense is really so damaged that you become an idiot, then that will also be a calamity you brought on yourself.
"Then go."
Chen Changsheng bowed again. Without saying any more, he walked out of the bamboo shed and headed towards that building in the depths of the Heavenly Dao Academy.
That teacher also said nothing more to him. Turning to the remaining students, his face like a sheet of ice, he said, "Next."
……
……
Chen Changsheng was the only person in more than a decade to take the entrance exam without passing the Sensory Stone Test. The youths that observed the scene from a distance had an incomprehensible feeling well up within them. Those who knew a little more did not make much of it—to take advantage of a loophole was only taking advantage of a loophole. Without having undergone Purification, his memory, analysis, and calculation ability would be insufficient. It was simply not possible to work on the Heavenly Dao Academy's entrance exam. Chen Changsheng's actions were at best an amusing interlude.
That building was the Heavenly Dao Academy's 'A' building. When Chen Changsheng entered that building, many people objected to his presence, except for that one person who had already finished his examination and, as was right and inevitable, succeeded in entering the Heavenly Dao Academy: that blue-clothed youth called Tang Thirty-Six. In fact, he stared very intently at Chen Changsheng. He also did not think Chen Changsheng could pass the exam, but he appreciated Chen Changsheng's serious, even stubborn, strength, because it reminded him of himself. At this time, the Heavenly Dao Academy's Vice Principal appeared by his side. Smiling, he asked, "Do you think that youth has a chance? I don't think so. Who was the last ordinary person to enter the Heavenly Dao Academy? That was Wang Zhice. But on this continent, it has been several hundred years since a person like Wang Zhice appeared."
Wang Zhice was once a legendary individual of the continent. In the final years of Emperor Taizu, he entered the Heavenly Dao Academy at the age of sixteen. He was a normal person that had never cultivated before. After he graduated from the Heavenly Dao Academy, he served as a common secretary in the Imperial Court right up until he was forty years old. One night when he was forty, a long whistling noise was suddenly heard throughout the capital. In one night, Wang Zhice comprehended the Dao and began to cultivate. In a few short years, he had arrived at the summit. In the end he became the second-in-command of the allied armies in the war against the Demon race. In the campaign that defeated the demons, he played a decisive role. Even now, his portrait was still hanging in the Lingyan Pavilion.
(TN: The Lingyan Pavilion was an actual building constructed in the Tang Dynasty by Taizong to commemorate twenty-four officials for their service to the empire.)
The human world had not seen Wang Zhice for a long time.
Tang Thirty-Six replied, "I also do not think he can pass, and even less think that he is the next Wang Zhice, but I think that if you wanted to become an existence as great as Wang Zhice, you would have to at least be like that youth, possessing a spirit that doesn't know the meaning of defeat as well as living a strict life style. I never thought geniuses were anything much. The scariest people are those who are very hard on themselves."
The Vice Principal shook his head and said: "When Wang Zhice was in school, on cold days when the ground was covered in snow, he would be eating frozen porridge while his hands never left his books. Can that youth study to that extent?"
Tang Thirty-Six replied, "At the very least, that youth is much stronger than all those other mediocre people."
The Vice Principal glanced at him, then said, "As expected of Tang Tang, whether it's people or things, you always look at them differently from the rest."
Tang Thirty-Six wrinkled his brow and said, "Please call me Tang Thirty-Six."
The Vice Principal laughed. "Entering my Heavenly Dao Academy, this name of yours will have to change again."
Tang Thirty-Six said seriously, "That's inevitable."
The Vice Principal glanced at the building and smelled a very faint but beautiful fragrance spilling from the window. He asked, "Will you continue to wait?"
Tang Thirty-Six replied, "Yes."
The Vice Principal asked, "Why?"
Tang Thirty-Six answered, "Although he has no chance of passing, I really want to know just how much he can score."
……
……
The examination book on the table was extremely thick, almost like a small mountain. Chen Changsheng did not know the exact specifics of this book, so of course he was a little anxious—everyone knew that the reason the Heavenly Dao Academy was extremely difficult to enter was that its entrance exam encompassed everything. From the true meaning of the Dao to debates on the Heavenly Tomes to the art of war, everything was included. There were often even questions on agriculture. Even if someone had reached a perfect Purification, if they wanted to finish all the questions by the time the incense burned down, it would still be an arduous task, to say nothing of a normal person.
Chen Changsheng sat before the table and closed his eyes for the period of five breaths, then opened his eyes and opened the examination book to the first page. As he did so, his mood was very complicated. Of course, there was a little curiosity about the unknown as well as some disquiet of unknown origin, but there was also a little expectation.
His fingers suddenly became rigid. A strand of uncertainty flashed across his eyes that were bright like mirrors.
Everyone said the Heavenly Dao Academy's test questions were very difficult. If it was testing on comparing religious passages, it would often be taken from the most obscure and hard-to-find passages, but why…did this first page's first question seem so familiar? The thirty-first debate between Cen Shenzi and the seventh-generation Pope on true meaning? When did he last see this? It was when he was three years old…this was a small and unremarkable passage from the Huainan Commentary of the Nanhua Classic. But he had already seen this commentary and memorized it, and when he was five and eleven, he read it and memorized it all over again.
Why was it familiar? It was because these words had been engraved into his heart.
Chen Changsheng was a little puzzled, but he was still a youth, so he was even more filled with joy. He stopped thinking about it and took up his brush and began to use the chapters and passage within his mind. Those penetrating insights of those great masters he copied onto his paper. Then he turned to the second page and he was not surprised to once again see familiar passages…
The Great Dao encompasses all things, and the Heavenly Dao Academy's entrance exam questions were contained entirely in those Three Thousand Scriptures.
He could recite those Three Thousand Scriptures from back to front.
How could this sort of test be difficult for him?