Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 861 – The Aroma of Tea Fills Both the Mountain and City

On hearing the news, Chen Changsheng fell into a long period of thought.

After several days, their party reached Fengyang City.

Fengyang City was a county city and was administered by the Feng City government. Although it was much smaller than other county cities, it was extremely bustling compared to other places in these canyons.

Standing on the cliff and looking at the distant lights of this city, the group decided to rest for the night and enter the city in the morning.

Recalling the somewhat sensitive nature of Nanke’s identity, Chen Changsheng sent her into the Garden of Zhou.

She had completely forgotten the past events in the Garden of Zhou, but she quite enjoyed its environment, so she did not resist the notion.

Because Tang Thirty-Six had been viewing the monoliths in the Mausoleum of Books at the time, he had never entered the Garden of Zhou. Out of curiosity, he asked if Chen Changsheng could send him in so that he could play a while.

But not long after he entered, he came out.

The reason he found the Garden of Zhou to be interesting and the reason Nanke found it so enjoyable were one and the same.

There was no one inside the Garden of Zhou, only countless monsters.

Nanke instinctively felt relaxed there, and such a fact could only make Tang Thirty-Six feel bored.

To Chen Changsheng’s surprise, Zhexiu also wanted to enter the Garden of Zhou.

He quietly sat in the plains for a while, then came out and said to Chen Changsheng, “These plains aren’t interesting now. The sun sets behind the mountains.”

The seal that prevented the sun from setting over the plains had been broken, and the number of monsters living in the Garden of Zhou was continuing to increase.

Chen Changsheng knew that the true reason for Zhexiu’s lack of interest was not that the sun did not set, but that the girl that accompanied him in watching the sun was no longer here.

At five in the morning, Chen Changsheng calmed his mind and opened his eyes to look down at the river below. He felt a little regret.

He had spent the entire night spreading his spiritual sense on both sides of the canyon, wanting to find any trace of Chusu, but his search had proved fruitless.

The climate in the canyon was much warmer than the climate on the plains beyond the mountains, and Fengyang City was much warmer than Wenshui City. Even in midwinter, no snow fell, and a cotton jacket might even feel a little too warm. Just like those thick chains on the surface of the river, they did not have any metallic chill from basking in the sunlight, but rather a scalding heat.

Fengyang City was built along the mountains. As one walked along the cliffs towards the city, tea trees could be seen all over, and these tea trees had clearly just been harvested.

Seeing the confused expressions on the faces of Chen Changsheng’s party, Hu Thirty-Two explained, “This place is rich in wild tea. In the winter, this wild tea has the best taste. In the past ten-some years, Fengyang’s wild tea has been growing more and more famous, and the wild tea harvested in winter has become a precious product. Every year, a tea party will be held, with the county magistrate and the bishop personally attending, and the varieties of tea gathered there are too numerous to be counted.”

It was still early morning, but Fengyang City was extremely busy. On both sides of the main street running along the river, several dozen tea shops were already open. The sounds of hollering and greeting went on without end, and one could always smell the plain aroma of tea carried along by the morning wind.

Led by Hu Thirty-Two, Chen Changsheng’s party first strolled around Seven Treasures Stronghold, and then went down to the river to see the famous White Dragon Carving. As the sunlight intensified, they found a quiet tea house near the ferry crossing to sit down, both to rest and to wait for the latest report.

Seven Treasures Stronghold was a smaller version of the county city. Built along the mountains, it was divided into seven layers, but there was nothing remarkable about it. Moreover, preparations for the tea party had led to the upper three levels being sealed. It also just so happened to be the winter floods, so a large part of the White Dragon Carving was immersed in the river. Tang Thirty-Six was rather unhappy, and it was only after he drank some tea that his mood recovered somewhat.

“I didn’t expect for this tea to actually be quite good.” He raised the cup in his hands and inspected it, somewhat shocked.

The wild tea in the cup was still steaming, its aroma thick, but not cloying. It seemed to contain a sort of wild nature.

“In terms of tea tasting, the first person that people think of is often Liang Wangsun, but Painted Armor Xiao Zhang has always regarded Liang Wangsun with contempt, believing that his was a false reputation and had long since lost interest. At one point, there was some busybody that once inquired on precisely this matter to Liang Wangsun. Liang Wangsun laughed and said, “I’m unconvinced of his fighting prowess, but I have to yield to him in terms of tea.”

Hu Thirty-Two continued, “It was only at this point that people learned that Xiao Zhang was also a lover of tea, and he had never liked those famous teas. He only liked to search for wild teas in the forests, the humble villages and small temples. The fame of Fengyang City’s wild tea is completely dependent on Xiao Zhang making it known over these past few years.”

When drinking tea, if there were no snacks to eat, then there had to be interesting topics to converse about, as only this way could one chat over tea. Hu Thirty-Two was the most tactful and understanding individual in the Orthodoxy, so he naturally would not let such a good topic slip by.

Tang Thirty-Six was a descendant of a noble clan, so he naturally found this topic interesting. Alas, Chen Changsheng and Zhexiu had never had anything to do with the word ‘sophistication’. When they listened to these words, they did not think about the quality of Fengyang City’s tea or how Liang Wangsun and Xiao Zhang spent their leisure time, but of some very dull matters.

“I wonder who’s stronger between Liang Wangsun and Xiao Zhang,” Chen Changsheng said.

Everyone knew that this was currently the cultivating world’s generation of blooming flowers, and this generation had been opened by Wang Po, Xiao Zhang, Liang Wangsun, Xun Mei, and the Tang Second Master.

Of this generation’s distinguished individuals, Wang Po was unquestionably the strongest, but both Painted Armor Xiao Zhang and Liang Wangsun were extraordinary individuals.

In Xunyang City, Chen Changsheng had met Xiao Zhang and Liang Wangsun. Later on, on the day that he killed Zhou Tong, he had met Xiao Zhang again.

On that snowy day, he was assaulting the Department for Purging Officials while Wang Po was on the snowy river, severing his arm, breaking into the Divine Domain, and slaying Tie Shu with a single strike of his blade. In the end, it was Xiao Zhang that rescued Wang Po.

Everyone understood why Xiao Zhang had done this.

If one said that Liang Wangsun’s lifelong goal was so clear that the entire continent knew, just what was Xiao Zhang pursuing?

“Xiao Zhang is stronger than Liang Wangsun.”

Zhexiu was the one to pass this judgment. The basis for his words naturally did not rest on the rankings of the Proclamation of Liberation.

“His lifelong pursuit has always been to be the strongest. His goal is clear and his methods are even simpler, so comparatively speaking, he is even more frightening.”

What was Xiao Zhang’s martial path? It was not the killing path of Zhou Dufu, not the straight path of Wang Po. His path was one of fighting.

Whether he could beat an opponent or not, he wanted to fight. The more unbeatable they were, the more he wanted to fight them, such that many people regarded him as insane.

Over the past decades, he had fought Wang Po countless times. He had never won, but he had also never admitted his loss.

At present, Wang Po was already an expert of the Divine Domain, and the discrepancy in strength was many times greater than in the past, but it could be presumed that Xiao Zhang still had not given up.

From this perspective, Wang Po’s words on the snowy street were correct: the Tang Second Master was far inferior to people like Xiao Zhang and Xun Mei.

Hu Thirty-Two suddenly said, “Xiao Zhang’s situation over these last few years has been rather miserable.”