Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Bie Yanghong said nothing, his calm expression explaining all.

Everything was possible.

Xuanyuan Po suddenly felt a little cold. Rising, he said, "I am going to see the tribe leader."

Bie Yanghong replied, "Even if you tell him of your speculations, it will be meaningless."

Xuanyuan Po somewhat anxiously said, "Then why hasn't anyone come yet?"

"Neither the venerable Daoist nor Wang Po will come, because no one can be sure that this is not a trap."

Bie Yanghong gazed at the now-lightless crystal powder and the crooked wooden pagodas on the floor. He paused for a while, then continued, "In everyone's eyes, I and my wife are already dead, and so the Human race cannot afford to lose another expert of the Divine Domain. This would topple the entire system upon which the continent operates."

Xuanyuan Po thought, then declared, "Tomorrow, I will try my best to kill him."

Wuqiong Bi leaned against the wall, gripping the stump of her arm while she gave him a loathsome look. "We're relying on you?"

Xuanyuan Po had already learned to ignore her. He continued to look at Bie Yanghong and said, "And I think that someone will come to help me."

Bie Yanghong understood what he meant. If their speculations were true, there were assuredly many people in the Demi-human race, perhaps even influential personages, who would be just as fiercely opposed as Xuanyuan Po.

In truth, he had already confirmed the truth of the entire matter, as he and Wuqiong Bi were severely injured because Madam Mu had allied with the demons.

Since he could he not understand, he could only wait until something happened, so Xuanyuan Po walked out of the room and began to make dinner.

Upon smelling the vegetable oil and eggplant from outside, Wuqiong Bi revealed an extremely annoyed expression.

Besides braised eggplant, Xuanyuan Po had also boiled half a pot of green onions with tofu, steamed a large bowl of corn rice, and the most delicious of all was the ten-some pieces of cured meat steaming on the rice.

Xuanyuan Po and Bie Yanghong ate very earnestly, even enjoying the food.

Wuqiong Bi was missing an arm, so it was not easy for her to eat. She wanted to imitate Bie Yanghong and wrap the rice with meat, but she failed several times.

She grew angry and threw her chopsticks on the table as she cursed, "Eating nothing but pig food, it's no wonder you look like a pig!"

Bie Yanghong glanced at her, apparently wanting to soothe her with a few words. Ultimately, however, he said nothing, only sighed.

……

……

The streets of the lower city near the Red River always felt damp, even when it was not raining. Perhaps this was because the sewage system here was not that developed, or maybe because the quality of the people here was also not very high. The residents living along these streets had a penchant for dumping their trash and filthy water on the side of the street.

A shadow slowly drifted through the garbage and greasy water filling the streets, descending the stone steps to eventually arrive at the Pine Paths.

In the last two nights, the Pine Paths had been completely different from its usual self. It was much quieter, but this did not mean that no one was there.

People filled the streets.

The Bear tribe's warriors, the Tang clan steward and ten-some cultivators from the south, and the Archbishop of the Western Wastes, accompanied by several dozen priests, had placed the area under a tight encirclement.

And yet no noise could be heard within. If one did not carefully listen, one would not even be able to distinguish the sound of breathing.

With such a vigilant and tight defense network, even experts of the Proclamation of Liberation like Xiao Zhang or Xiaode would find themselves hard-pressed to sneak inside.

But to this shadow, this was no difficult task. He cultivated the arts of the Yellow Springs and was innately sinister and foul, so he was most skilled at traveling through the earth.

With the hour late and the world quiet, the Bear warriors, priests, and southern cultivators in the Pine Paths slightly relaxed their guard.

The shadow silently reached the courtyard at the end of the alley, infiltrating into the darkness with the wind, traveling along the moss to reach the floor, and finally creeping up to the door.

Xuanyuan Po was sitting cross-legged behind the door, his eyes closed in sleep.

This was how he had slept the last two days.

Because he was in sitting in front of the paper door, anyone who wanted to see Bie Yanghong or Wuqiong Bi would have to wake him up first.

The shadow stopped in front of the door, halting its advance.

It was not because he had sensed the power of the sword sitting across Xuanyuan Po's knees, but because he had sensed the two people behind the paper door.

The crystals were on the verge of crumbling and the wooden pagodas had lost much of their energy. Moreover, he was very close.

He could even draw a picture of those two people in his sea of consciousness.

One Daoist nun and one scholar.

It was precisely the people he needed to find.

He was naturally very shocked, but before he could feel any happiness, he felt fear.

These were two experts of the Divine Domain. Although they were heavily injured, he still did not dare to act blindly. He only wanted to retreat and bring this news back to Madam Mu.

The shadow silently returned to the courtyard, drifting over the white stones to the short pine, intending to leap over the wall.

At this moment, a strand of divine intent fell on his body.

This divine intent did not seem very formidable. Its Qi was gentle as soft silk, not harming him in the slightest.

But he did not dare move, because the message transmitted by this divine intent was crystal-clear.

