11 What Day Will I Soar Up to the Azure Sky?

"It seems like I didn't do anything wrong."

Chen Changsheng looked at the middle-aged lady and said, "Since I didn't do anything wrong, why do I need to change anything?"

As he said these words, his expression did not change. Only his breathing had become somewhat more rough in a fashion that was very difficult for someone to notice.

Only his senior brother knew that this little detail signified that he was already extremely angry.

The middle-aged woman took on a much more solemn expression and asked, "Are you not afraid of death?"

"I…am very afraid of death." Chen Changsheng's voice was as unyielding as iron. "…So as soon as I came to the capital, the first thing I did was go to the Divine General's estate to end the engagement, just like how after I tested into the Heavenly Dao Academy or Star Seizer Academy, I was prepared to choose a day to go back once more and end the engagement…but I must sincerely apologize, I really have changed my mind now."

The middle-aged lady stared at him, her gaze slightly chilly.

Chen Changsheng calmly returned her gaze and said, "Unless you acknowledge that it was you that did wrong and remember my name."

The middle-aged woman was quiet for a long time.

"In fact, I very much admire you."

She looked at Chen Changsheng with complex emotions in her eyes. "Over these past few days, I have been living your life with you. I've never encountered a youth at your age who is so disciplined. And in those four entrance examinations, you displayed things that are rarely seen, very worthy of praise…there were even times when I thought, if I had a daughter, it would not be a bad choice if I married her off to you."

Chen Changsheng didn't know what to say, but once being complimented, one must always give some sort of response. After thinking about it, he said two words, "Thank you."

At this sort of occasion, to say 'thank you' was somewhat amusing, somewhat cute, and very respectful.

The middle-aged woman pointed behind him at the stone wall behind the school's gate and said, "But regretfully, no one in the world believes that the young lady should be married off to you."

Chen Changsheng followed her hand and only saw that dense collection of names written upon the stone wall. This was behind the main gate to the school, so if it was not the list of successful entrants, then what list was it? He suddenly recalled that yesterday behind the main gates of the Heavenly Dao Academy and the Star Seizer Academy, he had also seen similar stone walls, both of which had been engraved with many names.

At the top of this stone wall, a set of words was engraved: "Good wind, let me borrow your strength to soar up to the azure sky."

(TN: This line is from a poem in 'A Dream of the Red Chamber', otherwise known as 红楼梦, specifically Chapter Seventy. 青云 means 'azure sky' and can also be taken to mean 'a high government position'.)

Seeing this line of words, Chen Changsheng remembered certain records in the books and realized that what was engraved on the stone wall was the legendary Proclamation of Azure Sky.

The experts of the continent were innumerable, but geniuses always began as youths—the Proclamation of Azure Sky was a ranking of experts under the age of twenty. Those names that appeared on the Proclamation of Azure Sky were all without exception those inner sect disciples that had received the full attention and care of their respective sects and kingdoms, or else abnormally gifted geniuses. As long as they did not fall and were not eliminated midway, these names would all ultimately become true experts.

The schools of the capital as well as the schools in other places would all have the Proclamation of Azure Sky placed near their main gates. The schools wanted to use these dazzling and brilliant names to excite their students into grasping bravery and entering, and increase the camaraderie with their fellow students. But the final result was not very good—these students clearly understood that they had no chance of entering the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Those names filled them with envy and reverence, and even despair.

The Proclamation of Azure Sky did not ask about knowledge, cultivation, teachers, or gender, only whether one was weak or strong. The only restriction was that those upon the list could not exceed the age of twenty. There were many cases where people of relatively low cultivation defeated experts of high cultivation and were thus ranked higher. This garnered many comments expressing discontent.

Back when the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets first released this ranking, this sort of evaluation criteria drew many questions, but the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets's answer was simple and powerful—one's level of knowledge or cultivation, or even training, spirit, and temperament, was unimportant alone. Only when they were finally combined together did they form a comprehensive strength, and what the Proclamation of Azure Sky evaluated was comprehensive strength. And the best method of judging this was only victory or defeat.

Chen Changsheng's gaze moved across those names on the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Those names were all very strange to him. From time to time, he would spot a particularly unusual surname, perhaps belonging to some youthful expert from the land of demi-humans, or it might be a young genius from the Earth Tribe that lived in the forests of the south. Suddenly, he saw at the thirty-sixth rank the name of Tang Tang and remembered how back in the Heavenly Dao Academy, that blue-clothed youth had explained the origins of his name of Tang Thirty-Six. He couldn't help but laugh, very much feeling the pride and luster of this name in Tang Thirty-Six's place.

Finally, his gaze came to the highest part of the stone wall, seeing that name that hung up there. It was so high up that it seemed rather lonely, so lonely that it seemed even more proud and cold. It was a name that he knew, a name that he should be very familiar with: Xu Yourong.

"The Proclamation of Azure Sky records all of the young geniuses of the world. My Great Zhou Dynasty is bursting with talented individuals. From the divine capital alone, there are ten-odd people on the ranking. The Heavenly Dao Academy has four and the Star Seizer Academy has three, but compared to those places in the south such as the Longevity Sect and Scholartree Manor, this is not too exceptional. Only after the young lady entered the rankings did the north and south finally become even…"

The middle-aged lady looked at the wall. It was difficult to hide her pride, but there was no need to hide it. She indifferently said, "…Two years ago, the young lady entered the ranking for the first time, directly ranking at first place. From that day onwards, it never fell once. Those young geniuses behind her don't even think about catching up to her—even drawing close to her is very difficult."

