At Orthodox Academy, there was a lake, and next to the lake there was a big banyan tree. She and Chen Chang Sheng often stood atop the banyan tree while watching the setting sun.
Chen Chang Sheng laughed: “They will definitely grow to maturity.”
The autumn light passed through many windows, and when it arrived at the very deepest part of the real Li Palace, it became even more light and refreshing, and yet it was only after it reflected off of the top of the Crystal Throne that it once again began to glitter brilliantly. The clear and clean crystal was carved into the form of a lotus flower, and in the centre of the lotus flower there was a crown. The crown was divided into two colours, one black and one white, with no distinct dividing line between them, and yet, the two shades were not mixed into a grey. Rather, it was quite mystical, fused together in an incomprehensible way. It was extremely perfect; emitting a divine aura.
On the side of the lotus flower seat, there was a chair carved out of the trunk of a black flower tree, and on the chair sat an elderly man. The elderly man was wearing a loose hemp robe, and his grey hair tumbled over his shoulders, like a waterfall in winter that hadn’t quite managed to completely solidify into ice.
That elderly man was currently reading a book.
Opposite to the elderly man was another elderly man.
The Education Board’s Archbishop, Mei Li Sha, who was one of the few people from the same generation as the Pope, was naturally already very old. Every time the palace and Education Board’s clergy saw the age spots on his face, they would always become unboundedly concerned, always worried that this venerable elder would one day silently re-join the stars in the sky.
Mei Li Sha himself was unable to see the wrinkles and old age spots on his face, because ever since he grew his first white hair, over two hundred years ago, he refused to look in the mirror ever again, no matter if it was his own chamber’s luxurious copper mirror, or a mirror created from the coalescence of True Essence. Watching oneself grow old was a torturous process, especially for this type of person, for whom growing old could stretch through a process as long as hundreds or close to a thousand years, making it even more difficult to bear.
Not seeing, is not equal to not knowing; even if you were to blind yourself, the starry sky will still exist, Mei Li Sha himself very clearly knew that he had grown old, because he was growing more and more fond of sleeping——different from those normal elderly people who got up very early every morning at the third hour, the older he got, the more he liked to sleep. He always felt that his body was adapting in advance to his eternal rest.
Within the current Orthodoxy, he was the one with the longest history; due to recent events involving Orthodox Academy, he was considered by many to be the leader of the tradition faction of the Orthodoxy, or at least the figurehead; using these events to challenge the authority of the Pope. The Archbishop had long resided at the Orthodoxy’s Education Board and hadn’t stepped foot into Li Palace for quite some time. He even neglected to participate in the regular Seminars of Radiance, adding to the credibility of the rumours surrounding him; who would have thought that he would appear in Li Palace today, let alone to be sleeping here.
“Pa”
A sound rang out lightly, but the inside of the palace hall was exceedingly quiet, so the sound was very clear.
Mei Li Sha opened his eyes, and for a period of time his eyes were a bit muddy, before they gradually restored their clarity. He looked towards the book-reading hempen-robed elder opposite him, and while wobbling, stood up and walked over, humbly bending over his body and looking towards the plant in the flower pot next to the elderly man.
The flower pot was of a light grey colour, very ordinary; in the streets of the Capital, one could buy three of them for about a hundred coins. The plant planted in the flower pot was very strange; it had a healthy young stalk and several branches, but only had one leaf. That leaf was very green, and its vein network was very clear.
Previously, that clear “pa” sound had come from that green leaf, the very front end of the leaf seemed to be trembling——it wasn’t the green leaf that was trembling, but its vein network that was. The degree of the trembling was so slight that in the entire palace, perhaps only he and that hempen-robed elder were able to see it.
“That young Highness has become angry to this degree; you actually have the frame of mind to be reading that book?”
Mei Li Sha looked towards that hempen-robed elder, in a respectful, yet cosy manner.
That hempen-robed elder put away his book, lifted his head, and looked towards that flower pot. He had a very ordinary appearance; the most distinctive part was his extremely deep eye sockets. If one looked from the side, it looked very much like the entrance to an abyss of terror, but