"That Saintess is a little girl? I presume that her cultivation realm isn't high, right?"
Chen Chao rode his horse and chatted idly with Song Lian.
Song Lian nodded and said, "She's only twelve years old; really just a little girl. This time, she's only participating in the literary exam at the Myriad Willow Convention."
Speaking up to here, Song Lian narrowed his eyes and said, "I heard that the young lady from the Xie Family is also only participating in the literary exam?"
Chen Chao nodded and said, "She has only recently started cultivating and her cultivation realm is too low, so she can only participate in the literary exam. But it seems this little girl isn't easy to deal with either, right?"
Song Lian said solemnly, "As one of the lineage daoist leader of the two branches of Daoism, although the Myriad Heaven Palace's influence in the daoism society is far from what it used to be now, how can its foundation be what ordinary sects can compete with?" "This little girl is the saintess too, she's naturally extraordinary. Tell your lover to be more careful."
Chen Chao mumbled in agreement, but did not say much. Soon, they arrived at the city gate, where the officials from the Ministry of Rites had been waiting for a long time.
Seeing that the Left Guard came late, that official from the Ministry of Rites with a goatee looked a little unhappy. But after seeing Song Lian sitting on his horse, he did not say anything either. The officials from the Left Guard were not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, they only took orders from the Warden. Even if he wanted to file a complaint and the Emperor was willing to handle it, the final destination could only be the Warde Office.
Thinking of this, the official from the Ministry of Rites dispelled this idea and just looked outside the city gate, waiting quietly for the guests they were going to welcome.
Chen Chao also looked outside the city gate, sizing up his surroundings while he was at it. Before they came, the Left Guard's constables had already surveyed this area several times and bystanders had been driven away long ago. Every important place here was guarded by the Left Guard's constables. Although no one would believe that there would be any accidents in the Divine Capital, they all knew the importance of being careful.
……
……
There are many trees on both sides of the official road outside the Divine Capital. It was already midsummer and there were many cicadas on the trees.
To some people, the sound of cicadas signified summer and they enjoyed it. However, many people found it annoying. They might not dislike cicadas, but disliked summer.
The sound of cicadas continued buzzing and the sound of horse hooves got closer from afar.
When the horse carriage approached, it was plain and unremarkable at a glance. There was nothing special about it and the horses seemed ordinary too; not some divine steeds. The colors were quite mixed.
The coachman driving the carriage was dressed in a plain gray daoist robe, giving off a sage-like air
Suddenly, the curtains of the carriage were lifted by someone, revealing a small snow-white hand. The hand was very fair, with skin as smooth as cream. Just by looking at this hand, one could tell that its owner must be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Sure enough, when the curtains were lifted, the face that appeared was extremely beautiful. Although there was still some youthfulness on her face because she was still young, everyone could tell that this girl would definitely become very beautiful in a few years and would be one of the most beautiful women in the world.
The young girl looked at the scenery outside the window. Listening to the sound of cicadas, she smiled. It was just that this smile revealed two big dimples on her face, making her appear even cuter.
"The scenery of the Divine Capital is pretty good. It's just that compared to the mountains, it's still lacking."
The girl who spoke was none other than the Saintess of the Myriad Heaven Palace of this generation, Zhu Xia. According to the rules of the Myriad Heaven Palace, every twenty years, they must select a disciple from the youngest generation who had exceptional talent and a great temperament. If it was a male, he is called the Holy Son, and if it was a female, she would be called the Saintess.
The Saintess or Holy Son might not necessarily inherit the position of Palace Lord of the Myriad Heaven Palace in the next generation, but they were considered the face of Myriad Heaven Palace in this generation. In matters involving young cultivators, the Saintess or Holy Son would represent the Myriad Heaven Palace to strive for the final victory.
Except, when the current generation's saintess was designated as Zhu Xia, it was actually not just the Myriad Heaven Palace's internal members, even the foreign cultivators were very surprised when they learned about this. It was not because Zhu Xia was not qualified, but because she was too young and her cultivation realm was too low.
Such a saintess might have an incomparably bright future, but how would she represent the Myriad Heaven Palace to walk the world?
However, it seemed that the Palace Lord of the Myriad Heaven Palace, as well as the elders, had no thoughts on this matter. They were indifferent to what their sect's disciples thought, nor did they care about the opinions of the outside world too. They simply declared Zhu Xia as the saintess and that was that.
Now, the Myriad Willow Convention was taking place and Myriad Heaven Palace had sent more than a few disciples to participate in the martial exam. But, it was just this one person for the literary exam.
Moreover, Zhu Xia entered the city alone. She did not travel by the same route as the other disciples of Myriad Heaven Palace.
She was very late.
In the carriage, other than Zhu Xia, there was also an elderly man with a kind face. His hair was already white and his eyes were already sunken, and his face was covered in wrinkles. It gave the impression that he was extremely old and could ascend to the heavens in the next second.
