"What proof do you have that what I say is false?"
Chen Changsheng gazed at the people in the hall and asked, his expression very serious, as he was very angry.
"I never heard from Martial Niece Yourong that she had a fiancé like you."
The woman from Holy Maiden Peak veiled in white slowly stood up and said to him. She saw the angry expression of this youth and felt somewhat uneasy. Recalling the arrangements her senior sister had made in the last few months, she thought to herself, could this youth be speaking the truth?
"What do you have as proof?"
Chen Changsheng replied, "I have a marriage contract for proof."
Xiao Songgong's face was like a sheet of ice as he harshly rebuked, "Even if you took the Heavenly Tomes as proof, no one would believe your words!"
"I believe."
An extremely crisp voice rang through the hall. It was beautiful yet firm, like two pearls lightly striking each other.
Luoluo gave a light hmph, then said, "My teacher is worthy enough to marry anyone."
The hall was momentarily silent, everyone too amazed to speak. Did this girl from the Orthodox Academy know what she was saying? That youth was her teacher? Wasn't he just a piece of trash who hadn't even succeeded at Purification? How is it that in her mouth, Xu Yourong marrying him sounded like she would be marrying upwards in status? Could he be even more outstanding than Qiushan Jun?
Luoluo cared not for what these people thought. Turning to Chen Changsheng, she said admiringly, "Teacher, you're truly too awesome!"
"I also believe." Tang Thirty-Six looked at the crowd in the hall and said, "This guy is a true monster. No matter what he does, I wouldn't find it strange. Let alone Xu Yourong's fiancé, even if he said he was the Demon Lord's son, I would believe him."
Zhuang Huanyu, seeing the unpleasant expressions on the southerners, slightly creased his brow and yelled out, "Can't you be a little quieter!"
Tang Thirty-Six's expression seemed to chill, but he ignored Zhuang Huanyu and turned to Chen Changsheng. "No wonder this guy is even more narcissistic than me. You were actually hiding a fiancée like this. This matter…is truly worthy of being proud of. It's truly admirable, admirable."
Luoluo and Tang Thirty-Six had both spoken sincerely—they truly admired Chen Changsheng. However, in the eyes of the southern diplomatic mission, the trust and support they displayed towards Chen Changsheng was naturally a deliberate humiliation against them.
Elder Xiao Songgong furiously roared, "In the south, my Mount Li is revered by all people. Before Emperor Taizu founded the dynasty, he personally wrote the characters 'Sect of a Thousand Generations' on its nameboard. Emperor Taizong once issued an imperial decree commending Mount Li as the teacher of all people! The present Divine Empress also respects my Mount Li! I did not expect that tonight, a baby would slander my sect's seven millennia of outstanding reputation! It seems that the Great Zhou Imperial Court doesn't care about these children, so it seems that this elder will have to discipline them a little!"
Although he could not be considered one of the few great elders of the Mount Li Sword Sect, he had great seniority, and his cultivation was also extremely high, only one step from the Saint Realm. Tonight in Weiyang Palace, he and Principal of the Heavenly Dao Academy Mao Qiuyu were the strongest present.
In his current rage, he released his power to its utmost, his slender cheeks flashing with green light, an incredibly majestic Qi surging from his wizened body. In an instant, it crossed several dozen zhang of distance and reached the door of the hall, surrounding Chen Changsheng!
One step from the Saint Realm, this was an incredibly terrifying level of cultivation. Let alone Chen Changsheng who had not even undergone Purification, even Zhuang Huanyu, the young expert ranked tenth on the Proclamation of Azure Sky, could not firmly stand before Elder Xiao Songgong's Qi. This had nothing to do with the discrepancy in cultivation, but with the natural might of an expert.
Everyone believed that in the next moment, they would see Chen Changsheng kneel down to the ground, yet to everyone's surprise, besides his face growing somewhat more solemn, he had no reaction.
