Chapter 627: Who Judges the Wise and Foolish, the Pure and the Tainted
Popular Recommendations: , , , , , , ,
"The Holy Maiden said that if she cannot return, she would have to trouble you, Dean Chen, to look after us for a while."
The young girls of Nanxi Zhai bowed solemnly to Chen Changsheng, their white skirts fluttering in the breeze.
"Don't worry. Her Majesty the Empress regards her as her own daughter, and His Holiness the Pope, for your sake, would never do anything to her."
After returning to the small building, Tang Thirty-Six tried to console Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng knew this was indeed the case, but why had You Rong 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 in the palace? Was she still there now?
He unbuckled his sword scabbard, took out a soft armor, and tossed it in front of Tang Thirty-Six, saying, "Remember to deliver this to Huaiyuan, to Wang Po."
The soft armor was covered in blood, with sword marks of varying depths and a very fine sword hole. The straps had been cut, but it should be easy to repair.
Su Moyu and Zhe Xiu didn't know what this soft armor was, nor why Chen Changsheng specifically instructed it to be sent to Wang Po at Huaiyuan.
The Tang family was the wealthiest in the world, so Tang Thirty-Six's eyesight was naturally extraordinary. Hearing the words "Huaiyuan" and "Wang Po," he quickly guessed what it was.
"Is this the Six Imperial Divine Armor?" He picked up the soft armor from the ground and looked at Chen Changsheng in surprise.
Su Moyu and Zhe Xiu were also stunned.
"Mm, this originally belonged to the Wang family. It's just right 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 a good item. If I'm not mistaken, it should be able to counter the Radiant power of the State Religion."
This bronze mirror was probably something Zhou Tong had prepared to use against the State Religion's divine staff. It hadn't played much of a role in the previous battle, but the fact that it remained intact under the Two Severing Blade made Chen Changsheng find it interesting.
Tang Thirty-Six took the bronze mirror and gasped, "The Mirror of Pure Worthies?"
Chen Changsheng only knew that there was a Hall of Pure Worthies in the Li Palace, but he didn't know there was a bronze mirror with the same name in the world.
Zhe Xiu raised an eyebrow, and Su Moyu could no longer hold back. She walked over 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.
"Have you never looked at the Hundred Weapons Ranking?" Tang Thirty-Six retorted. "Its position on the ranking is even higher than your Stainless Sword!"
Chen Changsheng was stunned, thinking that when he had swung his cleaver down, he hadn't seen anything particularly remarkable about this bronze mirror.
"What exactly did you go to do? Kill Zhou Tong or go looting?"
Tang Thirty-Six walked up to him, holding the Six Imperial Divine Armor, and said helplessly, "How could you go out for such a short time and come back with two items from the Hundred Weapons Ranking?"
Chen Changsheng said, "These were all on Zhou Tong. 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 shocked, but they didn't ask for details because they hadn't thought Chen Changsheng could actually accomplish it. Later, Chen Changsheng had also admitted his failure. But if he truly couldn't defeat Zhou Tong and had to rely on the protection of a high-ranking figure from the State Religion to return, how could he have taken these two treasures from Zhou Tong?
They looked at Chen Changsheng, waiting for his explanation. Chen Changsheng recounted what had happened in the courtyard of the North Military Horse Office Alley, though he still didn't go into too much detail.
"You actually won?" Tang Thirty-Six looked 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 in shock, "But in the end, you won."
Chen Changsheng ignored him and said, "You all figure out how to deal with this bronze mirror. If it's hard to divide, it can stay in the National Academy as its property."
Tang Thirty-Six didn't like hearing that and said, "Things like last words should only be said 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 word; it's a matter of inheritance."
...
...
The deepest palace in the Li Palace, in the eyes of many, didn't quite match 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 "sky well"? But there was also an advantage: standing in the courtyard and looking up, one could often see the neatly segmented starry sky, which was quite beautiful.
The night grew deeper, and the darkness thickened, like invisible clouds obscuring the stars in the night sky. The cool early autumn breeze couldn't dispel it. From the deepest part of the night came a voice, calm and indifferent, carrying a sense of nostalgia and vicissitude, yet giving the impression that this nostalgia and vicissitude were deliberately made audible.
