Chapter 121: Who Decides the Pure and the Impure, the Wise and the Foolish?
“The Holy Maiden said that if she cannot return, she would trouble Headmaster Chen to temporarily look after us.”
The young girls of Nanxi Zhai bowed solemnly to Chen Changsheng, their white skirts fluttering in the breeze.
“Don’t worry. The Saintess regards her as her own daughter, and His Holiness the Pope, out of respect for you, would never do anything to her.”
After returning to the small building, Tang Thirty-Six tried to console Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng knew this reasoning was sound, but why had Yourong given such instructions to the girls of Nanxi Zhai before entering the palace? Did she know that once she entered the palace, it would be difficult for her to come out? Why? What was she going to do inside the palace? Was she still there now?
He unbuckled his sword scabbard, took out a suit of soft armor, and tossed it in front of Tang Thirty-Six, saying, “Remember to deliver this to Huaiyuan and give it to Wang Po.”
The soft armor was covered in bloodstains, with sword marks of varying depths, and one very fine sword puncture. The straps had been cut, but it should be easy to repair.
Su Moyu and Zhe Xiu had no idea what this soft armor was, nor why Chen Changsheng would specifically instruct it to be sent to Wang Po at Huaiyuan.
The Tang family was the wealthiest in the world, so Tang Thirty-Six’s eye for valuables was naturally exceptional. Upon hearing the words “Huaiyuan” and “Wang Po,” he quickly guessed what this was.
“Is this the Six Imperial Divine Armor?” He picked up the soft armor from the ground and stared at Chen Changsheng in astonishment.
Su Moyu and Zhe Xiu were also stunned.
“Yes, this originally belonged to the Wang family. It’s only fitting to return it to Wang Po. He should be very happy.”
Chen Changsheng then pulled out a bronze mirror and handed it over, saying, “I don’t know what this is, but it should be something valuable. If I’m not mistaken, it can counter the Radiant power of the State Church.”
This bronze mirror was probably something Zhou Tong had prepared to use against the State Church’s divine staff. It hadn’t played much of a role in the earlier battle, but the fact that it had remained intact under the Two Severing Blade made Chen Changsheng think it was interesting.
Tang Thirty-Six took the bronze mirror and gasped sharply. “The Qingxian Mirror?”
Chen Changsheng only knew that there was a Qingxian Hall in the Li Palace, but he had no idea there was a bronze mirror with the same name in the world.
Zhe Xiu raised an eyebrow. Su Moyu could no longer contain herself. She walked up to Tang Thirty-Six, took the bronze mirror, and carefully wiped the bloodstains off it with her sleeve.
“Is this bronze mirror very famous?” Chen Changsheng asked.
“Do you never look at the Hundred Artifacts Ranking?” Tang Thirty-Six retorted. “Its position on the list is even higher than your Stainless Sword!”
Chen Changsheng was taken aback, thinking that when he had swung his cleaver at it, he hadn’t seen anything particularly remarkable about this bronze mirror.
“What exactly did you go out to do? Kill Zhou Tong or go looting?”
Tang Thirty-Six walked up to him, holding the Six Imperial Divine Armor, looking utterly speechless. “How could you go out for such a short time and come back with two items from the Hundred Artifacts Ranking?”
Chen Changsheng said, “These were all things Zhou Tong had on him. When I killed him, I brought them back.”
There was a moment of silence. Zhe Xiu and the other two exchanged glances.
They knew Chen Changsheng had gone to kill Zhou Tong, and they were deeply shocked, but they hadn’t asked for too many details because they hadn’t thought he could actually succeed. Later, Chen Changsheng had admitted his failure. But if he truly couldn’t defeat Zhou Tong and had only returned thanks to the protection of some big shot from the State Church, how could he have brought back these two treasures from Zhou Tong?
They looked at Chen Changsheng, waiting for his explanation. Chen Changsheng recounted what had happened in the courtyard on North Horse Market Alley, though he still didn’t go into too much detail.
“You actually won?” Tang Thirty-Six stared at him as if he were a monster.
Chen Changsheng said, “Since it was a gamble of life and death, victory or defeat is meaningless.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, deeply shaken, “But in the end, you still won.”
Chen Changsheng ignored him and said, “You guys figure out what to do with this bronze mirror. If it’s hard to divide, it can stay as property of the National Academy.”
Tang Thirty-Six disliked hearing such talk. “If you’re going to leave a last will, just say it once. Do you have to keep reminding us that you’re a dying man?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, “This isn’t a last will. This is about inheritance.”
…
…
The deepest palace in the Li Palace, in the eyes of many, did not befit the status of His Holiness the Pope. The eaves outside the hall were too numerous, cutting the sky into the shape of a well. Perhaps that was the origin of the term “well-sky”? But there was also an advantage: standing in the courtyard here and looking up, one could often see the neatly segmented starry sky, which was quite beautiful.
The night grew deeper, and the darkness deepened as well, like formless clouds obscuring the stars in the night sky. The early autumn breeze, cool and light, could not dispel it. From the deepest part of the darkness came a voice, calm and indifferent, carrying a hint of nostalgia and the passage of time, yet giving the impression that this nostalgia and weariness were deliberately made audible.
