Chapter 127: Tonight
The Heavenly Sea Saintess walked upward along the divine path paved with white jade.
The Heavenly Book Mausoleum was the most extraordinary place on the continent. Here, the rules and principles governing the operation of heaven and earth were greatly affected. Even the strongest beings beyond the sacred domain could not fly and could only ascend on their own two feet. Of course, aside from peerless experts like herself, no one else could even hope to set foot on the divine path.
This was Chen Changsheng’s first time ascending the divine path of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, even though his feet did not touch it.
This was a place that countless cultivators in the world dreamed of setting foot on. He had once witnessed with his own eyes Xun Mei dying while attempting the divine path, and the impression was profound.
Now, looking at the divine path, holy under the starlight as if it did not belong to the mortal world, he had no time to sigh before many questions arose.
Why had the Saintess brought him here? Why had she left that remark to Divine General Hanqing at the foot of the divine path earlier? — The whole world knew that the armies of the Great Zhou Dynasty were under the command of thirty-eight divine generals, and the vast majority of these thirty-eight divine generals were loyal to Her Majesty the Saintess, except for… the foremost, Divine General Hanqing.
Divine General Hanqing was the sole survivor among the divine generals of the Taizong era, even more senior than Divine General Feidian. When he was dominating the snowy plains back then, Her Majesty the Saintess was still deep in the palace. There should have been no old friendship between them. It was said that he had sworn lifelong loyalty to His Majesty Emperor Taizong. The reason he had guarded the mausoleum for over six hundred years without leaving was because Emperor Taizong had left a final decree for him to do so. Yet, judging by the attitude of Her Majesty the Saintess when she spoke earlier, she seemed very certain that he would obey her orders. Why was that?
Divine General Hanqing had been infinitely close to the sacred domain for many years and was widely recognized as the strongest being outside of the Saints and the Wind and Rain. There was even a saying that if he had not been stuck guarding the Heavenly Book Mausoleum for over six hundred years, he might have long since broken through that threshold and entered the sacred domain! If he was a powerful piece arranged by Her Majesty the Saintess at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, her opponents would surely be extremely shocked.
Dark clouds gathered again, and the starlight vanished once more. The holy white divine path took on a more somber hue under the gloomy night, looking chilling.
Just as Chen Changsheng was pondering these matters, the divine path beneath the Heavenly Sea Saintess’s feet turned into clear water flowing westward, heading into the distance, while she had already reached the uppermost reaches.
The uppermost reaches of the river were the highest point of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, and also the highest point of the capital.
The Heavenly Sea Saintess released her grip and dropped him to the ground. With her hands behind her back, she walked to the edge of the divine path and gazed down at the world below the Heavenly Book Mausoleum.
This terrain was even higher than the Sweet Dew Terrace. When she looked at the world, it was naturally a bird’s-eye view, the most natural condescension, because this was, after all, her world.
Very few people could stand on the peak of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum. After the late emperor returned to the sea of stars, it should have been only Her Majesty the Saintess and His Holiness the Pope who had come here.
Chen Changsheng was the third person to arrive here, but he could not feel honored, because he had been carried up, and he was in extreme pain at this moment, on the verge of death at any time.
Back then at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, Chen Changsheng had witnessed with his own eyes Xun Mei sacrificing his life to climb to the peak. Now, watching her ascend here so casually, he felt inexplicably downcast and sorrowful.
Despite his low spirits and sadness, he still looked around, wanting to see and memorize the scenery clearly. It was not out of a longing for or curiosity about the Great Way at this moment; he simply wanted to see this place on behalf of Senior Xun Mei. If, in the divine kingdom above the stars, he could truly meet those who had passed away again, he could tell them what it looked like here.
The peak of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum was quite ordinary, like the top of any random mountain, except for an extra stone platform.
But after all, this was the destination that all cultivators dreamed of reaching; it couldn’t be as ordinary as it appeared.
Chen Changsheng’s meridians were now completely severed, and his sea of consciousness was calm, unable to release his spiritual sense. Yet he could still sense that within this stone platform and the surrounding unremarkable woods and rocks, there existed some extremely profound and incomprehensible principles and rules. Moreover, these rules, which should have been formless and ethereal, had an almost tangible manifestation, though he could not see it now.
This mountain mausoleum was called the Heavenly Book Mausoleum because there were many Heavenly Book Stele scattered among the mountains. Would there also be a Heavenly Book Stele at the peak?
His gaze moved across the peak and finally settled on a dark object deep within the stone platform.
Tonight, it was cloudy and starless. The remaining lights of the capital could not illuminate the extremely high peak of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, making the scenery dim and unclear. He could only judge from its shape that it was a stele. Was this Heavenly Book Stele like the final volume of the Origin of the Dao, recording the most arcane, incomprehensible, and ultimate Great Way?
Chen Changsheng thought this, but he could not make out what was written or depicted on that stele.
“In the past thousand years, no more than five people have truly been able to understand this stele.”
The Heavenly Sea Saintess stood at the edge of the divine path without turning around.
Chen Changsheng withdrew his gaze and looked at her back.
He was sitting on the ground, so looking at her meant looking up. From this angle, she seemed to be standing amidst the clouds, in the night sky, incredibly towering.
“What are you waiting for? Killing me can end all of this,” Chen Changsheng said, looking at her.