Chen Changsheng had just endured the terrifying pressure of the Black Dragon in the underground cavern. Even the might of a dragon could not topple him, so how could Xiao Songgong's? This elder of the Mount Li Sword Sect could be even stronger, yet how could he compare to a fraction of the Black Dragon?
Tang Thirty-Six did not know his situation. Feeling the terrifying Qi, he grew somewhat concerned. He extended a hand to push aside the surrounding Imperial Guards and stared at the thin and short body of Xiao Songgong. He yelled, "Elder, is this the strong bullying the weak?"
Luoluo stood in front of Chen Changsheng and suffered the brunt of this terrifying Qi. She knew that she was far from being Xiao Songgong's opponent, but she always believed Chen Changsheng to be hiding his true strength, so she believed that he could resist this level of attack. However, she still grew angry.
This person dared to show off his power to Teacher!
She furiously yelled, "You damned dwarf, you think you can wield your old age to bully others!"
The hall fell silent once more, because everyone was stunned, stunned to hear these unimaginable words.
Xiao Songgong himself was also very surprised. Unexpectedly, surprisingly, someone dared to curse him?
Several disciples of the Mount Li Sword Sect stood up and coldly glared in the direction of the door.
Their leader Guan Feibai had an apathetic expression as he prepared to strike.
When the prince is shamed, the minister dies; if the teacher is humiliated, what should his disciples do?
At this most tense of moments, the archbishop opened his eyes once more, roused from his sleep.
With tired eyes, he looked at both parties primed to fight and sighed, "It's not like any of you are children. Could it be that whoever's loudest is the most reasonable? Shouldn't the first and most appropriate task be to first look at this little fellow's marriage contract?"
These words were just like his earlier ones, irrefutable.
From the moment Chen Changsheng entered the hall until now, no one suggested to look at the aforementioned marriage contract, because everybody wanted to take a stand on this matter. They simply didn't believe Chen Changsheng's words, even though they were all well aware that looking at the marriage contract was the most appropriate of tasks.
The archbishop wanted to see the marriage contract, indicating that he already prepared himself to believe Chen Changsheng.
When they thought of how he had also protected Chen Changsheng earlier, and also how the Orthodox Academy had reappeared in the world this year, and also the undercurrent in the capital over the last few months, the crowd finally confirmed that he really was the Orthodox Academy's backer!
"A person humiliates the teachers and elders of my Mount Li. Is it just being disregarded?" Guan Feibai coldly asked.
The archbishop gave a tired chuckle, saying, "First resolve the engagement. You can fight with that girl however you want. I guarantee that no one will stop you."
Prince Chen Liu knew of Luoluo's identity and naturally could not allow a conflict or dispute between her and the southern diplomatic mission to arise before his eyes. He said a few placating phrases to the southern diplomatic mission, then turned to Chen Changsheng and asked, "You said that you had a marriage contract as proof. Is that marriage contract on your person?"
"Of course it's not." Chen Changsheng explained, "Although I'm not worried about the marriage contract being destroyed as an additional copy exists in the Li Palace, I don't want to go through all that trouble."
Luoluo took the marriage contract from her sleeve and offered it to him.
Chen Changsheng handed the marriage contract to an attendant so it could be passed towards the depths of the great hall.
Everyone's gazes rested on the marriage contract, moving along with it.
"Some people, for the sake of preventing this marriage contract from seeing the light of day, did many things. Very regretfully, they did not succeed."
He gazed at Xu Shiji and Lady Mo Yu, saying, "In truth, I already said to those people that I really came to end the engagement. If those things had not happened, this marriage contract would probably be in the Xu Estate, hidden away where nobody could find it.
"It's a pity that there is no such thing as 'if'."
...
...
This marriage contract did not seem to have a single difference with the marriage contracts commonly used in the Great Zhou. The clauses were simple and their meanings were clear, but in reality, this marriage contract was very special, because it was clearly stated that only the groom's side could break the engagement, and the witness was the Pope!
