Chapter 7: Her
For some reason, thinking that Xu Yourong had come straight back to the capital to challenge the National Academy without even taking a single day's rest, Chen Changsheng felt his mood sink somewhat.
The three from Qing Yao Thirteen Divisions and Nanxi Zhai, seeing that he had already received the letter, took their leave directly.
According to rumors, Chen Changsheng had demanded that the Pope forcibly dissolve that marriage contract. Although this had yet to be confirmed, he had never denied it either.
To Nanxi Zhai, this was unquestionably the greatest humiliation, so that senior sister had never shown Chen Changsheng a good face, even though he was now the Dean of the National Academy. On the contrary, the younger junior sister showed no hostility toward Chen Changsheng. As she was leaving, she even nodded at him, as if she had something she wanted to say.
"That little girl is a bit strange," Tang Thirty-Six said.
Chen Changsheng put the letter away and asked, "She's a pretty clean little girl. What's strange about her?"
Tang Thirty-Six said with a grave expression, "From start to finish, that little girl didn't look at me even once. She just stared at you."
"Her name is Ye Xiaolian. She should have just entered Nanxi Zhai's outer sect this year."
Chen Changsheng reminded him, "Last year on the Divine Path of the Li Palace, you scolded her until she cried in front of so many people. Of course she doesn't have a good impression of you."
Tang Thirty-Six finally remembered who that little girl named Ye Xiaolian was. He shook his head and said, "So what? The more that's the case, the deeper impression I've left on her. The so-called love born from hate..."
Chen Changsheng couldn't listen anymore. He turned and walked toward the small building.
Tang Thirty-Six followed behind him, somewhat dissatisfied, and said, "Besides, why did I scold her back then? Wasn't it to vent for you? But just now, what was that about? She didn't look at me, but she looked at you, with that look of a budding heart. How could that not be strange?"
Chen Changsheng didn't look back. He said, "Let's not talk about that. Help me think of a plan. What should we do next?"
"Didn't we already discuss it last night? Fight, that's all."
Tang Thirty-Six quickened his pace, walked up beside him, turned to look at him, and said uneasily, "You're not really thinking of admitting defeat, are you?"
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Tang Thirty-Six reminded him, "Seven days from now on the Bridge of Helplessness, don't you dare hold back just because she's beautiful... Although I know that's really hard, judging by how clueless you were last night, it's still possible."
Chen Changsheng was puzzled. Why did everyone, whether Xu Shiji or Tang Thirty-Six, seem so certain that he would change his mind the moment he saw Xu Yourong?
He had asked Tang Thirty-Six about this before, and back then Tang Thirty-Six's answer was quite simple. Today, he seemed a bit more serious.
"I've never seen Xu Yourong, but I've seen many people who, after seeing Xu Yourong, ruined their lives."
He looked at Chen Changsheng and said, "Just like your Stainless Sword. As long as it's sharp enough, sharp to the extreme, it can enter the Hundred Weapons Ranking. A person, whether man or woman, as long as they are beautiful enough, beautiful to the extreme, becomes terrifying. Zhou Yuren back in the day, the Holy Empress when she was young, and now Xu Yourong—these are all such people."
Chen Changsheng couldn't understand this reasoning.
Tang Thirty-Six said, "It's like a painting, a plum vase, an autumn lake, a distant mountain... Thinking that you would destroy these, you yourself would feel it's a sin."
Chen Changsheng thought about the scenery and people he had seen along the way from Xining to the capital and then to Hanqiu City—the Never-Setting Sun Grasslands and the night rain of Xunyang City, the girl on the grasslands and Wang Po in the night rain—and he roughly understood.
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This highly anticipated battle was set to begin in seven days. Hearing this news, the water flowing beneath the Bridge of Helplessness seemed to have become much more turbulent.
The quickest to react were still the Four Great Markets. The impact of this battle was too great. Many important figures would surely come to watch, and it was even possible that the Holy Empress and His Holiness the Pope would attend. The straight streets on the east and west sides of the Bridge of Helplessness were being cleaned in advance. It was believed that by then, the court and the Li Palace would have made corresponding arrangements on both sides of the streets, leaving no room for the Four Great Markets to build pavilions. But the Four Great Markets would definitely not miss the chance to open betting on this match.
There were still seven days before the battle officially began, but it already had an official name—the Battle of the Bridge of Helplessness.
It seemed everyone was certain that this battle would be recorded in the annals of history.
This had nothing to do with the cultivation levels of Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng. No matter how incredible their cultivation talents were—arguably the youngest ever to reach the Upper Level of Penetrating Obscurity—they were still only sixteen years old.
Not to mention comparing it to the Battle of Luoyang between Zhou Dufu and His Majesty the Grand Emperor back in the day, even the recent night rain battle in Xunyang City was far beyond it.
But the combatants were Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng. That alone was enough.
