Chapter 629: Mother and Son (Part 1)
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Returning to the courtyard, he prepared a meal, ate his fill, then packed several lunch boxes. The man once again set off toward the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
As he reached the straight path at the foot of the mausoleum, he suddenly changed his mind and turned to the right.
The sky was clear and fine, and there were many people in the mausoleum grounds. He had just met with them not long ago; meeting again so soon felt a bit too frequent. And if they met again, did that mean they were acquaintances? Or rather, acquaintances who weren't quite familiar? Would a simple nod of greeting be considered a lack of courtesy?
These questions were troublesome, and the man wasn't very good at handling them, so he decided to take another path up the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
He didn't know that for the vast majority of cultivators in the world, there was only one path into the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
In the dense mountain forest, he tried many times but still failed. Because of his inconvenient legs, he fell several times, his body covered in grass clippings and pine needles, looking quite disheveled.
He felt somewhat helpless, wondering why he couldn't find a path.
Then, he saw a road in the mountains. It was paved with white stones, shimmering like jade in the sunlight.
This road was very straight and led directly to the highest point of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
The man happily walked toward that road. But when he got closer, he found it strange because there wasn't a single person on this mountain path.
This path was the straightest and shortest route to the Heavenly Book Mausoleum. Why was no one walking it?
Could it be that the tablet observers wanted to temper their willpower and deliberately avoided this shortcut?
Thinking of this possibility, and recalling his own delight at seeing the straight mountain path, the man felt a bit ashamed.
But he looked at his leg and thought, after all, he was different from ordinary people. Taking a shortcut wasn't too disgraceful, was it?
With a hint of embarrassment, he supported himself with his crutch and walked toward that mountain path.
With his leg condition, crossing those shallow drainage ditches was truly inconvenient. He was already tired by the time he reached the side of the path, but fortunately, there was a pavilion there where he could rest for a while.
Entering the pavilion, he looked at the bronze statue covered in dust and rust and thought to himself, if his junior brother saw this, how sad would he be?
He was referring to Chen Changsheng's obsession with cleanliness.
The man glanced at the straight mountain path, thinking that climbing it would take a lot of effort. It would be better to rest here first and gather his strength. So he sat down beside the bronze statue.
But he still felt uncomfortable. Having grown up with Chen Changsheng, they had influenced each other and both had mild obsessions with cleanliness.
After thinking for a moment, he took a handkerchief from his sleeve, walked to the pool, bent down with some difficulty, wet the handkerchief, then returned to the bronze statue and began to wipe it carefully.
He had just polished the left shoulder of the bronze statue when he suddenly heard a voice coming from within the statue's armor.
The voice was very low, not loud, unable to travel far, but to his ears, it sounded like thunder.
"Just wipe the helmet clean."
The autumn wind stirred the clear water in the shallow ditch, stirring up dust from within the armor. The pavilion fell silent.
The man stared at the bronze statue for a long time, shocked, thinking, it's actually alive!
...
...
When Chen Changsheng first entered the capital, he had no understanding of the common knowledge of this world. The man, having grown up with him, was naturally no better.
He didn't know that the straight mountain path was the Divine Path, which no one could set foot on except the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden and His Holiness the Pope.
He also didn't know that the general's statue in the pavilion wasn't a real statue but a real general—Han Qing, the continent's number one divine general who had guarded the mausoleum for over six hundred years.
But at least now he knew it was a living person, and judging by the dust and rust on the armor, this person had been sitting here for a very long time.
Sitting here for so long, wasn't it boring? Although the man also didn't like dealing with people and wasn't good at it, he asked himself: if he didn't see anyone for many years, he would still find it dull. And there was another very important question: if this person had been sitting here all along, how did he handle eating?
Thinking about the food issue, he instinctively took out a lunch box, held it out in front of the armor, and gestured, asking, "Are you hungry?"
No sound came from the armor.
The man thought for a moment, then made a few more complex gestures, meaning, "Should I go cook you some noodle soup?"
A voice came from within the armor: "Just leave it here. Also, you cannot take this Divine Path."
The man placed the lunch box on the ground, bowed, cast a reluctant glance at the Divine Path, then supported himself with his crutch and walked back the way he came.
Shortly after he left, the autumn wind once again descended upon the shallow ditch and the pavilion, stirring up the dust in the crevices of the armor.
Two deep, world-weary eyes lit up deep within the helmet.
Han Qing opened his eyes.
Then, he closed them.
A lunch box lay quietly on the ground before him.
...
...
Returning along the same path, he arrived before some unknown number of Heavenly Book Stele and continued to observe it.
Perhaps because this stele was too profound and difficult to understand, or perhaps because he was pondering certain matters, this time he stood before the stele for a very long time.