“It’s been nearly twenty years since I last saw the night sky here.”
Like many people in the capital tonight, His Holiness the Pope had not yet gone to sleep. He had just finished watering a potted green-leaf plant and was carefully wiping the water droplets from the leaves with a silk handkerchief. Hearing the voice from the darkness beyond the hall, he paused his movements and slowly turned to look.
“If you hadn’t been so hasty back then, perhaps the story of these twenty years would never have unfolded.”
The Pope spoke into the depths of the darkness.
The person in the darkness replied, “Or perhaps I simply never expected that you would ultimately side with her back then.”
Hearing this, the wrinkles on the Pope’s face seemed to deepen by several degrees. He said slowly, “Those are all things of the past.”
The voice in the darkness said, “Yes, they are things of the past. Now we should talk about the present, about tonight.”
The Pope placed the silk handkerchief beside the potted plant, walked to the stone steps outside the hall, and looked into the darkness. “Even now, I still don’t fully understand what it is you want to do.”
The cool night breeze rustled his linen robes, making them seem as if they might lift him away from the mortal world.
But the voice in the darkness grew heavier, as hard and indestructible as metal or stone. “You have always known what I want to do. It’s just that back then, you didn’t agree with my views. Now twenty years have passed, and you know your judgment back then was wrong. So you must stand by my side.”
After hearing this, the Pope looked down at the shadow on the stone steps and fell into a long silence.
“Tianhai possesses the best bloodline talent and holds the best position, but she is a woman. Her vision and scope are limited. Her character is flawed. The history of the past two hundred years has already proven this. If she continues to sit on the throne of the Great Zhou, even if the unification of north and south proceeds smoothly, humanity cannot defeat the demon race under her leadership.”
A night wind stirred the green trees outside the hall and the green leaves inside. The light spilling from the majestic Radiant Main Hall behind seemed to waver.
That was because the person in the darkness spoke again, his voice growing colder and more certain.
“Do you want the nation and the race to perish together? Do you truly want to see the bloodline of the Chen royal family scattered, withering day by day, until the lineage is broken? When we parted ways at the National Academy back then, we had already agreed: I would be responsible for preserving the royal bloodline, and you would stay in the capital to observe her for a while longer. Twenty years have vanished like this. Have you forgotten your original thoughts, intoxicated by the dual-sage heaven pattern with her? No. I have watched you from Xining Town with indifferent eyes for over a decade. I will not stand by and watch you sink into this decadence. Now it is time to show our cards. I will not allow you to continue hiding in this lifeless palace, covering your eyes and pretending not to see all the chaos in the world.”
The Pope looked down at the faint shadow cast by the eaves on the stone steps and remained silent for a long time.
No one knew how much time passed before he raised his head and looked into the depths of the darkness, asking, “Where does your confidence come from?”
The person in the darkness said, “No one can resist that temptation. The ripe fruit is waiting on the branch for her to pluck.”
The Pope said, “That child once told me that only a sage could resist it. But she herself is already in the sage position.”
“The so-called sages of this world are nothing but a joke. How could that greedy and shameless woman truly comprehend the sacred principles? If she is certain that eating that fruit can reverse fate, achieve perfection, and enter the great realm beyond the divine hidden, do you think she can resist? Do you know how painfully I resisted that night when he was ten years old, when the fragrance filled the air? If it hadn’t been for that greedy and foolish golden dragon, who risked descending again to fight me in the Cloud Tomb, I might have eaten him right then and there!”
The voice in the darkness turned cold and cruel. “Moreover, in her eyes, this is something she must do to reverse her fate. It is the most merciless demand of the Heavenly Dao. The fruit that fell from her body, to be eaten by her in the end—could there be a more perfect cycle of the Heavenly Dao? I cannot see it. How could she?”
The Pope’s voice grew weary, carrying an irresolvable guilt. “In the end, you successfully deceived me, and you also deceived Meri Sha. In that letter back then, you never mentioned who would have to be sacrificed in this matter, let alone that the one to be sacrificed was him.”
“When the fruit is ripe, it must be eaten, whether it is poisonous or not.”
“At first, I thought that making the fruit ripen as quickly as possible was to plant it in fertile soil and help it grow into a towering green tree.”
“If the ripe fruit is not eaten, it will eventually rot. That child is going to die anyway. Using his doomed fate to bring such great benefits to all of humanity—what’s wrong with that?”
“But that child himself knows nothing of all this.”
“Everyone has things they want to do, but not everyone can decide their own fate or have the power to choose.”
“Are you the only one qualified to choose?”
“Because I can provide you and this world with the best choice…”
“Do you know what kind of choice I and this world need?”
“Meri Sha was fixated on restoring the royal family. You only care about the survival of humanity. He is the son of Tianhai and the late Emperor. No one will oppose him. And believe me, he is the most intelligent and remarkable young man on this continent. He is the most suitable heir to the Great Zhou throne and the most fitting future leader for humanity.”
“But that child is also your disciple.”
The voice in the darkness disappeared for a long time before speaking again.
“But first and foremost, he is a member of the royal family. From the very first moment he existed in this world, he had to bear the responsibility for the continuation of the royal bloodline and had the obligation to shed blood for it.”
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