# Chapter 246: Little Su
Zhe Xiu walked up to him, looking at the yellow paper umbrella in his hand, and asked, "What's wrong?"
Chen Changsheng didn't know how to explain. After thinking for a moment, he said, "A sudden impulse?"
Zhe Xiu was silent for a while, then said, "That's an illness."
Chen Changsheng laughed and said, "This illness, I should be able to cure."
The two walked down the stone bridge, holding the yellow paper umbrella, and disappeared into the misty rain.
A moment later, several women from the Green Shade Thirteen Department who had arrived late at the Zhou Garden also came to the stone bridge.
Among them was a young girl with a delicate face and an ordinary temperament, like a common disciple often seen in cultivation sects.
That young girl stood at the bridgehead, looking up at the rain threads falling from the sky, and there was something unusual about her.
A slightly older woman from the Green Shade Thirteen Department looked at the young girl's profile, her eyes showing reverence.
Another woman looked at the young girl, gathered her courage, and asked, "Senior Sister, do you really not want to see him?"
The young girl said calmly, "Seeing or not seeing makes no difference, so why bother meeting? I dislike trouble the most."
---
Tens of thousands of li away from Hanqiu City, amidst wind and snow, the demon man shrouded in a black robe looked at the black square plate, his brow slightly furrowed.
Just a moment ago, Chen Changsheng's figure had disappeared, and then Zhe Xiu had also vanished.
He didn't know that Chen Changsheng had opened the umbrella gifted by Old Master Tang of Wenshui. He silently wondered what was going on.
In the current world, no one understood the Zhou Garden better than he did, and no one had deeper schemes than his. He believed he could perfectly control the situation in the Zhou Garden. If this black square plate was a chessboard, then everyone in the Zhou Garden was his chess piece. But now, some pieces had suddenly disappeared from the board, which surprised him.
The three bronze pots suspended in the wind and snow had ignited the life fires of Zhe Xiu and the other two, connecting them to the subordinates he had infiltrated into the Zhou Garden. But he hadn't had time to deal with Chen Changsheng yet. He could only wait for Chen Changsheng to reappear, not knowing when the light rain in the Zhou Garden would stop.
The wind and snow suddenly stopped.
Not an ordinary stop, but a true cessation.
The wind fell silent, and snowflakes like peacock tail feathers hung motionless in the air, scattered throughout the space around the demon man.
The demon man raised his head, looking toward a certain place deep in the snowflakes. His expression remained indifferent, his eyes slightly narrowed, appearing long and delicate, yet so deathly still.
A clear sword mark slowly appeared in that place, as if it were about to cut through the snowy sky.
Where did this sword come from, that it could stop the wind and snow of the demon domain?
"To harm some juniors, you exposed your sect's techniques. Don't you think the price is too high?"
A voice rang out in the snowy sky. The voice was clear and crisp, yet carried a hint of carelessness.
"To be honest, we've been investigating for hundreds of years, and only today did we learn that the demon army strategist is actually a Candle Yin Witch."
The demon man smiled faintly and said nothing.
So he was the legendary, most mysterious and terrifying demon army strategist, Black Robe.
No wonder he was always in a black robe, so conspicuous in the wind and snow.
Then who was the owner of that clear voice?
Facing the unfathomable demon army strategist Black Robe, that person showed no fear at all, even seeming somewhat indifferent.
Accompanied by a terrifying sound of space tearing, the sword mark in the snowy sky slowly expanded, and a person walked out from within.
Walking through the sword mark, that person seemed to be plated with a layer of sharpness. Around his clothes and between his brows and eyes, there was nothing but bright luster.
Only after that person took several steps on the snow did that sharpness gradually fade away.
It was a human man. It was hard to tell his age. If one only looked at the carefree expression between his brows and eyes, he seemed still young, but looking at the calm depth in his pupils, it was as if he had been cultivating for a thousand years.
The man stood on the snow with his hands behind his back, a sword hanging from his waist, gently swaying. He looked very casual, and thus very elegant.
"To accomplish some things, one always needs to pay some price."
Black Robe looked at the man calmly and said, "Su Li, you've been wandering the world for hundreds of years. Haven't you figured out this principle yet?"
Surnamed Su, and worthy of the demon army strategist Black Robe's interest in conversation—there was only one person in the world.
The Little Master Uncle of Li Mountain, Su Li.
To the human world, the demon army strategist Black Robe was the greatest nightmare, in some ways even more terrifying than the Demon Lord.
Then the Little Master Uncle of Li Mountain, Su Li, was the most extraordinary legend, the most unrestrained ocean.
