Chapter 62: A Fish in the Cold Mountain
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Countless footprints suddenly appeared in the scorched earth of Ten Thousand Willow Garden, like stars.
The figure of the Star Gazing Guest had already vanished without a trace, or perhaps had already left Tianliang Prefecture.
Zhu Luo looked into the distance, an extremely complex expression on his face.
He actually went to the Cold Mountain?
If it were in the past, of course he would have rushed to the Cold Mountain alongside the Star Gazing Guest at this moment.
Just like those powerful experts on the continent who had received the message from the Heavenly Mechanism Elder.
But now he was old and injured, with no way to make it there.
Suddenly, a trace of regret arose in him regarding that incident in Xunyang City last year.
If he hadn't gone to kill Su Li back then, today he would have had the chance to kill that person.
This, this was what he should be doing!
Even if he died, it was what he should do!
……
……
The figures flying swiftly toward the Cold Mountain were not many, but they were all the strongest in the human world.
On the distant banks of the Red River, within the majestic and imposing White Emperor City, all was quiet and as usual. The only slightly strange thing was the cluster of white clouds atop the city wall.
In the Imperial Palace of the capital, the summer sunlight shone upon the Sweet Dew Terrace, and those night pearls blazed brilliantly even in the daytime.
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress stood within that radiance, gazing into the distance with an indifferent expression, her thoughts unknown.
In the deepest secluded hall of the Detached Palace, the Pope silently looked at the pot of green leaves before him, his thoughts also unknown.
On the snowy plain north of the Cold Mountain, even in the height of summer, the wind was bone-chilling and the snowstorms unceasing.
A man stood amidst the wind and snow. If one didn't walk right up to him, they wouldn't even notice his existence.
Because he was entirely white—from his hair to his clothes, all white, a stark, piercing white.
……
……
Within the Cold Mountain, the middle-aged scholar gazed at the celestial stones floating in the air. He no longer spoke with the Heavenly Mechanism Elder on the peak and fell silent.
Could this also be a trap set by humans and demons?
The stones in the sky slowly drifted down.
Dozens of stones, covered in moss, bearing traces of water, carrying grains of sand, floated around his body. The scene was somewhat eerie.
……
The middle-aged scholar knew what the Heavenly Mechanism Elder wanted to do.
He believed this was not a trap set by the human race, because until last night, neither the military advisor nor he himself had imagined that he would appear in the Cold Mountain today.
After losing a move in the Central Plains back then, he had returned to the Snow Old City and never come out again for a thousand years.
A great figure of his realm possessed a heavenly mandate. His words, actions, thoughts, and judgments subtly aligned with the Heavenly Dao, making it difficult for anyone to ensnare him in a scheme.
The White Emperor City was too far away, and he was very certain that Tianhai and the Pope were in the capital.
But if the Cold Mountain Celestial Stone Grand Formation truly held him back for too long, the situation might indeed change.
He had never liked change, because change often meant trouble.
Now it was his turn to make a choice.
Should he seize the time before the change occurred, focus all his strength on breaking the formation, leave the Cold Mountain, and return to his own kingdom? Or should he stay a while longer and first take care of that matter?
When the Heavenly Mechanism Elder made the decision to sacrifice those human cultivators and demon experts on the mountain path and by the stream, even if it meant trapping him in the Cold Mountain, he must have hesitated.
For him, this choice required no hesitation at this moment; in fact, it could be said that no choice was needed.
Because in his view, taking care of that matter wouldn't require much time.
In his eyes, that youth was truly no different from an ant, even if that youth was a cultivation prodigy who had shocked the entire continent.
He no longer paid attention to those celestial stones slowly descending through the wind and snow. He withdrew his gaze and looked back at the mountain path.
Chen Changsheng and those human cultivators were on the mountain path.
He was very calm, and there was even a faint, barely perceptible smile at the corner of his lips.
As the middle-aged scholar's gaze fell again, the people on the mountain path were filled with despair.
Liu Qing by the stream on the grass was also in despair.
Even Zhe Xiu and Tang Thirty-Six were in despair.
Chen Changsheng was not. Looking at the smiling, silent middle-aged scholar, he even inexplicably thought of a person he shouldn't be thinking of at this moment.
That middle-aged woman who had once sat opposite him drinking tea in the Hundred Herbs Garden.
Perhaps it was because neither of them spoke, but he felt the middle-aged scholar and that middle-aged woman were somewhat alike.
Of course, he knew this must be an illusion.
Because he already knew who this middle-aged scholar was.
He knew what the other party had come for.
On that night when he was ten years old, the senior brother had fanned a palm-leaf fan all night and told him that only a sage could control their greed and desire for him.
In the years that followed, he was very careful to hide the peculiarities of his body, until in the Zhou Garden, that fragrance was detected by the Roc and Nanke.
The middle-aged scholar was Nanke's father, so perhaps that was how he found out.
And he was certainly no sage.
He was a demon.
Chen Changsheng felt that under the middle-aged scholar's gaze, he was completely naked, lying on a wet chopping board, already disemboweled, covered in blood.
He was not afraid of death, but he truly dreaded this feeling.
He didn't want to be devoured like a fish or meat.
……
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(One chapter today.)