The two trails of footsteps alongside snow mastiff paw marks that had been left behind near the abandoned well, had long been covered up by the snow.
He observed the surroundings; upon confirming that no one was paying any attention to him and that the palace guards were changing shifts, he leapt into the well.
A thud could be heard as his feet touched ground, surprising him.
He had prepared himself for a long descent and didn’t expect to reach the bottom so shortly after jumping.
The abandoned well was previously bottomless, the chasm-like darkness below led straight into that underground space, to the Black Dragon.
But now, it had a bottom; a bottom composed of soil (loess), covered with a thin layer of snow.
He raised his head to look outside of the well; snowflakes drifting in caused him to squint his eyes.
Squatting down, he gauged the thickness of the accumulated snow, estimating that the well had been sealed for less than half a day.
…..
“You wouldn’t?”
Tang Thirty-Six took the kitchen knife from Chen Chang Sheng’s hand before staring at him and questioning.
These past few days had been Chen Chang Sheng’s turn to do the cooking; Tang Thirty-Six disliked his cooking, thinking that it was lacking in taste in comparison to Xuan Yuan Po’s, therefore he had come to remind Chang Sheng that pickled pepper stir fry with meat should include pickled peppers, it was at this time that he came in just as Chen Chang Sheng had raised the kitchen knife and was preparing to hack at his own finger.
Chen Chang Sheng knew that he had misunderstood the situation, and said: “Do you think I’m that type of person?”
That type of person? The type that couldn’t handle external pressure, that had to self-mutilate in order to escape reality, or more specifically, the type of person that couldn’t handle external pressure and had thus lost their sanity and only wanted to experience the euphoria of the edge of a blade; or maybe the type of person who couldn’t handle external pressure and would forget the love and care of their parents to leap from the top floor of some building.
“You’re not that type of fool, but I was afraid you might have suddenly decided to be unyielding and remove a finger in order to prove your determination.”
Tang Thirty-Six passed back the kitchen knife and said: “Geniuses that have completed their Purification wouldn’t create this type of misunderstanding.”
Cultivators that had completed Purification would have greatly toughened bodies, wanting to use a regular kitchen knife to cut off a finger wouldn’t be impossible, but would be comparatively difficult.
“The purified aren’t afraid of kitchen knives, yet I don’t see you helping out with slicing the ingredients.” Chen Chang Sheng received the kitchen knife and continued with cutting the radish.
Over the past few days, he had revisited New North Bridge twice, but it had been completely sealed off. Therefore, he could only learn to adjust to the changes of his body; using the kitchen knife to chop at his finger was something he regularly tried; only through getting used to the strength and toughness of his body could he properly make use of it in actual battle.
Tang Thirty-Six’s concern for him was natural, for the Grand Examination was about to commence.
Participants of the Grand Examination had already arrived from all parts of the continent, with countless gazes being directed towards Orthodox Academy, towards Chen Chang Sheng who had declared the intention to place first upon the First Banner. Though the declaration had been made by His Eminence, The Archbishop, and he had never personally acknowledged the declaration, this made no difference for the masses.
Owing to his betrothal with Xu You Rong, the Proclamation of Azure Clouds and that declaration, he was currently extremely well-known and had been ushered to some lofty standing, the problem was, who would actually accede to it? If it wasn’t for Jin Yu Lu sitting on his seat, appreciating the snow while drinking his hot tea, Orthodox Academy’s shattered front gate would have probably been crushed long ago.
The amount of pressure he was currently under did not need elucidating.
“I haven’t been able to understand this, if the tradition faction of the Orthodoxy and those dignitaries loyal to the Imperial Chen line want to use Orthodox Academy’s revival to challenge the Divine Empress’ authority, instead of using someone like you, who hasn’t been able to complete their Purification, wouldn’t I be a better choice?”
Tang Thirty-Six said this while picking up a vegetable leaf and filling it with rice, pickled peppers and vegetables.
Chen Chang Sheng placed the sliced radish into the bone soup that had been simmering for a while, saying: “A small character like me is probably easier to control.”
Tang Thirty-Six daintily took a mouthful of his rice wrap, mumbling out: “I think the most important reason is because of your betrothal to