"It's been nearly twenty years since I last saw the night sky here."
Like many in the capital tonight, His Holiness the Pope had not yet gone to sleep. He had just finished watering the green-leafed potted plant and was carefully wiping the water droplets from the leaves with a silk handkerchief. Hearing the voice from the darkness outside 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 wouldn't have unfolded."
The Pope spoke into the depths of the night.
The person in the darkness replied, "Or perhaps I just didn't expect that you would ultimately side with her."
Hearing this, the wrinkles on the Pope's face seemed to deepen a few more degrees. He said slowly, "Those are all things of the past."
The voice in the night said, "Yes, they are all things of the past. Now we should talk about the present, about tonight's matters."
The Pope placed the silk handkerchief beside the potted plant, walked to the stone steps outside the hall, and looked into the darkness, saying, "Even now, I'm still not entirely sure what 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 night grew heavier, as hard and indestructible as metal and stone: "You've 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 his shadow on the stone steps and fell into a long silence.
"Tianhai has the best bloodline talent and the best position, but she's a woman. Her vision is limited, and her temperament 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 the North and South proceeds smoothly, humanity cannot defeat the demons under her leadership."
The 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 night spoke again, his voice growing colder and more resolute.
"Do you want the nation and the clan to perish? Do you truly want to see the bloodline of the Chen Imperial Clan 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 imperial bloodline, and you would stay in the capital to observe her for a while longer. Twenty years have passed like this. Have you forgotten your original thoughts, intoxicated by the dual-sage coexistence with her? No, I've watched you from Xining Town with indifferent eyes for over a decade. I won't let you continue to decay like this. Now it's time to show our cards. I won't allow you to keep guarding 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.
After who knows how long, he looked up into the depths of the night and asked, "Where does your confidence come from?"
The person in the night said, "No one can resist that temptation. The ripe fruit is hanging on the branch, waiting for her to pluck it."
The Pope said, "That child once told me that only a sage could resist it, but she is already in the sage position."
"The so-called sages of today's world are nothing but a joke. How could that greedy and shameless woman truly understand the divine principles? If she were certain that eating that fruit could reverse fate, achieve perfection, and enter the great realm beyond the Hidden God, do you think she could resist? Do you remember that night when he was ten years old, the fragrance filled the air, and how painfully I resisted? If it weren't for that greedy and foolish Golden Dragon risking the danger of falling again to descend and fight me in the Cloud Tomb, I might have eaten him right then!"
The voice in the night grew cold and cruel: "Moreover, in her eyes, this is something she must do to reverse her fate—the most merciless demand of the Heavenly Dao. The fruit that fell from her body, to be eaten by her in the end—what could be a more perfect cycle of the Heavenly Dao? I can't see it, so how could she?"
The Pope's voice grew weary, carrying an unshakable sense of guilt: "In the end, you successfully deceived me, and you deceived Meriisha. In your letter back then, you never mentioned who would need to be sacrificed in this matter, let alone that the one to be sacrificed was him."
"Once a fruit is ripe, it must be eaten, whether it's poisonous or not."
"Initially, I thought that making the fruit ripen quickly would allow it to be planted in fertile soil, helping it grow into a towering green tree."
"If a ripe fruit isn't eaten, it will eventually rot. That child was going to die anyway. What's wrong with using his inevitable death to bring such great benefits to all of humanity?"
"But that child doesn't know any of this."
"Everyone has things they want to do, but not everyone can make decisions about their own fate or have the power to choose."
"Are you the only one with the right to choose?"
"Because I can offer you and this world the best choice..."
"Do you know what choice I and this world need?"
"Meriisha was fixated on restoring the imperial clan to power. 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 of humanity."
"But that child is also your disciple."
The voice in the night disappeared for a long time before speaking again.
"But first and foremost, he is a member of the imperial clan. From the moment he came into this world, he had to bear the responsibility for the survival of the imperial clan and the obligation to shed blood for it."