Translator Note: Hi guys! I am new to the xianxia/xianhuan/wuxia novel community and only started reading the various light novels a few months back.(Got really addicted into some of them, especially A Will Eternal!) Just a random 19 year old guy who have studied both english and chinese back in my school and I thought I could give it a try at translating and this is my first attempt! I apologise in advance if i make any mistakes here and there haha. Hope you guys enjoy this series to come.
Chapter 99: The Events that Transpired on The Surface
Even though the spring ceremony had finally came to its closure, that did not stop the faith war song from being heard throughout Yelu Samo City. In the morning, the number of people who visited the temple to offer their prayers only seemed to increase everyday.
The nickname of Ya Se, āKing of War Songā, spread like wildfire throughout the city. After all, this was a priest who possessed unlimited talent for both engraving and war songs, thus he could not help but become a reputable figure in the Yelu Samo city.
Who dare claims that the Bi Er tribe cannot be poised and elegant?
The War Song priests also started to learn this new faith song from Ya Se and sing the song collectively as a group every weekend during their prayer sessions.
Without a doubt, Zou Liangās position in the temple was further consolidated after this series of incidents. Even though he was still on probation, fundamentally speaking, his words represented that of Tuo Ma Si. In the past, there were people who still try to refute his words. However that was no longer the case in the present as everyone was impressed by his hard work which changed the status of the declining temple.
If one wants to win othersā respect, he has to prove that he is worthy first by performing respectable tasks.
Even the old fashioned Priest Ke Mu was no exception to this as he no longer went against Ya Se. To win over old fashioned priests like this, just solely based on engraving, money and establishing connections were not sufficient, as what they value the most is faith. They believed that only priests who are devout believers of the Beast God and as Ya Se claimed, āobtained inspiration directly from the War Godā, would be able to sing war songs of this caliber.
Even though Ya Seās qualifications were lacking, Ke Mu decided that he will just close one eye and opened the other.
The priest rankings of the temple have been passed down for generations since hundreds of years ago and have remained unchanged all along. For a trainee priest to be promoted to an official priest, a minimum of five years is required and that is only in the case where large contributions are made, the reason being that larger emphasis is placed on the priestās faith and not his abilities, along with their belief that faith can only be tempered with the passing of time.
Even though this way of reasoning is not wrong, this also means that not many capable people would be willing to stay at the temple as the long duration would be too unbearable for them. This was also one of the reason why the temple was on the declination.
That was the case all along until Zou Liang came along. He did not seem to care at all about his reputation, yet displayed traits of a King and was also very generous in his contributions.
The queue of people at the entrance waiting for engraving was endless. After everything that had happened, the people of Yelu Samo restored their respect towards the temple. The leader of the Shadow Hunter Organisation himself, also lowered his head and publicly apologised. This was something that was unforeseeable in the past, thus, this series of events reestablished the leadership of the temple, unintentionally also giving the magistrate a slap on his face.
As the saying goes āUnless a man looks out for himself, Heaven and Earth will destroy him.ā(aka every man for himself). Lei Ruo was not provided assistance by Sa La when he needed help. Sa La could not be blamed, after all, the series of events that happened during the spring festival had shown everyone who the new boss of Yelu Samo was.
From outsidersā perspective, Ya Se is simply just an outstanding engraving priest. However, the various occupation parties with insidersā information knew that even Tuo Ma Si himself regards highly of Ya Se, even till the extent that he will seek Ya Se out for advice on many matters and not being mad at Ya Se even when Ya Se does not respond respectfully.
Everyone are more or less experienced men who knew how to act as the situation dictates, more so for Lei Ruo who did not dare to undermine Ya Se as simply a āpriest-in-trainingā. The moment they received news of Tuo Ma Si being busy with the matters concerning the selection of the next red-clothed priest and Ya Se been in-charge of both soul engraving and war song matters, Lei Ruo had no choice but to beg for forgiveness.
On the other hand, the Engraving Master Guild had to give out large amounts of reimbursements. Money was just a small issue as the guild was loaded with money. However, the pressing issue was that all their reputation had been thrown away. The days to come for Samu Andun were not optimistic.
