Chapter 43: Where the Dust Rises
Regarding the past thousand-plus years, historians have many ways of dividing the eras. The most common is the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, while many others choose the Hundred Herb Garden Rebellion or Emperor Taizong’s ascension as the dividing point. Among the common folk, quite a few select Wang Zhice’s sudden emergence as the beginning of a new age, splitting the millennium into the history before him and the history after him.
Because in the war against the demons, the role he played was too important and too legendary.
Today was a day in history, likewise divided into two phases by his appearance.
Before Wang Zhice appeared, the area around the Heavenly Book Mausoleum was filled with tense confrontation. Everyone felt uneasy and anxious to the extreme. After he appeared, many dark, negative emotions vanished. Joyful expressions appeared on many faces, some even bordering on madness.
People finally confirmed that the rumor was true—he was still alive. Then naturally, he could solve all the problems facing humanity.
Even the early spring sunlight seemed ready to shine brighter in advance.
Just then, they heard a sentence.
“Lord Wang, have you grown senile?”
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Wang Zhice and Xu Yourong’s conversation had not deliberately been kept secret from the people around the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
For the former, it was due to a nature and confidence that nothing was unfit to be spoken; for the latter, it was due to faint disappointment and the fighting spirit that followed.
Hearing Xu Yourong’s words, the area around the Heavenly Book Mausoleum erupted in an uproar.
The title “Lord Wang” she used was the respect all of humanity gave to Wang Zhice, and she even added “you.” But no one would think this was genuine concern.
Even if she was the Southern Saintess and the greatest pride and darling of the capital in recent years, people still could not accept her being so rude to Wang Zhice.
Outside the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, a wave of discussion arose, even mixed with angry shouts of rebuke.
Even the elders of the Li Mountain Sword Hall in the southern forest and those sect masters frowned slightly, disapproving of this.
The old matriarch of the Mu Zhe family and the head of the Wu family exchanged glances again, shook their heads in silence, and had already prepared to admit defeat and leave the capital.
Xu Yourong paid no attention to the commotion outside the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, nor did she care about the reactions of the southern experts.
She looked calmly at Wang Zhice.
Shang Xingzhou, within the sword formation, watched this scene coldly, saying nothing.
Wang Zhice, outside the sword formation, smiled faintly, as if he didn’t mind being mocked by her.
Having thoroughly studied the Daoist canon and witnessed all the affairs of the world, he naturally understood Xu Yourong’s current emotions and where they came from.
Xu Yourong said that when he should have appeared, he never did—this naturally referred to times when the world needed him.
For example, the sea of blood at the National Academy over twenty years ago, or the shocking upheaval at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum over three years ago.
At these crucial turning points in history, Wang Zhice indeed had not appeared. But he had appeared at other times.
Back then, disheartened, he had left the capital and ceased to care about the shifts of court power.
He wandered the four seas and lived in seclusion in deep mountains.
Yet he still cared about humanity’s future.
So when the Demon Lord wanted to kill Chen Changsheng, he appeared at Cold Mountain.
The night the Demon Lord died, he appeared at Snow Ridge.
A few days ago, during the chaos in the White Emperor City, he appeared in the northern snow plains.
Wang Zhice said, “I once went to see Chen Changsheng before.”
Xu Yourong said, “I know.”
Wang Zhice said, “At that time, I also planned to go see Qiu Shan and you.”
Xu Yourong said, “You’ve seen me today. Are you disappointed?”
Wang Zhice smiled and shook his head.
He didn’t mind her rudeness just now.
In his view, it was just the anger of a little girl who had worked hard for days but still couldn’t gather all the types of rouge.
Xu Yourong had performed well enough today; disappointment was naturally out of the question.
However, he confirmed today that Xu Yourong practiced the Supreme Emotionless Way.
And he had always been a man of deep emotion.
Different paths naturally made it hard to work together.
Different roads meant they could only be strangers.
This made him feel somewhat regretful.
“You said you want to try, and I want to try too.”
Wang Zhice looked at Xu Yourong and said, “I want to try to persuade you to give up this crazy idea.”
“Persuade?”
Xu Yourong’s lips curled slightly as she laughed again.
This time, the mockery in her smile was even stronger.
In her view, Wang Zhice wanting to persuade her to give up already meant he had made his choice.
And he had already made the choice for all of humanity.
What other option did she have but to accept?
Such persuasion was not true persuasion, because it had nothing to do with reason.
Today, Xu Yourong had been able to push Shang Xingzhou to this point because her ultimate aim was not victory, but the burning of the entire world.
This was Zhou Dufu’s blade technique.
She could achieve all this because many forces were willing to follow her.
Whether it was the southern sects and noble families, or the national religion’s cavalry and believers.
When Wang Zhice appeared, her scheme was broken.
Not to mention that he himself was a supreme expert of unfathomable depth, equal to Emperor Taizong and Zhou Dufu.
Just his name alone was enough to change the entire situation.
His prestige was so high that no one in the world could surpass it.
When he stood against Xu, who would still be willing to follow her?
The girls of the Southern Stream Sect hadn’t lowered their swords, but after learning Wang Zhice’s identity, their expressions turned uneasy.
Among the national religion experts south of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum and in the capital, who could raise a hand against Wang Zhice?
Even if some remained loyal to her, she could no longer achieve the goal of burning the entire world.
In other words, she could no longer threaten Shang Xingzhou.
From this perspective, the person most familiar with the Two Severing Blade Technique was indeed Wang Zhice.
Until the day Zhou Dufu returned to the sea of stars, he had never been able to defeat his elder brother.
But he knew that to break the world-burning blade, one had to act before the flames were born.
The slightly cold spring wind remained slightly cold, brushing from beneath that cloud toward both sides of the divine path, stirring grass clippings.
On the plain, two trails of dust drew nearer, meaning the terrifying heavy armored cavalry was about to return to the capital.
The world fell silent. Everyone waited for Xu Yourong to admit her defeat.
Suddenly, the ground of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum shook violently.
The water in the shallow channels before the divine path left the ground like transparent sheets of paper.
Countless slightly muddy waves rose from the river encircling the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, and the young duckweed that had just grown for a few days was churned into fragments.
The tremor came from the southern plain.
The capital, separated by the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, was fortunate not to have any houses collapse, but countless people still panicked and poured into the streets, looking like countless ants.
People were shocked and looked toward the plain, witnessing an extremely bizarre scene.
The dust trails raised by the heavy armored cavalry, only a dozen li from the capital, suddenly vanished.
In their place, a thicker, larger column of dust rose, blotting out the sun and shooting into the sky, looking like a gray dragon.
Seeing that terrifying dust column on the plain, Wang Zhice, Shang Xingzhou, and outside the mausoleum, Wang Po and the Prime Minister, all changed color at the same time.
As experts in the sacred domain, they could naturally see that the gray dragon was indeed formed from dust.
The problem was that the place where the dust rose should be Mount Mo, the final barrier south of the capital.
Mount Mo had actually collapsed!
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(Today is my mother’s seventieth birthday. Many relatives came to celebrate with her, and she was very happy. The day after tomorrow, Mom will continue to be hospitalized for chemotherapy, returning to the life rhythm our whole family is used to. This year, fighting tirelessly against that tumor lord has really been hard on her! Our whole family has worked hard too. Cheering for Mom, and cheering for ourselves. Illness comes like a mountain, but no matter how heavy, we’re not afraid; we can always bring it down. I’ve never wanted to mention this, but today I’m in a good mood, so I’ll say it. Thank you all for your understanding this past year. Flying kisses.)
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(Sanqi Chinese)