Chapter 118: In the Depths of the Night, a Voice (Part 1)
Chen Changsheng walked toward that broken sea of blood, carrying a cloak of starlight. Through his clothes, it seemed as if hundreds of stars flickered faintly, appearing and disappearing.
Zhou Tong lay collapsed in the ruins of the courtyard, endlessly vomiting blood, unable to stand. From the very beginning of the battle, Cheng Jun had hidden himself in the shadows, but now the entire courtyard was destroyed, leaving no shadows to conceal him, revealing his form. As the sole witness to this battle, the commander of the Great Zhou Dynasty's Secret Cavalry had been stunned for a long time.
Chen Changsheng had actually won? A youth not yet fully recovered from his injuries had actually defeated Lord Zhou Tong, a peak Star Gathering expert, in a direct confrontation!
In this battle, the combat power Chen Changsheng displayed completely exceeded his imagination—no, it should have exceeded the imagination of the entire world.
At this moment, Chen Changsheng had already walked to the edge of the ruins, his face pale, swaying as if about to fall. In this life-or-death struggle, he had achieved final victory, but at a cost beyond imagination. The true essence within his body was completely depleted. Even more terrifying was that the price of forcibly breaking through to Star Gathering had caused his meridians to rupture again. Those streams of blood, containing boundless life force and danger, were seeping and flowing through his internal organs.
A fierce glint suddenly flashed in Cheng Jun's eyes. The strength Chen Changsheng had displayed in this battle was unimaginable. Even now, he couldn't figure out what that final, stunning, and violent blade light had been. But it was clear that Chen Changsheng was now on the verge of collapse, likely without the strength to continue fighting. So, he decided to take a gamble.
His right hand lifted in the night breeze, hovering at his waist, ready to draw a magical artifact at any moment, preparing for a sneak attack.
Just then, Chen Changsheng turned his head and looked at him.
His gaze fell. His spiritual sense descended. His mind stirred slightly.
Above the courtyard ruins, countless sharp sword cries rang out in the night sky. Then, countless beams of sword light fell from the heavens. The thousands of sword lights that had earlier left their sheaths to shatter Zhou Tong's Blood Sea Star Domain now returned to the mortal world, following Chen Changsheng's will.
A chilling sword intent enveloped the scene. The sword cries ceased, replaced by a very faint piercing sound, like cloth being torn.
Cheng Jun looked down and saw a bloody hole appear in his chest.
Then, more sword lights pierced through his body.
More and more bloody holes appeared on him.
Thousands of sword lights, thousands of bloody holes—so densely packed that, in the end, his body was riddled with holes everywhere, blood spurting from each one. Because there were so many sword holes, the blood drained away in an instant. The dim light from behind the courtyard shone through those holes, making his body look like a uniquely shaped lampshade.
Cheng Jun raised his head, looked at Chen Changsheng with a dazed expression, and then his body suddenly collapsed, turning into a pile of flesh on the ground, with only his head remaining relatively intact.
The thousands of sword lights swept across the courtyard in a single arc before returning to Chen Changsheng's scabbard.
Two crabapple trees, gently swaying in the night breeze, were reduced to sawdust and leaf fragments. Dozens of houses centered around the courtyard were all slashed into ruins.
Just as Cheng Jun had been shocked and bewildered, even if Chen Changsheng had forcibly broken through to Star Gathering, logically, he should never have been able to defeat a great expert of Zhou Tong's caliber.
But the truth was, no one had ever seen his true strength. No one knew just how strong he could be if he unleashed his full power. Xu Yourong probably had some idea, but she had never witnessed it firsthand.
Zhou Tong only knew that Chen Changsheng possessed many legendary swords and had studied swordsmanship under Su Li. He didn't know that Chen Changsheng had also trained in Wang Po's blade intent, nor did he know that he had learned Zhou Dufu's Two-Slash Blade Technique. He knew Chen Changsheng carried the Divine Staff of the National Religion, but he didn't know that Chen Changsheng had a letter left by Su Li in his bosom, or that there were five Heavenly Book Monuments on his wrist.
Tonight's battle was the first time Chen Changsheng had fully displayed his strength.
No—even at the very end, he hadn't used all his methods, because there was no need.
Chen Changsheng had used what Zhou Tong knew and didn't know about him to perfectly design the battle tonight, achieving ultimate victory. Back when he had returned south from the Snow Plain, Su Li had taught him many things—military strategy, tactical planning—all of which he had applied tonight.
This was the true Sword of Wisdom. From beginning to end, every detail was under his control.
Of course, what ultimately allowed him to defeat Zhou Tong was that final slash.
For that slash, he used Zhou Dufu's blade technique, but he borrowed Wang Po's blade intent.
Wang Po's blade intent lay in directness.
The directness of a single blade striking straight in.
How should a person live their life? Chen Changsheng didn't know. But he knew that before he died, the thing he most wanted to do was kill Zhou Tong.
So he came to the Northern Military Command Alley, struck straight in, wanted to kill Zhou Tong, and could kill Zhou Tong.
Looking at Zhou Tong lying in the pool of blood among the ruins, at this moment Chen Changsheng didn't think about the famous ministers and generals, the innocent common people who had died tragically in Zhou Prison. He didn't think about the terrible torture Zhe Xiu had suffered here. He thought of nothing. He let the kitchen knife fall to the ground, grasped the Stainless Sword in the night breeze, and walked forward.
