Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

To grant favors without seeking reward, perhaps not even letting others know, and to be willing to bear all sins, even if it meant sinking into eternal calamity—this was a Saint.

Chen Changsheng was the Pope, and the Pope was naturally a Saint. The problem was, he did not want to be a Saint, only a good person.

But a good person had to be rewarded with good.

Chen Changsheng was insistent on this point because he had seen far too many counter-examples.

The Tianhai Divine Empress and Shang Xingzhou could be called ambitious people or schemers, but they certainly could not be described as good people.

His martial uncle the Pope was a good person, so his life was of greatest suffering. No matter how the battle ended, he was bound to die.

Bie Yanghong had also died and Wang Po had nearly died several times. As expected, it was hard for good people to live long lives.

It was no wonder that Su Li was not willing to be a good person.

Chen Changsheng said, "I personally witnessed Bie Yanghong die."

Mao Qiuyu felt somewhat sorrowful.

Chen Changsheng continued, "I want to be a good person that is rewarded with good, but it's hard for me to do this alone. I need someone to help me."

There were many people helping him, like Tang Thirty-Six, Su Moyu, Luoluo, and Xu Yourong.

Just a moment ago, in front of the same window, Xu Yourong had spoken with Mao Qiuyu for a very long time, convincing him to not do something.

But in Chen Changsheng's view, this was not enough.

He looked at Mao Qiuyu and sincerely requested, "I need Sir's help."

Unlike Xu Yourong, his request was very simple, and the reasoning behind it very simple as well.

He requested Mao Qiuyu to help all the good people in the world in being rewarded with good.

As the world rose and fell, it was very difficult to determine whether one was guilty, so was it really so easy to determine whether one was good or bad?

Mao Qiuyu looked into his eyes and asked in a stern tone, "If I do not agree to Your Holiness's view, what will you do?"

"I don't know."

Chen Changsheng contemplated the question for a time, then awkwardly said, "I really don't know."

He was not simply repeating himself, nor was he stressing the point. He truly did not know what he would do if such a thing happened.

Mao Qiuyu quietly stared, then abruptly said, "Okay."

It was a very simple answer.

Chen Changsheng gazed blankly at him, then began to happily laugh.

Mao Qiuyu also laughed.

They had not met in several years, but the Pope was still that simple youth of yesteryear.

……

……

In the Mausoleum of Books, Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong had once met a Monolith Guardian called Ji Jin, resulting in a conversation.

He said that she was a good person, and she said that he was a good person.

This was not because they wanted to be polite. Rather, it was their honest assessment of each other.

But that was not the spiritual goal that Xu Yourong sought.

Good and evil, right and wrong, had nothing to do with the Great Dao.

If she had not met Chen Changsheng, perhaps she would have viewed this world more indifferently, looked down upon it.

Just like the Tianhai Divine Empress.

Of course, even after meeting Chen Changsheng, she did not believe herself to be a good person in the common sense of the phrase. For instance, in this current matter, Chen Changsheng had acted purely out of kindness, moved as he was by Xun Mei's story, while she still wanted to gain some benefits from it.

The trees of the Mausoleum of Books were covered in a shallow layer of frost, making them seem like a forest of white jade.

The black Reflecting Monolith was also stained with a few flakes of snow. This made it seem even more like a book of rubbings, and it had an aura that was moving in a different way from usual.

Xu Yourong took her eyes off the Reflecting Monolith and onto a person. She indifferently said, "Back then, I and Chen Changsheng promised you that we would let you leave the Mausoleum of Books. Now we are fulfilling our promise. What is your view?"

The shoulders of the Monolith Guardian called Ji Jin were covered in snow. It was evident that he had been waiting for a long time.

Ji Jin was very excited by Xu Yourong's words, but fear appeared in his eyes. "Is it really okay?"

The Mausoleum of Books was the holiest ground on the continent, so it naturally had the strictest of laws.

A cultivator was required to swear a blood oath that they would never leave the Mausoleum of Books for the rest of their lives in order to become a Monolith Guardian who had the special right to observe the monoliths at any time.

Across thousands of years, only Su Li had managed to forcefully extract two Monolith Guardians from the Mausoleum of Books. Besides them, no Monolith Guardian had left alive.

Xu Yourong calmly said, "I am the Holy Maiden and Chen Changsheng is the Pope. Our words are law."

Ji Jin uneasily asked, "But what of the Great Zhou Imperial Court?"

Xu Yourong answered, "Last night, the Emperor of the Great Zhou issued a decree."

Only at this moment was Ji Jin finally sure that he could leave.

His body trembled as he kneeled in the snow and kowtowed to Xu Yourong.

His self-sealing many years ago, his following years of imprisonment, and the remorse that gnawed at his Dao heart night and day were, in this moment, completely transformed into ecstasy.

But what followed was confusion and anxiety.

He had lived for so long in the Mausoleum of Books; could he really leave? Could he really just leave like this?

Xu Yourong did not give him too much time to get emotional. She said, "If the other Monolith Guardians wish to leave, they may do so as well."

Ji Jin came to his senses and said, "Many thanks for the kindness of the Holy Maiden and His Holiness the Pope. I will go now to inform them."

Xu Yourong took a letter out of her sleeve and gave it to him, saying, "Deliver this letter for me."

Ji Jin came from Scholartree Manor in the south. After leaving the Mausoleum of Books, he was naturally going to return there.

This letter was for that important figure of Scholartree Manor.

Xu Yourong left the Reflecting Monolith hut and came to that wide and straight path at the base of the mausoleum.

The Grand Examination had been halted for three years, so there were far fewer cultivators in the Mausoleum of Books now. It was a cold and cheerless place.

She went to Xun Mei's old home, where she realized that though nobody had lived here in the past few years, it had been kept very clean.

Those youths who cooked dried meat and those youths who ate the dried meat had not come back for quite some time.

With her hands held behind her back, she walked toward the south, taking in her surroundings.

Just like in the Li Palace, she really did seem like a retired minister taking a stroll around the marketplace of his hometown.

The holy ground of cultivators, the Mausoleum of Books, was just a place to stroll around and view the scenery to her.

She quickly reached that stone plaza covered in canals, the southern face of the Mausoleum of Books.

In a gust of wind, a black-clothed girl appeared at her side.

"You had me run around so many places, I thought you had made these arrangements long ago. It turns out that you forgot the most important person."

The little Black Dragon jeered at her, "If you're having that fellow send a letter, just when do you think it will arrive? You should let me take it."

Xu Yourong explained, "A personal letter and Ji Jin are both ways that I am expressing my sincerity."

The Black Dragon asked in confusion, "What are you planning to have Wang Po do?"

Xu Yourong did not answer the question. She only quietly gazed at the Divine Path before her.

The Divine Path of white stone was still there, appearing even more holy and pure in the snow.

The pavilion was no more, and that elderly Divine General who had sat beneath it for six centuries had died in Xuelao City.

At the very top of the Divine Path was a Heavenly Tome Monolith.

Chen Changsheng had told her that there was not a single word on this monolith.

The Empress had died there.

She was the Holy Maiden of the south. She had the right to walk to the very top of the Divine Path.

But she did not.

She wanted to rely on her own abilities to reach the top.

Just like Xun Mei, that person that Chen Changsheng, Gou Hanshi, and the rest could never forget.

Xun Mei had not been able to ascend to the summit because Han Qing had been standing guard.

If she wanted to walk up, who would stand up to block her path?