Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Seeing Nanke's response, Chen Changsheng became even more confident in his conclusion. As he had already begun speaking, Chen Changsheng wanted to finish his words. At some point in time, he had even begun to consider himself as a doctor and found himself incapable of accepting a sick person’s refusals. Even though she was an enemy and he was by far in an inferior position, Chen Changsheng felt obliged to help her.

"I’m extremely experienced on problems caused by the bloodline. I think that you would know as well. If you allow me to treat your disease, I may be able to find a way to cure it." He looked at Nanke as he spoke.

The first time the continent had heard of his name was not due to his engagement to Xu Yourong, nor was it due to the Ivy Festival, and also was not because of the Grand Examination, but because he became Luoluo's teacher. The reason why he became Luoluo's teacher and earned the tacit approval of the Saint couple in the distant White Emperor City, was because he had solved the problem in Luoluo's meridians, allowing her to successfully cultivate by human methods. Zhexiu had journeyed from the distant snowy plains to the capital and took part in the Grand Examination, not because he could enter the Mausoleum of Books and view the monoliths, but because he had heard rumors of Chen Changsheng's skills and wanted to him to treat his illness. These two facts were proof that his medical skills were specialized in this area.

Nanke's problem concerned the awakening of her blood. Although it was different from Zhexiu's and Luoluo's problems, there were many similar points. She stared at Chen Changsheng, paying no attention to the thoughts of the subordinates behind her. After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke, "If… I really am ill, then if you can treat me, I will let you go."

Chen Changsheng thought to himself that even now, she was still unwilling to let the white-clothed girl go. Just who was she? Of course, Chen Changsheng would never accept such conditions, and said in reply, "If I approach you, you’ll definitely kill me, so the most feasible way is treating your illness after I leave the Garden of Zhou."

Nanke replied, "For what reason should I believe you? After you leave the Garden of Zhou, you'll definitely return to Li Palace, and I certainly won't be able to find you there."

Chen Changsheng did not hesitate as he replied. "If I promise you, I will naturally respect that promise."

In a world of mutual deception, in the face of this bloody enmity between humans and demons in which all methods were acceptable, keeping a promise was the most ridiculous matter. Yet, for some reason, as Nanke glanced at Chen Changsheng's calm expression, she felt that his words were incomparably sincere; she could not help but believe in Chen Changsheng’s words.

This sort of feeling caused her to feel rather uncomfortable. Nanke questioned unhappily, "For what reason should I believe you?"

She once again repeated her words, however, this time, Nanke finally realized that something was amiss. A strand of anger appeared in her dull eyes. Attempting to conceal her true emotions, she questioned in a flat manner, "For what reason should I believe you? Are you saying that you would only need a glance to tell see that I am ill!?"

This was the third repetition. Chen Changsheng sincerely replied, "Yes, I only needed a glance."

Nanke turned blank as the anger in her eyes scattered, leaving behind only dullness. "How did you see it?"

Chen Changsheng pondered for a moment, then said, "Your problem is different from Princess Luoluo's and Zhexiu's. Their problems mainly had to do with conflicts between the blood vessels and the meridians, while you… Your problem is due to a conflict between the divine soul and the body. From your name, it would seem the divine soul within your body should be the reincarnation of a peacock? The peacock has always been known for its powerful divine soul, which is why it is called the Great Brilliant King. Since you inherited its divine soul and blood, your innate comprehension should be extremely powerful. At a young age, its divine soul within you awoke and began to incessantly thrive and grow, far surpassing the state of your body. It’s impossible for the soul and the body to be in harmony with each other, gradually giving birth to conflict. This is the source of your problem."

Nanke was silent for a moment, then asked, "I want to know how you managed to see it."

"The divine soul resides in the sea of consciousness, however, the divine soul of the Great Brilliant King is your body's second soul, therefore, it resides in a place that we doctors call the 'pine cone'."

Chen Changsheng pointed at the space between his eyebrows as he continued, "When the peacock's divine soul awakened and grew incessantly, it caused your pine cone to grow larger and larger, however, your body was unable to keep up; it was extremely easy to tell that compared to the normal person… or the normal demon, that your brow is somewhat wider. Moreover, every morning and night you perform meditative self-introspection, at this time your mind will connect with the peacock soul, causing a very special symptom..."

He ponder on how to describe this symptom, and after a long period of time, he recalled a phrase which would accurately describe the situation. He said to Nanke on the shore, "The reason why I could tell that you were ill at first glance is because you are… cross-eyed."

Cross-eyed?

Cross-eyed!

It was quiet all around the patch of reeds, especially on the shore, where a deathly silence lingered. Whether it was the two maids or the zither-playing old man, their faces were extremely unsightly. They looked at Chen Changsheng as if they were looking at a corpse.

Nanke's expression was still calm, even a little stupefied. However, for some unknown reason, even though there was clearly no wind, the hair that spilled over her shoulders had begun to float in the air. Her eyes began to glow dark green. Matched with the childish air that had not yet retreated, her somewhat wide face seemed incomparably strange and horrifying.

