Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1078 – Held

Xu Yourong’s reply was very fast, as if she had not even needed to think about it.

But both Shang Xingzhou and Wang Po knew that this was because she had already thought of this question far too many times. No further thought was needed.

Wang Po gazed at the dust cloud getting closer and closer to the Mausoleum of Books and sighed.

Shang Xingzhou looked at her and said, ” Why must I agree to your request?”

Xu Yourong replied, “‘Request’ is just a polite way of saying it, because I must respect you as Chen Changsheng’s master. In truth, I require this of you.”

‘Request’ and ‘require’ were only a few letters off, but the wills they represented were vastly different.

There was already no one left who dared to treat Shang Xingzhou with such an unflinching stance.

“Why?”

“Because you want to make an expedition to the north, to exterminate the demons, to unite the world under the Human race.”

They were some of the most intelligent people in the world, so they did not need to explain too much. Their questions and answers were the truths that came from the depths of their Dao hearts.

Given the array of forces outside the Mausoleum of Books, if a battle really did begin, no matter who won, both sides would suffer grievous casualties. The aftereffects would linger for many years, and the confluence of the north and south would vanish like bubbles. Humanity would descend into civil war and for the next several decades, there would be no chance to defeat the demons and unite the continent.

Shang Xingzhou might even be dead in several decades.

He would not allow such a thing to happen.

“I do not like Tianhai and I also don’t like Su Li, because no matter how far they looked, they were still only willing to look at the place they stood on.”

Shang Xingzhou indifferently said to Xu Yourong, “I did not expect the Holy Maiden to also be this sort of person.”

Xu Yourong remained unmoved. “If one cannot even stand firmly on the ground beneath one’s feet, what meaning is there in looking farther?”

Shang Xingzhou replied, “If one does not look far, one is liable to regard oneself too highly. Do you believe that you alone are enough to make the world fall into chaos?”

Xu Yourong answered, “Once a person has many opinions, it becomes easy for their mind to fall into disorder. If the hearts of the people are in disorder, how can the world not fall into disorder?”

She spoke here of the Prince of Xiang and Prince Chen Liu, of the Divine Generals taught by Chen Guansong, of the ministers of the Imperial Court and the elders of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, of every person that lived on this world and had his own opinions and ambitions on the world, and included Shang Xingzhou and herself.

“As long as I am here, the world will not fall into disorder.”

Shang Xingzhou’s expression was very serene, yet it gave an extremely convincing confidence.

Xu Yourong calmly returned, “People will die eventually, and Sir is not an exception.”

Shang Xingzhou looked at the South Stream Temple disciples and Wang Po, and asked, “You think that you can kill me today?”

Xu Yourong replied, “At the start, I believed that I could kill you, because I knew that your injuries have still not healed.”

Shang Xingzhou’s eyes became deep and profound. He did not think that she would be able to see this.

On that night in the Mausoleum of Books, the Tianhai Divine Empress had used her body, soul, and Dao to fight against three supreme experts in a heaven-shaking battle.

Xu Yourong had not personally seen this battle, but in the following three years, she had performed many calculations.

She realized that the Pope on that night had not attacked with all his power. At the same time, she confirmed that the Divine Empress’s most powerful attacks had basically been focused within Luoyang.

Shang Xingzhou’s injuries lingered on from that day, and then they relapsed in White Emperor City.

But from the Divine Empress’s choices that night, one could see that she put the highest priority on Shang Xingzhou.

Xu Yourong would not doubt the Tianhai Divine Empress’s gaze.

She began to re-examine her initial plan and then made an extremely important alteration.

“You are stronger than the world imagines. It truly is very difficult for me to kill you.”

Xu Yourong gave a faint smile. “But I can hold you.”

A sudden gale whisked away the dust on the Divine Path.

Two wings of pure white, ten-some zhang in length, unfurled behind her back.

Several hundred small white flowers once more bloomed on the mountainside as the South Stream Temple disciples came from their various locations to the base of the Divine Path.

In the entire process, their positions and the connections between them remained in order, extremely tight and flawless.

If one looked down from the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, they might think about time being reversed on a broken flower pot, causing it to come together again.

‘I can hold you.’

It sounded like something ordinary, but actually doing it was not so simple.

Holding a supreme expert was not necessarily as easy as killing one.

Shang Xingzhou had a pure and wondrous Dao, and was able to travel a hundred li on a gust of wind. Even in the sealed area of the Mausoleum of Books, he could retreat unimpeded.

Not even the Tianhai Divine Empress would have been able to say such words to Shang Xingzhou.

In the entire world, only Holy Maiden Peak could have such confidence, because they had the South Stream Temple sword array.

In Zhou Dufu’s prime, he had still been held by the South Stream Temple sword array for some time.

If Xu Yourong only wanted to hold Shang Xingzhou in the sword array for some time, she could probably do it.

But what was her goal in keeping Shang Xingzhou here?

Shang Xingzhou had come because of Wang Po.

If he were held by the South Stream Temple sword array, Wang Po naturally could leave.

Where would Wang Po go?

Shang Xingzhou looked at Wang Po.

Wang Po explained, “My mission was to draw you here.”

Shang Xingzhou asked, “You can leave?”

Wang Po looked to the end of the Divine Path and said, “The Mausoleum of Books will always be here. If I want to come, I can do so whenever I please.”

Shang Xingzhou’s eyes chilled. “You believe that you can leave?”

These were two similar questions, but they had different meanings.

The former asked about willingness while the latter spoke of ability.

Wang Po perked his brows at Shang Xingzhou’s question.

His eyes and brows were rather close, like an overcast sky hanging low over the earth of a flat plain.

As he raised his brows, a massive tree suddenly appeared between the sky and the plain, its trunk extremely straight.

“I do not like using the many to oppress the few, so I choose to leave. Otherwise, you can try to have me stay.”

After saying this, he took his hand off the hilt of his blade, the person himself ready to leave.

Xu Yourong said to him, “Thank you.”

Wang Po recalled Xun Mei’s final words to him outside the Mausoleum of Books and shook his head.

As he walked back along the same path, passing through the forest, he took a glance at that little house behind the fence before leaving the mausoleum.

There was probably no small number of military experts, assassins from the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, and Daoists from the Monastery of Eternal Spring hiding in the forest and buildings.

His hand did not grip the hilt of his blade again, because none of these people were worth unsheathing his blade for, and they also did not have the courage to show themselves.

When he stepped out of the heavy stone gate of the Mausoleum of Books, he stopped.

The princes of the Chen clan and a mass of cavalry stood across from him.

A bishop came up to him and whispered a few words to which Wang Po shook his head.

The bishop was somewhat hesitant, but he ultimately did not dare to defy Wang Po’s will. He ordered the Orthodoxy cavalry blocking the gate to retreat along the river bank.

The crowd across from them grew a little restless at this sight, though it quickly fell silent, because everyone recognized who that seemingly impoverished scholar was.

The Mausoleum of Books was absolutely silent, the air beginning to press down, fraught with tension. Even the landing of the flying carriage was not able to change the mood.

The Prince of Xiang was helped out of the carriage by two of his brothers. He was a little sleepy, so it was only after rubbing his eyes that he realized that Wang Po was standing there.

He asked in surprise, “What do you mean by this?”