Chen Changsheng silently looked up at the name at the very top of the stone wall. Over these past four years, he had kept that marriage contract with him and had looked through it many times. He knew her maiden name and was also well aware of how old she was. By his calculations, this young lady of the Xu Estate had entered the Proclamation of Azure Sky at the age of twelve and had since been unequaled…sure enough, the blood of the true Phoenix was incredibly extraordinary.

The middle-aged woman withdrew her gaze and turned to Chen Changsheng, respectfully saying, "You truly are very outstanding. Without even succeeding at Purification, you still have the ability to enter those schools and academies. However, this disparity between you and my young lady is too vast…it has nothing to do with effort, nothing to do with talent, nothing to do with working hard. If you continue to forge ahead on your path, I believe that you will be able to reach a very high peak, but the young lady will have long since departed from that place. If you continue to obstinately pursue her, you will inevitably incur lightning sent down from the heavens."

Chen Changsheng was silent, and then he thought about that reincarnated dragon that the maid Shuang'er had mentioned, that genius who was publicly acknowledged together with Xu Yourong to be a match made in heaven.

"Qiushan Jun…"

The middle-aged woman did not think that he would know of Qiushan Jun's existence. She expressionlessly replied, "Two years ago, Qiushan Jun had always remained at the top of the Proclamation of Azure Sky."

Chen Changsheng asked, "Why did he leave the ranking? Because he did not want to lose to Young Lady Xu?"

The middle-aged woman replied, "Two years ago, Qiushan Jun advanced early past the latter stage of Meditation. Now he is the shining star of the Proclamation of Golden Distinction."

Chen Changsheng sighed, realizing that it would be very difficult to find any solace from this matter. Those people were simply too high up, while he, let alone achieving a place on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, was even finding it an arduous task to get into the lists of successful entrants for these schools.

He asked, "Previously, Miss said that the disparity between me and Young Lady Xu had nothing to do with talent or effort. Then, what does it have to do with?"

The middle-aged woman answered, "…It only has to do with fate. Even if you were the most outstanding normal person, you would still be just a normal person, while from the moment my young lady was born, she was not an ordinary person. You were born a human, she was born a Phoenix. The distance between the two is like that between heaven and earth."

"So…it turned out be fate again, huh."

Chen Changsheng sighed regretfully, then lapsed into a long silence. Finally, he gazed at the middle-aged woman and said, "Although Miss probably won't believe me, I came to the capital for the precise purpose of changing my fate…although it has nothing to do with the engagement, the word 'fate' really lacks any sort of persuasive power to me."

The middle-aged woman was slightly stunned. She did not expect that even after she had explained everything so clearly, he still was not willing to let go.

As the sun set in the west, Chen Changsheng walked to the other side of the street, following the crowd to an even more distant place.

The middle-aged woman noticed that at the very start, his head was somewhat lowered and his body was somewhat crooked, making him look rather lonely and exhausted. But soon after, his body gradually straightened and his head gradually lifted up, and he once again looked calmly upon the crowd and the distant setting sun.

As the youth's body was bathed in the light of the sunset, it seemed to be ablaze.

...

...

"I've never encountered such a disciplined youth. His diet and daily life are all strictly controlled by himself. He doesn't have a single bad hobby or addiction. He treasures his time, so much so that I always feel like something is chasing him, or else constantly lashing him with a whip. And yet he doesn't give off the feeling of apprehension to the people around him. It's easy to see that he very much enjoys the pleasure of living, or perhaps he enjoys life itself…it's just that he's a little of a clean freak. On the first day, I counted that he washed his hands seven times, and he owns at least five handkerchiefs."

In the Divine General's estate, the middle-aged woman stood in front of Madam Xu and expressionlessly expounded, "Madam, I must note that this child is not bad. If we give him the opportunity, he will definitely mature quickly. If he were to have a few more lucky encounters, then perhaps he could have excellent future prospects."

Madam Xu had not imagined that this woman who had loyally followed her for several decades would actually speak on this child's behalf. Wrinkling her brow, she asked, "What are you thinking about?"

The middle-aged woman said, "Of course we can't marry off the young lady to him…but rather than this current beating and humiliation, wouldn't it be better to just kill him? Or else later on if he gets the chance to reverse his fortunes, although the estate will not be afraid, it'll still bring us some trouble. Besides…I think that this youth's conduct is not bad. There's no need to act like this."

This sort of logic would probably be very difficult for the average person to grasp, but Madam Xu understood. She had not imagined that this woman would truly praise Chen Changsheng. Then she recalled those words Xu Shiji said that night in his study and gave her a profound glance. She said, "There are many people watching the Divine General's estate…especially those old fools who can't let things go. If a scandal were to come from the estate, even if it has no effect on the grand scheme of things, the Divine Empress will assuredly be displeased. Thus, we must conduct ourselves prudently. To use the most peaceful methods to obtain that marriage contract would naturally be for the best. However, if, in the end, that youth continues to hold on to his pitiful self-respect or attempts to obtain an even greater profit from us, then we can only let him noiselessly die. That will also bring its own set of troubles, but to remove the source of these troubles is also a method."

...

...

Shuang'er returned to her room and then stood by her table, gazing off vacantly at nothing for a while. Thinking about that conversation she had heard by the door to the Madam's rooms, she felt her emotions to be in a rather disorderly and uneasy state. After downing half a pot of cold tea, she still felt like she hadn't cooled down enough. She knew that for her to be able to eavesdrop on such a conversation was only because the Madam had wanted her to hear it…the Madam knew that she often sent letters to the young lady and so had deliberately let her listen. This was naturally so that she could tell the young lady about this matter, the equivalent of informing her. It was naturally impossible for the young lady to be married off to that fellow called Chen Changsheng, but was it necessary to use such method? Would the young lady agree?

She walked over to the table, spread out a piece of paper, dipped her brush in ink, and then after a few moments of contemplation, began to write a letter.