As the War schoolās new term was starting, there were large intake of students as usual. Zou Liang and Ou Ni Si Te had no problem with their second year registration. Ou Ni Si Te enrolled in the Armored Warrior Branch Institute while Zou Liang enrolled in the Medicine Master Branch Institute. Ke Te, Lan Di and Pa Te Li Si were also successfully promoted to third-years.
After the spring festival, everyone was busy, Ke Te was no exception as he had to help out with his guild matters while Lan Di had even more trouble to attend to. As Lei Ruo wanted to reforge ties between his guild and the temple, he had no choice but to rely on Lan Di as the mediator. He hoped to rely on Lan Di as the final lifeline, as his friendship with Ya Se was known by everyone in Yelu Samo.
At the same time, Ai Wei Er was busy with her household business. After the publicising made during the spring festival, Rui Bo Teās sales actually managed to rise by 50%, which was an inconceivable act in the past. Ai Wei Er is the type of person to kill three birds with one stone as she immediately started to establish similar promotion activities in the other cities. At the same time, she helped to forge relationships with the temple by sponsoring the events for the temple at the condition of publicising their Rui Bo Te branding. What the temple lacked is money. With the assistance of Rui Bo Te and the shaman himself, is this even considered a problem anymore?
Zou Liang was equally loaded with lots of work. He needed to spend time socialising with others to forge connection, practicing on his martial arts and also needed to settle the matters of the soul engraving and war song before school reopens. As Ai Wei Erās family tribute was always in the first place, Zou Liang did not need to waste time on engraving for other families.
Ou Ni Si Teās lifestyle is the most mundane, at least to other people. In the afternoon, he will do 3000 push ups and practice his horse stance for 2 hours. In the evening, he would pay a visit to the War Guild to participate in some simple war practice activities. Concurrently, he would practice his ramming technique throughout the day, having already started practicing ramming with his left shoulder. As Ya Se has said, after ramming for a period of time, he began to develop a sense of feeling.
By controlling the time interval of ramming, usage of strength and pairing with the footwork, more strength can be generated. Some things do not need to be taught. After all, the most important concepts are best grasped from oneself during training. If Ou Ni Si Te was taught about this concepts from the start, he may not have the proper understanding. However, since he derived it himself, this could be considered true enlightenment.
Till the day prior to reopening of new term, Yelu Samoās temple had been set on the right path. On the side of soul engraving, Ma Lu had already finished carrying over the task. To someone as cautious and conscientious as this old priest, he was already one of Zou Liangās trusted aide. Zou Liang planned to suggest to TuoMaSi to let Ma Lu take over the position of head priest as this is within the scope of Zou Liangās abilities and he just needed to find a chance to make it a done deal.
After Ma Lu heard of this news, he was so grateful that no words could leave his mouth.
At the same time, the discussion at the Vatican has begun. The topic of the discussion was to discuss whether the Faith War song can be considered part of the collection of the templeās sacred song.
The great 8 shamans had their own different opinions.
āYour highness, the sacred song is a important matter. I feel that we should be prudent about this.ā
āYour highness, this war song is a good way to display the Beast Godās will and also have the ability to move peopleās heart. I believe that it will be beneficial in increasing peopleās faith.ā
ā¦.
In a blink of an eye, the Vaticanās argument gotten fiercer and fiercer. The conservative people did not favour the change, on the other hand, the radical people widely encouraged the idea of using the faith war song. There were also a group of people who were considering from a political standpoint, since this song is from Shenyao province, if it is chosen as the sacred song, wonāt that make that darned Sibalu so pleased with himself?
The fifteen generation Pope(Ben-du-ma) was sitting upright in the highest position. He was only fifty years old and was in the period of his youth 'strong and energisedā phase. After hearing rumors of the incidents that happened at Yalu Samo, even this Pope who hardly drinks alcohol started drinking a few cups.
After all, even though it is just a rumor, he was still happy as the sacred song is a vital part of the templeās teachings.
āSibalu, this happened in your area. What are your views?ā Lately, Ben-du-maās mood had been great, so he paid no heed to the noisy commotion. If this chaotic scene was to take place in the past, Ben-du-ma would have exploded into a fit of rage.