He only needed to take two steps forward, let the sword fall, and Zhou Tong would die.
He had no hesitation about this, no sympathy for the wicked, and certainly no intention of offering explanations or eulogies for the wicked in advance.
But then... he suddenly found that he couldn't walk over.
His face turned deathly pale.
At this moment, he was like a child who had been ill for a long time.
The night breeze gently blew through the courtyard ruins. Whether it was the sword light or the sea of blood, both had vanished without a trace. Within the breeze, some principle of the Dao faintly manifested, blocking his steps.
It was a principle of the Dao that he, in his current state, could not break through. It was something beyond his current understanding, yet it felt familiar, like a past he had once known.
He gazed into the deepest part of the night, trying to see something, but in the end, he saw nothing. Then he heard some sounds—the whisper of the night breeze, the faint, mournful chirping of autumn insects in the distance, the sound of air being torn, the thunderous sound of hooves on the street, the sound of an expert exhaling, the sound of battle, the sound of blood splattering.
The courtyard had only been quiet for a moment before the night was torn apart by an even deeper darkness. Over a dozen assassin killers from the Ministry of Justice, turning into over a dozen streaks of black light, arrived at the scene. Too shocked by what had happened to react immediately, they first shielded Zhou Tong, while several assassins with chilling auras lunged toward Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng knew that tonight, he probably wouldn't be able to kill Zhou Tong.
This realization made the hand holding his scabbard grow cold, and his body followed suit. He ignored the few assassins charging at him and continued to stare into the depths of the night, hoping that the other party would show themselves and offer some explanation. But the night remained as before, and so his breathing gradually grew heavier.
Only those closest to him knew that this meant he was now very angry.
The person hidden in the night should also be very aware of this.
The assassins of the Ministry of Justice, dressed in black, moved like part of the night itself, silently arriving before Chen Changsheng. Without hesitation, they raised iron spikes coated with poison and thrust them toward him.
At this moment, Chen Changsheng's true essence was completely exhausted, and his internal injuries were flaring up. But logically, he should still have had the strength to fight, at least enough not to be killed by these assassins.
But he didn't move. He just stared into the depths of the night, his eyelashes slightly drooping, concealing the disappointment and faint sadness within.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh! Dozens of sharp, piercing sounds rang out densely. In the dim courtyard ruins, many bright streaks of light appeared.
Those streaks of light were crossbow bolts imbued with sacred power, fired from the divine crossbows of the National Religion's cavalry.
The few black-clad assassins grunted repeatedly, desperately dodging, but they couldn't escape the rain of bolts. They were struck and then turned into wisps of green smoke.
Dense, hurried footsteps sounded. The sound of doors being forced open echoed. The sound of boots breaking old roof tiles followed. Over a hundred National Religion cavalry from the Li Palace, having somehow abandoned their mounts, climbed over walls and roofs from the main street, arriving in the shortest possible time. They completed the encirclement of this courtyard and tightly shielded Chen Changsheng behind them.
Just as the National Religion cavalry burst into the Ministry of Justice headquarters, a line of fire suddenly ignited high in the night sky!
Xue Xingchuan had arrived!
He stood before Zhou Tong and the others, holding an iron spear, his expression cold as he looked at Chen Changsheng among the National Religion cavalry. Then he raised his right hand.
With his movement, the figures of many Imperial Guard soldiers appeared in the night behind the courtyard ruins.
Those soldiers held crossbows in their hands, the tips of their bolts gleaming with a dark and terrifying sharpness.
A dead silence fell. The two sides faced off like this. No one spoke, and no one dared to be the first to pull the trigger. Everyone watched Xue Xingchuan's right hand.
People knew that his right hand would eventually come down. They just didn't know whether it would fall slowly or be brought down forcefully. That would represent two completely different wills.
That also meant that tonight's capital, and the future of the Great Zhou Dynasty, would enter two completely different situations.
"Let it end here," an aged voice sounded from behind the crowd.
The crabapple trees in this courtyard had been reduced to fragments, the houses to ruins, leaving only the stone archway leading to the outside world still somewhat intact.
Mao Qiuyu and a Daoist nun in a religious robe walked in through the broken stone archway.
Xue Xingchuan narrowed his eyes, recognizing the Daoist nun in the religious robe as Anlin, the Grand Bishop of the Southern Region permanently stationed at the Li Palace. He wondered when she had returned to the capital.
Two of the six giants of the National Religion had already appeared here.
In Mao Qiuyu's hand was a Dharma pestle faintly glowing with light—a heavy treasure of the Li Palace.
"Chen Changsheng has murdered a high court official. Does the Li Palace intend to pretend this never happened?"
Xue Xingchuan didn't turn around to look, but he knew Zhou Tong's current state—whether alive or dead, it was a miserable sight.
He said this not because he was Zhou Tong's only true friend in this world, but because he was a great general of Great Zhou, representing the will of Her Holiness the Empress.
Mao Qiuyu walked to Chen Changsheng's side, looked at him calmly, and said, "Lord Zhou Tong has murdered so many high court officials over the years, and the court has always pretended it never happened. Dean Chen, as the next Pope, doing it just once—what does it really amount to?"
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(The original chapter title was: In the Deepest Part of the Night, a Voice. It was changed to this because it exceeded the allowed character limit for titles.)