Because of the Zhou Garden, they met. So who would be able to leave later?
Su Li was not interested in Black Robe's words.
From hundreds of years ago, he had been very uninterested in the profoundly mysterious conversations of those great figures like his Senior Brother Sect Leader, the Saintess, the Pope, and His Majesty Emperor Taizong.
His interest lay in the sword, in the journey, in the flowing clouds and the starry sky.
He asked directly, "How many subordinates have you sent into the Zhou Garden? Do the Candle Yin Witches still have clansmen working for you?"
Black Robe waved his hand, and the clouds and mist on the black square plate rose again, obscuring the scenery and traces of people in the Zhou Garden.
He looked at Su Li, squinting his eyes, and said with a smile, "What? Worried about your daughter?"
Hearing this, Su Li also squinted his eyes and smiled.
When Black Robe squinted, his eyes were long and delicate, but full of deathly intent, very frightening.
When Su Li squinted, he smiled as if genuinely happy, but at this moment, it was like the dazzling sharpness of a sword.
He said with emotion, "No wonder you're the legendary Black Robe. Truly terrifying. You even know about this."
Black Robe said calmly, "There are very few things in this world that I don't know."
Su Li's smile gradually faded, and he asked seriously, "Then do you know how terrifying I can be when I go crazy?"
Black Robe smiled even more sincerely and said, "The first time you went crazy back then, the Ten Thousand Swords Formation of Li Mountain was almost destroyed by you. The second time you went crazy, seventeen elders of the Eternal Life Sect died in one night, and until now, they still can't elect a sect leader. Thus, the Six Saints lost one. You humans all say that Hua Gua Xiao Zhang is a madman, but how would you know that he can't even compare to one of your toes? It's just that the things you did when you went crazy were so insane that no one dared to mention them."
Su Li explained seriously, "The second matter had nothing to do with me. At least, I won't admit it."
Black Robe smiled and said nothing.
Su Li said, "Since you know I'm terrifying when I go crazy, why do you still do this?"
Black Robe withdrew his smile, looked at him very seriously, and said, "This shows that I have confidence in controlling everything."
Su Li raised an eyebrow and said, "What I can't understand most is how you can control the Zhou Garden. Sometimes, I even suspect you might be Lord Wang Zhice."
Black Robe said calmly, "For hundreds of years, you've been traveling the world, presumably looking for me, wanting to get to the bottom of things?"
Su Li looked at him quietly, his right hand falling on the sword hilt, and said, "Until now, I still don't know who you are, but since I've finally found you, I don't want to let you go."
The demon army strategist Black Robe was undoubtedly the most mysterious and terrifying enemy of the human world.
If not for him back then, the allied forces under His Majesty Emperor Taizong would have already conquered Snow Old City, and the demons would have become a term in history.
For hundreds of years, the strongest desire of the human world's experts was to find Black Robe and then kill Black Robe.
The problem was that until now, no one still knew Black Robe's true identity, let alone found his traces.
Until today, Black Robe plucked a strand of rainbow from the sky, opened a door for the Zhou Garden, alarmed Li Mountain, and thus allowed Su Li, who was traveling in the northern lands, to find him.
"Finding me is not important. What's important is killing me. The problem is, can you kill me?"
Black Robe looked at Su Li calmly and said, "I moved the Zhou Garden, leaked a trace, and you took advantage of it. But have you considered that this might also be an ambush for you? As I said before, you searched for me for hundreds of years and never found me. So, if I didn't want you to find me, how could you possibly have found me?"
Su Li's eyes squinted even more, full of smiling intent, but the sharpness gradually rose.
Black Robe seemed unaware and said indifferently, "Initially, I had that Yeshi clansman go to the capital to assassinate the little princess of the demon race, precisely to make you humans find the Zhou Garden first. To gain your trust, I even borrowed His Majesty's Heavenly Net. Of course, that little fellow Qiu Shanjun's performance in the outer garden exceeded my expectations. Some of the methods I had prepared couldn't be implemented, so I had to use the backup plan."
Su Li said, "You want to kill people inside the garden?"
Black Robe said, "Correct."
Su Li said, "If you really have such means, why haven't you acted in the Zhou Garden for these hundreds of years?"
Black Robe looked at him with a smile and said, "Because only a dozen years ago did you have a daughter you treasure like a jewel. Because only this year could your daughter enter the Zhou Garden. I wanted you to know that I have the ability to harm your daughter, so you would definitely come to find me. That way, I could kill you."
