The White Emperor City at the end of the River of Oblivion, the eight hundred li of the Red River as one's fief…who else could it be?
The sole princess of the demi-humans had actually appeared here!
Everyone in the hall had expressions of absolute shock. With the rustling of clothes, they all stood up and bowed.
"My mother is the Chief Princess of the Great Western Continent."
Luoluo looked at the crowd and continued, "My father is Bai Xingye."
With the declaration of these two names, the atmosphere in the great hall grew even more oppressive, tense, and silent as a grave.
Those two names represented supreme power and authority. Those two names were ranked amongst the Five Saints.
The husband and wife of White Emperor City were both beings of the same level as the Divine Empress and the Pope.
The southern diplomatic mission was utterly speechless. When they saw Chen Changsheng behind Luoluo, their complexions became abnormally unsightly.
Earlier, the crowd had noticed that the relationship between Luoluo and Chen Changsheng was out of the ordinary.
Just as expected, Luoluo looked to the southern diplomatic mission and said, "My teacher is Chen Changsheng."
After saying this, she turned her head to glance at Chen Changsheng.
'My Father, my mother, my teacher.'
That she spoke this way was the same as placing these three people on the same level.
Contrary to what some people of the capital had thought, Luoluo had entered the Orthodox Academy not because she was seeking an interesting experience, but because she truly wanted to learn. She regarded Chen Changsheng as a member of her family and an elder to be revered.
Everyone in the hall was too stunned to speak, while Gou Hanshi's expression grew graver.
Just who was this youth called Chen Changsheng that he was able to be spoken of on the same level as the White Emperor couple!
"Might I ask, in what aspects can my teacher not match up to Qiushan Jun?"
Luoluo looked to the southern diplomatic mission and asked.
The southern diplomatic mission had nothing to say, because it was impossible to respond.
No matter how much of a genius Qiushan Jun was, in terms of status alone, how could he compare to the teacher of an emperor's daughter?
Luoluo then turned to that young and poverty-stricken student amongst the scattered tables who had made that great fallacy, and arched her brow as she asked, "In order to resist the demons, humans must unite, the north and south must converge, so Xu Yourong must marry Qiushan Jun? For the sake of so-called righteousness, a woman has to marry someone she doesn't want to marry?"
The young student's voice slightly trembled as he replied, "Should it not be this way?"
"Of course not!"
Luoluo jeered at the student, "That's my teacher's wife, and you actually want to marry her off to another man. I really do suspect that you might be a demon spy."
The young student blushed, his face thoroughly red. He was very angry, but he dared not reply.
Luoluo said to everyone in the hall, "Righteousness? This princess is righteousness, my teacher was born with righteousness in hand, and you want to use righteousness to threaten him, truly a joke!"
The young student wanted to explain himself, but upon careful consideration, he realized that he had nothing to say and instantly began to profusely sweat.
No one else in the hall dared to object to Luoluo's words.
In order to resist the demons, humanity needed to unite, so the confluence of north and south had to proceed more quickly. For this reason, that young student had said that Xu Yourong should marry Qiushan Jun.
But anyone knew that the alliance of the humans with the demi-humans was the foundation of the resistance against the demons!
If one said that resisting the demons was a righteous cause, then protecting the excellent relationship between the humans and demi-humans was the greatest righteous cause!
According to the logic of this young student and a few other shameless people, since Luoluo was certain to represent the demi-humans in supporting the engagement of Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong, any person that attempted to block this engagement was attempting to enrage the demi-humans, wanting to break the alliance between the two races. If they were not spies of the demons, what were they!
Could it be that to advance the confluence of humanity's north and south, they should offend humanity's firmest and most powerful ally? Preposterous!
No person would make that choice. Let alone the people within the hall, even the Pope, the Holy Maiden of the south, the Sect Master of Mount Li, and even the Divine Empress would be unwilling to bear this responsibility.
Righteous cause? In the end, it was naught but seeking profit or power. Once carefully considered, it was truly quite laughable.
This young student was drenched in sweat. Only now could he see those thoughts hidden behind his clothes and the name of righteousness, those thoughts that could not bear to see the light of day.
His face was still thoroughly red, but out of shame rather than anger.