Even if no copy of this marriage contract existed in the Li Palace, no person could destroy this marriage contract. This was because the marriage contract was stamped with the Pope's seal which contained his supreme might. Anyone that destroyed this marriage contract would simultaneously have to destroy the seal, and this was to commit a grave offense against the Pope.
Chen Changsheng had previously said that after Xu Shiji obtained the marriage contract, he would hide it in some place no one could find. He didn't say that it would be torn into pieces or burned into ash. In the several months after he had entered the capital, this was the primary reason the Divine General of the East's estate had never attempted to steal the marriage contract and then destroy it.
It was naturally very easy to distinguish whether this marriage contract was real or fake.
The great hall was eerily quiet, no person speaking for a very long time. The Qiushan clan head's face was ashen, and every member of the southern diplomatic mission had faces brimming with the anger of being deceived. Even the teachers and students of the Ivy Academies had extremely nasty complexions.
The direction in which this matter had developed was contrary to everyone's desires. A tale that captivated the entire world had become a farce. The story of these immortal companions had just begun when a sudden stranger was added to the mix. It was only natural that no one was happy, everyone in the crowd aiming complicated gazes at Chen Changsheng.
Just as this youth had said, it was a pity that there was no such thing as 'if'.
If time could reverse, no one in the crowd would have been willing to hear Chen Changsheng speak. This sort of person was probably better off dead, was he not?
What to do next?
Everyone looked at each other in dismay, at wit's end.
It was clearly the Qiushan clan that had come to propose marriage, but it ended with Chen Changsheng taking out a marriage contract!
The members of the southern diplomatic mission subconsciously turned to a certain place.
Gou Hanshi was sitting there.
The southerners all looked to him because everyone knew that his intellect was without peer. Although there was an elder of Mount Li, a martial aunt of Holy Maiden Peak, and even the head of the Qiushan clan present, they were all used to putting their hopes of resolving this situation on this person's shoulders.
In these many events that had occurred one after the other, his expression had still remained calm. He had examined Chen Changsheng with interested eyes, sizing him up, yet there was no wariness or anger.
He did not speak once.
Guan Feibai looked to him and said, "Senior Brother?"
Gou Hanshi stood up and smiled at Chen Changsheng, gentle and amiable.
"Everyone says that a marriage is based on the orders of the parents and the words of the matchmaker. The marriage contract in your hands is the latter, while our side is the former, but…"
Just when everyone believed this Mount Li genius renowned for his intellect was going to engage in serious debate with Chen Changsheng, he suddenly changed the subject, his expression growing solemn as he said, "None of this is actually important, because the people to be engaged are not the parents, nor the people who wrote the marriage contract, but the two people themselves. Everyone knows that my senior brother and Junior Sister Xu are childhood sweethearts, their love more solid than gold. Even if the marriage contract in your hands is real, does that mean my junior sister has to marry you?"
At these words, everyone in the hall nodded their heads.
Xu Yourong was the most beautiful pearl of the Great Zhou. If some random person came up with a marriage contract, she would have to be married to that man?
Wasn't this casting pearls before swine?
Even the Pope would not agree to this sort of matter, would he?
Even if the marriage contract was real, if she wanted to marry Qiushan Jun, could any other person still be able to forcefully obstruct her?
In truth, this argument was utterly baseless, but when spoken by Gou Hanshi, it seemed very reasonable, because everyone in the hall required this sort of reason.
Gou Hanshi gently said to Chen Changsheng, "If you truly care about Junior Sister Xu, shouldn't you respect her view? As a man, this is the sort of bearing you should have."
These words seemed gentle and sincere, but in reality, they were quite frightening.
Chen Changsheng gazed back in silence.
The entire hall was awaiting his reply.
Just then, from the night sky outside the hall came a clear cry.
A White Crane gracefully flew down.