Su Li seemed to suddenly understand and said, "So in the end, it's still about killing me?"
Black Robe said, "After spending so much effort setting up the scheme, I need to gain enough benefits."
Su Li said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm not a saint, nor do I control any domain. To humanity, I'm not important."
"This isn't humility; it's mocking my judgment."
Black Robe shook his head and said seriously, "The so-called Five Saints and Eight Winds and Rains, in my eyes, are not worth fearing. They are already old and stagnant, not seeking progress. But you are different. You are not bound by worldly conventions, alone, daring to kill, able to kill, good at killing, skilled at killing, even willing to kill indiscriminately. For my race to defeat humanity, someone like you must die."
Su Li was silent for a long time, then suddenly said with some distress, "Why do I feel happy hearing this?"
Black Robe smiled and said nothing. He picked up the black square plate and gently shook it. The clouds and mist converged, and everything seemed as before.
But Su Li's expression turned cold, and he said, "You closed the Zhou Garden?"
Black Robe said, "This is Lord Zhou's world. Although I understand it somewhat, I can't completely close it. But temporarily sealing it for a few days, I can still manage."
Su Li slightly raised his eyebrow and said, "What exactly do you want to do?"
Black Robe said, "As I said, after spending so much effort setting up the scheme, I need to gain enough benefits. Besides you, I want to kill many people."
Su Li said coldly, "Only those at the Penetrating Mystery realm can enter the Zhou Garden. Even if you planned ahead, your infiltrated subordinates can only be so strong. A few demon whelps want to defeat hundreds of people? The demon race is favored by heaven's way, born able to cultivate, with nearly perfect bodies. But why can't you ever defeat us humans? Because we rely on numbers, bullying you demons for being few."
"Then have you considered why you humans can never defeat us? Because the more humans there are, the easier it is for internal strife. Apart from carrion-eating jackals, I've never seen a race on this continent that enjoys killing their own kind as much as you humans do. Of course, I never thought that opening a side door to the Zhou Garden could bury hundreds of Penetrating Mystery realm human cultivators. I only want to kill a few people. That's not difficult."
Su Li asked, "Who do you want to kill?"
Black Robe smiled and said, "Zhe Xiu is too much like you back then, so he must die. The two little girls, including your daughter, must also die. That young academy principal from the National Academy, called Chen Changsheng? Just these four people. I regret that Gou Hanshi didn't enter the Zhou Garden, otherwise it would be almost complete. Why kill these four? Because they are humanity's future, and you are humanity's present. The Zhou Garden reappears, helping me destroy humanity's present and future. I think if its owner knew about this, he would also be very gratified."
Su Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "What about Qiu Shanjun?"
"True Dragon bloodline, achieving Star Gathering before twenty... truly a genuine genius."
Black Robe looked at him with a smile and said, "Unfortunately, that junior of yours is a love fool. When he knows that opening the Zhou Garden is equivalent to opening the gates of the abyss for those four, when he knows that Xu Yourong died because of him, he will surely regret for life. Dealing with such a love fool, not killing him is crueler than killing him."
Su Li said, "Wang Po, Xiao Zhang, Liang Wangsun."
These three names were all on the Carefree List.
He spoke them as a question, and also as a challenge.
Black Robe thought for a moment and said, "Just as you said, humans are so fertile. I need to be more patient. Slowly, slowly kill. I think one day, I'll be able to kill them all clean."
After saying this, he coughed. His handsome face became even paler, and the green color under his skin grew more intense, appearing especially eerie. Even a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his lips.
Su Li's figure also swayed slightly, his eyes dimming a little.
Only at this moment did hundreds of crisscrossing sword marks appear in the still snowy sky.
Some sword marks went deep into the snow for several li, even seeming to tear open the sky.
But in the end, they couldn't break through, because beyond the snowy sky, there was still dancing heavy snow.
So while they were talking, these two strongest beings in the world had been fighting all along.
With Black Robe's coughing, the still snowy sky gradually loosened, and snowflakes began to fall again.
Several mountain-like figures slowly appeared around the snowy plain, their pressure terrifying.
Several demon generals appeared on the scene.
A shadow grew from distant Snow Old City, covering half the sky, and fell upon the snowy plain.
Su Li was stunned for a moment, then turned to look south, squinting his eyes, his expression somewhat melancholy, as if with emotion.
Then he roared, "Someone, come quickly!"
(Suddenly looking forward to the scene after a million words, when Chen Changsheng goes to Li Mountain to fight Little Su... Next chapter before eleven o'clock.)