Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 336 – The Brightest Star in the Night Sky

Divine beasts at levels like the Golden-winged Great Peng were capable of shaking both the heavens and the earth. Before, in the time that had already passed when Chen Changsheng did not have the ten thousand swords, he would not have been able to block a casual flap of its wings, and would definitely die. However, for some reason, it remained as a shadow and floated quietly as a shadow in the sky, never attacking the mausoleum. Only now, when Nanke used a secret technique to send her spiritual sense into the shadow, did the scene before Chen Changsheng’s eyes occur.

Perhaps it was just like the conclusion Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng had reached: Nanke who only had the Soul Wood, and not the Soul Pivot, was unable to completely control the monsters in the grassland—at least, it was not enough to control a divine beast like the Golden-winged Great Peng. As a result, Nanke needed such a long amount of time to invite the Great Peng to appear.

Just how could he face up against this terrifying divine beast? For Chen Changsheng’s upper level Ethereal Opening cultivation to accomplish such a deed would be the same as a myth. The Black Dragon continued to sleep in the lake outside his Ethereal Palace. Even if it woke up at this moment, what entered the Garden of Zhou was just a spiritual soul of the Black Dragon, and was unable to face up against a Golden-winged Great Peng that actually existed.

Even with the help of the ten thousand broken swords, there was not any possibility of success. After all, he was not as strong as the owners of the swords from before. At this moment, the pressure and light of the Golden-winged Great Peng stilled the swords. Although there was no fear, this silence already indicated that they could not be an opponent of the Golden-winged Great Peng.

Only the first ten or so swords that had appeared—the Mountain Sea Sword, the temple sword and so on—lifted up their pommels slightly. They raised in power silently, as if they were prepared to attack at any moment. In the ten thousand swords, the strongest and proudest sword of them all trembled at great speeds, giving out a continuous hum.

The sword trembled, not out of fear, but out of excitement.

Seeing the Golden-winged Great Peng glide towards the mausoleum with countless rays of light, the sword… was very excited, and was rushing to fight it in close quarters.

Before, Chen Changsheng had already noticed the sword.

It was because this sword was the highest and proudest sword of the ten thousand swords. It did not even have any intention of backing down to the sword intent of the Yellow Paper Umbrella. At the same time, it was the brightest sword, shining back at the light that scattered from the edge of the plains, just like the brightest star in the night sky. It had its own air of nobility.

Looking at the sword, Chen Changsheng associated it very easily with that scene at the Ivy Festival when Luoluo announced to the crowd that she was the daughter of the White Emperor. This type of pride did not originate from the exterior. The nobility originated from the bloodline. Even if the opponent was a Golden-winged Great Peng, just how could it feel fear?

The sword was currently high up in the sky above the mausoleum, and extremely far from the ground. Chen Changsheng extended his hand into the air, and through the Yellow Paper Umbrella, he conveyed his idea. Afterwards, the sword intent that had been separated returned to the Yellow Paper Umbrella, returning freedom back to the sword itself.

With a whoosh, the sword transformed into an extremely bright sword ray. It returned to the stone platform in front of the mausoleum from high up in the sky, and fell into Chen Changsheng’s hand.

Holding onto the sword hilt, Chen Changsheng thought about the history of the sword. Afterwards, when he gazed at the Golden-Winged Great Peng covered by an aura tens of thousands of zhang across, his gaze became more resolute.

The sword was called the Dragoncry Sword. It was very powerful. Before, when it was in his hand, a strike from it heavily injured Teng Xiaoming.

However, even more importantly, the Dragoncry Sword once belonged to a prince of the imperial family of Great Zhou.

The prince was called Chen Xuanba, and he was Emperor Taizong’s youngest brother. He was endowed with exceptional talent since youth, and cultivated to peak level Star Condensation at a very young age. Even though it was in a great age of blossoming flowers and the birth of geniuses, he was still regarded as a peerless genius, because what flowed in him was the blood of the true dragon.

