Chapter 583: Not All Is Illusion
The Demon Lord's appearance had brought immense pressure to Chen Changsheng. The secret of his body had been discovered, and he was likely to face the greedy eyes of the entire world. The conversation on the island had brought him even more pressure. It was also about the secret of his body—the severed meridians that would cause his death in the near future, and this too had been exposed.
So those severed meridians had been blasted apart by the Sun Wheel. So he truly was a descendant of the Chen royal clan. Then could he be the Crown Prince Zhaoming? If he was a descendant of the Chen royal clan, then their meeting by the stream sixteen years ago could not have been a coincidence. His teacher must have long known his true identity. Did his senior brother know as well?
This was now his greatest pressure.
He had to begin facing many things squarely. If the Demon Lord's appearance at Cold Mountain was truly a setup, it meant he could be abandoned. If his journey from Xining Town to the capital was also a setup, then what kind of role had he been playing all this time in ignorance?
In the past, whether applying to the Six Ivies or taking the Grand Examination, no matter what obstacles or hardships he encountered, he was never overly worried, because he believed his roots were in the old temple of Xining Town, and his true foundation lay in his teacher and senior brother. Now he realized that all of this might be an illusion.
If trust could no longer be as steadfast as before, how could his Dao heart remain as tranquil as it once was?
If even Senior Brother Yu Ren could not be trusted, then who in this world could he rely on?
Chen Changsheng was often praised for having a calmness and composure far beyond his years, but in the end, he was just a sixteen-year-old youth.
When things had developed to this point, to this state, he could finally no longer bear it. He stared blankly at the misty waves on the lake, his heart feeling sorrowful.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded on the platform.
Tang Thirty-Six and Zheshe walked over.
They looked at Chen Changsheng's back, worried.
Ever since Chen Changsheng had returned, he hadn't spoken a word. He was extremely silent, even somewhat desolate. Clearly, something had happened.
"What exactly did the Old Man of Heaven's Secrets tell you?"
Tang Thirty-Six finally couldn't hold back and walked over to stand beside him, asking.
Chen Changsheng leaned against the railing, still refusing to speak, looking somewhat lost.
Zheshe suddenly said, "I don't believe there's a problem in this world that can't be solved."
Chen Changsheng straightened up, turned to look at him, and asked very seriously, "What if there is?"
Zheshe's answer was very much in character—simple and tough: "At worst, it's death."
Tang Thirty-Six added from the side, "And wanting to die is often not that easy either."
Chen Changsheng looked at them and suddenly spoke, "Do you believe that I am the Crown Prince Zhaoming?"
When he didn't want to speak, he naturally said nothing, but in the end, he couldn't quite resign himself, so he spoke. And if he was going to speak, he would say the most important thing.
Hearing this, Tang Thirty-Six glanced at Zheshe, looking a bit tense.
In truth, there had long been rumors about this in the capital, but neither he nor Chen Changsheng himself had taken them seriously, thinking them too absurd. But since Chen Changsheng was asking so formally now, it meant that the Old Man of Heaven's Secrets had told him something about this, and... it might be true.
Zheshe remained expressionless, offering no help to Tang Thirty-Six.
Tang Thirty-Six's expression froze for a moment, then he laughed, looking at Chen Changsheng and saying, "What kind of nonsense are you spouting? There's a few years' difference."
Chen Changsheng didn't laugh. He looked steadily into his eyes and said, "Haven't you often said I'm precocious, that I'm like an old man?"
"Precocious means you can magically add a few years to your age? Then the precocious piglets in Black Mountain Hollow would all be older than their own kind?"
Tang Thirty-Six said with a face full of mockery.
Hearing such an inelegant metaphor, Chen Changsheng didn't get angry, nor did he laugh. He continued to ask seriously, "What if I am? Then what?"
Tang Thirty-Six fell silent, then looked at him seriously and said, "Even if you are, so what? Just treat it like a plate of pig ears—serve it cold."
Chen Changsheng knew he was trying to tell him not to worry about it, but... "Will the Saintess let me live?"