There was no need to mention the identities of the Southern Saintess and the Dean of the National Academy, no need to mention that marriage contract, and no need to mention the standoff between the Tianhai Clan and the Li Palace. Because no one had forgotten these things. Just mentioning these two names would bring back all the events of the past year in people's minds, and the entire world would be stirred with excitement.
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Everyone in the capital was waiting for this battle to come. Many people in the court and the Li Palace were making preparations for it.
As one of the parties involved, Chen Changsheng naturally had to make some preparations as well. Although he had already fought against many Star Gathering cultivators, and even faced off against experts of the caliber of Liang Wangsun and Xiao Zhang of the Painting Armor in Xunyang City, his opponent Xu Yourong was only at the Upper Level of Penetrating Obscurity. But he would never underestimate or take her lightly. He was very certain that Xu Yourong was far stronger than those Star Gathering cultivators he had defeated.
To defeat a genius like Xu Yourong, to win against the bloodline talent of the True Phoenix, he naturally had to prepare his most powerful means.
From the moment the battle date was set, he had drawn his sword—the Sword of Wisdom. With the help of the Li Palace and the Tang Clan of Wenshui, he obtained countless files and materials related to Xu Yourong. Sitting by the window, he began to read and study them seriously, trying to find the information he needed—enough information to help him calculate and deduce how to strike with this sword.
First, he studied the techniques of Nanxi Zhai, the history of Saintess Peak, the doctrinal differences between the two branches of the National Religion after the north-south split, and the interpretations of the Heavenly Book Monuments by successive saintesses. For this, the Li Palace sent countless books, even including a notebook of Xu Yourong's studies of the Heavenly Book Monuments from the past two years. Then he began to understand the Eastern Imperial General's Mansion, Xu Shiji's usual style of commanding troops, Lady Xu's personality, and where the maid named Shuang'er had lived before entering the Xu Mansion and how she had been brought in by Xu Yourong. After fully understanding and mastering all this information, he finally began the most important part—understanding Xu Yourong as a person.
There was a great deal of information about Xu Yourong. Besides what the Li Palace provided, the Tang Clan of Wenshui also sent two boxes. However, if one removed what was common knowledge and some battle records, the truly useful information in these materials was very little. Most of it was just rumors from when she was in the capital. After she went up to Saintess Peak, there were hardly any more records.
The more Chen Changsheng read those files, the more he felt he couldn't understand Xu Yourong.
This wasn't to say that Xu Yourong was a very mysterious girl.
In fact, when she was younger, many commoners in the capital had seen her with their own eyes.
They had seen her jump into a canal from a stone bridge. After they rescued her, they asked her why she jumped, and she said it was because there was a moon in the water.
They had seen her jump toward an abandoned well at Beixin Bridge during a spring outing. After she was barely stopped, they asked her why, and she said there was a dragon in that abandoned well.
Many elderly people in the capital still hadn't forgotten a scene that often played out in front of the Li Palace over a decade ago.
Xu Yourong, still a little girl, would often climb up the sacred stone pillars of the Li Palace to look at the sun, laughing joyfully. The priests below were both anxious and angry but dared not do anything. Even the voices calling her down were so gentle.
From birth, she had been judged by the Holy Empress and the Pope to possess the bloodline of the True Phoenix. She was a treasure to be cherished by the entire capital and the entire Zhou Dynasty. Not only could she climb the sacred pillars of the Li Palace, but even when she often beat up the Princess of Pingguo, who was several years older than her, in the imperial palace until her face was bruised and swollen, the Holy Empress didn't interfere, let alone these Li Palace priests.
In short, the young Xu Yourong was a mischievous little mud monkey, a bold and reckless tomboy. No one could have imagined that she would become what she was later.
When she was just five years old, Xu Yourong's True Phoenix bloodline awakened.
This was two years earlier than the Holy Empress and the Pope had calculated.
From that day on, Xu Yourong seemed to become a different person. Her white dress never again touched a speck of dust. She was serene and beautiful.
Her personality also became serene and beautiful. No matter what happened, she was always so calm and composed.
She never again spoke nonsense about there being a moon in the canal or a dragon in the abandoned well. She never caused trouble again.
She began to read quietly and cultivate peacefully, and she was still so young.
Back then, the commoners of the capital would occasionally see her entering the palace, and it was as if they were seeing a true little fairy.
The capital's fervent love and even worship of her probably began from that time.
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Reading the files and thinking about those scenes, Chen Changsheng was somewhat lost in thought.
So, that's what she was like when she was little.
But why, during those letters back then, hadn't he sensed this? And why hadn't he sensed the part after the capital's commoners' praise?
Looking at the bamboo dragonfly on the bookshelf, he couldn't quite figure it out.
Too many things had happened since he came to the capital from Xining. He couldn't maintain any goodwill toward Xu Yourong. Whatever faint imaginings he might have once had had long since vanished. And now they were opponents. But even so, he had to admit that Xu Yourong was truly remarkable. He didn't understand the moon in the canal, but he knew better than anyone that under that abandoned well at Beixin Bridge... there really was a dragon. And she had been less than five years old at the time?