Chapter 68: How Did You Escape?
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He opened his eyes with some difficulty, saw Tang Thirty-Six’s worried expression, and felt no surprise. But when he noticed even Zhe Xiu’s usually indifferent face carried a hint of concern, he was somewhat startled, then felt the urge to laugh.
Chen Changsheng was seriously injured, 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 activated the Thousand-Mile Button, but from that distant point of the Demon Lord’s finger.
At that time, the Demon Lord was by the stream, pointing a finger at him from afar.
He had blocked that aura with his yellow paper umbrella, but couldn’t completely isolate the terrifying power contained within it.
“Awake so soon?”
Tang Thirty-Six was surprised to see him conscious and stepped forward to help him sit up.
Zhe Xiu said, “He woke up quite fast.”
Chen Changsheng sat leaning 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 Old Man of Heaven’s Secrets came to see you himself 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 when he first woke up, knowing they just didn’t want to admit it. He didn’t call them out on it and said, “Just because the Old Man of Heaven’s Secrets 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 Archbishop of Yinghua Hall, but they still habitually called him Dean.
Tang Thirty-Six said, “The Old Man of Heaven’s Secrets 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 foresee the things we encountered?”
With these words, the room fell into an eerie stillness, broken only by the faint sound of distant communication.
The quiet and silence came because they all sensed a strong undercurrent of conspiracy in what had happened after entering Cold Mountain, but more so because they remembered that middle-aged scholar.
The image of that middle-aged scholar standing by the stream, hands behind his back, looking at the persimmons on the branches, had left too deep an impression on them.
They knew they might never forget that scene for the rest of their lives.
After an unknown length of time, Tang Thirty-Six looked at Chen Changsheng and asked in a low voice, “Are you sure… it was that person?”
Chen Changsheng didn’t speak, only nodded slowly.
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, someone who barely feared even the Tianhai clan—truly bold and fearless, as proven by many incidents at the National Academy’s gate in the capital. Yet, thinking of that middle-aged scholar’s identity, even he felt a deep, genuine terror.
“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, “It was to kill him.”
Chen Changsheng was stunned into silence. To have sworn from childhood to kill the Demon Lord… that was truly…
“Formidable.” Tang Thirty-Six looked at him with genuine admiration. “You’re too formidable.”
“But… that was just a dream.”
Zhe Xiu thought back to the scene on the mountain path a few days ago, his face pale, and said, “I never imagined I’d see him with my own eyes.”
Tang Thirty-Six felt a bit annoyed at this, waved his hand dismissively, then turned to Chen Changsheng and asked, “How did you survive?”
This was the question the entire Cold Mountain—indeed, the entire world—most wanted answered, and it was the most crucial, most incomprehensible part of the whole affair. The Demon Lord had been willing to be temporarily trapped by the Old Man of Heaven’s Secrets’ Cold Mountain Heavenly Stone Formation just to kill Chen Changsheng—so how had he survived?
Through strength? Talent? Artifacts? Or willpower?
No. That was the Demon Lord.
No matter how exceptional Chen Changsheng was in these areas, he couldn’t have escaped death through them alone.
Hearing Tang Thirty-Six’s question, Zhe Xiu showed no reaction but moved two steps closer to the bed, clearly also very 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 went to the door to check, then took out an artifact from his bosom. A faint aura emanated, cutting off any possibility of being spied on.
“I… met someone.” Chen Changsheng hesitated for a moment, then said, “That person might be Lord Wang.”
Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu exchanged glances, seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.
Especially Zhe Xiu, a wolf-tribe youth with an iron will. Besides a name like the Demon Lord, what else could make his emotions spiral like this?
Lord Wang… There were many people in the world with the surname Wang, many officials, and 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 person was Wang Zhice.
The room fell into absolute silence again, and this time it lasted even longer.
After who knows how long, Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu finally snapped out of their shock.
Tang Thirty-Six sighed with emotion. “Lord Wang… really isn’t dead.”
Chen Changsheng was surprised and looked at Tang Thirty-Six. “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. Did many people already guess that 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’s clearly written that Lord Wang’s soul had already returned to the sea of stars.”
“If you believe what’s written in history books, then women could be emperors.”
“Empress Tianhai…”
“That’s a metaphor… Anyway, this was one of the two great mysteries, and many people have been speculating about it for a long time.”
“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… Back then, whether it was His Majesty Emperor Taizong or the legends in Lingyan Pavilion, many witnessed their return to the sea of stars. Those two were the exceptions.”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment, then said in a very certain tone, “Well, 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. If news that Wang Zhice was still alive spread, it would shake the entire continent.
Chen Changsheng nodded, then suddenly thought of something, and his expression shifted slightly.