Chapter 496: Residual Tea, Broken Red Robe
A trace of murderous intent faintly emerged from the depths between her brows.
In the silent Herb Garden, an immensely terrifying pressure descended.
Chen Changsheng stared blankly at her face, sensing the murderous intent between her brows and the vast, ocean-like pressure around him. Instinctively, he stopped struggling, vaguely realizing that something must have happened.
She was looking into his eyes. Was the problem in his eyes?
No. The eyes are the windows to the soul.
Through his eyes, what she saw was his sea of consciousness.
She could not see his thoughts, but she could clearly sense a strand of divine awareness that did not belong to him.
That strand of divine awareness was extremely faint, yet also very tenacious and exceedingly cunning. It was hidden in the deepest part of Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness, lying quietly at the bottom of the sea alongside the stones formed by his subconscious, making it very difficult to distinguish. Not to mention Chen Changsheng himself, even she—if not for the sudden whim tonight to look at Chen Changsheng, to try to find something in his face and eyes to confirm or deny that conjecture, and had not looked with such focused attention—would not have been able to detect that extremely subtle strand of divine awareness.
"Who is so bold as to lay a hand on him?"
She looked at that strand of divine awareness deep within Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness and gave a cold snort.
With that snort, a strand of her own divine awareness entered Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness. Of course, this was only a minuscule fraction of her total divine awareness. Otherwise, given the intensity of her divine awareness, the moment it entered Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness, his head would have exploded.
Even so, when her strand of divine awareness entered, a violent storm broke out in Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness. Countless monstrous waves surged endlessly, foam churned on the surface, and even the deepest seabed was affected.
That strand of divine awareness that had invaded Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness, having lurked at the bottom of the sea for who knows how long, could no longer maintain its disguise. As the great waves rolled up from the depths, it surged forth. In an instant, the surrounding seawater was dyed completely red.
An immensely terrifying aura of blood and gore flooded the space between heaven and earth.
Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness seemed about to turn into a sea of blood.
This hidden strand of divine awareness, once it revealed itself, was so powerful! One could imagine that if it had not been discovered early, how easy it would have been for the owner of this divine awareness to secretly kill Chen Changsheng one day!
Even now, that strand of divine awareness wanted to kill Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng still knew nothing. His sea of consciousness was now in turmoil, with wind and rain raging as the blood-red color gradually spread to the horizon. But he himself was not aware of this; he only felt a bit dazed.
Fortunately, she was sitting across from him. Whether Chen Changsheng was that person or not, this was ultimately her affair. She would not allow anyone else to touch it, even if the one who had laid hands on Chen Changsheng was a dog she herself had raised.
Yes, the moment that strand of divine awareness at the bottom of the sea surged up with the seawater, she knew who had planted it in Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness. The smell of blood was too clear, too pungent.
She dipped her hand into the bowl and picked up some tea water.
In his daze, Chen Changsheng felt as if he had returned to a long time ago, when she had dipped her finger in tea and written the character "ice" on the stone table, helping him find the North New Bridge and thus locate the Black Dragon.
But this time, she was not going to write a character.
She flicked her fingertip lightly, and a drop of tea water landed on Chen Changsheng's brow.
With a hiss, that drop of tea water turned into a wisp of white smoke and vanished without a trace.
Chen Changsheng felt a buzzing sound in his sea of consciousness, and then he fainted.
……
……
At the same moment that drop of tea water landed on Chen Changsheng's brow, in that mansion on North Horse Si Alley, a teacup fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
Zhou Tong's hand froze in midair, his face abnormally pale, as if he had suddenly fallen gravely ill in an extremely short time. Then his hand began to tremble, and soon his entire body was shaking. The large red official robe rippled on its surface from the trembling, resembling a sea of blood stirred by the wind.
A moment earlier, he had brewed a fine bowl of black tea. When it had cooled to the right temperature, he was about to lift it and drink, when unexpectedly, an intensely sharp pain erupted in his sea of consciousness.
That pain was so real, as if someone had stabbed a small, rusty knife deep into his brain. Even he could not bear it. His fingers loosened, and the tea bowl fell to the ground.
Only someone like him, who had dealt with pain for half his life, could still sit in the chair at this moment, though his face was pale and his body trembled as if afflicted by a severe illness, at least he did not faint.
The moment the pain struck his sea of consciousness, Zhou Tong knew what had happened.
That day in the small courtyard where the crabapple blossoms bloomed, he had used the oppressive aura of Zhou Prison, sparing no effort and draining his own blood essence, to employ his technique and conceal a strand of divine awareness deep within Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness.
The Red Robe was indeed the most bizarre form of consciousness-based attack. He had done it so silently that neither Chen Changsheng nor Tang Thirty-Six had noticed.
But no matter how powerful or bizarre the consciousness attack, it was ultimately subject to certain limitations. Zhou Tong's Red Robe could not allow him to constantly monitor the state of Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness at all times. It was more like a spy, hidden deep in enemy territory on the grasslands, recording everything it saw, so that when Zhou Tong later retrieved that strand of divine awareness, he would know what Chen Changsheng had encountered and whom he had met in recent days.
