Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Blood flowed down from Chen Changsheng's wrist and fell upon the chains, splashing as it began to flow through the carved lines, seeping deep into the chains. The blood that remained on the surface of the chains evaporated in the wind and blazed into blue flames that spurted boundless heat and light in all directions.

This was the formidable power of Phoenix blood.

Those lines carved into the chains and the wall began to exude rays of light as the array slowly began to activate. A Qi that was difficult to describe, like spring leaves or autumn fruits, appeared in the cavern.

This Qi contained the divine strength of time.

At this time, the little Black Dragon had already arrived on the ground, her black hair madly flying around her, her beautiful face brimming with fiendish intent. In her similarly madly flying black clothes, one could faintly see bits of ice like diamonds spilling down!

This was a sign that she had already brought her Qi to the peak.

The present her was already standing in the Divine Domain. Let alone Chen Changsheng, even a powerful Divine General like Xue Xingchuan was not necessarily a match for her when fighting on his own.

At this time, all of Chen Changsheng's mind and attention were on the slender chains. It was like he had forgotten all other things around him and also forgotten the fatal attraction of his blood…but previously when the little Black Dragon had spoken of first blood, of oaths, and of women, his left hand had trembled for a moment. This indicated that he had truthfully been clear-headed this entire time. How could he forget the curse laid upon his fate by the Heavenly Dao, how could he forget the repeated warnings Senior Yu Ren had given to him after that night in the temple?

He had naturally already prepared a plan to deal with a possibly deranged Black Dragon.

Two extremely heavy thumps vibrated through the stone wall. It was like someone was deep within the wall, beating on a war drum, or like two distant rolls of thunder in the extremely distant night sky!

On the wall, the hands of those two legends holding the metal chains suddenly exploded with a fierce white light. Ultimately, this light transformed into two nearly solid spheres of white light about the size of a chicken egg. These two balls of light speedily traveled across the metal chains, instantly arriving at those two snow-white ankles.

No one could be faster than those two balls of white light. Even if the swiftest Xu Yourong and Nanke were here, they would also be unable to evade. The little Black Dragon who had stepped once more into the Divine Domain and had limitless strength could spend the day in the South Sea and stay the night at the Great Western Continent, yet she still could not be faster than those two balls of light.

These two balls of light were as fast as lightning.

Because they had always been lightning.

Crack! Crack!

Two extremely clear sounds exploded through the quiet underground cavern.

The little Black Dragon paused in the air in front of Chen Changsheng, her black hair and black dress covered in the blazing white lightning, and the fiendish intent on her beautiful face vanished without a trace.

The two slender chains on her ankles rapidly vibrated, clinking and rattling intensely. They were slender willows in a storm, prone to snapping at any moment.

With a soft howl of anger and pain, she heavily crashed against the ground.

She wanted to stand up, but failed. Her petite body enclosed in the black dress was still trembling. It was very strange, yet it also had an indescribable sort of charm.

After a long time, the power of thunder transmitted to her body through the chains gradually slackened, the lightning and snow simultaneously vanishing.

She arduously sat herself up, her face abnormally pale, fear still lingering in her vertical pupils. The gaze she aimed at Chen Changsheng was no longer crazed and avaricious, but resentful.

Chen Changsheng turned his head to look at her, the corners of his lips perking up in a smile.

His face was currently also very pale, probably because when he was activating the array to break the restriction, he had lost too much blood, consumed too much of his soul. He was well aware that doing things this way would quicken the speed at which his injuries broke, or in other words, he would die earlier than calculated, but he had still done it without hesitation. This was a matter that he had promised her a long time ago.

Before death, he had to accomplish these tasks. Only this way could he leave with his mind at ease.

"What's going on with your blood? It's even better-smelling than when you exploded yourself during Meditative Introspection…just now, I actually couldn't control myself," the little Black Dragon commented, fear still lingering in her voice.

Chen Changsheng pointed at the two chains on her ankles, his meaning very clear. He knew what sort of powerful restrictions the array left behind by Wang Zhice would have for her.

"Since you knew, you should have warned me and let me prepare myself a little."

The little Black Dragon gave him a resentful glare and said, "Truly a bad man."

The wound on Chen Changsheng's wrist was already healed. The Sacred Light that Xu Yourong had placed on his body to seal off his blood had also begun to take effect once more. The blood on the chains had already seeped deeper in or been transformed by the array into energy. He no longer needed to worry about arousing the little Black Dragon's vicious nature or attracting any other experts.

Chen Changsheng walked up to her and placed several dozen pills that he had requested from the priests of the Li Palace into her mouth, and then lightly caressed her back to help her digest them.

The little Black Dragon slightly narrowed her eyes, seeming to take great pleasure in these light pats.

After a moment, he came to his senses, remembering what Mo Yu had once said to Xu Yourong. He realized that she was a girl and that treating her this way was truly rather improper, so he quickly released his hands.

The little Black Dragon opened wide her eyes and glared, very displeased.

