Chapter 638: The Monk by the Stream, the Taoist in the Rain
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Tang Family’s Second Master remained silent.
The Grand Supplicant said, “Xue Xingchuan will inevitably remain in the palace tonight to oversee the Imperial Map. This man’s blood energy is extremely vigorous, and he is at his peak. Even if I fight him, I have little chance of victory. Moreover, the Holy Empress will likely entrust him with the Frost Remnant Divine Spear. If that is true, he will possess power infinitely close to the sacred domain.”
The implication of these words was clear: if Xue Xingchuan wielded the Frost Remnant Divine Spear, only a sacred domain powerhouse could defeat him. With the Tang Family’s thousand-year foundation on the continent, they might indeed be able to invite a sacred domain expert to act, but the Heaven’s Will Killing Formation within the palace was specifically designed to target such experts.
It seemed an unbreakable situation. Only if the Grand Supplicant risked an intervention could there be a sliver of possibility to break the deadlock.
Tang Family’s Second Master continued to remain silent.
The Grand Supplicant said, “The Qiu Shan Family’s Supplicant is not as strong as I am. Prince Xiang is a cunning old fox and will absolutely not arrive in the capital before the situation is settled. Prince Zhongshan is a madman. Aside from me, there is no one else.”
“No,” Tang Family’s Second Master shook his head and said, “Our Tang Family will only ever provide information, judgment, and money. Until the very last moment, we will not send a single person.”
“Then who will break the Heaven’s Will Killing Formation? If we cannot enter the palace, even if the Old Master personally comes to the capital, there is no way to obtain the Imperial Map.”
“That person told the Old Master that he would handle this matter.”
“This is of great importance. Such matters cannot be entrusted to others. It has nothing to do with trust, only with capability.”
Tang Family’s Second Master said, “That person is someone even I find terrifying. So if he says he can do it, then he absolutely can.”
He did not explicitly name that person.
Tang Thirty-Six naturally could not know, but for some reason, he was very certain that it was Chen Changsheng’s teacher, the former dean of the National Academy, Shang Xingzhou.
“Since everyone’s goal tonight is to send the Holy Empress back to the sea of stars, why not also save Chen Changsheng?”
He tried to keep his voice calm and indifferent, not appearing too concerned.
But this could not escape Tang Family’s Second Master’s eyes. He looked at Tang Thirty-Six and said, “These are two unrelated matters.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “If it is the will of heaven that Chen Changsheng lives, it will more or less affect the Holy Empress’s state of mind.”
Tang Family’s Second Master smiled silently, then said calmly, “First of all, we are not acting on behalf of heaven; we are merely doing our best. Secondly, our surname is Tang, not Chen. We are not those loyal ministers and righteous men following the seventeen rebel kings back to the capital. Whether Chen Changsheng lives or dies is not our concern, because we must ensure our own survival.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “Second Uncle, have you considered what happens if you fail?”
Tang Family’s Second Master smiled and said, “If that person cannot break the Heaven’s Will Killing Formation and help us enter the palace, then we will naturally have no choice but to return to Wenshui.”
Tang Thirty-Six said calmly, “Are you so certain that our Tang Family will not be affected at all?”
“Of course, because no one will see that we were ever in the capital.”
Tang Family’s Second Master said calmly, “Do not forget what I said earlier: our Tang Family will never do business that might result in a loss.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “But you mentioned Wang Po’s name earlier.”
Tang Family’s Second Master did not get angry. He sighed and said, “Indeed, besides Wang Po, there is also Su Li. These are the two most loss-making deals the Old Master has ever made in his life. If both of them were in the capital tonight—Su Li going to the Mausoleum of Books to trap the Holy Empress, and Wang Po calculating the formation’s changes to find its weakness, then charging straight into the palace to fight Xue Xingchuan—where would we need to show ourselves? And what happened? One insisted on being a solitary, upright scholar, reeking of pedantry; the other insisted on being a wandering rogue but couldn’t let go of his beautiful wife and children. Truly a pity.”
“Let’s not mention how Wang Po was forced out of Wenshui by you, Second Uncle, back then.”
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him with a smile and said, “At the very moment the Tang Family needed them most, they happened to be absent. Perhaps it’s precisely because they saw through it—our Tang Family, no, your Tang Family only knows how to calculate numbers and talk about money, which disgusts them, let alone earns their respect.”
His smile was innocent, pure, and dazzling.
Tang Family’s Second Master stared at him quietly, then suddenly raised his right hand and slapped him across the face.
With a sharp crack, Tang Thirty-Six slammed heavily into the wall. His left cheek swelled high, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, making him look quite disheveled.
But he was still smiling, still laughing with the same joy, making it all the more glaring.
“I told you, I don’t want to play these childish games with you,” Tang Family’s Second Master said, looking at him very seriously.
Tang Thirty-Six staggered to his feet, took a handkerchief from his sleeve, and carefully wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He said, “No, it’s because you know I’m right.”
Tang Family’s Second Master looked at him with a smile and said, “Do you really think your Second Uncle doesn’t dare to kill you?”
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him with a smile and said, “I already said it in front of so many people at the National Academy: you, Second Uncle, have always wanted me dead. Why would I think you don’t dare to kill me?”