Of course, that strand of divine awareness, like a cavalry scout, could also launch a suicide attack against the general in the enemy camp at certain special moments.
This was also the method Zhou Tong had prepared. He wanted to hold Chen Changsheng's life and death in his own hands, at his whim.
But he had not expected that his strand of divine awareness would be discovered by someone and directly obliterated!
The obliteration of that divine awareness backlashed directly into his own sea of consciousness, severely injuring him.
Who was it? Who could have discovered that strand of divine awareness hidden deep in Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness? And who possessed such great divine power that they could so effortlessly break his Red Robe?
Zhou Tong's face was pale, his eyes bloodshot, filled with shock and confusion. A cold thought crossed his mind: Could it be the Pope?
There were very few people in this world who could see through his Red Robe secret technique. In the capital, there were only a handful, and the Pope was certainly among them. But he had made specific arrangements to deceive the Pope's eyes. How could the Pope have seen through it?
……
……
When Chen Changsheng woke up, he found himself lying on the stone table, having fallen asleep.
He looked up and saw that the middle-aged woman had left at some point. The teapot and teacups on the stone table were gone, and the black goat was also missing. The night forest of the Herb Garden was still as serene and beautiful as ever, filled with the cheerful chirping of insects.
It was so beautiful here, like a dream. He felt as if he had truly been dreaming.
He had not met that middle-aged woman by the pond, nor had he followed her to the Herb Garden, nor had they sat together drinking tea.
Subconsciously, he reached up and touched his brow, finding it slightly damp and cool.
He withdrew his finger and looked at it, unable to confirm that it was that drop of tea water.
But that slightly damp and cool feeling was especially pleasant, seeping from his brow into his heart, making him feel incredibly refreshed.
For some reason, he felt much lighter and much clearer, as if his body had been thoroughly washed from the inside out, leaving no trace of dirt.
……
……
Returning from the Herb Garden to the National Teaching Academy, Chen Changsheng thought about what had just happened and felt uneasy. He sat under the large banyan tree, meditating and entering a state of inner observation, but found nothing unusual. His Nether Palace, sea of consciousness, and meridians were all exactly the same as before. The severed meridians were still blocked, his true essence was undamaged, and his divine awareness had not grown stronger. It was just... that there seemed to be an extra, different aura.
If before his divine awareness had been as calm as water and as heavy as a mountain, now it was as if it had been washed by spring rain—the water's surface had gained much liveliness, and the mountain scenery had gained much moisture.
Was it the change brought by that drop of tea water? Chen Changsheng did not know and could not figure it out. He sat blankly by the lake under the tree for a long time before getting up and leaving.
Back in the small building, he went to Zhe Xiu's room as usual. He inserted golden needles into his neck, gently channeled true essence, and helped the medicine's effects spread. The treatment methods were always just those few.
After so many days of treatment, with Chen Changsheng's medical skills and the spiritual medicines he had obtained from the Li Palace and stolen from the Herb Garden, Zhe Xiu's body had improved significantly. Several days ago, he could already be supported to take a few steps. But he still spent most of his time lying in bed, not even turning over unless necessary. Xuan Yuan Po had once expressed confusion about this, but only Chen Changsheng knew the reason.
The dark days of Zhou Prison had left too many wounds on Zhe Xiu's body. Those wounds were healing on the surface, but the pain still lingered inside.
Wounds are pain. The word "wound-pain" itself cannot be separated. If there was any movement, Zhe Xiu would feel terrible agony, to the point that even the wolf tribe youth, known for his endurance, would rather lie motionless in bed, seemingly without ambition.
Chen Changsheng knew how much pain Zhe Xiu was in, so he did not think he was lacking ambition. On the contrary, every time he saw his expressionless face, he marveled at Zhe Xiu's ability to endure until now, without crying or uttering a single scream.
"Once the meridians are fully repaired, we can invite the clergy of the Azure Thirteen Divisions to come and perform the Holy Light Technique."
Chen Changsheng removed the golden needles from Zhe Xiu's body and said with some relief.
Suddenly, his fingers stopped moving. At this moment, the pads of his thumb and index finger were pinching the last golden needle at Zhe Xiu's neck.
He knew very well that beneath the golden needle lay an important meridian shared by both humans and demons, running from the Nether Palace through Shu San Li straight to the lower edge of the sea of consciousness.
After Zhe Xiu was thrown into Zhou Prison, the first thing Zhou Tong did was use a secret technique to directly sever that meridian, crippling all his cultivation.
That meridian was too important and too sensitive. Not to mention actually touching it, even brushing it with divine awareness would make one feel uncomfortable. If truly touched, the pain... Chen Changsheng could only imagine. Among the people he knew, only Zhe Xiu had endured it. That was why every time he inserted a needle there, he was especially cautious and careful.
He knew that the repair of that meridian could not rely on any external force; it could only depend on time. So he had never given a timeline for Zhe Xiu's complete recovery, and had even mentally prepared himself for it to take three years or even longer. Yet... just now, as he was about to remove that golden needle, he suddenly sensed a faint fluctuation coming from beneath the needle.