Chapter 187: The Garden Opener
Autumn Mountain Lord did not participate in this year’s Grand Court Examination. It was not because of the betrothal contract Chen Changsheng had placed on the table, nor because of Xu Yourong’s letter during the Green Vine Banquet, nor because of the gossip among the people. His reasons contained no petty romantic sentiments whatsoever—he simply had a great matter to attend to.
Autumn Mountain Lord had not appeared before the world for several months. Even disciples of the Li Mountain Sword Sect like Gou Hanshi did not know where their senior brother had gone, because that great matter required absolute secrecy. The world did not know where he had gone, and he did not know what was happening in the world—the alliance between north and south, the Autumn Mountain family and the Li Mountain Sword Sect accompanying the Southern Delegation to the capital to propose marriage at the East General’s Mansion. Xu Yourong did not know that this matter had been deliberately concealed from her by Holy Maiden Peak, but he truly was unaware.
Reading through the dossier, Chen Changsheng grew increasingly silent.
Autumn Mountain Lord had gone to a place called Zhou Garden.
Chen Changsheng did not know what Zhou Garden was. He could only infer from the dossier’s descriptions that Zhou Garden should be a small world, or perhaps a relic, like the palace within the Pope’s Green Leaf World. Zhou Garden also imposed strict restrictions on those who entered—they must be below the Star Gathering Realm.
For certain reasons, Zhou Garden was extremely important, a contested ground that both the human world and the demon race were determined to control. But aside from its previous owner, no one had ever truly governed Zhou Garden.
Fortunately, after Zhou Garden’s previous owner vanished many years ago, the garden did not seal itself shut forever. Instead, following a set rhythm, it opened once every ten years.
Before Zhou Garden formally opened, unusual phenomena would appear in the heavens and earth. The outermost stone wall would become ethereal. During this period, whether human or demon, if one could find the gate left by the previous owner and bring out the key to that gate, they could control Zhou Garden for ten years.
Of course, if neither humans nor demons could accomplish this, Zhou Garden would close again, vanishing into the chaotic currents of space that could never be fully explored, quietly waiting for the next decade to arrive.
Zhou Garden had not been controlled by humans or demons for many years.
The last time Zhou Garden was opened was decades ago.
This year marked the garden’s reopening. The Five Saints had been closely watching this matter. Along with the terrifying demon kings in Snow Old City, they were the first to detect the unusual phenomena in the heavens and earth, and they swiftly dispatched the garden openers.
For centuries, Zhou Garden’s periodic openings had not affected the world’s overall structure, but the great figures who truly understood Zhou Garden’s origins and what lay within dared not take it lightly. No one could be certain that if someone actually found those few items inside Zhou Garden, what changes it would bring to the world.
For these reasons, news of Zhou Garden’s opening and its approximate location naturally had to be kept absolutely secret. Aside from great figures at the level of the Five Saints and the head of the Eternal Life Sect, only those directly involved knew about it.
The billions of people living on this continent knew nothing of this matter. At that time, the capital was still awaiting the Green Vine Banquet, and Chen Changsheng was still troubled by the sudden appearance of a new door on the wall of the National Academy.
Since Zhou Garden was so important, the garden openers sent by the opposing forces on the continent were naturally extraordinary. The demon race sent many young experts, but after much deliberation, the Five Saints sent only one person.
That person was the universally acknowledged strongest below the Star Gathering Realm in both the human world and the demon domain—Autumn Mountain Lord.
The Five Saints’ calculations were flawless, and Autumn Mountain Lord once again did not disappoint. He successfully found Zhou Garden’s gate before the demons, retrieved the key, and ensured that Zhou Garden would belong to humanity for the next ten years.
This was why Autumn Mountain Lord could not participate in the Grand Court Examination.
The dossier Xu Shiji showed Chen Changsheng naturally did not describe Zhou Garden in such detail, but Chen Changsheng could clearly recognize its importance. However, he did not yet know that the human world’s ability to find Zhou Garden and retrieve the key before the demons was not only due to Autumn Mountain Lord’s exceptional strength and excellence. There was another important reason—and that reason was actually related to him.
Several months ago, a demon expert had attempted to assassinate Luoluo at the National Academy and was stopped by Chen Changsheng. After being captured alive by Xue Xingchuan, that demon could not withstand the torture of Lord Zhou Tong and revealed some information. This led the Great Zhou Dynasty to uncover an intelligence organization under the Black Robe and also find a clue about Zhou Garden. It was by following this clue that Autumn Mountain Lord ultimately got ahead of those in Snow Old City.
Chen Changsheng did not know this, nor did he know what hardships and trials Autumn Mountain Lord had endured. He could only imagine what Autumn Mountain Lord had done through the sparse information between the lines of the dossier. The more he thought, the more silent he became, and he could not help but feel admiration for this person he had never met but had always observed from afar.
“Abandoning the Grand Court Examination to benefit all of humanity—when this news spreads across the continent tomorrow, do you think your ranking in the Grand Court Examination will still hold any luster before him?”
Xu Shiji’s cold voice broke the silence in the room.
Chen Changsheng placed the dossier back on the table and thought silently, if that was the case, then why was there this family banquet?
“I have never considered myself superior to Autumn Mountain Lord. And whether I am or not, I am not here to break off the engagement because I think I am better than him.”
He looked at Xu Shiji and Lady Xu and said, “I am breaking off the engagement simply because I want to break it off. No one believed me from the start, and they still don’t believe me now.”
Whether they believed it or not, the matter still had to be done.
Chen Changsheng bowed to Xu Shiji and his wife, then turned and walked out.
The old betrothal contract, sealed with new paper, lay quietly on the table.
By the stone gate of the front garden, Shuang’er stood beneath the bamboo, watching his retreating figure. She raised her hand as if to call him back and ask something, but in the end, she did not speak, and her hand slowly fell.
What shocked Chen Changsheng was that when he returned to the National Academy, he found that very betrothal contract lying on the table in the library, having arrived even faster than he had.
“This… what’s going on?” He took the betrothal contract from Tang Thirty-Six, somewhat bewildered.
Tang Thirty-Six said, “Shouldn’t you be explaining this to us? Why did the East General’s Mansion send the betrothal contract back? Do you actually want to break off the engagement?”
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment before saying, “I went to break off the engagement tonight.”
Tang Thirty-Six asked in slight surprise, “Why break it off? Is Xu Yourong not good enough for you?”
Chen Changsheng did not answer this question. He took the betrothal contract and turned to walk out.
He planned to go to the Li Palace.
Since the East General’s Mansion refused to dissolve the engagement, he would have to trouble the Pope.
The one who unties the knot must be the one who tied it.
(Left the hotel at six in the morning, checked into the hotel at ten in the evening. I won’t say much else. Just a silent sigh. If the quality fluctuates recently, please bear with me. I will revise it when I get home.)