Before Tang Family’s Second Master could speak, he continued with a laugh, “I believe the Old Master already knows about our conversation at the National Academy by now. I also believe Grand Supplicant Grandpa will relay our conversation back to Wenshui. When I return home, I will personally tell the Old Master about this matter. So, Second Uncle, if you don’t kill me today, you’ll really be in some trouble.”
Tang Family’s Second Master looked at him with a smile and said, “You should know the Old Master’s eyesight and temper better than I do.”
Tang Thirty-Six chuckled and said, “Old people, no matter how good their eyesight, it will soon grow dim. No matter how fierce their temper, they still dote on their only grandson. Even if you, Second Uncle, were to have a child and raise him to my age with such a sweet tongue, it would take at least a few years. I reckon it’s too late. So, Second Uncle, if you want to continue your life of debauchery, or continue to endure and play the role of a prodigal son while everyone knows the truth, you might really need to kill me before I return to Wenshui. Otherwise, this game where you hide things from me and I pretend to hide things from you simply cannot go on.”
As they spoke, both were smiling faintly, their similarly handsome faces facing each other. Yet the scene was far from harmonious; instead, it sent chills down one’s spine.
What a pair of uncle and nephew this was.
Tang Family’s Second Master’s smile gradually faded. He looked at Tang Thirty-Six and said, “Are you forcing me to fight for the family inheritance?”
Tang Thirty-Six laughed and said, “Our Tang Family… no, your Tang Family loves to manipulate people’s hearts with profit, don’t they? I want to try it too.”
Hearing this, Tang Family’s Second Master laughed silently again, his mouth open, looking somewhat frightening.
“Stop laughing like that, Second Uncle,” Tang Thirty-Six suddenly dropped his smile and said seriously, “It looks stupid. It really makes you look like an idiot.”
…
…
Because it was closer to the night sky, on nights with stars, the summit of the Mausoleum of Books should have been brighter than the ground. But tonight, with many clouds and no stars, the darkness here was deeper than elsewhere in the capital. The image formed by clear light before the divine path was thus rendered even clearer, allowing even the finest details to be seen.
During that earlier time, Chen Changsheng had seen the National Academy from above, seen that middle-aged man who resembled Tang Thirty-Six. He didn’t know who that man was, but he could roughly guess. Yet now, he could never imagine what would happen between that uncle and nephew, nor did he know what the Tang Family of Wenshui planned to do in the capital.
Tianhai Holy Empress likely knew a great deal, but she paid it no mind.
She had anticipated that the Tang Family would send someone, and they should send someone. How could that old man, suppressed by her supreme authority by the banks of the Wenshui River for over two hundred years, miss tonight’s opportunity?
It seemed that everyone who should come had already arrived.
“And those who shouldn’t have come have also arrived.”
Tianhai Holy Empress’s gaze left the image in the night and looked into the distance.
The “distance” she referred to was an extremely faraway place.
Earlier, whether it was Zhu Luo and the Stargazer, Infinite Green and Unrivaled Red, the seventeen rebel kings, or the four great clans, none had caused any change in her expression.
Yet now, as she looked toward that distant place, her demeanor finally grew several degrees more solemn.
The capital was at the center of the continent. The farthest places from here were either the Great Western Continent, the islands in the Southern Sea, or the endless snow plains north of Snow Old City.
Or perhaps that Cloud Grave.
Within the Cloud Grave stood a solitary peak. Three hundred li outside that peak was a sparsely populated town called Xining.
Outside the town was an old temple, and behind the temple was a small stream. It was said that the stream flowed from that solitary peak in the Cloud Grave.
At some unknown time, a monk had appeared by the stream.
The monk wore a black robe, covered in dust and cracks, yet he exuded an ethereal, transcendent aura.
His features were handsome and refined, his age indeterminate—perhaps middle-aged, with a few faint wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. His gaze was serene and clear, filled with boundless compassion and love, as if he could see infinitely far, see everything.
The monk dipped his feet into the cool stream water and let out a sigh.
The emotion in that sigh was extraordinarily complex.
His feet had walked hundreds of thousands of li, and they were too tired.
He and his people had left this continent nearly a thousand years ago. It had been too long.
A faint smile appeared on the monk’s face. Above the stream, rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.
The Cloud Grave was the resting place of all clouds and the source of all water. This place was close to the Cloud Grave, so this rain was the freshest.
Thousands of li away, rain also began to fall over the capital. Mist-like threads of rain pierced through the night, scattering between streets and hills.
On an ordinary straight street in the southern city, the falling raindrops slightly distorted, light refracting and reflecting among them.
A Taoist stepped out from the rainy night, emerging from thin air.
He stood on the rainy night street, yet gave the impression that he was not there.
He was somewhere, anywhere in the world, his true position constantly shifting, impossible to determine.
The fine rain fell silently. On both sides of the ordinary street, the common people were deep in slumber; not a single one awoke.
Only he was awake.
The Taoist looked toward the mountain tomb further south, his expression calm.
At the summit of that mountain tomb, Tianhai Holy Empress was quietly watching him through the night.
Chen Changsheng was also watching that Taoist.
He silently called out “Master,” but did not voice it.
Because that Taoist was not looking at him; he was only looking at Tianhai Holy Empress.
He recalled that during the more than ten years he lived in the old temple in Xining Town, his master often only looked at his senior brother, never at him. It was as if, in his master’s eyes, he had never existed.
“Your Majesty, abdicate the throne,” that Taoist said toward the Mausoleum of Books.