Chapter 91: Let Me Fight a Battle for You (Part 2)
Sword intent crisscrossed, sword light flowed like water. This was the hall where the State Church members resided, now under the control of Holy Maiden Peak.
Several hundred people stood outside the building. At the very front were members of the State Church. Hearing the words of that female disciple from Nanxi Zhai, their expressions turned extremely ugly as they asked, "What exactly does the Holy Maiden intend to do?"
This was also the question everyone wanted to ask.
People had not yet fully awakened from their shock. First, why had Chen Changsheng suddenly fallen unconscious? Had his realm-breaking failed, causing his starlight to reverse? But everyone had clearly seen that he had successfully condensed his own star domain. According to past records, such a problem had never occurred with any cultivator before.
Second was the performance of Holy Maiden Xu Yourong. Just when everyone was too stunned to react, watching the Heavenly Dao Sword descend in shock, she unexpectedly appeared in the arena, using herself—at the cost of severe injury—to block that sword for Chen Changsheng. How could she have predicted that sword in advance? Why was she willing to take that blow for him?
The story of the marriage contract had circulated across the continent for a long time. Everyone knew the grudges and entanglements between the Eastern Divine General’s Mansion and Chen Changsheng. Everyone believed she and Chen Changsheng were enemies, even fated rivals. Yet, seeing her holding Chen Changsheng in her arms, her expression disregarding the entire world, the helplessness and fragility she revealed—who could still believe those rumors?
Zhe Xiu didn’t dwell on these questions. He only wanted to know Chen Changsheng’s current condition. Being blocked outside the building by the Nanxi Zhai disciples’ sword formation was unacceptable to him. He didn’t continue charging inside only because Tang Thirty-Six stood in his way.
Few in the world knew the true relationship between Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng. Tang Thirty-Six was one.
Now, the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets also knew—or rather, confirmed his earlier suspicions were correct—because he was currently inside the building, watching Xu Yourong.
Xu Yourong sat by the bedside. She was no longer as panicked and helpless as before; she had returned to calm.
Yet between her beautiful brows, worry and concern were still deeply etched. Her usual brightness had dimmed considerably.
Her hand gently held Chen Changsheng’s.
Seeing this scene, the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets sighed inwardly.
Chen Changsheng had not yet awakened.
Xu Yourong looked at the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets, saying nothing, but her questioning intent was clear.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets shook his head and said, "His meridians are severed. No medicine can save him."
Chen Changsheng was the successor of the Pope, the future of the State Church. Regardless of the relationship between the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets and the Pope, he couldn’t let Chen Changsheng die on Cold Mountain. The countless miraculous elixirs and medicines stored in the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion had long been sent in; even the space beneath his bed was piled with crystals. Yet none of it had any effect on his injuries.
Anyone hearing this would likely feel despair, but Xu Yourong’s expression remained calm as she asked, "How many places are severed?"
The human body has a total of seventy-two meridians and three hundred and sixty-five energy points.
As a Holy Maiden who had cultivated since childhood, she knew the positions and directions of those meridians and energy points better than anyone, as well as the severe consequences of some meridians being severed.
She was very worried about Chen Changsheng’s condition, but she had to understand the specifics more clearly to plan targeted treatment later.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets was silent for a long time, then said, "All of them."
"All of them?" Xu Yourong repeated.
Her delicate, fine brows lifted, like swords.
Her eyes, clear as autumn water, narrowed—still like swords.
She didn’t believe the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets. Even if Chen Changsheng’s realm-breaking had failed and his starlight reversed, according to similar cases recorded in scriptures and medical texts, the worst backlash those cultivators had ever suffered couldn’t sever all the meridians in the body in such a short time.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets said, "His meridians have always had problems. I vaguely knew before, but I never imagined the issue was this severe."
Xu Yourong looked at Chen Changsheng on the bed, at his closed eyes and pale cheeks, and asked, "What exactly is wrong with his meridians?"
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets said, "His innate solar wheel was shattered in the womb, causing blockages and breaks in his meridians. At the same time, the walls of his meridians are much more fragile than ordinary people’s."
Hearing this, Xu Yourong was silent for a long time. A trace of pity crept into her eyes as she looked at Chen Changsheng.
"Why did the problem surface now?"
"I didn’t expect it to erupt at this moment either. Thinking back, when he broke through his realm, the starlight surged in and directly burst the walls of his meridians."
"Then… why didn’t he try to solve this problem before?"
"This is a disease. It can’t be cured."
"There is no disease that can’t be cured." Xu Yourong looked at the sleeping Chen Changsheng and said calmly.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets looked at her with a hint of pity and said, "This is a disease he’s had since the womb. This is his fate."
Are there diseases in the world that can’t be cured?
Yes—fate.
...
...
The stone seal flickered in and out of sight amid the wind and snow.
The Demon Lord stood at the highest point of Snow Old City, gazing at the kingdom he ruled. His expression was utterly indifferent, the broken landscapes on his face completely faded.
In the wind and snow, a small, thin figure slowly approached, then knelt behind him.
"Rise." The Demon Lord’s voice was devoid of emotion.
She stood up, her expression even more indifferent than the Demon Lord’s, her voice even colder: "Father, I want to go to the capital."
As she said this, she thought of the events in Zhou Garden and the words Chen Changsheng had spoken, and she unconsciously frowned.
This made the slightly wide distance between her eyes seem a little smaller.
"Not allowed." The Demon Lord looked at his daughter, expressionless.