In other words, he was that generation’s Qiushan Jun.

Chen Xuanba died when he was very young.

When he died, the great army that originated from the Tianliang County had just taken the capital. This was before the government had been changed and the Zhou Dynasty founded. His title as Prince had also been conferred posthumously. However, nobody questioned this, and it had nothing to do with his surname. It was because the entire continent understood what sort of role he played when the great army of Tianliang County swept across the continent.

In the imperial family of the Zhou Dynasty, this mighty youth who had died young was publicly renowned as the greatest expert. Although he did not fight against his second brother Emperor Taizong before he died, no one questioned this, because he had only died after fighting Zhou Dufu for a night and a day in the Garden of Zhou.

Until now, because of some complicated reasons, there were already very few people who still remembered Chen Xuanba, the name that was once overbearing without equal. There were also very few records in the official dynastic history regarding him. However, whenever the people who still remembered the history from before heard the name Chen Xuanba or the Dragoncry Sword which once belonged to his waist, they would feel a lot of complicated feelings of sorrow.

Because Chen Xuanba had died early, he did not compete in the bloody battle between Emperor Taizong and his brothers for the imperial throne. To the mighty youth who had died young, it could be regarded as some sort of happiness, but to the imperial family of Chen, it was instead an extremely great misfortune. This was because if he was still alive, under his great battle prowess, it was extremely possible that the battle would not happen at all. Even if the conflicting views had lasted for a long time, perhaps it would not have been so bitter and bloody, causing hundreds of members of the imperial family to be killed and the capital to turn into a river of blood in the end.

Of course, there was an even more widespread rumor that if Chen Xuanba could have lived until afterwards, Emperor Taizong would not have been able to take the title of Emperor at all—the records of Tianliang County and the unofficial histories recorded it very clearly, that Chen Xuanba was clearly much closer to his eldest brother, who was the Prince of Jian. If he also participated in the battle for the title of emperor, how could Emperor Taizong—who was in his night clothes—avoid the assassination in the Hundred Herb Garden?

As a result, a chilling conspiracy theory appeared.

Seeing that the army of Tianliang County was about to conquer the capital, that the Zhou Dynasty was about to be founded, that he was about to become a prince set up high, and that he had an extremely splendid future, just why did Chen Xuanba take the initiative to enter the Garden of Zhou and battle Zhou Dufu? Yes, not much of it was recorded in the currently-existing records. However, all of those who were once involved said extremely clearly that it was Chen Xuanba who had proposed the battle between peerless experts himself. Why? According to the official history, it was exactly because Chen Xuanba saw that the Zhou Dynasty was about to be founded, and he did not need to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of the clan, so he continued his pursuit of the Heavenly Dao. It was just that this type of explanation lacked some cogency. Most importantly, on the verge of defeat, why did he have to die? Even if Zhou Dufu did not care about the anger of the imperial family of the Great Zhou, did he not care about how Emperor Taizong felt? It must be known that Emperor Taizong was Chen Xuanba’s direct second brother, and also Zhou Dufu’s sworn brother.

It was no longer possible to clear up the past history. Chen Xuanba was dead. Emperor Taizong was also dead. Looking at the mausoleum now, it could basically be confirmed that Zhou Dufu was also dead. Heroic figures always left with hardships, and what was left was the Dragoncry Sword in the Garden of Zhou, carrying the glory that it once had and the pride it had from before.

Young member of the Imperial Family, peerless war god, true dragon bloodline—this was Chen Xuanba.

The Dragoncry Sword he used was noble without equal and extremely proud. How could it fear the Great Peng?

Chen Changsheng looked at the Dragoncry sword, and felt that remaining pride in the sword. For some reason, he felt that it was extremely familiar.

This type of familiarity was hard to describe and extremely strong. It actually cause his mind to become agitated, and it was hard for him to remain himself.

His hand began to tremble, and as a result, the sword also began to tremble.