Chapter 30: The Master and Disciples Who Refuse to Come Out
The lodgings for Mount Li Sword Sect and Nanxi Zhai were both arranged within the National Academy.
Gou Hanshi and the others were very familiar with Ye Xiaolian and the other Nanxi Zhai disciples, and they were also well-acquainted with the people in the National Academy.
As soon as Tang Thirty-Six and Guan Feibai met, they started trading barbs and sarcastic remarks as usual, or, to put it more elegantly, engaging in playful banter.
Everyone else was already used to this scene, or perhaps tired of it, and too lazy to mediate. Under Su Moyu’s arrangements, they each went to wash up and rest.
That night, the National Academy hosted a lavish banquet. The small kitchen across the lake was reopened, and some slightly lean blue lobsters were sent over as if they cost nothing, delighting Ye Xiaolian and the other Nanxi Zhai girls. However, the disciples of Mount Li Sword Sect, who came from humble backgrounds, still found it hard to adjust to such extravagant living.
Of course, Guan Feibai took the opportunity to mock Tang Thirty-Six thoroughly.
As the night deepened, the bonfire by the lake had not yet been extinguished. Several elders of Mount Li Sword Hall and Senior Sisters Pingxuan and Yichen led away those who disliked the lively atmosphere. But Tang Thirty-Six refused to call it quits. He summoned Chen Fugui, Fu Xinzhi, Chu Wenbin, and a few other students to compete in drinking with Bai Cai and the others. A fierce battle erupted once more, as if they had returned to the Ivy Banquet of years past.
Watching this scene, Gou Hanshi smiled, turned, and walked toward a small building shrouded in the night. No one noticed his movements.
On the rooftop terrace of the small building, he saw Chen Changsheng bathed in starlight.
Gou Hanshi bowed calmly and earnestly, then sighed and said, “It’s really hard to see you now.”
He did not use an honorific for Chen Changsheng, because he had already completed his formal bow to the Pope and was now speaking as an old friend.
His words carried two meanings.
Beyond the impact of Chen Changsheng’s changed status and position, it was more about how Chen Changsheng had stayed deep within the Li Palace these past days, never showing his face.
Whether it was old friends like Gou Hanshi or important figures like the old matriarch of the Mu Zhe family, it was difficult for anyone to see him.
Many people couldn’t understand why, in such tense times, Chen Changsheng remained so calm, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
Wasn’t he worried about unrest in the capital or the impending war?
Chen Changsheng explained to Gou Hanshi, “I’ve been practicing swordsmanship all these days.”
This was exactly what the Li Palace had told the public.
Gou Hanshi sensed his aura and confirmed that his threshold was still far off, leaving him even more puzzled.
In such a tense moment, unless there was a chance to break through to a new realm, how could anyone focus all their energy on cultivation?
Even if you wanted to do that, how could you calm your mind? Weren’t you afraid of falling into demonic deviation?
Gou Hanshi suddenly caught sight of Chen Changsheng’s eyes and vaguely understood something.
Chen Changsheng’s eyes were very bright, his gaze very clear, like the purest stream water, without a single impurity.
How could one calm the mind? Only by having a peaceful heart.
Gou Hanshi asked, “What exactly is Junior Sister Yourong planning to do?”
Chen Changsheng shook his head and said, “I really don’t know.”
Gou Hanshi was momentarily stunned and asked, “Then how can you be so calm?”
Chen Changsheng didn’t answer his question directly but instead asked, “Before you came, did your senior brother have anything to say?”
Gou Hanshi smiled upon hearing this, understanding everything completely.
Before the disciples of Mount Li Sword Sect set out, Qiu Shan Jun had said nothing and given no instructions, because the entire continent knew what choice he would make.
Even if Xu Yourong were determined to turn the whole world upside down, Qiu Shan Jun would support her.
So naturally, Chen Changsheng could do the same.
Gou Hanshi walked to the edge of the terrace, looked down at the bonfire by the lake and the countless lights of the city beyond the academy walls, and said, “This matter is very difficult.”
He had thoroughly studied the Daoist scriptures and was a master strategist for Mount Li. On the journey here, he had deduced Xu Yourong’s intentions more than a dozen times, and each time, they led to the same conclusion.
No one had yet confirmed what Xu Yourong intended to do, but some had arrived at the same conclusion.
It was still about killing, but compared to Wang Po and Chen Changsheng killing the Zhou in the snowy weather three years ago, what Xu Yourong wanted to do was countless times harder.
Chen Changsheng said, “Maybe you’re all wrong.”
Gou Hanshi thought to himself, with the momentum Junior Sister Yourong has created, how could she simply let it go?
Chen Changsheng said, “I think she’ll choose a simpler approach.”
Gou Hanshi vaguely guessed something and asked, “He is your master. Do you think he will agree?”
Chen Changsheng said, “There’s a forty percent chance.”
Gou Hanshi asked, “Of victory?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, “Still forty percent?”
Gou Hanshi shook his head and said, “Only twenty percent.”
This was his view, Qiu Shan Jun’s view, and the view of the Mount Li Sword Sect’s sect leader.
Wang Po only had a twenty percent chance of defeating Shang Xingzhou.
Chen Changsheng knew that his judgment in such matters was naturally inferior to that of Mount Li Sword Sect, so he remained silent.
Gou Hanshi suddenly asked, “What if Shang Xingzhou doesn’t come?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know.”
Gou Hanshi looked at him and said, “You need to know.”
Chen Changsheng gazed at the countless lights of the capital, recalling that night three years ago, and his eyes grew serious.
“I only know that I don’t like death, I don’t like war, especially here.”
Gou Hanshi was silent for a while, then said, “This is a blessing for the people.”
Chen Changsheng took his leave but didn’t leave directly. Instead, he went to a room on the first floor.
That room was closest to the outside of the building, guarding the stairs—it was once Zhe Xiu’s residence.
Chen Changsheng opened the wardrobe, looked at the thin garment inside, and fell into thought.
Just like three years ago, everyone knew Wang Po had come to the capital, but no one knew where he was.
Some went to the Tanzhe Temple under the ginkgo tree, others searched day and night along the banks of the Luo River, but none saw his figure.
Now, if Wang Po didn’t want to be seen, who could see him except Shang Xingzhou?
Or, to put it another way, he was only willing to be seen by Shang Xingzhou.
The tense atmosphere finally turned into a real scene one morning.
Overnight, the imperial palace received dozens of memorials.
These memorials came from the prince’s mansion, from various ministries, and from the younger faction of the military, represented by the Eastern Xiang Divine General Peng Shihai.
Their request was singular: to execute the remnants of the Tianhai dynasty.
Classifying Wang Po as a remnant of the Tianhai dynasty was, of course, utterly unreasonable.
It was simply that the princes and ministers of the Chen family had finally made their stance clear.
At the same time, dozens of letters were sent overnight to the Changchun Temple in Luoyang.
These letters contained real blood.
The entire court, civil and military, wrote in blood.
If the Daoist Master does not come out, what will become of the world?
If Chen Changsheng wanted to see Wang Po, he probably could, but he had no intention of doing so.
Those letters sent to Luoyang also failed to capture even a fraction of his attention.
Except for that night when he met Gou Hanshi at the National Academy, he still stayed deep within the Li Palace, seeing no one.
Priest Siyuan rushed over from Fenggu County. Linghai zhi Wang was exhausted from monitoring the court and the military’s movements. Hu Sanshi’er had even lost weight from all the busy work.
They stood outside the stone chamber, looking at Chen Changsheng amidst the sea of swords in the sky, feeling utterly helpless.