Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1007 – Straight, Difficult

The pear tree in front of the dark hall and the pear blossoms falling on Madam Mu made Chen Changsheng recall the sight from a few days ago.

The pear tree on the observation platform had already been chopped by his sword into dust so fine that it couldn’t be seen, so he had learned the story about the person in the painting from Luoluo.

He had been touched by Luoluo’s deep affection, and he felt that Madam Mu had put incredible thought into making Luoluo accept the Demon Lord.

She probably deeply loved her only daughter, so why was she callous with regards to her marriage?

If his guess was right, why did she treat the White Emperor that she had loved for so many years so coldly?

Just what sort of person was she?

“The Xiang clan are just like massive, uninteresting mountains, as thick and cold as their bodies.”

Madam Mu continued, “For Your Holiness the Pope to be able to ignore their existences and come to this place, your methods truly are extraordinary.”

She was praising Chen Changsheng, but her gaze never touched his body. It remained fixed on the distant darkness.

It was probably the north.

“When I was very small, Teacher once used a phrase to praise my senior brother while also teaching me. This phrase was: ‘A thousand words cannot compare to a single silence.'”

Chen Changsheng said, “From that moment, I began to speak much less, but I was still no match for Senior. I couldn’t help myself from talking sometimes. I wanted to speak to the fish in the stream, or speak to the books in the temple. Every time, I would always criticize myself, and even now, whenever I chat with Thirty-Six, I still get that sort of feeling.”

Madam Mu noted, “His Majesty the Emperor has always been a mute.”

“This was also how Senior comforted me.”

Chen Changsheng paused for a while, then continued, “So later on, I changed one word in this phrase and began to follow it.”

Madam Mu asked, “Which word?”

Chen Changsheng answered, “A thousand words cannot compare to a single straight.”

Madam Mu slowly arched her brows. “Wang Po’s ‘straight’?”

Chen Changsheng replied, “Correct. I can’t make myself conservative and maintain a steadfast Dao heart, so when I think too much, I’ll talk too much, making it easy to make too many mistakes. This being the case, why not be more straightforward? As long as I believe that what I’m doing is reasonable, then I should do it.”

Madam Mu said, “‘This’ has a right and wrong, and ‘that’ also has a right and wrong.” (TN: This line comes from the second chapter of the ‘Zhuangzi’ in a section discussing the relativity of right and wrong from different perspectives, represented by ‘this’ and ‘that’.)

Chen Changsheng answered, “But at least Wang Po and I believe that there is a right and wrong.”

Madam Mu replied, “So you were able to come straight to the point tonight and come here to me?”

Chen Changsheng declared, “Forging straight forward with sword in hand will often let one arrive at one’s goal faster.”

Madam Mu ruefully sighed, “I have never encountered a single obstruction on my path of cultivation, but I truly do tend to waver when doing something. Perhaps this is an innate deficiency of women?”

“Mother…”

Luoluo lightly called out, then hesitated.

Madam Mu’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “The extroverted nature of woman is truthfully also a weakness.”

Rather sad, Luoluo said no more.

“Your Holiness the Pope has spoken rightly. One truly should be more straightforward when doing things.”

Madam Mu continued, “On the observation platform that day, I should have gone straight to killing you.”

As she spoke, she still did not look at Chen Changsheng. Her eyes remained fixed on the distant darkness.

At the bottom of her eyes was an extremely faint fatigue and remorse.

Did she regret that she had not just killed Chen Changsheng on that day, or did she regret something else?

Just where was she looking now?

On this side of the sea, that side of the mountains, on the lake’s opposite shore, there was a black cliff capped with ten thousand years of ice and snow.

Her gaze had always been fixed on that place, her regret deepening, her emotions dulling, her desire to kill rising.

A wind came from the Western Sea. Beneath the dome of the night sky, the countless snowy peaks remained unchanged, but the ice and snow accumulated over the centuries on the black cliff began to rustle down.

The wind tore at the ice, stirring it up and dashing it against the surrounding trees and cliffs.

With a wave of his hand, Xiaode shattered a thick, falling tree into powder. He turned his head to look at White Emperor City, a tawny glow filling his eyes, making him seem extremely vicious. Jin Yulu stood behind, his eyes narrowed as he looked in the same direction, his gaze cold and razor-sharp.

They could feel the endless divine might contained within the sea breeze, but they would not retreat a single step, were prepared to fight with their lives on the line.

The White Emperor was in the black cliff behind them.

A point of weakness had been grinded out of the sealing array by Chen Changsheng’s South Stream Temple sword array. With more time, they would be able to see the White Emperor. Even if their and Chen Changsheng’s worst speculations were to come true, they would at least have proved Madam Mu’s conspiracy.

Madam Mu could not possibly watch this happen.

She would undoubtedly put a stop to everything.

Xiaode and Jin Yulu had mentally prepared themselves for this.

In the last few days, while Chen Changsheng was sitting in front of the black cliff and contending against the sealing array, they had been keeping silent watch on the surroundings.

They were waiting for countless demi-human experts to rush forth in a wave, waiting for the demi-human army to cover the mountain like black snow.

They were waiting for Madam Mu to personally act.

Just like now.

Right after, the ice falling from the top of the cliff suddenly stopped and the wind ceased to howl. All became quiet.

It was like that wind from the Western Sea had never appeared, like it had always been chasing clouds over the sea.

Xiaode and Jin Yulu glanced at each other in confusion, but they did not relax their guard. On the contrary, they grew even more uneasy.

……

……

“Since you want to kill me, why did you change your mind?”

Chen Changsheng was unaware of what had happened in the Starfall Mountains, but he could sense the change in Madam Mu’s aura.

More importantly, the Xiang clan leader and those demi-human experts outside the Imperial City illustrated that she really did want to kill him, even though the Xiang clan leader and those experts ultimately did not attack Chen Changsheng. Instead, they had silently watched him enter the Imperial City.

Madam Mu finally withdrew her gaze from that distant mountain.

She looked at Chen Changsheng and said, “Your Holiness, this question of yours sounds very much like an invitation.”

Chen Changsheng replied, “If you can bear the consequences.”

Madam Mu was quiet for a while, then asked, “Besides your teacher, who else is there that can bear it?”

Chen Changsheng answered, “But there are still many people that want to kill me. Perhaps it is because they have nothing to be concerned about.”

“If there is nothing to be concerned about, there is naturally nothing to fear.”

Madam Mu noted, “I don’t like this place, and I never have, but between the heavens and earth, there are still some things that I am concerned about.”

When she said this, she did not look at Luoluo, but below, toward White Emperor City in the darkness.

But in reality, she might have been looking even farther.

The heavens and earth were vast, holding myriad things within. Though the Great Western Continent was far away, it was still within.

Luoluo lowered her head, her mood even more anguished.

“In truth, I had always been envious of Tianhai. Whether it was in cultivation or will, she had always been infinitesimally close to the shore of liberation on the other side. There were even times when her existence made me doubt those views I formed in my childhood.”

She gazed at Chen Changsheng and said, “But in the end, she still died in your hands.”

Chen Changsheng said nothing.

Madam Mu lastly said, “This matter taught me a lesson and also made me understand many things. Since we cultivate the Heavenly Dao and the Heavenly Dao itself is emotionless, then if we want to live long and finally gain the Great Dao, we must sever all emotions.”