The hall was completely silent. Many people were as ashamed as the young student, not knowing what to say.
Gou Hanshi looked at Luoluo, his expression very complex.
"If you still want to preserve some face, you should leave right now. What meaning is there in continuing to struggle here?"
Tang Thirty-Six looked at Gou Hanshi and teased, "Give up, your eldest brother Qiushan Jun won't be able to marry his wife…is it possible that you still dare to kill Chen Changsheng before everyone's eyes?"
The disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect were all standing up. Upon hearing these words, they blazed with fury and gripped their swords as they turned to Gou Hanshi.
Gou Hanshi quietly looked back at Tang Thirty-Six, his eyes gradually growing brighter, not growing sharper, but firmer.
After the Qiushan clan head's examination of Chen Changsheng's marriage contract, he had remained silent. At this moment, he could no longer restrain himself. Staring at Tang Thirty-Six, he coldly asked, "Is the master of Wenshui doing well?"
Tang Thirty-Six's expression flickered, then he replied, "You want to use my grandfather to pressure me? Do you even care about dignity?"
The Qiushan clan was a truly great clan of a thousand generations in the south, and what they cared the most about was their dignity and face. As a descendant of the Wenshui Tang clan, Tang Thirty-Six naturally understood this point, yet he did not act with the slightest courtesy.
In the many misfortunes over tonight's Ivy Festival, there had truthfully been several chances where the two sides could have backed off and sought ways to extricate themselves from this embarrassing situation. However, for several reasons or incorrect judgments of the situation, the southern diplomatic mission had made the wrong choice in the last few opportunities, resulting in this now very embarrassing situation.
The severity of this embarrassment, disregarding the root cause for the situation, could mostly be credited to Tang Thirty-Six and Luoluo's repeated jeers and ridicule.
Luoluo had taunted and scolded Elder Xiao Songgong and the others because they had earlier taunted and scolded Chen Changsheng. This was a sight she found most unbearable, and regardless, with her status in this place, she could do whatever she wanted.
On the other hand, Tang Thirty-Six shouted and cursed at figures like Xiao Songgong and the Qiushan clan head purely because of his personality.
Whether according to seniority or any other aspect, he should not have acted this way. This way of acting was too preposterous, too profligate, too wanton.
Wantonness did not necessarily mean that one was a wastrel. It was more likely that one was hedonistic or degenerate.
In the eyes of many, Tang Thirty-Six's behavior was too vulgar, too impudent, too displeasing, too scoundrel-like. He was not at all like a descendant of a noble clan, much less a young genius of the Heavenly Dao Academy.
But he insisted on acting this way, because he did not like these people.
He didn't like them, so he didn't like them, so he cursed at them.
This was his personality.
He was a sixteen-year-old youth, truly a youth. He would not feel delight at the spring breeze nor feel sorrow at the autumn winds. He would not sigh at the winter snow, nor would he feel vexed at the chirping of the summer cicadas. If saw what he liked, he would be happy, and if he saw what he found annoying, he would be annoyed. If he saw injustice, he would sigh, and he would only feel sorrow when he saw the back of a heroic figure in the setting sun.
He liked to spend time alone and liked to sleep, and what he disliked was precisely interacting with others. He had a slight bout of narcissism and was extremely proud and confident. He lived with absolute freedom, the human world's endless pursuit of profit having nothing to do with him. If he saw something that made him unhappy, he would curse, and if he saw something that made him happy, he would want to get close.
He was just this sort of youth. Given his personality, even if he wasn't a genius of the Proclamation of Azure Sky and was only some young beggar taking in the sun at the base of some wall, when he saw some beautiful young lady in her carriage, he would give a couple of whistles, and if he saw some overbearing young master of a wealthy family, he would give a couple of secretive kicks, not caring at all if he was beaten black and blue by the bodyguards.
Thus, in the capital, he had no friends other than Chen Changsheng. Thus, in the Heavenly Dao Academy, he had offended many of his classmates, including Zhuang Huanyu. Thus, he had long since made it known that if he met that little monster of the Temple Seminary that loved terrorizing the common people, he would definitely cripple him. Thus the story about how he was unable to participate in the last two nights of the Ivy Festival.