Tang Thirty-Six said, "In the Zhou Garden, was Nanke going to let you live? On the mountain path, was the Demon Lord going to let you live?"
Chen Changsheng understood his meaning, and the lost look on his face gradually faded.
"Others wanting you dead doesn't mean you have to die. It doesn't matter who it is—Nanke, the Demon Lord, or Her Majesty."
Tang Thirty-Six looked into his eyes and said, "Look on the bright side. If you really are the Crown Prince Zhaoming, then as long as you survive, you are the first heir to the Great Zhou throne."
As he said this, his expression was very serious, but the content was extremely unserious.
He knew Chen Changsheng had no interest whatsoever in something like the throne. He just wanted to use these words to lighten the oppressive atmosphere.
"Speaking of which, being the Pope or the Emperor of Great Zhou—which is better?" He looked at Chen Changsheng with a smile.
Chen Changsheng didn't answer this question. The one who answered was Zheshe. The Wolf Tribe youth, who was usually extremely indifferent to worldly affairs, clumsily offered his advice: "Better to be the Emperor. You have an army under your command, the Thirty-Eight Divine Generals. When you fight the demons in the future, you'll be the commander."
It was good.
Having friends like this was truly good.
Chen Changsheng thought this in his heart.
Xining Town might be an illusion. His existence might be an illusion. But at least now he could be certain that these days in the capital were utterly real.
"Thank you," he said to Tang Thirty-Six and Zheshe. Then he sensed something and said, "I have some things to take care of first."
Zheshe didn't know what he needed to handle, but Tang Thirty-Six guessed it easily. Especially after sensing the fluctuation of his magical artifact's aura, he saw the fleeting shadow of a skirt among the white sand and shallow water downstairs. This made him quite annoyed, thinking that this guy was indeed someone who forgot his friends for the sake of a woman.
...
...
That jujube pit lay quietly in the white sand, in the clear lake water. Perhaps because it carried her aura, it had become an object that many fish in the lake were eager to approach. Its surface had been pecked very clean, very smooth, looking like a stone carved with some lines.
Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong sat on the edge of the platform, their feet soaking in the lake water. They didn't deliberately sit closer, their shoulders occasionally brushing lightly.
This distance, this rhythm, this calmness—it was what they were most accustomed to and what they liked best, just like their feelings for each other.
Xu Yourong said softly, "Having friends like that is something worth being happy about."
Chen Changsheng said, "You... don't have friends like that?"
Then he remembered. Since childhood, she had been the little princess cherished and adored by the entire capital, the successor carefully nurtured by the Saintess and the Holy Maiden. From the age of five, she had already left the ordinary world, so it was indeed difficult for her to have ordinary yet extremely precious friends.
Xu Yourong smiled slightly and said, "All my senior and junior sisters in the temple... even the elders besides my teacher, treat me with great respect. There's no way to chat casually. But I do have some acquaintances in a small town at the foot of the mountain whom I can talk to about my feelings... I'll introduce you to them in the future."
Hearing this, Chen Changsheng was curious. How could she have acquaintances in an ordinary small town?
"If I really have to talk about friends... actually, the senior and junior brothers from Li Mountain are more like them. It's just that we're not in the same place, so we don't have many opportunities to interact."
"I heard... that the place where Autumn Mountain Lord practices swordsmanship isn't far from Ciji Temple?"
"What are you trying to ask?"
"Nothing."
"Alright, you're not wrong. I've always regarded Senior Brother as a very important friend."
"The problem is, he definitely wouldn't think that way."
"I wonder how Princess Luoluo thinks about taking you as her teacher."
"I can't out-argue you."
"Because you're not being reasonable."
"Alright."
"Why aren't you talking?"
"What do you want to hear?"
"You... are you really the Crown Prince Zhaoming?"
The wooden platform beneath the small pavilion suddenly fell silent.
The lake water gently rippled. The white sand was still and unmoving. The fish swam far away, as if sensing the change in atmosphere.
Chen Changsheng was silent for a long time, then said, "I don't know, but I don't think so."
Xu Yourong tilted her head slightly and gently leaned it against his shoulder.