Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 758 – The Darkness Is Difficult to Disperse

At this time, if Tianhai Zhanyi were still unable to guess the identity of the master of the Cinnabar Pill, just what right would he have to compete with Tianhai Shengxue over the role of clan head?

In the Myriad Willows Garden, he had even mentioned that such a possibility existed, and if it really was that person, he was actually rather interested in meeting with them.

But how could he have expected that he would really meet that person tonight? What would he do next?

Only now did he realize that any sort of advance preparations were meaningless, because before something really took place, one often imagined oneself to have more bravery than one actually would have. He could currently do nothing, lacking even the bravery to look his opponent in the eye.

At present, very few people compared that person to the other experts of the younger generation. It wasn’t because that person’s strength and cultivation had far surpassed their peers, but because that person had already surpassed the bounds of a ‘young genius’. They were no longer a person of the mundane world, but a true Saint.

Upon seeing the figure on the broken bridge, Tianhai Zhanyi felt his body turn as stiff as a board, and his mind filled with the greatest longing that he had never come to this place tonight.

Zhu Ye was still coughing.

The Zhu clan head had apparently suffered far more serious injuries than imagined. His coughs were incredibly painful, his head lowered, his waist bent. He couldn’t even stand straight and was coughing so hard that it must have been ruining his lungs. With great difficulty, he waved his right hand. The experts of the Emotion-Severing Sect responded, stepping forth to support him. Just like that, Zhu Ye retreated into the darkness.

When Ning Shiwei saw the face of the person on the bridge, his complexion became very unsightly. When he saw Zhu Ye retreat, his complexion turned incredibly gloomy.

He had understood.

Zhu Ye had been painfully coughing the entire time so that he didn’t need to raise his head. As long as he didn’t raise his head, he didn’t need to see the person on the bridge, or put another way, he would not let the person on the bridge see him. In this way, Zhu Ye could pretend that he had earlier seen nothing at all and still was seeing nothing, still had not recognized that person’s identity.

Ning Shiwei’s response was slower than Zhu Ye’s. It was impossible for him to pretend, so what should he do?

Tianhai Zhanyi also came to his senses. Watching Zhu Ye and his entourage retreat into the darkness with unimaginable speed, he silently cursed the old fox.

The experts of the Emotion-Severing Sect had retreated with Zhu Ye, but there were still many people around the lake.

There were no longer any sounds of crossbows being drawn, or blades being unsheathed, or the scraping of metal, or the heavy sounds of breathing. All was quiet.

The crossbowmen and Tianhai clan experts had seemingly guessed at something and were currently nervous to the extreme.

They even seemed to have stopped breathing, and what was just a few brief seconds seemed like an endlessly long period of time.

That stern figure covered in armor finally kneeled towards the center of the lake.

Upon seeing this sight, everyone felt like they had just been given a new lease on life.

If he had insisted on not kneeling, then no matter how tonight ended, just how many of the several hundred people present would have been able to survive the aftermath?

……

……

“Ning Shiwei of the Mount Song Army pays respects to His Holiness the Pope.”

Ning Shiwei had kneeled in the slush of the shore.

Nearby, Tianhai Zhanyi was also kneeling with his head lowered, making it difficult to see the emotions on his face.

The scraping of metal once more broke the stillness of the lake. This dense noise was not the unsheathing of blades, but the clattering of armor.

In the snowy forests surrounding the lake, several hundred people, speaking to the person on the bridge as one, “Paying respects to His Holiness the Pope!”

Their voices were very united, but there was a slight tremble, perhaps from nervousness, excitement, or fear.

The young man was clearly somewhat uncomfortable with this. After a moment of silence, he said, “Rise.”

“Many thanks to His Holiness.”

There was another clattering of armor.

The young man commanded, “Disperse.”

Many gazes looked to Ning Shiwei and Tianhai Zhanyi.

Tianhai Zhanyi, his face pale, kept his thin lips tightly pursed, not issuing a single word. He seemed rather gloomy and harsh, but there was finally a little of the stubbornness of youth about him.

Ning Shiwei expressionlessly said, “We solemnly comply with Your Holiness’s order.”

There was a clattering of metal and the sound of hurried footsteps.

The slush was stamped into mush, just like the moods of many people at this moment.

……

……

‘Disperse.’

With this simple word, everyone dispersed.

The torches vanished and the starlight regained its grandeur. The darkness thickened, and all was quiet.

In an instant, the lake returned to its undisturbed appearance. The only people left were the young man and girl on the broken bridge and the people in the pavilion who couldn’t leave.

The young man was naturally the two-years-missing Chen Changsheng and the black-clothed girl was the little Black Dragon. She had a name now: ‘Zhusha’.

The snowy lake was beautiful and silent. Chen Changsheng gazed at the lotuses on the lake as he silently pondered over a few things.

Someone had used the Cinnabar Pill to track him down. This was very normal.

Those people had discovered that he was the master of the Cinnabar Pill, and so had decided not to fight and swiftly retreated. This was also normal.

Probably only a madman like Xiao Zhang would dare to attack the current Pope in front of so many people.

But for those two normal things to happen together was abnormal.

It was evident that both the people in the pavilion and the people that had just left had all been used by someone.

It seemed like tonight’s matter had yet to come to a close.

The lake was very quiet, as if nothing had happened. There was no boulder falling from the sky, no experts surrounding the lake, no people being killed in the mist, and no blood-stained lake or almost-released rain of arrows. But the bridge was still broken, the lake was still red, and those people had still come, so it was no longer convenient to remain here.

He glanced at Zhusha.

Zhusha rolled her eyes. She was still a Black Frost Dragon, so even as a little girl, the effect of her rolling her eyes was still rather unusual. When rolling her monstrous eyes with their vertical pupils, they seemed particularly white, and her mood was expressed with particular clarity. But she still complied with his intentions and removed the seal over the pavilion.

The general brought his group out of the pavilion and prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to speak.

An Hua was extremely agitated, but her manners were still pristine and she acted with great piety. But when she thought of her earlier rudeness to the Pope, she couldn’t help but get nervous.

As for Doctor Yang, who had lost his hand, his face was pale and fear ruled his heart. He thought to himself, I’m probably doomed.

“Leave as quickly as possible. Something will happen here soon, and I might not be able to protect you when that time comes.”

Chen Changsheng did not turn around, but kept his eyes fixed on a certain place in the mountains.

There was an endless darkness that seemed to conceal an endless danger.

……

……

In a certain place in the snowy mountain range, the Tang Seventeenth Master was also looking at this same darkness.

The former bishop of the Hall of Illustrious Persons and the other subordinates that had come from Wenshui were all looking towards the Seventeenth Master with great reverence. At this time, they naturally knew that the Tang Seventeenth Master had known the Cinnabar Pill master’s identity a long time ago. When he had been suppressed by Tianhai Zhanyi and Zhu Ye, he had naturally been putting on an act.

He was truly worthy of being a master of the Tang clan, as his methods were truly steady and shrewd. If this was a plan to borrow a knife to commit murder, then the Tang Seventeenth Master had assuredly borrowed the world’s fastest knife. Even if Zhu Ye and his group had reacted very quickly, even if Chen Changsheng was still as gentle as he had been in the past, if the Li Palace were to learn of this matter, how could the Orthodoxy just let the matter go?

But why was there no sense of accomplishment on the Tang Seventeenth Master’s face? Why was his expression so grave?