At the peak of Sunset Valley, when Xu Yourong saw Nanke for the first time, she had also been as astonished as Chen Changsheng. It was not just because the legendary Nanke was a little girl with a wooden expression, but more because her brow was much wider than normal and her eyes were rather dull. She looked similar to a person whose intelligence had yet to fully develop, moreover, her eyes seemed to lean towards the center.

Xu Yourong had said nothing, because she considered Nanke to be an opponent worthy of her respect. To comment on the body of your opponent was an incredibly discourteous matter.

Chen Changsheng had always been a person that placed an emphasis on manners. Even if he were facing an enemy like the demons which he would possibly engage in battle with, he would never purposefully make fun of his opponent's deformities. There were several reasons why he had directly told Nanke she was cross-eyed. The first was that he knew that she was not actually cross-eyed. This was a sign of the conflict between her body and the divine soul. It was symptom and not a deformity, so he believed it was okay to say. The second reason was that right now he regarded Nanke as a patient. As a doctor, of course he would be as forthright as possible; he truly had no bad intentions, nor did he realize that the phrase 'cross-eyed' represented such a humiliation to this little girl. However, it was precisely these honest and sincere words that seemed so trustworthy and believable which caused Nanke to boil with anger.

Only when he saw Nanke's strange green eyes and floating black hair did he realize that he had made a mistake. He hurriedly gestured and tried to explain, "Of course I exaggerated too much, your brow is only a little wider than normal, and when the eyes are influenced by the divine soul, they will innately be drawn closer to the center, making it seem a little dull, but of course there is absolutely no problem with your intelligence."

Worthy of being the Orthodox Academy’s honest and reliable little dandy, with this explanation, he was better off with no explanation.

Nanke's expression was still as cold as ever, but her hair began to dance around her while her breathing grew increasingly rough.

There were several harsh shrieks.

Without any warning, she lifted her right hand and pointed it at Chen Changsheng. Five rays of green light pierced through the air, hurtling towards Chen Changsheng's stomach!

Those five rays of light contained the source of her power, carrying the cold and ruthless divine soul which rested between her eyebrows, the incomparably powerful and terrifying Peacock Plume!

After last night's violent battle, she had been severely lacking in true essence. Like Xu Yourong, she had also lost a large amount of blood. In this situation, for her to unsparingly utilize such an attack could only mean that she had truly gone crazy with anger. She no longer cared about any illness. The only thought in her mind was this to kill abominable human youth in front of her.

Although Nanke had yet to recover from her injuries, this sort of attack was still not something that Chen Changsheng could receive, let alone the fact that he was even worse off than Nanke at the moment. It was a good thing that the Black Dragon sleeping in the lake outside his Ethereal Palace was constantly releasing Black Frost Qi that assisted him in healing the wounds on his internal organs. Most importantly, the ice that fell from the lake helped him recover some of his true essence.

The true essence was still rather sparse, insufficient to do battle, however, it enabled him do something else. With a thought, the thin layer of ice over the wasteland was ignited. Simultaneously, there was a burst of metal clashing sounds. The Yellow Paper Umbrella instantly appeared in his hands, showing off in the wind.

Currently, around the quiet patch of reeds, there was not the slightest breath of wind. The wind that the umbrella welcomed naturally came from those five terrifying Peacock Plumes.

With several terrifying successive bursts, the surrounding reeds were turned into a fine dust, scattering to the sky and the shore, seeming just like a cloud of exploding snow.

The five Peacock Plumes made no distinction between first and last. They violently and simply exploded against the surface of the Yellow Paper Umbrella. Chen Changsheng had simply no way of standing straight. Using the last of his true essence, he held onto the umbrella for dear life. His feet left the reeds as he was sent into the sky, flying several dozen zhang. At the termination of the arc, he heavily fell into that plain.

Utilizing the Yellow Paper Umbrella, he was able to somewhat slow his speed of descent, however, his fall was still not light. As he fell in the water, he produced a big splash.

Just like the pools of reeds at its perimeter, underneath this boundless plain of weeds were countless concealed pools of water.

The moment the chilly water struck his face, he felt as though he had collided against a solid rock. This massive shock almost caused Chen Changsheng to vomit blood, but he managed to force it back down.

He laboriously stood up from the water, unable to deal with his newly-opened wounds. Dragging his even heavier legs, he began to run forward.

Being struck by Nanke's tyrannical and terrifying Peacock Plumes and flying into the plains, this was something that he had already prepared for. Whether it was the angle or position, there was not the slightest deviation. In other words, he had originally been prepared to escape into these plains. Although everyone knew that entering this enigmatic and dangerous plains meant that there was no going back, he had no choice but to enter.

Because if he did not enter this plain, he would die. If he entered, he would be able to survive for a while longer, even if it was only a few breaths more.

The sky would occasionally rumble with a mournful shriek as Nanke's terrifying attacks persisted.

He did not turn around to glance back at the shore. This had nothing to do with something like 'true men don't look back as the building collapses'. He only wanted to save time and escape as quickly as possible.

The water in the plains were not deep, barely passing his waist. It was just that walking through it was extremely difficult and exhausting. Even if he wanted to go faster, he could not do so.

In order to avoid the patch of water weeds in front of him, he turned his head. As he gazed at the unconscious white-clothed girl on his back, he was somewhat puzzled. He thought to himself that she clearly was not very tall, why was she so much heavier than he had imagined?