Hearing Zhu Xia speak, the old man smiled and replied, "Among the many sects in the foreign lands, there aren't many that can compare to the scenery of the Myriad Heaven Palace in the first place. The Divine Capital is known for its loftiness, but even the Infatuation Daoist Temple wouldn't dare to say that it is more ethereal than the Myriad Heaven Palace."
Zhu Xia smiled and said, "Master, your words are really dull."
The old man looked lovingly at the young girl in front of him. He had spent his whole life cultivating and paid no attention to worldly affairs, walking exceedingly far on the path of cultivation. However, at the end of his life, he realized that he had missed out on many beautiful sights in his lifetime. He wanted to turn around and make up for the regrets, but found that time waited for no one. Fortunately, in the last moments of his life, he found a disciple to pass down his dao attainments and inherit his mantle. The old man naturally doted on this disciple dearly. Hence, normally when they were together, he did not pay too much attention to rules and regulations.
"If you want to win the literary exam in this Myriad Willow Convention, you must be careful of that girl from the academy."
The old man looked out of the carriage. Listening to the cicadas chirping, he said with vicissitudes of emotion, "Many years ago, I had dealings with the academy's dean. Although he was hot-tempered, he was very proud. Even though he had always wanted to take in 72 disciples, he was actually extremely strict in his selection. The first 71 were all outstanding young talents from the Great Liang Dynasty. When it came to the last one, that old man naturally became even more serious. Now that he has taken that girl as his disciple, it suffices to show that young girl's extraordinariness. You'll meet her in the literary exam and she may be your greatest opponent."
Zhu Xia pouted, somewhat not agreeing as she said, "I've studied for so many years, could it be that I'm not as good as her?"
The old man smiled, "I've never seen that girl either, but I believe in that old punk's judgment."
When that academy dean was mentioned, Zhu Xia became a little serious too. She had another reason for accepting this task to come to the Divine Capital and take part in the Myriad Willow Convention, it was because she wanted to visit the academy.
She wanted to see the dean, who was known among the foreign land cultivators for being a maverick scholar who did not look like a scholar.
However, on the way here, she became a little more curious about other things.
"Master, I heard that at the recent imperial banquet, Senior Brother He from the Verdant Cloud Temple was defeated by an uncivilized youth."
This is the news she heard on the way.
Similarly a genius on the Latent Dragon List, Zhu Xia knew how strong He Yi was. He might not be one of the most outstanding young people in the foreign lands, but in the Great Liang Dynasty, he should have no opponents.
The old man grunted in agreement and picked up a small wooden box next to him. After flipping through it for a while, he handed the letter he had received earlier to Zhu Xia and said with a smile, "The Great Liang Dynasty has been dormant for many years. Now, it's time for some remarkable characters to emerge. That girl from the academy is one of them. This young man from the mountains is also one of them."
The old man looked at his disciple with affection and teased, "At your age, it's the easiest time to fall in love. Don't have too many thoughts about that young man because of this matter. Otherwise, it will be hard to extricate yourself once you fall in love."
Zhu Xia said unabashedly, "Master, I really want to know what kind of young man he is."
As she spoke, her eyes sparkled, and her dimples appeared and disappeared, making her look extremely cute.
The old man looked at her, seemingly seeing a more scorching sight than the summer outside the carriage.
He could not help but think of that meeting many years ago. He walked down that long street and countless people knelt down and prostrated piously. Only a little girl quietly watched him on the streetside.
It was also midsummer at that time and the sound of cicadas was probably even louder than it was now.
After coming back to his senses, the old man said, "Teacher also wants to see that old punk again."
……
……
At the small pavilion in the middle of the lake, the dean kept throwing fish food into the water while watching the fish swimming in the lake. Suddenly, he let out a sigh.
Seeing his master in this rare state, Wei Xu asked rather curiously, "Is there something bothering you, Teacher?"
As the dean of the academy, he was the leader of scholars in the world. Logically speaking, he would naturally have many things to worry about. It would also be a very reasonable thing for these matters to have some bothersome aspects. However, Wei Xu knew his master's temperament well. While others might consider these things reasonable, his master would not necessarily care even if it happened ten thousand times to Teacher.
The dean sighed and said, "It's hard to explain everything in the world. I've been studying diligently in the academy for many years, writing books, and improving myself. I never went around and got involved in any disputes. But who could have thought that trouble would come knocking on my door?"
Hearing this, Wei Xu filtered out the earlier part of his words naturally. But when he thought about the recent events that happened in the Divine Capital, no matter how he pondered, he could not come up with an answer.
Feeling embarrassed, he said, "This disciple is ignorant and doesn't understand what Teacher means."
The dean replied emotionlessly, "You don't need to understand. Just know that from today on, I'll be in closed-seclusion until the end of the Myriad Willow Convention. I'll only come out after those cultivators have left the Divine Capital."
Wei Xu acknowledged it and watched as his teacher walked towards the lakeside. He could not help but wonder, his teacher seemed to be avoiding someone?
But the question was, who on earth would this academy dean, a Nepenthe cultivator, be afraid of?
Or perhaps, one could put it like this: what kind of shameful things did his teacher do, to be afraid of facing an old friend?
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