Chapter 51: Her Name
In hundreds of years, this was the day with the most Red Swans appearing in the capital.
From time to time, Red Swans flew across the sky, leaving trails behind them.
Those shocking news spread everywhere along those trails.
The Heavenly Academy, the Pontifical Council, the Prince of Xiang’s residence…
Those trails revealed the powerful and cold will of the Divine Palace, and also showed the attitude of the young Pope.
Suddenly, several terrified cries rang out, and the Red Swans scattered in all directions.
The sky suddenly darkened.
The common people on the streets looked up and saw a huge shadow covering the capital’s sky.
Clouds rolled and churned like angry waves, and the shadow gradually revealed its true form.
It was as if a black mountain range more than ten miles long had appeared in the sky.
Occasionally, sunlight fell, and the surface of the black mountain range reflected bright light, like mirrors.
The weather suddenly turned cold, and snowflakes fell one after another, as if the capital had returned to the depths of winter.
Watching this scene, the people recalled the fear their ancestors had felt when dominated by dragons, and they were terrified to the extreme.
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…
That huge shadow drifted toward the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books. It seemed slow, but in reality, it was very fast.
The color of the river water around the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books had deepened considerably, and it also felt much colder.
That shadow did not continue to encroach into the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books through the main gate, nor did it take the south gate. Instead, it directly crossed the river, spread over that green tangerine grove and the small courtyard with half a strip of cured meat hanging, over those shallow canal waters, and finally enveloped the entire Mausoleum of Heavenly Books.
Beneath this shadow stood a person.
His features were delicate, his eyes clear, and he looked very fresh.
He wore a divine robe, held a divine staff, and his aura was incomparably sacred.
He was the embodiment of faith, the ultimate goodness of the mortal world, the current Pope.
Few people had ever seen Chen Changsheng like this.
The young girls of the Southern Brook Sect opened their mouths slightly, very surprised.
Xu Yourong tilted her head slightly, sizing him up, and a hint of a smile appeared in her cold, clear eyes.
…
…
Shang Xingzhou turned to look at Chen Changsheng.
His gaze pierced through the countless sword intents of the Southern Brook Sect’s sword formation, becoming incredibly sharp and extremely cold.
But in the end, he was looking at Chen Changsheng.
That year, Chen Changsheng carried Saintess Tianhai down the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books while he walked toward the peak. They passed each other without a sideways glance.
After that, he had never looked at this disciple of his again, even when they had joined forces in White Emperor City, even when they had had a conversation in the National Academy three years ago. But that “looking” was not true looking; it was cold and condescending.
Today was the first time he truly looked Chen Changsheng in the eye.
His gaze was deep and obscure, like that peak in the Cloud Tomb, impossible to see clearly.
But occasionally, a ray of sunlight would still fall through.
That was an expression of appreciation.
This, too, was the first time.
He felt that Chen Changsheng had performed very well today.
When the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books fell into a deadlock, the Divine Palace struck with the force of thunder, controlling the situation in the capital in the shortest possible time.
Whether it was the choice of timing or the toughness of the methods, it all showed that Chen Changsheng had truly matured.
In a sense, his actions today even carried a hint of a ruthless strategist.
These things seemed simple, but in reality, they were very difficult.
Chen Changsheng had remained silent these past few days, seeming to stand aloof, but no one really thought he would do nothing.
Who knows how many eyes had been fixed on the Divine Palace.
Shang Xingzhou had been watching him.
Wang Zhice had also been watching him.
Wu Daozi was their eyes.
But Chen Changsheng had successfully fooled them all. Judging by the situation, even Xu Yourong didn’t know what he was thinking.
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…
When Shang Xingzhou looked at Chen Changsheng with an expression of appreciation for the first time, Wang Zhice was looking at the shadow that enveloped the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books.
He didn’t know what past events he was recalling, but a look of reminiscence appeared on his face.
That shadow suddenly vanished, turning into a sky full of wind and snow.
In the wind and snow, a young woman in black appeared.
Her expression was indifferent, her brows and eyes like a painting, and her black dress radiated an extremely cold aura.
Destroying the Grinding Mountain, leveling the Prince’s residence, freezing the Heavenly Academy—in today’s process of the Divine Palace controlling the capital, she had played the most important role.
As a member of the Profound Frost Dragon clan, although she was not yet an adult and her Dao method and divine soul could not yet integrate with the rules of the sacred domain, from birth, her dragon body possessed a sacred attribute that ignored hierarchical differences. In other words, she was destined from birth to become a sacred domain powerhouse.
The two old honored guests of the Tang clan and that old Daoist from the Eternal Spring Temple were all half-step sacred domain powerhouses, but in terms of pure combat power, they were no match for a high-level sacred creature like her. As for destructive power, no one on the entire continent could match her, unless Xu Yourong and Qiushan Jun could complete their third awakening.
The dragon race was originally the most terrifying existence in the world. Otherwise, the sacred domain powerhouses led by Emperor Taizong would not have forced them, at great cost, to swear the Oath of the Starry Sky, signing a contract promising never to descend upon the continent again.
But her name was not on that contract.
Because at that time, she was imprisoned at the bottom of the North New Bridge, and she was still very young, not even having her own simple name.
The person who imprisoned her at the bottom of the North New Bridge was Wang Zhice.
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“Cinnabar, long time no see.”
Wang Zhice looked at the young woman in black and said with a smile.
Cinnabar was her simple name, or rather, her human name.
Even this name was given by Wang Zhice, and then Qin Zhong and the others got used to calling her that.
Hearing these words, looking at that middle-aged scholar on whom time seemed to have no effect, the young woman in black’s face turned somewhat pale.
She had imagined many times the scene of meeting him again, filled with resentment, thinking about how to take revenge.
But she never expected that when she saw him again after hundreds of years, she would still be filled with fear.
Imprisoned by him underground for hundreds of years, even her name was given by him…
That memory was truly etched into her bones, unforgettable, chilling.
Even she felt very cold, very afraid.
Her body trembled slightly, and the ice shards in her black dress clinked together, making a crisp sound.
At this moment, she looked like a lonely, helpless little girl.
She could destroy a mountain, level a mansion, and reverse the entire situation in the capital.
But Wang Zhice only said “long time no see,” and she was terrified to the extreme, losing all her combat power.
The river of time constantly battered the banks, the channel growing deeper and deeper until it was bottomless, becoming an abyss.
A person like Wang Zhice could only be described by the word “unfathomable.”
Chen Changsheng walked in front of the young woman in black, blocking Wang Zhice’s gaze.
Wang Zhice looked at him quietly, his eyes still unfathomable.
Chen Changsheng looked at him seriously and said, “Her name is not Cinnabar.”
Wang Zhice said calmly, “I don’t think so.”
Xu Yourong walked down and said to him, “That’s why I said you’re getting senile.”