Nan Ke’s expression showed no change. She said, "Chen Changsheng will return to the capital."
Hearing this, the Demon Lord remained silent.
Just now, one of the persimmons from the persimmon tree he had brought back from the Cold Mountain stream had ripened, fallen onto the white jade steps, and splattered into a pool of fruit pulp, looking like a crushed skull.
He had sensed something, which was why he had come to the wind and snow to gaze at his kingdom and ponder matters of longevity.
His longevity—and that human named Longevity.
"I’m very curious who will end up eating that fruit."
The Demon Lord said, "No one can resist that temptation, just like your elder brother."
A ripe fruit would emit a fragrance, just like the Demon Lord’s throne, which represented supreme power.
Nan Ke said calmly, "I will kill him."
It was unclear whether "him" referred to Chen Changsheng or her elder brother.
...
...
Ji Daoren and Xu Ren entered the capital, yet didn’t enter the capital.
They went to the Heavenly Book Mausoleum and found a thatched cottage in an orchard east of the mausoleum to stay in temporarily.
Perhaps because of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum’s presence, no one in the capital discovered the return of the party involved in the National Academy bloodbath.
At the end of the divine path of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, under the pavilion, the mausoleum keeper—the continent’s number one divine general, Han Qing—seemed to be asleep.
Summer quietly passed, and autumn was about to arrive.
Yu Ren went to the abandoned garden outside the orchard to pick green peppers. Because of his leg disability, he hadn’t gone far before he grew tired. He reached out to lean on a tree trunk to rest.
With just a light touch, many fruits fell from the tree, rolling everywhere. It was clear how ripe they had become.
Yu Ren’s face lit up with joy. He crouched down to pick up the fruits, planning to let his master taste them in the evening.
But the moment his hand landed on a fruit, his expression changed.
He didn’t understand why, but he felt an overwhelming sadness.
He suddenly missed his junior brother very much.
...
...
The Heavenly Book Stele was the source of all knowledge in the State Church.
The starry sky was the direction of all spiritual guidance in the State Church.
These were fate.
Those who believed in the faith were all in awe of this.
Holy Maiden Peak was the true southern lineage of the State Church, so it was no exception.
Xu Yourong had been educated in this way since childhood. This ideology was deeply ingrained in her bones; she couldn’t say the words "I don’t believe in fate" like Wang Zhice and Chen Changsheng had in their time.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets said Chen Changsheng’s disease was incurable—it was fate.
She lowered her head, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
"I want to take him back to the capital. Her Majesty and His Holiness the Pope are both there. They will find a way to cure him."
"No one can cure him."
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets looked at her with a stern expression and said, "Her Majesty can defy fate and change destiny. Can you?"
Xu Yourong was silent for a moment, then said, "Perhaps I can’t, but I want to try."
She believed in and revered fate, and might even calmly accept all the fate imposed on her, whether good or bad.
But she couldn’t accept the many tragedies and injustices fate had inflicted on Chen Changsheng.
She let go of Chen Changsheng’s hand and gently placed it on his forehead.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets knew what she intended to do and warned, "Don’t use the Holy Light Technique. It will only worsen his injuries."
Xu Yourong didn’t respond, nor did she move her hand away.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets’ voice turned somewhat cold: "You don’t believe me?"
Xu Yourong said calmly, "Yes."
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets was silent for a moment, then asked, "Why?"
Xu Yourong looked up at him and said flatly, "Because you didn’t act just now."
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets had just admitted he had previously noticed Chen Changsheng’s meridian problems, indicating he was prepared for this.
When Guan Bai’s Heavenly Dao Sword fell, logically, only he could have changed the final outcome.
But he did nothing, sitting calmly on the high platform.
Xu Yourong stared quietly at the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets.
In terms of seniority, realm, and strength, she was far inferior to this foremost of the Eight Directions Winds.
But she was the Southern Holy Maiden, representing a very powerful faction within the State Church.
Her calm carried its own authority, and her question had its own edge: "Do you want him dead very much?"
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets looked at the unconscious Chen Changsheng on the bed. After a moment of silence, he said, "I already told him that if he continued cultivating, problems would definitely arise. But he wouldn’t listen. Then he would become Her Majesty’s problem. If you let him keep living, then who will solve Her Majesty’s problem in the future?"
He didn’t directly answer Xu Yourong’s question, but he had already tacitly admitted it.
Xu Yourong looked into his eyes and asked, "What does his problem have to do with Her Majesty?"
"Though I am called Heavenly Secrets, exhausting my mind, I can only glimpse one or two of heaven’s secrets—knowing the what but not the why."
After saying this, the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets clasped his hands behind his back and walked out of the building.
As the oldest person in the sacred domain on the continent, of the same era as the Demon Lord, he was truly very old, his back already somewhat stooped.
The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets actually enjoyed dealing with young people. The reason he had supported the Holy Empress back then was the same. He liked Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng very much. He had originally wanted to explain to Xu Yourong that a few days ago, he had used the Cold Mountain Heavenly Stone Grand Formation to try to imprison the Demon Lord, but the Demon Lord had broken out, severely injuring him.
But in the end, he said nothing.
Because being severely injured was a fact, and wanting Chen Changsheng dead was also a fact.
Watching the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets leave, Xu Yourong finally relaxed a little. Her brows, which had been sharp as swords, softened again.
Just then, the Nanxi Zhai female disciple Ye Xiaolian arrived outside the hall, knelt at the door, and said, "Headmaster, there is an urgent matter to report."