If he attempted to force himself free of this divine intent, he would assuredly alarm the people beyond the wall and then receive the most powerful suppression the owner of this divine intent could muster.

But if he did not move, the owner of the divine intent would not act either, because they did not wish to alarm the demi-human experts within White Emperor City.

In the late night, the watery starlight shone over the courtyard, the short pine and its shadows rustling in the wind.

Time slowly passed with nothing unusual taking place.

There was not even a sound.

Finally, at some point, a chicken crowed, a dog barked, water gurgled, and footsteps could be heard. The streets were gradually waking up.

The morning light fell within the courtyard while the sound of water indicated that somebody was washing up, sprinkled with a few words of idle chatter. Xuanyuan Po bought breakfast and returned. He was still eating meat buns and he had still bought Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi steamed buns, porridge, and pickled vegetables. Compared to yesterday, he had also bought a set of steamed dumplings, though they had squash filling with not a single shred of meat.

The sound of falling chopsticks and overturned stools could be heard from within the room.

Xuanyuan Po opened the door and somewhat helplessly shook his head. After tying the Mountain Sea Sword to his waist, he left.

The priests outside the courtyard left, as did the Tang clan steward and the southern cultivators. The Great Zhou ambassador was already waiting in front of the Imperial City.

All the people in this district would be going to the Imperial City today to watch the fights, so the Pine Paths this morning was much quieter than usual.

The small courtyard at the end of the alley was even quieter, so still that it was somewhat frightening.

The morning rustled the short pine, its shadow trembling. The other shadow stirred like a sheet of paper.

Chusu removed his stealth technique, revealing his true body.

A fog gradually emerged within the courtyard, shutting out the morning sun.

Within the shallow canal running by the wall, several silver fish floated belly-up, already dead.

The short pine gradually turned black as if it had not been rained on in many years, gradually being caked with a thick layer of dust.

Moss began to grow on the pile of firewood while the floorboards turned damp.

The entire courtyard became extremely humid and stuffy.

This fog and moisture all came from Chusu's body.

Sludge-like sweat gushed out of his body, soaking his tattered garments and transforming into a toxic fog.

The divine intent was still attached to his body.

After the long night, he was already approaching his breaking point.

He currently had two paths before him.

Retreat or advance? Regardless of the path, he needed to snap that divine intent, making a most resolute choice.

Without hesitation, he chose the former, preparing to escape.

This was how he had managed to survive deep within the stream hidden by the Longevity Sect's great array.

Later on when he was surrounded by demon experts in the snowy plains, he had used this same method to survive.

As long as he could survive, he was willing to do the most shameless things. In the future, he would avenge himself with methods countless times crueler.

With this divine intent on him, he did not dare to lightly travel through the air. Under the cover of the fog, his two ugly wings of flesh silently broke through his clothes.

But he immediately stopped, his wings of flesh gradually slowing.

He stuck out his blood-red tongue and licked his cracked lips, then smiled.

His smile was incredibly ugly, like the corpse of an insect cracking in the heat of the sun.

He turned and peered into the fog, using his ugly and shrill voice to chuckle. "So you were just scaring me.

"You didn't attack me for an entire night not because you were worried about alarming Madam Mu or the other demi-human experts, but because you were already too heavily injured. It's impossible for you to do anything, and you didn't want that fellow to take any risks by fighting me, so you threw that strand of divine intent on me."

The morning light falling into the courtyard somewhat brightened, revealing the deep confusion in Chusu's gloomy eyes.

"You'd rather face me and the endless stream of demi-human experts that might follow me alone, but you were also unwilling to reveal my whereabouts last night and have that fellow called Xuanyuan Po experience a little risk. Why is this? Is he Sir's last disciple or… your bastard son?"

He slowly walked forward, the fog parting to reveal the porch of the house.

No sound came from the house, nor did anyone answer his question.

Chusu walked up to the house. He just need to walk up two steps and his hand would be able to touch the door.

His body was trembling somewhat, out of both anxiety and excitement. Of course, there was also that smear of lingering fear. Although he was extremely confident that all was as he said, the thought of facing such a legendary couple still made him feel an irrepressible fear.

If possible, he would never climb these two steps, never open the door. He would not have even come up to this house.

Sweat continued to gush out of his body, the fog thickening, the floorboards growing damper. Mushrooms began to sprout on the firewood and then quickly rot away. The beams of the house and everything else made of wood began to rot and fester. A damp and pungent odor enveloped the entire courtyard.

With a clack, the door of the house fell over, revealing the paper door, through which two figures could faintly be seen.

A sigh came from behind the paper door.

The emotions contained in this sigh were not very complex, nor were they sorrowful. It was just a simple sigh, seeming particularly serene.

Damp and hot fog seeped through the wooden frame. The paper was soaked and began to curl, collapsing with the wooden frame into what seemed like a cloud of snowflakes.

In this sky of snowflakes, Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi sat against the wall.