Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 759 – The Other Side of the Mountains

In a certain place in the snowy mountain range, a small hole was torn in the heavy darkness by the light of torches.

Tianhai Zhanyi stared at Zhu Ye, his complexion abnormally nasty. Angry and ashamed to the extreme, he asked, “We’re just leaving like this?”

Zhu Ye impassively replied, “In the Myriad Willows Garden on that day, just who was it that said that person was in the south?”

Tianhai Zhanyi shut up.

On that day, he had been relaying the words of the Prince of Xiang. The words of this powerful and lofty imperial prince represented the thoughts of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The Imperial Court had always believed that Chen Changsheng was hiding in the south—if not in Holy Maiden Peak then in Scholartree Manor. Nobody had anticipated that he was in this mountain range, and that he was also the master of the Cinnabar Pill…

Ning Shiwei turned to Zhu Ye, his gaze relaying a silent question.

“There are too many people.”

Zhu Ye’s answer was simple, but contained many unspoken words.

Although they were already very far from the garden, they were still not far enough. They needed to be at least a thousand li away, so Zhu Yu spoke very carefully.

Ning Shiwei and Tianhai Zhanyi both understood.

There were too many people, so they had to leave. If there were fewer people, would tonight have ended differently?

Tianhai Zhanyi grit his teeth and resentfully said, “Those merchants of the Tang clan are truly treacherous.”

In his view, since the Cinnabar Pill was made by Chen Changsheng and the Wenshui Tangs were in charge of distributing the Cinnabar Pill, the Tang clan was naturally aware of the maker’s secret identity, or had at least obtained a few pieces of evidence pointing in that direction. Thus, the Tang Seventeenth Master’s forbearance and retreat was naturally because he intended to trick them into getting into direct conflict with Chen Changsheng.

Zhu Ye and Ning Shiwei thought the same.

If they had not so quickly seized the opportunity, had not been so thick-skinned, had not retreated with such resolve, the situation by the lake really might have ended up with irreparable consequences.

This had nothing to do with strength. Of course, Chen Changsheng was extremely talented in cultivation, and the black-clothed girl was probably that rumored being, but even so, they were still not necessarily a match if Zhu Ye’s group worked together. Yet how could they dare to offend the Pope in front of so many people?

But were they really just leaving like this?

Zhu Ye suddenly said, “Tonight reminds me of that storm in Xunyang City a few years ago.”

This was naturally referring to the old matter in which the entire world had attempted to kill Su Li.

The current situation was naturally different, and the positions that Chen Changsheng and Su Li held were also different, but there were still some similarities.

Whether it was Su Li or Chen Changsheng, as long as they appeared in the world, many people would naturally come to kill them.

Even if they couldn’t be killed in broad daylight, they could be killed in secret. They couldn’t be killed in front of many people, but they could be stealthily killed in private.

They all understood Zhu Ye’s meaning.

Leaving was a must, a stance that they needed to display, but in truth, Chen Changsheng would also find it very difficult to leave this snowy mountain range tonight.

What they needed to do now was to spread the news of Chen Changsheng’s location as quickly as possible, and simultaneously prepare for an ambush in this gloomy and cold mountain range.

At this moment, the sound of a zither was heard from the dark mountain path in front of them.

This sound was very flat and light. It was like water condensed into snow, snow frozen into ice, and that ice covering the path: cold and dangerous.

……

……

The Tang clan actually had no idea that the master of the Cinnabar Pill was Chen Changsheng. At the very least, before tonight, they had held the same opinion as the Imperial Court, believing that Chen Changsheng was almost certainly hiding someplace in the south. It was only after they had obtained the complete analysis of the Cinnabar Pill and suspected that those red crystal fibers were blood coral that the Tang Seventeenth Master thought of this possibility for the first time.

It was just a guess, a possibility that was impossible to completely dispel, but there was no proof. Consequently, he had not taken it too seriously, at least on the surface.

But in reality, this conjecture had given him an idea.

Once this idea appeared, it was impossible to dispel or suppress. Like a wildfire, the more it burned, the more it flourished, burning until his mind found it hard to rest easy.

Would the Tang clan ultimately fall into the hands of the chief branch or the second branch?

This primarily depended upon the strengths of the two sides and the stance of the Tang Old Master, but it also depended upon the external aid and the close relationships that both branches had.

In the past two years, the second branch had gained the deep trust of the Tang Old Master and was constantly growing in strength. Why? It was because the Tang Second Master had the support of the venerable master of the Dao.

And who was the backer of the chief branch? A few years ago, the First Master had sent his only son, Tang Tang, to the Heavenly Dao Academy, handing him over to Zhuang Zhihuan to raise. From this, one could see that he had a good relationship with the Orthodoxy. This was even more true now, as everyone knew of the relationship between Tang Tang and Chen Changsheng. No matter how great the pressure of the Imperial Court, no person would foolishly give up on a friendship with the Pope.

If the second branch wanted to overcome the chief branch and take control over the entirety of the Tang clan, they first had to resolve this matter. As the most trusted aide of the Tang Second Master, the Tang Seventeenth Master had contemplated this matter countless times, so once he thought of this possibility, he very naturally came up with an idea.

If that person really was Chen Changsheng, then…could there possibly be a way to kill him?

No person would dare to attack the Pope in broad daylight. Tianhai Zhanyi did not dare, Ning Shiwei did not dare, Zhu Ye did not dare, and not even the Tang Second Master would dare.

The Tang Seventeenth Master naturally would not dare either, but one night, when he looked at those eyes of his in the bronze mirror, gradually sinking from his ambition and fear, he finally made a decision.

If that person wasn’t Chen Changsheng, then he would strive to win their service. If that person really was Chen Changsheng, then he would see…see Chen Changsheng die.

He spoke of this idea to no one, and did not even write to his second brother for instructions. This way, in the aftermath, he could pretend he knew nothing at all.

He truly had not done much. All he did was fail to conceal the news on the location of the Cinnabar Pill’s master too perfectly, allowing this news to spread.

As a result, many people came tonight.

Although Zhu Ye’s group had left, the Tang Seventeenth Master knew that Chen Changsheng would now find it very difficult to leave these mountains.

Those people would hide in the darkness and wait for a moment to strike.

Most importantly, there would be more people coming tonight.

This phrasing was not too accurate, because those coming weren’t humans.

No person dared to attack Chen Changsheng in broad daylight. However, these were not humans, but demons.

Before the mist over the lake had dispersed, no one knew that Chen Changsheng, the present Pope, would choose to live in such a remote mountain range.

But the master of the Cinnabar Pill lived here.

The Tang Seventeenth Master firmly believed that as long as the demons were to learn of this news, they would assuredly send true experts to take a look.

The demons would certainly not wish to take the Cinnabar Pill or its recipe for themselves, but to kill.

The Tang Seventeenth Master gazed to the darkness in the north, as if he had seen something. In reality, he had seen nothing at all.

The sky in that place was covered in snow clouds year-round, obscuring the starlight and casting all into gloom. Even the precipitous peaks were hard to make out.

Mount Han was the northernmost peak, a natural barrier between the human world and the demon domain.

This place was incredibly cold, the frosty winds chilling to the bone. Even amongst the demons, with their naturally hardy constitutions, only a few experts would be able to make the hard journey across it.

At this moment, on the other side of the mountains, several giant silhouettes seemed to be moving slowly, but were actually cutting through the darkness with extreme speed as they made their way south.