"Of course, I also didn't have complete confidence." Chen Changsheng paused, then gave an explanation for her previous reproach, "Back when I risked Meditative Introspection and ignited the snowy plain of radiance in my body, if you did not rescue me, I would already be dead. Since this life was given to me by you, my returning it is only right and proper. If I'm destined to be eaten by someone, you are probably the only person that I would accept."

Perhaps because of that final part about being the only person, the Black Dragon grew happy and content. Then she seemed to think of something and her two cheeks gradually blushed.

She lowered her head, not wanting to look at him, and whispered, "Immoral."

Chen Changsheng froze, not understanding why she was scolding him, why she was angry. After thinking it over, he took out a box and placed it in front of her, saying, "This is for you."

The little Black Dragon raised her head and looked at the box, her bright eyes brimming with curiosity.

"What is it?"

She opened the box, upon which a light illuminated her small and beautiful face.

The box was completely full of rare treasures, precious stones, gold, and silver.

Some had been bestowed by White Emperor City, some by the Li Palace, or gifted to him by the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education. Some of it had been given by Tang Thirty-Six for him to play around with, and some of it was from the Mausoleum of Zhou. There were all sorts of treasures within.

This was one-third of his total property.

Of course, this was his total property after clearly dividing it with Xu Yourong on that winter day last year.

One-third was left for Luoluo, one-third left for his senior brother, and the last third was left for the little Black Dragon. He believed that these three people were the ones that had treated him the best.

Seeing the treasures in the box, the little Black Dragon's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"Do you like it?" Chen Changsheng looked at her, somewhat nervous but also hopeful.

She lowered her head and softly indicated her approval.

There was no such a thing as a dragon that didn't love gold, silver, or treasure, let alone one that had been imprisoned underground for several hundred years. Only with the gold and treasure promised by those important figures in the Imperial Palace had she managed to endure.

And these had been especially left by him for her.

She raised her head and said seriously to Chen Changsheng, "Do you know? It's already been many years since I left my home in the South Sea and came to where you humans live, but only after getting to know you did I live somewhat happier days, so I truly must thank you."

Chen Changsheng thought about her experiences, thought about his own life, and naturally empathized with her suffering.

"My happiest days were when I became a spiritual soul and departed with you from the capital. Until we reached Hanqiu City, I saw so many sights and ate so many delicious things."

"The sights in the Garden of Zhou were also not bad."

"I don't like the Garden of Zhou."

"Why?"

"Because my royal father died in there."

Chen Changsheng remained silent.

The little Black Dragon sneered at him, "And in the Garden of Zhou, you and that girl whispered words of love to each other, long forgetting who I was; what's there for me to be happy about?"

Chen Changsheng felt rather helpless, saying, "I didn't know at the time that she was Xu Yourong, and also…in my heart, she's a senior worthy of my respect."

The Black Dragon did not care, resentfully saying, "In any case, you're just an ungrateful and fickle guy."

Chen Changsheng thought, where did 'ungrateful' come from?He suddenly recalled those words the Black Dragon had said before preparing to eat him and thought, if it really is this way, to use such a one-sided oath to restrict the other party's actions is truly rather unreasonable, or perhaps childish.

Although he was not that old, he was always calm and composed, so he naturally wouldn't engage in a childish quarrel with her.

But seeing his silence, she grew even angrier, opening her mouth and blowing on to his face.

She was a Black Frost Dragon, so the breath she blew was her dragon breath.

The dragon breath descended, and based on what had happened the past few times, Chen Changsheng should have been instantly frozen. This was what she had originally intended, preparing to thoroughly tidy him up and pack him away, yet she forgot that she had always used her original appearance of a Black Frost Dragon to meet Chen Changsheng in the past. Now, however, she was in the form of a human girl. Notwithstanding other aspects of her strength, she at least could not spit out her dragon breath.

The breath she blew now was just a regular breath. This breath was like an orchid, suffused with an indescribably delicate fragrance without the slightest strength. This was the sort of breath that fell on Chen Changsheng's face.

Strangely enough, though Chen Changsheng's body had undergone a perfect Purification through being washed in her dragon blood and could not be pierced by ordinary weapons, and though her breath was clearly lacking in any sort of power, his face still turned red.

The little Black Dragon froze, and then rather foolishly blew on his face again.

Chen Changsheng's face continued to get redder, especially his ears. They were just like his Fated Star, thoroughly red.

The Black Dragon blinked her eyes in confusion. Soon after, she realized what she was doing and countless emotions of shame rushed into her mind. Her small face instantly turned red beyond compare.

She felt her face to be very hot, and even her body as well.

She forgot that she was a Black Frost Dragon who needed only a thought to freeze a volcano.

Volcanoes could be frozen, ice could be melted. She felt her own body going soft from the heat. Lacking strength to support herself, she slowly tilted forward and leaned against Chen Changsheng's chest.

Her breathing was like the winds of a glacier blowing over a snow lotus, gently brushing the edge of his ear.

Chen Changsheng's body seemed to freeze, not daring to move. He suddenly felt a little wet.

She was sticking out her cloven tongue and licking his ear.

"It truly smells delicious." She leaned against his shoulder, whispering, "If you're really going to die, let me eat you, and you can just die in my stomach."

……