“The problem is, I don’t want to end all of this so quickly.” The Heavenly Sea Saintess gazed at the world below the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, from the farthest seas all the way to the night market stalls across the river outside the mausoleum, and said, “How many want you dead, how many don’t want you dead—tonight, I can see them all. I want to see.”
Chen Changsheng said, “Why do you want to see this?”
The Heavenly Sea Saintess said, “Tonight, those who want to save you are my enemies. Those who want you dead are not necessarily my people. If they appear tonight, even if they’re thousands of miles away, watching here like rats in the shadows, they harbor ill intentions, and so they are also my enemies.”
“Why do you need to know who your enemies are?”
“Usually, those fellows hide very well. Taking this opportunity, I’ll find them out and then kill them all.”
“What if the whole world is your enemy?”
“Then I’ll kill half the world, and the remaining half naturally won’t dare to be my enemy anymore.”
Chen Changsheng fell silent. Only now did he understand what she intended to do.
What a fearsome, terrifying woman she was.
Sitting on the cold ground, leaning against the steps, he looked at the seemingly serene world beneath the Heavenly Book Mausoleum in the night and wondered how many people would die tonight? It depended on how many would appear in the capital today, or, as she said, on how many were somewhere in the night, quietly watching the capital.
The Heavenly Sea Saintess flicked her sleeve. A beam of clear light flashed, and a luminous surface about several feet square appeared in the night sky before the divine path.
That luminous surface was neither too close nor too far, right before their eyes, allowing them to see very clearly.
The images in the night sky changed constantly—sometimes the imperial palace, sometimes the National Academy, sometimes the official road outside the capital, sometimes faint shadows barely visible in the night.
The images changed too quickly for Chen Changsheng to see clearly. He only knew that the people appearing in those images later would be those she intended to kill tonight.
Tonight was an ordinary night in early autumn.
But after tonight, this night would surely become the most important night of the Zhenguan era of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Those qualified or daring enough to come to the capital tonight to save Chen Changsheng were certainly not ordinary people. Those lurking in the shadows, watching the capital’s situation, were also not ordinary people.
The dark clouds in the night sky grew thicker, the lights in the capital’s streets and alleys grew fewer, the world grew darker, and the atmosphere grew more tense.
Vaguely, disturbances could be seen in certain parts of the capital, which quickly subsided, ultimately returning to deathly silence.
Suddenly, a patch of brightness appeared in the night sky to the northwest of the capital. That brightness was not dazzling. The thick dark clouds there seemed to have been torn away, revealing the star-filled night sky behind them. Behind the stars, there was a faint, more crystalline radiance. Could that be the moon that only the demon race was rumored to see?
On the official road there, the weeping willows on both sides swayed without wind, as if bowing to the middle of the road.
There was no army or convoy on the middle of the road, only two people.
A man in a bamboo hat pushed a wheelchair, seemingly slowly, from the distant official road toward the capital.
From the ruined Ten Thousand Willows Garden in Tianliang Prefecture to here had taken a long time. For the man in the wheelchair, he had been walking for over two hundred years.
Two hundred years ago, when the late emperor fell ill and ceased to hold court, and Tianhai officially took power, the man in the wheelchair had never come to the capital again, because he feared her.
Tonight, he had finally come, perhaps because he knew he had little time left in this world. Before death, other fears would fade considerably.
Two of the Eight Winds and Rains, Zhu Luo and the Stargazer, had arrived at the capital.
…
…
Looking at the images in the night sky before the divine path, at Zhu Luo in the wheelchair, at the famous sword at his waist, Chen Changsheng naturally recalled the rain battle in Xunyang City.
He remembered clearly that Su Li had once humiliated Zhu Luo, saying that because he feared Tianhai, he dared not set foot in the capital.
Zhu Luo’s coming to the capital tonight might be with a death-defying resolve. Along with the Stargazer, who was also one of the Eight Winds and Rains, though there were only two of them, their momentum surpassed a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.
“The Stargazer’s temperament is too indifferent. He has no love or hate for the world; his mind is only among the stars. His loneliness is lamentable. He will stop here in his path and is not worth worrying about.”
The Heavenly Sea Saintess, with her hands behind her back, looked at the two people on the official road in the image and said, “Zhu Luo was scared out of his wits by Su Li, yet he still dares to come to the capital. There might be some variables, but he’s already crippled. Coming here is just seeking death.”
Zhu Luo and the Stargazer were both peerless experts of the sacred domain, ranked among the Eight Winds and Rains, but in her assessment, they were like mere chickens and dogs.
The images in the night sky changed again, and the light falling on the divine path shifted accordingly. Chen Changsheng’s expression flickered uncertainly. His mood was the same, because the image had now turned to the waterway southeast of the capital.
That was the canal transporting grain from Luoyang to the capital. The water surface was extremely wide, but according to court law, night navigation was strictly prohibited. Yet at this moment, an absurdly large ship was sailing on the canal. The ship cut through the water, churning up waves. The canal water, which should have been clear, had turned a dark blue due to the night, but it could not conceal the hint of crimson within.
…
…
(Yesterday, I went to Beijing to attend the Tencent Pictures launch event. A rushed day, back and forth flights, it was really exhausting. The Legend of Chusen is about to start filming. I mainly wanted to report this to everyone, just like Chen Changsheng looking at the scenery at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, thinking to report to Xun Mei. Eh, that analogy feels a bit off. Pretend I didn’t say it…)