Chapter 66: The White Crane as Proof (Part 1)
"How can you be so certain that what I say is false?"
Chen Changsheng looked at the people inside the hall and asked, his expression serious because he was very angry.
"I have never heard Junior Disciple You say she has a fiancé like you."
The woman from Holy Maiden Peak, her face veiled in white gauze, slowly stood up and looked at him as she spoke. Seeing the angry expression on the young man's face, she felt somewhat uneasy. Recalling her senior sister's arrangements over the past few months, she wondered if what this young man said might actually be true.
"What proof do you have?"
Chen Changsheng said, "I have a marriage contract as proof."
Elder Xiao Songgong's face was as cold as frost, and he barked, "Even if you took out a divine scripture as proof, no one would believe a word you say!"
"I believe."
At that moment, a very crisp voice suddenly rang out in the hall. It sounded like two pearls gently colliding—beautiful and firm.
Luoluo snorted lightly and said, "My master is qualified to marry anyone."
The hall fell silent for a moment. The people were stunned and speechless. Did this little girl from the National Academy know what she was saying? That young man was her master? Wasn't he just a useless nobody who hadn't even reached the Marrow Cleansing realm? How could she speak as if Xu Yourong would be marrying beneath her station? Was he more outstanding than Autumn Mountain Gentleman?
Luoluo couldn't care less about what those people were thinking. She looked at Chen Changsheng with admiration and said, "Master, you're truly amazing!"
"I also believe." Tang Thirty-Six looked at the people in the hall and said, "This guy is a real freak. Nothing he does would surprise me. Don't tell me he's Xu Yourong's fiancé—even if he said he was the Demon Lord's youngest son, I'd believe it."
Zhuang Huanyu saw the hostile expressions on the southerners' faces, frowned slightly, and snapped, "Say a few less words!"
Tang Thirty-Six's expression turned cold. Ignoring him, he looked at Chen Changsheng and said, "No wonder you're even more narcissistic than I am. So you've got a fiancée like this hidden away... This is definitely something to be proud of. Admirable, truly admirable."
Luoluo and Tang Thirty-Six were both speaking from the heart. They truly admired Chen Changsheng. But in the eyes of the southern delegation, their show of trust and support for him at this moment was a deliberate insult.
Elder Xiao Songgong roared in fury, "My Li Mountain stands in the south, revered by the people for generations. When the founding emperor of Great Zhou established the dynasty, he personally inscribed the plaque 'Ancestor of a Thousand Generations.' Emperor Taizong, in his time, praised Li Mountain in an imperial decree as the teacher of the people. Even now, under Her Holiness the Empress's reign, she treats my Li Mountain with respect! Yet tonight, a mere child wants to destroy my sect's seven-thousand-year reputation! If the Great Zhou court refuses to discipline these brats, then I, an old man, will have to teach them a lesson myself!"
Although he wasn't the last surviving elder of the Li Mountain Sword Sect, he held a very high seniority within the sect and was also at an extremely high cultivation level—only one step away from entering the Saintly realm. Tonight, in the Weiyang Palace, he and Mao Qiuyu, the dean of the Heavenly Academy, were the two strongest men present.
Now, in his rage, he released his aura. A faint green light flickered on his gaunt cheeks, and a vast, overwhelming energy burst forth from his withered body. In an instant, it crossed several dozen zhang and surrounded Chen Changsheng at the palace gate!
One step from the Saintly realm—what a terrifying level of cultivation! Not to mention Chen Changsheng, who hadn't even succeeded in Marrow Cleansing, even a young powerhouse like Zhuang Huanyu, ranked tenth on the Azure Cloud List, would struggle to stand steady under Elder Xiao Songgong's aura. This wasn't about differences in cultivation level; it was more about the natural authority of a powerful expert.
Everyone expected Chen Changsheng to collapse to his knees in the next moment. But who could have guessed that aside from his expression turning slightly more serious, he showed no reaction at all?
Chen Changsheng had just endured the terrifying pressure of the black dragon's might in the underground space. If even dragon's might couldn't bring him down, how could Xiao Songgong? No matter how strong this Li Mountain Sword Sect elder was, how could he compare to that black dragon?
Tang Thirty-Six didn't know about his situation. Feeling that terrifying aura, he grew worried. He pushed aside the surrounding guards, stared at the short, thin Xiao Songgong deep in the hall, and shouted, "Elder, are you going to bully the weak?"
Luoluo stood in front of Chen Changsheng. She felt the powerful aura most keenly and knew she was no match for Xiao Songgong. She still believed Chen Changsheng was hiding his true strength and could withstand this level of attack, but she was equally furious.
How dare this man show off his power in front of her master!
She roared in anger, "You short old man, do you think you can bully people just because you're old?!"
The hall fell silent again, because everyone was shocked—shocked to hear words they never thought they'd hear.
Xiao Songgong himself was also surprised. Someone, actually someone, dared to curse him?
Several Li Mountain Sword Sect disciples stood up, glaring coldly toward the palace gate.
The leader, Guan Feibai, wore a grim expression, ready to act.
When the ruler is insulted, the minister dies. When the teacher is humiliated, how can the disciple stand by?
At this most tense moment, the Bishop opened his eyes again and woke up.
With a weary look, he glanced at the two sides locked in a standoff and sighed. "We're not children. Does whoever shouts louder have the right? Shouldn't the most important thing we do right now be to first look at that young man's marriage contract?"
This statement, like his earlier one, was irrefutable.