It wasn't until the night was deep and quiet that he was still there.
He felt a bit hungry, and just then, a light rain began to fall from the night sky.
He moved into the stele pavilion, took out the remaining lunch box, placed it on top of the Heavenly Book Stele, and began to eat.
The night rain wasn't heavy, but its sound was somewhat annoying.
The man packed up the lunch box, leaned against the Heavenly Book Stele, and looked out of the pavilion.
This was already a high point of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum. His gaze pierced through the veil-like thin rain and could see the lights of the capital.
Perhaps because the night was too deep, many of the lights in the mansions had gone out, and the capital looked somewhat dim.
The man once again worried about Chen Changsheng.
He believed that his master would surely be able to solve the problems his junior brother faced, but what about his junior brother's illness?
Suddenly, he sensed something, looked toward a certain spot in the night sky, and frowned slightly, not understanding what kind of feeling this was.
There were no stars in that spot in the night sky. It was a high platform.
The Sweet Dew Terrace.
...
...
There was someone on the Sweet Dew Terrace.
The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden stood with her hands behind her back at the edge of the high platform, quietly gazing at the night sky.
Tonight, many clouds had drifted over the capital, as if adding to the darkness of the night, so naturally, no stars could be seen.
But those clouds and darkness could not obscure her eyes.
Just as the light emitted by those night pearls and the fine rain falling from the sky could not touch her body.
There was a grave expression between her beautiful brows, because she could clearly sense that the Heavenly Dao had changed.
Was that fate?
Her destiny star in the distant sky was faintly obscured.
Or perhaps it was because her other destiny star was in the capital.
That was the bane of her fate.
What should she do?
Wave her sleeve to blot out the light of that star?
But what good would that do?
If she did that, it would be difficult to truly overcome the Heavenly Dao in the future.
But if she didn't, could she overcome the Heavenly Dao now?
...
...
Chen Changsheng knew his time was running out.
This time, it was truly running out.
To kill Zhou Tong, he had paid a heavy price. Blood was now flowing through his internal organs, his meridians were shattered and broken, and the layer of holy light that Xu Yourong had covered his body with was growing thinner and fainter. At any moment, he might emit the most fatal temptation to the life in this world, and at that moment, he might die.
How much time was left? One day or two?
Without any hesitation, he took the yellow paper umbrella from the bed and jumped out the window.
Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu and the others hadn't slept. Some were guarding outside the house, some were in the trees, but they couldn't stop him from leaving again. Even if Zhe Xiu on the banyan tree sensed his departure, he would probably grant him his final freedom, because the young man of the Wolf Tribe had grown up on the desolate and bloody snowy plains and knew that death should be peaceful.
The fine rain fell on the yellow paper umbrella without making a pattering sound, gentle as if nourishing it.
Holding the umbrella, he walked into the dense forest beside the lake, then turned back, and in no time, he reached the wall.
Deep in the forest, there was a door leading directly to the imperial palace.
On this wall, there was a door that Luo Luo had once had her subordinates open.
But he didn't go through either door, because he couldn't be sure if the people from the palace or His Holiness the Pope's people were guarding behind those doors.
He glanced at the old wall covered in moss and lightly leaped over it.
After the nourishment of this year's spring winds and autumn rains, the Hundred Herb Garden, once stripped bare by him and Tang Thirty-Six, was now full of life again. Many precious medicinal herbs and spiritual fruits quietly watched him from the garden beds and branches, waiting for him to pick them, but he walked straight ahead without a sideways glance, heading deeper.
His final destination was the imperial palace.
He wanted to confirm that Xu Yourong was safe.
He wanted to see the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden. He wanted to ask her some things. He wanted to ask if all of that was true. Are you my mother? And then... then that would be enough.
In his arms was still the letter Su Li had left. On his wrist were still the five stone beads transformed from Heavenly Book Steles. He still had the Zhou Garden.
But he didn't plan to do anything in the palace. It was truly enough. What did conspiracies, the big picture, righteousness, or the war between humans and demons matter to someone about to die? Who could bear to ask him to do anything more at a time like this?
He just needed to know some things, then leave quietly.
No one could decide how they came into this world, but when leaving, everyone hoped to be clear-headed.
Many people had said this, and he had said it too, so he had to follow through.
But he couldn't enter the palace.
Because in the forest deep within the Hundred Herb Garden, he saw a scene he had witnessed before.
In the woods was a stone table. On the table sat an iron teapot, and beside it were two teacups. Judging by the color of the tea, tonight's brew was likely white tea.
The person drinking tea was still that middle-aged woman.
Seeing her calm expression, Chen Changsheng was somewhat surprised.