Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1074 – The Once-More-Glimpsed Light of Morning

Xu Yourong said, “If he doesn’t come, the capital will inevitably fall into chaos and the Human race will enter a civil war that will be very hard to pacify.”

Chen Changsheng said, “Taking wood out from the fire is his greatest skill.”

“Authority over the Human race has long since ceased to have any meaning to him. What he cares about is the overarching situation.”

Xu Yourong asked, “Why is it that in the Mount Song Army headquarters, in Wenshui, in South Stream Temple, and in White Emperor City, he has always retreated in the face of the Li Palace’s attacks, finally becoming a man living in isolation? It isn’t because of any kindness he holds toward you or some tender affection for all beings beneath the heavens. It is because he has a view on the overarching situation.”

Chen Changsheng asked, “You are speaking of the northern expedition?”

Xu Yourong replied, “Yes, the only goal and significance in his life now is exterminating the demons. For this undertaking, he can sacrifice everything.”

Chen Changsheng said, “But this does not include himself.”

Xu Yourong agreed, “Yes, because he wants to personally see it, or perhaps it’s better to say that he wants to watch on the day the great army of humanity enters Xuelao City in Emperor Taizong’s place.”

If a normal person were to hear this conversation, they would probably very simply regard Shang Xingzhou as a Saint while Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng would naturally fall into the role of villains.

But this story had never had heroes and villains. Only in the relationship between Shang Xingzhou and Chen Changsheng was there a right and wrong.

“But that day is also one that we are willing to see.”

Chen Changsheng reminded Xu Yourong, “Can we really completely ignore the overarching situation?”

Xu Yourong asked, “Why can’t we?”

Chen Changsheng could not understand, thinking to himself, but you aren’t this sort of person.

Xu Yourong gave a charming smile. “For this matter, just treat me like a willful little girl.”

Chen Changsheng found her very beautiful, at her most beautiful since the Garden of Zhou.

But he still continued to say, “Master will still not believe that you will really let the capital fall into chaos.”

Xu Yourong arched her brows. “Why?”

Chen Changsheng replied, “Because he knows that I will stop you. I cannot possibly watch as the capital falls into chaos, the masses are deprived of their homes, casualties mount, and blood flows like rivers.”

The restaurant had become rather quiet. The beef ribs in the pot had been stewed rotten. The gurgling sounded like the whining of a cat.

Xu Yourong faintly smiled. “The problem is, can you really stop me?”

After saying this, she stood up.

Several dozen South Stream Temple disciples, dressed in their white robes, walked into the restaurant.

Xu Yourong spread out her arms.

Two of the girls used hot towels to carefully wipe her hands.

Xu Yourong looked at Chen Changsheng and said, “When I decide to do something, no one can stop me.”

Chen Changsheng asked, “Even if you’re doing this for my sake?”

Xu Yourong replied, “You are only half the reason.”

Chen Changsheng said, “The other half is the Divine Empress?”

Xu Yourong calmly replied, “Correct, but you cannot stop me, and not even the Empress revived could stop me from doing this.”

After saying this, she walked out of the restaurant.

The old willows on the street were giving birth to new buds, enjoying the beauty of life in the warm weather.

Xu Yourong looked up to a certain part of the sky and recalled a matter Mo Yu had informed her about.

When Chen Changsheng brought his marriage contract into the capital and all the important figures who knew of this matter were concerned, the Tianhai Divine Empress had made a comment.

“If she wants to marry someone, she’ll marry someone, and if she doesn’t want to marry, she won’t marry.”

In the Tianhai Divine Empress’s view, Xu Yourong would absolutely act this way, so one could understand why she had such expectations of Xu Yourong.

Xu Yourong gazed at that part of the sky and calmly thought, Empress, it’s still you that most understands me.

……

……

Not long after Xu Yourong and the South Stream Temple disciples left, the bamboo curtain at the back of the restaurant rustled as Linghai Zhiwang and the others walked in.

Chen Changsheng looked at them and said, “All of you were listening.”

Linghai Zhiwang and the others had rather strange expressions as they wondered, other than a show of affection, what else was there to hear?

Love had not been brought up in this conversation, but anyone could hear the heartfelt love and tenderness Xu Yourong felt for Chen Changsheng.

If a normal girl gave her all for her lover but ended up being told to stop by her lover, she would inevitably be very angry.

But Xu Yourong was not. She remained calm and was still even able to faintly smile. Why was this?

Chen Changsheng looked at them and earnestly said, “Because she knows that I won’t stop her.”

Linghai Zhiwang and the other Prefects were both shocked. If the venerable Daoist really does return to the capital, will Your Holiness really watch as the capital descends into blood and flames?

Chen Changsheng thought back to his conversation the other night with Gou Hanshi and said, “It’s not that I can’t stop her. I just believe that she won’t do this.”

Xu Yourong was not angry presumably because she believed that he would firmly believe her.

The last conversation just now had been nothing more than a play.

She only needed to slightly stimulate her spiritual sense to use the flames of the Phoenix to clean her hands. There had been no need to assume that posture.

This play was for all the living beings in the world to see, and also for Shang Xingzhou in the distant Luoyang.

Chen Changsheng walked out of the restaurant, paying no attention to the tinge of concern on Hu Thirty-Two’s face.

……

……

The light of the morning sun illuminated the not-at-all-lofty stone pillars, casting countless slender shadows on the ground, but it was incapable of parting the spectating crowd.

The assistants of the betting houses were holding sheets of paper and yelling something while the crowds from outside the city curiously listened, with some people occasionally motivated to take some silver from their bosoms. The residents of the capital, who made up only a small part of the crowd at the moment, looked at this sight with sympathetic smiles as they thought, in the last few Grand Examinations, who else has won besides the priests of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education and the Orthodox Academy?

The day of the Grand Examination had finally arrived. The young cultivators from all corners of the continent once more congregated in front of the Li Palace. In the brightening sun, their faces were illuminated more clearly and brimmed with vitality. However, no longer could one see a figure like that thinly-attired and lonely youth.

Even on such an important day, Pope Chen Changsheng still did not show his face, remaining in the stone room.

The crowd was astonished to see archbishops like Linghai Zhiwang and also the black-clothed girl, but they did not dare say anything.

With the clear and lingering sound of the bell, the young cultivators walked along the Divine Avenue into the Li Palace. The Grand Examination had formally begun.

……

……

When the entire capital was looking toward the Li Palace, a figure appeared in front of the heavy stone gate of the Mausoleum of Books.

The Orthodoxy cavalry and the Imperial Guard, who shared the responsibility for guarding the Mausoleum of Books, did not stop this person, nor did the generals and bishops who supervised them.

Because by the time they saw that person, they were already inside the Mausoleum of Books.

This person drooped their shoulders and their clothes had been washed so many times that they had lost their color. They looked rather impoverished and had a rather distressed expression.

He was not so much a scholar but more of an accountant.

In truth, he had worked in the Wenshui Tang clan as an accountant for a good deal of time.

He had also killed many demon experts on the snowy plains and ran an excellent enterprise in Scholartree Manor.

In Xunyang City, he had directly confronted the bleakest of storms. In the capital, he had slain Tie Shu with a single slash of his blade.

He had once ranked at the top of the Proclamation of Liberation and now walked amongst the Divine.

Wang Po had finally appeared.