Tang Thirty-Six was just this sort of this person. If he liked something, he truly liked it, and if he didn't like something, he really disliked it. As a result, those that liked him would really like him, such as the Old Master of the Wenshui Tang clan or Vice Principal Zhuang of the Heavenly Dao Academy. The people who didn't like him truly disliked him, like these currently furious youths of the southern diplomatic mission.
He did not care.
But someone did care.
"Impudent! Quickly apologize to your seniors!"
A voice came from the Heavenly Dao Academy's seating area.
At the moment, everyone in the hall was standing, so it wasn't clear who the speaker was. After a while, the crowd finally realized that the speaker was Zhuang Huanyu.
The crowd was somewhat astonished. They didn't understand why he was scolding Tang Thirty-Six, and they even less understood why he was the one speaking.
Even if Tang Thirty-Six's words were somewhat vulgar and base, his respect towards the seniors of the Mount Li Sword Sect and the Qiushan clan insufficient, there were others better suited to scold the students of the Heavenly Dao Academy. Principal Mao Qiuyu was present, as was Vice Principal Zhuang, so how had it come to be Zhuang Huanyu's turn? Although he was ranked tenth on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, he was still just a student.
Let alone the fact that in the present situation, Principal Mao Qiuyu had maintained his silence, so what reason did Zhuang Huanyu have to reprimand Tang Thirty-Six?
Mao Qiuyu turned to glance at Zhuang Huanyu, his expression calm.
The gazes of many people rested on Zhuang Huanyu.
Zhuang Huanyu's expression also slightly changed. He also did not know why he had opened his mouth to say those words.
But the words had already left his mouth and he could not take them back. He tightly shut his mouth, his complexion ashen, yet he still stared at Tang Thirty-Six.
He thought that he appeared impartial and incorruptible, unaware that in the eyes of others, he already seemed to have lost control.
The reason for Zhuang Huanyu's loss of control was very complex. Countless important figures had come to tonight's Ivy Festival, and so he could only quietly sit, not daring to speak, but unthinkably, the Tang Thirty-Six who he normally paid no attention to was speaking so bluntly before the crowd, acting with a wanton ferocity. This made him subconsciously feel a great deal of loathing.
The more important reason was still that Luoluo had revealed her identity.
The legend of the Heavenly Dao Academy that had come back to reality turned out to still be a legend.
His future with this junior sister that he had imagined countless times was instantly rendered into dust.
All along, this junior sister…was the legendary Princess Luoluo!
Then no matter how he strived, even if he became a genius beyond Qiushan Jun, he still could not be together with her.
A deep disappointment and despair transformed into anger. However, this sentiment had always been hidden in the bottom of his heart and never spoken of to anyone else. Consequently, tonight's despair and anger naturally had nowhere to go.
Just then, he saw Tang Thirty-Six, his junior brother that, on normal days, he would casually scold.
Thus, he had spoken those words.
The hall became abnormally quiet.
Everyone stared at Tang Thirty-Six.
Earlier, the Mount Li Sword Sect's Guan Feibai had rebuked Tang Thirty-Six as impudent, and Tang Thirty-Six had replied with, 'Impudent your mother!'
Now, Zhuang Huanyu had also scolded his impudence, so how would he reply?
Some of the people in the southern diplomatic mission seemed to take joy in this misfortune, thinking to themselves, an internal problem has arisen amongst the Zhou people. How will they resolve it?
Gou Hanshi glanced at Zhuang Huanyu and slightly raised his brow, somewhat surprised.
Guan Feibai slightly frowned at Zhuang Huanyu, rather displeased.
Tang Thirty-Six had a rather ugly expression. He turned to the Heavenly Dao Academy's seating area, but not one of his classmates returned his gaze. Mao Qiuyu sighed and prepared to speak. Vice Principal Zhuang's face was somewhat pale, and judging by how he was shaking his head and hesitating to speak, he seemed to be in great difficulty.
After a moment of silence, Tang Thirty-Six gave a bitter smile and said, "Truly boring."
"You truly are lacking in strength."
(TN: '没劲' can mean both 'boring' or 'tired/lacking in strength'.)
A voice came from his side.
Chen Changsheng looked at him and said, "You're completely unlike your usual self."