From the moment Chen Changsheng entered the hall until now, no one had asked to see the marriage contract he mentioned. That was because everyone in the hall wanted to make their stance clear: they simply didn't believe what Chen Changsheng said. Yet they all knew that looking at the marriage contract was the most logical thing to do.
The Bishop wanted to see the marriage contract. This meant he was already prepared to believe Chen Changsheng.
Connecting this to his earlier protection of Chen Changsheng, to the National Academy's reemergence this year, and to the undercurrents in the capital over the past few months, people finally became certain—he was indeed the National Academy's backer!
"Someone has insulted the elders of my Li Mountain sect. Are we just going to let it go?" Guan Feibai said coldly.
The Bishop smiled tiredly and said, "Let's settle the marriage matter first. After that, you can fight that little girl however you like. I guarantee no one will stop you."
Prince Chenliu knew Luoluo's identity, so he naturally couldn't allow a conflict between her and the southern delegation. He soothed the southerners with a few words, then looked at Chen Changsheng and asked, "You said you have a marriage contract as proof. Is it on you?"
"Of course not," Chen Changsheng said. "Although it wouldn't matter if this contract were destroyed, since there's a copy in the Li Palace, I don't want to go through that trouble."
Luoluo took the marriage contract from her sleeve and handed it to him.
Chen Changsheng gave the contract to an attendant, who passed it deeper into the hall.
Everyone's eyes followed the contract as it moved.
"Some people did a lot of things to keep this contract from seeing the light of day. Unfortunately, they didn't succeed."
He looked at Xu Shiji and Miss Moyu on the platform and said, "Actually, I told those people that I really did come to break off the engagement. If none of this had happened, this contract would now be in the Xu Mansion, hidden somewhere no one could find."
"Unfortunately, there is no 'if.'"
...
...
This marriage contract looked no different from the common ones in Great Zhou—simple terms, clear meaning. But in reality, it was very special, because it stipulated that only the male party could break the engagement, and the witness was His Holiness the Pope!
Even if there were no copy in the Li Palace, no one could destroy this contract, because it bore the Pope's seal, infused with his supreme power. Anyone who destroyed the contract would also destroy the seal, which would be a grave offense against the Pope.
Earlier, Chen Changsheng had said that if Xu Shiji got the contract, he would hide it where no one could find it—not tear it to shreds or burn it to ashes. From the time Chen Changsheng entered the capital until now, the Eastern Divine General's Mansion had never tried to seize and destroy the contract, precisely for this reason.
Such a special contract was naturally easy to verify.
The hall was dead silent. For a long time, no one spoke. The head of the Autumn Mountain family's face was ashen. The faces of everyone in the southern delegation were filled with the anger of being deceived. Even the teachers and students from the various academies attending the Green Vine Banquet wore extremely grim expressions.
The turn of events had gone against everyone's wishes. A widely celebrated beautiful story had turned into a farce. The tale of a divine couple had just begun when an outsider appeared. Naturally, no one was happy. The looks people gave Chen Changsheng were complicated.
Just as the young man said, unfortunately, there was no "if."
If time could flow backward, people would absolutely not want to hear what Chen Changsheng had to say. Wouldn't it be better if someone like him were dead?
What now?
People exchanged glances, at a loss.
It was clearly the Autumn Mountain family coming to propose marriage, yet Chen Changsheng had produced a marriage contract!
The people of the southern delegation instinctively looked toward a certain place.
Gou Hanshi sat there.
The southerners looked at him because everyone knew he was unmatched in wisdom. Although there was a Li Mountain elder, a Holy Maiden Peak aunt, and the head of the Autumn Mountain family, people still habitually pinned their hopes on him to break the deadlock.
After all that had happened, his expression remained calm. He looked at Chen Changsheng with curiosity and interest, not vigilance or anger.
He hadn't spoken all along.
Guan Feibai looked at him and said, "Senior Brother?"
Gou Hanshi stood up, looked at Chen Changsheng, and smiled warmly and amiably.
"They say marriage is determined by parents' command and the matchmaker's words. You have the marriage contract, so you hold the latter four characters. The former four belong to our side. However..."
Just as everyone thought this Li Mountain genius, famed for his wisdom, was about to engage in a serious debate with Chen Changsheng, he suddenly changed his tone and said gravely, "Actually, none of this matters, because the ones getting engaged aren't the parents or the predecessors who wrote the contract—it's the two of them themselves. Everyone knows that my senior brother and Junior Disciple Xu grew up together like childhood sweethearts, their bond stronger than gold. Even if the marriage contract in your hand is real, does that mean my junior sister has to marry you?"
At these words, the people in the hall nodded repeatedly.
Xu Yourong was the most beautiful pearl of Great Zhou. Could just anyone come along with a marriage contract and force her to marry?
Wouldn't that be like casting a pearl into the dust?
Even His Holiness the Pope wouldn't agree to such a thing, would he?
Even if the contract was real, if she wanted to marry Autumn Mountain Gentleman, could anyone forcibly stop her?
This reasoning was actually quite flawed, but in Gou Hanshi's words, it sounded very reasonable, because the people in the hall needed this kind of reasoning.
Gou Hanshi looked at Chen Changsheng and said gently, "If you truly care about Junior Disciple Xu, shouldn't you respect her wishes? As a man, you should have that kind of magnanimity."
These words seemed gentle and sincere, but they were actually very dangerous.
Chen Changsheng looked at this man and remained silent.
Everyone in the hall waited for his answer.
Just then, a clear cry rang out from the night sky outside the hall.
A white crane gracefully descended.