Chapter 574: How Did You Escape?
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Opening his eyes with some difficulty, Chen Changsheng saw Tang Thirty-Six’s worried expression and felt no surprise. But when he noticed even Zhe Xiu’s usually indifferent face held a trace of concern, he couldn’t help but be startled, then felt the urge to laugh.
He had suffered serious injuries, his Sea of Consciousness shaken, which was why he had fallen unconscious.
It wasn’t from the collision with the Heavenly Stone Continent shrouding Cold Mountain when he used the Thousand-Mile Button, but from the Demon Lord’s distant finger-pointing.
Back then, the Demon Lord stood by the stream, far away, and pointed a finger at him. He blocked that aura with his Yellow Paper Umbrella, but couldn’t isolate the terrifying power hidden within it.
“Waking up so soon?”
Tang Thirty-Six, seeing him awake, was quite surprised and stepped forward to help him sit up.
Zhe Xiu said, “He really did wake up fast.”
Chen Changsheng leaned against the headboard, looking at the two of them, and asked, “Why don’t I see any excitement on your faces?”
Zhe Xiu ignored him. Tang Thirty-Six replied, “The Heavenly Fortune Elder personally came to check on you and confirmed you’re fine, so what’s there for us to worry about?”
Chen Changsheng thought back to the worried looks on their faces the moment he woke up, knowing they just didn’t want to admit it. He didn’t call them out on it and said, “Just because the Heavenly Fortune Elder says I’m fine, does that really mean I’m fine? You should have asked Dean Mao to take a look.”
Now Mao Qiuyu was the High Priest of Yinghua Hall, but they still habitually called him Dean.
Tang Thirty-Six said, “The Heavenly Fortune Elder calculates the stars above and the rivers below—he’s never been wrong. If he says you’re fine, then you’re fine.”
Chen Changsheng was silent for a moment, then asked, “Did he calculate the things we encountered?”
With these words, the room fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the faint sound of distant transmissions.
The quiet and silence came because they all sensed a strong undercurrent of conspiracy in what had happened after entering Cold Mountain, but more importantly, because they remembered that middle-aged scholar.
The image of that middle-aged scholar standing by the stream with his hands behind his back, gazing at the persimmons on the branches, had left too deep an impression on them. They knew they might never forget that scene in their lives.
After an unknown amount of time, Tang Thirty-Six looked at Chen Changsheng and asked in a low voice, “Confirmed… it’s that one?”
Chen Changsheng didn’t speak but slowly nodded.
Tang Thirty-Six lowered his head and pressed his hand to his forehead, completely speechless. He was the sole grandson of the Tang family of Wenshui, unafraid even of the Tianhai clan—truly fearless, as many stories at the National Academy’s gate in the capital had proven. Yet, thinking of that middle-aged scholar’s identity, even he felt a deep, genuine fear.
“When I was very young, I had a dream.”
A voice broke the somber atmosphere in the room.
Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six looked over.
Zhe Xiu stared at them with a blank expression and continued, “To kill him.”
Chen Changsheng was stunned into silence. Vowing from childhood to kill the Demon Lord… that was truly…
“Formidable,” Tang Thirty-Six said, looking at him with sincere admiration. “You’re too formidable.”
“But… that was just a dream.”
Zhe Xiu, recalling the scene he had witnessed on the mountain path days ago, turned pale and said, “I never imagined I would see him with my own eyes.”
Hearing this, Tang Thirty-Six grew a bit irritated, waving his hand dismissively, then turned to Chen Changsheng and asked, “How did you survive?”
This was the question the entire Cold Mountain, even the whole world, most wanted to know. It was also the most critical and baffling part of the whole affair. The Demon Lord, willing to be temporarily trapped by the Heavenly Fortune Elder’s Cold Mountain Heavenly Stone Formation just to kill Chen Changsheng—how had he survived?
By strength? Talent? Artifacts? Willpower?
No. That was the Demon Lord.
No matter how exceptional Chen Changsheng was in those areas, he couldn’t have escaped by relying on them alone.
Hearing Tang Thirty-Six’s question, Zhe Xiu showed no reaction but moved two steps closer to the bed, clearly also interested in the answer.
Chen Changsheng didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he gestured to Tang Thirty-Six with his eyes.
Tang Thirty-Six understood. He walked to the door to check, then took an artifact from his bosom. A faint aura emanated, cutting off any possibility of being spied on.
“I… met someone,” Chen Changsheng said after some hesitation. “That person might be Lord Wang.”
Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu exchanged a glance, seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.
Especially Zhe Xiu, a wolf-tribe youth with a resolute heart—besides a name like the Demon Lord, what else could shake his emotions?
Lord Wang… There were many people in the world surnamed Wang, many officials, many called Lord Wang. But for a thousand years, only one person needed no prefix or explanation—just the title “Lord Wang”—for everyone in the world to know who it was.
That man was Wang Zhice.
The room fell silent again, and this time it lasted even longer.
After who knows how long, Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu finally emerged from their shock.
Tang Thirty-Six sighed with emotion, “Lord Wang… really didn’t die.”
Chen Changsheng was surprised and looked at Tang Thirty-Six, asking, “Aren’t you shocked?”
Tang Thirty-Six said irritably, “Zhe Xiu and I were already trembling like quails—how much more shocked do you want us to be?”
“But… you said ‘really’ just now… Does that mean many people already guessed Lord Wang wasn’t dead?”
“Of course. There’s always been a rumor in the world that Lord Wang is still alive, just living in seclusion.”
“But when I read the Daoist scriptures and history books, it was written very clearly that Lord Wang’s soul had already returned to the Star Sea.”
“If you believe what history books say, then women could be emperors.”
“Empress Tianhai…”
“That was a metaphor… Anyway, this was always one of the two great mysteries. Many people have been speculating about it.”
“Two great mysteries?” Chen Changsheng asked, puzzled.
Tang Thirty-Six explained, “The final fates of Zhou Dufu and Lord Wang.”
Chen Changsheng thought of the empty black obsidian coffin in Zhou’s Mausoleum and said with dawning understanding, “Because no one ever found their remains?”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “More precisely, no one even knows if they died at all… Back then, whether it was His Majesty the Taizong Emperor or the legends of Lingyan Pavilion, many witnessed their return to the Star Sea. Only these two were exceptions.”
Chen Changsheng thought it over and said with a very certain tone, “Then at least one mystery is solved now.”
Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu exchanged another glance and asked uncertainly, “Are you sure?”
This was no trivial matter. Once the news that Wang Zhice was still alive spread, it would surely shake the entire continent.
Chen Changsheng nodded, then suddenly thought of something, and his expression shifted slightly.